Mel Campbell
@incrediblemelk.bsky.social
Film/TV critic, copyeditor, author and shadow academic on Wurundjeri Woiwurrung country
Bsky banned her for quote-posting an article on Johnny Cash with the opening lyrics from Folsom Prison Blues; they absurdly claimed she was threatening to shoot the author of the article in Reno, just to watch him die
A reminder that platform users never truly own or control our content & networks
A reminder that platform users never truly own or control our content & networks
November 16, 2025 at 10:04 PM
Bsky banned her for quote-posting an article on Johnny Cash with the opening lyrics from Folsom Prison Blues; they absurdly claimed she was threatening to shoot the author of the article in Reno, just to watch him die
A reminder that platform users never truly own or control our content & networks
A reminder that platform users never truly own or control our content & networks
Reposted by Mel Campbell
I was doing my daily Japanese lesson when I learned a new word, 類似 (ruiji, meaning “similarity”). Found it funny because it sounds like Luigi. Then my brain went… wait… surely not… So I checked Google and found theories and a few quotes suggesting Nintendo may have made a pun with the Italian name.
November 16, 2025 at 8:24 PM
I was doing my daily Japanese lesson when I learned a new word, 類似 (ruiji, meaning “similarity”). Found it funny because it sounds like Luigi. Then my brain went… wait… surely not… So I checked Google and found theories and a few quotes suggesting Nintendo may have made a pun with the Italian name.
Reposted by Mel Campbell
This totally stemmed from a different conversation, but for some reason I was imagining Frankenstein's creature giving Guillermo del Toro uppies like a cat. 😭🤣💖💖💖💖✨️✨️✨️✨️
#frankenstein #gdt
(what's wrong with me LOL)
#frankenstein #gdt
(what's wrong with me LOL)
November 15, 2025 at 11:59 PM
This totally stemmed from a different conversation, but for some reason I was imagining Frankenstein's creature giving Guillermo del Toro uppies like a cat. 😭🤣💖💖💖💖✨️✨️✨️✨️
#frankenstein #gdt
(what's wrong with me LOL)
#frankenstein #gdt
(what's wrong with me LOL)
Reposted by Mel Campbell
Scout* barely realised that something round and hard, with smoke coming from it, had landed in front of them before it exploded.
Pain suddenly shot through their leg and arm. Scout fell to their knees, before someone nearby helped them rush out of the area.
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Pain suddenly shot through their leg and arm. Scout fell to their knees, before someone nearby helped them rush out of the area.
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Police detonated a ‘stinger’ grenade at a Melbourne protest. Now two activists may sue over their injuries
Grenades filled with rubber pellets and other so-called ‘less lethal’ munitions have been increasingly deployed, despite being linked to serious injuries and even deaths
www.theguardian.com
November 15, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Scout* barely realised that something round and hard, with smoke coming from it, had landed in front of them before it exploded.
Pain suddenly shot through their leg and arm. Scout fell to their knees, before someone nearby helped them rush out of the area.
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Pain suddenly shot through their leg and arm. Scout fell to their knees, before someone nearby helped them rush out of the area.
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
A cool composite pic of this year’s first baby peregrine falcon to fledge from the Collins Street nest site (9:27am)
November 13, 2025 at 6:06 AM
A cool composite pic of this year’s first baby peregrine falcon to fledge from the Collins Street nest site (9:27am)
Reposted by Mel Campbell
'A senior member of the neo-Nazi group which held an anti-Jewish protest outside NSW Parliament is a South African national who works for a major engineering firm that has held contracts with the Australian Defence Department and NSW government.'
www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw...
www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw...
Engineer. Teacher. Postie: The neo-Nazis who rallied in Sydney
Those who gathered on Saturday include a personal trainer, an English-as-a-second-language teacher and a former bar manager who is facing DV charges.
www.smh.com.au
November 12, 2025 at 8:04 PM
'A senior member of the neo-Nazi group which held an anti-Jewish protest outside NSW Parliament is a South African national who works for a major engineering firm that has held contracts with the Australian Defence Department and NSW government.'
www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw...
www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw...
Reposted by Mel Campbell
4) There is absolutely zero requirement that your sword & sorcery story be set in a quasi-medieval European milieu with no people of color.
The world is a big place. There's room for wizards and warriors in every culture in every period.
The world is a big place. There's room for wizards and warriors in every culture in every period.
November 12, 2025 at 2:28 PM
4) There is absolutely zero requirement that your sword & sorcery story be set in a quasi-medieval European milieu with no people of color.
The world is a big place. There's room for wizards and warriors in every culture in every period.
The world is a big place. There's room for wizards and warriors in every culture in every period.
