iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 3h

After Samorost, Amanita did two short (handful of screens each) mini-games, 'Rocketman' for Nike and 'The Quest for the Rest' for The Polyphonic Spree. I'd only played 'Quest, before, so finished both, in 20 mins total. 'Quest' was quite lovely; 'Rocketman' didn't do it for me,. #AdventureGames

Screengrab from 'Rocketman', a short promotional browser game Amanita Design did for Nike. Screen shows a spaceship adjacent to an asteroid with a basketball goal mounted on it, with part of the Earth in the distant background.

Screen shot of the end screen (it's a 22 year old game and besides doesn't really give anything away) for 'THe Quest for the Rest', a very short promo mini-game by Amanita Design, for the band The Polyphonic Spree. Images shows a pleasant green landscape of rolling hills, with lots of little people in typical Amanita 'Samorost' style, in lots of different colour clothing, representing the band.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Amanita Design nostalgia trip. I’d played the OG Samorost browser game back in 2003, but this time it was the free 2021 'Samorost 1' remaster. Finished in about 15 minutes - the briefest of delights, but it's given me the taste for more of that charming organic Amanita weirdness. #AdventureGame

A scene from point-n-click puzzle adventure game Samorost 1, with an organic spaceship that's mostly tree stump, with the protagonist's spaceship (fashioned from what appears to be a former canned sausage tin) blasting off into the inky blackness of space.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Finished 'Darby O’Gill and the Good People', by Herminie Templeton Kavanagh. This 1903 story collection was fun, though I admit it took longer than expected to read, owing to use of dialect throughout. e.g. "... bekase whin once purvoked she has few ayquils for sarcastic langwidge." 😉 💙📚#folklore

Cover of 'Darby O'Gill and the Little People';, by Herminie Templeton Kavanagh. The cover image is adapted from 'Delaware Water Gap', a painting completed in 1861 by George Inness.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Just finished 'The Ruby in the Smoke' by Philip Pullman. This is an enjoyable YA novel with a plucky young heroine in Victorian London, who finds herself enmeshed in a murder-filled mystery connected to the opium trade. Apparently the first novel in a series, I'll have to hunt the others down. 💙📚

Paperback novel, 'The Ruby in the Smoke' by Philip Pullman - the cover text and illustration are suitably Victorian in style.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Post a meme made by you. (Coincidentally the first I can recall ever doing.)

The epic handshake meme, with two beefy men's arms clasped in an overhand shake. The left arm is labelled "Greg", the right labelled "Ian", the clasped hands labelled "Gregorian.)

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

More proof for that hypothesis, Jack hanging with Bruce Dickinson before a Maiden gig a few days ago. (I can't be too jealous on this one, having met Bruce myself - purely by chance browsing the same rack in a clothing shop - years ago. 😉)

Bruce Dickinson from Iron Maiden and Jack Black backstage, both flashing the devil horns.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Another palate-cleanser #Asterix between novels. I so love the pun names in the English translations, by Toutatis, and this had some crackers: Roman prefect Odius Asparagus, Gaulish child Picanmix, Phoenician trader Ekonomikrisis, and a pair of Roman guards, Sendervictorius and Appianglorious. 😂 💙📚

My hand holding a paperback edition of 'Asterix the Gladiator', by Goscinny and Uderzo.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Finished another nostalgia read yesterday, after finding I somehow had two copies of ‘Puckoon’ by #SpikeMilligan on my shelf. A fun read, albeit a bit more random and rambling than I recalled, haha! (Note: Also had to mentally skip past a few examples of “of its time” early 60s casual racism.) 💙📚

Paperback reprint of Spike Milligan’s ‘Puckoon’, with author sketch of shabbily dressed man with a balloon.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Another quick read; 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' by that Rev. Dodgson fellow. Each time I re-read this (prob every 10 years) I'm always struck by how glorious the writing is, contrasted with the paper thin plot. 😉 The Tenniel illustrations (esp. my Cheshire boy) remain a delight! 💙📚

The first appearance of the Cheshire Cat, inside the Duchess' house as sh'e nursing a baby.

Second illustrated appearance of the Cheshire Cat, grinning in classic style from up a tree..

Third illustration of the Cheshire Cat - still up that tree but fading from view.

