Win a JBL Clip 2 or JBL Charge 3 portable Bluetooth speaker just in time for the Summer!

JBL, the pioneer of audio, has two epic portable Bluetooth speakers for readers of AU Review to win. The first, JBL Charge 3 – the ultimate, high-powered portable Bluetooth speaker with powerful stereo sound and a power bank all in one package. The JBL Charge 3 takes the party everywhere, poolside or in the rain,…

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You can now stream your Spotify tunes straight to Sonos speakers without ever leaving the app

Sonos’ smartphone app is pretty neat. It lets you control your Sonos speakers and what is playing on them all from one convenient location. How many times, however, have you been browsing Spotify in its own app, forgetting that it isn’t connected to your Sonos speakers? If you’re like is, you do this at least…

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The X-Men Universe hits the small screen as Marvel & FX’s Legion gets Australian release details

A new Marvel series is going to be hitting our TV screens next year – but this one is part of the ever-growing Marvel Universe. Rather, it’s an extension of Fox’s X-Men series, in the new series Legion, which is created by Noah Hawley, who also brought Fargo to the small screen. Based on the…

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Video Games Review: Dead Rising 4 (Xbox One, 2016) is dumb as hell and that’s exactly why we love it

For an industry that spends so much of its time focused on getting things done in time for the Christmas season, video games themselves do not seem to give much of a shit about Christmas as a setting. Dead Rising 4 is one of only a handful of games I can think of in recent years…

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Video Games Review: Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection (Xbox One, 2016) is not the comprehensive retrospective Ezio deserves

As is well documented on this website by now, I am an avowed Assassin’s Creed fanboy. Where others have abandoned the series due to a lack of innovation after the revelatory experience of Black Flag or the unmitigated disaster that was Unity, I’ve stuck with it. I made it through Assassin’s Creed 3. I even played those side-scrolling Chronicles titles nobody…

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Australian Box Office Report: Fantastic Beasts is 3rd time lucky at number one spot

There must be an abundance of bottled good fortune (or Felix Felicis for the HP nerds) sent to the Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them cast and crew – as it’s remained at no. 1 at the box office for the 3rd week in a row, earning another $3.25 million, while its international tally crosses US$600m.  As the…

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Win a double pass to So Frenchy So Chic In The Park

Friends, music, food and wine: So Frenchy So Chic brings the simple pleasures together for one glorious summer’s day. You’re invited to a party and a picnic in the park celebrating life and culture, the frenchy way. This is the sixth year so frenchy has taken over the grounds of Werribee Park Mansion outside Melbourne…

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KFC have created a scented candle that smells like fried chicken for some reason

“Why not make it smell like Fried Chicken”. No they are not the famous last words from KFC founder Colonel Harland David Sanders, but the reasoning behind a very odd product, spoken by CMO Kevin Hochman. It’s what he told Business Insider when approached about the very curious release of (extra crispy) fried chicken scented

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Review: The Buena’s Vista Bar – Mosman (Sydney)

Long-standing pub The Buena in Mosman has revealed its new look after an $8 million refurbishment collaborating with SJB Interiors and Tess Regan Designs. A redevelopment which not only includes Culinary Ambassador Guillaume Brahimi bringing over an extension of his famous Bistro Moncur, but a big revamp to the venue’s pub food focused menu. Upstairs…

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Review: QT Hotel’s Pascale Bar and Grill – CBD (Melbourne)

With its industrial-chic interior design inspired by the ‘Paris end’ of Collins Street, QT Melbourne’s signature restaurant, Pascale Bar and Grill feels almost tailor made for Melbourne foodies who love a fashionable and luxurious fine-dining experience. Everything in the dimly-lit restaurant; from the stuffed peacock, the grand staircase adorned with a plush sapphire-blue carpet, right…

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The Ultimate Australian Christmas Gift Guide

Somewhere in the world right now an overly enthusiastic music publicist is preparing a press release to let you know that yes, Michael Buble has a new release coming, and those dulcet tones could only mean one thing: Christmas! The traditional gift-giving time of the year is but a few weeks away and those who…

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On the Shelf: Casamigos (Blanco)

Celebrity-owned spirits are often met with cynicism, especially since there are so many of them in market nowadays. They sell though, penetrating the market quite impressively, and ever since Puff Daddy saw some incredible success with Ciroc it seems every month we’re hearing about big names attached to different spirits. Most seem just a quick…

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Your boy Flume just scored two Grammy nominations

Sydney electronic artist Flume, following a week of winning trophies at the ARIAs and the National Live Music Awards, just picked up two nominations for America’s biggest music prize: The Grammy. The nominations are for his album Skin, which scored a nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album and his track “Never Be Like You” featuring Kai,…

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Music Video of the Day: Hollow Everdaze “Still Ticking” (2016)

Hollow Everdaze this week dropped the visuals for their single “Still Ticking”, directed by James Thompson and filmed over an impressive eight locations throughout Victoria. Capturing the haze of summers gone by, it’s a great accompaniment to the band’s latest song, taken from their upcoming debut album Cartoons. The band has been kicking around for a little while…

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Ryan Adams treats Sydney to a surprise, intimate show, previewing his new album Prisoner

Last night, American troubadour Ryan Adams treated an intimate room of invited guests at Sydney’s Factory Theatre to what was only his second performance with a brand new backing band. The gig – which was serving as a warm up for their first official performance at the Enmore Theatre tonight – saw Adams and his…

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Helmet returning to Australia in April; classic LP Betty to be performed in full!

