• 0

    Your cart is currently empty.

Home / Blog
The ‘Naive’ Wine Myth Sommeliers Wish Australians Would Leave Behind
The ‘Naive’ Wine Myth Sommeliers Wish Australians Would Leave Behind

In the world of coffee, a cappuccino is considered – by many – a ‘basic’ drink. On the other hand, drinks like long blacks and espressos tend to be drunk by those with plenty of miles on their taste buds.When it comes to wine, Pinot Grigio draws the short straw. As Australian sommelier Sean McManus told DMARGE, “If you were looking for ‘the cappuccino’ of the wine industry you wouldn’t need to travel much further than Italy!”“Pinot Grigio is always a deflating conversation when serving guests, having a diner party. Generally Pinot Grigio is regarded as the ‘factory farm’ of wines. Mass produced, sold relatively cheap.”“Common misconception is that Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris are different, they are not! Italians just call Pinot Gris, Pinot Grigio like Australian and New Zealanders call Syrah, Shiraz! If you are a Pinot Grigio fan, broaden your horizons by trying Pinot Gris from places like Alsace in France, just near the German border.”

“It’s plush, lush and racy! Otherwise take a jump over the Italian boarder to Slovenia, where Pinot Grigio is aged in Slovenian oak and plays with gentle skin contact offering wines with flavours of yellow peach, coconut and loads of mouth watering elegance.”

Done with your virtual Pinot Grigio tasting? Good. McManus has more insights for you. Number one being: Pinot Noir, contrary to some of the cruel stereotypes floating around (mainly perpetrated by those that only really like punchy Shiraz of a Friday night and nothing else), is not always a bad choice.“Pinot Noir is probably the most versatile grape on the planet. It can be translucent with delicate aromas of soft red underripe cherries and strawberries, or dark and dense, with opulence and bold flavours, structure that can be likened to a fighter jet taking off on a sea-bound aircraft… (‘I feel the need, the need… for speed!’)… these kind of bottles with such power and persistence can be exceptionally age-worthy and jaw-dropping to have the privilege to ingest.”

“I’ve had Grand Cru burgundy (Pinot Noir) bottles that have had more power and meaty-ness then Shiraz!”

“Anyone who thinks Pinot is out, is obviously drinking the wrong Pinot!” McManus added, advising anyone who doesn’t have faith to “ask your wine waiter/sommelier for assistance.”“Not all Pinot Noir is made the same and not all Burgundy need to cost an arm and a leg!”Put that in your glass and drink it.

Read Next

The post The 'Naive' Wine Myth Sommeliers Wish Australians Would Leave Behind appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Read more
Nutrition Coach Reveals The Problem With Eating Fibre To Improve Digestion
Nutrition Coach Reveals The Problem With Eating Fibre To Improve Digestion

Being a modern human is hard. If you’re not beating yourself up about not looking perfect on Instagram, or not taking the perfect holiday photo, you’re probably following some terrifying low carb diet, making co-workers wince with your grim Tupperware offerings, and posting questionable motivational quotes in your free time.

Ok, ok, it’s probably not as bad as all that. But still: eating well and maintaining balance is tough in a world where the food pyramid is being attacked from all directions (in many cases with compelling arguments) but also in a world in which – if you go far enough in the ‘gleaming keto wormhole’ direction – you get scurvy inducing diets that would make an 18th-century pirate shudder.

RELATED: Joe Rogan’s Carnivore Diet Could Be Your Ticket To Becoming A Shredded Beast…But At What Cost?


One thing you might think we are all settled on though is that eating fibre improves digestion. Think again. Nutrition coach Max Lugavere is here to spill exactly why that’s not necessarily the case.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Max Lugavere (@maxlugavere)

Lugavere took to Instagram recently to break down some of the most common causes of people’s digestive issues.

These, according to Lugavere, include: eating too much fibre, eating at odd times, chronic stress, eating on the go, overeating, inhaling your food, ignoring food sensitivities and being sedentary.

“Not every day is going to be perfect,” Lugavere captioned the post. “Sometimes you have to eat on the run. Or eat late at night. But in general, these practices can negatively affect digestion, a process that happens best during normal diurnal feeding windows and while you are in a rested, parasympathetic state.”

“Also fiber is usually what most people reach for to improve digestion but too much fiber (especially if you aren’t used to it) can make you feel like [shit], literally. Isolated fiber extracts from processed foods (usually low carb foods) are also terrible for the gut in large quantities.”

