Mel Selfe
@melselfe.bsky.social
Lecturer in Cultural Policy at the University of Glasgow. Media history nerd. Likes archives. Not actually Eve Arden.
Reposted by Mel Selfe
Remembering the delightful Edward Everett Horton on the anniversary of his death (September 29, 1970)
September 29, 2026 at 1:00 PM
Remembering the delightful Edward Everett Horton on the anniversary of his death (September 29, 1970)
Reposted by Mel Selfe
Today would have been the 80th birthday of the Third Programme - BBC Radio 3’s remarkable predecessor.
My latest for the BBC marks the occasion with a dip into the programme archives, unearthing some forgotten gems from the Third’s early years…
My latest for the BBC marks the occasion with a dip into the programme archives, unearthing some forgotten gems from the Third’s early years…
The Third at 80 – a brief history of the unexpected
Weird and wonderful highlights from the early years of BBC Radio 3’s celebrated forerunner The Third Programme
www.bbc.co.uk
September 29, 2026 at 7:28 AM
Today would have been the 80th birthday of the Third Programme - BBC Radio 3’s remarkable predecessor.
My latest for the BBC marks the occasion with a dip into the programme archives, unearthing some forgotten gems from the Third’s early years…
My latest for the BBC marks the occasion with a dip into the programme archives, unearthing some forgotten gems from the Third’s early years…
Public transit archive gold lurking at the back of a bookshop. @norloll.bsky.social, imagine!
Archivist Daylon Orr was visiting a bookseller friend in Virginia this summer when, in the back corner of his friend’s warehouse, he noticed a giant stack of boxes. https://loom.ly/8Mnuwoc
A massive MTA archive ended up in a Virginia warehouse. A Brooklyn man brought it home.
The collection of documents comes from a subway obsessive.
gothamist.com
September 29, 2026 at 7:30 AM
Public transit archive gold lurking at the back of a bookshop. @norloll.bsky.social, imagine!
Reposted by Mel Selfe
americans on bluesky: 🤯🤯🤯
The Saving Wildcats project has confirmed four wildcats released into the Cairngorms National Park this summer has brought the total number released since 2023 to 50
👉 www.thenational.scot/news/2...
👉 www.thenational.scot/news/2...
September 28, 2026 at 12:43 PM
americans on bluesky: 🤯🤯🤯
There was that time I sent an email denying a student’s request for a retrospective extension, and accidentally missed out the ‘l’ in my own name, so signed off ‘Meanie’.
Cringeing anew about my write-up of a mental health support group where I said it was "a relaxed space for a cup of tea and a nutter"
my favourite typo is, & will always be, ‘the literary cannon’
September 25, 2026 at 10:27 AM
There was that time I sent an email denying a student’s request for a retrospective extension, and accidentally missed out the ‘l’ in my own name, so signed off ‘Meanie’.
Stranded in Iceland in a surprise emergency stopover. Scroll to the top and enjoy this vicarious travel nightmare saga from the safety of your couch. British Airways does not come out of this tale of chaotic crisis management, terrible coms and snooty service at all well.
we're boarding now. a gate attendant literally screamed at us to board by boarding group... and a hundred people just laughed in her face. we have formed a self-governing society at this point and her attempt to order us around is oddly funny
September 23, 2026 at 7:17 PM
Stranded in Iceland in a surprise emergency stopover. Scroll to the top and enjoy this vicarious travel nightmare saga from the safety of your couch. British Airways does not come out of this tale of chaotic crisis management, terrible coms and snooty service at all well.
Incompetent wall construction.
Eating ghosts
Confess your crimes to me
September 15, 2026 at 7:08 PM
Incompetent wall construction.
Reposted by Mel Selfe
Any future independent Scotland needs to not do this.
‘If you live and work and pay taxes here, there's an ever-tougher obstacle course. But if you're Irish in a vaguely genetic sense .. welcome. There is a logic and it is implicitly racist.. Citizenship is a right for those who have "Irish blood", a grudgingly granted privilege for those who don't’.
September 15, 2026 at 8:55 AM
Any future independent Scotland needs to not do this.
Reposted by Mel Selfe
September 14, 2026 at 8:01 AM
I feel a letter to my MP coming on.
September 12, 2026 at 7:06 PM
I feel a letter to my MP coming on.
Reposted by Mel Selfe
My first morning in the Omaze house. I didn’t sleep. I could hear crying from behind the door I’m not allowed to open.The only thing to eat is frozen prawns. I went for a wander round the 4 acre garden and found a box of VHS tapes marked ‘For the next one’. I’m sure it’s fine. I’m sure it’s all fine
September 12, 2026 at 7:46 AM
My first morning in the Omaze house. I didn’t sleep. I could hear crying from behind the door I’m not allowed to open.The only thing to eat is frozen prawns. I went for a wander round the 4 acre garden and found a box of VHS tapes marked ‘For the next one’. I’m sure it’s fine. I’m sure it’s all fine
Reposted by Mel Selfe
Featuring the following sensational titles:
🍿Sat 26 Sep QUEEN KELLY (1929)
🍿Sat 17 Oct SPEEDY (1928)
🍿Sat 24 Oct FAUST (1926)
🍿Sat 7 Nov MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA (1929)
+ Shuttle bus from Linlithgow Station - Hippodrome for those traveling by rail! 🎟️ Book: www.hippodromecinema.co.uk/hippfest/tas...
