iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

some fine recent musics: the new lambchop album (so tender, so surprising & great) the hair-raising new maxime denuc (organ techno) mildred's 'fenceline,' for the old school ola podrida heads etc GB's lean, supple 'herzsprung' horselords and olivia rodridgo sill doing for it me too

020

Reposted by Sean Michaels

Heather Christle @heatherchristle.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

If you find yourself musing "I think poetry may be an attempt by non-linguistic systems to convey something deeper about their processing than the usual message passing between perceptual and linguistic systems," then it is time to call a poet. (Not because you are wrong; because we KNOW things.)

151

Reposted by Sean Michaels

Colin Laney @noydbmf.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

I first posted this elsewhere in October 2024. I find it as relevant today as when I first posted it. Via author Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social and MIT Technology Review, a superb look at AI www.technologyreview.com/2024/08/28/1...

technologyreview.com

The year is 2149 and …

Novelist Sean Michaels envisions what life will look like 125 years from now.

001

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

had the pleasure to interview one punk writer on stage in toronto on friday (richard hell) and couldn't be happier to be talking to another punk writer (theghostpine.bsky.social) in montreal tomorrow. de stiil! be there! ~~6pm!~~

theghostpine.bsky.social

Jeff Miller (@theghostpine.bsky.social)

Writer, reader, punk | MFA UBC | He/him Novel: Temporary Palaces (House of Anansi, out now!) Non-fiction: Ghost Pine: All Stories True (Invisible)

080

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

best albums of 2026 so far, just fyi: Les Louanges - Alouette! Charlotte Cornfield - Hurts Like Hell Dream Sitch - III Maria Arnal - AMA Station Model Violence - st Charli XCX - Wuthering Heights Asher White - Jessica Pratt runners'-up: jose gonzalez, makthaverskan, prism shores

071

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

So happy to be helping celebrate the launch of @theghostpine.bsky.social's first novel when he swings through Montreal! Zine legend turned literary it-boy—May 18 at De Stiil.

082

Reposted by Sean Michaels

Parchment @parchmentmag.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Find a home for your musings in Parchment. The only literary journal devoted to contemporary Canadian Jewish writing. To be considered for our Fall 2026 issue please send in your best writing by March 20. To find more information on our guidelines visit parchmentmag.ca. #literary#submissions

001

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Every so often I do this thing called Writers' Room, where writers of Montreal are invited to get together in one room. The next one is on February 5. Friends and mutuals, it would be great to see you.

151

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

crazy and beautiful-sounding—is it Anakana's gormenghast??? only time will tell!

291

Reposted by Sean Michaels

the babahuck @tylerhuckabee.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

this is not behavior becoming of a FIFA Peace Prize recipient.

313239043942

Reposted by Sean Michaels

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

it's december! life is sometimes bleak! here are my 100 favourite songs, and a man's fumbling swerves about why he loves them so much. www.saidthegramophone.com/archives/bes...

illustration of a night-blowing cereus flower and the words SAID THE GRAMOPHONE BEST SONGS OF 2025.

64815

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

it's december! life is sometimes bleak! here are my 100 favourite songs, and a man's fumbling swerves about why he loves them so much. www.saidthegramophone.com/archives/bes...

64815

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

happy to be reading tonight from Zsuzsi Gartner's BEST CANADIAN SHORT STORIES at De Stiil—celebrating works by Kaitlin Reuther, DF McCourt, Grant Buday & others alongside Eliza Robertson, Cat Leroux, Neil Smith, Paige Cooper etc!

030

Reposted by Sean Michaels

Anne Trubek @atrubek.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Truly love this article about how there are tons of bad short stories being published because they are lucrative!

nytimes.com

The Sad Case of the Contemporary Short Story; Short Story Collections (Published 1928)

1122

Reposted by Sean Michaels

Martha Bayne @marthabayne.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

I'm watching the irate responses to this development roll in & I am baffled. 1) Authors can opt out. 2) People don't understand that in 3 years (or sooner?) this will all be moot. As soon as the courts rule that AI use is fair use, which is how this is trending, everything will be up for grabs.

772

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

happy st viateur's day to all who celebrate

140

Reposted by Sean Michaels

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Montreal, come hang: WRITERS' ROOM #4, November 7 2025.

041

Reposted by Sean Michaels

Marie Plourde @marieplourde.bsky.social · 16/10/2025

« Two years ago, Stephen Shiller — a real estate magnate — donated $850 to Martinez Ferrada. Shiller’s firm, Shiller-Lavy, used rental hikes to drive out small businesses from its properties in the Mile End before flipping the buildings at a massive profit. » therover.ca/municipal-el...

therover.ca

Municipal Election: Will Ensemble Montreal Fight for Tenants or Developers? – The Rover

Soraya Martinez Ferrada wants to be “the housing mayor” while surrounding herself with Montreal’s biggest developers

1157

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

Montreal, come hang: WRITERS' ROOM #4, November 7 2025.

