iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

You gotta laugh (grimly and with no humour). The first time in a long time the Irish team appear to be winning well and it's the first game in a long time I'm not watching. Maybe I should stop watching Spurs? So I'm watching 'Spectral' instead.

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Irish players will line up in Hungary to play an away match against Israel, and in Serbia to play a "home" match. One of the games will have roughly 150 Israeli fans in a 20k stadium. The other will be empty of fans completely. Don't they realise something is *deeply* wrong here? #StopTheGame

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"What’s behind Trump’s rejection of Iran’s truce offer?" He's seeking to actively impoverish the USA. He believes that the poorer and more desperate Americans become, the more likely they are to vote right wing. Now, I don't know for certain, but there's a strong possibility he's right about that.

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Reposted by Jim Bliss

Seems the Hollywood wokerati are at it again. Apparently Meryl Streep is to voice Aslan in the new Narnia film. How is anyone supposed to believe in the big talking lion if it has a woman's voice? It's just so unrealistic.

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Mind-boggling that in Northern Ireland this morning, the Orange Order, with the full support of the Parades Commission, Unionist politicians, and the tacit support of the British government, is working to undo any progress towards a lasting peace achieved in the past 30 years. Stupid bigoted fucks.

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How tech bros see themselves Vs. Who they really are.

A screen grab from the first Iron Man film. Robert Downey Jr., as Tony Stark, stands with his arms outstretched against a mountainous desert background. He is well-groomed and wears shades and an expensively tailored suit. He looks like a kind of hypercapitalist messiah.

A screen grab from the animated film, The Incredible. A geeky looking young boy with reddish blond hair and crooked teeth is wearing a mask and a cape. He looks eagerly towards the camera, though his eyes betray a touch of derangement. This is the delusional Buddy, who later grows up to be the fantastically evil, murderous Syndrome.

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... the rest of the Irish team reading Gavin Bazunu's statement on their phones tonight and thinking "I guess this means I don't believe these things". #StopTheGame

Aidan O'Sullivan @aidanosullivan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Reposted by Jim Bliss

In a world of Ed Sheerans, be a Gavin Bazanu

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I hear the Irish football players have voted to play an exhibition match against Russia in Moscow next week. #StopTheGame

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Freq @freqzine.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

There's so little good news these days, I think something like this should be shared far and wide. Because it really is very good news.

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Reposted by Jim Bliss

@michaelrodhamheaps.bsky.social freq.org.uk/reviews/faus... #faust has always been a fluid exploration.. now some fifty+ years later, the scattered survivors have penned four independent albums that celebrate what each brings to the unfathomable sum of its parts #musicreview @bureaub.bsky.social

$A groundbreaking entity which later fractured into its own versions of the original dream, never to be whole again, and now some fifty-plus years later, the scattered survivors have penned four independent albums that celebrate what each brings to the unfathomable sum of its parts.$

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Media reports suggest the match against Israel will go ahead. If true, this is a huge disappointment. Everyone involved is a fucking embarrassment. From Micheál Martin down to the individual players who take the field, and all in between. Ireland will help sportswash a nation engaged in genocide.

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The Irish players should never have been put in this position. But they were. And now, if a handful of them pull out while the rest take the field, those who chose to play won't have the "but it was a collective decision" excuse to fall back on. They'll be remembered for their moral cowardice.

Paul Duane 🥔 @paulduane.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Reposted by Jim Bliss

Ed Sheeran frantically pulling on the goalkeeper's jersey as his private jet revs up

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We don't know the full story yet, but at the moment it looks like there's a strong possibility that Ireland's football players will show the kind of moral strength that's entirely absent in the FAI and our government. Go on lads, do us proud! #StopTheGame

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Thru' These Architects Eyes

I was talking with my wife about a Bowie track and she ended up laughing when it became apparent (to us both - it caught me by surprise too!) just how terrifyingly detailed my knowledge of the Outside recording sessions and tour are. Proper geek level stuff. This was the song we were discussing...

youtube.com

YouTube video by David Bowie - Topic

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Eamon Dunphy’s Rod Liddle Rant but it’s performed by an Indie Band

I listen to a lot of music and I have an extensive and very eclectic record collection, with well over a thousand CDs ripped to a hard-drive (I don't do music streaming services). And yet for the last month or so I've been humming one track almost constantly. It's just stuck there in my head.

youtube.com

YouTube video by Michael Fry (BigDirtyFry)

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Glad to see The Good Place there. Should have been the highest placed comedy though (imo). There's a couple of nice surprises (Station Eleven,in particular) but far too many truly great shows missing - The Expanse? Dark Winds? And not a single brooding Scandinavian homicide detective in sight?

Simon McGarr @tupped.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I totally get the collective cringe among Irish people when Bono's name is mentioned. I don't share it, but I get it. That said, I have a cousin whose dislike of Bono and U2 is so extreme it's become almost performative. As a result, it's tough for me to resist needling him just a little bit.

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Reposted by Jim Bliss

The more I look at it, the more this graph at the end of my most recent Gist explains the behaviour of so many of Ireland's political parties. SF, for example, simply can't deal with 50% of its supporters looking to strengthen institutions while the other 50% want to blow them up.

