The third day of Beyond the Valley seemed to go off without a hitch, regardless of the misinformation and rumours floating around the internet. It meant that there was an interesting atmosphere floating amongst the revellers, caught between a strange sense of angst and excitement for the main stage acts slated for the evening, namely…
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The amount of film adaptations of Little Women has been vast – the most recent one only came out in 2018 – but the reason this beloved source material is still relevant today is because of how timeless the story is. Despite the period setting, the story shines light on prescient and relevant themes such as…
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British director Guy Ritchie has had an interesting career trajectory over the years. He started off with his calling card film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; a crime comedy that put him on the map thanks to his humour poking fun at geezery [sic] gangsters in Britain, the extreme political incorrectness and his energetic…
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The last decade of cinema has brought with it some favourites you might have missed along the way. Here are 20 films you need to discover (or re-discover) from 2010 to 2019. Submarine (UK, 2010) Richard Ayoade‘s directorial debut. Adapted from Joe Dunthorne’s 2008 novel of the same name, Submarine follows the story of the…
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Known for its beautiful sweeping valley, green hills and exotic stage designs, Beyond The Valley’s sixth iteration started off the second day of the festival with a whimper and then a bang as the rising heat and music fused for a memorable day. The constant heat and wait for festival entry seemed to frustrate guests,…
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In no particular order, we asked our contributors to share their favourite gigs of 2019. Here’s what they had to say about the gigs that stood out for them in 2019: BRUCE BAKER Iggy Pop at Bluesfest (Easter Long Weekend) I’d seen him at the BDO in 2011 and was disappointed. His performance at Bluesfest…
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Last month I flew from New York City to Sydney, via Honolulu, with Hawaiian Airlines, who celebrated their 90th birthday last month. I’ve already written about how strong of an option the route is for those who can’t sleep on planes, but today I wanted to delve into the experience of upgrading your ticket from an…
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You don’t think of Trans-Atlantic airlines as being ones where you don’t get a complimentary meal on board. But sure enough, there are plenty that don’t offer the service. Most of them are branded as “Budget Carriers”, however, like Norwegian Air, who fly out of the U.S. East Coast to the UK and Europe. Others,…
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Lynne Truss is an author with many feathers to her (detective’s) cap. She is the renowned grammarian who wrote Eats, Shoots & Leaves as well as a journalist by trade. Her latest release is The Man That Got Away, her second crime novel. It’s another offbeat book starring some bumbling Bobbies, Brighton Belles and British bandits….
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With the conclusion of Game of Thrones, it was inevitable that mythical, semi-medieval source material with an established following would be pushed by networks and studios alike, hoping to be adopted by its worldwide fanbase hungry for more. The Witcher ticked all those boxes; this time being both a successful book series, and a much…
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Situated a five minute walk from 42nd Street in Times Square, on the corner of 36th Street and 7th Avenue, is the world’s largest hotel in Marriott’s boutique chain, Moxy Hotel. Moxy Times Square is one of four of the brand in New York City (also Downtown, Chelsea and the East Village), and opened in…
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For a book that attempts to celebrate the magical power of the medium, The Girl Who Reads on the Metro is certainly underwhelming. Although written by a prolific French author, the results appear lost in translation. What could have been an exciting and energetic meditation on the restorative power of these delightful things, is instead,…
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Spent big over the Christmas holiday? January (and early Feb) doesn’t have to be a month of not eating out at Australia’s best restaurants due to tight budgets. A new festival, which debuted earlier this year to great reception, is making it (a lot) cheaper to eat out by recruiting hundreds of restaurants across the…
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2020 is primed to be a big year for cinema, both in the realm of big-budget blockbusters and under-radar indies. Each month we’re going to be taking a look at five upcoming films that you need to see in cinemas, encouraging Aussies to get out and experience these stories on the big screen. The year…
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There are many ways to tell a story. We all have varying perspectives and world views. The Truth (La vérité) is a film that explores this notion in a smart and philosophical way. The result is a slow and gentle look at some complex human emotions. This film is written and directed by Hirokazu Koreeda…
