Month: April 2018

This weekend, some of Australia’s finest photographers will be showcased at the inaugural photography conference Aperture Australia 2018. The two-day conference is the first of its kind in Sydney, featuring eight industry heavyweights including pioneering Australian landscape photographer Ken Duncan, fine art photographer Alexia Sinclair, and celebrity portrait photographer Gary Heery who has shot celebrities…

If there was ever an author who had the ability to paint a picture with his prose it’s Tom Rachman. In his latest novel, The Italian Teacher, Rachman puts together a complex and often lyrical study of a man who has grown up in the shadows of his artist father’s genius. The result is a…

Now well-established amongst Sydney’s bacon-loving diners, Cuckoo Callay’s Bacon Ooze Festival is back with an entirely new menu for the fourth consecutive year. You’ve got until the last week of June to head along to either (or both, do both) the popular café’s Newtown or Surry Hills outposts and dig into a specially created menu…

Situated on the third floor of 5 star hotel Pullman Quay Grand, Hacienda’s old world Cuban charm and prime location have made it the perfect spot for an evening cocktail whilst marvelling at Sydney’s stunning harbour views. The luxe vista bar has recently revamped its distinctly Cuban menu thanks to award winning head chef Joshua…

On Friday night, the art space otherwise known as Oxford Arts Factory in Sydney was busy and buzzing for the Mess album launch tour for The Hard Aches, the two-piece from Adelaide. Forgetting how bad parking was in Darlinghurst but playing it off as being fashionably late, I dragged my two friends along to the…

After fifteen years and (soon-to-be) six albums, you would be hard-pressed to find anyone disagreeing that Parkway Drive are Australia’s metal kings. In the lead up to the group’s sixth album Reverence, frontman Winston McCall is excitable. Partly due to the vegan sandwiches we are eating, but also due to the discussion about the variance between…

The last ten years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been building up to this, Avengers Infinity War, and this film is nothing short of a non-stop juggernaut of a blockbuster that refuses to hold back its punches. Strap yourselves in because this may turn into a blithering emotional crazed over-analysed mess… but I promise…

What do you get when you combine a great music festival, 3 great chefs and some great food? An ammmazing event, that is Primmmavera. Following the success of the Barcelonian music festival, Primavera Sound is back and experimenting new ways of eating, introducing its newest gastronmic proposal Primmmavera, headed by renowned chefs Diego Guerrero, Eduardo ‘Lalo’ García and Douglas…

It’s the weekend of the Oscars. There’s a buzz in the air as I check into the InterContinental Century City with ease – and just a slight delay as they finish preparing my room, which was unexpected considering my early morning arrival (common for Australian travellers). The hotel has a definite sense of glamour as…

Yukon Blonde are back! Heading back into the studio with Tony Hoffer to record album Number Four in Critical Hit, the Canadians have produced some of their best yet, if new single “Love The Way You Are” is anything to go by. This is the first material since 2015’s On Blonde album was released and sees Yukon Blonde…

“Your Orbit” brought Ecca Vandal together with Sampa The Great for one collaboration we didn’t know we had wanted so badly. Fusing confidence with fiery rhythms and lyricism, both artists combined their own unique flair to make a track that espouses female empowerment and a sick throwback vibe with the official music video. Using Sydney as their base,…

Earlier this month, Melbourne’s Shiva and The Hazards released their debut EP Future Cult Classics – a record rich in groove and nods to psych-rock classics of decades gone by. With their single “East India Empress”, Shiva and The Hazards embrace some serious throwback vibes, further exploring mesmerising sound and visuals with their recently released music video….

With films like Sex, Lies and Videotape and King of the Hill, Steven Soderbergh is known to be one of the greatest filmmakers to come from independent cinema. But he became a bigger name when he ventured into commercial filmmaking with crime films like Out of Sight, The Limey and the Ocean’s film series. Since then,…

Breath follows two teenage boys, Pikelet (Samson Coulter) and Loonie (Ben Spence), growing up in a remote corner of the Western Australian coast. Hungry for discovery, the pair form an unlikely friendship with Sando (Simon Baker), a mysterious older surfer and adventurer, who pushes the boys to take risks that will have a lasting and…

Chappaquiddick is a piercing reexamination of the true events surrounding the most difficult seven days of Senator Ted Kennedy’s career when he drove off a bridge on July 18, 1969, ending the life of his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne, a promising political strategist who had worked on his brother Bobby Kennedy’s presidential campaign the year…