Having held it down and held it down for well over two decades now, Helmet are soon to be on their way back to Australia. Celebrating their iconic Betty album, not to mention their praised newy in Dead to the World, the group will be performing the former in full, while treating fans to other favourites and some tastes from…

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Festival Review: Wonderland – Kitchener Park, Perth (03.12.16)

It felt like barely yesterday that we were heading through the gates at Langely Park for a memorable festival, but already it was time for the next transformed iteration of the Wonderland festival experience. Moved to the lush forest of Kitchener Park in Subiaco, it really did take on an enchanted vibe as the crowd…

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When ‘internal issues’ become public: Sticky Fingers and the issue of accountability

As we’ve seen this week, Sticky Fingers announced an ‘indefinite hiatus’ to follow their summer festival commitments, due to ‘internal issues’ within the band. Since that initial announcement, frontman Dylan Frost issued a statement addressing his battles with addiction and mental health issues. Undoubtedly, the ‘official’ comments were spurred on following singer Thelma Plum’s take to Facebook, detailing…

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Live Review: A Day On The Green ft. Garbage + The Temper Trap + The Preatures + Tash Sultana + Adalita – Bimbadgen Winery, Hunter Valley (03.12.16)

A Day on the Green is a unique touring event, halfway between a music festival and a classy day out among the grapes. There’s something poetic about the way punters begin the day with picnic blankets and cheese platters and end it dancing with strangers in a drunken haze. Saturday afternoon in the Hunter Valley,…

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Reflecting on 2016 and chatting music history with Son Little

It’s about 4:30pm on a Sunday and as I rise to meet Aaron Livingston, aka Son Little, in the foyer of a five star hotel in Adelaide, a very officious hotel concierge begins pointing at him shouting, “You cannot drink that in here sir!” Before long, I realise he’s referring to the beer in Aaron’s…

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Win a copy of Rosehaven Season 1 on DVD

Written and created by real-life best mates and comedians Luke McGregor (Luke Warm Sex, Utopia) and Celia Pacquola (Utopia, The Beautiful Lie), Rosehaven is a new eight-part comedy series set in rural Tasmania and now available to own this Christmas. Luke McGregor is Daniel McCallum, who returns to his rural Tasmanian hometown, Rosehaven, to help…

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Win a copy of Jack Taylor Season 3 on DVD

Based on the bestselling crime thrillers by Ken Bruen, Jack Taylor is an Irish ex-cop, on the wrong side of forty who has become a finder with a sharp tongue and a soft heart. He takes on the cases The Guards won’t touch, no matter how hopeless. He’s pig stubborn. He defends the lost and…

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Win a double pass to see Red Dog: True Blue

If you’re not familiar with Red Dog, the original film is the story of a charismatic kelpie who roamed the West Australian outback in the 1970s, hitching rides, adopting people and uniting communities along the way. The original film was beloved by Australians of all ages. Red Dog: True Blue is a prequel set in…

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Adventure Time is getting a live show and it’s coming to Australia!

For the very first time, Adventure Time fans will be treated to an interactive, live audio-visual event featuring members from the all-star cast of the hit Cartoon Network series. Adventure Time LIVE will see cast members from the show take part in a moderated discussion, live readings of classic scenes from the Emmy Award-nominated series, audience Q&A…

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Win a copy of Secret City: Season 1 on DVD

Featuring an all-star cast including two-time Academy Award® nominee Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook,Animal Kingdom), Anna Torv (Deadline Gallipoli, Fringe), Alan Dale (NCIS, Entourage) and Dan Wyllie (Offspring, The Code), Secret City is an Australian political thriller about a journalist who uncovers a secret city of interlocked conspiracies, putting innocent lives in danger and threatening…

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Monster Fest Film Review: The Autopsy of Jane Doe (USA, 2016) is a must see for the non-squeamish

The best thing I can say about The Autopsy of Jane Doe, “Best International Feature” at this years Monster Fest, is that it is a welcome, fresh new take on the horror genre… until it isn’t. Jane Doe follows Tommy and his son Austin (Brian Cox & Emile Hirsch, respectively) who work in a family run morgue beneath their home….

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Hacksaw Ridge and Rake among first winners of 6th AACTA Awards

Although the 6th Annual AACTA Awards are to be held on Wednesday, a special luncheon yesterday saw 30 categories release their winners. Mel Gibson‘s acclaimed war biopic Hacksaw Ridge, has 13 nominations across the awards, including Best Film and Best Director, and yesterday took home four: Best Editing, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography and Best…

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TV Review: Ash vs Evil Dead continues its stellar run with Season 2, Episode 9 “Home Again” (USA, 2016)

Holy fan service Batman! What an episode! After a weeks break the streak continues as the second season of Ash vs Evil Dead continues to churn out a host of stellar episodes. But none of them are quite as special as this one. The crew return but are unfortunately much more disheveled than when we…

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The Iris’ Weekly Australian TV Picks: 6 – 12 December

From Lucifer to Vampires, fashion shows to great Australian comedies, this is a look ahead to your week on free-to-air and Foxtel: Tuesday, 6th December The A Word, BBC First, 8:30pm AEST The Hughes family reunite to celebrate Joe’s 5th birthday. But tension ensues when Eddie and Nicola point out that the boy has communication…

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TV Review: The Walking Dead Season 7 Episode 7 “Sing Me a Song” sets things up nicely for the mid-season finale

Ratings are sliding for The Walking Dead and a big chunk of viewers are sounding off on social media; while it’s far from a consensus, it’s safe to say many have been disappointed with the way this uneven season has been flowing (remember Ezekiel? You’d be forgiven for forgetting already). A stubborn insistence on overlong…

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