VIDEO
MARC FENNELL // FILM CRITIC, JOURNALIST AND TV PRESENTER
When I was in high school, the Australian Film Institute ran
a young film critic competition. I sent in reviews of Mulholland
Drive and Donnie Darko, and I was sent back this thing saying
I’d won. I thought, “That’s great, does that mean I can say I have
an AFI award?” But they were like, “Absolutely not. Don’t
ever say that, that’s a lie.” That was the first time I went, “Oh
wow, apparently my opinions count for something.” Which
they didn’t, obviously, but it certainly got me in the door for a
number of things.
I had this plan that I was going to be a graphic designer by
day and a filmmaker by night. I made a bunch of short films –
very bad short films that I’m so glad are nowhere to be seen
on the internet – and at the same time, I stumbled into a
community radio station that hadn’t launched yet in Sydney,
called FBi. I went in and said, “Hey, I can do graphic design.
Also, I can review movies.” I made a little animation, and the
manager there just looked at me with this face of ‘you should
never do that again – that was terrible, and your design work
is awful’. And she was right. But she did go, “Why don’t we
teach you radio?”
They took this weird, chubby brown kid from a weird religious
school and said, “Here, why don’t you review movies,” and I
took to it like a duck to water. It was voluntary, and it was just
incredible luck, because if you go to places like FBi now there
are waiting lists before you can volunteer. I just happened to be
there at the right time. I was in the right place at the right time
for a number of things, and I think when you’re at the receiving
end of luck, you should take the opportunity and work your arse
off to justify the kismet. If there’s a reason things have worked
for me, it’s in spite of me fucking things up, and largely because
I do make a pretty concerted effort to justify these random,
unpredictable moments of luck I’ve had.
When I did the show Hungry Beast, I worked for Andrew Denton,
who is a famous television interviewer and really quite brilliant.
One of the things he said was, “The best opportunity is the one
that’s right in front of you.” You may not necessarily be doing
what you want to be doing right now, but you probably have an
opportunity in front of you – a job that maybe isn’t perfect, but if
you do it to the absolute best of your ability, if you nail the shit
out of that thing, someone will take notice.
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CRAFT
PIP LINCOLNE // CRAFTER AND AUTHORI grew up with a family that was messy and make-y. We spent a lot of
time hanging out at home; painting pebbles, growing mushrooms. My
dad used to brew his own beer; my mum would sew clothes. I wasn’t
picking up any specific skills, but I did pick up an attitude to life,
which was all about having a crack at making things. When I was 18,
I moved to Melbourne by myself, fell in love, and had a baby. I guess
I was catapulted into adulthood. From there, I was like, “Right, I’m
going to be a grown-up, and I’m going to make things.” That’s when
I really settled down to a creative life in earnest.Sometimes now when I make things, they’re too good. I look at them
and think, “No, this looks like it’s from a shop.” I try to make things
that look handmade, because I think that’s the beauty of craft. When
I was little, my nan and I spent a lot of time together. She’d always
be knitting with half an eye on MacGyver or whatever was on the
telly. I loved that she could make things without always looking at
the thing. It would still look beautiful – never perfect, but beautiful.
I guess that’s my life philosophy, too: be able to watch The Love Boat
and make something that’s not too perfect, then take that thing and
give it to someone you love.I had a shop for quite a long time. It was called Meet Me At Mike’s,
which is the name of my blog. Obviously, we were selling things, but
my greater purpose was to show people you could make things and it
would make you feel better. When I had the shop, I got in contact with a
book publisher. I said, “There are so many Australian crafters making
wonderful things – I would really love to write a book about them and
encourage everyone to get making.” They were like, “Let’s do it.” We
published a book together, which was also called Meet Me At Mike’s.
From there, I got to write lots of other books.Some people in the craft community love things to look perfect.
There has been no shortage of people telling me my work’s not good
enough, which makes me sometimes think, “Is it good enough?”
It is good enough, though – it’s good enough for me. Also, creative
communities are full of people that are a little bit insecure and
anxious. Sometimes we turn those feelings against one another.
I’ve dealt with criticism, and people sending me emails to let me
know I’m undeserving of success. I guess it shows that it doesn’t
matter what you’re doing, you’re always going to have critics, so it’s
really important to just gather yourself up and forge ahead and try
to drown those voices out by doing even more fun stuff and making
even more things you want to make....................
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