Year: 2025

igulu review

The iGulu F1 Pro is a big step in the right direction for home brewing tech

A few years ago, when I was working at a men’s publication, we received a smart beer-maker that promised to streamline the process of home brewing. It wasn’t easy to use, signalling a tech category still finding its feet. The results were uneven, and the verdict was simple. Home-brewing machines were not quite there yet….

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Exclusive Single Premiere: Evie Williams “Heather Court” (2025)

We are super excited today to be premiering Evie Williams’ evocative new single “Heather Court”, ahead of its release this Friday, December 5. A hazy indie folk-rock daydream, the track is blessed with chilled drumming, laid-back overdriven guitars and Evie’s soft, feather-light vocals — a perfect match for the song’s meditation on the restless, shifting…

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Photo Gallery: TV On The Radio + Sam Austins – Enmore Theatre, Sydney (02.12.25)

Brooklyn art-rock shapeshifters TV On The Radio delivered one of the best gigs of 2025 leaving Sydney’s Enmore Theatre audience totally energised. Tunde Adebimpe, the magnetic lead singer, prowled the stage with the restless energy and Kyp Malone’s harmonies and guitar textures with the rest of the band adding to an emotionally charged gig. Song…

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Flight Review: United Airlines impresses with Dreamliner service across the Pacific (LAX to Sydney)

Last month, I flew on United Airlines’ Transpacific service for the first time in almost two years. This time from Los Angeles to Sydney. I’ve been flying United over the Pacific fairly regularly over the last two decades, and every time I note that the experience has continued to improve. So was that the case…

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“We feel like it’s the best piece of work that we’ve ever put out in our careers.”: Dayseeker’s Rory Rodriguez on Creature In The Black Night

As the end of the year approaches and the sun starts to make an appearance, it can only mean one thing- Good Things Festival is right around the corner. Kicking off in Melbourne this Friday, there’s no better time to catch up with one of the most exciting bands on the lineup. Dayseeker have spent…

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Film Review: Oh. What. Fun.; Michelle Pfeiffer is as luminous as she is biting in warm Christmas comedy

From the opening of Oh. What. Fun., director/writer Michael Showalter and his co-writer Chandler Baker very much express both the importance of mothers during the festive season and how, in the realms of cinematic ventures, they’re an under valued character.  As the film’s loving focal point, Claire Clauster (Michelle Pfeiffer, always a treat to see…

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Interview: Michael Showalter on his chaotic Christmas comedy Oh. What. Fun., and the “gifted comedienne” that is Michelle Pfeiffer

Come for the presents. Stay for the baggage. It wouldn’t be a Christmas comedy without some familial dysfunction, and, in 2025, the Clauster clan are delivering such in Oh. What. Fun., a new seasonal laugher from director Michael Showalter (Spoiler Alert, The Idea of You). Flipping the script on classic holiday movies to remind us…

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Kirby Air Riders is a joyfully chaotic masterpiece

Few sequels feel as miraculous, unexpected and downright delightful as Kirby Air Riders. Reviving a niche GameCube classic and transforming it into a fully fledged Switch 2 powerhouse, Nintendo and HAL have delivered something rare: a bold, wildly creative action-racer that not only honours its cult predecessor but completely redefines what a Kirby racing game…

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Photo Gallery: Doja Cat – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney (01.12.25)

Doja Cat delivered a slick, high-voltage performance on her Ma Vie World Tour at Qudos Bank Arena, proving she’s one of pop’s most unpredictable forces. Commanding the stage with effortless swagger, she bounced between razor-sharp rap flows and glossy pop hooks, turning hits like “Paint the Town Red” and “Woman” into mass singalongs. Pete Dovgan…

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Five Things we learned from Stranger Things Season 5: Volume 1

With Stranger Things entering its long-awaited final season, the first half of Season 5 wastes no time throwing fans back into the chaos of Hawkins. Over a year has passed since the town was torn open and the Upside Down spilled into reality. Hawkins is now under military lockdown, tensions are high, and Vecna’s threat…

