The Two Review: ‘Melbourne from A to B’ – Meet The Two

Reading our blog is like walking into a shop and seeing a two for one sale. Not just because there’s two of us – that would be too obvious – but because you’ll get all you expect and so much more. It’s also, in our very biased opinion, the perfect Saturday read. The Two Review is a culture and lifestyle blog in which we review the best things to do in Melbourne – with double the difference. It can be hard to know where to start with everything that’s on offer in this wonderful city of ours. Add to that the difficulty of surviving on a student budget, and it becomes even more important to save your money and stop buying things that are overpriced, overhyped and just not worth it.

Think of us as your guinea pigs if you will – everything we review is tried and tested by us. If we don’t think something’s worth your time, we’ll tell you. No bullshit. Just the truth. Your usual mundane reviews only offer one opinion, without an explanation or a better offer to help you out. Each week, you’ll get BOTH of our opinions with honest, clear and hopefully entertaining reasoning. You can agree with one of us, both of us, or maybe neither of us. We’re not going to pretend to be experts on the ins and outs of Melbourne (not just yet, anyway). We’re just offering you two perspectives on the cultural offerings of the city. We’re also up for any suggestions of things you’re not quite game enough to try yourself. Heard of an obscure activity/film/event/exhibition/gig/place that you want to know more about? Tip us off, and we’ll give it a try.

But who are we? It’s time to meet the two.

ONE: My name is Alexandra – unless you greet me with a box of macaroons and a Friends DVD, call me Ally. In Melbourne I study journalism at RMIT. In this course we are taught to be curious, not judgmental, and find a story in anything from the contents in your wallet to The Big Issue salesperson down the road. You can read the expressions on my face like a book, which may not advance my journalism career very successfully, but rest assured this trait will give you readers the real deal. If lost, I can be found buying unnecessary amounts of Swedish stationary at KiKi-K, engrossed in a Frankie magazine, relaxing at my weekly yoga class, or drinking a cappuccino or green tea (if I go a day without these two, you’ll surely notice). If my eyes are glued to my computer screen, don’t assume I’m always reading The Age or Herald Sun back-to-back, because I’ll most likely be searching on Pinterest for products I can’t afford or food too decadent to eat. I hope your first impression of me is more promising than my attempts at baking, which never fail to disappoint.
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TWO: I’m Brittany and like Ally, I also struggle in the kitchen (frequently shown up by my 13-year-old sister), so we’re probably not the people to rely on for afternoon tea. On the topic of tea and scones (pronounced to rhyme with ‘stones’), I’m also English but have lived in the lovely city of Melbourne for the past five years. I’ve picked an AFL team to ‘barrack’ for, made the difficult switch from Marmite to Vegemite, but one word from my mouth and my English accent betrays me. Handy though, when you get lost as often as I do (‘That wasn’t there last time!’), as you can still pass as a clueless tourist. Despite having a terrible sense of direction that drives my friends and family to despair, I love nothing more than exploring and discovering new things in Melbourne – even if I can’t find them a second time. Also a second year journalism student at RMIT and ever indecisive, I’ve dabbled in print, radio, TV and online and still can't decide which I like best. On the weekends you’ll find me hosting kids parties, buying clothes that I don’t need and blogging about it, attempting to play basketball, continuing my never-ending search for the perfect lemon slice and READING THIS BLOG!

What will The Two Review get up to next week? Here's a hint: The city is renowned for it and you can't call yourself a Melburnian if you don't have it regularly. The Two Review undergos a cultural lesson.

Alexandra McManus and Brittany Stewart