Latest news with #Offspring
Daily Mail
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Legendary US rocker looks almost unrecognisable as he competes in a triathlon in Western Sydney
He's the US punk rocker that is known more for his onstage persona than his sporting ability. But Offspring frontman Dexter Holland showed another side recently, taking time out from the band's Australian tour to compete in a triathlon. He was competing in the Panthers Tri Club's (PTC) local triathlon event at the Sydney International Regatta Centre in Western Sydney last weekend. The event required Dexter to complete a 750-metre swim, a 20-kilometre bike course and a 5-kilometre run. The rocker, 59, shared a video to The Offpsring's Instagram story on Friday that showed him taking on the gruelling event. The clip began with Dexter, clad in a wetsuit sunglasses and a pair of Crocs, hyping himself up for what was to come. 'Alright guys, if you want to look cool,' just dress up for a triathlon,' he said. 'I mean look at this,' as the camera panned down to his footwear. 'What else do you need?' Continuing, Dexter said that the Offspring's idea of tour downtime differs wildly from the wild antics normally associated with rock stars. 'We're here in Sydney. Gonna do a little sprint triathlon, just for fun. That's what we do on days off,' he said. As he headed to the event briefing, Dexter explained the ins and outs of a triathlon to the band's 1.9million fans, before donning a skull cap to prepare for the swim leg. The clip then cut to a montage of Dexter swimming, riding and running his way through the strenuous event. His bandmates were there to support Dexter, waiting patiently at the finish line with bottles of vodka and Gatorade in hand. As he ran across the finish line, Dexter beamed broadly and waved his hands victoriously in the air as he accepted cheers from his excited bandmates. Speaking to the Western Weekender, PTC club president Mark Thomas said it was 'surreal' seeing the rocker arrive at the event. 'They kept it under wraps a bit so it was rather surreal for the volunteers when he checked in, he told the publication. He added that Dexter was keen to keep things pretty low key, however, the presence of his band at the finish line clued everyone in. 'Our volunteers tried to make him feel like he was just another competitor,' he said. 'If it wasn't for the rest of the band turning up to cheer him over the finish line, most people in attendance would not have known he was there.' Mark added that Dexter was in training for another triathlon event and took the opportunity to take part to keep up with his training schedule while on tour. Dexter is well known for being quite the Renaissance man, with the rocker also holding a PhD in molecular biology as well as being a licensed pilot. Fans were quick to comment on the action-packed clip with one offering a very apt: 'Pretty fly for a tri guy.' Another was quick to praise Dexter for his many talents with: 'Dexter is the ultimate cool guy: has PhD, plays in a band and does a triathlon.' A third chimed in with a swooning: 'Being as handsome as Dexter AND smart should be illegal.' The band were Down Under this month, for six shows for the Australian leg of their Supercharged Worldwide in '25 tour. Bringing fellow punk rockers A Simple Plan along for the ride, the band rounded out their tour in Brisbane on Thursday.
Perth Now
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Asher Keddie in her producing era but isn't quitting acting
When watching a comedy movie or TV show, you may wonder if the actors struggle with trying not to crack up when reciting their lines on set. For one of Australia's most adored actors Asher Keddie, becoming hysterical mid-line is something she is very good at. These latest crack-ups came when playing Evelyn Jones, the lead character in Strife, which follows the modern imperfect woman and publisher on her journey from a blogger to a force in digital media with her startup Eve Life. After the first season in 2023 became Binge's biggest original series premiere of all time, the second season premiered on May 8 and sees Keddie's character exploring the complexities of womanhood, relationships, dealing with the threat of a new rival women's website, and tackling nasty trolls — all the while keeping up just the right level of lighthearted gags. 'This is the sort of show that incites so much mischief and laughter,' Keddie says on a phone call from Sydney. 'The whole ensemble is always engaged in shenanigans and humour and, you know, so much fun behind the scenes. It's about creating a certain level of hysteria when you're doing comedy drama, I think.' It's something the actor, who also serves as executive producer on the show, always encourages 'to the point of being probably the most unprofessional of the lot of them'. 'I'm terrible when it comes to hysterical laughing in the middle of a scene,' she says. 'It's not my strong point, put it that way. if I'm amused by something, I find it difficult not to respond in the moment, and this cast is incredibly amusing, so we've had such fun together.' Asher Keddie as Evelyn Jones. Credit: John Platt In among the comedy, of course, is the importance of telling authentic female stories. After all, the series is a fictionalised adaptation of Mia Freedman's 2017 memoir Work Strife Balance, about her experience of leaving magazines to launch women's lifestyle website Mamamia. 'It was just so incredible listening to the stories at the beginning that Mia had of her experiences throughout, and the challenge of presenting her ideas online and putting them out there and using her voice no matter what the consequences were, and sometimes the consequences in the cost to her were huge,' Keddie says. 'We explore in the second series trolling, which became a really big thing around the time that Mia started up Mamamia, so that's a really interesting storyline.' The Offspring star says viewers need to see women's vulnerabilities on screen. 'What I want to see is not to apologise for getting it wrong and failing sometimes and not being able to achieve that kind of elusive perfection that we put on ourselves all the time,' she says. 'I think those themes that we explore in the show, particularly in the second season, are the things that I really want to lean into as a woman and a viewer, so I'm hoping that other people feel the same way.' Asher Keddie attends the 2025 AACTA Awards. Credit: Dan Peled / Getty Images for AFI The Melburnian reunited with Bruna Papandrea, whom she worked with for roles in Nine Perfect Strangers and The Lost Flowers Of Alice Heart, to produce the show. Keddie found it helpful rather than challenging to be a producer as well as an actor. 'Being able to produce and being in conversation about how we can write it, how we're going to perform it, where it's gonna be, all the different millions of choices that you make on the entirety of a production, it's so involving for me that it's almost easier to be a bigger part of it in that way than it is just to deliver a performance,' she says. Despite loving the production side of things, Keddie isn't stepping away from acting. 'Oh no, I'm not gonna give up my day job,' she says. 'I love acting. I always have. I enjoy it more now actually than ever so no, I still love what I do but I just like combining the two.'
