iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 21/09/2026

My 15 year old, apparently.

Simpson’s meme:
“Two: whenever Poochie’s not on screen, all the other characters should be asking ‘Where’s Poochie?’”

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 12/09/2026

I found this beauty last week, going through my late dad’s boxes of media. eBay?!

A 90 minute RCA hi-fi stereo cassette tape, in its original, very 90s, packaging.

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 06/09/2026

“Show me what Jandek-in-a-mine looks like” “This is what Jandek-in-a-mine looks like”

The weird, awesome open space of the Widow Jane Mine, outside Rosendale, NY. It is a vast open cavern (formerly a limestone mine, with a monolithic central supporting column). There is a stage with lights set up on the left of the column, and concertgoers in the foreground to the right.

Jandek, all in black, stage left in front of the huge central supporting limestone column, in a big Heisenberg-ian serious black hat, with an electric guitar. Stage right is @jandektales.bsky.social in a black dress and purple leggings.

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 20/08/2026

My church has a rooftop farm that grows a few hundred pounds of produce per season, mainly for our guests at the food pantry, but that’s with loads of volunteer labor.

The rooftop farm at Hell’s Kitchen Farm Project. There are dozens of kiddy pools filled with soil growing various produce on the roof of a building in Hell’s Kitchen.

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 10/08/2026

Me watching the GOP try to make the midterms a referendum on a popular Twitch streamer.

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 03/08/2026

Feel duty-bound to include the Emo Philips original.

Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?"

He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What franchise?" He said, "Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"

He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said, "Me, too!"

Northern Conservative†Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912." I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over.

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 23/07/2026

I love this creature and am unilaterally decreeing his distant relation To L.D. (Li’l Dude).

L.D., gainfully assaying Grimes Glen in western NY.

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 15/07/2026

Here’s the next oppositional-defiant disorder as state government marker to watch.

Screenshot from the linked article, starts mid-sentence:

“…changing clocks that has been observed across most of the United States since the 1960s.
The 308-117 vote sends the bill to the Senate. If enacted, clocks would no longer return to standard time in November, though states could opt out of year-round daylight saving time.”
The phrase “though states could opt out of year-round daylight saving time” is highlighted, by me.

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 04/07/2026

I don’t know if the Kuti estate is behind this, or Knitting Factory Records, or who owns these rights these days, but: gross.

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 21/06/2026

Missing this dude bad today. Not the chimp - I barely knew him. xoxo dad.

My own personal father, near the beach in Monrovia, Liberia many years ago. He has a towel around his neck, and a big smile, and is holding a baby chimp.

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 09/06/2026

Also, not the point but what is going on in this area

There’s some weird guy behind the sleepy emperor and he looks like he’s injection molded.

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 05/06/2026

Met the man himself after a show at St Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn in 2023. A perfect delight of a human being.

Me and the missus with Pearce Quigley on a chilly day in Brooklyn.

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 19/04/2026

This bit is positively glowing with Putin particles.

10. The psychologization of modern politics is leading us astray. Those who look to the political arena to nourish their soul and sense of self, who rely too heavily on their internal life finding expression in people they may never meet, will be left disappointed

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 12/04/2026

Righteous and informative hang with @jenray.bsky.social & @jasonforrest.bsky.social at the @datavandals.bsky.social new data art gallery on the downtown Lexington Ave. platform at 51st St. Check it out Sundays from 2-6pm!

The exterior of the Data Vandals Newsstand, a data art gallery on the downtown 6 platform at 51st Street.

The interior of the Data Vandals Newstand. The walls are covered with colorful, quirky factoids of NYC data.

A large installation on the wall outside the Data Vandals Newsstand entitled “Who’s Your Neighbor?”
Lady Liberty is seated and wearing a kicky fit, with a word bubble saying “Off my pedestal and down in the subway.”

