Pasta Emilia, which moved from its original home in Bronte to Surry Hills back in 2012, is an old-school Italian joint that serves up pasta just like nonna used to make. Founded by Anna Maria Eoclidi, the restaurant is an ode to her home in Italy's Emilia-Romagna region. Organic pasta is the name of the game here, with the chefs make more than 15 varieties of pasta each week. Think heartwarming dishes like strozzapreti with slow-cooked beef ragu ($30); spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino ($24); and the rich duck and truffle tortelli with butter and herbs ($36). If you're wanting more than just pasta, there's mains such as slow-cooked lamb with honey roasted potatoes ($34) and fish of the day ($34), plus daily specials, sides and salads. The osteria also has an on-site cooking school, where you can spend a Saturday getting your hands dirty, or rather, floury. With local, organic ingredients at your fingertips, you'll learn how to make pasta the traditional way. That includes creating the best flour mix, fashioning it into dough and stretching it into sheets. Alessandro Grisendi, who's been making pasta by hand for over a decade, will teach you how to make all kinds of pasta, from ravioli and cappelletti, to linguine and strozzapreti. And when your work is done, you'll sit down to a hearty lunch, including pasta, a veggie salad and glass of organic wine. Classes run for three hours and cost $150–160 per person. Top image: Destination NSW
A general store and bakery has arrived in Annandale — and its woodfired breads are so good, the shop regular sells out. The 20-seat venue is run by long-time hospitality vet and pastry chef Kimmy Gastmeier (Rockpool, Tetsuya's and The Porteño Group) and her friend Aimee Graham, with a little help from Aimee's husband Kenny Graham (Mary's Underground, The Lansdowne and The Unicorn) and the rest of the Mary's Group. "Jake [Smyth], Kenny and I had been trying to find a site for years," says Gastmeier. "And I'd decided to let it go and sell everything I had collected for the dream shop when it all came through." Fed up with the Sydney hospo scene, Gastmeier left for the Blue Mountains some years ago, where she started the Cherry Moon brand by baking her goods out of hired kitchens. But now, Cherry Moon finally has a permanent home — and Gastmeier and Graham are doing things the old-school way. [caption id="attachment_733301" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kitti Gould[/caption] "I'm interested in artisanal food, woodfiring and staying true to the traditions of whole foods," says Gastmeier, who purchased a traditional scotch oven from an old Ballarat bakery (made way back in 1869) for the shop and rebuilt it with a master oven builder. "A lot of people were coming in and thinking we're a regular cafe," says Gastmeier. "But we're more of a bakery and the menu really showcases the oven." All of the bread is made using ancient grains like emmer and spelt, along with stone-ground flour from Gunnedah's Wholegrain Milling Company. The team also roasts whole pumpkins in the fire embers and smokes potatoes in whey, which is leftover from the house-made ricotta (served wrapped in fig leaf) and cultured butter. Apart from all the bread, Cherry Moon is also baking pastries, galettes, fruit tarts and seasonal tarte tatin, along with Italian-style cream puffs. Portuguese custard tarts are cooked in the woodfired oven, too, as are sourdough pizzas. A small cafe menu is also up for grabs and includes the likes of sourdough topped with avocado, tomato, basil and finger lime; and plates of woodfired cauliflower served with burrata, harissa, fermented zucchini and cashew and chickpea cream. Charcuterie and ploughman's lunches are also on the docket for the near future. [caption id="attachment_733296" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kitti Gould[/caption] On the general store shelves, you'll find Aimee Graham's fermented goods, such as sauerkraut, kimchi, keffir and tonics. Other drinks include coffee by Newtown's 212 Blu, a house chai blend and cold-pressed orange and green juices. And, to round out this already impressive offering, Cherry Moon is also scooping ice cream made in-house using all native and foraged ingredients — at the moment, there are fig leaf and saffron, wattle seed, plum and fennel pollen, and peach melba varieties. "I want it to feel like you're stepping back in time to grandma's kitchen," says Gastmeier. "So everything is served on beautiful old crockery, plates and silverware, and there's a lot of 1960s bric-a-brac." Speaking of grandmothers, it was Gastmeier's grandma who put her through chef's school at the age of 16, and the Cherry Moon logo is in her handwriting. Find Cherry Moon General Store at 77 Nelson Street, Annandale. It's open from Wednesday–Saturday 7am–4pm and Sunday 11am–4pm.
We all know that video piracy is a crime and that we should pay for the music we are listening, too, but just how far we have come from 20th-century entertainment is not always present in our minds. Enter photographer Julia Solis and her new book Stages of Decay — a feat that took her across Europe and the US over a period of years to document over 100 disused and dilapidated theatres that once housed The Who, witnessed the cinematic events of their eras and were symbols of popular culture, cultural hubs and signifiers of Western affluence. The images tiptoe along that enticing line between nostalgia, beauty, decay — actually it is all very Tintern Abbey — and all those butterfly feelings that come up when we dream of days long gone. Solis sees the images as more experiential, as she told Flavorwire: "You want a one-on-one encounter with it, to open secret closets and fondle plaster and play with rusted machinery without your parents' interference. In a society that's increasingly controlled, monitored and publicised, a wild space like that can't help but have an incredible allure." Be sure to note the cars parked underneath the ornate ceiling of the old Michigan Theatre, and for the trivia buffs, it is now the parking lot for the new cinema. Circle of life?
Whether you're a political junkie or simply appreciate the 44th American President's annual end-of-year culture lists, block out your diary for March: you've got a date with Barack Obama. The former US leader is heading Down Under in autumn 2023 for a two-date, two-city speaking tour about leadership — marking his first Australian visit since 2018. President Obama is making the trip for an event dubbed An Evening with President Barack Obama, as presented by business leadership and events provider Growth Faculty. He'll be the organisation's first headline speaker as part of its return to in-person events, in fact — and restarting with the ex-US leader is quite the statement. Obama will take to the stage on Tuesday, March 28 at Aware Theatre in Sydney and on Wednesday, March 29 at Melbourne's John Cain Arena. For folks who can't make it, won't be in either city or miss out on tickets, the Sydney session will also be livestreamed. As for exactly what Obama will be focusing on — leadership is a broad topic — Growth Faculty quoted the man himself, from back in November 2019, as a guide. "Being a leader is not a matter of having your name up in lights, making speeches or corralling power at the top. It's identifying the power in other people and unleashing it," Obama said. The former US President will also cover unpredictable futures and how to navigate them, something that comes with his past job. In-person tickets start at $195, or there's a VIP option in Sydney with a pre-speech cocktail party — although Obama won't be there sipping drinks before taking the stage. AN EVENING WITH PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA 2023: Tuesday, March 28 — Aware Theatre, Sydney Wednesday, March 29 — John Cain Arena, Melbourne An Evening with President Barack Obama heads to Sydney and Melbourne in March 2023, with tickets on sale from 9am on Thursday, November 24. Head to the Growth Faculty website for further details. Top image: Carol M Highsmith via Wikimedia Commons.
Been spending the first few months of 2020 pondering the future? Given the current state of affairs, that's only natural. This week, however, you might want to look to the skies as well — and feast your eyes on a luminous lunar sight. For folks located Down Under, Wednesday, April 8 is when you'll want to be peering upwards. That's when you'll see the second of 2020's super full moons, with this one named the 'super pink moon'. And while super full moons aren't particularly rare — two usually happen each year — after this, the next one isn't due to occur until April 2021. WHAT IS IT? If you're more familiar with The Mighty Boosh's take on the moon than actual lunar terms, here's what you need to know. As we all learned back in November 2016, a supermoon is a new moon or full moon that occurs when the moon reaches the closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit, making it particularly bright. They're not all that uncommon — but because April 2020's supermoon is a full moon (and not a new moon), that's why it's called a super full moon. It's also a pink moon, too, which doesn't refer to its colour but to the time of year. In the northern hemisphere, April and spring go hand-in-hand — which means the April full moon usually arrives with the onset of the year's floral blooms, and with the first flowers from the pink-hued wild ground phlox specifically. Of course, it's currently autumn in the southern hemisphere, and the wild ground phlox are native to North America — but the name still sticks. WHEN CAN I SEE IT? If you're keen to catch a glimpse, you'll want to peek outside on Wednesday, April 8 — and while timeanddate.com notes that the super pink moon is expected to be at its peak at 12.35pm that day in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, it's still worth looking up for. If you're eager to take some pictures — and see if you can outdo previous supermoon snaps — the ABC recommends directing your eyeballs upwards at around 11pm that night, which is when the super pink moon will be highest in the sky. WHERE CAN I SEE IT? Usually, when a spectacular moon beams down from above, we'd advise city-dwellers to get as far away from light pollution as possible to get the best view. That's not possible given the current COVID-19 restrictions in place, so you'd best take a gander from your backyard or balcony. Typically, clouds and showers are predicted for Wednesday along the east coast, which could present problems in terms of visibility. If you can't get a clear view, The Virtual Telescope Project will be live streaming the moon online from Rome on Wednesday, April 8, starting at 3am AEST, too. Via timeanddate.com / space.com / ABC. Image: Andrew C.
A Sydney institution, White Rabbit Gallery has been running free exhibitions showcasing contemporary Chinese art for over a decade. From focusing on all things luminous to deep dives into the art of storytelling, the White Rabbit team continues to wow Sydneysiders with thought-provoking collections. The Chippendale favourite's latest is A Blueprint for Ruins, running until May, and examines the pitfalls of modernity and a lack of humanity that can sometimes be felt in global cities. Artist Hu Weiyi, whose giclee print is being displayed in A Blueprint for Ruins, writes: "it's as if every abandoned building, about to disappear, is attempting to sing its last note, and eventually they will come together to form a requiem for an era". The traditional and the hyper-modern collide across the exhibition, conjuring an eerie feeling as it explores places where the people that occupy them are often forgotten. As you wander through the multi-storey space, you'll discover glossy neon-lit rooms, intricate porcelain artworks, footprints on paper, antique lamps, bronze artefacts and video projections. As with any White Rabbit exhibition, it's best to visit yourself, bringing an open mind as you discover the meticulously curated artworks and create connections of your own. Luckily, entry is completely free, and the gallery is open 10am–5pm Wednesday–Sunday, so you've got plenty of opportunities to do just that. You can also turn the trip into a real double-header by placing your name into the ballot to score tickets to Phoenix Central Park, the gallery's neighbouring concert venue. The current season at this intimate hall features free performances from Mulalo, FRIDAY*, Tim Hecker, Maple Glider, Tex Crick and Lydia Lunch. Images: Hamish McIntosh.
Whether you watched along from 2009–15 when it was in production or you discovered its joys via an obsessive binge-watching marathon afterwards, Parks and Recreation is one of the 21st century's TV gifts — and the beloved sitcom cemented its stars, from its lead roles through to its supporting parts, as audience favourites. Plenty of those talents also share something else in common: a fondness for touring Down Under. Nick Offerman has done it, taking to Australia's stages. Amy Poehler has made multiple promotional Aussie trips for Inside Out and Inside Out 2. Henry Winkler even headed this way to chat through his lengthy career. Now, add the latter's on-screen son to the list. Ben Schwartz, aka Parks and Recreation's Jean-Ralphio Saperstein, has a date with Sydney in 2025. Don't be suspicious: Schwartz will be performing his Ben Schwartz & Friends live improv show, which begins with just a couple of chairs onstage. Where it goes from there, you'll only discover at the Sydney Opera House on Saturday, May 3, because that's the joy of improv. Schwartz isn't just known for Parks and Recreation, although that's the first thing on his resume that'll always come to mind for Parks fans. Since his time in Pawnee wrapped up — since he stopped being one of the woooooooorst people in the fictional Indiana town, that is — he's also starred in murder-mystery comedy The Afterparty, voiced a certain spiny blue mammal in Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, loaned his vocal tones to Star Wars: The Bad Batch and Invincible, and featured in Space Force and Renfield. Top image: Disney/Image Group LA.
