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.
NOTE: I haven’t archived the numerous interviews, features, reviews and blog posts I’ve written for Ballardian, as that’s a project with an ongoing online life of its own.
Please access my writing archive via the following category links.
EXPANDED CATEGORIES
Aacademia
Australia
BBig Issue
blogs
Ccosmology
DDorling Kindersley
Eediting
Ffeatures
fiction
film/animation
food/drink
Gguidebooks
IInside Film magazine
interviews
JJ.G. Ballard
Japan
Jargon magazine
LLiquid Architecture
literature
London
Lonely Planet
MMelbourne
micronations
Micronesia
Nnew media
Oonline writing
overland
Pphoto essay
photography
projects
psychogeography
RRealTime
reviews
robotics
SSleepy Brain
social welfare
sound/music
speculative fiction
sport
Subterrain
Sydney
Ttechnology
The Age
The Australian newspaper
The […]
Still from Carnivore Reflux.
by Simon Sellars
Published in RealTime issue #80 Aug-Sept 2007.
AT THE MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL’S CAREERS IN ANIMATION FORUM, AN AUDIENCE MEMBER WANTED TO KNOW WHAT INSTITUTIONS LOOK FOR IN THEIR ENTRANCE INTERVIEWS. ROBERT STEPHENSON (VCA) SAID THAT AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE BODY’S MOVEMENT AND MECHANICS IS USEFUL. HE SUGGESTED WOULD-BE ANIMATORS ENROL […]
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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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interview by Simon Sellars
‘Housing Is A Human Right: An Interview with Miloon Kothari, UN Special Rapporteur’ was originally published in Subterrain magazine #2, July 2007.
In August 2006, the PILCH Homeless Person’s Legal Clinic held a consumer forum for people who are homeless or who have experienced homelessness. The idea was to invite this particular demographic […]
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interview by Simon Sellars & Anna Krien
‘Music Is Not A Bloody Race’ was originally published in Subterrain magazine #2, July 2007.
There are two music groups for the benefit of clients at the Ozanam Community Centre. There’s one on Mondays, run by Alan Pavlikas, which is more of a rock-band affair, and one on Tuesdays, run […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
‘Whatever Goes into the Mix’ was originally published in Subterrain magazine #2, July 2007.
Alan Pavlikas manages the Ozanam Community Centre’s band, Shallow Rabbit, which has released one CD and has had a documentary made about it (see Subetrrain #1). intrigued, I crashed one of their jam sessions and collared Alan, guitarist Keith […]
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‘Hey now, baby, I’m beginning to see the light…’ The author, waiting to go through customs, ponders the notion of ‘flightless travel’ (photo: Simon Sellars 2007).
On my recent trip to the UK, I kept a blog over on the old Sleepy Brain site. I hadn’t quite finished it when Sleepy Brain went offline, but I’m […]
In June 2007, I updated and rewrote Weissmann’s destination report for Melbourne. Weissman provides destination reports for travel buyers, planners and arrangers around the world.
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Best Film Award, Tropfest 07: ‘An Imaginary Life’ (Steve Baker).
by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 1 April 2007.
On April 7 Channel Nine, accompanied by the still-infuriating-after-all-these-years Richard Wilkins, screened the films from the finals of the Sony Tropfest 2007 short-film festival, which was held on February 18. Tropfest purports to showcase the work of […]
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Flyer for Northern Void.
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 19 February 2007.
Last night I attended the second (and last, for now) screening of Philip Brophy’s 50-minute film Northern Void, billed as a “live cinema performance” accompanied by the real-time sonics of Ph2 (Brophy and Philip Samartzis). Northern Void is set along Plenty Rd, in the northern […]
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In May 2006 I returned to the Netherlands to update the Dutch chapters I’d previously written for the Europe On A Shoestring and Western Europe guidebooks. This time, I was also co-author of the Netherlands country guide with Neal Bedford: I wrote the Amsterdam, Zuid Holland & Zeeland, Overijssel & Gelderland, and Utrecht chapters. […]
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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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In early 2007, I updated and rewrote Weissmann’s destination report for Sydney. Weissman provides destination reports for travel buyers, planners and arrangers around the world.
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In late 2006 I updated and rewrote Lonely Planet’s online profiles for Guam, Palau, the Northern Mariana Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.
