Rant about men

 

TheNovelette.com is for women and about women, and they want to hear about how you hate men. Well, not necessarily hate, but what you think of them anyway. Simply submit a 500 – 750 memoir, essay or short story on the topic of men, and you could win a $25/$50 gift certificate for Amazon.com or Barnes&Noble.com. Oh America!

Entries are due 20 August, 2008 and can be submitted online at TheNovelette.com

Speed dating for artists

Theatreworks is giving Melbourne artists a chance to meet other like minded folk for some project making at Speed Dating For Artists. It’s a great chance to network with other artists and theatre makers, and best of all – it’s free. But no actors!

You will need to book ahead, and you will recieve a free glass of wine and 2-for-1 Theatreworks season ticket. The next event is on Monday, 21 July at 6pm. The remaining dates for 2008 are also available, and bookings can be made via their website.

Brisbane’s ICON Creative Summit

ICON Creative Summit is having its 3rd annual multi-arts festival at Brisbane Powerhouse from 27 – 29 November, 2008. They’re desperately seeking Brisbane word poets, rappers, slammers and visual artists for their performances.

Deadline for applications is 31 July, 2008. To apply, fill out the online registration form.

HighFive!

Great news! I got broadband! No more no updating for me. Let’s celebrate with this (or last) week’s HighFive!

5. KIT KAT FAMILY BLOCK

I have found my achilles heel, and its Kit Kat Family Block. For some reason, once I have one teeny tiny piece I get filled with delirium and have to eat the entire thing in one sitting, regardless of whether I’m in public or sharing it with 3 other people. ITS MINE, ALLL MIIIIIIIINE.

4. ITALY’S LEGOLAND

As part of 20 Eventi project, Jan Vormann readapted the walls of small Italian village Bocchignano by filling in the decomposing holes with the world’s best bricks – Lego.

3. KIDS IN STARWARS COSTUMES

Possibly the best stylised group on Flickr, it’s worth your bandwidth to take a look at Growing Up Starwards: 1977 – 1985. There’s nothing more adorable than a Darth Vader dad or a R2D2 toddler. Sigh.

 C3PO by ChattyCathy7575

Jawa by Amazingranda

Cantina Showgirl by Las Vagas Lass

2. DUMBO FEATHER, PASS IT ON

I love this magazine, or “mook” as some like to call it. Where other magazines make you feel kind of depressed and angry at the shallowness of the journalism, Dumbo Feather makes you feel like life is worth living and that there is still so much good to be done in the world by so many beautiful, inspirational humans. It lifts your heart like a bird. Issue 15 is on shelves now.

1. KEEPING HATE LISTS IN YOUR FREEZER

Oh my god, hasn’t Federal MP Belinda Neal just come out to be the biggest ArchNemesis Australia has ever seen? It seems not a day goes by without more outrageous claims surfacing about this not-so-lovely Labor lady. From abusing wait staff, to rough tackling other players in soccer, punching another MP, doing wierd voodoo shit and whispering to pregnant women that they’re going to be birthing evil devil children. She’s the woman everyone loves to hate. And with a promo shot like the following, who wouldn’t:

 

Is Not no more

There’s a saying that all good things must come to an end. And while I prefer not to believe it, it’s true. Like when Sleater-Kinney broke up or Arrested Development ended, Is Not Magazine has decided to put down their wheatpaste and paint rollers and disband. When I found out there was a part of me that wanted to stamp my feet and sob a little. It probably didn’t help that I never saw their magazine on the streets, only in some very nice stores.

They’re currently putting together their final issue, “All that glitters/is not gold” and are waiting with open arms to accept your pitch ideas. Send them in by 20 June, 2008.

How to run a professional blog

Let’s face it – if you’re a designer, crafter or an artist with a blog you’re inevitably going to be wanting to pimp your skills. However, when you start going from personal blog to a professional folio blog, you need to carefully look at the way you present yourself and the way you interact with your readers and the rest of the world wide web.

Luckily, there’s a number of talented bloggers out there who have some tips to help you. As I come along more articles, I’ll add them to this post so it becomes EXTRA-helpful.

Nubby Twiglet has a number of posts on Business & Marketing, coming from her experience as a freelance designer.

• The benefits of folio blogs vs websites
• 13 steps to a successful blog-based business
• Choosing a business name
• The art of networking

Pip from Meet Me at Mikes has recently done a run of entries on how to maintain a craft blog, but they can be applied to pretty much any blog possible.

• How to start a craft blog
• How to market a craft blog
• How to make your blog look cuter
• How to have nice blog manners

Every Tuesday, Leni & Rose does a post on blogging tips & tricks. They also include step-by-step guides on how to customise your Blogger account, if that’s your processor of choice.