The radio play has become somewhat of a neglected art form since television moved into homes. Why listen to descriptions of the visual when you can turn on the television and have the picture painted for you? The answer is because they are truly excellent. Listeners get to enjoy their own visual interpretation of the piece as they allow us to use our imagination and construct worlds and characters unique to our minds. Thankfully there are artists like the award-winning Nick Coyle (Me Pregnant!, Rommy) still writing radio plays. For one night only on Friday, June 14, he is performing his most recent work Batfeet, the radio play "not good enough" for the ABC, with Anna Houston and Tom Campbell. If you want the opportunity to (mentally) practice your artistic license then this is definitely for you.
Inside the Sydney Fringe Festival is another mini festival, the Festival of Weird Spaces. Things kick off on September 12 with the Artcore Guerilla Artfair at the Imperial Hotel (5-10pm and free entry). It'll be an art-fair of local, emerging artists in the basement, complete with an oh so secret feature band and lucky door prizes (for those of you who love a good freebie). On September 14 (also part of all things strange), will be some venues that you all know and love like The Duke, The Water Horse, RaBar, The Warren View and The Sly Fox, which will be subjected to what they’re calling 'Decoration Wars.' Hopefully nothing like The Block, you’ll need to grab a map and a voting card before taking a turn of these bars. Yes - kinda like a pub crawl and art class combined. There’s also a Pop up Festival on Saturday – and don’t we all just love a pop-up? Held at Camperdown Park will be The Collective Project Unit & Friends – Ska Band, whose influences include 1960s Jamaican party music and Skatalites. Other tunes include the barbershop style four-part harmonies of Tuxedo Vocal Harmony Quartet and Nathanial Pyewacket, an experiemental cross-platform performer (who builds his own electronic and electro-acoustic instruments). Apparently there’s more to be announced, but they can say that there will be a balloon artist there. Balloon dog anyone?
We get it. Everyone loves an espresso 'tini. Melbourne's got a bar that even does them on tap — and Sydney has a whole venue dedicated to that God-sent concoction of chilled coffee and vodka. After Melbourne nabbed the country's very first espresso martini festival in 2016, Sydney got its own dedicated event last year and now its back — with a new name — and it's heading to The Rocks this May. Sleep, who needs it? The festival, to be held in the Overseas Passenger Terminal on May 25, 26 and 27, is being gifted to our espresso-loving, cocktail-filled city by the caffeinated folks at Mr Black, a NSW-based cold-pressed (and damn fine) coffee liqueur. In short, they know how to capitalise on our weaknesses and we're not even mad about it. The affair will involve some of Australia's best coffee suppliers, cafes and bars, and will come together to create a beautiful array of alcoholic caffeinated beverages. As with any festival of this kind, there will be plenty of food, too, including fried chicken from Johnny Bird and antipasti from Salts Meats Cheese. The festival will run during the first weekend of Vivid Sydney, so you can pair your Darling Harbour light-chasing with a 'tini or two. Tickets will set you back $30 (plus booking fee) a pop, and go on sale at 9am on Thursday, April 5. Image: Nikki To.
At any time of the year, Sydney's sunsets are hard to beat. To usher in the season of shorter days and longer nights (but no less spectacular sunsets), Barangaroo is hosting Golden Hours: three weeks of glowing, orange-hued sunset sessions featuring roaming performers, DJs, food specials — and Aperol Spritzes at two for $30 at 25 venues throughout the precinct — until Saturday, April 5. The participating venues have also created Aperol-pairing food menus. Drop by Belles Hot Chicken for two pounds of buffalo wings plus two Spritzes for $40, NOLA Smokehouse and Bar for a two-hour snack and spritz menu for $55 per person, or Sax Bar for a pre-dinner spread featuring gruyère croquettes, salt and pepper calamari and more for $35 a pop. If you'd like a golden-hour glow-up, head to Status Co. The salon is delivering an array of beauty packages that'll give you that golden glow, including the Spritz Up, a 45-minute blow dry and make-up refresh for $100, and the Glow Up, an 80-minute full hair and make-up service, plus bottomless Aperol Spritzes, for $140. The aperitivo menus will be available between 3–7pm every day, but there'll be live entertainment from DJs and roving performers, as well as a 360-degree photo booth and free makeup sessions on Thursdays, Fridays and weekends. Swing by on the final day for Aperidisco, a house party-style fest with performances by Return to Rio and Double Touch DJs, as well as Aperol Spritz giveaways, competitions and more.
UNSW Galleries has finally reopened to the public, and it has done so in a big way — by unveiling a major LGBTQIA+ exhibition. Running until Saturday, November 21, Friendship as a Way of Life celebrates LGBTQIA+ visibility, intimacy, collaboration, sex and knowledge. Curated by the UNSW Galleries Director José Da Silva and Deputy Director Kelly Doley, the exhibition features more than 20 artists — including ALOK, Camilo Godoy, and Gavin Kirkness and the Australian AIDS Memorial Quilt project, along with material from the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives. A highlight: the re-staging of a major work by American artist Macon Reed, titled Eulogy for the Dyke Bar 2016. The installation recreates the interior of a lesbian bar and acts as a community space for performances, conversations and socialising. This 'bar' will host a full program of events come October and November, including a performance by Australian musician June Jones. [caption id="attachment_776611" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Macon Reed, Eulogy for the Dyke Bar 2016. Installation and programming series. Installation view: UNSW Galleries, Sydney. Courtesy of the artist[/caption] Several new works are also featured, like the photographs by Helen Grace, which document Amazon Acres, an all-female community in northern NSW. Then there's Ella Sutherland's new prints, which pay tribute to Australia's lesbian erotic magazine Wicked Women. And collaborative duo Parallel Park will present a a new performance video that explores interpersonal relationships. International works by Scandinavian duo Elmgreen & Dragset's The Incidental Self 2007 will be on display too — with this installation spanning hundreds of photos that are making their Australian premiere. Alongside the physical exhibition is the online series Forms of Being Together, which will share weekly talks, conversations and digital projects from the exhibiting artists and other local creatives. New content will be shared each week, with highlights including live talks on the history of Australia's gay motorcycle groups with leather historian Timothy Robert, the importance of QPOC (Queer People of Colour) party spaces by DJ Sezzo, and a discussion on queer parenting and surrogacy with First Nations writer and activist Nayuka Gorrie. Also, an online video commission by Nikos Pantazopoulos will explore the history of Sydney's Oxford Street — by focusing on two homoerotic paintings salvaged from Midnight Shift prior to its closure in 2017. And DJ Gemma has curated a special mix of music that captures Sydney's underground queer dance scene. Friendship as a Way of Life runs until Saturday, November 21. The exhibition is open to the public free-of-charge every Tuesday–Saturday from 10am–5pm. Images: UNSW Galleries. Installation views: Friendship as a Way of Life. Photography: Zan Wimberley.
Bringing a splash of greenery and some of the area's best eats to a Parramatta backstreet, Circa Espresso has carved out a name for itself as one of the best cafes in Western Sydney. Its sibling venue Lucien Baked Goods continues the team's hot streak but with an increased focus on the sweeter side of life. Lucien brings Circa's passion for top-notch flavours to the world of baked goods, swapping crab fettucini for decadent cheesecake, and trading the train station for the Parramatta ferry terminal. Located down by the river on Phillip Street, the part-bakery, part-cafe boasts a hefty sourdough sandwich menu and a range of snacky delights that are sure to satisfy your sweet tooth. If you head in on the hunt for the baked good of your choice, you can expect the likes of croissants, brownies, pistachio scrolls and Persian love cake. As for the sambos, there are seven to choose from, including a loaded reuben, a smoked salmon and goats cheese combo, and a confit duck sandwich topped with pickled carrot, onion jam and salted zucchini — plus some classic breakfast faves like avocado toast, plus a bacon and egg roll. Head Pastry Chef Aeline Ribis and the Lucien team bake several times a day to ensure the goods are as fresh as possible. If you want to make sure you'll get your hands on something specific, including Lucien's range of next-level cakes, you can pre-order online. If you've got a birthday coming up and want to go above and beyond your standard Woolies mud cake, you'll find party-ready black forest cake, choux crown cake, and huge share sizes of tiramisu, custard tart and passionfruit meringue tart. Rounding out the offerings is a robust range of drinks. Whether you're a flat-white lover or a cold-brew fanatic, you'll find Circa's signature in-house coffee, alongside a range of tea from Ms Cattea (the coconut truffle white tea sounds particularly alluring) and other miscellaneous drinks like smoked cola, lemon myrtle kombucha, Egyptian iced tea and iced chai.
For viewers, much that occurs in Such Brave Girls inspires two words: "here's hoping". Here's hoping that no one IRL has ever been contractually obliged to slip their hand down the pants of the boyfriend that they despise twice a week and on special occasions, for instance. Here's hoping that no one has ever sat in a doctor's office caked in green wicked witch makeup waiting for an appointment about deeply intimate matters, either. The emotions that both situations capture in this brilliant new three-time BAFTA-nominated British sitcom— one digging into the feeling of being stuck on a path that's anything but your dream and dispiritedly going with it, the other surveying life's uncanny ability to put everyone in circumstances so absurd that they seem surreal — are that raw and resonant, however, that watching resembles looking in a mirror no matter your own experiences. If Such Brave Girls seems close to reality, that's because it is. In the A24 co-produced series — which joins the cult-favourite entertainment company's TV slate alongside other standouts such as Beef, Irma Vep, Mo and The Curse over the past two years, and streams via Stan in Australia — sisters Kat Sadler and Lizzie Davidson star as well as take cues from their lives and personalities. This isn't a play-by-play retelling, though. It doesn't claim to bring anyone faithfully and exactly to the screen. But it understands the truth of dealing with trauma, and its fallout and damage, making that plain vividly and with unflinching commitment. "Death, silence, hate" is this duo's personal spin on "live, laugh, love", they jest in a joking-but-not-joking way in-character; Such Brave Girls gets everyone giggling at the idea, but also backs it up. Making their TV acting debuts together — Sadler has previously written for Frankie Boyle's New World Order, Joe Lycett's Got Your Back and more — Sadler and Davidson also play siblings. Josie and Billie, their respective on-screen surrogates, are navigating life's lows not only when the show's six-episode first season begins, but as it goes on. The entire setup was sparked by a phone conversation between the duo IRL, when one had attempted to take her life twice and the other was £20,000 in debt. While for most, a sitcom wouldn't come next, laughing at and lampooning themselves, plus seeing the absurdity, is part of Such Brave Girls' cathartic purpose for its driving forces. If you've ever thought "what else can you do?" when finding yourself inexplicably chuckling at your own misfortune, that's this series — this sharp, unsparing, candid, complex and darkly comedic series — from start to finish. As well as creating the show and penning it, Sadler leads it as Josie, a bundle of nerves and uncertainty that's always earning Billie and their mother Deb's (Louise Brealey, Lockwood & Co) brutal honesty rather than sympathetic support. She's in her twenties, struggling with her mental health and aspiring to be an artist — but, above any firm sense of a career or a dream, she's largely working through a never-ending gap year as she tries to get through day after day. She receives a paycheque from a bookstore job that she abhors, usually while catching her colleagues off guard with her anecdotes. After hours, Josie's doting boyfriend Seb (Freddie Meredith, A Whole Lifetime with Jamie Demetriou) awaits — hovers at her side, pleads for sex and moves in without anyone telling her, to be precise — but she's certain that she's queer and only passionate about bartender Sid (Jude Mack, I Hate Suzie). Davidson's Billie is the eternally optimistic opposite of her sister — albeit really only about the fact that Nicky (Sam Buchanan, Back to Black), the guy that she's hooking up with, will stop cheating on her, fall in love and whisk her away to Manchester to open a vodka bar bearing her name. There's nothing that she won't do to make that happen, whether it means bleaching her hair to look identical to her competition (Carla Woodcock, Tell Me Everything) or agreeing to be Nicky's cover when he's busted at a nightclub for drugs. The other thing that Billie has an unwavering belief in, to a delusional degree: that their dad, who went out for teabags a decade ago and never came home, has just gotten lost at the shops because it rearranges its aisles all the time. Both girls live with the exasperated Deb, who also sees a relationship as the solution to her problems, setting her sights on the iPad-addicted Dev (Paul Bazely, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves). She's saddled with debt thanks to Josie and Billie's father going AWOL, and has picked her latest paramour as a path to financial stability thanks to his sprawling house alone. So, when she's not sternly advising her daughters to settle for what's easiest — "I know it's hard, but as you get older, you learn to love with less of your heart — less and less until eventually there's nothing left anymore" is one such piece of guidance; "work isn't about fulfilment, it's just so you can buy stuff to make you feel fulfilled" is another — she's telling them not to do anything to jeopardise what she considers the best chance they've all got as a family for a solvent future. With actor-slash-director Simon Bird behind the lens — alongside first-timer Marco Alessi on one episode — if Such Brave Girls seems like it belongs in the same acerbically comedic realm as The Inbetweeners and Everyone Else Burns, there's clearly a reason for that, too. That said, in its mix of humour and bleakness, alongside its dedication to diving headfirst into the messy existences of its three key female characters, it's also in Fleabag's wheelhouse. Nothing is too grim to find guffaws in, though, whether it's depression, existential malaise, suicide, termination, abandonment, daddy issues, death, grief, narcissism, infidelity or realising how much about life is simply learning to stomach disappointment. Call it searing, call it ruthless, call it insightful, call it hilarious: each one applies. Here's another "here's hoping" for Such Brave Girls' audience to put out into the world: here's hoping that there's more to come. Actually, here's yet one more: here's hoping that this is the start of big on-screen comedy careers for the show's sisters, who bring such a layered rapport to Josie and Billie that viewers who don't know that they're genuinely related will guess quickly, and who deliver masterclasses in comic timing again and again in the process. Brealey, who has Sherlock, A Discovery of Witches and Back also to her name, might appear to have a hard task, then, playing a convincing mum to real-life siblings. But Such Brave Girls doesn't just feel blisteringly authentic, even at its most ridiculous, whenever Sadler and Davidson are in the spotlight; it's that unvarnished with everyone. Check out the trailer for Such Brave Girls below: Such Brave Girls streams via Stan.
