iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

In the interest of full disclosure I once interviewed Blindboy in my Limerick Leader days and I know someone on the production staff, but I had a great time with Animals at the Abbey Theatre. Great, absurdist comedy that captures the spirit of the writing.

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Mildly obsessed with this sticker I am seeing around Dublin. Who or what is GETMS? Why is Pinhead mad at them? Answers on a postcard

A sticker that reads "FUCK GETMS" with Pinhead from Hellraiser on it

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

In the middle. It is watchable at the very least

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I dug Digger (with some major reservations and caveats). It's the kind of weird, risky movie we won't be getting under the new Paramount/Warner merger, so enjoy movies like this when we have them dublinpeople.com/news/arts-cu...

dublinpeople.com

Love it or hate it, Digger demands your attention

The biggest bomb of Tom Cruise's career, the wonderfully odd and abrasive Digger still demands your attention per our review

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

No money for the culture card but more money for horseracing and greyhound racing. I would have something more insightful to say but I am trying to locate my eyes, which are somewhere on the floor after I rolled them right out of my head.

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I read that France keeps students in from 8am to 6pm? The Irish education system has problems but my old school having 9am to 3.45pm school days is bleeding edge progessive compared to this French system, Mon Dieu!

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Embargoed on The Social Reckoning but I can say that Sorkin gets points for making it more like The Insider rather than the predictable Social Network sequel we expected. A good entry to the "journalists looking at documents" genre

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Fans of Jeremy Strong doing a weird voice, this is our time

Irish multimedia screening for The Social Reckoning

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

On annual leave next week. Will probably just end up watching horror movies and playing Resident Evil 4 again, but looking to bulk up my political book library. Please send on any recs for political books you've read recently! 👇

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

David Lean filming Ryan's Daughter in Ireland. Irish government built a village for him, and he waited an entire year for the right storm to roll in so he could film it. Loads of potential for comedy

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Obvious answer for someone born in 1996, but I loved to be scared by the Goosebumps TV show. Maybe that's why I became such a horror fan later in life! Also loved this lesser-known RL Stine show called The Nightmare Room. Salute to TG4 for scaring the hell out of Irish youth circa 2002!

static.klipy.com

Goosebumps Dog: Red Eyes

Alt: The scary dog from the Goosebumps opening credits

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Would be a real blow for progressives if somehow both Lula Da Silva and Pedro Sanchez lost office in the same year and would be a real darkest hour for the European left. Sanchez is the last progressive standing, if he goes, the European left doesn't have a figurehead to look up and point to

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I had a roommate from Madrid in my 2nd year in UL in 2019, we were both studying politics, she explained you can never write Pedro Sanchez off. In the last 3 elections he has fought, he has come back from the dead each time and cobbled together a coalition. Let's see how Houdini can escape this one

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The eagle-eyed football fans may have noticed the top of Zidane's head as my phone background. This is my lock screen, I look at 2004-era Zidane every time I go to unlock my phone because I'm nothing if not consistent in being a millennial football fan

My phone background, a washed out photo of Zidane playing for France at Euro 2004, the French blue shirt is visible, the rest is in black and white

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Chat, is it good that the weather app on my phone is telling me its 18 degrees in Dublin in October

My phone telling me it is 18c, mostly cloudy, with a tempature range of 19c at the higher range and 16c at the low range

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Martin Calladine @uglygame.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

I think this will be one of the defining images of the Premier League's void years: a proudly working class fanbase celebrating that the ruling family of an oppressive regime had hired a barrister on £10,000-an-hour to try and prevent them suffering consequences for their cheating. Embarrassing.

A bunch of mugs celebrating their perceived impunity

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Massive respect to Paul Gogarty for dropping a reference to Austin Powers in the Dáil this week, but I am going to be pedantic and say it was a movie series, not a TV show. Not very shagadelic, Deputy

Deputy Paul Nicolas Gogarty:
"It is almost like we are watching an episode of "Austin Powers". He has woken up from the sixties and then he sees the Minister - Dr. Evil - with this cunning plan. The trains are overcrowded and the buses are full when they turn up. It is a case of "Sure lads, how are we going to help with the demand situation here? I know. We're going to raise the price of public transport to discourage people from using the service"

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Of course, one key difference, the Channel 4 one was from 2003 so they could get big names like Spielberg, Sigourney Weaver, William Friedkin, and Christopher Lee to be part of it. With the 2026 budget, it would be someone from The Only Way Is Essex talking about Midsommar being "well scary"

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Also a big fan of a similar list that Bravo did in 2004 of their 100 greatest scary moments. The Channel 4 version is better because it has more stuff like ads, tv, music videos, the Bravo one is great for discovering older films. Both are essential watches, the Bravo one is up on YouTube

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Memo to Channel 4: if you want to get people watching your stuff again, do an updated version of the 100 Greatest Scary Moments countdown from 2003. This thing was my film school growing up, it really made me a horror fan, I watch the whole thing every October www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlAt...

youtube.com

Channel 4's 100 Greatest Scary Moments: #1 The Shining

YouTube video by JR Southall

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

It's rated a 15 for language more than anything. The IFCO website has updated itself recently and breaks down violence/swearing/hamrful behaviour by what age rating its in. The swearing is what got this a 15

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I think it's a good introduction to the idea of an auteur and how much power a director has over a movie. Also a good launching pad to explore other films in this style like Dr Strangelove, Brazil, etc. It's very heady but in a fun, challenging way. Content wise, 14 year old should be able to manage

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

To tell the truth I wasn't locked in until like the final half hour. I would fully understand if the movie lost you long before then. It rewards patience

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Bryan with no i @bryanwithnoi.eurosky.social · 30/09/2026

The review mega thread on Reddit is very telling. A lot of very favourable reviews from the press alongside “This is one of the worst things I’ve ever reviewed”.

