Striking signs at Hollywood writers’ protest

Where to go, what to read, eat and buy: get ready for the weekend with these great diversions.

SPOTLIGHT / Signs of the times

Signs from the WGA strike.Credit: Getty Images

Someone probably should have told the major film and TV studios that it’s a bad idea to send a bunch of scorned writers onto the streets to protest. For the first time in 15 years, Hollywood is experiencing an industry-wide writers’ strike, with more than 11,000 members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) putting their pens down and heading for the picket line. The WGA had talked with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers about fair pay in the streaming era, but no new deal materialised. While that means many of our favourite shows are now on pause, including Yellowjackets, Saturday Night Live, Cobra Kai and Abbott Elementary, one thing the strike has delivered is elite sign content.

The picket lines in Los Angeles and New York were brimming with punchlines as Hollywood’s best writers used their skills to skewer the industry. “Pay your writers, or we’ll spoil Succession,” one threatened, while others referenced the 2007 writers’ strike, which lasted 100 days and cost the studios billions. “We know how much you love reboots, so we’re rebooting the 2007 writers’ strike.” Also a hot topic was the increasing fear of ChatGPT. Unions are concerned the technology will be used to produce drafts for TV series and films, with writers then hired at a lower pay rate to add the finishing touches. But as one sign so rightly pointed out, AI can do smart, but it can’t do pithy: “I told ChatGPT to make a sign, and it sucked.” Now that’s good writing. Thomas Mitchell

WEAR / Keeping it unreal

The “Symbiosis” jacket from Unreal Fur.

Coat season has officially begun. And if the runways of Giorgio Armani, JW Anderson and Gucci at the most recent Milan Men’s Fashion Week are a guide, faux fur is one of the biggest trends for outerwear. Melbourne-based vegan brand Unreal Fur is promoting the unisex appeal of several new-season styles, including an aviator-inspired vegan leather “Symbiosis” jacket with a faux shearling-lined collar $419) that’s more James Dean than JLo. For those stuck in a black-puffer-jacket rut, this could be the perfect circuit-breaker; your partner will want to borrow it, too. Melissa Singer

SHOP / Kitx and tell

The “Save the Bees” T-shirt from Kitx’s Activism range.

Keen to join the conscious fashion revolution, transitioning away from overproduction and standard garment sizes? Designer Kit Willow, the founder of fashion house KITX and an early mover in the Aussie sustainable fashion scene, has collaborated with Citizen Wolf to bring its Magic Fit technology – an algorithm that combines biometric measurements (for a perfect, personalised fit) and on-demand manufacturing – to her Activism range of T-shirts ($155). Featuring designs that raise environmental awareness, each shirt is laser-cut and hand-sewn in Citizen Wolf’s B Corp certified factory in Sydney’s Marrickville. Frances Mocnik

PLAY (SYDNEY) / Going underground

Wynyard’s abandoned tunnels are now open to the public.

From May 26, Dark Spectrum sees the abandoned, subterranean tunnels beneath Sydney’s Wynyard train station, never before open to the public, transform into a dazzling, immersive light show (May 26-July 16, $35). Fusing an expressive musical soundtrack (courtesy of a partnership with Sony Music) with the latest in laser robotics, light and visual technology, 900 metres of passageways will pulse and flicker in response to visitors’ movements as they explore spaces with themes including separation, pressure, the unseen, connection and the unfamiliar. Watch out for the surprise, too. Frances Mocnik

PLAY (Melbourne) / The long and winding road

The RACV Solar Great Ocean Road Running Festival.

Gear up and get ready to conquer Victoria’s most spectacular running event – the RACV Solar Great Ocean Road Running Festival (May 20-21). Offering routes from 1.5 to 60 kilometres, kids, newcomers and seasoned runners – including last year’s half-marathon winner, Andre Waring – can enjoy spectacular views as they weave their way, in stages, from Lorne to the finish line in Apollo Bay. The festival includes a range of eco initiatives along with yoga, live music and kite-flying. Frances Mocnik

VISIT / True story

Sydney Writers’ Festival.

There really is no better time to be an Aussie bookworm than May: Melbourne and Brisbane Writers’ Festivals have just wrapped as Sydney’s gets under way at Carriageworks and city venues (May 22-28). Don’t miss one-on-one interviews with Booker Prize winners Eleanor Catton and Shehan Karunatilaka or State of the Art, a discussion about the future of fiction with American novelist Colson Whitehead, our own Richard Flanagan and others moderated by ABC Radio National’s Kate Evans. Good Weekend’s Benjamin Law, a guest curator, will for the first time be doing Dicey Topics live on stage with writer Don Watson and actor Chloé Hayden. Finally, the discussion between whip-smart poet Sarah Holland-Batt, winner of the 2023 Stella Prize, and literary all-rounder Beejay Silcox (May 25) is expected to be a cracker. Nicole Abadee

DRINK / A vine romance

Mt. Etna. Credit: Getty Images

Sicily is so hot right now – and it’s not just the White Lotus effect, or the fact that Mount Etna can still send forth gushes of lava. Grapes grown in the rich volcanic soil have a depth of minerality unique to the region, as you can discover at a Mount Etna wine-tasting in Sydney (May 24 at Hinchcliff House, Circular Quay; $69) by key importers such as Trembath & Taylor and Mondo Imports. Alternatively, go straight to the source with Melbourne chef Rosa Mitchell’s food and wine tour of Sicily (September 15-29; from $10,850) and taste these compelling wines on their own soil. Jill Dupleix

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