iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Disgusted more than I thought was still possible in the year 2026

Hegseth announces an execution will
Be live streamed

Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Thanks to everyone for a most excellent three-week, 11-state, 3000-mile American road trip adventure from Texas to California, and especially all the old friends who kept buying a poor Kiwi traveller meals and beers and offering lodgings, true heroes do walk among us

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

An utterly amazing one-woman show by Eddie Izzard that put a whole new perspective on Hamlet for me - alone on stage playing 20+ characters for more than two hours, bravo!

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

I might have gone a little loopy writing about the King’s Birthday holiday. www.rnz.co.nz/news/communi...

Who will get a King's Birthday Honour this year? Will it be you?

Dozens of New Zealanders will be given royal honours which will be announced on Monday for excellence in their fields.

It's the second time each year honours are given out - they're also announced every New Year's Eve.

Who decides who gets an honour? Can I nominate my mate Nigel?

Give it a go! Anyone can nominate anyone living who they think deserves a Royal Honour by using this form.

(However, don't try to nominate yourself, which is not allowed and also kind of weird. Maybe ask your mate Nigel.)

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Public service announcement: You can pick up my huge book of memoirs and journalism CLIPPINGS and two collections of my long-running small press comics AMOEBA ADVENTURES right here on the internet by clicking here: www.amazon.com/stores/Nik-D....

The books Clippings, Best of Amoeba Adventures and Amoeba Adventures: Warmth of the Sun by Nik Dirga

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

I can't go past TIME WALKER (1982), which hurt my little Star Wars-primed brain with its bizarre combination of mummy movie and alien movie all apparently made with a budget of about $2.49. I watched it again a couple years ago to confirm my fading childhood memories that it was... not good.

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

A most excellent week of the Auckland Writers Festival with hordes of fellow bibliophiles hearing about Shakespeare, Slow Horses, fake Russian oligarchs, mushroom murders, New Zealand zines, Kiwi gothic fiction and much more. Huzzah!

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

You left us two years ago today. Miss and love you always, Dad. "There's a bit of magic in everything, and some loss to even things out." - Lou Reed

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Oh yawn, another story about lazy AI used in ads, how bad can it be… GREAT WEEPING JESUS www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/queenstow...

A horrifying bragging advert about selling real estate during wartime

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Indoor cat Oscar is reconsidering his decision to hang out on the front veranda on this Cyclone Sunday

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

All hail The Mountain Goats and John Darnielle’s peerless good cheer in a world gone mad

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Celebrating the season with a mini movie marathon of the death, the resurrection and the life of our saviour, Spock.

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Oscar being chill; good vibes your way pal!

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Pulp in full glory at Spark Arena last night! 👍👍🍊

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

RIP to the great Bud Cort, whose delightfully twisted turn in 1971's "Harold And Maude" remains one of my all time favourite strange romances. It was already scheduled to play at Auckland's groovy Hollywood Avondale on Saturday for Valentine's Day - go if you can, it's a valentine with bite.

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

What a heck of a good time with Chappell Roan, Wet Leg, Geese, Alex G, Wolf Alice and many more at Laneway Festival 2026. The kids are all right!

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

This banger a while back didn't make it past the post - should've been "I can't quite believe" 😑

An unfortunate auto-transcribe error for "I can't quite believe"

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

David Byrne and his 12 (!!) piece band are here to single-handedly save 2026 and make us love again

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Grandpa: And as they reached for each other... [stops reading] The Grandson: What? What? Grandpa: Ah, it's kissing again. You don't want to hear that. The Grandson: I don't mind so much. Grandpa: Oh, okay. [keeps reading]

Rob Reiner directing The Princess Bride, 1986.

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

YOU SHALL BE TAMED, MIKE’S RIGHT EYE!

The Orb, comics history’s greatest villain

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

Hey, groovy people! My sprawling memoir of my journalism life and times from America to New Zealand, “Clippings," is now on sale for the holidays for a mere US$12.99 for the paperback (ebook $2.99)! If you’ve been putting it off, wait no more! Get it right here: www.amazon.com/dp/B0DW4D9KRR

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

Stood at the end of the world, or at least the end of the south part of this one today (not pictured: Antarctica, at right)

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 26/10/2025

Just hanging out with Elijah Wood and Andy Serkis as you do on Labour Weekend.