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South Australia’s Adelaide Hills is one of the premier winemaking regions in the country and has been supplying Australians with fine quality drops for decades. Unfortunately the region has come under crises within the past few days, with many wineries obliterated by the unstoppable bushfires. With holiday season always being a busy wine-buying period across…
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Helen Garner is a Virginia Woolf fan. This is especially apparent in her latest release, Yellow Notebook: Diaries Volume 1 1978-1987. Woolf once said, “Examine for a moment an ordinary mind on an ordinary day. The mind receives a myriad impressions – trivial, fantastic, evanescent, or engraved with a sharpness of steel.” This quote amply…
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Earlier this month, I jumped on board Virgin Australia’s Boeing 777 five-times-a-week service from Melbourne to Los Angeles, and was surprised to find a number of enhancements to their Economy service – which mainly floated around the quality of their meal services. Read on to see what a VA trip across the Pacific Ocean is…
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Stoned, is a collection of images that have never been seen before by the general public. Consisting of over five hundred photographs, notes, artwork, newspaper clippings and other ephemera put together by Jo Wood documenting life behind the scenes of The Rolling Stones. Photographer and hoarder (thankfully) Jo Wood has kept thousands of polaroids and…
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In our new travel series, our resident thirty-something-going-on-five year old takes us on an adventure around the world to the best theme parks. The ones that even after we lose that childhood awe and wonder, still get the heart racing; gleefully removing us from the mundane existence that is adulthood. Along the way you’ll be…
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Fitbit are now as ambitious in the world of smart watches as they are dominators of the fitness industry. Ever since 2017’s Ionic product line started the brand who had been, up until that point, only known for fitness tracking wearables started to move towards something bigger and better. They made the mistake of trying…
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Amazon haven’t really reinvented anything with their latest line-up, which began rolling out in Australia just a few months ago. They added a brilliant LED display to their budget-friendly Echo Dot, introduced raw power with the Echo Studio, and have simply just refined and polished the standard Echo to prepare it for a stronger Alexa…
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French director Céline Sciamma is one of the best writer/directors in French Cinema working today. She specializes in coming-of-age dramas and this reviewer has been a fan of her work ever since he saw her film Tomboy. From fantastic directorial work like her directorial debut Water Lilies and her prior film Girlhood to stellar screenwriting…
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A tender coming-of-age story about a 10 year old boy learning to navigate a Nazi summer camp and fantasising about being best friends with a slapstick version of Adolf Hitler. How the hell did Taika Waititi pitch this, successfully? The Kiwi auteur seems to have made the most unlikely (and, to some, offensive) film he…
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Beach, sales, and movies. Boxing Day is wild in Australia, and some perfectly planned combination of all three activities is usually the way to go after you’ve shrugged off any Christmas Day hangovers/food comas. You’ll be lugging yourself along to the cinema at some point, so it’s best to know what you’ve got ahead of…
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Amazon claim that the Echo Dot is the best-selling speaker of all time. I haven’t looked into that, but I haven’t doubted it either. It’s ridiculously affordable, offers incredible value and looks fantastic sidling up to everyday furniture, whether that be on a bedside table or in the kitchen. Since 2015, the device has been…
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The Surface Laptop series has proven to be a big success for Microsoft, pulling them ahead when it comes to traditional clamshell laptops and placing them in direction competition with Dell and Apple. Most importantly, it has given the company a new identity in this race, and arguably won them more than a few legs….
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Sorry We Missed You is the latest film from acclaimed British director Ken Loach. Loach has made many great films over the years that delved into social realism. Great works like I, Daniel Blake, It’s a Free World…, Vera Drake, The Wind That Shakes the Barley; all examined the gritty undertakings of the British environment…
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Where smartphone photography is still bread and butter for all companies now, Google have admirably sought to refine what it means to own a smartphone in 2019. They’ve looked at the entire experience with the Google Pixel 4, which has given us some pretty cool features that should hold great influence over smartphones in 2020….
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We bring your our final Track of the Day for the year. It is only fitting that we finish with a Christmas song. Or perhaps it isn’t. Nonetheless, here goes. Enjoy the catastrophe that is Rick Sextant’s ode to the festive season, entitled “Mingle with Kringle”. Feel free to follow Rick on twitter in case…
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