“These include inulin and chicory root fibre. Fibre is great in that it’s filling and we believe it is beneficial from a microbiome/immune standpoint, but it should always be tailored to your own tolerance and lifestyle and definitely don’t feel any pressure to overdo it!”

Put that on your plate and eat it…

Read Next

The post The Dietary Mistake You're Likely Making, According To A Nutrition Coach appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Read more
F1 Star Max Verstappen’s Bizarre Neck Exercise Actually Incredibly Important
F1 Star Max Verstappen’s Bizarre Neck Exercise Actually Incredibly Important

People don’t think of Formula One drivers as being athletes in the same sense that basketball players or sprinters are, but the reality is that F1 drivers are some of the fittest men on the planet.Not only do you need insane reaction timing and dexterity, but the intense g-forces F1 drivers pull take a huge toll on one’s body, with modern drivers copping up to 8g when cornering, TheDrive reports – similar to what a fighter pilot endures.That’s why, if you take a close look at drivers like McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo or Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, you’ll notice they’ve got pretty ripped necks. You need to have a strong neck when you’re pulling those g’s. But how do you exercise your neck? The answer’s not that pretty, as Max Verstappen has revealed.Both the official F1 Instagram and Verstappen on his personal account shared images of him working out using a rather scary-looking contraption that simulates the g-forces he’s likely to pull on the track. With his head in a sling and a pained expression on his face, the world #3 looked like he was being tortured by the machine – prompting puzzled and bemused reactions from fans.

Choice comments include “Max on training to defeat Goku,” “a very strong Drago Rocky IV vibe” and “thought he was on the toilet.” Charming.His uncomfortable reaction to the machine had others suggesting it’s the face he’d pull “when someone asks him why he stole Kyvat’s seat and girl,” or “when you see Kvyat with a new girl and know Verstappen is around.” Verstappen is currently dating Kelly Piquet, daughter of three-time F1 World Champion Nelson Piquet and former Red Bull driver Daniil Kyvat’s ex-partner. Verstappen was also the one who replaced Kyvat at Red Bull back in 2016, so Kyvat probably doesn’t have a lot of love for Max.Even his fellow race car drivers got in on the ribbing. Dutch touring car legend Tom Coronel quipped “don’t go faster than that machine”, and Swedish IndyCar racer Felix Rosenqvist joked that “neck day is never a pretty sight”.

Verstappen doing a less intense neck exercise at home in Monaco. Image: @maxverstappen1
Sure, all this neck torture doesn’t look like it’s a lot of fun, but it’s actually incredibly important that F1 drivers ensure they can survive the pressure driving at such an intensity puts on their bodies. For comparison, the average rollercoaster might expose you to 3g of force, and most untrained humans will pass out between 4 and 6g. Verstappen needs to withstand double that, so such exercises are crucial.No pain, no gain, as they say.The 2021 Formula One World Championship will kick off with the Bahrain Grand Prix on the 26th to the 28th of March, with the Australian Grand Prix (which normally opens up the season) being pushed back tentatively to November due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Travel restrictions have also seen the Chinese Grand Prix indefinitely postponed, with Imola returning to the F1 calendar in its slot, formula1.com reports.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sky Sports F1 (@skysportsf1)

UPDATE: it’s not just Verstappen getting in on the torture machine action. Both AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen have also been putting themselves through the ringer ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, as the video above demonstrates. Someone get these lads some Voltaren…

Read Next

The post F1 Star Max Verstappen's Bizarre Neck Exercise Is Actually Incredibly Important appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Read more
Stunning Video Shows Why The Maldives Was 2020’s Biggest Tourism Success Story
Stunning Video Shows Why The Maldives Was 2020’s Biggest Tourism Success Story

If 2019 was a Babylonian banquet of floating breakfasts, business class thrills and last-minute trips booked at 2am (after several flutes of Dom Pérignon), 2020 was a jail cell with a grotty bunkbed.One destination found success though – The Maldives. As CNN Travel reports, the Indian Ocean archipelago became the biggest 2020 international tourism success story, despite receiving a million fewer tourists than it did in 2019.How did it succeed? “While many other destinations slammed their borders closed,” CNN Travel reports, “the Maldives chose to fully reopen to travelers from any country, regardless of the status of the virus there, in July 2020.”The country’s geography helped make this strategy possible: “Many hotels and resorts are on their own private islands…  which makes isolating and social distancing exceptionally easy.”

