Birthday cakes have become the new battleground for fathers. I blame Hamish Blake
I know this because I attend them regularly, the consequence of having a toddler in daycare. Too many weekends spent singing Happy Birthday to children whose names I struggle to remember. Happy birthday … I want to say, Hazel? No, wait, Maisie?
The one thing all these parties have in common, aside from being held at places with names such as FunZone or InflatableWorld, is elaborate birthday cakes made by smug fathers.
Last weekend, at a nondescript bowling club in the suburbs, I watched a man loudly announce, 'Cake coming through', before presenting a perfect recreation of the Heeler house from Bluey, complete with Bluey and Bingo playing on the front porch (which was made from fondant).
Everyone congratulated him on a job well done, while he assured us all it was 'No big deal! A piece of cake, literally! Haha!' Admittedly, his daughter (I want to say Stella? No, wait, Ella) looked impressed, playing with the edible front door while her father posed for photos next to his handiwork.
If this were an isolated incident, it wouldn't bother me, but over the past couple of years, birthday cakes have become the new battleground for fathers to prove their worth as parents – a uniquely modern problem for which there is one person to blame: Hamish Blake.
Now, before we proceed, a disclaimer. Hamish Blake belongs to that select group of famous Australians whom everyone universally loves, right up there alongside Hugh Jackman (pre-divorce) and Cathy Freeman (post-Olympics). He's funny, smart and most importantly, he seems like a regular guy.
Sure, he might be a three-time Gold Logie winner and married to the phenomenally successful Zoe Foster Blake, who sold her 51.5 per cent stake of beauty brand Go-To to the ASX-listed beauty conglomerate BWX for $89 million in 2021, but besides that, he's just like you and me!
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News.com.au
2 hours ago
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Who is the biggest Aussie TV personality of the 21st century?
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Rebecca Gibney When it comes to TV stars, Rebecca Gibney is a sure bet. Even in the fickle world of small screen drama, the model turned actor doesn't do duds. And when you consider television is an industry that generally courts youth, Gibney keeps getting work – and getting better. She may be a Kiwi by birth, but she is also an Aussie citizen and thanks to a raft of hit shows (did you see what we did there?) she is one of most bankable and popular stars. She was Australia's favourite TV mum as Julie Rafter on Packed to the Rafters, the smartest shrink on the planet in Halifax f.p. and a woman with a dark secret in the crime thriller Wanted. All quality, all hits and all added up to one Gold Logie and umpteen nominations. Rove McManus The last of the talk show kings whose career declined as Australian audiences fell out of love with the TV format. But at his peak he was a TV juggernaut. Rove Live was well watched and much-loved. 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Karl Stefanovic Alternately described as a TV buffoon and an undeniable chat show talent, it's hard to ignore the man affectionately known as Karlos. One of the highest paid stars on the small screen throughout the 2000s, Stefanovic had minor gigs before landing the seat on the Today Show, Nine's flagship brekkie offering. Famously starting the job on less money than his more famous co-host Lisa Wilkinson, Karl leveraged his talent and his blokey charms to eclipse Wilkinson in salary, and ultimately outlast her on the Today couch. Although the show struggles in the ratings, and breakfast audiences aren't as lucrative as they once were, Stefanovic remains one of the biggest names on the box.
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
Poll: What is the best Aussie TV show of the 21st century?
