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Metro
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
UK viewers can finally watch season 2 of 'compelling' Australian thriller
Following it's 'satisfyingly explosive' first season finale, the second season of Scrublands is now streaming in the UK. The Australian series was based on the debut novel of the same name by journalist Chris Hammer. The first season, which was released in 2023, follows journalist Martin Scarsden (Luke Arnold) as he investigates what he initially thinks is a straightforward story about a small town a year on from a tragedy. But as he digs deeper to discover the details of what actually happened after a priest shot dead five parishioners, Martin faces local residents who do their best to block him from finding out about their secrets. Running across four episodes, the series was praised by critics and viewers. The Guardian called it a 'rock-solid addition to the rural noir genre, engaging from the start, all the way to a satisfyingly explosive finale.' Earlier this year the four new episodes dropped in Australia. This week they were released on BBC iPlayer, with both seasons now available to binge for free. Scrublands: Silver, which is based on Hammer's second novel of the same name, follows Martin as he tries to uncover the truth behind a crime that 'shatters his own world' when his childhood friend, Jasper, is found brutally murdered. However, things get incredibly complicated when Martin's partner Mandy Bond (played by Bella Heathcote), then becomes the prime suspect. It's been teased: 'As Martin races to uncover the truth and clear Mandy's name, he's forced to confront the darker side of his hometown Port Silver and the secrets lurking within his own past. Can he trust Mandy? And can he trust himself?' The second season also stars Luke Carroll (The Artful Dodger), Debra Lawrance (Please Like Me), David Roberts (Please Like Me), Tasma Walton (The Twelve) and Luke Pegler (Hacksaw Ridge). Speaking ahead of the release of the first season, Luke spoke about bringing the popular novel to life. 'It is about motive, history and what people are going through. There's tragedy, romance, action, it's got everything and deeper layers than your usual mystery,' he told the Daily Mail Australia. Before the most recent season he spoke about his character being personally connected to the grisly murder. 'In the first season, Martin was the outsider; he was not too personally connected to this mystery at hand,' he told 9Entertainment. More Trending 'But in Season 2, it's Martin's past coming back to bite him. It's deeply personal. 'He wants to get to the truth because he wants the truth, not because he's gonna write in a story.' For fans of Scrublands there's also a chance it will return for a third season – with Hammer's third novel in the trilogy, titled Trust, following Mandy's disappearance. View More » Scrublands is streaming on BBC iPlayer. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: British actor claims stepping into James Bond role is a 'nightmare' MORE: Netflix fans can binge final 6 episodes of biggest TV show 'no one's talking about' MORE: Line of Duty fans – we're sucking diesel after Netflix drops all 6 seasons
India Today
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- India Today
Money can't buy love, Elon Musk is the latest in Silicon Valley to learn this
In Silicon Valley, people often wonder about this. Why does the rest of the world hate us, they ponder. Every time I am in Silicon Valley and whenever I meet its brilliant engineers, I get this sense. The sentiment runs across the rank and file. From CEOs to product managers, they all wonder why the rest of the world does not love them. Of them all, Elon Musk probably feels it most acutely. So much so that he has often been parodied for his yearning, which the world became aware of after his interview with The Rolling Stones around eight years ago. One such parody is by The Onion, which brings out its 'Please Like Me' article, which it posted on Musk in 2022, almost every week on social Elon. Rich like an African king of yonder days, but poor nevertheless. Last year, after spending some serious money, and giving his time and energy, to help Donald Trump get into the White House again, Musk probably thought that finally he was home. That he was at last liked and loved by people who mattered. He campaigned for, and with, Trump on the US presidential election trail. He was a frequent guest at Mar-a-Lago, the private residence of Trump and his family. When Trump started giving shape to his administration last year after his win, he did so with the full involvement of Musk. When he moved into the White House, Musk got an office in the White House and control of DOGE, which essentially gave him the ability to put fingers in every seemed that Musk and Trump were a pair inseparable, that theirs was a bond forged into the fires of trials and tribulations. And yet, the affair lasted less than a year. So, what is the problem? Why can't Elon Musk and his Silicon Valley cohort find love from the rest of the world? It's