“Countries around Asia and the Pacific have been more cautious about reopening than those in Europe and North America, meaning that tourists in the region had few options for places to go.”

“As other popular Asia-Pacific island getaways like Tahiti, Bali and Phuket remained off-limits, the Maldives took advantage of the fact that they were in relatively good shape with the virus.”Unlike many other destinations, which have reopened with significant caveats (like a mandatory two-week quarantine) The Maldives, CNN Travel report, “reopened unconditionally in July, only to walk it back in September by requiring all travellers to show proof of a negative Covid-19 test upon arrival [after a couple of hiccups].”“The Maldives’ heavy reliance on ultra-luxury resorts also worked in its favour when it came to testing and social distancing. For example, some high-end properties conduct additional in-resort Covid testing as an added layer of protection against the spread of the virus.”The success has been compounded by offers announced in 2020 by the likes of Anantara Veli Maldives Resort, which capitalised on the growing work from home (and digital nomad) movements.The offer gave travellers the chance to pay US $30,000 (AU $41,214) for a full 365 days (with your partner) in one of the luxury resort’s stunning Overwater Bungalows.This exclusive offer included access to the resort’s fitness centre, pool, and yoga classes and included all taxes and service charges, daily breakfast for two, shared return transfers between Anantara Veli and Malé as often as required, and a 25% saving on dining and spa treatments.Speaking of all those luxuries, a video recently posted to Anantara Veli Maldives Resort’s Instagram account sums up quite well the attraction of The Maldives in 2020.

Serenity, solitude, luxury.As the caption puts it: “Relaxation, spectacular views and the type of sunsets dreams are made of.”This is far from the first FOMO provoking video to drop of The Maldives in the last 12 months. Further posts under the Anantara Veli Maldives Resort geotag and hashtag show yet more reasons the island chain held such potent charm.From water cinemas…

… to blissful strolls…

… to drinking champagne in style…

Other resorts like Jumeriah Vittaveli have had their share of jealousy inspiring clips drop lately too.

Excuse us if we don’t feel too sorry for the tourists who found themselves stuck in The Maldives last year…

Read Next

The post World's Biggest Tourism Success Story For 2020 Revealed appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Read more
Australian Tennis Player Brings Back Primary School’s Most Maligned Accessory
Australian Tennis Player Brings Back Primary School’s Most Maligned Accessory

Over the years, tennis has had its fair share of style icons.Take Andre Agassi, with his flowing mullet, jeans shorts, and speed dealer sunglasses. What about Leyton Hewitt, with his trademark backwards cap and wristbands, or Rafael Nadal, with his proclivity for neon outfits and ultra-expensive watches.Now a new challenger has emerged: Australia’s very own Marc Polmans, who is leading a one-man revival of the most controversial accessory to have ever graced the tennis court or school playground. The item in question? The humble legionnaires’ hat.The legionnaire’s hat originated with the elite French Foreign Legion, whose soldiers would modify their képi (a boxy flat cap traditionally worn by many militaries) with a long neck flap to protect themselves against sunburn. These days, the legionnaires’ hat is most commonly seen worn by school children, whose parents force the highly practical but rather unfashionable headwear on their kids in an effort to keep them sun safe. Désolé chéri.Its rather dorky reputation famously inspired former Triple J presenters Matt Okine and Alex Dyson to release a comedic art house film parody celebrating the much-maligned hat back in 2016, a video which still lives rent-free in many an Aussie’s mind.The unfortunate primary school connotation of the cap doesn’t bother Polmans, however. The 22-year-old South African-born athlete proudly rocks the hat, which has quickly become his signature look.Indeed, Polmans has joked that he doesn’t think the big stars like Federer or Nadal would be bold enough to wear the unfairly-maligned hat, The New Daily reports.

“I don’t think those guys are going to be able to do it… They’ve got pretty big images, so I don’t think I can see them wearing the legionnaires’ hat any time soon.’’

RELATED: Roger Federer Impresses Fans Without Even Picking Up A RacketWe’re in two minds about it. On the one hand, we reckon it makes Polmans look a little goofy – his quirky play style, expressive face and lanky build not helping him in that department either.On the other hand, we admire his individuality, as well as his practicality. Hewitt’s backwards cap might be iconic but surely it can only detriment his performance. Unlike a legionnaires’ hat.Polmans’ Australian Open player profile page isn’t doing him any favours, though.