Stacked bar chart from More in Common, June 2026. Question: "Which comes closest to your view? Please use a scale of 1–4 where 1 means you agree with the first statement and 4 means you agree with the second." Statement 1: "Our political and social institutions are worth preserving and improving, not destroying." Statement 4: "When I think about our political and social institutions, I cannot help thinking 'just let them all burn.'" Results in percent, listed as 1 (preserve), 2, 3, 4 (burn):

All respondents: 28, 30, 22, 20.
Fianna Fáil: 46, 29, 13, 11.
Sinn Féin: 25, 25, 25, 25.
Fine Gael: 47, 31, 13, 9.
Green Party: 46, 22, 21, 12.
Labour: 36, 36, 20, 8.
Social Democrats: 23, 49, 22, 7.
Independent Ireland / Aontú: 15, 28, 27, 29.
Other: 28, 26, 21, 26.
Non-voters: 20, 32, 25, 23.

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I know Bono's a dose. I know the band don't pay their fair share of tax. But... and I fear this may be grounds for being cast into exile (or at the very least having my Irish passport shredded)... I actually like a lot of their music. There. I said it. [awaits the casting of the first stone]

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One of the most underrated albums ever recorded. Right up there with Bowie's best (which puts it right up there with anyone's best). Even the outtakes you can find floating around are - for all their unpolished meandering soundscapiness - more interesting than half the music that's been produced.

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Why bother? Our government will just deny their visa applications. #StopTheGame

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No better man for talking the talk. Just don't ask him to walk anywhere. Even the tiniest steps (stopping a football match, approving academic visas for Palestinian students, banning Israeli war bonds, ending trade with a state engaged in genocide)... even these are beyond him. It's shameful.

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Our political establishment and our media would much rather watch, even enable, the rise of fascism than rock the capitalist boat even slightly. They would rather avert their eyes from genocide than risk upsetting a status quo that benefits the already rich and powerful. It's just evil.

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Everyone already knows what Netanyahu's "message" is. To suggest otherwise is just insulting. Also... is she suggesting the speech wasn't recorded? Could they not listen to "the message" that way? The moral cowardice is deeply unpleasant. Ireland deserves better. Not to mention Palestine.

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8,000 staff needed: Metrolink has been 'going around Europe for the last year' for workers

In order to build much-needed infrastructure, Ireland has been actively recruiting people from outside the country because there's a shortage of appropriately skilled workers here. Meanwhile the Legitimate Concerns Bigot-apologists in government are working hard to make immigration more difficult.

thejournal.ie

Some 8,000 workers are needed for Metrolink alone, but the NTA has warned of a ‘brain drain’ across the public sector affecting major works.

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The Irish players should show up and then all claim to be feeling sick just before kick-off and refuse to play (thus ensuring there's no time to call up replacements). #StopTheGame

I won't be watching the Ireland game tonight (or any of their Nations League fixtures #StopTheGame -- indeed the entirety of Group 3 can fuck off as none of them have chosen to boycott their Israel fixtures). The Netherlands / Germany game is probably the best of tonight's other matches.

I know very little about Rory Stewart, but that turn and stare thing definitely had a "I'm on strong drugs" vibe to it. The "just be normal" voice in your head that says, OK, Ailbhe Rea is going to speak next. I should turn and look at her. And then you do it. But waaaaay too deliberately.

Jim Bliss @jimbliss.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Albums released the year you were 18. These are the ones I bought and listened to most at the time (not necessarily the ones I listen to most now). 1. Disintegration (The Cure) 2. Floating Into The Night (Julee Cruise) 3. Rei Momo (David Byrne) 4. Boomerang (The Creatures) 5. Mind Bomb (The The)

Jim Bliss @jimbliss.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Oooh... look what just arrived...

Photograph of a book cover. It is a graphic novel called "Rogue Trooper: The Complete Collection, Part 1". The cover is predominantly two-tone (blue and black) showing a heavily-muscled angry-looking soldier wearing a helmet, a backpack and carrying a gun. He also has a grenade belt around him. Below the book title are the names of the authors and artists; Gerry Finley-Day, Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Cam Kennedy, Brett Ewins, Colin Wilson.

Jim Bliss @jimbliss.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

BREAKING: Noting the AfD gains in recent German elections, the newly independent state of Piddington has applied to join the EU.

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Jim Bliss @jimbliss.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

RTÉ are willing to boycott The Eurovision. Imagine being part of the FAI and realising you work for an organisation with less moral courage than RTÉ. In fact, RTÉ should refuse to screen the Israel matches and show the FAI just how craven and cowardly they are. #StopTheGame #SpeirGorm #SpéirGhorm

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Reposted by Jim Bliss

Dr Panti Bliss-Cabrera @pantibliss.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The description doesn't really do it justice. She disembowels him

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Jim Bliss @jimbliss.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Just flicking through some old Hellblazer comics and I got a hankering to watch this Bowie video. Perfect companion pieces. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wL9...

youtube.com

David Bowie - The Next Day (Official Video) [HD]

YouTube video by David Bowie

Jim Bliss @jimbliss.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The FAI and the Irish government are sportswashing and legitimising a state actively engaged in genocide. It's as foul a display of moral cowardice as you're ever going to see, and it makes me deeply ashamed to be an Irish football fan. Although I wonder if I actually am any more. #StopTheGame