Year: 2021

Mario Golf Super Rush

Mario Golf Super Rush will kiss that egg in July

Mario Golf Super Rush will be the next title in the long-running Mario Golf series. Announced during today’s Nintendo Direct broadcast, the game updates the series with all-new courses, powers, and characters. Like the best of Nintendo’s party-based games, Super Rush will be the perfect game to play with friends once the threat of Covid…

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The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword

The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword HD arrives in July

A remaster of The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword was not the Zelda news most hoped for from today’s Nintendo Direct. Indeed, it could be considered one of the great trolls in video game history. When series producer Eiji Aonuma appeared on screen, many thought it was finally time. After more than a year of…

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Eric Bana and The Dry director Robert Connolly to reunite for Tim Winton’s Blueblack

With The Dry fast approaching the $20 million mark at the Australian box office – now one of the most successful Australian films of all time – the appetite for local material is at an all-time high. Looking to emulate that success, The Dry director Robert Connolly is reuniting with leading man Eric Bana for…

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Smash Bros Pyra

Super Smash Bros Ultimate adds Xenoblade‘s Pyra and Mythra to roster

Today’s Nintendo Direct opened with a new Smash Bros fighter, Pyra, from the Xenoblade Chronicles series of JRPGs. Also Mythra from the same series, who will be her shadow fighter. Smash Bros fans have long lamented the game’s growing reliance on sword-based characters, and Pyra and Mythra won’t help that situation. That said, their move…

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Exploring the Family Unit in World Cinema: From Dogtooth and Volver to Minari

Cinema can be a powerful medium in transporting audiences to other worlds that are brimming with imagination and fantasy. But, it can also be a powerful way to bring audiences into the shoes of people who are dealing with issues and matters that are prescient in the real world. No matter what nationality or gender…

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A Net for Small Fishes

Book Review: An infamous Jacobean murder gets a fictional treatment in Lucy Jago’s A Net for Small Fishes

‘Today is the fourteenth day of November, 1615. I have known Frankie for nearly seven years. She is twenty-five years old and eight months pregnant. I am thirty-nine years old and about to die or be pardoned.’ You’d be forgiven for not knowing about the murder known as The Overbury Scandal. I had certainly never…

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Interview: Ahmet Zappa on new documentary Zappa and how it’s honouring the legacy of his father, Frank Zappa.

As Alex Winter’s acclaimed documentary Zappa arrives in cinemas (read our review here) to both introduce and re-establish Frank Zappa as one of the music industry’s late, great geniuses, the musician’s son – and Zappa producer – Ahmet Zappa is talking about the labour of love that is the film.  Peter Gray spoke with Ahmet…

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Bow Anderson New Wave

Interview: Bow Anderson on New Wave, songwriting and Elton John

Bow Anderson is the next biggest thing to come out of Scotland – you could say she’s the New Wave. At twenty three, she’s already familiar with hard work and setbacks, after her semi-professional trampolining career crumbled from a leg injury. It was through rehab that she found her passion (and talent) in music, singing…

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Terra Firma

Album of the Week: Tash Sultana – Terra Firma (2021 LP)

After a few years between drinks, Tash Sultana is back in 2021 with Terra Firma, the follow up to their much acclaimed and lauded album Flow State. Much like its 2018 predecessor, Terra Firma is an exploration into the soulful and trip driven escapades of Sultana’s mind and musical expertise. With all the groove driven sounds…

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Minari

Film Review: Minari is a beautiful family drama that is wholesome, relaxing and heartwarming

Minari tells the story of the Yi family, a Korean-American family that has moved from the city in California to a plot of land in rural Arkansas. The patriarch Jacob (Steven Yeun) is optimistic for the move and plans to grow fresh Korean produce and sell them to needy vendors in Dallas, Texas. His wife…

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Interview: The D.O.C. on vocal rehabilitation, Tupac and mental health

The D.O.C. is one of the most important figures in hip hop’s history. As a founding member of the G-Funk style that was popularised by Dr. Dre, NWA, Eazy-E, Outkast and Snoop Dogg, The D.O.C.’s music legacy is undeniable. From penning lyrics for the greats like Dre at 18-years-old, to writing on one of the…

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The Little Things

Film Review: The Little Things is an underwhelming disappointment; even with three Oscar winners in tow

The Little Things follows the story of Joe “Deke” Deacon (Denzel Washington), a world-weary deputy sheriff from Bakersfield, Kern County. He is called to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to collect evidence in relation to a recent murder. Most people are apprehensive of his presence due to the fact that he used to work…

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Xbox Wireless Headset

The Xbox Wireless Headset is coming to Australia in March

Modelled on its popular line of Surface Headphones, Microsoft has unveiled the Xbox Wireless Headset. Given that Microsoft wants to compete with PlayStation’s own branded cans, it’s no surprise that these cans sit in the mid-Premium tier. Indeed, at $149.95 AUD, they may be a bit cheaper than their sleek design might have indicated. Let’s…

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Celebrate Lunar New Year at New Shanghai

Lunar New Year is here and that means coming together with friends and family for a whole lot of feasting. So what better way to celebrate The Year of the Ox than with a grand banquet at New Shanghai? Feast upon a special eight course menu curated just for the Lunar New Year. Standout dishes…

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Jesa

Exclusive Video Premiere: JESA “You Before Me” (2021)