They really didn’t need to do my man dirty like that.
Polmans is one of only a few Australian players still left in the Australian Open, with big names like Ash Barty and Nick Kyrgios out for the count.Polmans’ still in contention alongside fellow Aussie Storm Sanders in the mixed doubles, the pair beating out another Aussie duo to progress to the semifinals. Polmans and Sanders will play Czechia’s Barbora Krejcikova and the US’ Rajeev Ram later today.

Read Next

The post Australian Tennis Player Brings Back Primary School's Most Maligned Uniform Accessory appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Read more
The Truth About Australia’s Most Vilified Motor Vehicle
The Truth About Australia’s Most Vilified Motor Vehicle

Some cars inspire more emotions than others. The Hyundai i30 is a great car, but it’s so bland you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who had anything of note to say about it. Conversely, the Tesla Model S attracts both lavish praise and adoration from Elon Musk fanboys and rabid vegans… As well as passionate criticisms from the Andrew Bolts and Jeremy Clarksons of the world.

The same goes for different classes of vehicles. No-one’s going to get heated talking about sedans. But SUVs? Their sales figures would suggest they’re wildly popular, but ask most car fans and they’ll have nothing but harsh words to say about them. But there’s SUVs and then there’s SUVs… There’s a big difference between a Toyota Land Cruiser and a BMW X7, for example.

The SUV that’s perhaps the most ‘SUV-ey’ is the Range Rover: big, brash, expensive and usually driven by people with more money than sense (or so the reputation goes), the British luxury 4×4 is easily the most divisive vehicle on Australian roads. Popular among the rich and hated by almost everyone else, the car – judging by online commentary – appears to have become something of a symbol for this country’s cultural divide.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Lords of Byron Bay (@lordsofbyronbay)


Nowhere is this more apparent than in Byron Bay. For many years, the idyllic coastal paradise has seen a radical cultural shift as cashed-up good vibe seekers from around the country and the globe have flocked to the regional centre, pushing property prices and the cost of living up, alienating locals. This trend has only accelerated over the last twelve months, as the dearth of international travel as well as people’s trying to escape The Spicy Cough in the big cities has made Byron become even more desirable for those with the means to make a seachange.

RELATED: ‘Most Byron Photo Ever’ Highlights Australia’s Changing Coastal Culture

In this way, the scores of Range Rovers that have descended on Byron become a metaphor for the woes of Australia more broadly. They’re an obvious symbol of wealth… And when you see the antics ‘Rangies’ (or more accurately, their drivers) get up to in Australia’s yuppie paradise (we hope at least some of them are exaggerated), you’ll see why they’re so despised. Instagram account @lordsofbyronbay is a good place to start.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Lords of Byron Bay (@lordsofbyronbay)

While it’s not just Range Rovers that are ‘terrorising’ Byron – there’s plenty of Jaguars, Mercedes-Benzes and Porsches to be found too – the vehicle’s prolific nature and reputation make it an obvious target for criticism. This comment, left on a particularly scathing examination of Byron Bay by surf media website Beach Grit, sums up the prevailing sentiment perfectly:

“It’s indeed a sad thing to watch a town we loved be subsumed into parody. I just came back from [surfing at] one of the very few spots you can avoid the cuntery that seems to have washed over Byron in the last 6 months.”

“You can’t avoid the cuntery in the carpark though. I was no shit squashed into my car park by 3 fuckers in black SUVs… one at both nose and tail and one on my wing waiting for me to move so he could gobble up my park. I felt both outraged and intimidated, black SUVs are no doubt designed to intimate, the vehicle of choice for the master race. The carpark felt like a parable for the Byron housing market.”

“There was a time, not so long ago, that it was considered an uncouth act to drive a luxury vehicle in the Byron Shore,” they continue.


“Now the black SUV is the new surf van. Byron is long past trying to hide wealth, now it’s a matter of letting it all hang out. There’s still a lot of legends that live around here, salt of the earth folk that have been doing it real for generations, but the fresh waves of nouveau rich are gobbling Byron up faster than it can rebirth itself. I’m sensing it’s for the dogs, like many others who have been here for a generation, I’m deftly crafting my exit strategy.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Lords of Byron Bay (@lordsofbyronbay)

Of course, not all Range Rover drivers are dickheads, nor is it the most tone-deaf vehicle one can buy. We’d argue driving around Byron in a Ferrari or an imported Ford F-250 would be even more frowned upon… At least a Range Rover’s practical and comfortable.

