Year: 2017

The sun shone down strongly on Wangaratta as the numbers poured into the regional city for the 2017 Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues. Any hints of rain that may have lingered on the drive out from Melbourne were done away with quickly, as the festival lasted out three sun-drenched days with international and Australian musicians…

With Star Wars: The Last Jedi on the verge of release, on the verge of madness and on the verge of probably breaking even more box office records, I got to speak to Brian Herring, famous Puppeteer who helped bring the lovable and adorable BB-8 to life on screen for the first time in Star…

Biopics these days feel like forced Oscar Bait; as though the formula for an award, on behalf of the actors, is to talk in a funny accent or shout. To truly nail a true character, there’s more to it than just imitation. Films like Patch Adams, Diana and even A Beautiful Mind fail to succeed…

Running from the 16th to 21st October, the second Nuuk Nordisk Kulturfestival kicked off to a passionate start. Celebrating contemporary Nordic arts and co-creation in the northern landscapes, the festival began with a grand parade and opening show at the Nuuk Community Centre with balloons and flags, followed by a selection of outstanding films at the Bank…

Off-season in Italy just got a whole lot more tempting thanks to a new partnership between Italo Treno, Italy’s high-speed train provider, and GoEuro, a popular online platform for comparing ​and ​booking ​trains, ​buses ​and ​flights ​across ​Europe. The two services have joined forces to offer travellers a substantial discount which opens them to fares…

Aussie visitors to restaurants like Mama San and Sarong already know what Bali’s renowned Sarong Group are capable of. So it should come as no surprised that the hospitality group’s latest venture is one of the island’s most anticipated openings of 2017. The restaurant, titled Som Chai, is a sophisticated Thai-influenced fine diner carved into…

As hotels across the world continue to introduce more viable dining options for their guests Mantra MacArthur Hotel in Canberra have welcomed in a new modern Mediterranean restaurant titled Podilato, a sister venue to the popular Bicicletta Italian restaurant at Peppers Gallery Hotel. Helmed by experienced chef Sean Mawbery, the new restaurant offers guests and…

After debuting earlier this year in Sydney’s Chifley Plaza, Luke Mangan’s burger restaurant Chicken Confidential has officially expanded into Sydney Airport’s T1 International casual dining precinct. Now part of the slow-but-sure evolution of the airport’s dining scene, the casual gourmet burger joint from the renowned chef sticks to the original’s standard of using certified organic…

Kings Cross favourite The Powder Keg may be no more, but world renowned mixologist Grant Collins hasn’t given up on owning one of the most comprehensive and playful gin-focused small bars in Sydney. Now, the visionary bar consultant is heading up Gin Lane, a sophisticated new small bar that has just opened in the vibrant…

With a fiery new single in “Oxide” out and doing its thing, indie-pop artist Phia has returned home from a successful tour through Europe and the UK. The single, taken from Phia’s The Woman Who Counted the Stars, represents an exciting phase for Phia, who has explored a new, heavier direction with her music through it. Phia is…

As someone who grew up on the music of Midnight Oil (as I think most people who came up in the 90’s did), I never thought I would be in the position to see the band perform, much less be in a professional capacity to see the band perform. But there I sat yesterday evening, six…

Last night Newtown’s Leadbelly saw a Canadian invasion, with some of Canada’s top rock and country acts gracing the same stage that recently housed iconic Australian rockstar Nic Cester. Amy Nelson, Twin Peaks, Dylan Menzie, Louise Burns, and Scenic Route to Alaska were amongst the artists to bring the music of Canada Down Under. With big…

Telltale Games, a developer known for narrative-focused episodic games like The Wolf Among Us, The Walking Dead and Tales from the Borderlands has laid off a whopping 25% of its entire workforce this morning. The retrenchments, which leave 90 staff members without jobs, come as part of an internal restructuring that will see the company running a smaller…

Although this film’s earnings were down 34% from last week’s whopper of a weekend opener, the mighty Thor: Ragnorak still managed to take in $6.68m at the box office this week, and hold onto the no. 1 spot for the second week in a row.  Thor, Loki and Co. can still be seen on 781 screens nationally. This one…

Australian film Swinging Safari has received a brand new trailer, in a bid to take its audience back to life in the 70’s. Directed by Stephan Elliot (Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert), Swinging Safari stars Australian powerhouses such as Kylie Minogue (Neighbours, Moulin Rogue) and Guy Pearce (Memento, Iron Man 3), and centres around a 200…

