Month: June 2012

1000 £ Bend

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  I discovered this cafe a couple years ago, just after it first opened. It was big, bare, cheap and different — the new kid on a city block that’s generally off-limits to the budget-conscious. Today, 1000 £ Bend is still big, relatively cheap and different — just with a few extra chairs, tables, lamps and lude scribblings on the bathroom walls that have gathered over time. The intervening years have given this cafe space to settle and find its groove — that groove being a blase hangout for Melbourne’s alternative crowd who have been shoe-horned out of their Fitzroy/Northcote/Brunswick homes and flung into Melbourne’s all-too-mainstream CBD. Despite its city location, you won’t find a suit in sight, although free Wi-Fi makes this a popular workspace so during the day the place becomes a sea of laptops. Behind the cafe area in the front is an enormous room used as a quieter work space — when it’s not being used to house exhibitions. Upstairs is a cinema, where free film screenings take place every Sunday. There’s also free live music on Sundays from 2pm-4pm. Food here is mostly of …

at the movies

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    Aah, Margaret and David. For many Australian film lovers, these two little names carry a whole lot of weight. They conjure up memories of heated debates, squealing laughter, a delicious clash of personalities. They speak of a decades-long professional relationship between two of Australia’s most respected film critics, Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton — that fantastically idiosyncratic pair who currently preside over the TV show ‘At the Movies‘ on ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation channel). I can’t remember a time before Margaret and David. The first incarnation of ‘At the Movies’ was an SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) program called ‘The Movie Show’, which the duo founded back in 1986. In 2004, they decided to move to the ABC, where their show was given a slight facelift, although the format has remained essentially the same: Each week Margaret and David review upcoming film releases, occasionally including interviews with filmmakers and actors. These days, they also review one classic film every week — a great addition for anyone interested in the history and evolution of film. …