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For Lonely Planet’s new online accommodation-booking service, called Haystack, I was initially employed as a consultant. I was involved with developing the shape and structure of the project from an author’s point of view, and contributed to the structure of the templates that are used today for authors employed to wrote Haystack reviews.
Later, I wrote […]
For the second edition of Bluelist, I wrote a profile of Japan’s Tohoku region.
‘Profile: Tohoku’ by Simon Sellars from Bluelist 2, Lonely Planet Publications, November 2006.
TOHOKU
Grim Up North?
They call Tohoku the Japanese ‘deep south’ (even though it’s up north), a place where Japanese city slickers simply won’t go. Not only is Tohoku reckoned to […]
Still from Sniffer.
by Simon Sellars
Originally published in RealTime issue #75 Oct-Nov 2006.
Although MIFF’s short film agenda was certainly exhaustive, my ‘best on ground’ was the Focus on Nordic Shorts selection, uniformly excellent and sharing the blackest humour, absolute self-deprecation and a savage willingness to torch convention. Sniffer (director Bobbie Peers, Norway, 2005, 12 mins) imagined […]
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I followed the Micronations book with Micronesia: in late 2005 I travelled around the North Pacific for Lonely Planet. I visited Guam, Saipan, Rota, Tinian, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Yap and Palau and updated and rewrote their respective chapters for the South Pacific and Micronesia guidebook (56,000 words in total). I also wrote a Micronesia blog […]
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Here’s a subject dear to my heart: micronations.
I co-wrote this book with John Ryan and George Dunford, and between us we managed to drum up quite a bit of publicity for a subject that seemed to touch a chord. Here’s an interview with me about the book, over at the fantastic BLDGBLOG.
For this […]
‘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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John Foxx live at Shrewsbury, 1998. © Extreme Voice.
interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 2 September 2006.
This is part 2 of my interview with John Foxx, former lead singer of Ultravox before the band’s Midge Ure era, and an on-and-off solo artist for the past 25 years. Foxx’s Ultravox purveyed a damned, dreamy, […]
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‘Treading Lightly on the ‘Galapagos of Japan’ by Simon Sellars, published in Code Green, Lonely Planet Publications, May 2006.
Ecotourism may be the world’s fastest growing travel trend but you’d be forgiven for thinking it never caught on in Japan. Relentless urbanisation has destroyed much of the country’s natural beauty; the government insists on hunting […]
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In 2005 I updated and rewrote the introductory chapters for LP’s Northern Territory & Central Australia guidebook: 10,000 words all up. Here are some excerpts.
Selected material by Simon Sellars from Northern Territory 4, Lonely Planet Publications, March 2006.
NORTHERN TERRITORY: HISTORY
Rock Art, Sea Slug & Eunuchs: Early Settlement
The first human contact with Australia began around […]
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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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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Paul in Sweet Dreams; photo by Alison Huth
interview by Simon Sellars
‘Sweet Dreams: Shaken not Stirred’ was originally published in Subterrain magazine #1, December 2005.
Theatremakers Nadja Kostich and Jeremy Angerson began a rewarding collaboration with Big Issue vendors after seeing a TV ad featuring several sellers singing for their supper. According to Jeremy, “we stopped to […]
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Kylie in Sweet Dreams; photo by Alison Huth
interviews by Simon Sellars
‘Sweet Dreams: Back to Waking Life’ was originally published in Subterrain magazine #1, December 2005.
The play Sweet Dreams took an unflinching look at the battle that Big Issue vendors Paul, Kylie, Jim, Robert and Allan fought to survive drug addiction, physical disabilities, incarceration and the […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
‘Arnold Zable: Hazards of the Game’: originally published in Subterrain magazine #1, December 2005.
Arnold Zable is a Melbourne storyteller who writes about memory and history, displacement and community, the experience of the Jewish diaspora, Aboriginal issues and Indigenous education, and the multiplicity of cultures within Australia. In 2002, in conjunction with the […]
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Photo courtesy RecLink
interview by Simon Sellars
‘RecLink: Positive High’ was originally published in Subterrain magazine #1, December 2005.
RecLink was established in Melbourne in 1990 to help people from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds enjoy sport and recreation on a therapeutic level, with knock-on benefits like improved health and well being. RecLink involves a network of agencies […]
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Street Socceroo Training
All photography by Simone Egger
interviews by Simon Sellars
‘Three Socceroos: Dave, Shane & Yousef’: originally published in Subterrain magazine #1, December 2005.
