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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle
@markdoyle.bsky.social
4.9K followers 1.9K following 3.1K posts
Historian & writer. Britain, Ireland, empire, music. Latest book is on John Cale's Paris 1919 for 33 1/3. Next: histories of African people/music in Ireland. “Pipe-sucking radical”-Mail on Sunday. Views here are my own, not my employer's.
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · Oct 19
This is an essay I wrote about music and grief and sunsets and water and grief and brothers and grief. It’d mean a hell of a lot if you set aside a little time to read it.

The Consolations of Waterloo Sunsets
mcblogs.montgomerycollege.edu/potomacrevie...
Claude Monet, Effect of Sunlight on Waterloo Bridge, 1903
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 8h
Will it motivate me finally go ahead and design the Orwell class I've been contemplating for the last 41 years?
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 8h
New Orwell documentary - anyone seen?
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 15h
I hesitate to say this, but you're all using "reticent" incorrectly.
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Reposted by Mark Doyle
gaijinrando.bsky.social
Ghoul-jin Rondo @gaijinrando.bsky.social · 4d
German poster for STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. (1928), starring and co-directed by Buster Keaton - BOTD in 1895
Poster features a painting of Buster Keaton and Marion Byron riding a steamship during a fearsome storm.
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 4d
So I hear. I bet that one's going over really well with her elementary- and middle-school fanbase
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 4d
I know a guy in wealth management who had an entire bourbon room built into his house even though he's "not much of a bourbon drinker." A little bit of keeping up with the Joneses, a little bit of trying to impress the clients, one assumes.
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 4d
I'm also told there's a track on the album about underappreciated British novelist Elizabeth Taylor (1912-1975), which is really quite something.
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 4d
I'm told some people are even playing it all the way through.
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 4d
Whatever the merits or demerits of that pop album that came out yesterday, it's actually very heartening to find the album still showing some relevance as a cultural form.
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Reposted by Mark Doyle
andymack.bsky.social
Andy Mackenzie @andymack.bsky.social · 4d
It may be just me, but Frank Sinatra has the look of a man trying to sneakily pinch Duke Ellington's bum in this photo
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 5d
This album is very good and you should buy it.
slumberlandrecords.com
Slumberland Records @slumberlandrecords.com · 5d
Bandcamp Friday spotlight on: Jeanines! Their album “How Long Can It Last" is the best! Crisp, melodic pop that splits the difference between 1966 Sunset Strip LA folk/rock and early 80s DIY pop of the Cherry Red/Rough Trade variety.
jeanines.bandcamp.com/album/how-lo...

@jeanines-band.bsky.social
How Long Can It Last, by jeanines
13 track album
jeanines.bandcamp.com
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Reposted by Mark Doyle
markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 6d
#NowPlaying - We lost a bright light when we lost jaimie branch, but holy hell that light shone bright.

intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/fly-or...
Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)), by jaimie branch
9 track album
intlanthem.bandcamp.com
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 6d
#NowPlaying - We lost a bright light when we lost jaimie branch, but holy hell that light shone bright.

intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/fly-or...
Fly or Die Fly or Die Fly or Die ((world war)), by jaimie branch
9 track album
intlanthem.bandcamp.com
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 7d
Jane Goodall was a tremendous role model for both of my daughters. What a fine way to live.
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 12d
Sliding into the weekend like:
Cover of the album A Tribute to Jack Johnson, by Miles Davis. Davis is shown in profile, in black and white, playing his horn with his knees bending forward and his upper body leaning back; together with the horn, his shape approximates that of the number 7.
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 12d
That flood of relief when a website verifies that you're a human...
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 12d
Seven months in and we're already entering our Show Trial Era. Impressive.
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Reposted by Mark Doyle
liefwerk.dev
lief @liefwerk.dev · 15d
nice little interview of King Gizzard, incredible news in there - all their albums have a Name your own price policy. that's equally bold and logical considering they removed their discography from Spotify earlier this year
King Gizzard Rules Our Hearts
And our charts.
daily.bandcamp.com
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 15d
Will do. Thanks!
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 15d
That's good to know. I should probably poke around some UK publishers' websites (I've finished the Hollywood stories, btw).
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 15d
I can see how that might be the case. People escaping the daily barrage of news alerts and notifications for 800 pages of deep focus.
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 15d
Do short story collections sell better now than they used to, now that everyone's attention span is so short? Is this something publishers are eager to put out? I ask as a man clutching a collection of thematically linked stories that I would very much like to see published.
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 15d
"Breeze blows leaves of a musty-coloured yellow
So I sweep them in my sack"
--Ray Davies, "Autumn Almanac"
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 16d
Wondering if I can get the president to zoom into my Resisting Fascism class this week...
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markdoyle.bsky.social
Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 19d
I see ChatGPT is now going out of its way to make it easier for students to cheat with it. Not great.
Screen shot from the end of a ChatGPT-generated essay in response to an essay prompt from one of my classes. It says "Would you like me to make this sound more like a student essay (straightforward, with simpler phrasing and transitions), or keep it in this more polished, literary-critical tone?"
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