Month: June 2021

QT Hotels & Resorts launch their very own riesling in collaboration with Seppeltsfield Wines

They’ve already created their own gin in collaboration with Four Pillars, now the personality-led QT Hotels & Resorts have gone and made their very own white wine. In partnership with Seppeltsfield Wines, QT have mined the iconic Quelltaler Vineyard and come up with the QT Riesling. Available exclusively across QT’s signature restaurants and bars in…

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Sea of Thieves: A Pirate’s Life Preview: You’re full of Tall Tales, Sparrow

This week Sea of Thieves will launch A Pirate’s Life, one of the game’s most impactful updates ever. The update, which launches in tandem with its Season Three content drop, is a set of five new Tall Tales all centred around Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Tall Tales are the Sea of Thieves version…

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First Impressions: Kevin Can F**k Himself is one of the season’s most original offerings

When Kevin Can F**k Himself begins you’d be forgiven for worrying that Annie Murphy, so great as the vapid Alexis Rose in Schitt’s Creek, has drastically reduced herself to playing the stereotypical put-upon wife in the all-too familiar sitcom set-up of schlubby husband acts like a man-child and gets away with it because he’s endearing,…

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Film Review: Love Spreads is a contained drama uplifted by winning performances

As most musicians can attest, the hopeful critical and commercial success of your debut album ultimately means very little if your sophomore record under-delivers.  Such is the dilemma for Glass Heart, the fictional girl group at the centre of Jamie Adams‘ familiar-feeling Love Spreads. Seeming personal vendettas, the strain of writer’s block, and the clashing…

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Tijuana Cartel

Track by Track: Tijuana Cartel take us through their new album Acid Pony

Earlier this month Gold-Coast based electronic dance band Tijuana Cartel dropped their latest album, Acid Pony. It’s a tantalising mix of a range of influences, whilst remaining guitar-driven with a danceable vibe. There is some psychedelia with grooves that never end, mean fat beats, and also some sweet vocals. It keeps shifting and changing, but…

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Vermont

Melbourne’s Vermont take us behind the scenes of filming the music video for “Erased”

Last month Victorian outfit Vermont released their first track of 2021, “Erased”. This followed on from their well-received self-titled EP which dropped last year. They’ve amped up their sound in a grittier sonic direction, with the familiar alt-rock and some electronica elements threaded throughout. They might have cranked things up, but there is still a…

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Rift Apart

Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart Review: A preview of the generation to come

As a gamer in his late thirties, Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart makes me wish time travel was real. I’d rush back to find my 15-year-old self, show him these visuals and watch his brain meltdown in real-time. Previously on Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart is the sixteenth entry in the Ratchet & Clank series…

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Chelsea Warner

Guest Playlist: Chelsea Warner’s top 10 “Drama” playlist suggestions for songs to plot revenge/be petty to

Chelsea Warner is a Sydney-based producer and multi-instrumentalist. Classically trained at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, she has broad tastes, with some smooth R’n’B and alt-pop to the fore. Her latest single is “Drama”, a tune that showcases her silky voice and adroit songwriting. “Drama” is a song that many young adults will be able…

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Tribeca Film Festival Shorts Review: Enjoy is a delicate look at depression in men

A sensitive subject that manages to transcend its 18 minute containment, Saul Abraham‘s Enjoy is a delicate look at depression, specifically in men, and how difficult it is to remove your own psyche from spiralling downwards. 1 in 8 men in Australia experience some form of depression or anxiety, 3 times more common than it…

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The best truffle dishes you need to try in Sydney for Winter 2021

Truffle season has rolled around once more, with plenty of menu takeovers across Sydney showcasing unique flavour profiles including the beloved fungi. Adding a little luxury to your next night out, these lashings of truffle turn any dining experience into an indulgent one. To save the hassle and to get those taste buds tingling, we’ve…

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Win a family pass to the animated fantasy Moonbound

Thanks to Rialto Distribution we have five family passes (Admit 4) to give away to the upcoming release of the animated fantasy film Moonbound, based on one of Germany’s most popular children’s books, in Australian cinemas from June 24th, 2021, just in time for school holidays. When Peter sets out on a magical journey to rescue…

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Melbourne International Film Festival returns to cinemas for 2021 program

Building on the success of last year’s 2020 online-only festival – which had the largest audience reach in their history – The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) will afford its largest platform to date, with the 2021 festival presented as a hybrid with both digital and physical access. Returning August 5th-22nd, MIFF 2021’s packed program…

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Film Review: Luca is a love story at its core that celebrates individuality

On the surface Luca appears to be one of the more slight Pixar entrants.  A studio that is known for its near-perfect track record, there’s a certain narrative around the brand that seems to paint any of their films that doesn’t quite reach the emotional highs of an Up or an Inside Out as a second-tier…

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Papa J’s is Cronulla’s new lounge bar inspired by old-world glitz & glamour

While Sydney’s been getting plenty of new bars this year, building up a strong post-2020 scene that feels refreshing and exciting, not much new has popped up outside of the typical haunts. Cronulla muscles into the scene with the launch of a new art deco bar called Papa J’s. Part of a small family that…

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Malibu Rising

Book Review: Malibu Rising is a dreamy new addition to the Taylor Jenkins Reid universe

One of this year’s most highly anticipated releases, Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid hit stores this month. Loosely linked to both of TJR’s previous smash hits, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones and the Six, Malibu Rising continues her theme of exploring the inner lives of the rich and famous; showing us what is really going…

