Pop culture
The best movies, TV, music, podcasts and books of the year (so far)
As a sort of mid-year stocktake, our critics have picked their favourite pieces of pop culture from the first half of 2022.
- by Debi Enker, Garry Maddox, Melanie Kembrey, Barry Divola and Robert Moran
Latest
Forget girl bosses, I’m just here for the insane nanny
Magic or not, Mary Poppins is still lugging enormous lamps around in her handbag and claiming to be able to speak to dogs.
- by Deirdre Fidge
Dating as a black woman in Australia? It’s an experience worth an award-winning podcast
Christine “Kix” Mwaturura has caught the attention of the talent spotters behind a key podcast fellowship.
- by Kerrie O'Brien
The bad, the bold, the historic: Six decades of big Logies moments
Forget who won or lost, TV’s night of nights is all about those moments when the presenters and winners went wildly off script.
- by Michael Idato
‘I’m not doing it unless it shoots here’: Chris Hemsworth brings Hollywood home
The Aussie A-lister weaves a tangled web in Netflix’s new dystopian film Spiderhead.
- by Robert Moran
‘It’s Sydney. We’re boiling’: A city of winter sceptics strikes again
We know our weather’s not perfect. But through chattering teeth and subzero homes, we just pretend it is.
- by Richard Glover
Chill out, what ya yellin’ for? Avril was the best, and we took her for granted
It’s been exactly 20 years now, since June 2002, when Avril Lavigne released her breakout debut album Let Go.
- by Robert Moran
‘Nineteen years of silence is our finest work’: Beloved satirists TISM reform after two decades
TISM bounces back on stage for the Good Things festival in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
- by Martin Boulton
‘We promise we will return someday’: K-pop group BTS take a break to pursue solo projects
Global superstars BTS said they are taking time to focus on solo projects, but the company behind the groundbreaking K-pop group said they are not taking a hiatus.
Opinion
Australian culture
If you literally cannot handle people using this word ... read on
Teenagers, Google, the Kardashians – literally, who do we blame?
- by Kate Burridge
From Ricky Martin to Morricone: The seven best World Cup anthems of all time
What better way to celebrate the Socceroos qualifying for their fifth FIFA World Cup in a row than by revisiting some of the tournament’s most iconic songs?
- by Osman Faruqi