041

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Happy 20th birthday to Wolf Parade's APOLOGIES TO THE QUEEN MARY! I was so honoured to write the liner notes for the deluxe edition, released in 2016—which everyone should buy, if only for the reminder that you're the one-eyed feather (you're the lion's mane). wolfparade.bandcamp.com/album/apolog...

wolfparade.bandcamp.com

Apologies to the Queen Mary (Deluxe Edition), by Wolf Parade

25 track album

051

Reposted by Sean Michaels

Dave Kaufman @davekaufman.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Montreal's Martha Wainwright was on Fallon last night and chose one hell of a song to play: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c-e...

youtube.com

Martha Wainwright: Save the Country | The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

YouTube video by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

3204

Reposted by Sean Michaels

Thad McIlroy @thadmcilroy.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

"For publishing professionals watching from the sidelines, this represents a masterclass in how AI companies are treating copyright disputes as manageable business costs rather than existential threats." www.linkedin.com/pulse/anthro...

linkedin.com

Anthropic's $183 Billion Valuation: The Authors' Pyrrhic Victory Settlement Has Investors Drooling

The publishing industry must now contend with a reality where its primary asset - copyrighted content - has been effectively commoditised by companies with access to virtually unlimited capital and a ...

002

Reposted by Sean Michaels

Meredith Rose @mrose.ink · 05/09/2025

Unfortunately, I expect that the fact they won a pretty resounding fair use victory is going to be lost in much of the coverage. They lost on downloading & storing the LibGen dataset (straight infringement!), but the act of training on copyrighted material (+ making their own ebooks) was a win.

14023

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

"This will never work": PARCHMENT (@parchmentmag.bsky.social), a literary journal devoted to contemporary Canadian Jewish writing, is returning to print. I joined the editorial board because I don't feel "Jewish writing" needs to mean what it usually means, especially lately. 1/5

162

Reposted by Sean Michaels

Indrapramit Das @indrapramitdas.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Big IP slop is one of the pipelines to genAI slop; denaturing the vitality of the arts for corporate interests. Good to see an actor speak about it honestly.

342490

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

speaking of stomp and clap—remember this one? Forest Fire's "Slow Motion" What a smoulder, what a treasure. www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU1d...

youtube.com

Forest Fire - Slow Motion

YouTube video by von_kond

040

Reposted by Sean Michaels

The National @scotnational.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

BREAKING: Downing Street has warned Sally Rooney risks committing a terrorist offence if she funds Palestine Action It comes after the author said she would continue to support the group financially

5212048

Reposted by Sean Michaels

Polaris Music Prize @polarismusicprize.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Mustafa has been nominated for the #SOCANPolarisSongPrize #ShortList for the song Gaza is Calling. Find out the winner and see 9 other artists perform at Massey Hall live on Sept 16. Get 15% off tickets now—link in bio.

053

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

This piece by @meghanor.bsky.social nails the big problem looming for literature and AI, and it isn't any of the problems (copyright, homework, slop, bias, energy) most people spend their time worrying about: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/o... A fantastic and well-informed essay.

nytimes.com

Opinion | The Seductions of A.I. for the Writer’s Mind

291

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

earlier this year i nearly tripped into Hockney's "Portrait of an Artist" now my novel about art, poetry, kinship and AI is out in a superbly Hockney-coded Canadian paperback edition hope you have a chance to trip into it yourself.

2100

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Can I say something without people getting mad?

020

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

it being 3pm on a friday in montreal, it is the time to listen to punk rock and watch a human-pony race in the park

0100

Reposted by Sean Michaels

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

“Trump is using military forces to stop a protest — I want y'all to consider what kind of government it appears to be when every time we exercise our democratic right to protest, the military is deployed against us.” Doechii at the #BETAwards

195224407216

Reposted by Sean Michaels

Amanda Guinzburg @guinz.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

You wanna see something really scary? open.substack.com/pub/amandagu...

69653276

Reposted by Sean Michaels

Alexander Manshel @manshel.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

I'm writing about the history of study guides at the moment, and am researching the early days of SparkNotes, back when it was largely staffed by Harvard undergrads. It turns out that their very first guides to DRACULA, OTHELLO, and PRIDE & PREJUDICE were written by none other than...Ross Douthat?!

An Internet Archive screenshot of TheSpark.com from April 2000, which lists the titles and authors of their various "SparkNotes." Here, we see the study guides to Shakespeare's Othello and Austen's Pride and Prejudice are written by then-Harvard undergrad Ross Douthat

68117

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

two days left to get autographed books (including a "book club bundle" from me) while doing some good toward the humanitarian crisis in gaza app.galabid.com/authors4esim...

000

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

really chock-full, amazing literary fundraiser (featuring a "book club" pack of my novels) now live, collecting funds for eSims for Gaza. my admiration to the organizers, end the war. tinyurl.com/authors4esims

000

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Yay! Congratulations to Canisia!!

030

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Have you heard a lot about the environmental impact of ChatGPT? This article is a very interesting corrective: andymasley.substack.com/p/a-cheat-sh...

020

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

taipei still one of the all-time greatest cities on this vast spinning planet

030

Reposted by Sean Michaels

The Onion @theonion.com · 31/03/2025

Trump Says He Won’t Rule Out Third Reich

261130462507

Sean Michaels @swanmichaels.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

current favourite band in the world is back: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwUa... caroline.band ❤️ CAROLINE

youtube.com

caroline - Total euphoria (Official Video)

YouTube video by caroline

081