Andy Serkis and Elijah Wood at Armageddon Expo.

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

The greatest bird in the universe has finally won Australia's bird of the year. ALL HAIL THE TAWNY FROGMOUTH! www.theguardian.com/environment/...

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

Diane Keaton forever and ever 💔

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Want to see a movie? Figure 1, the run-down foreign-owned downtown corporate cinema chain ticket price; Figure 2, the locally owned independent cinema ticket price for roughly the same time. Nearly DOUBLE the price for the pleasure of enjoying the decaying ambience of Sky World/Metro Centre.

Ticket price for around $30 for Saturday afternoon show, Queen St Event Cinemas

Ticket price for around $15 for Saturday afternoon show, Hollywood Avondale

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

I will single-handedly will summer into being by sitting on the deck with a cold drink and a good book, by god 🤔

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

The perfect headline to describe life in 2025 doesn’t exi—

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

It's been six months since I put out "Clippings," a big old 350-page collection of the best of my journalism over the years. It's been really fab to see the great response from friends, family and even total strangers. Get it here! www.amazon.com/dp/B0DW4D9KR...

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

The Hit and The Limey are two of my all time favourite existential crime movies. Toss in his unforgettable Zod, and you have a legend. R.I.P. Terence Stamp.

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

Remembering my father-in-law Sir Peter Siddell (1935-2011), who would have turned 90 years old today. A great artist and a great man.

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

Wahoo! The latest issue of my insanely long-running small press comic Amoeba Adventures is available for a FREE PDF download. I've been doodling the adventures of Prometheus for literal decades now and this one's a fun one! nikdirga.com/2025/07/28/l...

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

All I'm saying is this is the moment for this American innovation to break through:

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

My very first exposure to Ozzy Osbourne was when someone smuggled this album into my church youth group and the cover scared the living hell out of me. I like to think that freaking out the naive Presbyterian youth is how Ozzy would like to be remembered. #ozzyosbourne 🦇

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

There are so many less problematic ways this headline could have gone. 😳

Headline: Praise for restaurant after former deputy mayor dies at dinner

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

My latest factcheck for the Australian Associated Press delves deep into the increasingly surreal world of AI slop served up on Facebook. The repeated "conjoined twins" celebrity yarn spewed up multiple times is the one that finally broke my brain for good. www.aap.com.au/factcheck/ju...

An army of celebrities are being duped in dodgy AI posts about surgery for conjoined twins, including Bruce Springsteen, Mick Jagger and many more.

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

BBC live blog of the Oasis reunion concert is bringing back gonzo journalism:

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

Picked up this nifty 1988 book of Radio New Zealand archives in Wellington today and I really think RNZ should adopt “intrigue, comment, drama, actuality, humour” as our new slogan.

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

This might actually be in my top 3 for 1995 along with Pumpkins and Guided By Voices' Alien Lanes, and finding out they're all 30 years old means I just died of a heart attack, probably

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

When I am master of the universe I will ban all hot takes and outrage bait unless they've marinated for at least a week first

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Random acts of unkindness, New Lynn Warehouse 😑

Vandalised copy of Jacinda Ardern memoir

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Ethiopian jazz remains the best morning work soundtrack music, FYI.

Alemayehu Eshete Andarge was an Ethiopian singer, widely known as the "Abyssinian Elvis"

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

All right all right all right. (Roughly tied for #11: American Splendor, Anchorman, Captain America: Civil War, Grizzly Man, Mulholland Drive, Oppenheimer, Perfect Days, Spotlight, There Will Be Blood, The Wolf Of Wall Street) * Choices may change entirely on any given day TBH

My 10 picks for NYT best movies of the 21st century so far

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

My latest explainer over at RNZ is an excuse just to use this image of Godzilla attacking Auckland: How to tell if an image or video has been created by AI - and if we still can - www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Godzilla attacks Auckland, insert Godzilla roar emoji here

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Nik Dirga @nikdirga.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

RIP to the great comics writer Peter David, of Hulk, Spider-Man, Star Trek and X-Factor fame. He was only 68 but had been cruelly dogged by ill health for several years. David brought humour back to comics - truly funny humour, which is harder than it looks. He made funny look easy.

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