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Just filed my review for Digger. I don't think it's the best film of the year or anything, but by god, if you want originality to survive, you have to go and see it.

You don’t have to like or love Digger, but you also don’t get to complain about endless sequels and reboots if you don’t support original films like this.

Digger wants to stir a reaction from the audience and pokes at uncomfortable truths about our modern society.

When the Young British Artists broke out in the 1990s (Damien Hirst, Steve McQueen, et al), it provoked a reaction and a conversation about what exactly do we value in our art.

Now, Iñárritu and Cruise are inviting the audience to poke at the collective scab; what do audiences really value in their movies, do they want risk-taking or the same old thing as always?

In his book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson wrote, “buy the ticket, take the ride; if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, chalk it up to forced consciousness expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten.”

We are imploring our readers to do the same.

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

My most recent listen: this album from 2002 which compiles news reports about the Gulf War in 1991 and adds IDM and ambient techno underneath. Very cutting-edge stuff, still sounds amazing now. A geopolitical audio documentary with banging music www.youtube.com/watch?v=omnW...

youtube.com

Various Artists - The Fire This Time (Full Album)

YouTube video by fresher+cleaner

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

At various stages of my life, I have listed Brazil and The Firemen's Ball as my favourite movies. I also massively enjoy the works of Charlie Kaufman. Most of all, I like when a director takes a massive swing and knows they are gonna piss off a minimum of 50% of the audience. So I liked Digger.

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Mike lore: I said that Birdman was going to be on the Leaving Cert curriculum because it was so genius in my school yearbook in 2015, this is a nice closing of the loop (I don't think that about Birdman anymore, thank god)

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

That's my thinking too, it would have to be at the bottom ground floor, the space between the bar and screens 1/2

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Went to college in UL and it always struck me that there is no cinema in Limerick city centre. There are chain cinemas near the colleges, but nothing like the Lighthouse. There was a monthly series at the Belltable and it was in association with the IFI. Big missed opportunity

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I spend a good chunk of my week in the Lighthouse between press screenings and generally just checking something out (usually a cooler older movie they program). Glad to hear it's doing well enough that they are looking to add extra screens!

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Ryan @ryanwright.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This is how I remember the order of Henry VIII’s wives.

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Reposted by Mike Finnerty

Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 24/09/2026

Just when I think I can’t hate OpenAI and Sam Altman any more, new details come out about how ChatGPT helped a shooter plan one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history in Tumbler Ridge, BC. OpenAI made an explicit decision not to report the user to authorities.

motherjones.com

ChatGPT helped the Tumbler Ridge school shooter focus on guns, tactics, and terror, our investigation reveals

OpenAI’s chatbot fed the shooter’s violent fantasies and planning up to the massacre.

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

You would wonder how Stormont, as we currently know it, can survive a new form of unionist politics that has no interest in playing ball and compromising. Since Brexit, unionists have gone down the Trump route of treating democracy as optional. Nationalists have shown a willingness to engage.

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Spoiler alert for my readers: there is a very good chance I name this as my year-end number one in December

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

We lost to Kosovo so the entire Nations League campaign is a wash anyway. It's such a mickey mouse league we could lose all of our games (or get a 6 points deduction) and we'd get put into a relegation play-off (which we'd have a chance of winning).

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Should have never gotten to this stage WRT #StopTheGame. If Russia can be banned for bombing and invading Ukraine, the same principle must apply to Israel, it really is that simple. Debacle is too generous a word for this affair.

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Me popping back onto Bluesky to find the timeline lit up

Krusty saying "hey, hey! I'm back in Galway for the weekend, did I miss aanything?"

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Premier League winning manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 🥲

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWKz... Babe, wake up, the David Letterman Youtube channel has uploaded 3 and a half hours of 1983 interviews

youtube.com

1983’s Most Remarkable Guests on Letterman | David Letterman

YouTube video by Letterman

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Reposted by Mike Finnerty

Coyote vs. LinkedIn @knabewolf.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

They doxxed the fucking Prodigy crab

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Reposted by Mike Finnerty

jon christian @jonchristian.net · 22/09/2026

it melts my brain that Meta is blocking ads that even engage with feminism while allowing AI slop of children getting horribly beaten futurism.com/artificial-i...

futurism.com

Meta Now Banning Ads That Promote Feminism

The parent company behind Facebook and Instagram is prohibiting ads promoting a theatrical adaptation of a Virginia Woolf novel.

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Reposted by Mike Finnerty

Aidan O’Brien @aidanobrien.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Just to clarify what is happening here. Danny Tommo livestreamed his attack on multiple social media platforms where he benefits from various forms of content monesitation and revenue sharing schemes. Not only did Danny financial benefit from this crime, but Google, Meta & X shared in the profits.

Danny Thomas verified Digital creator account

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

"Every single household in this country is facing rocketing energy prices because of Trump’s bloody warmongering" - Donald Trump paid Dublin a visit recently; the reception was anything but warm dublinpeople.com/news/dublin/...

"Donald we've prepared a special Irish welcome for you - fuck off home"

"Wrong Island, Now Leave," photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump

"You can't buy your way out of the Epstein files"

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Mike Finnerty @mikecjf.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

To be fair, I have now seen Weapons five times, that film just really has my number, so it's unfair to compare it to Resident Evil. But I am now all-in on Zach Cregger as the successor to Wes Craven

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