Thanks to the success of Beef, the past year has been huge for Ali Wong. It was back in April 2023 that the hit series arrived, getting audiences obsessed and sparking plenty of accolades coming Wong's way. She won Best Actress Emmy, Golden Globe, Film Independent Spirt and Screen Actors Guild awards for playing Amy Lau, who has a carpark altercation with Danny Cho (Steven Yeun, Nope) that neither can let go of — and that changes both of their lives. The last 12 months have also been massive for the American actor and comedian onstage, all thanks to her Ali Wong: Live tour. Wong has been playing to full houses in the US, and also in Paris and London — and Sydney audiences can see her this winter at three gigs from Thursday, July 18–Saturday, July 20 at the ICC Theatre, Sydney. [caption id="attachment_893741" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Andrew Cooper/Netflix © 2023[/caption] Behind the microphone, Wong's comedy career dates back almost two decades, including three Netflix stand-up specials: 2016's Baby Cobra, 2018's Hard Knock Wife and 2022's Don Wong. And, as an author, Wong also has 2019's Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets & Advice for Living Your Best Life to her name. On-screen, Wong doesn't let go of grudges easily, at least in Beef. In rom-com Always Be My Maybe, she's also been romanced by Keanu Reeves. Tuca & Bertie had her voice an anthropomorphic song thrush, while Big Mouth sent her back to middle school. Beef, on which Wong was also an executive producer, earned just as much love for the show overall — including the Emmy for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series; Golden Globe for Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television; Gotham Award for Breakthrough Series under 40 minutes; Film Independent Spirt Award for Best New Scripted Series; and PGA for Outstanding Producer of Limited or Anthology Series Television. [caption id="attachment_946690" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Andrew Cooper/Netflix © 2023[/caption]
The southern strip of King Street is known for its string of dietary requirement-friendly eateries, and Vina Vegan Restaurant has been a part of the lineup since 2009. The family-run outfit specialises in hearty plant-based Vietnamese food. The menu is predictably designed to share with meat substitutes available in everything from noodle soups and sizzling stir-fries to zesty salads and rice paper rolls. It's also incredibly affordable — every main dish (aside from the hot pots to share) are under $20. There are also two set menus on offer, both under $30 per person. The An Luc Peacefulness ($26 per person) includes four starters, plus vegan chicken red curry, vegan pork in sweet and sour sauce and combination sizzling satay hotplate. Meanwhile, the Thinh Vuong Prosperity menu ($29 per person) has five starters, including crispy vegetable fritters and steamed dumplings, plus vegan beef red curry sauce, fried tofu in lemongrass and chilli sauce and combination veggies and vegan meat.
If upping your dancing in 2023 was on your New Year's resolution list, then look no further than The Abercrombie this year, with the beloved Sydney venue reopening after eight whole years at the end of 2022. Equipped with a 24-hour license and a new state-of-the-art sound system, the legendary bar is back in a big way with a host of events curated by the who's who of Sydney's dance and electronic scene. Come Friday, January 13, a longtime local party collective is making the move from warehouse raves to The Abercrombie for a massive event spanning multiple days. Velodrome has pulled together a hefty lineup of local DJs for its Spin Club, a huge 14-hour party that will run from 10pm on Friday all the way through until midday on Saturday. Taking over the venue's two distinct stages will be the likes of Fantastic Man, Ben Fester, Crescendoll, DJ Earl Grey, Francis Inferno Orchestra and Mija Healey among a lineup of 11 renowned electronic music tastemakers. Tickets for the night are available for $30, a bargain when you consider that's just over $2 per hour of dancing if you attend for the whole 14 hours. While you're enjoying the sets, you can also sneak off to The Abercrombie's two new internal venues — rooftop cocktail bar Casa Rosa and late-night wine bar Lil Sis — for a reprise from the dance floor and a pét-nat sgroppino with blood orange sorbet.
When 12.01am hits on Monday, September 13, a few lockdown rules will ease across New South Wales. They're small changes, but if you're eager to spend a bit more time out of the house, they're welcome ones. As announced back in late August, the New South Wales is slightly relaxing the restrictions around outdoor recreation — aka "sitting for relaxation, or to eat, drink or read outdoors" as defined by the NSW Government rules. Back in August, Premier Gladys Berejiklian revealed that because NSW had hit the six-million-jab threshold, the restrictions would loosen for both residents of Sydney's Local Government Areas of concern, and for everyone else in lockdown across the state. For the former (so, in the Bayside, Blacktown, Burwood, Campbelltown, Canterbury-Bankstown, Cumberland, Fairfield, Georges River, Liverpool, Parramatta and Strathfield LGAs, as well as 12 suburbs in the Penrith), outdoor recreation is back on the cards again for families with fully vaccinated adults, as long as it's between 5am–9pm given the nighttime curfew. And, because there's a strict five-kilometre rule in place in these LGAs, you'll need to abide by that requirement for your picnics there as well. For people who live outside of the hotspot LGAs, you'll be to enjoy outdoor recreation in groups of five, as long as all adults are fully vaccinated. There's a distance limit, though, so it'll still need to be within your LGA or within five kilometres from home. They're the changes that everyone is looking forward to — and they're actually getting a tweak before they come into effect. Today, Friday, September 10, the Premier advised two changes, affecting everyone across Sydney. In LGAs of concern, the time limit is now going up to two hours. So, you'll now get twice as long to picnic. (And yes, picnics have been specifically mentioned.) Outside of LGAs of concern, the five-person total has been clarified. Originally it included children, but only adults had to be fully vaxxed. Now, it doesn't include kids under 12. That means that five adults who've had both their jabs can enjoy outdoor recreation together, and bring any amount of kids under 12 as well. or within 5km of home. Children under 12 will not be counted in this total. For those who live in the LGAs of concern, a household with all adults vaccinated will be able to engage in outdoor recreation (including picnics) for up to 2 hours within the existing rules — NSW Health (@NSWHealth) September 10, 2021 Have picnic plans from next week onwards? You can now either lengthen them, or spend time with more of your pals and their kids. The announcement comes as NSW recorded 1542 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours to 8pm on Thursday, September 9, and a day after the Premier announced what'll be permitted when 70 percent of eligible NSW residents have had their jabs — a target that's expected to hit by mid-October. The rules regarding outdoor recreation for fully vaccinated adults across NSW will change at 12.01am on Monday, September 13. For further details about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website. Top image: Destination NSW.
Serving up loaded vegan sandwiches on Iggy's bread since 2018, Joe's Sandwich Bar is Sydney CBD haven for a hearty veg-heavy lunch that will cost what a sandwich should. Using the loaves of one of Sydney's best bakeries as a base for the piled-high sambos, Joe's really shines through its inventive meat-free fillings. Take the miso eggplant for example, which pairs sticky sweet slices of eggplant with furikake, avocado, Japanese slaw and pickled ginger. It's magnificent. Other options on the menu include a classic reuben created with tempeh instead of corned beef, a chipotle pumpkin number, the Joe's take on a BLAT, a smokey potato sambo and a chilli broccolini option. Located on Kent Street in the heart of the CBD, the sandwich shop is a great value option, offering its sangas for just $13.90 among streets filled with quick lunch options that tip well past $20. Just make sure to take your lunch break on time as the shop is only open 11.30am–2pm, Monday–Friday.
Shlomi Palensya has been mastering dough throughout his career. Formerly the Executive Pastry Chef at the Ritz-Carlton in Israel and Sydney's Park Hyatt, Palensya has turned his attention towards a different kind of dough — with his first solo venture, Ta Ta Ta Pizza, based in Bondi. Located in the backstreets of the eastern suburb, Ta Ta Ta sees the accomplished chef bring his experience in high-end hotel kitchens to a more casual pizza-by-the-slice spot. The eastern suburbs' takeaway eatery specialises in thick, fluffy, and crunchy Roman-style al taglio pizzas. This airy style of pizza is perfect for those who like their pies thicker without being too doughy. It also allows Palensya to flex the skills he gained as a pastry chef and to get creative with the flavours, thanks to thicker pizza bases that can facilitate plenty of toppings. The flavours on offer are continually changing but centre around fresh produce, with prominently vegan and vegetarian options on offer alongside a few choice salami-based flavours. The easiest way to attack the menu is to get a few friends together and opt for the chef's selection, which includes three to six different styles of pizza, depending on how big your group is. There's also your standard Italian favourites like the margarita, an olive- and three-cheese-topped pizza, and the simple Roman salami. Spice lovers can opt for the hot salami and jalapeño option, or else there are some more adventurous combinations like corn cream, shallot and feta; artichoke, goat's cheese and parmesan; or a trio of mushrooms with kale, chilli and parmesan cream sauce. Rounding out the menu is a pair of salads, including a classic burrata, rocket, cherry tomato, parmesan, balsamic glaze and olive oil combo, plus a couple of jarred desserts — such as an on-the-go tiramisu.
