iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Today's Selection. The usual caveats. I think that there are 2/3 here that would be nailed on certainties at all times, but I'm wallowing in nostalgia at the moment, so there's a few sentimental choices that might not be permanent fixtures. #my9albums Annoy yourself here: my9albums.com

Dexy's Midnight Runners - Searching For The Young Soul Rebels

The Teardrop Explodes - Kilimanjaro

The Smiths - Meat Is Murder

The Beatles - Rubber Soul

The Wedding Present - George Best

Blur - Modern Life Is Rubbish

Manic Street Preachers - Generation Terrorists

REM - Automatic For The People

Echo And The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

We could dream this night away youtu.be/n2MtEsrcTTs?... #HarvestMoon

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

That's Clare Grogan from Altered Images. Tonight, we celebrated forty five years of 'Happy Birthday'. I'm pretty sure that thirteen year old me would not have been quite as restrained in her presence as I was this evening, but it was still an absolutely joyous occasion, so much love in the room.

Clare Grogan of Altered Images, on stage at the Liquid Rooms, September 25th 2026.

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The RNLI is the absolute best of us. Cough up.

A screenshot of the Donation confirmation page from RNLI website.

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Finally flying home on a delayed flight. I've spent more hours than I wish to contemplate in - my personal view - the worst airport in the UK. Terrible facilities, badly managed and under resourced departures security. A redevelopment lasting for about a decade, and it's still a complete dump...

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I saw a man sing the same song over and over for an hour.

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

An apple a day will...reduce the number of apples on the tree. A stellar year for this tree. Perfect for lunch with a crusty baguette.

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Very much enjoying Leslie Nielsen on M*A*S*H* right now. I very much enjoy M*A*S*H* anytime, but the cast was regularly supplemented by the great and good of US telly and film.

BJ Hunnicut (Mike Farrell), Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) and Buzz Brighton (Leslie Nielsen)

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

The End Of Oak Street is jolly good fun, with a couple of proper 'drop the popcorn' moments. The eighties Amblin vibe was a lovely bit of nostalgia that looked great, and was an excellent counterpoint to the jurassic chaos playing out on the screen. Hathaway and McGregor both great. Would recommend.

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

IT'S HAPPENING 🌒 #solareclipse No it's not. It's really cloudy in Edinburgh 🙁

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Finished Ann Droid this evening. It's had mixed reviews; the son is not credible, and some of the supporting cast are a cartoonish. However. The central relationship between Sue Johnston and Diane Morgan is MAGNIFICENT. I really want to see a second series please. They both excel. Persevere.

Sue Johnston and Diane Morgan in Ann Droid

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

I've been listening to XTC ever since Making Plans Nigel was in the hit parade in 1979. Reader, I was very young at the time. This live album is a reminder that they had an incredible stage act. It's a real sadness that Andy Partridge was so emotionally overwhelmed by the experience of playing live

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Legends on Netflix is an absolutely excellent bit of telly, and I really enjoyed it. #Legends

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

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

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

The benefits of a catholic education #rsd

Blur Live LP, Taylor Swift 7", Grant McPhee book acquired at the Record Store Day at VoxBox Music I think Stockbridge, Edinburgh.

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Most fervently, and with great intent: Come On You Fucking Red Men. I want to see a result. I want to see a performance. 🧣 #LFC #YNWA

You'll Never Walk Alone mural on Skerries Road, Anfield, L4.

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Won an Ooni pizza oven in a raffle. I make pizza from scratch almost every week, but I would never have bought the Ooni for myself. This pepperoni pizza was cooked in a Scottish hailstorm, but still came out pretty well. I'm a convert. But I would like some better weather 🤷🍕

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

I was in my late fifties before I lost my voiginity 🚴

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Allons-y, les Écossais! Murrayfield looks great under a blazing blue sky. Les Français are here in numbers. I had to dodge dozens of them on my morning run.

Murrayfield Stadium under a blazing blue sky in Edinburgh

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Battering through Friday with the assistance of the new album from Gorillaz. As ever, Damon Albarn is absolutely bang on point. Delirium features Mark E Smith, and hearing him again is a viscerally emotional experience. To the point of tears. God I miss him. youtu.be/yw8ftPahxAg?...

Cover artwork for The Mountain by Gorillaz

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

No cheating, your last saved pic of a celebrity is your therapist

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Last night in Edinburgh's Usher Hall @suedehq.bsky.social were magnificent. Brett & Co are enjoying the imperial phase of life, befitting men approaching their sixties. I'm taking notes. The new album Antidepressants is an astonishing piece of creativity; complex, dirty, powerful, beautiful.