With a buoyant spring in her step, JESA, the effervescent folk-pop singer from the Northern Rivers of NSW has dropped her latest single “You Before Me”. She has craftily turned a break-up song into one of self-affirmation. It’s not maudlin, it’s totally danceable. We are thrilled today to have the video premiere of this uplifting…

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Track of the Week: Flag Duty “Twenty” (2021)

We love recommending local music that’ll have you reminiscing about the first time you read about them. Right now is one of those moments to mind-stamp for your future reflection as we put Flag Duty on your radar! Hailing from the fertile music breeding ground of Brisbane, Flag Duty combines modern and nostalgic rock with…

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Nintendo Direct in Australian times

Here’s when you can watch tomorrow’s Nintendo Direct in Australian times

A massive hour-long Nintendo Direct broadcast drops tomorrow, but when can you see it in Australian times? Don’t worry — no matter which state you’re in, we’ve got you covered.   Where can I see the new Direct? You can watch it live on the official Nintendo YouTube channel, or on Nintendo’s official Twitch channel….

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Nintendo Direct

Hour-long Nintendo Direct to drop tomorrow morning, this is not a drill

Nintendo has announced a Nintendo Direct broadcast for tomorrow, February 18, at 9am AEDT. The broadcast will feature “roughly 50 minutes of information focused on available games like Super Smash Bros Ultimate and games coming to Nintendo Switch in the first half of 2021.” The broadcast will be the first “full size” Nintendo Direct since…

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Film Review: In Search of Darkness II provides another bountiful smorgasbord for 1980’s horror fans

Two years after the first instalment, the search for darkness continues! Director David A. Weiner is back with another entry in examining horror films in the 1980’s with In Search of Darkness Part II. The first film, while very well-received (especially from yours truly), did receive some reserved criticism. One example is the lack of…

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Preview: STC’s Appropriate has all the benchmarks of great theatre

With everything that occurred in the year that was 2020, Appropriate, directed by Wesley Enoch seems, well, appropriate. Written by the American playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, the play centres around a dysfunctional American family brought together by the death of their father. As they begin to sort through his belongings they struggle between a desire to…

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Main image credit: Jess Gleeson

Interview: Imogen Clark on Bastards, London and collaborating

Imogen Clark is a machine when it comes out to music. And yet her constant output doesn’t diminish the quality of her work. Her recent release “Forget About London” is the first indicator of her EP Bastards, out later in the year. Clark fuses rock and indie pop to tell her own stories of love…

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Lenovo Duet Chromebook Review: Costs less, offers more

I’m shocked. Not because Google and Lenovo have produced a capable entry-level 2-in-1 with the Lenovo Duet Chromebook, but because it’s only $599 (although you can probably get it for much less right now). That’s not cheap per se, but it’s incredible value for something that doesn’t feel like a heavily compromised budget PC. The…

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Amazon Echo (4th-Gen) Review: Spheres are sexy, and so is surface area

We haven’t even reached the point where smart devices are truly mass market, but we will get there. Curating smart homes has been a big talking point over here at the AU, and in general. It’s a fascinating lean forward into the IoT world, and the big companies like Google and Amazon are starting to…

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Literary Lion Tamers

Book Review: Delve into the fascinating history of Australian publishing with Craig Munro’s Literary Lion Tamers

Covering a century of Australian literature, author and editor Craig Munro has assembled a somewhat motley crew of characters, to celebrate a handful of key figures from the world of publishing and editing. From A.G. Stephens, the “three initialled terror” of the critic world, to Munro’s former colleague, the late Roseanne Fitzgibbon, Literary Lion Tamers…

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Joe Mungovan

Exclusive Video Premiere: Joe Mungovan “Lemon + Lime” (2021)

There might only be a couple of weeks of summer left, but Joe Mungovan is doing his best to extend it for us, with his summery-vibed track “Lemon + Lime”. Today we are excited to have the video premiere for this chilled tune, ahead of its release tomorrow. “Lemon + Lime” follows on from “You…

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Film Review: Zappa is a frank & creative look at Frank Zappa’s weirdly provocative genius

Zappa is a documentary that feels like one giant motherfucker of a film. At 129 minutes, director Alex Winter (the former lead actor of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) covers lots of ground about this enigmatic genius. They broke the mould when they made Frank Zappa. So, while the proceedings are detailed and capture his…

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Theatre Review: Filled with chamber music, The Gang of Five is a bittersweet comedy for theatre lovers at La Mama Mobile

Theatre was briefly back in Melbourne before another five day lockdown saw shows rescheduled. Before the enforced hiatus, I was fortunate enough to catch a performance of The Gang of Five at La Mama Mobile Theatre. The Gang of Five opened to a full house, based at Creative Spaces’ Studio 1. Repurposing a dance studio…

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JBL Party Box On-The-Go Review: A creative way to party

Whatever your feeling towards the rather aggressive and inelegant name JBL have given their new party box, it’s hard to deny the brand’s impeccable timing. At the tail-end of 2020, where people are looking for different ways to recreate some nightlife at home, the JBL Party Box On The Go is heaven-sent. The pricey, chunky…

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Arlo Essential Wire-Free Video Doorbell Review: It’s all about that 1:1 aspect ratio

By 2024, its predicted that more than 7 million smart video cameras will be totalled across Australian households. Does that sound accurate? It just might. Interest in smart security picked up dramatically in 2020, even though most people were staying at home. And as 2021 continues to unfold, it’s highly likely that interest will keep…

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