Other articles:

• Passive marketing for freelancers
• Build a killer online portfolio in 9 easy steps

 

Voiceworks: Innuendo

Voiceworks are a seasonal publication showcasing the best writing from Australians under the age of 25. They’ve put out their seasonal callout for Spring’s submissions, with the theme of Innuendo. Work can be anything publishable (is that a word?), including illustration, non-fiction, poetry, short stories etc etc. They’ll also accept work that is off-theme.

Deadline for Innuendo is July 6, 2008, and guidelines apply. If you can’t get it in on time, they also have other upcoming issues.

Express Media call for internbots

Express Media are looking for two new interns to join their league. The first is a Project Management Coordinator for Buzzcuts 2008, organising reviews of Fringe Festival shows for publication. The second is an Event Management intern for Express Media itself, working with the annual artistic program.

Applications must be submitted by June 19, 2008 and (they put this in caps so I will to) IN THE FORMAT SPECIFIED IN THE POSITION DESCRIPTION.

 

Zine Scene

Since Aussie Arts was recieving alot of search hits for zines, I thought I’d celebrate the MCA Zine Fair with an entry about the Zine Scene in Australia. If you are unaware of what exactly a zine entails, I suggest you get the full lowdown at Book of Zines.

The Australian zine scene (sorry, I can’t stop saying it) is a funny thing. It’s like Sydney weather – dry one day, flooding rain the next. The entire structure of the scene is run on people’s spare time and money, meaning that previous information about zine stockists, distros and groups quickly becomes outdated. I’m hoping to maintain this entry as a current and relevant list of zine contacts, which I’ll update as information comes to hand. If you are aware of anything that’s incorrect or missing, please send it through to karen.at.karenisafox.com and I’ll make the necessary changes.

GROUPS

Recently Miss Helen (I think) set up a new google email group, Australian Zines and Small Press. It is great, join now.

DISTROS

Beating Hearts Press
PO Box 37
Rochedale South QLD 4123

Flying Machine
Emma
PO Box 4, Enmore NSW 2042
(She is slowly getting back into distro, currently working on only distributing her new zines)

Gato Loco
P.O. Box 190
Seddon West VIC 3011

Spiral Objective
PO Box 126, Oaklands Park SA 5046

Zine Classifieds
(it’s online! it’s awesome!)

ZINE STORES

Arc Art Store @ COFA
COFA Campus (OXford St Corner), Paddington NSW

Paint it Black Records
86 Enmore Road, Newtown NSW 2042

Polyester Books
330 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Victoria, AUSTRALIA 3065
PO Box 73, Fitzroy, Victoria, AUSTRALIA 3065

RubanRat
King St, Newtown NSW 2042

SquareOne
525 Harris St, Ultimo NSW

Sticky
Shop 10 Campbell Arcade
(underneath Flinders St Station via Degraves St underpass)
Melbourne VIC 3000

POSSIBLE STOCKISTS

This is a listing of stockists that once used to stock zines, but now I’m not sure. If you’re looking to stock at these stores, please note that alot of these stores only accept topical zines, eg: music, anarchist, comics etc.

NSW

Gallery Serpentine
Shop 2/116 Enmore Rd, Newtown NSW 2042

MacLean’s Booksellers
69 Beaumont St, Hamilton NSW 2303
PO Box 130, Hamilton NSW 2303

Red Eye
66 King St, Sydney NSW 2000

QLD

Ace Comics
Level 2, 121 Queen St, Brisbane QLD 4000

Comic Warriors
Shop 18, Annerley Arcade, 478 Ipswich Rd, Annerley QLD

Rocking Horse Records
245 Albert St, Brisbane QLD 4000

Trash Video
1/73 Vulture St, West End QLD 4101

TAS

Play by Wire
Shop 23, Yorktown Square, Launceston TAS

VIC

Barricade Books
1st floor of Irene Community Arts Warehouse, 5 Pitt Street, Brunswick VIC 3056

Collectors’ Corner
240 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Eltham Bookshop
970 Main Road, Eltham VIC 3095

Friends of the Earth
312 Smith St , Collingwood VIC 3066

Greville Records
152 Greville St, Prahran VIC 3181

Greville St Bookstore
145 Greville St , Prahran VIC 3181

Missing Link Records
Basement 405 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Paperback Books
60 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Peril Underground
Basement 17-19 Elizabeth St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Synaesthesia
Level 1, 28 Block Place, Melbourne VIC 3000
GPO Box 1117, Melbourne 3001

WA

78 Records
914 Hay St, Perth WA 6000

Dada Records
36 Pier St, Perth WA 6000 
 
Quality Comics
872 Hay St, Perth, WA 6000
PO Box 7742 Cloisters Square WA 6850

LIBRARIES

Zine Libraries are places you go to read and photocopy archived zines.