A detail from the “Who’s Your neighbor?” Poster, reading
“THERE ARE 8,804,190 PEOPLE IN NYC. HERE'S WHERE THEY ARE FROM:
DOMINICAN
702,330
CHINESE, EXCEPT TAIWANESE
678,792
PUERTO RICAN
595.627
ITALIAN
509.081
IRISH
439,367
SOUTH AMERICAN
394.232
MEXICAN
338,530.
GERMAN
$309,585
ENGLISH
279,287
ASIAN INDIAN
255,863
OTHER HISPANIC, LATINO, OR SPANISH
242,802
JAMAICAN
194,481.
ECUADORIAN
RUSSIAN
POLISH
190,926
185.445
169.409
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN
158.476
HAITIAN
116,756
COLOMBIAN
107.126
KOREAN
105,204
BANGLADESHI
103,399
FILIPINO
98.764
GUYANESE
94,947
FRENCH
89.913
SCOTTISH
71.534
GREEK
69.618
OTHER ASIAN
67.027
PAKISTANI
63.843
TRINIDADIAN AND TOBAGONIAN
58,382
UKRAINIAN
55.577
HONDURAN
47.396
AMERICAN INDIAN
45,490
SALVADORAN
44.747
GUATEMALAN
42.499”

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 04/04/2026

Good morning from Turtle Alley

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 18/03/2026

This area remains undefeated.

Brett’s map of light pollution, zoomed in on the Minnesota/Ontario border, with my rough approximation of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area circled.

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 16/03/2026

When my kid was in 3rd grade a classmate wrote to the school district to say they should offer more non-dairy milk options and as a reward the whole class got a field trip to the NYC DOE Office of Food & Nutrition Services where they were fed previews from the next year’s menu until they felt sick.

A desperately grim factory-style building in Queens on an overcast day. The paint is discolored and there are multiple broken windows.

The front door, with a carved inscription reading “City of New York Board of Education Bureau of Supplies”

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 28/02/2026

Post a pic you took, no context, to bring some zen to the feed.

Dozens of geese on a frozen pond, heads tucked under their wings against the cold.

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 23/02/2026

Look at this ridiculous young man, I love him so.

A happy bichon-poodle, maybe golden-doodle blend, who knows, frolicking in the fresh snow in Central Park. His legs are completely encased in snow, but he doesn’t care. Head empty.

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 23/02/2026

So last night Google Maps confidently sent me to an entirely different address than the one I’d entered, but at least I saw this marble chopped Honda along the way back. It kills me to obfuscate the license plate because it’s a vanity and it’s spectacular.

A lowered Honda with sick customer rims gold trim, and a faux-marble wrap(?).

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 19/02/2026

Genuinely want this dude’s job.

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 11/02/2026

No for real I’m telling you - put on ‘La Koro Sutra’ and walk around somewhere that looks like this for 45 minutes. It will fix things in you.

A night scene, curving walkway with shin-level lights casting a scallop pattern. The walkway runs along the frozen Harlem Meer in Central Park. The lights of 110th Street and the corner of Fifth Avenue are visible across the water.

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 05/02/2026

I really enjoyed seeing these two items come across my timeline in quick succession. I love that @thecity.nyc and @thenation.com are getting these, rather than NYT and the Atlantic or whatever.

A Bluesky post from @thecity,nyc
"In a wide-ranging interview with THE CITY, Leila Bozorg discussed a rent freeze, rezoning and how to help struggling tenants and landlords. But battles with the real estate industry loom."

A Bluesky post from @thenation.com
"Mayor
@zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
is endorsing Gov. Kathy Hochul's bid for reelection. In an exclusive piece for The Nation, he explains why."

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 31/01/2026

This is cool. FDNY conducting ice rescue training drills in/on the Harlem Meer.

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 30/01/2026

My wife was walking the dog by the Harlem Meer the other night and captured this. It doesn’t have anything to do with anything, but it made me smile. Something something carving the ice…

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Mick O’Brien @mickobrien.nyc · 29/01/2026