Via a random YouTube video I just learned the term ‘lagenlook’ for the clothing aesthetic of oversized shapeless layers. Looked it up on Google Images & died of cringe to see many of the sorts of garments I own, though I used to wear them much more c. 2015–20
November 12, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Via a random YouTube video I just learned the term ‘lagenlook’ for the clothing aesthetic of oversized shapeless layers. Looked it up on Google Images & died of cringe to see many of the sorts of garments I own, though I used to wear them much more c. 2015–20
Does anyone in AU remember the 1980s TV show ‘That’s Dancin’’? A ballroom dance contest on the ABC on Sunday nights. Along with the tradition of televised dancesport on Christmas night, it tilled the cultural ground for ‘Strictly Ballroom’ (1991) that would lie fallow until ‘Dancing with the Stars’
That's Dancin' (Australia) - 1989 Grand Final
YouTube video by Ukrainian Artists Society of Australia (NSW)
m.youtube.com
November 12, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Does anyone in AU remember the 1980s TV show ‘That’s Dancin’’? A ballroom dance contest on the ABC on Sunday nights. Along with the tradition of televised dancesport on Christmas night, it tilled the cultural ground for ‘Strictly Ballroom’ (1991) that would lie fallow until ‘Dancing with the Stars’
Reading a thing about the ‘Gen Alpha economy’ & am saddened that kids these days want to be influencers & streamers. Whatever happened to the good old fantasy careers of ‘palaeontologist’ and ‘marine biologist’?
November 12, 2025 at 4:51 AM
Reading a thing about the ‘Gen Alpha economy’ & am saddened that kids these days want to be influencers & streamers. Whatever happened to the good old fantasy careers of ‘palaeontologist’ and ‘marine biologist’?
Got an email from the ABC about summer emergency preparedness linking to their website on the subject
I recently bought a pure wool blanket from an op-shop to keep in my car in case I ever get caught in a bushfire. I can also use it if I break down somewhere remote & have to sleep in the car
I recently bought a pure wool blanket from an op-shop to keep in my car in case I ever get caught in a bushfire. I can also use it if I break down somewhere remote & have to sleep in the car
ABC Emergency
Up to date information about bushfires, storms, flooding and other emergencies from around Australia, along with advice to protect you and your property.
www.abc.net.au
November 12, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Got an email from the ABC about summer emergency preparedness linking to their website on the subject
I recently bought a pure wool blanket from an op-shop to keep in my car in case I ever get caught in a bushfire. I can also use it if I break down somewhere remote & have to sleep in the car
I recently bought a pure wool blanket from an op-shop to keep in my car in case I ever get caught in a bushfire. I can also use it if I break down somewhere remote & have to sleep in the car
Reposted by Mel Campbell
This piece by Tegan Bennett Daylight about NOT writing a biography is just brilliant.
#biography
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essays/life-...
#biography
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essays/life-...
Life at Its Most Free | Sydney Review of Books
What happens when a project that could make one’s career doesn’t eventuate? In the wake of the biography of Ruth Park she never wrote, Tegan Bennett Daylight considers what it means to write for a liv...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com
November 11, 2025 at 8:03 PM
This piece by Tegan Bennett Daylight about NOT writing a biography is just brilliant.
#biography
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essays/life-...
#biography
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essays/life-...
Reposted by Mel Campbell
This is bad. Sarah Kendzior is one of the scholars that most understands authoritarianism and our current moment in the US.
In a rare case of Substack notes usefulness, I just learned that Sarah Kendzior (author of They Knew and a brilliant writer) got bounced from Bluesky. What the hell? new @sarahkendzior.bsky.social
November 11, 2025 at 8:14 PM
This is bad. Sarah Kendzior is one of the scholars that most understands authoritarianism and our current moment in the US.
Reposted by Mel Campbell
This ceasefire seems to lack the ceasing of the firing
Since the ceasefire took effect one month ago, Israeli attacks have killed at least 242 Palestinians and injured 622.
How many times has Israel violated the Gaza ceasefire? Here are the numbers
Since the ceasefire took effect one month ago, Israeli attacks have killed at least 242 Palestinians and injured 622.
bit.ly
November 11, 2025 at 9:41 AM
This ceasefire seems to lack the ceasing of the firing
The expression "the flip side" refers to music records, but OED & Merriam-Webster date the idiom to 1940, so it's more closely linked to radio DJing
many things previously had flip sides – eggs; pancakes; cards; coins – but radio announcers NARRATED
many things previously had flip sides – eggs; pancakes; cards; coins – but radio announcers NARRATED
November 11, 2025 at 12:23 AM
The expression "the flip side" refers to music records, but OED & Merriam-Webster date the idiom to 1940, so it's more closely linked to radio DJing
many things previously had flip sides – eggs; pancakes; cards; coins – but radio announcers NARRATED
many things previously had flip sides – eggs; pancakes; cards; coins – but radio announcers NARRATED
Relishing the trashy tale of Angelicism01, a latter-day alt-philosophy edgelord who cultivated a street team of NYC ‘angels’ before being doxed: “The ringleader was Joe Buck, a stubbly man with a cartoon mouse tattooed on his chest.”
something so delightfully contemptuous about “a stubbly man”
something so delightfully contemptuous about “a stubbly man”
archive.md
November 10, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Relishing the trashy tale of Angelicism01, a latter-day alt-philosophy edgelord who cultivated a street team of NYC ‘angels’ before being doxed: “The ringleader was Joe Buck, a stubbly man with a cartoon mouse tattooed on his chest.”