But at a time when the Australian property market is one of the most over-heated in the world, the wealth gap continues to widen while wages stay stagnant, and car prices continue to climb through the roof – it’s not surprising Range Rovers replacing beat-up station wagons hasn’t gone unnoticed. The sheer number of Rangies and the convincing correlation between Rangie ownership and poor parking is hard to ignore, too.

Still, maybe this is all just sour grapes. As one DMARGE source put it, “the truth about Range Rover drivers is they don’t give a shit about what you think of them.”

We guess it must be hard to hear the hoi polloi over the sound of all those windchimes and bongos…

Read Next

The post The Truth About Australia's Most Vilified Motor Vehicle appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Read more
‘I Bought A House & All I Got Was This Umbrella’
‘I Bought A House & All I Got Was This Umbrella’

Australians treat the property market with as much reverence as the ancient Egyptians revered cats (and that’s to say nothing of their equally ample desire to leave a f*ck off legacy). So when, a quarter of the way through 2020, the property market momentarily froze (cheers, COVID-19), it’s hardly surprising there was a huge influx of buyers rushing in to fill the hole.

Not one to miss a trend, a DMARGE correspondent also bought a house in 2020. What he did not expect, however, was to be underwhelmed at the end of the process. Though this had nothing to do with the property, the price or the region (those crucial elements we regularly discuss in our Money vertical), it stemmed from the sense of anti-climax around buying a house.

The main gripe? He was presented with a set of keys in a crumpled envelope, a real estate branded umbrella, and then… done. Hasta la vista. Finito.


This idea of post-purchase depression (and the related ‘house porn’ trend, whereby new property owners obsessively keep checking prices to see if they could have got a better deal by waiting) has been trending on Reddit of late too, so our underwhelmed friend is far from alone. To ask if this is usual, or if he’d had a particularly sad experience with the not-to-be-named real estate agency in question, DMARGE got on the phone with founder of The Rubinstein Group, Gavin Rubinstein.

The Rubinstein Group is based in Sydney, and offers a bespoke service for clients who want a perfectly tailored home property transaction.

The reason you don’t tend to see a lot of bells and whistles thrown at you when you purchase a property is actually fairly simple. As Rubinstein told us: “The vendor pays the agent’s fees,” not the buyer.

This means – although real estate agents must ensure the buyer has access (if they want access) to the house and that “everything is sorted prior to them settling in,” there is more of an incentive for real estate agents to celebrate with the vendor than the buyer.

Rubinstein says to imagine how buying a house is different to buying a car: “When you go and buy a car, the client is you. In a real estate transaction, though the real estate agent is serving the buyer and wanting to do everything they can to make it smooth and enjoyable for everyone, the client is the seller.”

“The real estate agent services the seller.”

That said, Rubinstein told us he does sometimes buy a little something for buyers too.

“Sometimes liquor, sometimes flowers – it depends.”

Additionally, Rubinstein says: “real estate agents should do better on everything” and that “there is so much room for improvement in our industry – myself included. We all need to be able to raise the bar with regard to service.”

“Overall on every facet of service to both buyer and seller, there is scope to improve the real estate practise.”

“I really kind of customise it based on the situation [and take it] case by case. I definitely have a little key box and sometimes include a bottle of some sort of liquor. I very often go out to dinner with the owner to celebrate.”


Rubinstein also told DMARGE: “I’m not a transactional agent. I like to do one, two, three; four things with people. Having built up that sort of client list every year I send my clients a Dom Pérignon at Christmas time.”

Finally, Rubinstein told us real estate agents face an “interesting predicament” in their role, as they are “representing one side of a two-party transition, whereby our job is to get the best outcome for the seller and the buyers want to spend as little as possible.”

“If a buyer can offer less or pay less to acquire a property, they’re going to do what they can to do so. We’re in an unusual position here.”

For the latest information about the Australian housing market and all its kinks, head on over to our Money section.