Fourth illustration of the Cheshire Cat, as a large disembodied head floating over the arguing royals at the Queen's croquet game.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Since posting about re-reading 'Asterix and the Goths' earlier today I found myself remembering this classic headline and just had to find and post it... 😉

Newspaper headline which reads: "Local Bloke Utterly Obsessed With Roman Empire Because He Too Would Like To Be Destroyed By Goths', it is accompanied by a picture of the local man (a fairly bland and ordinary looking chap) and three photos of sultry and rather attractive looking goth girls.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

In the mood for a quick "palate cleanser' read, which turned out to be 'Asterix and the Goths' - childhood flashback territory. 😁 Fave name of this book was British druid Valueaddedtax, but the "-ic" suffix Goth names were a newly-recognised source of delight (Choleric, Rhetoric, Metric, etc.) 💙📚

Cover of 'Asterix and the Goths' by R. Goscinny and A. Uderzo. Cover image is of Asterix and Obelix on the border between Gaul and Germania, with Roman troops on one side and the shadows of a horde of horned-helmet wearing Goths on the other.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Oh frabjous day! Callooh! And indeed callay! Postie's just brought a package with the new Ozrics album on CD, along with a t-shirt (my eternal internal yoof can never have enough black band shirts) and signed postcard. New #OzricTentacles makes things better. 🍄 🎵 #Psychedelic #SpaceRock

Black t-shirt with colourful 'Harmonic Mind' design , with CD and signed postcard with same design sitting on top of it.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

In "Tales of Ian's Stupidly Obsessive Gaming" this week, I finally managed to rinse every puzzle in 'Picross S Mega Drive & Master System edition'. Behold the tawdry baubles of my hollow victory haha! 🤪 #Picross #NintendoSwitch #Sega

Main menu of Picross S Mega Drive & Master System edition, showing "no hint" achievement badges for every level of all four puzzle types. Yes I was a wee bit obsessive... ;-)

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Definitely an older book week for me, having just finished re-reading Agatha Christie's first mystery novel, 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles'. Enjoyable despite having read it previously - apparently 13 years is enough for me to have forgotten most of the key plot points... 😉 💙📚 #AgathaChristie

Cover of ‘The Mysterious Affair at Styles’ by Agatha Christie, featuring a 1920 painting of the same name, by Alfred James Dewey, painted for the first edition dust jacket.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

My favourite Python is still Terry (RIP) who I met once and had a lovely chat with, but Eric is my fave living one, evidenced by this being the book I’m currently reading. 😉

Large format paperback of Eric Idle’s “The Greedy Bastard’s Diary”, on a wooden cafe table with part of my hand resting on it.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Stopped in at the local bowlo on the way home from walking the dog, for a cheeky cider. Well played, nature. #sunset #Melbourne #Narrm

Orange tinged sunset over a darkened bowling green. Silhouettes of several palm trees can also be seen.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Finally read 'The King of Elfland's Daughter' by Lord Dunsany, after being on my radar for decades. Deliberately archaic style and page-long paragraphs make for a bit of a slog in places, but perseverance was rewarded and overall I enjoyed it, and there's no denying its influence (eg. Tolkien). 💙📚

Cover of Standard Ebooks edition of 'The King of Elfland's Daughter' by Lord Dunsany. Image adapted from 'At the Edge of the Forest', a painting completed circa 1820 by August Heinrich.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Noticed an amusingly anachronistic (albeit now outdated) reference in 'Mort' by #TerryPratchett today. 😉 #Discworld 💙📚

Section of page 153 of my old paperback of Terry Pratchett's 'Mort', which compares the sound of something in-universe to that of a Walkman.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Just back from seeing 'Labyrinth' on a big screen for the first time since a teen, only this time with the soundtrack performed by a live band on stage. We'd managed to get seats in the seventh row of the stalls at Hamer Hall - score! Magic stuff. 🤩 #movie #Melbourne

Cinema screen on stage with 'Jim Henson's Labyrinth in Concert', with band set up and seats in foreground.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

It’s Saturday morning here but still #LetterboxdFriday somewhere, so here are mine for this week. (And yep, Tim Curry’s passing was the catalyst for the two on the right.)

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Lockwood & Co. was the last show all our family were into and happily watched together (so of course Netflix axed it after a season). Anyway, found these at the op shop today for the princely sum of $1 and while I'd prefer not to have a Netflix tie-in cover, I'm looking forward to reading them. 💙📚

Two paperback books, "Lockwood & Co." and 'Lockwood & Co.: The Screaming Staircase' both by Jonathan Stroud.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Currently re-reading 'Mort' by #TerryPratchett, for the first time in decades. My OG paperback is a bit worse for wear these days - the glue is beginning to give up the ghost, pages are semi-detached, but check out that pricing - got my money's worth. 😉 #Discworld 💙📚

Front cover of first-edition Corgo paperback of Mort, by Terry Pratchett. with Josh Kirby cover.