Copy and Destroy Zine Library
Visible Ink, Fortitude Valley QLD

Murdoch University science fiction zine collection
South St, Murdoch WA 6150

National Library of Australia
Canberra ACT 2600

Octapod
3/231 King St, Newcastle NSW 2300

State Library of Victoria
328 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000

FESTIVALS & MARKETS

Festivals can be a one off thing, or an annual thing. Markets on the other hand are pretty regular, and are good if you’re stocking other crap.

ACT

Canberra Writers Festival Zine Fair
Run by the ACT Writers’ Centre, the Zine Fair will be held on Saturday 21 June, in the foyer of Gorman House.

NSW

Consolador de dos Caras DIY Markets
Every Wednesday, 8pm
la Campana, 53-55 liverpool St, Sydney NSW 2000

Kino Zine Fair
A new initiative of Kinokuniya, the giant bookstore in Galleries Victoria. It’s held this year on 28 June 2008 in store.
Level 2, TGV, 500 George St, Sydney NSW 2000

Newcastle Zine and Independent Press Fair
The National Young Writers’ Festival is held as part of the This Is Not Art (TINA) Festival, during the September/October long weekend of every year. A key highlight of the Festival(s) is the Zine fair, which attracts zinesters from all over the country. This year the fair will be on Sunday, 5th October 2008.

Penrith Regional Gallery Inaugural Spring Zine Fair
Last year this was held on the 1st September, as part of a Zine Factory program the gallery was running.

smARTarts Art & Cultural Festival
The smARTarts Festival is a National Youth Week initiative run in and by Pine St Creative Arts Centre. One of the features of the festival is a zine fair. This year the festival was held on 12 April.
Pine St Creative Arts Centre, 62 Pine St, Chippendale NSW 2008

Verge Arts Festival Zine Fair
Verge Arts Festival is run annually by Sydney Uni, and the Zine Fair is booked to run on the 11th September, 2008.
Sydney University, Camperdown NSW

Wollongong City Gallery Zine Fair
First was during National Youth Week earlier this year (13 April, 2008).

SA

Pt Augusta Zine Fair
Every year Pt Augusta has a writer’s festival, and in July ‘08 they had a Zine Fair.
The Barracks, Beachamps Lane, Pt Augusta SA

VIC

Independent Press and Zine Fair
The flagship for the Emerging Writers Festival in Melbourne, this year the Zine Fair was held on the 11 May at the Atrium in Federation Square.
Melbourne, VIC 3000

Mercado Art Market
Bi-monthly art market selling all bits of DIY, run by the good people at Forepaw.
275 High St, Northcote VIC

Sticky’s Festival of the Photocopier
This annual festival run by Australia’s best zine shop was held earlier this year on February 6th, in the Degraves Subway under Flinders St station.

Yeah Write! Zine Fair
Held by the City of Boroondara, Yeah Write! Zine Fair occurred last year on the 24 November at the Hawthorn Town Hall.
358 Burwood Road, Hawthorn VIC

Big ups to the Australian Zines and Small Press group and Keg De Souza’s MCA Zine Fair program for the wealth of info, some which has featured here.

Cultcha Shock!

…is the title of the new ABC1 series by Marcus Westbury, of Not Quite Art fame (okay, he’s spelt it “Culture” but I think he should consider slanging it up a bit to make it cooler with the kids). Filming and production hasn’t started yet, and Mr Westbury is still on the lookout for artists and the like who can contribute.

I started reading Culture Shock’s proposal, but had a minor brain explosion, so instead I’ll just post excerpts of it here. Please don’t ask me to decipher, I need a sit down instead.

“Picking up from the themes explored in Not Quite Art, Culture Shock takes the audience on an insightful and amusing journey through an increasingly fragmented cultural landscape – where the Internet and communications have given all of us a set of cultural choices and influences unimaginable even a decade ago.

Culture Shock finds an eclectic and amusing mix of artists, writers and musicians whose work has found their audiences through networks well outside the traditional Australian structures of cultural authority.

Over three episodes, Marcus Westbury takes us to meet Australian artists and creators exhibiting and performing internationally while remaining largely unknown in their own communities.

Culture Shock looks at the spectrum of specialist cultures and niche audiences unleashed globally by communications technology. With rapid change in art and cultural influences occurring all the time, this series is not about art that is dependent on technology but on the new cultural landscape that has grown up because of it.”

Ooookay, so if you know someone who is doing something along those lines, drop Marcus a line at his blog. You should also read the rest of his posts. They are very good.