In 2005, for the first time, Australia fielded a team in the Homeless World Cup, led by Big Issue editor Martin Hughes. The Cup, founded as a way to create opportunities for homeless […]
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Early in 2005 I travelled up and down Australia’s east coast on assignment for Lonely Planet. This was for LP’s Australia book. I wrote the introduction to the NSW chapter, the NSW North and South Coast sections, and the Far North Coast Hinterland section. All up, my contributions totalled 35,000 words.
I’m only including excerpts […]
Early in 2005 I travelled up and down Australia’s east coast on assignment for Lonely Planet. This was for LP’s East Coast Australia book and I ended up writing the introductory chapters for the book,a s well as the Central Coast New South Wales section. All up, my contributions totalled 18,000 words.
I’m only including […]
In the second half of 2004 I was again on assignment for Lonely Planet, this time in northern Japan. I updated and rewrote the Northern Honshu chapter (35,000 words), and this was published in LP’s Japan guidebook in October 2005. I’m only including excerpts from my introductory and special-subject material, rather than accommodation and […]
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Alice et Moi, dir. Micha Wold
‘Power without Punchlines’ by Simon Sellars. Originally published in RealTime magazine, #68 Aug-Sep 2005.
The St Kilda Film Festival did not get off to an auspicious start. Opening night was supposed to showcase the cream of Australia’s top 100 shorts but the session was characterised by tired scenarios and an almost […]
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Allan and Kevin. Photo courtesy Age newspaper.
In 2006 SBS television produced a documentary series based on the Age newspaper’s ‘Two of Us’ column. I was very flattered that my contribution, below, was the only Melbourne story to be filmed.
Interviews by Simon Sellars
‘The Two of Us: Kevin Brophy and Allan Martin’. Originally published in the Age […]
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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In 2004 I completed my first freelance writing job for Lonely Planet: travelling around the Netherlands, researching, updating and rewriting the Dutch chapters for the Western Europe and Europe On A Shoestring guidebooks. These were published in February and March 2005 respectively. I’m only including excerpts from the introductory material I wrote, rather than […]
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by Simon Sellars
‘Melbourne Small Press: Maybe Next Year’. Originally published in overland magazine, Summer 2004.
At this year’s Melbourne Writers’ Festival, John Murray appreciated the fact that short stories are a perfect barometer for measuring fresh literary talent, Eva Sallis likened short stories to “tantric sex in five minutes” and Frank Moorhouse bemoaned the scarcity of […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 25 October 2004.
Newton Armstrong is a composer/performer, ex of Melbourne, now ensconced in research at Princeton University in the US. His recent project for kids, SPACE MONKEYS, focused on interaction design and performance. It involves rethinking and reconfiguring generic game controllers as tools for facilitating alternative forms […]
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photo: Michael Shaw
interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 5 September 2004.
Melanie Chilianis, a Melbourne flautist, has sallied forth in recent times with a successful union between the instrument she made her name with, the flute, and technological mixes, patches and crunchy electronic treatments.
Melanie has an honours degree in music performance from Monash University […]
Osaka Lights. Photo: Simon Sellars.
In the second half of 2004 I was travelling around northern Japan on assignment for Lonely Planet. I was also commissioned by LP to maintain a blog of my trip. The entire blog archive is here, but I’ve reproduced one of my favourite entries below.
‘My First Earthquake’ by Simon Sellars. Published […]
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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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Lawrence English & Philip Samartzis, LA4, 2003
by Simon Sellars
‘Watching While You Sleep’ by Simon Sellars. Originally published on the Liquid Architecture website, July 2004.
Melbourne’s festival of sound art, Liquid Architecture, originated in 2000 at RMIT University, when RMIT’s Union Arts offered the ((tRansMIT)) student sound collective the chance to stage a festival promoting the talents […]
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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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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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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 11 May 2004.
Recently I was in Amsterdam on a writing assignment. I hadn’t been there for years and I had the usual backpacker’s memory of the place: hash, beer, Red Light District, canals…all the old cliches. This time around, however, I gained a deeper understanding of this […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 1 April 2004.