Back cover of my paperback edition of Mort from 1988.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

My reading pile finally reached this and I ploughed through it in a couple of days. Set before the original Mortal Engines trilogy, this enjoyable adventure from @philipreeve.bsky.social features a wonderfully mismatched band of adventurers, plenty of action and intrigue. Excellent stuff! 💙📚

The cover of Bridge of Storms, by Phillip Reeves.Ilustration shows a traction city partway across a bridge suspended over a deep chasm.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

My least exciting game-related post ever, but weeks after finishing Pokopia's story I finally got the recipes for sprinkler and levee block. 🥳 At last I can irrigate crop areas with a single block's water, and fix up Bleak Beach... Damn you Pokopia, you delightfully cosy, drip-feeding bastard. 😉

My Pokopia crafting menu interface, highlighting the Sprinkler item.

Shop menu from Pokopia showing the recipe for the Levee block type.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Mine was nowhere as cool or credible as yours, haha - it was a VHS tape of 'The Making of Star Wars', bought several years before the actual movie was available, to feed my pre-teen SW jones. 😉

VHS tape in cardboard slip case of 'The Making of Star Wars'.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Happy #LetterboxdFriday! Time to post your #LastFourWatched An unintentionally Rik Mayall-heavy week: - Patchy, disappointing doco. - Is it wrong I prefer this to Spinal Tap? - Showed my teens, they loved it. (And dags.) - Delightful, made me mourn the "people's poet" over again. #FilmSky #movies

Four movie poster images: The Comic Strip: A Retrospective, Bad News Tour, Snatch, and Rik Mayall: Lord of Misrule.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

A few photos taken tonight aboard the Puffing Billy “train of lights” (a 2.5-hour return journey along historic narrow-gauge track aboard an old steam #train projecting a light show onto the forest). #Melbourne #DandenongRanges

Swirling purple and yellow light patterns projected onto trees.

Steam train with neon purple panels projecting blue-green light onto surrounding forest.

Steam train with red and white glowing neon panels with yellow-green light projected onto surround forest.

Steam train with greenish neon panels in forest at night.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Tonight we did the excellent Puffing Billy “train of lights” (2.5-hour return journey along historic narrow-gauge track aboard an old steam #train projecting a light show onto the forest). Swirling patterns and neon train as we passed over an old wooden trestle bridge was quite trippy! #Melbourne

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Came out of a gig at the Northcote Theatre tonight (the Reg Mombassa/Peter O'Doherty 50th anniversary incarnation of Mental As Anything - so much fun) to find it was now somewhat misty and only 8°C. Took this shot as I wandered the back streets looking for my car... #Melbourne #photography

Narrow back street of the Melbourne suburb of Northcote. Street lights and the distant tail lights of a car glow through the mist that was definitely not there when I parked my car a couple of hours earlier.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

If you see this, post a vampire that isn’t Dracula. (I feel like I did a similar pic a year ago, but hey, if it ain’t broke… 😉)

Aerial photo of a De Havilland Vampire single-engine, twin boom fighter jet, with Royal Australian Air Force markings.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

It’s a wee bit foggy in Yellingbo this morning.

Foggy scene looking across a field. The sun looks almost more like the moon, surrounded by a fuzzy halo.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Quote with a great self-titled album that isn't by The Beatles or Metallica.

Cover of Iron Maiden’s self-titled debut album, featuring the first Derek Riggs illustration of Eddie the ‘Ead, standing in a night time city street scene.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Brunswick station was quite moody at about 11.30pm last night. #Melbourne #TrainStation

Brunswick railway station at night, viewed from POV of someone standing between two sets of train tracks. The platforms either side are illuminated by yellowish lights, and no-one is visible. Not pictured: my partner saying, "You do know there's a train coming behind you, right?"

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Been a bit slack on the live music front, but we got out last night for a gig for the first time in months: Not Drowning, Waving with George Telek and various guests, at the Brunswick Ballroom. Absolutely brilliant night - only took a few photos to be present and enjoy the moment. #melbourne #music

John Phillips and Rowan McKinnon of Not Drowning, Waving under purple stage lighting.