something so delightfully contemptuous about “a stubbly man”
something so delightfully contemptuous about “a stubbly man”
There's a book called 'Artificial Intelligence and Life in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Summoning the Demon?' and I'm like, that subtitle would have worked much better as the main title
every now and then I'll see a book that disobeys the cast-iron rule of academic titling like this
every now and then I'll see a book that disobeys the cast-iron rule of academic titling like this
November 10, 2025 at 1:39 AM
There's a book called 'Artificial Intelligence and Life in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Summoning the Demon?' and I'm like, that subtitle would have worked much better as the main title
every now and then I'll see a book that disobeys the cast-iron rule of academic titling like this
every now and then I'll see a book that disobeys the cast-iron rule of academic titling like this
Just saw a journal article 'Beyond identity embodiment: Relocating avatars and avataring in contemporary digital media', & I was like, "oh, I wonder how they cite the 'Avatars & Identities' ARC project?"
No! I was stunned to scan the ref list! They don't cite a whole tranche of relevant research!
No! I was stunned to scan the ref list! They don't cite a whole tranche of relevant research!
November 10, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Just saw a journal article 'Beyond identity embodiment: Relocating avatars and avataring in contemporary digital media', & I was like, "oh, I wonder how they cite the 'Avatars & Identities' ARC project?"
No! I was stunned to scan the ref list! They don't cite a whole tranche of relevant research!
No! I was stunned to scan the ref list! They don't cite a whole tranche of relevant research!
The Scientology SeaMorg
ok but how about a 50 billion year mortgage
November 9, 2025 at 12:27 AM
The Scientology SeaMorg
I intuitively think "The University of [Place]" sounds more prestigious than "[Place] University" (which is probably pure cultural cringe), though I get that they're doing it here to signal both change & precedence: Adelaide is a sandstone est. 1873 whereas UniSA is a polytechnic est. 1991
From late next month, the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia will begin to cease operations and transform to become Adelaide University. But as the clock ticks, some students and staff are feeling the pressure.
Students, teaching staff face challenges amid Adelaide University merger
From late next month, the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia will begin to cease operations and transform to become Adelaide University. But as the clock ticks, some students and staff are feeling the pressure.
www.abc.net.au
November 9, 2025 at 12:05 AM
I intuitively think "The University of [Place]" sounds more prestigious than "[Place] University" (which is probably pure cultural cringe), though I get that they're doing it here to signal both change & precedence: Adelaide is a sandstone est. 1873 whereas UniSA is a polytechnic est. 1991
RIP director Lee Tamahori, who has died at 75, surrounded by his whānau archive.md/dkI0V
November 8, 2025 at 6:18 AM
RIP director Lee Tamahori, who has died at 75, surrounded by his whānau archive.md/dkI0V
Reposted by Mel Campbell
Today, a friend involved in the Esna restoration project has shared with me his latest stunning photos of the restored ceiling and columns of the Temple of Khnum in Esna, Upper #Egypt. During a multi-year restoration project, the dirt and soot that had obscured the ...🧵1/3
📷 D. v. Recklinghausen
🏺
📷 D. v. Recklinghausen
🏺
November 7, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Today, a friend involved in the Esna restoration project has shared with me his latest stunning photos of the restored ceiling and columns of the Temple of Khnum in Esna, Upper #Egypt. During a multi-year restoration project, the dirt and soot that had obscured the ...🧵1/3
📷 D. v. Recklinghausen
🏺
📷 D. v. Recklinghausen
🏺
I enjoy the completely serious tone of Aesthetics Wiki. e.g. this, for 'Downtown Girl':
"those living in the city have a more exciting, albeit hectic, life, as they are able to encounter more cultures, work in more prestigious careers, and go to glamorous outings."
"those living in the city have a more exciting, albeit hectic, life, as they are able to encounter more cultures, work in more prestigious careers, and go to glamorous outings."
November 7, 2025 at 7:00 AM
I enjoy the completely serious tone of Aesthetics Wiki. e.g. this, for 'Downtown Girl':
"those living in the city have a more exciting, albeit hectic, life, as they are able to encounter more cultures, work in more prestigious careers, and go to glamorous outings."
"those living in the city have a more exciting, albeit hectic, life, as they are able to encounter more cultures, work in more prestigious careers, and go to glamorous outings."
It is funny that Tyriq Withers stars in a film called 'Reminders of Him', given that he previously starred in a film called 'Him'
November 7, 2025 at 5:45 AM
It is funny that Tyriq Withers stars in a film called 'Reminders of Him', given that he previously starred in a film called 'Him'
Reposted by Mel Campbell
MrBeast hates Zohran because if people have access to basic necessities, it will demolish the Giving People Those Necessities As Part Of A Saw-Inspired Game Show industry
November 5, 2025 at 11:28 PM
MrBeast hates Zohran because if people have access to basic necessities, it will demolish the Giving People Those Necessities As Part Of A Saw-Inspired Game Show industry