iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

All over great work from the entrants in this year’s Abbey Road music photography awards but I adore this pic of Warren Ellis (with Larry & Piglet) by Manuel Vazquez, a finalist in the portrait category. Those boots. With running shorts. #majordude

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Horrifying, malevolent, thrilling, repellant & full of dark wonder: Much of Anish Kapoor’s show at the Hayward Gallery delivers a mighty visceral rush. (One room def warrants its warning.) These three pieces especially confounded me. If you’re in the mood for awe - go.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

More armchair travel courtesy of Lidl. This weekend, Thailand…

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Mood like the sky behind - instantly lifted.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Insanely enjoyable show from Kurt Vile & his fine Violators last night. Generous, too, at 90 mins, pretty much non-stop. Aside from the guitar switching for both set list & busted string reasons - his was one busy tech. Checkout that rack (phwoar, etc).

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Great to catch hardy perennials Pram last night. After… 30 years? Wonky chamber jazz, kosmische grooves & generally unsettling beauty, as expected, but either I’d forgotten the pastoral folk or it’s newly to the fore. Either way, a terrific set. Also: Stylophone! Trombone! Theremin!

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Rest in power, the extraordinary Gloria Steinem.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Fascinated by these fast-food grotesques: from whose twisted imaginations do they spring? If you saw this (strikingly repulsive) one in an ‘altered state’ you’d run a mile, screaming.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

On this day 10 years ago, apparently. An irresistible display of baked treats: Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Hopelessly inadequate pic to convey the might of Osaka’s Hibushibire: awesome, thrillingly heavy & EXTREMELY LOUD psychedelic rock in a set that included a truly epic interpretation of “Tomorrow Never Knows”. Playing like their lives depended on it. Man.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Whenever the reincarnated Veronica Lake stays the night, she insists on sleeping here…

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Feel I should be drinking something stronger from my fave mug on Tove Jansson’s birthday, but raising a toast to her magical artistry anyhow. #MoominsDay

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

The three words that sell me a beach - “lacks public amenities”. Winchelsea here, looking gorgeous & blessedly underpopulated.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

I have zero interest in motor vehicles & even less knowledge but the design of this truck stopped me in my tracks. What a beauty…

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

Ridiculous & highly entertaining set y/day from Bob Log III. No Boob Scotch routine, mercifully, but there was an inflatable toy for audience members to drink Prosecco from. Also, “Just write your name on a piece of money & put it in my duck” is def the best instruction I’ve ever heard from a stage.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

The House of Commons is advertising for a comms manager. Not a day too soon, judging by the spectacularly garbled nonsense of that first requirement. *whistles through teeth*

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Today’s cloud rating - a solid 8/10

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Unexpected item in the beaching area…

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Still Thursty after all these years: happy birthday, with thanks for the endless alchemical thrills…

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

The surreal horror of this scene in Lacanau, s/w France (photo, Maximilien Lamy): some wildfires burning beyond extinguishing capability, hundreds of thousands evacuated in France & Spain, rivers dried up, wildlife dying… its beyond comprehension.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

So I can’t visit a Greek island taverna, but Lidl stepped up.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

The sweetest show: Green’s voice remains fragrantly soulful, undimmed by age. Thought I might swoon completely away during the gorgeous “Brushed With Oil…” but luckily remained conscious (albeit dazed) for “Wood Beez” & other evergreens. *sighs*

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I guess if you’re going all out for a typo, you may as well run it on a billboard…

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Absolute perfection, still. Though atm I can’t tell whether it’s lowering or raising my body temp.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Birthday bumps to the remarkable Mel Brooks, who clocks up his 100th today. For me, it’s all about ‘High Anxiety’: when I first saw the airport scene I laughed harder than all the drains. I mean, there’s nothing to it - and yet.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

East Sussex: 7.30pm, 28 degrees. I may be referring to this for a spirit lift during January & February…

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Not saying I want Scotland to lose, obvs. But I do want Morocco to win. Thinking about these lads - & others like them all over the country - who play everywhere they can. Oddly joyful to see.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Not all eyes on the football - a full house for a mesmerising set from Mulatu Astatke & his A+ band, incl a ferociously physical upright bassist & cellist who played his instrument like a guitar, cradled in his lap. MA was, obvs, a master of moody understatement. Magnificent all round.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Struggling to believe this was ever the case, tbh.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Enjoying today’s profiles of & tributes to modern master & casually cool dude David Hockney, RIP. His best known work is still my fave, its ravishing treatment of light reminding me of another fave, by Piero della Francesca. Same stillness & luminosity - 500 years apart.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Imagine, the absolute stone-cold horror of this…

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Two days ago I was here & it was 30 degrees: slugging water, factor 50 on the face. Now I’m not there: it’s 14 degrees, raining & I’m wearing sheepskin slippers. Madness run riot…

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Devouring this (props, Oxfam) though it looks like previous owner didn’t open it. “Part memoir, part cultural history, part portrait of place”, it’s a fascinating dive down the rabbit hole of alternative LA. Personal plus: it’s a US edition so - sexier stock, diff fonts (I know, tragic).

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Trompe l’oeil may be cheap & tacky (even though - haute couture) but I did get a kick today when I turned a corner & saw this. For a nanosecond, hunger told me it was an actual bakery.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

This, in the (N Foster-designed) Narbo Via museum with its choice collection of Roman antiquities: c. late 1st century AD, a vivid “portrait” of Bacchus’ foster dad, which explains twisted torso & vacant eyes of someone on a bender (drinking cup in missing arm). The detailed veracity blows me away.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Shady Lanes - Narbonne style. Who knew the sound of gently rustling plastic ribbons - a seasonal installation to help minimise the heat - could be so calming.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

When it’s 30 degrees, a 12th-century (Narbonne) cathedral is perfect for a cool-off spell. Even as an atheist it’s impossible not to feel awe that these colossal buildings endure, as monuments to faith. (Next, a cold beer.)

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

A knockout set from Aldous Harding last night, leaning on her new LP: songs that mix the mundane & the fantastic in elegant arrangements, & a kind of charismatic awkwardness in spades. “It’s not for everyone,”she quipped, after “If Lady Does It” & later had a lie down. Magnificent, in so many ways.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Birthday bumps not only for Bob today, but the indomitable Archie Shepp, too. Happy 89th, sir.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

“None of us would be here tonight if it wasn’t for a beautiful freak called Little Richard” - amen to that. Decades since I saw Jon Spencer live & he’s as much the righteous, awesomely high-octane, give it 120% performer as he ever was. Terrific young drummer & bassist, too.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

My house guest, blissfully unaware that she’s near the critical moment of her tipping point.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Gotta say, I love seeing the Met Gala’s costume madness as the pics roll in: Jordan Roth here, making Bjork’s swan-with-egg outfit look like a twinset & skirt. Try getting on a bus in this…

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

The Tracey Emin show at Tate Modern won’t convert any cynics & naysayers but its autobiographical power is undeniable, as are her courage & life spirit. The rawness overwhelms. Forever baffled that people sneer “she can’t draw” - as if that’s still the ultimate measure of artistic worth.

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Sharon O'Connell @messyectomorph.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

It’s only BRIAN JACKSON - playing in my local. A knockout show of deep soul & pure class. He’s strikingly youthful in voice, spirit & appearance; an A-grade band behind him & yes, he played flute on “The Bottle”. All the vibes…

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