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Farran Smith Nehme

@selfstyledsiren.bsky.social

15K followers 1.7K following 5.3K posts

Film critic; NSFC, NYFCC. Bylines at Criterion, Sight & Sound, Noir City, my own Substack, and wherever fine film geeks are found. https://selfstyledsiren.substack.com/

selfstyledsiren.substack.com

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Farran Smith Nehme @selfstyledsiren.bsky.social · Aug 25

I spent many happy working hours this summer preparing for an interview about the life and art of Jean Harlow, who I've worshipped and adored since I was a kid. It will be part of
@criterion.bsky.social's HELL'S ANGELS 4K/Blu-ray release in November. Details here: www.criterion.com/films/28987-...

Jean Harlow standing up in the swimming pool, arms akimbo with a big grin.

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Isi Baehr-Breen @isibb.bsky.social · 3d

Imagine being told you’re significantly less charming than Megan McCain.

Raw Story @rawstory.com · 4d

Bari Weiss, the incoming editor in chief of CBS News, once auditioned for a role on the hit daytime television show "The View," but tested so poorly with audiences that she "wasn't invited back," according to a new report.

CBS News' new boss once auditioned for 'The View' — and 'wasn't invited back': report

bit.ly

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Michael Schulman @michaelschulman.bsky.social · 5h

I absolutely loved having this long conversation with Tim Curry, whose memoir comes out Tuesday. He told terrific stories about, among others, Meat Loaf, Ivana Trump, John Huston, Truman Capote, and Miss Piggy. What a life! www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

Tim Curry Does the Time Warp

The actor and singer discusses the origins of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” his relationship with David Bowie, and the joy of working with Miss Piggy.

www.newyorker.com

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Willow Catelyn Maclay @willowcatelyn.bsky.social · 3h

You'll certainly want to read Dan Callahan's remembrance of Diane Keaton.

stolenholiday.substack.com/p/diane-keaton

Diane Keaton

1946-2025

stolenholiday.substack.com

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Farran Smith Nehme @selfstyledsiren.bsky.social · 2h

Thank you!

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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 3h

"So...I read it."

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 4h

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

Archives banned making copies.

Natasha Simonova @philistella.bsky.social · 4h

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

New library catalogue website.

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DickensYouSay @dickensyousay.bsky.social · 2h

languidly echoing to the roof from the padded dais where the Lord High Chancellor looks into the lantern that has no light in it and where the attendant wigs are all stuck in a fog-bank!
#CharlesDickens
#BleakHouse

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DickensYouSay @dickensyousay.bsky.social · 2h

who peep in through the glass panes in the door, be deterred from entrance by its owlish aspect and by the drawl,

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DickensYouSay @dickensyousay.bsky.social · 2h

Well may the court be dim, with wasting candles here and there; well may the fog hang heavy in it, as if it would never get out; well may the stained-glass windows lose their colour and admit no light of day into the place; well may the uninitiated from the streets,

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Farran Smith Nehme @selfstyledsiren.bsky.social · 6h

Oh man, the fact that she died from complications of plastic surgery just came back to me...

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Sarah Weinman @sarahweinman.com · 6h

Rereading this 2004 NYMag feature on the exceedingly complicated author Olivia Goldsmith (who died way too young, as she likely wanted) and this is such a scorched-earth story about leaving your publisher nymag.com/nymetro/news...

Ashmead was equally smitten with Goldsmith until, Ashmead says, he incurred her wrath when he edited her 1996 novel Marrying Mom. “Marrying Mom had what I thought were some rather grotesque sex scenes between people over 70 years of age—they had to rearrange their bellies to have sexual intercourse,” Ashmead says. “I asked her to take it out. That was the end of the relationship. She went out the door and never came back.”

Well, not completely. It turned out Goldsmith was as adept at revenge as any of her characters. On Valentine’s Day, Ashmead opened his front door to discover a bag full of candy valentines. However, Olivia wasn’t trying to restart the friendship.

“She’d crossed out all the nice things and written ‘Fuck you, screw you,’ ” Ashmead says. “It must have taken a lot of time.”

