Month: February 2016

Touring tips and favourite eating spots around the world with Gold Coast band Fairchild

Gold Coast indie pop band Fairchild share with AU Abroad their touring tips and favourite eating spots around the world… as well as their love of Ramen, naturally! ———- This content has recently been ported from its original home on AU Abroad and may have formatting errors – images may not be showing up, or…

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The best ways to get to Toronto, Canada from Australia (and a few travellers tips for your arrival)

This May, the annual music festival and conference Canadian Music Week will be opening its doors to the world, shining a spotlight on Australia and New Zealand, bringing with it dozens of bands and delegates from our countries up to the great city of Toronto. Why not come and join us? Over the next two…

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Hotel Review: The NYLO Dallas South Side in Dallas, Texas

The NYLO chain of hotels currently represents a fresh and modern approach to hotel accommodation, providing a range of rooms to a variety of traveller, whether it’s a family, business person or a casual visitor to the city. They have hotels in New York, New England and various spots in Texas and it’s the NYLO…

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The Langham Sydney reveals new look after massive makeover

The Langham, Sydney has been in soft launch phase since it re-opened its doors following a multi-million dollar redesign at the end of last year, and now the highly anticipated official launch of Australia’s newest five star hotel is set to take place this month… The redevelopment of the internationally designed hotel, which was purchased…

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Hotel Review: Executive Queen Room at the Wyndham San Antonio Riverwalk Hotel (San Antonio, Texas)

Situated along San Antonio’s famous Riverwalk, the Wyndham couldn’t be better located for the visiting tourist. A short walk to the city’s entertainment area and tourist hotspot The Alamo, the sizable 410 room hotel, spread over 21 floors, serves as an excellent port for both business guests, tourists and their families. As with any hotel…

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Tim Draxl (NSW) on travel, Molly, and his new stage show Once Upon Another Time.

Tim Draxl has been enchanting audiences both onscreen, for his roles in A Few Best Men, Swimming Upstream, A Place To Call Home and the new tele-movie, Molly – as well as on stage, with his one man shows, Freeway – The Chet Baker Journey and Cabaret, since the tender age of 16. Now at…

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Adelaide Fringe Festival Review: The Last Time I Saw Richard – The Bakehouse Theatre (16.02.16)

The Last Time I Saw Richard sees two people navigate the complexities and ideas surrounding the idea of a ‘non-relationship’ in a series of hotel rooms over an extended period of time. Will this chemistry April and Richard share extend outside the confines of the temporary accommodation they keep finding themselves in? Are the insecurities…

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Mr Crackles have opened a fried chicken shop in Potts Point named Thirsty Bird (Sydney)

If you live in Sydney, visit Sydney, or read about the most insanely popular food in Sydney then you know where Mr Crackles is and just how strong of a hold they have had over the cheap-eats crowd across the city. For years now, the small Oxford Street store has been pumping out their weekly…

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Sydney is getting its biggest burger festival yet with “Burgerpalooza”

Look, Sydney’s obsession with good burgers isn’t going anywhere so we may as well embrace it with a total and complete burger festival, right? That’s what Archie Saliba and Ben Kagan of Hashtag Burgers seem to believe, as next month they will be staging the city’s biggest and best ever burger festival at inner-west institution…

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Spotlight On Cronulla NSW: Exploring a refreshed and refocused dining scene

Every week it sounds like there’s something new opening in Cronulla, a reasonably isolated beachside town outside of Sydney that seems to have a dining gem around any corner. For now, they’re keeping a lot of this to themselves – but at the end of last year, we spent a weekend in Cronulla and thought…

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Tribute performances dominate the 58th annual Grammy Awards while Taylor Swift wins Album of the Year

It was a night of tributes at the 58th Grammy Awards, with some of the biggest names in music paying homage to the likes of David Bowie, B.B King. Lionel Richie (who was named “MusiCares Person of the Year”) and Motörhead’s Lemmy Kilmister. The series of dazzling and heartfelt covers remained the most memorable of the…

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DMA’s announce Australia dates for their worldwide Hills End tour

On the back of their debut album, Hills End, set to be released February 26, DMA’s have announced the Australian dates for their worldwide Hills End Album Tour. The band will tour all major capital cities over May and June. Their highly anticipated album comes after several successful singles, including their debut single ‘Delete’. Check out the…

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The Feast Fiesta street party to bring New Orleans to Palm Beach on the Gold Coast

As part of Gold Coast’s Bleach* Festival, the streets of New Orleans will be recreated at Palm Beach on the 5th of March for the Feast Fiesta street party. The festival will see performances from The Unusual Suspects, The Bella Fontes,The Hanlon Brothers and Cheap Fakes. Along with music, the festival will feature international cuisine from local restaurants and pop-up dining…

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Jordan Millar tells us what to expect from his Courtyard Sessions gig this Friday!

As we head into the third installment of this year’s Courtyard Sessions down at the Seymour Centre in Sydney, we steal some of Jordan Millar‘s time to find out more about what to be expecting from his set on Friday and what he’s currently working on. Having spent much of 2015 bringing his music to…

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Groovin The Moo is looking for local legends to get involved

This years Groovin the Moo (GTM) is looking for local legends to get involved for the 2016 festival. The festival wants to further engage local legends, artists, volunteers, providers, students, community groups, sporting clubs and much more to highlight each local regions talents. This year holds even more  initiatives for locals to get involved and be…

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Live Review: Majical Cloudz + Anatole – Newtown Social Club (08.02.16)

It is one thing to sell out your first headline gig down under and it’s another to play to a room where you have the crowd’s full, phone-free attention. Canadian duo Majical Cloudz brought their Laneway 2016 set to the intimate Newtown Social Club for what proved to be a reflection on sombre emotions dispersed…

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Music Video of the Day: DMA’s “Too Soon” (2016)

DMA’s are one of those bands who can do so much without looking like they’ve done much at all. In their lyricism, some brilliant narratives are crafted yet a no bells and whistles/smoke and mirrors approach to their brand of Britpop-licked indie music has made the Sydney group relatable to everyone in some way or…

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Win a double pass to the biggest Australian festival of the year: Bluesfest Byron Bay!