the story of many Silicon Valley biggies. Mark Zuckerberg ran into it around ten years ago, when he realised that the world didn't love him. First, he tried to throw money at the problem. It didn't get him much love or likes. It's only recently, and that too not all that much, that he has turned into a likeable guy, thanks to his smart PR and a curated image of the guy-next-door. Bill Gates, influential no doubt, is not someone who is loved all that much by the rest of the world. For Jeff Bezos, it is the same. The list is long but the story is short: all that money and yet it doesn't buy the Silicon Valley honchos any problem is that love, metaphorically speaking, is a finicky thing. Salman Rushdie talked of the beginning and end of a love story in his book Two Years, Eight Months. And while he was writing about romantic love, it is true for every kind of affection. 'At the beginning of all love, there is a private treaty each of the lovers makes with himself or herself, an agreement to set aside what is wrong with the other for the sake of what is right. The voice of doubt is stilled,' he wrote. The love story ends when, after a while in the future, for reasons one, two or many, this 'secret treaty looks like folly.'advertisementThe trick to love is apparently keeping the belief and faith in this secret treaty you make with yourself for as long as you can. And Musk, like most of his Silicon Valley peers, just couldn't. All good lovers know this: Love and truth don't go hand in hand. In loving, there is a bit of looking away involved, lies are part of it and so is the ability to ignore some truth. That is because humans are not rational creatures. This one simple reality throws Musk and his ilk completely off the balance whenever they are dealing with the these are driven people. The Silicon Valley people. They are also brilliantly smart in a narrow sense. Even junior engineers in Silicon Valley are the smartest people you will meet. But they are not at all tuned for making and keeping secret treaties that are based on ignoring the truth. The same mind which gives them an advantage when it comes to cooking up products and services that the rest of the world wants to use, is a disadvantage to them in certain other parts of Valley believes that 2+2 always equals 4. Theirs is an engineer's mind, always logical and always striving to optimise the world. They can't imagine that 2+2 does not always equal 4. In love and life, often it can equal to 3 or 5. And you cannot do anything about with this quandary, the tech bros of Silicon Valley try to brute force their way. They throw money at the problem, they throw more mathematics and logic at it, they collect more data, they employ more compute, they try to bend the universe to their rules of logic, and if they are Elon Musk, they run polls on X asking the crowd to vote in their favour. But it doesn't end in a it ends like how Elon Musk's White House affair has ended. Musk is probably a well-meaning guy. I am sure that his actions inflict a lot of misery in a lot of ways, but he also does a fair amount of good in the world in a fair number of ways. More importantly, he seems to be driven in his various endeavours, right or wrong, with a passion and genuineness. Working with the Trump administration too, Musk probably tried to 'save the world' — or rather 'save America' — and he tried to do it in the way he knows best, by brute forcing through the problem. But brute forcing your way through a company that you own is different from taking a bulldozer and running through an uneven world. It was never going to win Musk any love.(Javed Anwer is Technology Editor, India Today Group Digital. Latent Space is a weekly column on tech, world, and everything in between. The name comes from the science of AI and to reflect it, Latent Space functions in the same way: by simplifying the world of tech and giving it a context)(Views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author)Tune InMust Watch
ABC News
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
For 30 years RAW Comedy has platformed the likes of Josh Thomas and Hannah Gadsby
Peter Josip tried his hand at a few tricks before entering comedy — everything from musical theatre to mixed martial arts. He even came second in the national final of a singing competition — but doesn't tend to boast about that achievement. "In my section, I was the only competitor," the Melbourne local explains. "I hadn't practised in weeks, so I performed really bad, and they gave me second. "I was on a podium, standing on second, next to no-one on third, and no-one on first." His Les Misérables song choice didn't help the situation. "Coming second to no-one with a song titled 'Master of the House' was another slap in the face," he says. Peter Josip says "no matter how many views the RAW broadcast gets, it's not gonna get anywhere near as much engagement as my mum's Facebook friends". ( Supplied: MICF / T J Garvie ) A decade later, Josip's finally redeemed himself, beating a thousand other hopefuls to win the prestigious RAW Comedy National Grand Final. Part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF), the competition has been running for almost 30 years, and has propelled a wide array of up-and-coming Australian stand-ups to stardom, including The Daily Show's Ronny Chieng, Please Like Me's Josh Thomas, Fisk's Aaron Chen and Thank God You're Here's Celia Pacquola. 