Content - Frequently Asked Questions

My name is Michael Heins. Born in Sydney, Australia in 1957, which probably means that I'm old enough to be your Dad

This is possibly more than you want to know, but I'm married, two teenage sons, one mortgage, one cat and one business - The Cartoon Gallery. For those of you who really want to know what I'm doing with myself these days, then go to my blog (caution, may contain naughty references and adult themes!).

The relevant part of my history for most of you will relate to what I've been doing in the animation business. You will find more about that in other sections of this FAQ. Ive had a web site since 1998, but this current site is the all-improved version. I'veadded most of the contentmyself (using the wonderful - and free - Joomla! CMS software) with a great deal of tweaking and customizing by the fabulous Norm Douglas from Netreach, who knows how to modify computer code and do a great many other clever things(I'm not nearly that smart).

Being born at about the time that television started in Australia, I spent many thousands of hours being brainwashed by advertising and programming jingles. Want to know the words to "The Beverley Hillbillies" or "Mr. Ed" or a few hundred Monty Python skits? I'm your man. Having been born in the stone age (before personal computers, the Internet, and Britney Spears), I still marvel at how this amazing thing called the Internet works. Despite some doubts, I paid two computer geeks about $15,000 in 1998 to build me one of those new-fangled business web sites. It seemed to work a treat. Most of my main clients were people who didn't even live in the same state as me, let alone the same city. It proved to be a fabulous way to stay in touch with clients, and for those clients to see what I was up to (and buy stuff from me too).

If you are wondering who the extras are in the photo, the lovely lady to my left is Romayne, who was my shop manager for 15 years (she deserves a rather huge gold star for putting up with me for so long). The rest of the multitude are some of my major clients. The photo was taken by my younger son, Max, on the last day of the shop's operation (May 27, 2006) - a rather emotional day for most of us.

I learned something on that day which I wish I had been more aware of earlier: that a niche shop such as mine, selling a very niche product, can be a really important space for some clients. I had a lot of regulars, who would come in, perhaps once a week, to say hello and catch up on the gossip and just hang out there. I never fully realized how important this strange shop of mine was to some people until that last day. I suppose we are all geniuses in hindsight...

This site is my attempt to get serious again about the anime/animation market in Australia. I've been part of the scene since it started, but I've been doing other things in the past few years. Please get involved - share your thoughts in the forums and help this site grow into a major resource for all fans of cartoons and animation.