Gloria Dixon is Director of Investigations with BUFORA, the British UFO Research Organisation. She co-ordinates all reports that come into BUFORA, passing them on to teams of investigators throughout the UK.
Although BUFORA is now in its 40th year, building a reputation for solid research in […]
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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L’Oeil ecoute (The Eye Hears) 1970; dir. Bernard Parmegiani
by Simon Sellars
‘Liquid Architecture: the Parmegiani Experience’. Originally published in RealTime no.56, Aug-Sep 2003.
Liquid Architecture 4 featured the work of 30 Australian and international artists, including French musique concrete/acousmatic pioneer, Bernard Parmegiani, and San Francisco noise merchants, Scott Arford and Randy HY Yau. Another highlight was the […]
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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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still from The What If? Man, dir. Mark Atkin
interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 25 November 2003.
Mark Atkin is a Melbourne editor working in film and television. His first feature as director, The What If? Man: The Science Fictional Life of Peter Nicholls, looks at the life and career of Peter Nicholls, science […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 5 November 2003.
Matthew Saville is the writer/director of Roy Hollsdotter Live, one of the more successful of the recent batch of 50-minute short features funded by the Australian Film Commission, SBS Independent and Film Victoria. Starring standup comic Darren Casey and comedy titan John Clarke, it’s shot […]
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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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Adam Elliot: photo by Heath Missen.
by Simon Sellars
‘Questions for… Adam Elliot, Animator’. Originally published in A3, the Age newspaper, 3 Oct 2003.
Adam Elliot is being hailed as Australia’s most successful short filmmaker. His 23-minute claymation, Harvie Krumpet, won three of the four major prizes at Annecy, the world’s largest animation festival, and picked up Best […]
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Still from Roy Hollsdotter Live (2003; dir. Matthew Saville).
‘Radar: Matthew Saville’. Originally published in Inside Film magazine, August 2003.
Simon Sellars speaks with IF Award winner Matthew Saville, one of the shining stars of the year’s program of short features.
Roy Höllsdotter Live, Matthew Saville’s 52-minute “short feature”, was a hit at this year’s Melbourne International Film […]
Still from Harvie Krumpet (2003; dir. Adam Elliot).
‘Krumpet Wins!’ by Simon Sellars. Originally published in RealTime magazine, no. 57 Oct-Nov 2003.
Adam Elliot is being trumpeted as Australia’s most successful short filmmaker, and it’s hard to argue with that. In June, his 23-minute claymation, Harvie Krumpet, won three of the four major prizes at Annecy, the […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 20 October 2003.
There’s a unique sense of overload for the first-time visitor to Tokyo. Intricate layers-upon-layers of ever-shifting urban culture crush the hapless tourist, who’s invariably pressed up against the very bottom layer like a stuffed pheasant under glass.
If this is you, get on the web and […]
interview by Simon Sellars
screenshot from Untitled 2003, by Camilla Hannan & Cassandra Tytler
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 15 August 2003.
360 Degrees: Women In Sound was held as part of Liquid Architecture 4, the national sound art festival run by the ((tRansMIT)) collective. 360 Degrees was inspired by the need to address a perceived gender […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 6 August 2003.
Japanese culture, it would seem, has always contained a rich vein of magic, mysticism and mind power running through its myths and legends. Is there any connection between this tradition and modern-day UFO sightings? According to Junichi Kato, Director of OUR-J (The Organisation of UFO […]
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Cornerfold screenshot: I Am A Toaster: Courtney Collins/Allison Colpoys
by Simon Sellars
Originally published in RealTime magazine, no. 55 June–July 2003.
The New York Times recently posited that only two things succeed on the Internet: shopping, as perfected by Amazon, and searching, as perfected by Google (pornography could be added, too, perfected by everyone). The Times paints […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 20 June 2003.
NOTE: This is the full version of an interview that was published in various forms in the Age newspaper and RealTime magazine. Bear in mind that I interviewed Adam prior to his Oscar win for Harvie Krumpet. Neither of us had any idea of what […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 25 April 2003.
Melbourne artist Juan Ford is on a hot streak, his recent paintings blending innovative technique with spiritual enquiry, unlocking the unfathomable mysteries of human existence. Aligning his work with recent debates on the ethics of cloning, Ford attempts to bring religious debate into the – […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 5 January 2003.