For every Australian that was a toddler from the 90s onwards, and their counterparts worldwide as well, heroes wear blue, yellow, red and purple skivvies. Since the early 90s, The Wiggles have been one of the biggest Aussie names in children's entertainment, and one of the country's most-successful global hits. Alongside Bananas in Pyjamas and Bluey, they're part of a trio of homegrown icons in pop culture's early-childhood space, all thanks to the decision by Anthony Field, Jeff Fatt, Greg Page and Murray Cook to turn their university studies in the area, plus their experience in music — Field and Fatt were part of The Cockroaches, while Page was in Dead Giveaway and Cook in Bang Shang a Lang — into an album for kids. The rest is history, which The Wiggles just keep making. In Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2021, three decades after the group's self-titled debut album, they topped the poll with a cover of Tame Impala's 'Elephant'. Also among the troupe's recent achievements and highlights: appearing at the Mardi Gras parade, playing Falls Festival, earning some love from Lil Nas X and bringing the OGs back together for adults-only shows. Premiering at the first-ever SXSW Sydney, documentary Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles — which is now streaming via Prime Video — has joined their resume as well. Onstage for today's toddlers — plus every batch of preschoolers since 'Get Ready to Wiggle' and 'Dorothy the Dinosaur' first started echoing — The Wiggles serve up business as usual. Whether playing at home or around the world, the Aussie entertainers put on a child-pleasing live show. Other than Field, the folks donning the skivvies have changed, with the troupe becoming bigger, more culturally diverse and championing gender balance. At gigs specifically focused at 90s and 00s kids who are now well past The Wiggles' prime demographic, Field, Fatt, Page and Cook have reformed for reunion tours. As seen in Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles, both types of concerts draw huge crowds. For Field, Fatt, Page and Cook, life has been shaped by wearing bright colours, singing to fans young and older alike, and getting 'Hot Potato' and 'Fruit Salad' lodged in everyone's brains — and lives have been moulded by their efforts in turn. Early-childhood teaching philosophies have always sat at the forefront of The Wiggles, which the OG four attribute to their success. Young devotees who dance along to their tunes then become adults who still think fondly about their first-ever favourite group. Hot Potato: The Story of the Wiggles clearly has much to cover, then, all within a 104-minute doco that does much more than trade in nostalgia: as directed by Valerie Taylor: Playing with Sharks and David Stratton: A Cinematic Life filmmaker Sally Aitken, it chronicles how four friends started a phenomenon that's taken them everywhere from small Aussie shows to Madison Square Garden, and sparked a beloved group that shows no signs of stopping. With the movie now delighting audiences, Field, Fatt, Page and Cook spoke to Concrete Playground about all things Wiggles, including reflecting upon their careers via the doco, the whirlwind last few years for the OGs and why they're so beloved. And if you're wondering if Fatt, Page and Cook wear skivvies or their famous colours now, Page bought yellow sneakers just for the film's premiere "to have something yellow in my wardrobe", Fatt says he "definitely avoids the purple" and Cook does "have some skivvies though, but they're black". ON THEIR RESPONSE TO A DOCUMENTARY BEING MADE ABOUT THE WIGGLES Anthony: "This New Zealand company approached us about doing it. So they were filming us for the last couple of years and being with us, and then got all this archival footage, and got fans to send in a whole lot of stuff — and just got all these incredible photos right through our career. We were all a step away from the actual creatives of it, and the storytelling. It was pretty well Sally [Aitken] and Fraser [associate director Fraser Grut] with the guys in New Zealand who put it together. But I was a bit scared to see it. I found it very emotional and beautiful — and sad and happy, all that stuff. A lot of great memories." Murray: "When someone's going to make a documentary about you, you're not involved in the decision-making. There's a bit of trust involved and you just hope that they do the right thing. But once we met the filmmakers, Fraser and Sally, we got to know them a bit, and I felt very trusting that they'd tell the story honestly. You don't want to whitewash — you just want the the truth to be told, I think." Jeff: "And Fraser grew up with The Wiggles. So, he held us in very high esteem." Greg: "I think, too, that because he did, because he was a fan as a child, he got the essence of what the documentary is, and that is showing that connection between us and the children, and that connection that continues on today with the new Wiggles. I think that really sums it up beautifully. And I think the overall tone of the picture is one — can you believe I said picture, like moving picture? — the tone of the documentary is one of joy and happiness. Really, that's what it's about. And I think he's done a great job, and so has Sally." ON REFLECTING ON THEIR CAREERS VIA THE FILM Greg: "It must have been such a challenge to try and cram 30 years into probably 100 minutes or so. But they've done a really good job at capturing those high points and the low points along the way — the milestone moments of The Wiggles. To sit there and watch it back for us, I know personally it was really interesting because living it from the inside, you see it very differently to how other people have seen it. But then to step outside of that now and watch it in a different perspective, it's really quite fascinating." Anthony: "You see little bits on YouTube of things we did 15 years ago, but this was like a line of just what happened. And just at the end of it, I was overwhelmed by it all." Murray: "I thought it was quite moving at at times. There was a lot of joy there, but there were a few tears. It does give you an opportunity to reflect on what it was that we achieved and what we created. I think it's really great for the world to see the people behind The Wiggles — that it's not just four goofballs, although we are that — but that there's theory and philosophy behind it. But also just seeing the journey that we went on together, it was really lovely to be able to see that." Greg: "It's interesting because when people ask us questions like they did in the documentary, they're asking questions that we probably never asked each other. And a lot of things we kind of took for granted that we're on the same page about, or we just felt that we would all feel the same way about, but I think there were some differences — not major differences at all. It's kind of funny, like we never sat around and shared a lot about our own feelings about things. A lot of the time, we were talking about the show, the production that we were going to do, there was a lot of that stuff. So I think for me it was really a chance to hear the other guys' perspective on what The Wiggles was to them." ON REALISING THAT THE WIGGLES WERE BECOMING A PHENOMENON Anthony: "In Australia, we went from birthday parties to playing fundraisers for the Nursing Mothers Association, which was really good. They'd sell the tickets and get a percentage of the tickets, they were fundraisers for them and it was great because, basically, it just was word of mouth. The Wiggles in those days, we weren't on television and we weren't on the radio. But the big step up in America, when I knew that things had changed, was when we went over and the people in customs recognised us — not in a bad way. That's when I went 'things have changed here'. It was because Disney took our TV series and put it on four times a day on their channel. And we became massive in America and Canada, and it was amazing." Murray: "I don't think we thought it would go around the world until we actually spent a bit of time in America. For us in the 2000s, from about 2002 on, America was a fairly big focus because it was very successful there. Once we started doing things like playing Madison Square Garden and doing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, it became a little bit surreal, for me anyway. We'd be sitting on buses going to these cities in America that in a lot of cases we've heard of but never been to, and it was a great adventure but it was also a little bit hard to get your head around." Jeff: "From the early days, for example, when we put out the first video and it really made a connection with our audience — and just little steps like that. We'd quite often play for the Nursing Mothers Association in little halls, and that started getting traction. So the audience was continually building in those regional areas and in the city. So there were these little steps along the way, so it wasn't like a huge leap — it was a very gradual thing for us." Greg: "I think, too, it's interesting that people use words like 'global phenomenon' or 'global empire'. For us, it was never about that. It was just about being able to do something that we loved and do it well. And for that reason, every time we had a little bit of success, it felt like we had achieved so much more than what we ever set out to do. And every step along the way, it just kept building and building. So on reflection, I think that was probably the biggest thing about the doco — to sit back and watch those milestone moments be played back. It's like 'well, god, I can't believe we did that because we never set out to do it' — it was just all these happy bonuses that came along. We've had a a blessed time and I think, I hope, that people take away from the doco the fact that when you do something in life that you really enjoy, if it brings joy to other people and that joy is something that's shared both ways, and if everybody's life can be filled with joy, then it's a really great thing." ON THE WIGGLES' ONGOING SUCCESS Murray: "I think that what made The Wiggles successful in the first place is a few things. One of them is that we had this philosophy that was being child-centred, which is a philosophy from early-childhood education where you put the child first and you think about where they're at in terms of their development. We tried to use that in The Wiggles, I think quite successfully. Also just things like we're pretty genuine about it. We're very genuine about what we're doing and what we're trying to achieve. And the songs are good, I think, and really connect with the audience. What's happened after we moved on is that mostly Anthony's seen to it that those things are intact, that the philosophy's still there, that the way of speaking to the audience is still there, the songs are there. So I think that has carried on through the decades and kept The Wiggles in the forefront." Anthony: "I think the bottom line for us is that we have to entertain, and keep children interested and educate them if we can. We're more about pro-social skills, and I think that we've kept the early-childhood philosophies at the forefront, and we haven't gotten too carried away with too many bells and whistles. When we play a live show, we can go off the script at any time, as opposed to a lot of children's shows that are taped. We can, if a child calls out something, we can go with it. That keeps it interesting for us as well. I think that for all those reasons we still love it. I love it still." ON THE WIGGLES' TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC GROWING UP, BUT REMAINING WIGGLES FANS Greg: "I think for those fans, it's the connection to their childhood, when they were young — hopefully carefree and innocent. It's a time of your life where, if you can connect to that inner child when you're in your 20s or 30s, it's something to celebrate. And if The Wiggles are that connection for people, it's a great channel to be able to play music for them and come to our shows, and it's great for us too, actually." Murray: "Oh it's fantastic." Greg: "Because it connects us to that time of our lives as well, when we were doing something that we absolutely loved doing and very privileged to be a part of so many people's lives in a way where they did embrace us and they still do." Jeff: "And for Australian fans, us topping the Triple J, Hot 100, that certainly boosted things with our older audience now." Anthony: "We get told that it was a positive part of their childhood. And when those shows, when we do those adult shows, we don't change our show at all. I mean, pretty well, we're just the same — in the documentary, Paul Paddick, who plays Captain Feathersword, thought it was going to be a chance to swear on stage. And we said 'no, it's got to be exactly how it was or we're going to ruin what these people think about us'." ON THE HOTTEST 100, LIL NAS X AND THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE LAST FEW YEARS Anthony: "It's been awesome. I'm still going with The Wiggles, so the eight Wiggles, and I'm loving that we've had Jeff come on stage, Murray come on stage, Greg come on stage with us — and it just proves that we're all part of the Wiggles family. Lil Nas was amazing. He made a couple of fun tweets that he'd like to do a collaboration — I really did think it was tongue in cheek — but we did get to meet him at Falls. Falls Festival was just the best, and hanging out with Australian bands that are in their 20s that grew up with the Wiggles, it's just been great. The Hottest 100 was surreal. And musically, it was great because I got to experience Tame Impala, who I knew nothing about — so it was educational for me." We're ready to wiggle with you! 💛💜💙❤️ — The Wiggles (@TheWiggles) April 27, 2022 Murray: "It's funny that so much of what we've done over the years, like going to America, quite a lot of the things we've done have been uncharted. And we've always had this sense of doing things for the adventure of it — and I think this is again something that we never expected. We never expected the initial success that we had, and we never expected that 30 years later we would be playing for those kids who grew up — and no one ever thought that we'd be on Triple J at all, let alone topping the Hottest 100. So it's just wonderful. It's like some sort of icing on the cake, I guess, that we can still get together and have fun with our audience, but also to spend time with each other, and really go back and do this thing that we loved and this amazing thing we created together. Jeff: "At the time we didn't even know who he [Lil Nas X] was. I was totally out of touch with all. But looking at it now, it's crazy." Hot Potato: The Story of The Wiggles streams via Prime Video. Read our review.
Penrith is the best-kept secret of the greater Sydney gastronomic scene. The eateries here aren't dishing up ho-hum suburban spreads. Hearty Italian fare with a chic, Riviera-style vibe. Classic Spanish tapas prepared with local and seasonal produce. Funky Mexican-inspired share plates. Casual bars where you'll feel like a local with extensive wine and cocktail lists to rival any in the city centre. And plenty of breweries to while away your afternoon on fresh, frosty froths. We've put together a hitlist of the top spots to eat, drink and be merry all day — and night — long in Penrith. We hope you're hungry, this is going to be one delicious outing.