Tremendously attractive and tasteful, Hotel F6 is a boutique in Helsinki well worth paying attention to. The popular hotel opened around two years ago and has since been one of the most booked properties in the area, not just for the refined, youthful spirit but also it’s remarkable location: tucked away quietly in the middle…

Berlin, 1929. A car is pulled from the Landwehr Canal with a mutilated corpse at the wheel. Detective Inspector Gereon Rath, newly arrived from Cologne, is on the case, stepping outside his jurisdiction and onto a few toes in the process. His search sends him deep into the seedy underworld of Weimar Berlin, where drug…

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of KFC in Australia, the behemoth fast-food chain will be posted up at Overseas Passenger Terminal in Sydney this Friday 27th April. Starting from 12pm on the day, they’ll surely be attracting some pretty crazy queues because they are giving away free fried chicken. Understandably, KFC Australia are expecting thousands…

Canberra brewing company Capital Brewing Co. will be unveiling a brand new beer for Groovin’ The Moo punters this weekend – the Royal Brew, a 6% Blood Orange New England IPA for UK duo Royal Blood, who are playing the festival as part of their biggest ever tour of Australia, which kicks off today, April…

The capital of Finland may be better known for efficient and eye-catching design, jovial saunas and superb produce, as opposed to Europe’s most quintessential tourist attractions, but the city also plays host to one of the continent’s most increasingly sought after annual music and arts festivals. The acclaim regularly surrounding Flow Festival speaks volumes for…

Debuting on the Australian iTunes Charts at Number 1, Hayley Kiyoko is consistently proving that she is a force to be reckoned with, and her latest video – “Curious” – is no different. Off her debut album Expectations, which features hit R&B artist Kehlani, the beautifully shot video has garnered almost 8 million views in under 2 months….

Academy Award winner Charlize Theron stars in Tully, the anticipated new comedy-drama from the Academy Award nominated director of Juno and Up in the Air, Jason Reitman. When Marlo is gifted a night nanny by her brother, she is hesitant to the extravagance at first, but soon comes to form a unique bond with the thoughtful,…

With Gurrumul, director Paul Damien Williams has created a striking and emotive portrait of one of Australia’s greatest musical talents – Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu. But more than that, Gurrumul also affords us all a glimpse into the cultural life and traditions of the Yolngu people in North Eastern Arnhem Land, in what are some of…

With high replay value and some clever pacing, Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson have transposed their West End play Ghost Stories to the big screen with a refreshing eye for originality, spinning a grand three-part horror anthology into one thoroughly entertaining and unpredictable film that never stops subtly building towards its tremendous finale. And that’s…

Honour and Bollywood Downunder were both announced this week at a gala function held in Mumbai, India, as two brand new Australian films, as part of the launch of the 2018 Asia International Engagement Program, an initiative of The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). Honour is produced by Jannine Barnes and co-produced by Anuya…

The 20th South Australian Film Festival was held on Friday to celebrate the achievements of its peers, with the sold out gala event being hosted by Mat Kesting. Sara West’s critically acclaimed short film Mutt led the charge with four awards, for Best Directing (Sara West), Best Male Performance (Oscar Redding), Best Female Performance (Jordan…

Following the wildly popular Netflix documentary series Wild Wild Country, comes two brand new true crime original documentary series, in Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist, and brand new episodes of the critically acclaimed series The Staircase, which will expand upon the exisiting original ten episodes. The Staircase will premiere…

Streaming service Netflix has recently released global first look images from Cary Fukunaga’s directing debut for the upcoming exclusive series, Maniac. Starring Superbad duo Emma Stone and Jonah Hill, Maniac follows the story of two strangers partaking in a mind-bending pharmaceutical trial that inevitably goes awry. Sally Field (Mrs. Doubtfire), Justin Theroux (The Leftovers), Julia Garner (Ozark) and Jemima Kirke (Girls) co-starring,…

The average woman is said to criticise herself around eight times each day. It is in this headspace and society that a rom-com like I Feel Pretty exists. The film had the best of intentions and tries to tackle some complex topics like how hard we women can be on ourselves and the feelings of…

Iconic Australian luggage and bag company Crumpler are heading to a galaxy far far away with a limited edition collaboration with the global entertainment franchise Star Wars and it will be landing on, you guessed it, May the Fourth 2018 (aka Star Wars Day). The series will feature eight difference pieces of bag and tech…