In England, UK Garage has been sweeping the charts for some time now. But in London, typically, just when a sound breaks through, that’s when newer, virulent variants ferment, creating something totally unexpected from the ordinal ingredients. Kennington-based Steve Goodman splices the sexed-up vibe of […]
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interview by Simon Sellars
Originally published on Sleepy Brain, 3 January 2003.
Do you remember ‘hardcore’?
As a style of dance music, it’s become a historical footnote, the sound of rave’s innocence: primitive, immature music for immature people. Supposedly we’ve all grown beyond that — haven’t we? Only gurners and E-monsters listen to hardcore, these days — apparently. […]
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 […]
Originally published in Jargon, summer 2001, under the pseudonym ‘Ziggy Omar’.
The best bars in Melbourne combine kooky architecture with snappy ambience, ‘sound-of-now’ musical policies and the entertainment value of bored waiting staff. But be ever-vigilant: you and your slick posse may discover a great new place, only to return a short time later to find […]
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Originally published in Jargon, summer 2001.
Project Dumpling
by Simon Sellars & Anna Hyde
The discovery of gold in 1851 attracted Chinese immigration to Victoria, Australia on a large scale. The small Chinese community first occupied Celestial Ave in the heart of Melbourne, providing for the needs of the diggers – lodgings en route, food, equipment and medicine […]
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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‘Machine Logic: An Interview with Kirsty Boyle’
by Simon Sellars
Originally published in Jargon, summer 2001.
Kirsty Boyle is a researcher at RMIT’s Interactive Information Institute (I-Cubed), where she is developing her ‘Tele Operated Puppetry System’(TOPS), a tool utilising the net as a medium for controlling robots. Her work – creative, informative and practical – is infused with […]
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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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Image by John Power.
When I was working as Special Events Coordinator at RMIT Union Arts, I co-edited the Union Arts newsletter with Fiona Parker. This was one of the interviews I conducted for it.
Originally published in Full Haus, vol. 15 No. 3, Sep-Oct 2000.
‘John Power: An Animated Guy’
Interview by Simon Sellars
The ‘Masters of New Media’ […]
Commentary: Simon Sellars. Photography: Michael Shaw.
Originally published in Abaddon #3, Autumn 2000.
[ Download the Abaddon PDF for the photography and layout as it appeared in the magazine. ]
‘Psychogeography is the study of the exact effects of geographic environments, controlled or otherwise, on the affective behaviour of individuals.’
– Guy Debord.
Office block. High-rise. Bridgework and tower. […]
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Originally published in Abaddon #3, Autumn 2000.
review by Simon Sellars
Nothing sorts memories from ordinary moments. They claim remembrance when they show their scars (Chris Marker).
The films of Chris Marker are often termed ‘essayist’, participating in a phenomenological play with deep roots in French intellectualism. Working within documentary and pseudo-documentary modes, they mimic the manner in […]
Originally published in Abaddon # 2, Autumn 1999.
THE FOOTBALL FACTORY
Jonathan Cape
ISBN 0-224-04302-1
reviewed by Simon Sellars
The Football Factory, John King’s début novel, charts the lives of a group of football hooligans in present-day London, England. It has been re-issued to coincide with the release of England Away, King’s most recent book and the third part of […]
Illustration by Nick Howlett, from Abaddon #2.
Originally published in Abaddon #2, Autumn 1999, under the pseudonym ‘Symon Brando’.
+ Download the Abaddon PDF.
I shrug off the clucking of my family and make my way to International Departures. With the ticketing formalities over, I slump at the bar and order drinks.
I sit and wait. To escape. A […]
reviews by Simon Sellars
Originally published in Orb Speculative Fiction #0, Spring-Summer 1999.
Robotomy by Andrés Vaccari. Saturn Press, $12.95. ISBN 0 646 32003 3
Abaddon #2 edited by Andrés Vaccari. Saturn Press, $6.95. ISSN 1441-046X.
Robotomy
In the 1960s, Michael Moorcock’s New Worlds magazine ushered in the “New Wave” of science fiction. The stories Moorcock published – including JG […]
Interview by Simon Sellars
This interview marks the first time I’d used the term ‘liquid architecture’, which would of course become the name of the sound-art festival I formed at RMIT University in 2000. It’s also a significant article in that it represents my very first published work, aside from university publications.
Originally published in TRM magazine, […]
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