Australia's most prestigious portrait award is just around the corner, and its finalists have been announced today. Every year crowds speculate who will be awarded the coveted prize and, more often than not, the Archibald winner causes much-heated debate. From last year's five-time Archibald finalist Yvette Coppersmith's first win — for her vibrant, almost Cézanne-inspired Self portrait, after George Lambert — to Craig Ruddy's 2004 win with his sketch of Indigenous actor David Gulpilil, it's hard win to pick. All that's really assured is that it'll be a portrait of person by an Australian. Held at the Art Gallery of NSW every year, the Archibald runs in conjunction with the Wynne and Sulman Prizes — recognising the best landscape painting of Australian scenery, or figure sculpture and the best subject painting, genre painting or mural project, respectively. This year, running from May to September, the Archibald is sure to attract a massive crowd, with some exceptional artworks to feast your eyes upon. Vietnamese-Australian artist, actor and writer Anh Do has made the cut, as have Melbourne-based stencil artist Kirpy with his portrait of Paralympic champion Dylan Alcott, Carla Fletcher's cosmic work of Del Kathryn Baron and a hyperreal self-portrait of a pregnant Katherine Edney. Tessa MacKay has also taken out the coveted 2019 Archibald Packing Room Prize, chosen by the packing room tea, for her hyperreal portrait of actor David Wenham, called Through the Looking Glass (above). As there are so many outstanding portraits this year (as there are every year), it's impossible to know which of the 51 is going to take home the $100,000 prize. Regardless, here are some of our favourites — and some we think may have a good chance of winning. [caption id="attachment_719640" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Luke Cornish, Cato, Callie and Comet. Photo: AGNSW, Felicity Jenkins.[/caption] LUKE CORNISH — CATO, CALLIE AND COMET Prolific Australian street artist Luke Cornish has subdued his edge a bit for his portrait of Sue Cato — a media commentator and businesswoman as well as a board member of Carriageworks and a member of Sydney Contemporary's advisory council. Cornish initially wanted to paint her two dogs, Callie and Comet, but as per the Archibald rule, Cato was included and is the subject of Cato, Callie and Comet. In 2012, Cornish was the first street artist to ever be an Archibald finalist and he's back again with this accurate, and slightly moody, depiction of a powerful woman in the intimacy of her own living room. [caption id="attachment_719642" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Laura Jones, Nakkiah in her dressing room. Photo: AGNSW, Mim Stirling.[/caption] LAURA JONES — NAKKIAH IN HER DRESSING ROOM Sydney-based artist Laura Jones has made quite the name for herself in recent years, having exhibited in some of Sydney's top contemporary galleries as well as a past finalist in the Portia Geach Memorial Award, the Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship and the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize. Now, she is a finalist in Australia's biggest art award for the first time. Nakkiah in her dressing room is an intimate work of Nakkiah Lui, an Australian actress of Gamillaroi/Torres Strait Island background. The portrait depicts Lui's wit, strength and warmth and is a highly expressive piece for an Archibald first-timer. [caption id="attachment_719644" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Blak Douglas, White shells, black heart. Photo: AGNSW, Felicity Jenkins.[/caption] BLAK DOUGLAS —WHITE SHELLS, BLACK HEART Blak Douglas is no stranger to the Archibald, having been a finalist in 2015 and 2018, and also a finalist in this year's Wynne Prize for a collaborative work. So, the man means business, even though his works may seem somewhat simple at first glance. His portrait is of Esme Timbery (or as he refers to her, Aunty Esme) — one of the longest-practising Aboriginal artists. The two worked together back in 2000 for Eorascapes — an exhibition in the Sydney Opera House foyer for the Olympics. The colourful multimedia work is both venerate and familial, a testament to Blak Douglas and his personal-yet-political artistic practice. [caption id="attachment_719646" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Anh Do, Art and war.[/caption] ANH DO — ART AND WAR You may know Do for any number of reasons. The actor, writer, comedian and artist is an Australian household name and is no Archibald newbie. Having won the 2017 People's Choice award for his portrait of actor Jack Charles and a finalist back in 2014 for a portrait of his father, Do has now painted a fellow artist — George Gittoes. Gittoes has witnessed adversities in Somalia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Afghanistan and is known for his raw, brusque depictions of human suffering (with glimmers of hope and resilience). Emanating Gittoes' grit, Art and War is a close-up portrait looking straight down the barrel into the eyes of someone who's seen much of the world. [caption id="attachment_719647" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Shane Bowden, Self-portrait sitting in a red chair, Avalon. Photo: AGNSW, Mim Stirling.[/caption] SHANE BOWDEN — SELF-PORTRAIT SITTING IN A RED CHAIR Shane Bowden's work may not look the most technically impressive but he sure doesn't hold back. His self-portrait errs on the grotesque, with demented lines, a disproportionate use of scale and muddled colours — it has an overall first-day-of-kindergarten appeal. Upon first glance that is. Having undergone heart surgery last year, Bowden has channelled this personal catastrophe into Self-portrait sitting in a red chair, Avalon. The neo-expressionist work represents the artist as both child and adult, distilling "all the emotion and confusion of the last 40 years as I tried to find my true self," as put by Bowden himself in his official Archibald statement. A finalist in the 2010 Archibald Prize with a collaborative work as well as a finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize in 2010 and 2011, Shane Bowden is not one to overlook. All of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prize finalists will be on display at the Art Gallery of NSW from May 11–September 8. The Archibald finalists well then head to various galleries across regional NSW and Victoria. Top image: Tessa Mackay, Through the looking glass. Photo: AGNSW, Mim Stirling.
If you spent a few days this winter attending a Twin Peaks-inspired ball and seeing a giant teddy bear with laser eyes — watching a stunning new take on Dante's classic examination of hell, purgatory and paradise, too — then you went to Dark Mofo's 2023 run. Organised by Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art, the winter arts festival fills Hobart with all manner of weird and wild surprises every year. In 2024, however, it's pausing its usual sprawling event to plan for the future. The fest's team has announced that it'll largely sit out next year, after celebrating its tenth year this year. Apart from its beloved Winter Feast and Nude Solstice Swim, Dark Mofo will take a break in 2024 in order to work out what the next decade looks like for the fest. "Dark Mofo has always been dedicated to enriching and transforming lives through ambitious art and ideas. We want to make sure that we have a festival that continues to deliver incredible art and artists, that continues to expand its artistic boundaries and remains a beacon of creativity, innovation and cultural significance," said Dark Mofo Artistic Director Chris Twite. "While this was a tough decision, it ensures we move forward in a viable manner. The fallow year will enable us to secure the future of Dark Mofo and its return at full force in 2025." The moves comes after a hit year that saw Dark Mofo smash it with attendances and at the box office — notching up record figures, in fact. Despite the most event's success, the crew behind it will now work towards "a more sustainable model for a full return in 2025, and set the foundation for the next ten years", taking rising costs and other changing elements into consideration. So, no full Dark Mofo is the not-so-great development for your winter 2024 plans. That the culinary-focused Winter Feast and the frosty Nude Solstice Swim will still take place next year even without the broader festival around it is better news. "We are excited that in June 2024 — amidst the rebirth and renewal of Dark Mofo — that Tasmanians and visitors alike will still be able to meet and commune around the fires of Winter Feast and cast off the weight of another year at the Nude Solstice Swim once more," said Twite. This year's Winter Feast was headlined by Chef's Table alum Ana Roš from two-Michelin-starred Hiša Franko, cooking up fare inspired by her homeland but made with Tasmania's top seasonal produce with help from The Agrarian Kitchen's Stephen Peak and Rodney Dunn. Exact details for the 2024 food-centric event, and for the next chance to bare all and brave the cold while taking a dip, are yet to be announced. Dark Mofo won't take place in 2024 — apart from the Winter Feast and Nude Solstice Swim — with plans to return in full from 2025 onwards in Hobart, Tasmania instead. Head to the festival's website for further details. Winter feast images: Jesse Hunniford, 2023, courtesy of Dark Mofo 2023. Nude Solstice Swim images: Rémi Chauvin, 2023, courtesy of Dark Mofo 2023.
The once industrial suburb of Waterloo is set to receive a new five-building Japanese development, to impress design-lovers and foodies alike, with the launch of the ambitious Mastery by Crown Group. The development is a collaboration between acclaimed Tokyo-based architect Kengo Kuma and Japanese-born local architect Koichi Takada (Ippudo, East Village Marketplace, Arc by Crown), and is unlike anything the suburb's seen before. Once complete, it'll boast 384 luxury apartments, resort-style amenities (like an infinity rooftop pool, mini-cinema and full gym) and its own food and retail precincts. Kuma's lush, timber-clad 'stacked forest' design graces the main building's exterior, while striking interiors come courtesy of Takada. Other buildings in the precinct will feature work by Koichi Takada Architects and renowned local firm Silvester Fuller. [caption id="attachment_697212" align="alignnone" width="1920"] A render of the development's rooftop pool.[/caption] But more than just a showcase of some pretty impressive design talents, Mastery will also play host to its own Japanese-centric dining precinct, created under guidance from Japan's tourism board. The lineup's yet to be confirmed, though we're told to expect a diverse spread of culinary goodness — think, buzzy izakayas, upscale tea houses steeped in tradition, sushi trains, ramen joints and modern fine-diners alike. Crown Group has a proven knack for creating vibrant food and retail precincts to accompany their residential offerings, as seen at Parramatta's V by Crown Group, home to flashy new 26th-floor bar Nick and Nora's, and the soon-to-be-completed Arc by Crown Group in Sydney's CBD. Mastery by Crown Group is slated for completion by 2021. You'll find it at 48 O'Dea Avenue, Waterloo. Renders courtesy of Crown Group.
Dumpster diving found itself well and truly Brooklynised over the weekend, when 20 diners feasted on day-old bread, bruised apricots and super ripe bananas in a old Williamsburg dumpster. Brooklyn-based initiative Salvage Supperclub served up course after course of revisualised foods deemed unworthy for selling — wilting vegetables, semi-stale loaves and old cookies. Held once a month to make a big public statement about sustainability and how much food we throw away for aesthetic reasons, Salvage Supperclub was developed by Josh Treuhaft, an MFA in Design for Social Innovation at New York's School of Visual Arts. Linked to his own graduate thesis, 'Eat Everything', and raising funds for a non-profit, Treuhaft teamed up with chef Celia Lam (Manhattan's Natural Gourmet Institute) to create the entirely vegetarian menu. The pair dropped by Migliorelli Farm, Bushwick Food Coop and Natural Gourmet Institute to collect ingredients — the chipped, bruised and totally edible vegie heroes who would have found themselves in a dumpster anyway. With only 20 spots at the table, the Salvage dining experience was one of NYC's one-to-brag-about tickets this weekend. All proceeds from the $50-a-plate dinner were donated to the US non-profit organisation Culinary Corps. With diners happily seated at a long bench snuggled inside the dumpster, chef Lam served up a dazzling six-course tasting menu on old subway tiles — we're talking rescued root vegetable fettuccine, super ripe banana custard with captured cookie crust — alongside a cheeky illegal champagne cocktail hour. Lam took time to explain to guests the rewards from working with 'spoiled' foods — bruised fruits are better for pureeing, for example. While the stunt might cause many an "Oh, Williamsburg," head shake, Salvage has harnessed that pressing sustainability conundrum for well-off, aesthetically obsessed countries. Just because it's ugly, doesn't mean it's inedible. Via Pixable and Grub Street.
If you like filling your house with Swedish furniture and homewares, then an IKEA voucher is probably high on your Christmas list. Or, you could treat yo'self in the lead up, because buying yourself a few presents is always perfectly acceptable — and also get your festive shopping done, listen to Christmas tunes and tuck into a three-course Christmas dinner. Yes, two faves are joining forces, again — and this time, instead of Halloween, IKEA is embracing Christmas. Yes, you can eat those Swedish meatballs; however, there's more on the menu, including either a Swedish seafood tasting plate or vegetable ball falafels for starters. From there, there's roast turkey with cranberry and orange stuffing, herb-crusted baked salmon, Christmas plum pudding with berry compote, DAIM cake and berry gelato cake. Happening at the brand's Tempe, Marsden Park and Rhodes stores in Sydney, the Christmas feast costs $30 for adults and $25 if you're an IKEA Family member. You'll want to book tickets ASAP — IKEA's food events are always popular — for 5.30pm on Friday, December 9 at Marsden Park and Rhodes, and the same time on Thursday, December 15 at Tempe. Some sites are also throwing in some extra fun on the same dates, such as festive tunes and mini gingerbread house decorating at Marsden Park and carols at Rhodes.
Sydney's nightlife scene is having a renaissance right now. Multi-arts festivals, restaurant and bar openings and summer music events are all bringing life back to the city after dark. Then in steps Paddo Night Out to bring even more of this cracking summer evening fun to Sydney. From 4–8pm on Thursday, October 27, businesses all over Paddington are doing things differently. [caption id="attachment_874148" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Paddo Inn[/caption] 100+ shops, restaurants, hotels, galleries and salons throughout the suburb are all taking part this year — each with their own unique menus, specials, sales, offers and activations. Take, for example, Tequila Mockingbird, where street tacos and $15 classic margaritas take centre place. The Paddo Inn is hosting a live jazz night with a $12 cocktail special, and there will be a tea tasting and meditation advice at Hälsa Health. And excitingly, Defiance Gallery will be creating a buzz before crowning the winner of the $30,000 Paddington Art Prize. [caption id="attachment_874147" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Tequila Mockingbird[/caption] The night is set to have the entire neighbourhood buzzing — and offers the perfect occasion for exploring the whole Paddington area. Paddo Night Out takes over Paddington on Thursday, October 27. For more information on the evening's events and all the local business activations, head to the Visit Paddington website.