West Australian
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Asher Keddie loved producing as well as acting in Strife but isn't giving up her day job
When watching a comedy movie or TV show, you may wonder if the actors struggle with trying not to crack up when reciting their lines on set. For one of Australia's most adored actors Asher Keddie, becoming hysterical mid-line is something she is very good at. These latest crack-ups came when playing Evelyn Jones, the lead character in Strife, which follows the modern imperfect woman and publisher on her journey from a blogger to a force in digital media with her startup Eve Life. After the first season in 2023 became Binge's biggest original series premiere of all time, the second season premiered on May 8 and sees Keddie's character exploring the complexities of womanhood, relationships, dealing with the threat of a new rival women's website, and tackling nasty trolls — all the while keeping up just the right level of lighthearted gags. 'This is the sort of show that incites so much mischief and laughter,' Keddie says on a phone call from Sydney. 'The whole ensemble is always engaged in shenanigans and humour and, you know, so much fun behind the scenes. It's about creating a certain level of hysteria when you're doing comedy drama, I think.' It's something the actor, who also serves as executive producer on the show, always encourages 'to the point of being probably the most unprofessional of the lot of them'. 'I'm terrible when it comes to hysterical laughing in the middle of a scene,' she says. 'It's not my strong point, put it that way. if I'm amused by something, I find it difficult not to respond in the moment, and this cast is incredibly amusing, so we've had such fun together.' In among the comedy, of course, is the importance of telling authentic female stories. After all, the series is a fictionalised adaptation of Mia Freedman's 2017 memoir Work Strife Balance, about her experience of leaving magazines to launch women's lifestyle website Mamamia. 'It was just so incredible listening to the stories at the beginning that Mia had of her experiences throughout, and the challenge of presenting her ideas online and putting them out there and using her voice no matter what the consequences were, and sometimes the consequences in the cost to her were huge,' Keddie says. 'We explore in the second series trolling, which became a really big thing around the time that Mia started up Mamamia, so that's a really interesting storyline.' The Offspring star says viewers need to see women's vulnerabilities on screen. 'What I want to see is not to apologise for getting it wrong and failing sometimes and not being able to achieve that kind of elusive perfection that we put on ourselves all the time,' she says. 'I think those themes that we explore in the show, particularly in the second season, are the things that I really want to lean into as a woman and a viewer, so I'm hoping that other people feel the same way.' The Melburnian reunited with Bruna Papandrea, whom she worked with for roles in Nine Perfect Strangers and The Lost Flowers Of Alice Heart, to produce the show. Keddie found it helpful rather than challenging to be a producer as well as an actor. 'Being able to produce and being in conversation about how we can write it, how we're going to perform it, where it's gonna be, all the different millions of choices that you make on the entirety of a production, it's so involving for me that it's almost easier to be a bigger part of it in that way than it is just to deliver a performance,' she says. Despite loving the production side of things, Keddie isn't stepping away from acting. 'Oh no, I'm not gonna give up my day job,' she says. 'I love acting. I always have. I enjoy it more now actually than ever so no, I still love what I do but I just like combining the two.'
The Age
23-04-2025
- Business
- The Age
Australia is making great TV right now. Too bad it's all behind paywalls.