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Book Review: Humanising the legendary nurse isn’t the only form of resurrection in Laura Elvery’s Nightingale

Florence Nightingale is a figure so well-known historically that her name has become a shorthand for describing someone virtuous and self-sacrificing in the care of others. But how much of the real woman, or indeed the period in which she lived do most people really know? In her debut novel, Brisbane-based writer Laura Elvery has…

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Film Review: Eternity is a new classic of the romantic comedy genre

There’s something rather amusing about what constitutes an “A24” movie.  There’s an expectation placed upon the studio as of late regarding the type of film it releases into theatres, and within its own genre, the A24 comedy has rarely been as wholesome as what Eternity projects.  Between the the darker fare of Sorry, Baby and…

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Interview: David Freyne on the classic inspiration behind his new romantic comedy Eternity

Eternity is an imaginative and bittersweet romantic comedy about the afterlife, where souls have one week to decide where to spend eternity. For Joan (Elizabeth Olsen) it’s a facing of an impossible choice between the man she spent her life with (Miles Teller) and her first love (Callum Turner), who died young and has waited decades…

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Forever Ends Here on their latest EP – I’m Still Trying To Find Myself

Forever Ends Here were a real moment in the early 2010s Melbourne pop-punk scene, and their 2025 return definitely wasn’t on by bingo card- but I’m here for it. While this might look like a classic comeback, the Melbourne trio are approaching things with a clean slate as they reinvent themselves through their new EP,…

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Interview: Emerging filmmaker Darcy Conlan on winning the AACTA Wake in Fright Development Initiative for his cosmic horror debut feature The Harvest

AACTA, Sanctuary Pictures, Umbrella Entertainment and the Wake in Fright Trust today announced The Harvest, written and directed by emerging filmmaker Darcy Conlan, as the 2025 recipient of the Wake in Fright Development Initiative. Conlan will receive $30,000 in funding and dedicated development support to take the project toward production; the Wake in Fright Development Initiative honours the…

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How Disneyland’s Lightning Lane Multi Pass works: Is queue cutting worth the extra cost?

In December 2021, after more than 20 years of the “FastPass” system (which this feature length documentary will tell you all about so I don’t have to), Disneyland scraped their relatively groundbreaking – if imperfect – queue cutting system, in favour of “Genie+”. The catch: putting it more in line with the add-ons offered by…

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Maho Magic Bar lights up Spiegel Haus Melbourne with the Japan’s sleight-of-hand masters

Teleportation may not be possible just yet, but Maho Magic Bar is the closest we’ve come! Situated in the newly opened Spiegel Haus Melbourne precinct, step into a bespoke space that stimulates the senses and transports you to an authentic Tokyo magic bar without ever leaving your backyard. Combining dazzling magic, classic cocktails and laughs…

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How Food Trends Influence the Way Nomads Explore New Places

Travelers who move from one region to another often treat food as a guide. They follow flavors that spark curiosity and inspire movement. Many nomads choose their next stop based on a dish they want to taste or a style of cooking they want to learn more about. As these explorers move across borders, simple…

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Blackout at 18: How Britney Spears Rewrote the Future of Pop Music

When Blackout arrived in October 2007, it felt less like an album release and more like a cultural reset. Britney Spears – the most photographed woman in the world, trapped in an aggressive media cycle – walked into one of the most turbulent years of her life and somehow delivered a record so forward-thinking that…

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Georgia Scarlett

Track by Track: Georgia Scarlett breaks down her debut album, Rhythm of Life

A new artist to the AU, Georgia Scarlett steps forward today with the publishing of her debut album, Rhythm of Life, a tender, time-shaped journey through heartbreak, healing and self-discovery. The Meanjin/Brisbane singer-songwriter leans into country-pop and folk storytelling to chart an emotional landscape shaped by change, resilience and the quiet clarity that comes with…

