Melbourne

A Good Ol' American Intro for Clairy Browne and the Bangin' Rackettes

I don't understand plenty about Australia--Vegemite, the platypus' existence as a non-mythical creature, etc.--but what I truly don't get is how everyone in Melbourne could've kept Clairy Browne and the Bangin' Rackettes all to themselves since Baby Caught The Bus came out the first time around in 2 ... More >>

Scott and Charlene's Wedding: Jangle Pop with a Middle Finger Fully Extended

On the surface, it seemed Craig Dermody's life wasn't going all that bad in his home of Melbourne, Australia. He was playing around town in the psychedelically damaged rock unit Spider Vomit as well as in his wonderfully brainless Punk band, Divorced.

Jens Lekman Carries His Broken Heart Gracefully

Reached by phone backstage at Lincoln Hall in Chicago, in the draggy hours between soundcheck and show time, Jens Lekman is all apologies. "I'm sorry it took so long," the 31-year-old Swede says of his new full-length album, I Know What Love Isn't, which arrived last month almost five years to the ... More >>

The Tournament That Changed Rap Battles Forever

Long before competitive battle leagues and international MC-showdowns, there was one battle-rapping championship to rule them all. Jump Off TV's World Rap Championships were modern battle rap's genesis, and the 2007 incarnation was particularly influential. Five years later, its influence is still f ... More >>

Sunday Funnies: Librarians Under Assault!

Scientologists don't really have a Sunday service. They like to say that they do, because they crave mainstream acceptance. But unless Xenu rested after six days and L. Ron Hubbard just forgot to mention it, there's no reason for Scientologists to treat Sunday any differently than every other day of ... More >>

Scientology on the High Seas: A Bunch of Dope Smokers, Say the Greeks!

In November we started a new feature here on Fridays: the Voice has obtained hundreds of copies of L. Ron Hubbard's previously unpublished "Orders of the Day," which he gave to crew members as he sailed the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Our documents cover the period from late 1968 through 1971, a ... More >>

Scientology Hip Hop: The Melbourne Day Rap Battle Team! (UPDATED)

We can't get enough of Scientology's rap videos. The latest comes to us from Melbourne, which has been stepping up its game in a big way lately. We recently published mailers from the Melbourne Ideal Org as it celebrated its first anniversary with parties that looked like they were off the hook. Bu ... More >>

HarryHarrison (or Julian Assange?) Also Had Dating Accounts on AdultFriendFinder and PlentyofFish

​So, yeah, Julian Assange probably had an OKCupid profile. Who doesn't? But it's since come to our attention that Julian Assange may well have been all over the place with regard to his online (and, for that matter, offline) dating. He -- or, at least, alter-ego/handle HarryHarrison -- seems t ... More >>

Julian Assange's Love Emails to a 19-Year-Old Reveal Important Lessons in Dating

​Gawker has obtained a series of emails supposedly from Julian Assange to a 19-year-old girl he met in a bar in Melbourne back in 2004, when he was 33. If these are to be believed as true, even then, prior to the foundation of WikiLeaks, he had a singular flair for getting at whatever undisclo ... More >>

Does Julian Assange Have a Profile On OKCupid?

​The extensive team of quirky internet experts at Reddit are pretty positive they've discovered WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's old OKCupid dating profile. It looks shockingly legitimate. Under the name HarryHarrison, three pictures of Assange accompany an extensive profile, last accessed b ... More >>

Honda vs. Hipsters: Australian Ads Target 'Ironic' Young People in Skinny Pants

Honda Australia "asked the question: how much hipster can you pack into a Jazz?" A Jazz, apparently, is a new kind of car that is small, but spacious? I the commercial above, the hip youths try to put vinyl in the car's CD player, fill crevices with what must be the Australian equivalent of Pabst B ... More >>

An Epic-in-Training, Animal Kingdom, Suffers for Its Ambition

Animal Kingdom suffers for its ambition

First Time's the Charm for Animal Kingdom Director David Michod

Eddy Current Suppression Ring+Pissed Jeans

Vice Has A Feature Story Called "My Brother Was In A Chinese Boy Band," Which Is As Entertaining As You Might Imagine