The National Art School is Australia's most important art institutions. From its home in the old Darlinghurst Gaol, the independent fine art school fosters local and international artistic talents through its short courses, residency and scholarship initiatives and jam-packed roster of exhibitions. In 2006, the school refurbished the historical A-Wing of the former gaol, which was built in 1841, and unveiled the National Art School Gallery. It is here that graduate and post-graduate student exhibitions are held, plus up to four major exhibitions each year.
This small space — which has capacity for around 30 people — does classic cocktails very well, but it's the killer craft beer selection that locals love. The offering is constantly changing but Sydney breweries Yulli's Brews and The Grifter feature heavily, and the team here has a knack for getting its hands on limited releases. Images: Jasmine Low
As the title of a franchise, Insidious has already been taken. Which is unfortunate, because it would have suited the pictures of Michael Haneke perfectly. Although his movies don't comprise an interconnected series, they're linked by the filmmaker's continued obsession with the way people really behave. In the work of the acclaimed writer-director, seemingly ordinary situations become something else entirely, whether it's strangers knocking at the door in Funny Games, a family going about its normal business in Cache, or an elderly couple at the end of their lives in Amour. With considerable cunning, Haneke's stories unsettle by gradually exposing the facade behind which we all live — particularly when matters of love, loyalty and the complicated bonds of blood are involved. Sporting an ironic moniker, Happy End is no different. If you're onboard with the type of humour Haneke demonstrates in those two words, then you're well prepared for the sly comic social critique that follows. Setting the subject of social media firmly in its sights, the director's latest film doesn't hold back, tearing down humanity's contemporary fondness for screens over in-person interactions. What we're snapping, filming, uploading, posting, emailing, reading, watching, scrolling through and clicking on is one of Haneke's two main targets. How we treat even our closest relatives when we're more concerned with likes, shares and our own busy lives is the other. Opening with Snapchat footage, it's quickly apparent that something sinister is brewing. Although we don't initially know who's responsible, seeing a hamster being drugged doesn't paint a contented picture, and nor does vision of a clearly miserable woman. Then Happy End introduces 12-year-old Eve Laurent (Fantine Harduin), who is bundled off to stay with her father (Mathieu Kassovitz) and his incredibly wealthy extended family after her mother overdoses. Not that anyone in her new mansion home pays the girl much attention. They're as content to ignore her as they are her increasingly senile grandfather Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant). As Eve's stepmother (Laura Verlinden) fusses over her new baby, her aunt Anne (Isabelle Huppert) prepares to take over the family construction company, and various family crises bubble up, the pre-teen and the octogenarian form a bleak kind of bond. Other than his new social media savvy (and a standout karaoke scene soundtracked to Sia's 'Chandelier'), Haneke ticks plenty of recognisable boxes with Happy End. A little too many, perhaps. He doesn't lose his ability to intrigue, but it's obvious that he's relying upon his established tricks and trademarks, almost as if he's making his own greatest hits package. In a way, keeping to his usual beats supports the recurring message in many of his movies: that life's woes and worries tend to repeat. That said, when spotting the filmmaker's familiar flourishes is more interesting than sections of the narrative, it's also a problem. Still, even when he's retracing his own footsteps with a knowing wink and smile, Haneke's work sits in its own category. The playfulness paired with grim scenarios, the long shots urging viewers not to tear their eyes away, the unease oozing from every scene and performance: it's all there, deployed with the requisite finesse. And while the final result isn't among Haneke's best films, when it comes to plunging into the chilling darkness behind carefully cultivated public personas, no one does it quite like the Austrian master. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Jn1AIzcBQ
Known as "the Wharf Bar" to locals, Manly Wharf Hotel provides tasty pub fare right on the water's edge. Watch the waves crash in as you enjoy a long lunch or an evening drink. Plus, there's live music every Tuesday through Thursday and resident DJ sets on the weekends that you won't want to miss. Food-wise, there's an array of options to sample, from a chili garlic prawn pizza ($25) and a snapper katsu burger ($20) to veal parmas ($29) and beer battered fish and chips ($24). There are also seasonal menus that showcase the freshest sea-to-plate produce. When it comes to wines, the Wharf Bar offers a mainly regional assortment in support of New Zealand and Australia vineyard powerhouses. It also offers signature cocktails that compliment the beachside vibes, like watermelon and mint martinis ($17) and summer garden mojitos ($18). Images: Katje Ford.
How do you get plane passengers excited about sitting sandwiched between two strangers? To turn middle seat-dwelling frowns upside down, Virgin Australia launched the Middle Seat Lottery in 2022. It's exactly what it sounds like, giving prizes to people who find themselves perched in everyone's least favourite spot in the air — and, while it was originally set to only span six months, the scheme has just been extended until mid-2023. No one likes the middle seat on a plane. Does anyone book flights, select where to sit and genuinely (and willingly) pick being stuck between two other people, with no window to look out and no easy access to the aisle, if there's another option? No, no they don't. But resisting that urge until Friday, July 9 could score goodies for your troubles, with an extra $45,000 in prizes added to the pool. The 11-week extension means 11 more weekly prizes, with holidays the big focus. Fancy return flights to Tokyo? To Europe, plus a luxe experience in Doha? To North Queensland, including swimming with saltwater crocodiles? To Townsville, where a waterfall and tropical island tour via helicopter and sailboat cruise await? They're some of the giveaways — and there's a stint on North Stradbroke Island that starts with a beer-tasting experience onboard a private jet, then spans a brewery tour with Straddie Brewing Co, too. The freebies change each week, and are only available to passengers to meet one big condition: sitting in the middle seat because you've either selected it or you've been assigned it. An hour or so in a seat you wouldn't normally pick for the chance to win your next getaway? Worth it, probably. Plenty of folks agree, with more than 240,000 Virgin Australia guests entering the competition since it launched last October. To go in the running to win any of the above prizes, you do need to be a Velocity Frequent Flyer member over the age of 18. And, you'll have to fly somewhere within Australia, on a Virgin Australia-operated domestic flight, during the competition period — in a middle seat, obviously. Also, to enter, you then need to use the Virgin Australia app within 48 hours of your flight's scheduled departure time, tapping on the Middle Seat Lottery tile, finding your flight and entering your details. From there, winners are drawn each week and contacted if they're successful. Virgin Australia's Middle Seat Lottery runs until Sunday, July 9, 2023. For more information, head to the Virgin website. Images: Carly Ravenhall. Feeling inspired to book a getaway? You can now book your next dream holiday through Concrete Playground Trips with deals on flights, stays and experiences at destinations all around the world.
If you want to add some cuddles to your morning workout routine, make tracks to Centennial Park tomorrow morning for Pups and Pilates. BYO doggo (or cosy up to someone else's) and enjoy a 45-minute pilates class that is sure to start your day off with a big dose of endorphins. The class is hosted by PatchPets, a new social app that allows you to connect with other dog owners and lovers, and acts as a directory of all the dog services, venues and happenings around town. The sessions will run at 8am, 9am, 10am and 11am on Thursday, November 7. The class is free with an Eventbrite bookings and there are still spots left in each — so take your pick and nab a spot while you can.
If you've ever wanted to witness a Lost Boys-style food fight (that may or may not conclude in slicing a coconut mid-air), you might want to mark this date in your diary. Part of the Museum of Contemporary Art's C3West program, FOOD FIGHT aims to raise awareness about food security in Liverpool and South Western Sydney through artist-led workshops, performances, cooking demonstrations and choreographed culinary combat. Set to take place in Liverpool's Bigge Park on the evening of Saturday, April 30, the event will be one big celebration of food. Expect cooking shows, projections and live performances, including a DJ set from experimental artist Mish Grigor. Don't expect your usual food stalls either; among a whole slew of culturally diverse snacks, there will be Laotian fare and even traditional Ukrainian food from artist David Capra and his mum and aunty. And all this deliciousness will culminate in a 100-seat al fresco banquet and an epic food fight performance. Artists Diego Bonetto and Branch Nebula (Lee Wilson and Mirabelle Wouters) — in partnership with the MCA and Genevieve Murray of Future Method Studio — will also collaborate with various local partners, including Foodbank, OzHarvest and Youth Food Movement Australia, on a series of community engagement workshops. According to recent statistics, roughly two million Australians rely on food relief programs every year, while close to a million children go without breakfast or dinner each day. "Our aim with this FOOD FIGHT project is twofold," said Bonetto. "We want to create a fun and engaging event that serves as a wake-up call and conversation starter on a hidden issue; whilst also celebrating the community champions and everyday heroes who fight for food security in the local area, one meal at a time." The event is free to attend as a punter, and if you want to get involved as a volunteer, you can sign up at the event website. If you don't live in the area, hop on a Bankstown-bound train — the park is only a short walk from Liverpool Station. We suggest you start practicing your hot dog hurling skills.
Bury all your preconceived notions of Australian films being dry, cerebral art-house wankfests. Mystery Road is the real thing. Writer, director, composer, cinematographer and visionary filmmaker Ivan Sen has delivered a new classic, an outback murder mystery with a rich tide of ideas unravelling and washing around the edges. Mystery Road is a masterclass in first-rate Australian acting. Hugo Weaving plays the kind of male role typical of a Lars Von Trier film: not a villain but a seriously messed-up, creepy bastard. Ryan Kwanten is a diabolically suss and casually racist roo-shooter. But it's Aaron Pedersen who carries the film with a devastating performance as Detective Jay Swan. He's a cowboy, a superman, a protector of a marginalised and deeply suspicious community, and an outsider in an uncaring, corrupt police establishment. Investigating the murder of a young Aboriginal woman, he unearths a trail of prostitution, drug rings and deep social dysfunction in his outback, ex-mission town. With each new body that's found, we feel his heart sink with sorrow — he doesn't have the comfort of distance enjoyed by his white copper colleagues. He's between two worlds, as is Mystery Road itself — it's a small movie but a big story to rival any Hollywood Western, with the desire to speak to a mass audience. The unavoidable political themes and Indigenous cultural perspectives are tethered to the recognisable narrative of a police procedural, making this a familiar but strange viewing experience. It works because it springs from Sen's experience growing up and just hanging out in down-and-out regional towns that have fallen off Australia's map: where the forgotten and poor are fatally vulnerable and totally absent from the national conversation. You might not recognise this set of life-experiences, but you'll recognise the Australianisms — the old-school, sweet-and-sour-pork Chinese restaurant; the characters' casually cagey glances; the quietly funny, laconic turns of phrase. These are all the details of a master storyteller. Mystery Road's slow-beating pulse finally riptides to a heart-stoppingly tense shoot-out. As the film's rhythms crested and fell, I found no easy explanations, no Hollywood signposts, just a genre piece of great complexity, subtlety and sophistication, and troubling beauty. This is an important film, a stunningly entertaining one, and a great one. https://youtube.com/watch?v=n7CmxOOr32I
There's really no such thing as normal during a pandemic — and if anyone ever needed a reminder of that fact, look no further than this week's changes to the trans-Tasman bubble. After pausing quarantine-free travel between Victoria and New Zealand for a month due to the former's current COVID-19 cluster, NZ allowed travel to resume just yesterday, Tuesday, June 22. Also happening yesterday: a new pause, this time on travel between New South Wales and NZ. When New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the two-way bubble between Australia and New Zealand back in April — allowing Australians to travel to NZ without quarantining upon arrival — she noted that it could and would be paused if and when outbreaks occur. And, that has happened multiple times now. This isn't the first time it has been put on hold with NSW, either, with the same thing occurring back in May during the state's last outbreak. At the moment, Sydney's Bondi cluster keeps growing, which is why the NZ Government has advised that it's stopping its arrangement with New South Wales for the time being. Late yesterday, the NZ Government advised that the quarantine-free travel between NZ and NSW was being suspended, effective from 11.59pm NZ time. "This decision follows a public health assessment today which determined that while the overall risk to public health in New Zealand currently remains low, there are still several unknowns," it announced in a statement. Initially, the pause will be in place for 72 hours, with the arrangement "under constant review". Since the announcement was made last night, it has been revealed that a positive COVID-19 case from Sydney travelled to Wellington on Friday, June 18, then returned to Sydney on Monday, June 21. Six locations of interest in Wellington have also been named. https://twitter.com/covid19nz/status/1407260150247825410 Whether you're a Sydneysider on holiday in NZ or a New Zealander who has recently returned from across the ditch, anyone now in NZ who has been at one of the locations of interest in Sydney is required to get tested, isolate and call NZ's Healthline on 0800 358 5453 to obtain further advice. And, if you're currently in Australia and you've been to one of the Sydney venues identified, you should not travel to NZ. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website. To find out more about the virus and travel restrictions in New Zealand, head over to the NZ Government's COVID-19 hub.