The Australian TV landscape has come a long way since exec Bruce Gyngell launched the new medium here in 1956 with the famous words, 'Good evening … and welcome to television.' Since then, we've gone from broadcast to digital to streaming. But at the heart of it all lies the great TV shows and stories that continue to be produced on home soil. To celebrate the launch of the new app, we're celebrating the people, places and events we'll never forget from the first quarter of the 21st century by asking for Australia's view. Our 25@25 series will finally put to bed the debates you've been having at the pub and around dinner tables for years – and some that are just too much fun not to include. Between our comedies and our dramas, Australia has proven to be a force for entertainment – we've even rolled out one of the best children's shows of all time. Our beloved export Bluey is watched by millions across the globe. Here in Australia, the series has clocked up a whopping 96 million streaming hours on ABC iView alone. Is it the best Aussie TV show of the 21st century? Take our poll. Bluey Homegrown Aussie animation Bluey is arguably one of the best TV shows to come out of Australia. The popular children's program follows a Blue Heeler puppy named Bluey and her family, whose everyday adventures are relatable and heartwarming. Created and produced in Brisbane in 2018, the TV show has captured the imagination of households worldwide, with both parents and children watching in droves. The storylines are a reflection of parenting and all its ups and downs as it encourages both parents and kids to connect and make the most of family life. The viewership figures speak for themselves too, with millions of people inviting Bluey into their homes. 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Starring Jane Turner as middle-aged mum Kath Day-Knight and Gina Riley as her narcissistic daughter Kim Craig, the show follows the duo's life in fictional Fountain Lakes with their 'hunks of spunk' - Kath's fiance Kel (Glenn Robbins) and Kim's on-again, off-again husband Brett (Peter Rowsthorn). Relationships and entanglements aside, the mishaps, fashion faux pas, exaggerated accents and catchphrases make this series 'noice, different, unusual'. The series also starred Magda Szubanski as Sharon Strzeleckibest, Kim's 'second best friend'. (INSERT KATH AND KIM VERTICAL) Australian Idol Australian Idol significantly changed Aussie pop culture and the music industry when it launched here in 2003. The singing competition searched the country far and wide for the next big voice, subsequently launching the careers of numerous musicians over the years. Among them is Ricki-Lee Coulter who rose to fame in 2004 on the second season. Although she placed seventh in the competition that year, she has gone on to become one of the most successful artists to be discovered on Idol. Fast forward 21 years and Coulter has released five studio albums and is now a much-loved radio host on Nova's drive show, Ricki-Lee, Tim & Joel. 'Twenty-one years ago, Australian Idol changed my life,' she tells to 'After walking through those audition doors, my life was never the same. I've been fortunate enough to have an amazing career releasing music, travelling the world writing and recording songs, and touring – and doing all the things I dreamed of as a kid.' (INSERT STREET INTERVIEW VERTICAL) In a full circle moment, Coulter is now the co-host of the rebooted Australian Idol series alongside Scott Tweedie, which airs on the Seven Network. For her efforts, the singer has been nominated for a TV Week Logie Award for Most Popular Presenter, with Australian Idol also nominated for Best Entertainment Program at the upcoming awards ceremony on August 3. 'So many lives have been changed and careers kickstarted by this show and I'm so grateful that all these years later, I get to be part of that for a whole new generation,' she says. 'We have so much untapped talent in this country, and Australian Idol gives the opportunity for young artists with huge talent and big dreams to have millions of people watch them on TV and hear them sing and get to know them and fall in love with them week after week. 'There is nowhere else artists are getting that kind of opportunity or exposure – and THAT is why I think Australian Idol is the best show on television.' Summer Heights High You are basically a genius when you seamlessly portray all the main characters on a TV show. That's what comedian Chris Lilley did on Summer Heights High. Not only did he create and write the documentary-style sitcom which aired on the ABC and then Netflix, he also played the three leads: controversial performing arts teacher Mr G; posh private-school exchange student Ja'mie King; and disruptive Tongan-Australian student Jonah Takalua. The series revolves around the trio's high-school experiences and their different viewpoints, with Lilley nailing the idiosyncrasies of each character in a ridiculous yet believable manner. Lilley also set out to make their fictional world as real as possible by recording the series like a documentary with non-actors playing supporting characters. Yep, the students and staff from the Brighton Secondary College in Melbourne, where it was filmed, performed as extras. There was only one season of Summer Heights High consisting of eight episodes, but its boundary-pushing humour makes it one unforgettable show. Mr Inbetween Mr Inbetween has been praised as one of the best Aussie crime dramas ever produced. So good, when it began streaming in the US, it was claimed to be 'better than Breaking Bad '. Set in Sydney, the Foxtel series centred around Ray Shoesmith (played by the show's creator and writer Scott Ryan), a hit man for hire with a specific moral code that often leads him down the wrong paths. He appears like a regular guy trying to navigate being a father, ex-husband, lover and friend, all while juggling his criminal activities. It was this realness that resonated with audiences, who embraced the morbidly-funny crime drama, which aired from 2018 to 2021 for