🍿Sat 26 Sep QUEEN KELLY (1929)
🍿Sat 17 Oct SPEEDY (1928)
🍿Sat 24 Oct FAUST (1926)
🍿Sat 7 Nov MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA (1929)
+ Shuttle bus from Linlithgow Station - Hippodrome for those traveling by rail! 🎟️ Book: www.hippodromecinema.co.uk/hippfest/tas...
Taste of Silents
www.hippodromecinema.co.uk
August 31, 2026 at 8:26 AM
Featuring the following sensational titles:
🍿Sat 26 Sep QUEEN KELLY (1929)
🍿Sat 17 Oct SPEEDY (1928)
🍿Sat 24 Oct FAUST (1926)
🍿Sat 7 Nov MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA (1929)
+ Shuttle bus from Linlithgow Station - Hippodrome for those traveling by rail! 🎟️ Book: www.hippodromecinema.co.uk/hippfest/tas...
🍿Sat 26 Sep QUEEN KELLY (1929)
🍿Sat 17 Oct SPEEDY (1928)
🍿Sat 24 Oct FAUST (1926)
🍿Sat 7 Nov MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA (1929)
+ Shuttle bus from Linlithgow Station - Hippodrome for those traveling by rail! 🎟️ Book: www.hippodromecinema.co.uk/hippfest/tas...
Reposted by Mel Selfe
A statistically significant amount of white smoke!
September 8, 2026 at 2:29 PM
A statistically significant amount of white smoke!
Reposted by Mel Selfe
A perfect example of what AI is really for: removing consent, removing the social safeguards that used to keep the worst ideas at bay, and doing racism at scale.
theplaylist.net/paul-schrade...
theplaylist.net/paul-schrade...
Paul Schrader Says He Turned To AI Because “No Black Actors Wanted To Play In A Movie Where There Are No Good Black People”
Paul Schrader explains why he turned to AI actors for ‘Three Guns At Dawn’ after Black actors rejected the original roles.
theplaylist.net
September 6, 2026 at 7:46 PM
A perfect example of what AI is really for: removing consent, removing the social safeguards that used to keep the worst ideas at bay, and doing racism at scale.
theplaylist.net/paul-schrade...
theplaylist.net/paul-schrade...
Reposted by Mel Selfe
I love re-upping this: for decades the main library at UCLA had the generic name University Research Library because the person most responsible for getting it built was an English professor named Hugh G. Dick and the university refused to name it after him.
Tell me a fun fact.
September 5, 2026 at 4:29 AM
I love re-upping this: for decades the main library at UCLA had the generic name University Research Library because the person most responsible for getting it built was an English professor named Hugh G. Dick and the university refused to name it after him.
Reposted by Mel Selfe
People have really not grasped how laughable & outrageous the two announced Cambridge 'investigations' are. One is extremely narrow--what support measures were available to Jason Arday (hint: they'll find all boxes were ticked). Second is so broad as to be meaningless: how senior hires are made. 1/n
September 6, 2026 at 1:35 PM
People have really not grasped how laughable & outrageous the two announced Cambridge 'investigations' are. One is extremely narrow--what support measures were available to Jason Arday (hint: they'll find all boxes were ticked). Second is so broad as to be meaningless: how senior hires are made. 1/n
This looks fabulous. Hope it gets a UK release.
September 5, 2026 at 8:49 PM
This looks fabulous. Hope it gets a UK release.
Reposted by Mel Selfe
Reposted by Mel Selfe
Did he then take it with him, download it to his system, and then have it shredded
September 1, 2026 at 9:24 AM
Did he then take it with him, download it to his system, and then have it shredded
It’s not many songwriters/musicians/actors who get an an article in Nature when they die.
"But she also left a mark on science, public health and education. She donated to medical centres, vaccine research, and disaster relief, and had one of the most famous animals in science named after her: Dolly, the cloned sheep."
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Dolly Parton dies aged 80 – researchers celebrate her contributions to science
The country singer was an advocate for vaccines, public health, literacy and marginalized communities.
www.nature.com
August 26, 2026 at 7:53 PM
It’s not many songwriters/musicians/actors who get an an article in Nature when they die.
Songwriters are writers. Nothing she will ever pen will touch the rhinestoned hem of a Dolly song.
“by a celebrity 💅”
fuck her
god she’s SO MAD someone else besides her is being lauded as the patron saint of child literacy. you had your chance and blew it, lady! that’s not who you are anymore! gotta force HBO to reboot your movies just to feel something smh
fuck her
god she’s SO MAD someone else besides her is being lauded as the patron saint of child literacy. you had your chance and blew it, lady! that’s not who you are anymore! gotta force HBO to reboot your movies just to feel something smh
How the BBC is reporting Dolly Parton's passing.
August 26, 2026 at 11:37 AM
Songwriters are writers. Nothing she will ever pen will touch the rhinestoned hem of a Dolly song.
Reposted by Mel Selfe
We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/m...
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/m...
August 25, 2026 at 4:57 PM
We've been getting a lot of questions about how the Internet Archive digitizes books.
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/m...
The short answer: page by page, by hand.
You may remember our viral 2021 video of Eliza Zhang scanning a book. That's still how we do it.
Meet Eliza, and learn how we scan books: blog.archive.org/2021/02/09/m...
Reposted by Mel Selfe
Britain Must Pop The Ratbag Columnist Balloon Or Face Ruin
August 20, 2026 at 9:58 AM
Britain Must Pop The Ratbag Columnist Balloon Or Face Ruin