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

Current reading The Twentieth Day Of January by Ted Allebeury. I can't remember where I got the recommendation. It's about a long term Russian political plot to put their man in the White House. It was published in 1980 but could have been written in the last decade in terms of the plot... 🤷

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Celtic have already gone back to Brendan and Martin O'Neilk. Now it's time to go back to another one of their old boys with a track record in steadying ships in turbulent waters. #amirite #bigsam

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Cast. Alright. They played a few Nuggets. #IYKYK

The Band Cast, performing their album All Change

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

A wee trip to see the Hibees today. They should have won by 4 or 5 goals, but 2-0 was very comfortable. Some decent football on display.

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Neeeeerrrrrrrrrddding out to this today has been an absolute tonic #Beatles #Anthology

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Years ago I took my youngest brother to see The Charlatans at St George's Hall in Blackburn. We were amongat the first people in the door, and as I was getting my bearings Mani swaygered past us in full Madchester clobber, loudly enquiring "where's the baaaaaar"? Bless him, I hope he's found the bar

Mani playing bass on the big screens at the final Stone Roses gig at Hampden Park in 2017.

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Repost with an iconic fictional band

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Fuck, and I cannot stress this enough, fuck Real Madrid

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

A House Of Dynamite seems to have divided the room, literally in my house because I enjoyed it, but my wife and youngest daughter were underwhelmed. I suspect that growing up under the threat of imminent nuclear immolation in the 80's has primed me to enjoy stuff like this. So I did.

Netflix promo image for A House of dynamite

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 30/10/2025

Looking For A Day In The Night by The Lilac Time has finally been re-released, and for those of us who put our CD collections in the attic twenty years ago, it's appearance on streaming services spares us from irritating YouTube Playlists, and is an opportunity for others to discover it.

The album cover of Looking For A Day In The Night by The Lilac Time

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

The tragic remains of the Huly Hill Stone Circle, at Newbridge, West of Edinburgh. A manicured mound and less than a handful of stones, next to two motorways, separated from the huge outlier on the east side of the junction. There are other stones and marked rocks nearby. #StandingStoneSunday

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Well, as the saying goes 'Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn', and normally I'd not argue with you. However, this only holds true if the sunken city of "R'lyeh" is actually a raised bed in our back garden, and "Cthulhu" is a rather grumpy and misshapen carrot #Cthulhu #Lovecraft

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

New Gorillaz track (with R&R Mael) is absolutely magnificent, top notch, five stars, no notes. The Palace Of Your Mind Will Be Bright. So bang on my zeitgeist; Mr Albarn is 24 hours younger than me, and yet again I have the uncanny sensation that I'm travelling along an astral plane with Damon.

Still image from the new Gorillaz single 'The Happy Dictator'

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

"I had been making the rounds of the Sacrifice Poles the day we heard my brother had escaped.”

Pelvis and breast bone of a gannet, most likely, since this photo was taken on a beach close to the Bass Rock, which is home to the world's largest gannet colony.

The quote is the opening line of The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks. I read that book forty years ago and I can't visit a beach without a nod to Frank, the protagonist in the story.

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 13/07/2025

Something from somewhere Sardinian for #StandingStoneSunday - Tomba Di Giganti di Li Lolghi. The slipcase cover superstar of the Megalithic European by Julian Cope. An interdimensional time shifting portal in his Sardinia-set gnostic hooligan road novel One Three One.

Tomba di Giganti di Li Lolghi, Sardinia.

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

Managed to see The Ballad Of Wallis Island before it disappears from cinemas. I laughed. I cried. In actual fact, I mainly sobbed. I cry at most things, but this really struck a chord, films about the effects of music, and the associated affections, always leave me absolutely reeling. Loved it 😍

Film poster for The Ballad Of Wallis Island

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Solstice weekend is currently being soundtracked by the truly marvellous XTC. Disappointed that due to General Fuckery, their seminal album 'Apple Venus' is unavailable on Spotify. I suspect that fuckery begins and ends in Andy's shed but I do hope he's frolicked around his maypole this weekend 👀

The cover of the album Apple Venus by XTC.

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

Summer Solstice Sunset over three Firth Of Forth bridges.

Looking West up the Firth Of Forth to the Railway Bridge, the Road Bridge and the Forth Crossing

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Michael Apter @michaelapter.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

It's been a busy couple of weeks, so only just finished watching Dept Q. It's been a tremendous watch, excellent characters, a great plot and an excellent cast. It also happens to have been shot in a great city! I very much enjoyed seeing the streets (and beaches) I live, walk and work on. #DeptQ

Netflix image of the main cast members of the TV series Dept Q.

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