three seasons 'The secret sauce of Mr Inbetween that's essential is that the show is funny. You can't have a dark heart like this without leavening it with humour,' The Hollywood Reporter noted in a previous review. Wentworth Although Wentworth was released in 2013 months before the similar prison drama Orange is the New Black, it was often said to have copied the US series. While both are set inside a women's prison and explore similar themes, the Aussie drama is arguably more grittier and doesn't shy away from gripping storylines. Loosely based on the hit 80s Aussie drama Prisoners, the series focuses on the lives of both inmates and staff at the Wentworth Correctional Centre. The lead character is Bea Smith (played by Danielle Cormack), a woman jailed after being charged with the attempted murder of her husband. Over eight seasons from 2013 to 2021, viewers watched Bea navigate life behind bars, before eventually finding herself at the top of the prison hierarchy. Wentworth was a highly successful drama for Foxtel when it premiered in 2013, going on to become the most watched non-sports program in subscription television history at the time. Underbelly America may have had The Sopranos, but we had Underbelly. The crime anthology series premiered in 2008 and ran until 2013, with each season telling the dramatised real-life stories of Australia's biggest criminals. The very first season received critical acclaim, thanks to the show's realistic depiction of the Melbourne gangland wars between the Moran family and the Carlton Crew – the leading criminal figures were played by Gyton Grantley as Carl Williams and Vince Colosimo as Alphonse Gangitano. There are six series in total and one mini-series released in 2022 titled Vanishing Act, which followed the story of conwoman Melissa Caddick (played by Kate Atkinson) who vanished from her luxury Sydney mansion in 2020 after swindling over $40 million from her trusted investors. In its very first season, the Underbelly episodes drew in an average 1.3 million viewers for the Nine Network. Offspring You know a TV show has impacted your life when you're still not over that death. Offspring was much loved by Aussies that its leading star Asher Keddie won the Logie for Most Popular Actress five years in a row, from 2011 to 2015. In the quirky seven-season drama, Keddie played neurotic obstetrician Nina Proudman, a loveable and flawed 30-something who navigates through the chaos of her romantic relationships and personal struggles. And just when she finally feels like her life is in order, her partner Dr Patrick Reid (Matthew Le Nevez) is killed in gut-wrenching scenes, leaving a pregnant Nina to face life as a single parent. An overthinker, Nina's mind often played flashbacks, animations and fantasy sequences – and it's this style of storytelling that really hooked viewers. 'My mind needs a lot of stimulation and maybe that has something to do with it. I like originality, I like things to feel unique,' Keddie previously told of playing a chameleon of characters including Nina. 'I like all the many different facets of different characters, and I like exploring things I don't particularly understand. So therein lies a challenge, I suppose. I guess it's about challenge for me, but also understanding enough to be able to connect to an audience by delivering a performance that people can kind of understand.' Love My Way Top-notch acting coupled with arresting storylines makes Love My Way one of the best TV shows. The series ran from 2004 to 2007 and followed the realistic portrayal of relationships and family dynamics between single mum Frankie (played by Claudia Karvan) and her loved ones: her eight-year-old daughter Lou, ex husband Charlie (Dan Wylie), his new wife Julia (Asher Keddie), and Charlie's brother Tom (Brendan Cowell). The show has been described as a slow burn, gradually pulling you inside the complex web of its characters. But by episode 8, you're hooked after a tragedy unfolds. The episode is titled A Different Planet, in which Frankie's young daughter Lou falls from her scooter and suffers a fatal heart attack. The plot twist is unexpected and the death deeply impacts the characters and their relationships. Unlike in Offspring, Frankie confronts her grief head-on – there is no melancholy music, no flashbacks, nothing but intense grief and heartache. While Love My Way has stayed with many viewers even after the series ended in 2007, Karvan says once she finishes portraying characters they 'vaporise into a puff of smoke'. 'I suppose it might sound a bit disappointing, but for me, Frankie is words on a page,' she told Stellar last year of playing her famous characters. 'They exist for other people, but they don't exist for me. I mean, they are very much facets of my personality. There's a part of me in every one of those characters. But they don't live beyond the camera when the cameras stop rolling. They don't exist.' Fisk Comedian Kitty Flanagan's much-loved series Fisk shattered records at the ABC when Season 3 premiered last October, attracting a total audience of more than 3 million. The debut was the highest-rated, non-kids episode on the national broadcaster since the introduction of the total audience measurement back in 2016. Giving The Office vibes but with Aussie accents, Fisk follows no-nonsense corporate lawyer Helen Tudor-Fisk (Flanagan), who is forced to take a job at a suburban law firm after her life in Sydney implodes. Newly divorced, she finds herself downgrading to less glamorous cases while navigating her own divorce, family feuds and money matters. The first two seasons are now available on Netflix, where it has entered the top 10 in countries such as the US, Kenya, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Argentina, Canada, Uruguay and the UK. The series also stars Julia Zemiro and Marty Sheargold. Not just a TV buff? Take part in the other 25@25 polls. Read related topics: 25@25 Join the conversation
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
Can anyone top Taylor Swift as the best artist of the 21st century?
