Still from The Boy Who Loved Rain.
by Simon Sellars
Originally published in RealTime issue #81 Oct-Nov 2007.
RECENTLY IN REALTIME AND ELSEWHERE I’VE BEEN CRITICAL OF AUSTRALIAN SHORT FILM AND ANIMATION, SO MUCH SO I’M BEGINNING TO BORE MYSELF (AND DOUBTLESS OTHERS) WITH THE OLD REFRAIN. STILL, I VOICE THESE CRITICISMS FROM A POSITION OF RESPECT FOR […]
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I recently wrote a piece on the island of Yap for Where to Go When, a forthcoming book to be published by Dorling Kindersley.
Here are some advance details.
by Simon Sellars
‘Subterrain #2: An Introduction’ was originally published in Subterrain magazine #2, July 2007.
Subterrain is a magazine that provides an opportunity for homeless and marginalised people, primarily those using the services at Ozanam Community Centre (see opposite), to tell their story. That’s about it as far as mantras or mission statements go. We’ve already […]
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Station Pier (photo: Simon Sellars). There used to be a sign here saying ‘Melbourne Welcomes You’, the first thing we saw when we got off the boat, I imagine.
by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 19 January 2007.
I was asked to contribute some thoughts about my family’s immigration story to the second book in Jim […]
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‘The Perfect Day: Melbourne’ by Simon Sellars, published in The Perfect Day, Lonely Planet Publications, September 2006.
Melbourne’s parks and gardens do the trick most times of the year, and the CBD is ringed by choice examples. I do a lot of work in the city, and on the walk in I like to procrastinate […]
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Bluelist is a fairly newish title from Lonely Planet. It collects the hottest travel trends from around the world, based on suggestions from LP readers, and extrapolates them into top-ten lists and feature articles. I worked on the title firstly as a consultant, testing out prototype formats and templates, adding feedback and future directions, […]
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by Simon Sellars
‘An Introduction to Subterrain’ was originally published in Subterrain magazine #1, December 2005.
In modern welfare work, it’s rapidly becoming clear that ‘homeless and marginalised’ people need more than simply food and housing. Everyone wants to find meaning in their lives, to find freedom of speech – to find a voice. Artistic expression can […]
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by Simon Sellars
‘Free Radicals’. Originally published in The Big Issue, #228, May 2005.
It was quite a sight to watch sibling activists Jeff and Jill Sparrow launch their latest book recently. I wanted to chat to Jeff after his rousing speech but the path was blocked by a massed wedge of grannies, groovers, suits and students […]
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Melatonin, photo: Kirsten Bradley
by Simon Sellars
Originally published in RealTime Magazine, #62, August/September 2004.
I’m told “sleep music” is a new genre: music to listen to while dozing off. Emboldened by this, I visited Bus Gallery with palpable excitement. I’ve often yearned for a club that, instead of inducing forward motion through hyper-accelerated beats, piped in music […]
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Jonathan Nix, ‘Hello’
by Simon Sellars
‘The Intricate Making of Animators’. Originally published in RealTime magazine, Aug-Sep 2004.
Australian animators are a hardy mob. Working in an industry that’s noticeably cramped, they are largely under resourced and mostly undervalued. I recently talked to a range of animators from around the country who have had one or 2 short […]
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by Simon Sellars
‘The Making of a Tasmanian Film Industry’. Originally published in RealTime magazine #61, Jun-Jul 2004.
In RT58, I interviewed a group of Melbourne directors and producers about the environmental factors that influence their films. Besides the weather, the main aspect cited was Melbourne’s distance from Sydney: geographically and financially (most of the funding flies […]
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Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 16 May 2004.
SUBSTANCE D (mors ontologica) tames smooth muscle spasm (commonly known as the “Black Shakes”), as well as split-brain syndrome resulting from information overload and post-capitalist inertia.
SUB DEE provides effective relief in patients of all ages, also combating subsidiary BS ailments such as: hyper-motility of the gut, infant colic, […]
The Claw Girl: photo by Beatka Provis
by Simon Sellars
‘Life’s Journey: In Search of the Real Japan’. Originally published in the Age newspaper’s Travel supplement, May 15 2004.
Two years ago I visited Tokyo. I was in Japan to see my friend B—–, an English teacher in the northern port of Ishinomaki. We hadn’t seen each […]
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by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 1 March 2004.
Over the past year, a sweet little film about a strange little man has been getting a lot of attention. Harvie Krumpet, director Adam Elliot’s 23-minute claymation, is up for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short. And right beside Elliot on Oscar night will be […]
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by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 25 November 2003.
Trevor Blainey is enjoying himself. In 2003, the former accountant’s first film as producer, Matthew Saville’s Roy Hollsdotter Live, won everything in sight, with awards for best screenplay, best short film and best cinematography. But filmmaking in Australia is notoriously tough, and while awards give off […]
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Do-it-yourself soundproofing. Photo: www.g4noise.com
by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 2 November 2003.
It begins with a slow cycling noise, the heavy drone of massive turbines gearing up to complete some Herculean task. This sonic undertow – insistent and full of ominous bottom-end harmonics – ensures that writing my notes is a horrendous, teeth-gnashing exercise. Disorienting […]
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Image by Greg Serafin.
Originally published in Jargon magazine, summer 2001.
Are YOU finding it difficult to leapfrog to the head of the dole queue? Sick of rubbing shoulders with billions of other citizens on Earth? Tired of breathing in disgusting pollution? Clothes shredded and skin raw from acid rain?
Well, fret no more because a Golden […]
Photograph by Daniel New (Alphonse Leonardi).
I have a soft spot for this piece. With the Jargon magazine, one of the aims was to make the RMIT aerospace campus, out at Fishermens Bend in the shadow of the Westgate Bridge, interesting. So I combined my interests in Ballard and the Futurists and invented a group of […]
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This represents the first academic article I had published, back when I was attempting my PhD for the first time. It was actually written in 1996 and delivered at the Speaking Science Fiction conference organised by the University of Liverpool, but remarkably the edited collection of conference papers wasn’t published until four years later.
Originally […]
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