Pius Wasi (normally bamboo flute/persussion, but here on soprano sax) and George Telek (vocals) under purple stage lighting.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Op shop haul from a couple of days ago. Three comedy DVDs, plus the only #StarWars related film since the OG trilogy I enjoy. (The Fisher King is an all-time fave, that's the only Boosh-related DVD I didn't have, and while not up there with The Jerk, any classic Steve Martin is good for me.)

Four DVD boxes, for 'The Fisher King', 'The Mighty Boosh Live: Future Sailors Tour', 'The Man With Two Brains', and 'Rogue One'.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

My rainy Sunday op shop haul. 'The Plank' and S3 of 'Get Smart' on DVD, and four books: 'Bulldog Drummond', 'One of Our Thursday's is Missing' (mint hardback!); and two by Eric Idle, 'The Road to Mars,' (novel) and 'The Greedy Bastard Diary' (travelogue/memoir). Not bad for $12. 😎 #Books #DVD

Two DVDs ('The Plank' and S3 of 'Get Smart') and four books ('Bulldog Drummond', 'One of Our Thursday's is Missing,' 'The Road to Mars' and 'The Greedy Bastard Diary', laid out on a bedcover.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Pick a Bond from photos you already have on your phone.

Elliot Gould with Grover from Sesame Street slightly behind him, arms draped around Gould’s neck in a way that comes across possibly a bit sexier than intended.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Oh, but I bought this separately as a stand-alone title, from another publisher! (Just wish I'd kept my old exercise book full of level codes...) 😉

Title screen of Chips Challenge for the Atari Lynx running on Nintendo Switch.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Heh, my way is also inconsistent. For example, this is a screenshot taken on my Switch 2… 🤪😂

Warbirds for the Atari Lynx, running in expanded screen mode on a Nintendo Switch 2, from the Atari 50 compilation cart. Proof that technology can still be grand at times.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Just back from seeing the new Iron Maiden documentary, 'Burning Ambition' at the cinema with my 16 yo. A very good time was had, and once the credits finished my son turned to me and said, "Well, I'm looking forward to the gig in November even more now!" which I will take as an endorsement. 🤘 🖤

Promo image for Iron Maiden's 'Burning Ambition' documentary, with images of band mascot Eddie along with band members Steve Harris, Bruce Dickinson, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, Nicko McBrain and Janick Gers.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Honestly it was incredible - so much better than I'd hoped for. I have a real soft spot for early Floyd - Syd's folk-whimsy and the extended psychedelic instrumentals, and this had it all, complete with old fashioned oil-bubble visuals etc. Terrible phone photo I took, but gives a feel:

Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets performing at the Forum in Melbourne, 16 September 2023. Image shows band against a colourful psychedelic background.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Slightly belated (for Oz) #LetterboxdFriday, but here’s my #LastFourWatched. (Why yes, I am on something of a Meiko Kaji thing at the moment.) 😉

Recent activity on my Letterboxd: the four films shows are ‘Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss’ (1970), ‘Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World’ (2003), ‘Wandering Ginza Butterfly: She-Cat Gambler’ (1972) and ‘Heart of Neon’ (2025).

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

I find this invaluable here. 🤷‍♂️

Book cover titled, “Did I Just Argue With A Joke” (Part of a Bluesky Educational Series.)

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

The weird/unexpected thing for me with Switch (and now Switch 2) is how good the platform is as a non-🏴‍☠️ source of interesting Japanese retro. A Masto chum sent this Home Screen screenshot the other day showing some PC-8801 Ys games they picked up. Same range also has PC-9801 (!) and MSX 1 & 2...

Switch home screen showing various owned retro titles from the EGG CONSOLE range, including Ys, Xanadu, Ys II, and Wanderers from Ys, all PC 8801 versions.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Loving Pokopia; it's SO damn good - an unholy mix of Pokémon (sans combat), Minecraft and Animal Crossing. Hours slip by as I just... happily faff about. Though I do regret not screenshotting Mareep when I spotted it declaring via speech bubble, "I'm so fluffy!" 🐏 #pokemon #PokemonPokopia #Switch2

Screen grab from Pokopia, where my Mareep (radiating love hearts to indicate happiness) is perched on a small stool in front of a table laden with knitting supplies and a lamp made from glowing mushrooms. Damn but I love this game.

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Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

W/O downloading anything new, where are you mentally?

Older style painted portrait painting of a young woman standing with slumped shoulders, holding a floral wreath, looking up at the sky with an expression best described as a mix of frustration and weary resignation. Text overlaid reads, "This too shall pass, but holy fuck."

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