Ever been at an outdoor cinema, and wished you could just jump into bed? Well, of course you have — bed is the one thing we can rely on to always be there for us, and we all wish it could follow us around for intermittent lie-downs. That's presumably why the geniuses at Sydney's new PicNic Cinema have decided to implement beds into their outdoor setup. Well, that, and they're probably aware of the struggles of keeping your head propped up on a packet of chips while lying on a picnic rug trying to drink wine. PicNic Cinema will take over Parramatta's Prince Alfred Square for 16 nights this April. Instead of just the usual picnic rug and bean bag sitcho, the cinema will bring in enough inflatable double mattresses for 100 people to literally lie back and relax on. You'll even get a blankie in case it gets chilly. The film program is surprisingly varied and international, with everything from Muriel's Wedding to Studio Ghibli's Castle in the Sky to Iranian Oscar winner, A Separation. The food lineup is similarly diverse, with Cuban, African, Brazilian and Lebanese dishes set to be on rotation. Let's just hope it doesn't rain. UPDATE: April 8, 2016 The entire PicNic Cinema program is sold out online, but organisers will keep two double beds free every night and a handful of tickets will be available at the door.
Drones: if filmmakers aren't deploying them to capture bird's-eye sights, they're making thrillers about their use and impact. Expect plenty of the former at Drone Film Festival Australia + New Zealand, as lofty visuals get their time to shine — and swoop, soar, float, glide and more. Touring Australia throughout September and October, the fest showcases 36 unique short drone films, stories and documentaries from around the world, including those made by filmmakers, production companies and everyday drone hobby enthusiasts. It's the kind of cinematic package those not so fond of heights mightn't be eager to see, so consider yourself warned. For the rest of us, however, it's a chance to look at the world from a whole new vantage. Last year's highlights included superhero-like tales, jaunts through natural and urban spaces, and even a beer odyssey, as filmmaking took to the skies thanks to the latest unmanned aerial technology. Expect a whole new crop when the festival comes to Dendy Newtown on October 3 for a one-night-only stopover.
Whether you love 70s tunes, are obsessed with 80s tracks, live for the 90s or can't get enough 00s vibes, getting a musical blast from the past is rather easy in Australia at the moment. Every week or so, an iconic name seems to be dropping tour dates — from Red Hot Chili Peppers, Elton John and Beck through to Blink-182, the Backstreet Boys and Vengaboys, plus everyone from TISM to TLC. The latest to join the list: Sir Rod Stewart and Cyndi Lauper. They're teaming up and coming Down Under in 2023 for a string of dates across arenas and wineries. Yes, that means that 'Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?', 'Tonight's The Night (Gonna Be Alright),' 'Time After Time' and 'Girls Just Want To Have Fun' are all going to get a whirl at the same gig. Stewart is the headliner, with a huge focus on his hits, including 'You Wear It Well', 'You're In My Heart', 'Sailing', 'Rhythm Of My Heart' and 'Maggie May' as well across a massive two-hour set. But having Lauper onboard is a huge drawcard, whether you love 'True Colours' or appreciate her Tony Award-winning work on the Kinky Boots musical, where she became the first solo woman to win the acclaimed prize for Best Original Score (music and lyrics). She'll play for an hour before Stewart. The pair will be joined by Noiseworks and INXS' Jon Stevens — playing arena shows in Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and the Hunter Valley. If you're a wine-and-dance kind of gig-goer, all three are also gracing the stage in Geelong, Mount Cotton and Bowral as part of A Day on the Green, too. ROD STEWART'S THE HITS! AUSTRALIAN 2023 TOUR WITH CYNDI LAUPER DATES: Saturday, March 11 — RAC Arena, Perth Tuesday, March 14 — Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Tuesday, March 21 — AEC Arena, Adelaide Wednesday, March 29 — Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney Saturday, April 1 — Roche Estate, Hunter Valley A DAY ON THE GREEN DATES: Saturday, March 18 — Mt Duneed Estate, Geelong Saturday, March 25 — Sirromet Wines, Mount Cotton Sunday, April 2 — Centennial Vineyards, Bowral Rod Stewart and Cyndi Lauper are touring Australia in March and April 2023. For more information about the arena shows, head to the Live Nation website. For the A Day on the Green shows, head to the festival's website. Tickets for all gigs go on sale at 1pm local time on Thursday, November 17.
It was true in the first season of Nine Perfect Strangers, and it appears accurate in season two as well: for the guests invited to stay with wellness guru Masha Dmitrichenko (Nicole Kidman, Holland) at her choice of luxe retreat, little is what it seems. This time, the Austrian Alps is the group's destination. The setting has changed, and the nine perfect strangers are also all different; however, as the just-dropped trailer shows, this series is still plunging its characters and viewers into a mystery. While the initial season of Nine Perfect Strangers was shot in Byron Bay, the second definitely wasn't, given that the Australian spot can't double for frosty European climes. The cast around Kidman in season two starts with Henry Golding (The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare), Lena Olin (The Darkness), Annie Murphy (Fingernails), Christine Baranski (The Gilded Age), Dolly de Leon (Jackpot!) and Mark Strong (Dune: Prophecy). Murray Bartlett (The Last of Us) also features, after starring so memorably in The White Lotus' first season. Also joining him and the above actors: Lucas Englander (The Day of the Jackal), King Princess, Maisie Richardson-Sellers (Wolf Hall) and Aras Aydin (To Betray). The storyline again charts the titular cohort as they're summoned by Masha to a transformational wellness retreat —" because sometimes, you shouldn't deal with pain gently", she tells them. Healing her guests, and helping them recharge and "rediscover inspiration", isn't the only thing on the agenda. The group unsurprisingly have their questions and suspicions. As proved the case in season one, too, their host is also on her own quest. Call Nine Perfect Strangers season two's arrival — from Thursday, May 22, 2025 Down Under via Prime Video, dropping weekly episodes — a case of great timing if you love watching things going awry at lavish resorts on super-scenic getaways, plus digging into star-studded small-screen mysteries. Call it a trend repeating as well. In 2021, within the space of mere months in the middle of the year, the debut season of The White Lotus hit, followed by the first season of Nine Perfect Strangers. Four years later, The White Lotus is a season ahead of Nine Perfect Strangers, but they're both back. David E Kelley (Presumed Innocent) remains one of the driving forces behind Nine Perfect Strangers — and author Liane Moriarty (The Last Anniversary), who wrote the novel that the first season was based on, is one of its executive producers again. As a result, Kidman continues her link with both. Kelley was also behind Big Little Lies, which, like Nine Perfect Strangers, also adapted a book by Moriarty. While The Undoing didn't initially stem from the Australian writer's pen, it did connect Kidman and Kelley. Nine Perfect Strangers' new on-screen lineup follows in the footsteps of an equally starry group: Melissa McCarthy (Only Murders in the Building), Michael Shannon (The Bikeriders), Luke Evans (Weekend in Taipei) and Asher Keddie (Fake), plus Bobby Cannavale (Unstoppable), Regina Hall (O'Dessa), Samara Weaving (Azrael), Melvin Gregg (Fight Night), Grace Van Patten (Tell Me Lies), Tiffany Boone (Mufasa: The Lion King), Manny Jacinto (The Acolyte) and Zoe Terakes (The Office), who all starred in the first season. Check out the trailer for season two of Nine Perfect Strangers below: Nine Perfect Strangers season two streams from Thursday, May 22, 2025 in Australia and New Zealand via Prime Video. Images: Prime Video / Reiner Bajo.
UPDATE, December 23, 2020: The Midnight Sky is screening in select cinemas in Sydney, and will also be available to stream via Netflix from Wednesday, December 23. It has been four years since George Clooney last appeared in a movie, dating back to 2016's Hail, Caesar! and Money Monster. Accordingly, while The Midnight Sky definitely isn't a documentary, the fact that it features the actor at his most bearded and reclusive instantly feels fitting. Also noteworthy: that this sci-fi drama joins the small but significant list of films that combine the star and space, following Solaris and Gravity. Clooney has everything from TV medical dramas and sitcoms to heist flicks, action fare, rom-coms and a stint as Batman on his resume, of course. He's a versatile actor, and an Oscar-winning one, too (for 2005's Syriana). But there's something particularly alluring and absorbing about seeing Clooney get existential, as all movies that reach beyond earth's surface tend to. He clearly agrees, because he not only leads The Midnight Sky but also directs it as well. Clooney plays workaholic research scientist Dr Augustine Lofthouse and, although The Midnight Sky rockets into space, it doesn't send its protagonist there. Instead, in 2049, after an environmental disaster has made the planet uninhabitable, he chooses to remain in the Arctic as his colleagues evacuate. He's dying anyway, and frequently hooks himself up to machines for treatment — in between downing whiskey, watching old movies, eating cereal and talking to himself. Then, interrupting his lonely decline, two things change his status quo. Firstly, a young girl (debutant Caoilinn Springall) mysteriously pops up out of nowhere, refusing to speak but obviously needing an adult's care. Secondly, Augustine realises that he'll have to trek across the oppressively icy terrain outside to connect via radio to a crew on the spaceship Aether, who've been on a two-year mission to ascertain whether newly discovered Jupiter moon K-23 can support life, and are now making their return unaware of what's been happening at home The space movie genre is as busy as the sky above is vast. Consequently, films about folks marooned in the great black expanse, dealing with the fallout of a pioneering journey and/or trying to make contact — whether those in space's depths are attempting to chat to earth, trying to find others lost in the same situation, or being sought by the people left on terra firma — reach screens every year. The Midnight Sky proves familiar as a result; if you've watched Clooney's other space-set features, or Interstellar, The Martian, Ad Astra, Contact or 2001: A Space Odyssey, you'll spy elements you've seen before. Although adapted from Lily Brooks-Dalton's 2016 novel Good Morning, Midnight, that screenwriter Mark L Smith is on scripting duties also adds a number of recognisable components. He penned the screenplay for The Revenant, another tale of survival against an unwelcoming terrain. Here, he has graduated from the wilds of 19th-century America to one of the globe's frostiest and most isolated spots, as well as all that lingers outside of the planet's atmosphere. The Midnight Sky isn't merely an exercise in flinging derivative parts out into the beyond and seeing what comes back, however. The key, both on-and off-screen, is Clooney. When the film spends time with the Aether's astronauts, including the pregnant Sully (Felicity Jones, On the Basis of Sex), ship commander Adewole (David Oyelowo, Gringo), veteran pilot Mitchell (Kyle Chandler, Godzilla: King of the Monsters), and other crew members Sanchez (Demián Bichir, The Grudge) and Maya (Tiffany Boone, Hunters), it's at its most generic. Indeed, when it ventures to space, The Midnight Sky almost screams for either Augustine to head there as well, or for the feature to plummet back down to earth to join him once more. As the movie's focal point, Clooney is as soulful and grizzled as he's ever been. As a filmmaker, he certainly gifts himself the feature's best moments. But in the latter guise, he's also aware that films about space are films about connection, including to routines and everyday moments — so the fact that Sully and company's exploits feel well-worn, including a climactic sequence involving an action-packed space walk, cleverly reinforces that idea. Unmistakably, this is a big-thinking and big-feeling feature. Its characters grapple with life, love and loss — aka what it means to be human, and to have lived — while also confronting the reality that the world they know is changing forever. It's purely coincidental, but The Midnight Sky overflows with 2020-esque inclusions, too. Having your sense of normality ripped away, spending time alone trying to reach out to others, and endeavouring to find a route back to the existence we once knew but may never again in quite the same way couldn't be more relatable (and that's just from the pandemic; parallels with climate change are also unsurprisingly rife). Amidst the obligatory outer space sing-alongs, as well as the smattering of life-and-death incidents, these concepts land as thoughtfully as intended. It helps that, spanning not only himself but also Jones, Oyelowo, Chandler, Bichir and Boone, Clooney has amassed an impressive cast. His co-stars mightn't be playing the most fleshed-out figures, script-wise, and may not match the actor/director in terms of screen presence, but the same uncertainty and yearning lingers in their portrayals. The script's use of flashbacks to Augustine's past are less convincing, as is their importance to The Midnight Sky's third act via a plot development that's easy to predict. Alexandre Desplat's (Little Women) score also falls on the heavy-handed side, stressing the mood and tone in an unnecessarily forceful way — especially given that Martin Ruhe's (Catch-22) cinematography is aptly pensive and probing, particularly in its earth-bound visuals. Still, Clooney is a skilled filmmaker. He has demonstrated that again and again since he first jumped behind the lens with 2002's excellent Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and 2005's masterful Good Night, and Good Luck, and it's clear here as well. The Midnight Sky isn't his greatest achievement as a director in general or as an actor in a space flick, but it's an involving, engaging and poignant addition to his resume on both counts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb8ZbP6qAzE&feature=youtu.be
Hanami and Japan go hand in hand, but what if you could indulge in the art of flower viewing a bit closer to home? Well, that's where the Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival comes in. It's an annual celebration of everyone's favourite pink flora in Sydney's west. Between Saturday, August 20–Sunday, August 28, the Auburn Botanic Gardens will transform its Japanese Gardens into a beautiful, blooming wonderland. Across the nine days, you'll be able to ramp up your appreciation of the fleeting natural phenomena that is cherry blossom season by viewing the eye-catching blooms in the lead-up to spring. Tis the season, after all. And taking in the spectacular scenery isn't the only thing you'll be doing. There'll also be an array of Japanese food trucks serving sakura burgers, onigiri, cherry blossom-themed waffles or bubble tea, and cakes from Tokyo Lamington. There will also be a range of activities like a putt-putt golf course, music from Parramatta foodie DJ Levins, a mocktail bar and roaming appearances from Hello Kitty. Tickets cost $11.75 for general admission and are free for Cumberland residents and children 16 years and under. The event will run from 9am–5pm daily with each visitor booking in a 45-minute timeslot to attend. Images: Destination NSW.