It's been a wild ride for music fans over the past 25 years. Each format shift — from CDs to MP3s, MySpace to TikTok, the iPod and iTunes downloads to Spotify and Apple Music streams, and the vinyl revival — has created a new wave of overnight pop stars. Yet there is an elite club of GOTTs (Greatest of This Time because ... The Beatles) who have cultivated pop culture permanence over recent decades. The club membership is dominated by female pop gamechangers, male hip hop stars and the sad boy singer songwriters. Who is the greatest of all over the past quarter century? Our 25@25 series will finally put to bed the debates you've been having at the pub and around dinner tables for years – and some that are just too much fun not to include. Australians have their favourites. The influence and impact of billionaire Taylor Swift is undeniable. Pink is an honorary Australian - she loves us and we love her. Beyonce probably gets marked down for NOT COMING HERE since 2013. Ed Sheeran is another local hero here and breaks stadium box office records every time he tours. As he told the Zane Lowe show recently when his 2017 mega-hit 'Shape of You' topped the Apple Music 500 most streamed songs of the past decade, he gets asked to play that song on an acoustic guitar in a Cambodian jungle. It's been everywhere, man. But Hot Hits host and pop guru Nic Kelly said Swift is the favourite to win the poll below. 'I feel like I might have some recency bias in this, but I don't think there's been anyone that can touch Taylor in the last 25 years,' Kelly said. 'Especially over the last 10 years, her cultural impact, the way that she can turn a city into a TaylorSphere for such a long period of time, the phenomenal amount of ticket sales and the way that even the tickets going on sale turned into an event. 'She has continued to reinvent herself and control her narrative from overexposure when the Reputation album came out to then own the narrative of being overexposed and a bit hated, to then turn it into credibility again with folklore and evermore, and then to just become beloved with the Eras tour, a celebration of someone that's meant a lot to such a broad range of people, makes her completely undeniable.' While Swifties love to own a poll on behalf of their queen, Hit Network personality Kelly said there is a Best Artist challenger for Australia's heart. Since she burst onto the pop charts with 'Get This Party Started' in 2001 and chugged a VB standing on the bar at a showcase gig in Sydney, Pink has gone on to play months-long tours here, and claimed the record for most stadium concerts by an artist in Australia and New Zealand with 20 shows on last year's Summer Carnival tour. 'I don't think there are any more passionate fans, in Australia specifically, than Pink fans,' Kelly said. 'She has a complete stranglehold on the live music love of a particular demographic in Australia, the women who started going to shows 15 years ago and Pink is now an event for them. 'If this was a poll on greatest live act, Pink is absolutely up there and continues to bring it time after time. The shows feel so heavily rehearsed, yet so free at the same time. And there's obviously the acrobatics, which has become a thing of its own. I think the Pink fans might give Taylor Swift a run for her money.' The poll also throws pop game-changers Adele, Billie Eilish and actual Australian Sia into the mix versus the stream and stadium kings Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, Ed Sheeran and Eminem. But what about Drake or Kendrick? Ariana and Rihanna? 'WHERE THE HELL IS GAGA?' I hear you protest. Kelly is with you, pop fans. He says 'Drake is absolutely missing from this list' but acknowledges the Anita Max Win Tour in February divided the Canadian rapper's Aussie fanbase. Between the gambling ads, the 'You All Win A Holiday' cash splash at his concerts and cancelling the final shows for zip reason - and all of it in the shadow of the Kendrick Lamar beef - Drake might be a little on the nose down under. 'The whole time Drake was here most recently, I think it was a little bit of a strange feeling. I mean, he's here, the first show was on the night of the Super Bowl where Kendrick's got hundreds of millions of people basically talking about him,' Kelly said. 'Yet he's had one of his biggest chart hits in a while with Nokia ... and songs like Hotline Bling and One Dance are still so highly streamed and so highly in the Zeitgeist.'