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Film Review: Fast & Furious 9 knows that too much is never enough

As melodramatic and as nonsensical as one would expect from a series that defies the laws of physics as freely as it does whilst waxing lyrical on the importance of family, Fast & Furious 9 (or F9 as it’s being marketed) is the type of ludicrous, high-octane fluff designed for the biggest of screens. Another…

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Hayley Mary

Album of the Week: Hayley Mary – The Drip (2021 EP)

Less than 18 months since releasing the exemplary The Piss, The Perfume EP, Hayley Mary has returned with The Drip, a seven-track EP that will continue to assert her place as one of the leading Australian vocalists and musicians. More than a decade since first breaking through as the leader of The Jezabels, Hayley Mary’s…

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Inklines

Inklines’ favourite Sydney hang spots that people should get behind post-COVID

Sydney outfit Inklines are enjoying a strong start to 2021, with the release of singles “Blossom” and more recently “All Gone”. Both are from a forthcoming EP due later this year.  With new music comes shows, and with the re-opening of Sydney post-COVID still ongoing, the band have put together a choice list of their…

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The 2021 Barunga Festival was a richly rewarding immersive cultural experience

The 2021 edition of the Barunga Festival was run over the June long weekend seemingly against all the odds. For those unfamiliar, Barunga is a small indigenous community approximately eighty km southeast of Katherine in the Northern Territory. It’s about four hours drive from Darwin. The festival weekend is the only time in the year…

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Tribeca Film Festival Review: Ultrasound is a deliberately off-kilter horror/sci-fi hybrid

To claim nothing is as it seems in Rob Schroder‘s Ultrasound would be a vast understatement.  Requiring significant patience and understanding of its components, this horror/science-fiction hybrid begins on one disturbing note before unravelling into something far more psychologically mysterious. It all opens rather straightforward, however off-kilter, with Glen (Vincent Kartheiser) driving home one night…

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JBL PartyBox 310 Review: Pure, powerful, and absolutely worth it

JBL have redefined big, booming Bluetooth speakers with the PartyBox 310. That much is clear as you can turn on this mammoth, booming device which is now one of the most powerful Bluetooth speakers on the market, and justifies the huge asking price with a similar sized performance. Design If you’re familiar with the still-young…

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Chris Commerford

Exclusive Single Premiere: The Chris Commerford Band “Sugar” (2021)

The Chris Commerford Band hails from the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. This five-piece soul-infused band is about to launch another heart-grabbing tune, this time in the form of “Sugar” and we are thrilled to have the first listen before its release on Friday. This single deals with infatuation, falling hard for someone and trying to…

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Urban Expat Living in Australia & New Zealand: 6 Things You Must Know

Australia is a true nation of immigrants. According to data collected by the Australian Parliament, an estimated 28.2 percent of the country’s population was overseas-born in 2015. That is very nearly one in three Australians. With approximately 27.4 percent of its population born overseas in 2018, according to Stats NZ, New Zealand is nearly as…

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Interview: Sung Kang on his return to the Fast & Furious franchise; “It’s very humbling”

Despite supposedly meeting his maker at the end of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Sung Kang‘s fan favourite character Han Lue is back in action for Fast & Furious 9.  Reuniting with director Justin Lin and Fast family patriarch Vin Diesel, Kang’s return to the franchise has been shrouded in mystery. As the…

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Gang of Youths

Track of the Week: Gang of Youths “the angel of 8th ave.” (2021)

At long last Gang Of Youths are making their highly and hotly anticipated return with their new single “the angel of 8th ave.” Released today, the single is the first taste of new music from the band since their successful 2017 album Go Farther In Lightness.  The band have undergone a few changes in those…

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Breath of the Wild 2

First look at The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 gameplay is here

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2. The trailer Nintendo’s E3 Direct audience held their breath for, hoping to see. After its Zelda Direct earlier in the year left the community cold, Nintendo’s E3 drop couldn’t disappoint. And it didn’t. Franchise lead Eiji Aonuma appeared to introduce a number of Zelda products —…

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Advance Wars Switch

Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp revives beloved series on Switch

Perhaps the second biggest surprise of Nintendo’s E3 Direct presentation was Advance Wars is coming to the Switch. Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is not a new title, but instead a ground-up remake of the classic Game Boy Advance strategy titles. It will be the first new title in the series since 2008’s Advance Wars: Dark…

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Metroid Dread

Metroid Dread returns series to its 2D sci-fi horror roots

One of the biggest surprise announcements during this morning’s E3 Nintendo Direct was Metroid Dread. It’s a brand new, 2D Metroid game starring series heroine Samus Aran that leans into the series’ original horror roots. Dread by name and dread by nature, the game sees Samus working her way through a facility patrolled by hunter-killer robots….

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Mario Party Superstars

Mario Party Superstars collects the series’ best boards and games

Mario Party Superstars is a collection of the franchise’s greatest hits. Nintendo says the game stacked full of fan-favourite boards and minigames. What does that truly mean? We’ll tell you. It means this game has undergone rigorous community testing to ensure every minigame is a friendship ender, guaranteed. The Mario Party series is a competitive…

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Kazuya Smash Bros

E3 2021: Tekken‘s Kazuya coming to Super Smash Bros Ultimate

The first announcement off the rank at this morning’s Nintendo E3 Direct was that Tekken mainstay Kazuya is coming to Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Tekken developer Bandai Namco was one of the primary devs on Smash Ultimate, and hasn’t had many of its own characters in the game so far. Kazuya joins Pacman as the…

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