Margot Robbie’s (Suicide Squad, The Wolf of Wall Street) latest film I, Tonya, has revealed a brand new trailer. I, Tonya acts as a biopic based on real life professional ice skater Tonya Harding, played by Robbie, as she dominated the news headlines as the centre of one of the most prominent scandals in sporting history. But you…

The official next step for speaker technology is upon us, ushered in with the advent of voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant, Apple’s Siri, Samsung’s Bixby and Window’s Cortana. We can now command our speakers to play music and give out all sorts of information thanks to robotic helpers ready and willing to serve,…

The Hunter’s Prayer is a dynamic action thriller starring Sam Worthington as a solitary assassin, hired to kill a young woman. When he can’t bring himself to pull the trigger, the plan falls apart, and now both hitman and target are marked for death. Forming an uneasy alliance, they’re relentlessly pursued across Europe while trying…

The South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) is partnering with two of Australia’s premier TV drama houses; Matchbox Pictures (Deadline Gallipoli, Glitch, Wanted) and Screentime (The Secret Daughter, Wolf Creek TV Show), in order to further push their endeavours into series production. As a result, both companies will open offices across Adelaide within the next two…

Boy, Don Mattrick really fucked Xbox, didn’t he? It’s been five years since Microsoft’s now-infamous E3 2013 presentation, the unveiling of an All-in-One corporate fantasy wildly out of step with what its audience actually wanted and expected. Microsoft have been trying to course correct ever since. So dominated have they been by the runaway success…

Sri Lanka’s capital city, Colombo, will welcome a new luxury property this month with the opening of Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo, joining the high-end group’s Hambantota Golf Resort & Spa – which opened in 2016 – as one of the most prominent hotel launches in the country in nearly 30 years. Positioned along the ocean-side Galle…

The GFC hit 10 years ago, yet it’s wave still lingers on. In a post GFC world, wages are stagnant, jobs are threatened, house prices skyrocket and global warming’s dark cloud hangs in concert. 10 years on, we’re still asking questions; how did this happen? Can it happen again? And, if so, who’s best equipped…

A seven-course vegan feast is being planned by a group of seven Melbourne chefs, all of whom will join forces at The Vincent later this month to explore and highlight the potential of modern vegan cuisine. What’s more is that the whole feast has been designed around and inspired by the classic tale of The…

After it’s time popped up in Sydney’s Hyde Park last month, the famed Night Noodle Market is heading on down for Melbourne’s annual Good Food Month for a eighteen nights of curated Asian hawker-style dining. We all know how it works; each year, various stalls from some of the country’s best food vendors remain popped…

Located on Toorak Road, Yagiz is a new modern Turkish restaurant from talented chef Murat Ovaz, who has moved on from Balaclava’s popular Tulum to head up his own venture. The restaurant, which features a stunning 22-seat brass communal table and is separated into both a casual walk-in bar and an expansive 60-seat dining space,…

Renowned restaurateur Joe Mammone, who co-owns beloved CBD spots Il Bacaro and Sarti, has welcomed a third restaurant to his portfolio, opening Bar Carolina in South Yarra. Located on Toorak Road, Joe’s first venture outside of the city has been fashioned as a sophisticated and contemporary southside bar and restaurant, offering Italian bistro-style dining with…

As hotels across the world continue to introduce more viable dining options for their guests Mantra MacArthur Hotel in Canberra have welcomed in a new modern Mediterranean restaurant titled Podilato, a sister venue to the popular Bicicletta Italian restaurant at Peppers Gallery Hotel. Helmed by experienced chef Sean Mawbery, the new restaurant offers guests and…

Melbourne’s one-day gin extravaganza, Juniperlooza, is set for a return this month with a packed line-up of 19 independent Australian and international producers who will be showcasing their expressions as well as exclusive cocktails up and down the waterside Boatbuilders Yard. In addition, there’ll be a bunch of “Talk & Taste” sessions spread throughout the…

After releasing her debut LP ISON early this year, Paradise and Mellum teamed with Collarts, FBi and i-D AUNZ are excited to announce the first ever Australian tour of Iranian-born, Dutch-based experimental pop visionary Sevdaliza in January 2018. After Sevdaliza‘s US live debut being dubbed as a singularly phenomenal experience, with Enclave LA stating “we weren’t…

Melbourne’s cult band of Jazz punks, connoisseurs of classic and neo soul, R&B and contemporary vibes Jazz Party are thrilled to have released their highly anticipated debut album Monday Night! The group of eight, well-dressed party enthusiasts invite you to be a part of the Jazz Party legacy when they launch their long-awaited debut album…