​Pick a favorite line here. Mine's "This was ten years ago, when there were millions of people walking around with nothing to look at. Crowds would gather at car crashes or domestic arguments." Or maybe "Privately, we were the Homeboy, the Homo, and the Home Wrecker." Or "So I get vilified on ... More >>

Sam Freund Out at One if By Land; Tom Colicchio Pissed at College Paper Review

​West Village mainstay One if by Land, Two if by Sea, has a new chef, its third in two years. Sam Freund, who took over from Craig Hopson a year and a half ago, has left the restaurant for a job in Denver. Andrew Matthews, who has been at OIBL for more than a year, is now at the helm. [Eater] ... More >>

Eating With Kristen Schaal: Oyster Shooters, Monkey Brains, and the Tyranny of Onions

Lisa Whiteman/The Morning News​ Actress, writer, and comedienne Kristen Schaal is best known for her role as Mel, Flight of the Conchords's backpack-wearing, one-woman fan club. She's also played a switchboard operator on Mad Men, made numerous appearances as the Daily Show's Senior Women's I ... More >>

Video: Baby Stroller Hit by Train

Our boss (Broderick Crawford in Scandal Sheet) likes video, so here's one of a six-month-old getting hit by a train. He was in his stroller, which rolled off the platform in Melbourne, and they must make strollers tough in Australia because the boy suffered only a bump on his head. Drama! Human in ... More >>

Fall Guide: Reggie Wilson and Congo's Andréa Ouamba at BAM

Giuliani Calls Paterson's Gay Marriage Stand Good -- for the GOP

Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani sees daylight for the New York GOP in gay marriage. He tells the Post's Fred Dicker that "I think gay marriage will obviously be an issue for any Republican next year," and that the marriage equality support of high-level Democrats like Governor Paterson and Kirsten Gil ... More >>

Naked Bike Rides Kick Off, Head to NYC

Your Daily Nude, which has been experiencing a drought, says thank you, Jesus for the World Naked Bike Ride, this year's edition of which has kicked off in several cities, including Melbourne, Sao Paulo, Sydney, Eugene, Oregon, and Newcastle. It has something to do with cars, pollution etc. And it' ... More >>

Swing and a Miss

Sometimes, it's one bad party after another

Hugs and Kisses #44: Everett True's Moving, Plus the Twits

Hugs and Kisses #35: North Sea Radio Orchestra

Free Will Astrology

Architecture in Helsinki's Places Like This

Playful pop that's a touch too unhinged and bleepy for its own good

Macbeth

Eulogy for Black Caesar

James Brown, 1933–2006

More Than a Car Wreck

Striking terror into the hearts of watchers

Homeward Bounding

In a rare (and timely) New York appearance, Théâtre Du Soleil sheds light on the world's refugee crisis

Morning Report 5/17/05
Torture is 'Morally Justifiable,' Say Aussie Law Profs

Up From Down Under

Think globally, act locally: P.S.122's new Aussie artistic director arrives

'Gates of Hell' Now Officially Open

Sex Change Down Under

Kangaroo and Barramundi on Avenue C's Latest Frontier

Ace Ace Babies

Oz kids in service of Satan get their grandmas out of here

Doggy Style

New York Joins Global Wave of War Protests

Anti-War Activists Sharpen Their Tactics

Law of the Fist

New York Cops Vow to Crush Violent Protest at World Economic Forum

Birds and Kangaroos

Festival Fare From Down Under and Across the Pond

Daydream Believer

Keep Your Glass Topped Up

Australian Rockers and Poppers Don’t Get Up Themselves

Lethal Lasers, Alien Fossils

A Roundup of Undercovered Technology News

Golden Moments

The Other History of the Olympics

Act Up! Here’s How

A Selected List of Organizations

It Takes a Global Village

From Africa to Australia to America, Activists Raise a Ruckus Around the World

Cops and Squabblers

In Search of the Fur Bat

The True Story of Psychical Research at Stanford University

Aussie, Come Home

The Return of the Native

The Castle

Out in the Open