Read Next

The post 'I Purchased A $2 Million House In Sydney & All I Got Was This Crappy Umbrella' appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Read more
‘Risk It For The Rolex’: You Might Need To Visit Columbia To Get Your Next Watch
‘Risk It For The Rolex’: You Might Need To Visit Columbia To Get Your Next Watch

Earlier this month, DMARGE shared a photo of a Rolex boutique back in 2008 that had a front window filled to the brim with desirable steel sports models: multiple Daytonas, Submariners and Yacht-Masters all proudly on display. It’s a scene that would be completely alien to a Rolex fan today; one that underscores just how much the watch world has changed over the last two decades.Rolex has always been popular but in recent years it’s become particularly challenging for the average consumer to purchase one of their watches at retail, particularly their popular stainless steel ‘Professional’ sports models. Even if you’ve built a relationship with an authorised dealer – which usually means dropping hundreds of thousands on watches over a long time period – waiting lists for ‘Pepsis‘ or ‘Hermits‘ can still be years-long. And that’s when you’re in Rolex’s good books…It’s not a mystery why there’s such exclusivity: there’s just nowhere near enough supply to keep up with demand in today’s market, and Rolex hasn’t been able (or willing) to ramp up production to meet it.While some experts, such as WatchPro’s Rob Corder, reckon the current “Rolex drought” will ease within the next two years, the fact remains that it’s never been harder to get your hands on a popular model at retail. That leaves the aftermarket as the only option – and unsurprisingly, prices there are astronomical.So what’s a Rolex fan to do? The answer: plan an international holiday. While Rolex tightly controls how much their watches cost in different markets – making buying a watch overseas less of a bargain than one might expect – the Swiss brand allocates wildly different levels of stock to different markets, with some countries considered a far safer bet for finding steel models than others.

Rolex’s Sydney boutique on the famous Pitt St Mall. Image: The Hour Glass
RELATED: Largest Rolex Boutique In Southern Hemisphere Opens In SydneyUnsurprisingly, both China and the US get allocated the lion’s share of global Rolex stock. Despite this, neither country are a particularly great place to find popular models: they might get plenty of supply but there’s an enormous amount of demand. It’s a similar situation in virtually all European countries, too. Same goes for Japan.Even Switzerland, where Rolex makes their watches, gets a surprisingly meagre allocation (not to mention the country’s incredibly expensive, so it’s a poor destination from a price perspective, too). Dubai and Monaco – playgrounds of the rich and famous – are considered mixed bags.Clued-up horologists on the Rolex forums suggest that your best bet is to head to South America, with countries like Brazil and Colombia regularly touted as having surprisingly decent levels of stock, even for popular ‘Professional’ models. One commenter explains why:

“Any piece will run you 19% over US MSRP and a small conversion fee… The only dummies doing the buying here are those who can’t leave the country because of their bad deeds or soccer players who generally come from extremely poor backgrounds and just need a ‘Roletta’ on their wrist ASAP.”

Eastern Europe is considered a similarly good place to shop for a similar reason: prices are high, but a lack of local demand (as well as less tourist traffic) means you’ve got a better chance of picking popular models up. It’s a gamble, for sure – especially considering how dangerous some of these countries can be. We don’t fancy walking around the streets of Moscow or Rio de Janeiro with a Rolex-branded shopping bag…

A Rolex billboard near Moscow’s famous Red Square. Image: Ninja Cherepashka
It hardly needs to be mentioned but Australia and New Zealand get allocated almost nothing, with Aussie commenters bemoaning that “Australian ADs are drier that the Atacama Desert” and one joking “I have more stock than my local AD.”The reality is that it’s hard to find popular Rolexes at retail no matter where you go. The consistent theme online and among Rolex insiders is that nowhere is safe from the Rolex drought. Another Rolex forum goer it more bluntly: “Nowadays best place for buying is literally wherever you can get one.”It’s also somewhat of a moot point discussing international travel right now when The Spicy Cough continues to make that a near-impossibility for most of us… Like buying a Rolex at retail, we suppose. But a man can dream.If you’re looking to pick up a vintage Rolex instead, read our expert’s guide to the most underrated Rolexes of all time – there’s some bargains to be found.

Read Next

The post The Best Countries To Score Rolex’s Hard To Find Models appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Read more
‘My Eyes Are Burning’: Confronting New Instagram Trend Men Must Learn To Navigate
‘My Eyes Are Burning’: Confronting New Instagram Trend Men Must Learn To Navigate

Every few months a new piece of dating terminology enters our mouths. First it was ghosting, then there was Jekylling, Rossing; Kanye-ing. Oh, and who could forget whelming, dogfishing and dial toning.