She didn’t stop there. “She went on Sally Jesse Raphael once and said, ‘This book would be a lot better if my editor hadn’t gotten so old he’d forgotten what good sex is like,’ ” Ashmead remembers. “ ‘So if any of you have a manuscript with no sex in it, give it to … ’ and she gave my name.”

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🏳️‍🌈 Ms. Marya E. Gates 🦩 @oldfilmsflicker.bsky.social · 1d

When I interviewed her for my book Gillian Armstrong told me that the studio was interfering when they were maybe a day behind schedule filming MRS. SOFFEL and Diane Keaton called the studio and said “Leave Gil alone. She’s doing a great job.” And the studio left her alone the rest of the shoot.

Farran Smith Nehme @selfstyledsiren.bsky.social · 1d

"She is the dream actress that every director should have." —Gillian Armstrong

Rest in peace to the great Diane Keaton, fearless and unique, a dream actress indeed. 📷 Norman Seeff, Los Angeles, 1975

Black and white shot of Diane Keaton in a tank top with her hands behind her head. I like this photo for its simplicity; you can feel her personality.

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Farran Smith Nehme @selfstyledsiren.bsky.social · 6h

Oof. Honestly, I feel sorry for this guy, he just wanted to see a cute woman again and didn't believe in his own persona. All the same, the seeds of an anti-AI rom-com could be here ... sad sack discovers ChatGPT Is Not The Way (for ANYTHING).

C. Buckthorn @cbuckthorn.bsky.social · 12h

This is amazing. I laughed out loud www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

As 32-year-old Rich points out, though, "it's not like using ChatGPT guarantees success".
When he met someone in a bar one Friday night and swapped social media handles, he asked AI what his next move should be.
ChatGPT discerned that sending an initial message on Monday midmorning would set the right pace. "Then it gave me some options for what the message could be," says Rich.
"Keep it light, warm, and low-stakes so it reads as genuine interest without urgency," the bot advised. "Something like: Hey Sarah, still laughing about [tiny shared moment/reference if you've got one] - good to meet you!" Rich went back and forth with ChatGPT until he felt they'd hit upon exactly the right message ("Hey Sarah, it was lovely to meet you") but sadly she never replied, he says. "It's been two weeks now."

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Kurt Andersen @kurtandersen.bsky.social · 7h

One Battle After Another is indeed a masterpiece. Like a great 70s or 80s movie but rigorous, none of the excessive shagginess or smug self-indulgence. Riveting drama, sentiment but not sentimentality, comedy and fun in exactly the right amounts. Epic. 👍🏻 www.youtube.com/watch?v=feOQ...

One Battle After Another - Official Trailer - Warner Bros. UK & Ireland

YouTube video by Warner Bros. UK & Ireland

www.youtube.com

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Farran Smith Nehme @selfstyledsiren.bsky.social · 7h

Sounds like fun. Bankruptcy lawyers, at least for corporate clients, have better stories than you might think.

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Farran Smith Nehme @selfstyledsiren.bsky.social · 16h

I’d be interested if you have a link. Do you like the movie?

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Farran Smith Nehme @selfstyledsiren.bsky.social · 16h

It is a dead-on comparison. I knew what was coming and gave up around halftime.

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Dean Frey @dean.bsky.social · 17h

#RIP Diane Keaton

A great shot by Douglas Kirkland of Keaton with her family, September 1977.

Keaton in the centre, with eight family members around her. Smiles all around!

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jondmaas.bsky.social @jondmaas.bsky.social · 18h

I wish she had sung more. I had no idea she was in "Radio Days" and all of a sudden she appeared on that gorgeous nightclub set singing Cole Porter and I stopped breathing.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvW9...

Diane Keaton: "You'd be so nice nice to come to"

YouTube video by Ricardo Leitner

www.youtube.com

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Farran Smith Nehme @selfstyledsiren.bsky.social · 17h

One of my old cookbooks has a recipe for "Chili-Size," which is a hamburger topped with chili. "Tremendously popular on the West Coast" the book assures us. So I figure it must be a hamburger with some kind of topping?