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New Music Discoveries 28th November: Seb Szabo + Joan & the Giants, Beth and Blue, Joe Mungovan & more

This week on our Discovery Playlist we’ve added ten new tracks in celebration of Ausmusic Month — and fittingly, every single one comes from an Australian-based artist. Leading the pack is our Track of the Week, Seb Szabo + Joan & the Giants with their joyous new single “Figure It Out”. A radiant celebration of…

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Book Review: Step into the Underworld with Nikita Gill’s verse novel Hekate

Hekate, the daughter of Titans, has never known safety. When her parents are on the losing side of war with Zeus, her mother Asteria seeks refuge in the Underworld, where Styx and Hades agree to raise Hekate. Asteria flees, pursued by Zeus and Poseidon, while Hekate’s father, the Titan Perses, is captured, locked away somewhere…

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Photo Gallery: Kaiser Chiefs + The Delta Riggs – Hordern Pavilion (27.11.25)

English indie legends Kaiser Chiefs returned to Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut album Employment and proved their debut still packs more bite than most bands’ entire careers. Lead singer Ricky Wilson bounded across the stage like a man fuelled by nostalgia and nitroglycerin, leading a crowd of old-school indie diehards…

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Margot Robbie announced as Jury President for landmark return of Tropfest 2026

Tropfest – the world’s largest short film festival – is set to make its spectacular return to Centennial Park, Sydney, on Sunday 22 February 2026, with internationally acclaimed and Academy Award nominated actor and producer Margot Robbie leading the charge as Jury President; she joins a prestigious list of fellow Australian and international celebrities, such as…

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“I had this as a daydream when I was 10… I had no idea how to get there”: Wheatus’ Brendan B. Brown celebrates 25 years of being a Teenage Dirtbag.

Brendan B. Brown still sounds faintly amazed when you ask him about the staying power of “Teenage Dirtbag.” Twenty-five years after Wheatus released their self-titled debut album, the misfit anthem is not only alive but thriving, fuelled by the viral TikTok trend of celebrities posting teenage photos of themselves, surprise covers, and a new wave…

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 provides some solid gameplay, but stumbles in its campaign

It’s no secret that the Call of Duty machine practically churns at the end of every year, working on the next annual project in hopes of moving the Modern Warfare or Black Ops series forward. Funnily enough, we got Black Ops 6 and Black Ops 7 one after the other, so it seems the next…

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Film Review: Dead of Winter; Emma Thompson is an unlikely action heroine in mature, tense thriller

Director Brian Kirk manages to set quite the tone within the first minutes of his icy thriller Dead of Winter, with Emma Thompson‘s Barb navigating the snowy environment in the isolated Minnesotan wilderness she has ventured into to spread the ashes of her recently deceased husband. The emotionality conjured through Barb’s motivation offsets the terrifying…

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Interview: Director Gurinder Chadha on reimaging a seasonal classic through a musical lens with Christmas Karma

Gurinder Chadha is one of Britain’s most distinctive filmmakers, known for telling stories that reflect the rich diversity of modern life.  She broke through internationally with Bend It Like Beckham, and has since directed a string of much-loved films, including Bride and Prejudice, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, and Blinded by the Light.  Her work is marked by warmth,…

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How Stranger Things: The First Shadow strikes the perfect balance for fans of the stage and screen

This is a spoiler-free article that was originally published 25th June 2025.  Less than 18 months after it premiered on the West End, Stranger Things: The First Shadow made its anticipated Broadway debut this April. The play is Netflix’s first production on the stage, and understandably, the production was initially met with skepticism. Could the…

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Film Review: Eleanor the Great; Scarlett Johansson’s meditation on grief is poignant and profound

One of the most poignant lines of Eleanor the Great is “Talk about the things that make you sad,” and it’s with such a notion that Scarlett Johansson‘s affecting dramedy takes it on as a throughline.  A film that so easily could have been about deception becomes something far greater and more profound, transforming itself…

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