Planet 3000

Who are we?

Or should I say, who am I?  My name is Sebastian Harrison and I am the sole proprietor of Planet 3000.  I principally live and work in Rome, Italy.**   I also have two associates in the USA.  Rather than emphasize Planet 3000 and speak about our low prices, number 1 service and so on, in this "who are we?" section, I prefer to share with you a brief biography of my life in the hope that you can understand why and how Planet 3000 came to exist.

I was born in Rome, Italy in 1965 of American parents.  My mother is one of three daughters of the founder and President of American International Pictures, James H. Nicholson.  AIP no longer exists but many of you will remember the films they produced - all the Vincent Price, Edgar Allen Poe movies, the Beach Blanket Bingo genre movies with Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon and the majority of the sci-fi and youth-oriented films of the 50s such as "Attack of the 50-Foot Woman" and "I was a Teenage Werewolf".   My father is a (mostly) retired actor named Richard Harrison.  He has starred in over 120 (yes, 120!) mostly B-rate action films such as Spaghetti Westerns, Hercules type films and 007 type films.  (Click here for a list and pictures of some of his films.)  He made many of his films in Italy, which explains why I was born in there.

Although born in Rome, I grew up between there and Los Angeles and I also spent a portion of my childhood in Spain.  All of my schooling (except for kindergarden, if you can consider that "schooling" and high school which was at Notre Dame in Rome) was done in Los Angeles.  I went to UCLA for college and graduated with degrees in Political Science and Italian Literature.   While I put a fair amount of emphasis on school - at least from the age of 16 on up, I believe that most of my education has been informal.  My father's occupation has taken him around the world many times and my father took me and my other two brothers with him every chance he got.  Most people who like traveling refer to it as having been bit by the "traveling bug."  I wouldn't describe it as that since the fondness for traveling is not something that occurred but rather is something almost inherent.  My first memories are of foreign places.  I have traveled to many countries but I think that to really get the taste of a place you have to live or work there.  I've had the opportunity to live in Japan, Germany, Spain, Norway, the Philippines, Ethiopia, Turkey and of course Italy and the US.

I mentioned before that I am a firm believer in informal education, not necessarily as an alternative to a formal education but rather as a supplement.  Many of my experiences have been been tied to my father's work and also my work - not so much as the work in itself because my father has never really frequented his peers but rather the people that you have the opportunity to meet as a result of being an actor.   Artists, writers, sports figures (mostly boxers) and politicians were constantly going in and out of the house.  If you have an open mind you can learn just as much from a boxer (and here I will use concrete examples) such as Marvin Hagler as you can from a writer like Gore Vidal.

Fresh out of high school and before going to college, I fell into acting.   It sounded like a good idea, after all, if my father did 120 I could surely do a few and the opportunity was pounding at the door.  My father had written a screen play that he intended to do called "Scalps."  He decided not to do it so he sold the script.  The producer who bought it asked him if he knew anyone around 18 years old, blond and that could speak English for another movie he was producing.  My father mentioned he had a son and a few screen tests and 2 months later I was in Spain doing the lead in "White Apache."  After that I did a small part in a film my father did produce called "Three Men on Fire," a few other films, a couple of which I had the lead including one by Lucio Fulci (Sadoma's Ghosts), and then I did a two and one-half year leading role in an Italian situation comedy based on a Japanese cartoon series "Kiss Me Licia."   The series was quite ridiculous but was a huge success.  But I was 24 and all my friends had degrees so my attitude was, "it's now or never" and I went back to the US and went first to a local college and then UCLA.  (I still do act, however.  Last year I had a lead role in film shot in Ethiopia.)

How does one go from this background to having a site on the internet that deals with video equipment and electronics?!?!  Well, at first glance there does not seem to be any correlation but really there is.  I've always had this interest in cameras and movies plus, living the life that I have lived the last thing that I wanted to do was have a 9-5 office job.  I'm too independent for that.  I need to have my own business, set my own hours and not be confined to one place.  This is perfect for me.  With modern technology I can be anywhere and still work.  The very first sale I made which was a large order from AT&T, I was in Capri.  This is only the beginning.  I also have another site where I combine once again what I know and love with business.  This site has products from Italy and gives free information about travel in Italy.  Thanks for taking the time to read this.  And by the way, comments are always more than welcome!

**  Planet 3000 has recently merged with another company (May 22, 1999) in order to accomodate our growing business.  We are doing business under our corporate company of Buyundercost.com where we will be selling electronics for under our cost!  Sounds insane but it is true!   Since the conception of  Buyundercost.com I have returned to the US (California) in order to take Planet 3000 and Buyundercost.com to new heights!

thank you for taking the time to read this,

Sebastian