'It's pretty magic' Geraldine Hickey is another major Australian comedy figure who credits RAW with kickstarting her career. Geraldine Hickey is one of Australia's most prominent comics. ( Supplied: MICF ) As a 21-year-old in Albury, the comedy scene was essentially non-existent for Hickey. There were few opportunities to watch live comedy, so performing was out of the question. That is, until RAW came along. Hickey made it to the 2001 final, where she performed on national TV and was applauded as runner-up. "I don't think I would have gotten gigs if I hadn't done RAW," she says. As a young lesbian with a lack of 'boys club' connections in the big city, RAW gave Hickey the foot in the door she needed to get her start. More than two decades later, she's a regular across the TV and live-comedy circuit, and loves coming back to judge the RAW competition. "When you see someone on stage get their first laugh, and you see the look on their face, it's pretty magic." Coming running up at RAW comedy in 2001, a young Geraldine Hickey was sure she'd "made it". ( Supplied: MICF ) Susan Provan, the festival director of the MICF, has overseen RAW since its inception in 1996. For her, part of the competition's power is in platforming voices like Hickey's, that might not otherwise get heard. " Imagine if we hadn't had the opportunity to see Hannah Gadsby or Joel Creasey or people who don't immediately have that big, blokey pushy [confidence]. " Provan says RAW has always aimed to help fill the gap in regional centres and smaller cities, where there aren't always opportunities like open mic nights. The competition also prioritises creating a safe space for entrants, with heckling and misogynistic, racist or homophobic jokes banned. "For women, it's been really hard doing open mics," Provan says. "They've had to get up in some pub where everyone's drunk and they have to follow someone who thinks rape jokes are hilarious." 'Much scarier financially' With a lack of paid opportunities, most emerging comedians either have day jobs or leave Australia for markets like the US or UK; either for a few years, or for good. "There are so many medium-sized cities overseas, you can be somewhere different every night of the year earning money, and there's just not that opportunity here," Provan says. Loading YouTube content On top of that, COVID, lockdowns and the cost-of-living crisis have all changed people's patterns for going out to see live comedy. "People definitely book later, they make decisions about spending money later, and Saturday night isn't what it was," Provan explains. "Particularly people working from home, they might come into the city just one night, rather than a few." She says these behaviour changes have made things "much scarier financially" for venues and comics alike. For Josip, one of the biggest industry changes has been that writing great jokes will no longer necessarily lead to success. "You kind of have to do everything as well as comedy," he says. "You have to be your own marketer, your own social media manager." 'A game changer' Social media, too, has shifted the path to success, and provided another entry point for up-and-coming comedians, including those who may not suit the pub crowds of open mic nights. "It's been a bit of a game changer in terms of enabling people to develop their audiences," Provan says. "But being able to do little jokes on TikTok is very different to being able to hold a crowd for an hour in a live environment, so that stage time is still really important." Photo shows Two men dressed as Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton "Something that we've joked about a lot is that everyone is either a Margaret or a David." Despite audiences moving away from traditional media, and the struggles of the live arts industries, Provan insists RAW will keep going strong, even if its flow-on effects are less certain. "If I'd done this 20 years ago, it's like: 'Oh, you get to be on TV, that's crazy,'" Josip says. "Whereas now, it's like: 'Oh, you'll get a great clip out of it to post to social media.'" While Josip jokes his career end-goal is to be the mean judge on a Got Talent show, ultimately he says it's an industry in which you can't take anything for granted, "no matter how good or big you get". For Hickey, who's currently touring her show 'Meander' at comedy festivals across the country, the changing industry means there are more places than ever "to plug away at it". "It's about whatever avenue you can find to be successful and whatever success means to you. "Success might be getting a million followers on TikTok, or success might be doing a solo show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. It's different for different people and nowadays, you can kind of do whatever you want to create your own success."