In 2020, amid the industry shutdown of the pandemic, the Morrison government suspended the quota regulations introduced during Keating's time as PM. These specified a minimum number of hours of locally produced content, with sub-quotas applying to drama, documentary and children's television. Loading From 2021, the overhauled regulations specified more broadly that 55 per cent Australian content had to be broadcast between 6am and midnight annually on primary channels as well as 1460 hours on non-primary channels. Foxtel's required spending on drama was reduced from 10 per cent of revenue to five. These services haven't been required to make more drama, so they haven't. And producers have migrated to the streamers because that's where the opportunities are, even if they're limited. Local industry bodies have campaigned for the streamers to be required to spend a percentage of their revenue on producing local content. And these services have lobbied vigorously against this, maintaining that they'll invest in Australian production without it being mandated. With the exception of local streamer Stan, that investment has amounted to tokenism. According to Screen Australia's latest drama report (for the 2023-24 financial year), Stan already invests considerably more than its giant global counterparts, supporting 11 local productions in that period. That's in contrast to Netflix with four, Binge/Foxtel with three and both Paramount+ and Amazon Prime having just two. The Albanese government initially announced plans for a national cultural policy to be released last July, with local content quotas to be the centrepiece. The deadline passed, without an announcement. Loading Earlier this month, amid global tensions over the Trump administration's trade tariffs, Albanese reaffirmed the government's commitment to quotas, declaring, 'We strongly support local content in streaming services so that Australian stories stay on Australian screens.' The statement came after mounting pressure from the US citing Australia's national cultural policy as damaging to its interests. The issue continues to be hotly debated, while Australian audiences suffer the effects. A 2024 study by the Queensland University of Technology revealed that, between 1999 and 2023, the broadcast hours of adult drama fell by almost 50 per cent. 'Reducing commercial broadcaster obligations over recent decades has been disastrous for the Australian community in terms of their access to freely available Australian drama,' the report concluded. There have never been more content providers yet the situation has been steadily deteriorating. Compounding that sobering situation, the streamers have been unreliable with the content they have. Significant series simply disappear when the service that holds the licence opts not to renew it. Offspring was recently unavailable anywhere, only to pop up on Stan a couple of weeks ago. One Night, made for Paramount+ in 2023, vanished within months of its premiere and is now on Netflix, with no guarantee of it staying there. The upshot of all of this instability and the dismaying lack of oversight is an industry under increasing stress and viewers with frustratingly limited access to local drama, most of which they have to pay for. It's unsatisfactory for the embattled industry and for viewers. We shouldn't have to pay $50 a month for a trickle of Aussie content on subscription platforms while commercial FTA gives us nothing but soap.
Sydney Morning Herald
23-04-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Australia is making great TV right now. Too bad it's all behind paywalls.
In 2020, amid the industry shutdown of the pandemic, the Morrison government suspended the quota regulations introduced during Keating's time as PM. These specified a minimum number of hours of locally produced content, with sub-quotas applying to drama, documentary and children's television. Loading From 2021, the overhauled regulations specified more broadly that 55 per cent Australian content had to be broadcast between 6am and midnight annually on primary channels as well as 1460 hours on non-primary channels. Foxtel's required spending on drama was reduced from 10 per cent of revenue to five. These services haven't been required to make more drama, so they haven't. And producers have migrated to the streamers because that's where the opportunities are, even if they're limited. Local industry bodies have campaigned for the streamers to be required to spend a percentage of their revenue on producing local content. And these services have lobbied vigorously against this, maintaining that they'll invest in Australian production without it being mandated. With the exception of local streamer Stan, that investment has amounted to tokenism. According to Screen Australia's latest drama report (for the 2023-24 financial year), Stan already invests considerably more than its giant global counterparts, supporting 11 local productions in that period. That's in contrast to Netflix with four, Binge/Foxtel with three and both Paramount+ and Amazon Prime having just two. The Albanese government initially announced plans for a national cultural policy to be released last July, with local content quotas to be the centrepiece. The deadline passed, without an announcement. Loading Earlier this month, amid global tensions over the Trump administration's trade tariffs, Albanese reaffirmed the government's commitment to quotas, declaring, 'We strongly support local content in streaming services so that Australian stories stay on Australian screens.' The statement came after mounting pressure from the US citing Australia's national cultural policy as damaging to its interests. The issue continues to be hotly debated, while Australian audiences suffer the effects. A 2024 study by the Queensland University of Technology revealed that, between 1999 and 2023, the broadcast hours of adult drama fell by almost 50 per cent. 'Reducing commercial broadcaster obligations over recent decades has been disastrous for the Australian community in terms of their access to freely available Australian drama,' the report concluded. There have never been more content providers yet the situation has been steadily deteriorating. Compounding that sobering situation, the streamers have been unreliable with the content they have. Significant series simply disappear when the service that holds the licence opts not to renew it. Offspring was recently unavailable anywhere, only to pop up on Stan a couple of weeks ago. One Night, made for Paramount+ in 2023, vanished within months of its premiere and is now on Netflix, with no guarantee of it staying there. The upshot of all of this instability and the dismaying lack of oversight is an industry under increasing stress and viewers with frustratingly limited access to local drama, most of which they have to pay for. It's unsatisfactory for the embattled industry and for viewers. We shouldn't have to pay $50 a month for a trickle of Aussie content on subscription platforms while commercial FTA gives us nothing but soap.