The less said about beard-baiting (the male equivalent of the push up bra) the better.

Now we have a new online trend which, though it doesn’t pertain to dating per se, brings together a few elements of courtship anyone who has spent any time on Tinder will recognise.


It’s also, as a DMARGE correspondent recently discovered, confronting.

Image: DMARGE.

Enter: ‘booty shaking.’ DMARGE was recently sent an unsolicited clip of this, which we have decided is the closest equivalent to the male ‘dic pic’ we have ever seen.

Impressed by its brazen nature, but also somewhat disturbed, we reached out to Paige Woolen, an expert in responding to bizarre (and often creepy) social media conversation starters, who runs the Dudes in the DM Instagram account, to get her take.

“I think it is very similar to an unsolicited dick pic. We have entered an age of social media where we are comfortable using photos of our bodies as a social digital currency. What a time to be alive. An unsolicited booty pick is the slightly nicer/ more acceptable cousin to the unsolicited dick pic.”

“Unlike a dick pic, we are used to seeing booties online everywhere, it’s not a foreign image to us. The part that is intriguing is what these booty pics are being used for. The man uses a dick pic to arouse or disturb a woman while these booty videos are being used in exchange for social media promotion.”

“In my opinion, where it becomes disturbing is that these booty videos weren’t talked about and agreed on before being sent. The word ‘unsolicited’ has a disturbing connotation to it and it makes me feel like it gets put in the category of sexual harassment like its cousin ‘the dick pic.'”

Simone Holtznagel, who has previously spoken to DMARGE about her penchant for brutally shutting down dic pic crusaders (“I personally try to find their mothers on Facebook and forward it on to them)”, said this ‘booty vid’ equivalent, in her opinion, is, “DUMB” and “delusional.”

“I really don’t know what to say to be honest. Snaps for the hustle and the self confidence I guess?”

RELATED: Simone Holtznagel Reveals How To Successfully Slide Into An Instagram Model’s DMs

This trend comes in the context of The Kardashian Effect and The Byron Bay Effect, in which thorny debates rage over how we might reconcile the individual’s right to do whatever they want with their own body (and holiday Instagram feed), and the mental health issues facing a generation crying themselves to sleep because they don’t look like the models they see on Instagram (or because they can’t take the perfect waterfall shot).


It also comes in a time where there are enough social media quirks to fascinate an anthropologist for centuries over, and where we debate the true meaning of our online ‘flexes’ and the idea of “beauty as currency.”

DMARGE recently spoke to Sydney University professor of sociology Robert Van Krieken, who spoke to us about the “performativity of Instagram and Twitter” explaining that many users, in the pursuit of attention, are now, even in public places (like planes, for instance) are choosing to communicate “primarily with their social media audience, not with the other people [around them].”

RELATED: Business Class ‘Slammertime’ Ritual Sparks Outrage At 40,000ft

Various studies have delved into “algorithmic hotness” and its effects. A 2016 study published in SAGE Journals, examined how the circulation of images on mobile and algorithmic social media platforms is gendered, focussing on “the interplay between promotion, drinking culture, and social media.”

Working with informants who documented flows of images between their social media accounts and a nightlife precinct, the study demonstrated “the human capacity to use bodies to affect other bodies, and to make critical judgments about bodies, is vital to algorithmic media platforms that aim to profit from calculative judgements about the affective dimensions of human life.”


“The escalating capacity of social media platforms to calibrate flows of attention depends on the ‘hot’ bodies of users and user’s work in curating ‘hot’ body images to upload. Hot female bodies are critical to nightlife promotion via social media, in attracting viewer attention.”

“They are registered in the databases and sorted by the algorithms of social media platforms, enabling viewers to make judgments about the desirability of locations in the nightlife precinct.”

Another study, published in 2019 in Springer Link, had results which suggested “viewing images of females who have undergone cosmetic enhancements affected young women’s desire for cosmetic surgery, especially if they spent a significant amount of time on social media, followed many accounts, and were less satisfied with their appearance.”

It’s not just bodies either – researchers have also found ‘feel-good cuisine‘ is now a social currency for Gen Z.

Food for thought.

Read Next

The post 'My Eyes Are Burning': Confronting New Instagram Trend Men Must Learn To Navigate appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Read more