Not only a destination to soak in crystal-clear waters during the warmer months and explore undeveloped islands, New Zealand's Far North has a food culture worthy of shouting from the rooftops. With a big focus on seasonal produce, menus are ever-changing and no two visits to the Bay of Islands will taste the same. Thanks to its handy placement on the fringe of the world's largest ocean, you can expect to lap up an abundance of seafood plus locally made cheese, chocolates and wine all year round. This is your guide to eating and drinking in the Bay of Islands. Before even setting off on your island adventure, the outskirts of Kerikeri has a number of eateries worth swinging into. The Rusty Tractor is a good place to get a feel for the community and refuel with generous portions. The family-friendly cafe is the kind where everyone knows everyone. On this visit the barista could be found hopping between the coffee machine and working in the gardens, while another local was spotted making himself at home behind the counter for a chat. The menu offers a contemporary (and hefty) take on breakfast classics, including mince on toast with poached eggs and onion rings, mushrooms in a cobb loaf with pea and feta salsa verde, and cinnamon sugared doughnuts. If you're in the business of caffeine, the cafe uses first-rate Supreme beans and has the option of a four-shot coffee bucket. If you have an afternoon to wile away, Marsden Estate is a short trip from the airport. At the winery you can enjoy an educational wine tasting before settling on your preferred varietal. We also suggest grabbing the antipasto platter of local cheeses, handmade terrine, dips and spreads and perching under the vines in the courtyard. Afterwards, take a stroll around the subtropical vineyard gardens with another glass of vino in hand. [caption id="attachment_986518" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Old Packhouse Market[/caption] For something on the run (especially if you're around on a weekend), head to The Old Packhouse Market. Found in Kerikeri, literally in an old packhouse, the weekly gathering of more than 100 vendors is the perfect spot to load up on supplies before heading off on a road trip. Expect to pick up everything from homemade pies to raw milk, deep-fried oyster po' boys and fruit and vegetables from producers that reside just around the corner. Enjoy your finds while listening to live music, receiving a palm reading or getting a reflexology massage. Across the road is another must-visit attraction. As soon as you enter Makana Confections the smell from the adjoining factory will be tugging on your heartstrings. The best part is that free samples are handed out upon arrival in the gift shop so you can try before you buy — you'll also see staff crafting the exact same thing through the window, so you know it's fresh. The cafe offers a lineup of gelato, chocolate truffles, cakes and slices for dine-in or takeaway. While you're in Kerikeri, head to Cafe Jerusalem for authentic Israeli cuisine that encapsulates the flavours of the Levant. En route to Russell, you'll pass through Paihia. Here you'll have the option of quick bites spanning kebabs, pizza and ribs. On the other side of the one-way bridge from the township lies the official birthplace of New Zealand, Waitangi. As part of the historical Waitangi Treaty Grounds you can enhance your visitor experience by witnessing the unveiling of a traditional hāngi — a Māori method of cooking in the earth with hot stones. Hāngi chefs will introduce the cooking process before you tuck into the feast. [caption id="attachment_986502" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Paroa Bay Winery[/caption] Once off the car ferry en route to Russell, make a short detour for Paroa Bay Winery, a family-owned property set against the rolling hills and overlooking Paroa Bay. The boutique vineyard has a big focus on sustainability, using techniques of dry-grown vines across chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, syrah, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, malbec and merlot. Go for a tasting flight and stay for the Mediterranean and European-inspired menu at onsite restaurant, Sage. With its award-winning restaurant set right on the water, The Duke of Marlborough is a pristine destination to stop in Russell for a bite to eat. The property was erected in 1827 and later became the first licensed hotel in New Zealand. The property still retains its vintage appeal; the rooms are grand with high ceilings, the walls are covered with marine memorabilia and the solid furniture certainly has a story to tell. The restaurant is all about showcasing local seasonal produce and modern interpretations of classic favourites. You can expect to sample local oysters or oven-roasted fish that was caught directly in front of the hotel. The beverage list is extensive with over 100 wines and 30 beers from the Bay of Islands to Burgundy. The wine tasting rack is a good option for indecisive diners, offering three generous samples to sip back as the sun drops over the inlet. [caption id="attachment_986497" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The Gables[/caption] Just down the main strip from The Duke is The Gables, the oldest licensed restaurant in the country. The building was originally built by an immigrant shoemaker who purchased the land from a Māori chief. It's now owned by Robert and Jenny Loosley, who have retained the old world charm and a collection of documents — including the original deed of sale. The kitchen aims to showcase classic New Zealand flavours, with fresh local seafood and grass-fed meat big players on the menu. Elsewhere is Hone's Garden in the warmer months offers wood-fired pizza, fresh beer and friendly community vibes; and Hell Hole is a great option to start your day with loaded bagels and fresh coffee. GETTING THERE Kerikeri Airport is the region's main port of call. From Auckland Airport it's a breezy 50-minute flight to the sleepy terminal. Alternatively, it will take you just over three hours to drive from Auckland to Paihia and Russell. Find your very own Aotearoa New Zealand here.
The annual festival Tiny Stadiums commissions emerging artists to transform the public spaces of Erskineville with their creative works (2011's was a blast). This year's festival again hopes to shake up the way that residents interact with the space around them, with a focus on place, site and access. Join festival curators Groundwork and the 2012 festival artists for a one-evening discussion at Newtown Library. Tiny Stadiums in Conversation will explore the importance of this socially engaged and site-specific art genre. Once you are prepped and knowledgeable on the subject, be sure to check out the public art sites when they are installed in June. Tiny Stadiums in Conversation is free, but you will still need to reserve a spot.
This event is over. For the April 2014 round of World Movies Secret Cinema, go here. World Movies will bring Secret Cinema to Sydney next month, transforming a mystery downtown building into a lavish cinema just for the night. The film to be screened, similarly, will be revealed on the night of the event. The only disclosed details on the film describe it as award-winning and oh-so-scandalously rebellious — so much so that some countries have banned it. Intrigued yet? Us too. Secret Cinema aims to present cinema as an active experience rather than a passive diversion, immersing the audience through elaborate venue theming. London's huge-scale version has become iconic, re-creating LA's Chinatown in 2019 for Bladerunner and a 1950s Algerian casbah for The Battle of Algiers. For World Movies' Secret Cinema, the first attempt at a similar project in Sydney, the exact inner-city location will be revealed to attendees via text message on the day of the event. Guests will be greeted with a drink upon arrival, and enjoy themed food throughout the evening — all included in the original ticket price. After the film, stick around for the afterparty and live DJ. Tickets go on sale April 18. Check out World Movies' Facebook page for more details.
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.
In its third year, Immanent Landscape brings eight Australian and Japanese artists' works to Sydney. The project, which previously exhibited in Melbourne and Japan, explores the contemporary relationship between the opposing interior and exterior worlds. Encompassing a variety of media, 'Immanent Landscape' features works of photography, drawing, printmaking, and installation. Utako Shindo, participating artist and project coordinator, thinks, Immanent Landscape is "highly sensuous and visceral, and stimulates the embedded shared memory in anticipation of some time and space." And while you may or may not find that its artworks set you adrift amidst a Jungian vision of collective unconscious, you're sure to find something affecting among its many landscapes to chew over inside. Other participating artists include Ai Sasaki, Atsunobu Katagiri, Hamish Carr, Hisaharu Motoda, Jeremy Bakker, Kiron Robinson, and Nobuaki Onishi. Image: Hamish Carr, Redistributing intimacy (detail)
Every Wednesday and Thursday night this autumn and winter, Handpicked Wines is hosting a series of Raclette Suppers at its cellar door in the Chippendale, bringing a taste of Europe's après-ski culture to Sydney. Melted cheese, served fresh from the wheel, is poured over plates of potatoes, confit mushrooms, heirloom tomatoes, cornichons and rocket. Cured meats such as Prosciutto di San Daniele and Jamón Ibérico de Bellota are optional extras. With the Handpicked Wine Maker's Flight, visitors can pair their cheese with wines from some of Australia's most renowned wine regions, including Margaret River, Coonawarra and Yarra Valley. According to Handpicked's Sydney Cellar Door Manager Andrew Robinson, the events "bring our team's passion for regionality onto your plate, with cheese and meat sourced from some of our favourite producers around the world. Combine it with our incredible wines from some of Australia's best-loved wine regions, and it's a match made in heaven." The dining event runs from 5.30–8.30pm every Wednesday and Thursday until the end of winter, and costs $20 per person without any additions. Walk-ins are welcome, but bookings are recommended at the website.
Every year, the picturesque coastal town of Kiama invites some of the world's biggest artists to the South Coast for the Changing Tides Festival. After selling out two years in a row, this summer ritual will be headlined by big international faves and homegrown Aussie stars on Saturday, November 22. Leading the lineup is UK heavyweight Sam Fender, fresh off a near sold-out Australian tour. Known for his raw lyricism and anthemic indie rock, and of course, his viral hit 'Seventeen Going Under', he's set to be a festival highlight. He's joined by Noah Cyrus, who'll showcase her hauntingly beautiful new album I Want My Loved Ones to Go With Me in what promises to be one of the more emotionally charged sets of the day. Adding to the energy are local favourites and 2015 winners of Triple J Hottest 100, The Rubens, ready with their sing-along classics. Surf-rock legends Skegss will also bring Aussie representation to the lineup, as well as local indie darlings The Rions and MAY-A. Rising UK star Holly Humberstone will also be joining the bill, plus the boys from The Inspired Unemployed's music outfit, Retired Gentlemen's League. Also on the lineup: Boy Soda, Chloe Parché, and a yet-to-be-announced Triple J Unearthed act. There will be plenty of curated food and drink offerings, all against the backdrop of the beautiful Kiama seaside. So if you plan on heading down for Changing Tides Festival, then we recommend staying a bit longer to enjoy all that Kiama has to offer. Tickets are now on sale via the website, but be sure to grab them early as they will likely sell out very soon. [caption id="attachment_1023260" align="alignnone" width="1920"] SKEGGS. Supplied.[/caption]
