Culture
The latest from Culture on Lifestyle Desires.
Why reading suddenly feels like a fashion accessory
Reading as a fashion trend now runs through Dior totes, Coach charms and celebrity book clubs, turning books into status symbols as much as stories.
What Sam Neill left behind on Australian screens
Sam Neill's Australian screen legacy reaches past Jurassic Park, into a gentler kind of leading man our cinema may not make the same way again.
What MIFF 2026 is programming for the mood we're in
MIFF 2026 program leans on prestige, music docs, local premieres and live events, all aimed at audiences craving a proper night out.
What Australia’s audience problem is asking local cinema to admit
Australian cinema’s audience problem looks less like a taste issue than an access one: more local films are made, but fewer people can actually find them.
What Australia’s streaming rules are already changing
Australia’s streaming rules are already changing what gets commissioned, preserved and priced, even if local stories still fight for the centre.
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Personal taste is getting harder to hear
Personal taste feels flatter in 2026 because algorithmic feeds now shape wardrobes, playlists and rooms before we know what we want.
The sausage-factory line is rude because it feels true
Tarantino’s Hollywood rant lands because viewers already feel the franchise fatigue: over-managed films, couch viewing and too much polish.
What YouTube’s Gen Z directors are doing to Hollywood now
YouTube directors behind Backrooms and Obsession are turning internet horror into Hollywood’s new taste test, and the old gatekeeping story looks shakier.
When Vivid’s drones faltered, Sydney kept staring
Vivid Sydney’s drone show stumble exposed how much the city now expects free public wonder to arrive smoothly, safely and on cue.
Why the suffering artist myth still flatters us
The suffering artist myth still sells pain as proof of genius, but the research points to a messier link between creativity, stigma and care.
The soft-focus language that nearly swallowed Hannah Murray
Hannah Murray’s wellness cult memoir traces how healing language, shame and certainty can blur into control long before anyone calls it danger.
The TV bundle came back in app icons
Streaming fatigue in Australia now means ad tiers, stacked apps and quiet monthly charges that make a night in feel more like household admin.
Bluey was never meant to feel like content slurry
Bluey minisodes on Disney+ are only a few minutes long, but they sharpen a bigger worry: when a family ritual becomes platform upkeep.
Why Kylie is finally letting the family in
Kylie Minogue documentary KYLIE turns family, archive and old hurt into public record at last, softening an icon who has always stayed just out of reach.
Why Delta Goodrem's Eurovision run felt bigger than nostalgia
Delta Goodrem finished fourth at Eurovision, but the larger story was what her performance revealed about Australian pop ambition, sincerity and our fear of cringe.
The accent that keeps Apex alive
Taron Egerton's turn in Apex is being sold as thriller pulp, but in Australia the real hook is the accent that somehow lands.
Why Shaun Micallef's gambling series feels like an intervention
Shaun Micallef's ABC documentary about gambling lands as a culture story first, turning the background noise of punting into something far harder to ignore.
Off Campus is steamier than it has any right to be
Prime Video's hockey romance adaptation lands with all eight episodes and a season-two renewal already in the bag. Jordan Atkinson binged it in a night and has thoughts.
Sixth for culture, first for comedy. What Melbourne's ranking leaves out
Melbourne just landed at number six on Time Out's global culture ranking — and first in the world for comedy. But what does a 92 per cent local approval score actually tell us about the city?
Twelve million Australians are streaming music. The old monoculture is gone
A Roy Morgan-backed report says 12.7 million Australians now stream music. The bigger story is cultural: our listening has become private, mood-led and less local, and the shared soundtrack feels thinner for it.
Six men and a gold sheet walked onto Rod Laver Arena
Seventeen years is a long time between drinks. Long enough that the bloke next to me in Section 12, salt-and-pepper stubble and a faded 1983 tour tee, was holding his wife's hand like he'd been waiting for this since his kids were in primary school.
Three fingers, six fingers, and a prompt: AI meets Australian Fashion Week
Karla Spetic asked AI to generate images for her latest collection and it gave her hands with six fingers, but it also demanded a clarity she did not know she needed. As Australian Fashion Week opens, the industry AI debate is getting specific.
The moment Big Brother Australia stopped being a game show
I remember exactly where I was when Merlin Luck held up his sign. Twenty-five years of Big Brother Australia later, the question I keep coming back to isn't whether the format still works. It's whether we've all become housemates now.
Why I keep booking flights to Melbourne in May
Melbourne Design Week opens its tenth edition on 14 May with more than 400 events, and I have been booking flights down for years now. The honest answer to why is that the rest of the country still has not built what Melbourne already has.
Something Has Gone Wrong With Australian Streaming
Free aggregation apps like Stremio are gaining traction as streaming costs rise and the market fragments. What happened to the promise of easy, affordable television?
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