Every year, Easter in Australia means one thing for music fans: Bluesfest. The annual Byron Bay festival bringing some of the finest acts from around Australia and the world to the Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm just outside of Byron – and this year the lineup is without question their finest in years. From the contemporary…

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Live Review: Gideon Bensen + ADKOB + Service Bells – Newtown Social Club, Sydney (13.02.16)

Sydney may be locked out, but we continue to create some of the best music in the country, as proven by the three bands who took to the stage at the Newtown Social Club on Saturday night. The night celebrated the release of Cold Cold Heart, the debut EP from Gideon Bensen, a local artist who is best…

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Festival Review: Laneway Festival – Footscray Community Arts Centre, Melbourne (13.02.16)

Melbourne turned on a perfect summer’s day as a sold out Laneway Festival crowd descended on the banks of the Maribyrnong River for what was nothing less than a spectacular day of music. With a lineup on show sporting the likes of Flume, CHVRCHES, and Purity Ring to name only a few, there was little…

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Album Review: Simple Plan – Taking One For The Team (2016 LP)

It has been argued, with varying levels of success, that Simple Plan deviated too far over the past couple of albums. Truth be told, they’ve always clung to the pop flank of pop-punk. Yet when irreverent lyrics and copious amounts of tomfoolery were replaced with love songs and seriousness, punk purists abandoned ship. But Simple…

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Star Wars: Episode VIII starts filming in London; announces cast additions

The filming of Star Wars: Episode VIII has begun with principle photography at Pinewood Studios in London. We left off Star Wars: The Force Awakens with Rey taking her first steps, and now her journey continues with Finn, Poe and Luke Skywalker in the next chapter of the continuing Star Wars saga. Star Wars: Episode VIII, which is written and directed by Rian…

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New trailer drops for Jeff Nichols’ anticipated sci-fi thriller Midnight Special

The second trailer for the anticipated new film from Jeff Nichols (Mud, Take Shelter) has been released, giving us more insight into a film that looks to be as thrilling as it is intimate. The trailer shows pieces of intense and gripping moments with emotional performances from Kirsten Dunst, Michael Shannon and Joel Edgerton.  Midnight Special tells the story of…

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Watch the Jimmy Kimmel Live audience react to a clip of Sacha Baron Cohens newest film Grimsby

Sacha Baron Cohen’s new film Grimsby is so ludicrously offensive, that clips from it can’t be shown on national TV. At least that’s what Jimmy Kimmel and his network ABC think. How do we they get around this? With some very clever marketing. Cohen appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live recently to promote his new film…

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Win a double pass to The Iris’ private preview screening of The Witch at Adelaide’s Palace Nova Cinema

On March 17th, Adelaide’s Palace Nova cinemas will be hosting an exclusive season of the highly anticipated and acclaimed horror film The Witch – and The Iris readers have the chance to see the film before everyone else. We’ll be hosting a very special preview screening of the film on 2nd March at 6.30pm! The…

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Australian Box Office Report: Deadpool slaughters records at home and around the world

Well how about that Fox? I’m guessing the big wigs wished they did this years ago but better late than never. Marvel’s most unadulterated superhero, Deadpool, has made a mockery out of box office records everywhere. As I like to do with big openings, I’m going to hit you all with some numbers. First off…

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Creators of Unfriended invites artists to participate in the Open Source Screenshare Workshop at SXSW

Filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov and his production company Bazelevs, known for hit thriller Unfriended, a film that introduced “screenshare” storytelling, a verité storytelling set entirely on screens of digital devices, is inviting new artists to participate in a Open Source Screenshare Workshop at SXSW Film Festival. Bazelevs are looking for submissions from filmmakers around the world…

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Supanova Gold Coast & Melbourne tickets on sale; Dawn Wells (Gilligan’s Island) and Eka Darville (Jessica Jones) set to appear

Tickets have now been released for Australia’s biggest celebration of pop-culture, the Supanova Pop Culture Expo for Gold Coast and Melbourne which is set to take place over two weekends in April. In addition, more talent has been announced including Gilligan’s Island favourite Dawn Wells, and Jessica Jones star Eka Darville, and Teen Wolf’s Daniel…

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TV Review: The X-Files Season 10 Episode 4, “Home Again” (USA, 2016)

One of the strengths The X-Files has had has always been in bringing the occasionally innocuous things in our lives into a horror style setting. Writer and producer Glen Morgan has had his hand in a few of these particular episodes with The X-Files, such as ‘Blood’ the episode where a man kept receiving subliminal…

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Scott Rudin’s Purity bringing Daniel Craig to cable

The Scott Rudin-produced adaption of Jonathan Franzen’s novel Purity is reportedly close to finding a home with Showtime, with James Bond star Daniel Craig attached to play a major role. According to Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva, the series is currently being shopped out to cable and streaming services with Showtime looking like the most likely to take it on….

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