Sharon O'Connell
@messyectomorph.bsky.social
Music writer (dCS Audio, Electronic Sound, Metro, Uncut). Ex staffer at Melody Maker and Time Out. Coastal dweller. Art, film, books etc.
Reposted by Sharon O'Connell
I'd forgotten just how hammy "The Italian Job" (original, BBC Two is. But then my brain had also blotted out the fact that Benny Hill is in it. In character. I mean. Still, the scene of the Minis tearing through that arcade endures. #Christmascapers
December 26, 2025 at 6:21 PM
I'd forgotten just how hammy "The Italian Job" (original, BBC Two is. But then my brain had also blotted out the fact that Benny Hill is in it. In character. I mean. Still, the scene of the Minis tearing through that arcade endures. #Christmascapers
I started making a lasagna at 4.30pm. I will be taking it out of the oven in seven minutes. If it’s cooked. Now so hungry I could eat a chair leg. Who are these people who can whip up a delicious - or even respectably edible - meal in an hour?
December 25, 2025 at 8:30 PM
I started making a lasagna at 4.30pm. I will be taking it out of the oven in seven minutes. If it’s cooked. Now so hungry I could eat a chair leg. Who are these people who can whip up a delicious - or even respectably edible - meal in an hour?
Fabulously incongruous. (Mick Rock acknowledged as photographer.)
This time of year I always think of this deliciously unhinged photo shoot with Truman Capote & Andy Warhol for High Times magazine's 1978 Xmas issue, with Capote soused to the gills & Warhol gamely playing along as Santa. I want someone to write an extended oral history of this photo shoot alone
December 24, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Fabulously incongruous. (Mick Rock acknowledged as photographer.)
“Galveston” punching me in the gut for the gazillionth time: “I am so afraid of dying” - man. 2.45 minutes of sombre pop perfection. #ChristmaswithGlen
December 24, 2025 at 2:07 PM
“Galveston” punching me in the gut for the gazillionth time: “I am so afraid of dying” - man. 2.45 minutes of sombre pop perfection. #ChristmaswithGlen
Reposted by Sharon O'Connell
Iconic performer Leigh Bowery in a Christmas card photo, c. 1986
December 23, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Iconic performer Leigh Bowery in a Christmas card photo, c. 1986
I have just spent £12.80. On spinach. Now two questions: 1) why is it sold in absurdly small bags that cook down into a teaspoonful? 2) why tf have I resolved to cook Something Interesting on the 25th when I’m not hugely fussed what I eat? Christmas has robbed me of my reason…
December 23, 2025 at 3:57 PM
I have just spent £12.80. On spinach. Now two questions: 1) why is it sold in absurdly small bags that cook down into a teaspoonful? 2) why tf have I resolved to cook Something Interesting on the 25th when I’m not hugely fussed what I eat? Christmas has robbed me of my reason…
Should I really give it till noon before I have a whisky Mac, or…?
December 23, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Should I really give it till noon before I have a whisky Mac, or…?
“Trump-class”. Give me strength…
December 23, 2025 at 9:22 AM
“Trump-class”. Give me strength…
Today marks the beginning of “quafftide”, apparently. Am happy to get on board with that. #quaffresponsibly
December 21, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Today marks the beginning of “quafftide”, apparently. Am happy to get on board with that. #quaffresponsibly
Woman beside me in supermarket, delightedly waving her Daily Mail as I reach for another newspaper: “They have the *best* tv section. And it’s free!”
Me: “But it’s not really free, is it. And it comes with a load of racist scapegoating, so…”
Safe to say the Christmas spirit is not yet with me.
Me: “But it’s not really free, is it. And it comes with a load of racist scapegoating, so…”
Safe to say the Christmas spirit is not yet with me.
December 20, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Woman beside me in supermarket, delightedly waving her Daily Mail as I reach for another newspaper: “They have the *best* tv section. And it’s free!”
Me: “But it’s not really free, is it. And it comes with a load of racist scapegoating, so…”
Safe to say the Christmas spirit is not yet with me.
Me: “But it’s not really free, is it. And it comes with a load of racist scapegoating, so…”
Safe to say the Christmas spirit is not yet with me.
Some extremely good news. (Grab it while you can.) www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
‘I can’t think of a place more pristine’: 133,000 hectares of Chilean Patagonia preserved after local fundraising
Exclusive: Ancient forests and turquoise rivers of the Cochamó Valley protected from logging, damming and development
www.theguardian.com
December 19, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Some extremely good news. (Grab it while you can.) www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...
They need to sell this miracle condiment in bigger jars. There’s nothing not improved by it (which I realise says quite a lot about my cooking). Atm elevating a cheese omelette…
December 18, 2025 at 7:43 PM
They need to sell this miracle condiment in bigger jars. There’s nothing not improved by it (which I realise says quite a lot about my cooking). Atm elevating a cheese omelette…
This long read is a compelling & often droll collection of journal entries, documenting not only the disablement & indignities of (very) old age but also CT’s many years writing for the New Yorker, encounters w Georgia O’Keefe & Robert Rauschenberg, his domestic life & more. Terrific self-portrait.
“Do I think about death? Yes, of course. I think about it fairly often, but without emotion.” Read Calvin Tomkins’s journal of his 100th year. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Becoming a Centenarian
Like The New Yorker, I was born in 1925. Somewhat to my surprise, I decided to keep a journal of my hundredth year.
www.newyorker.com
December 16, 2025 at 9:39 PM
This long read is a compelling & often droll collection of journal entries, documenting not only the disablement & indignities of (very) old age but also CT’s many years writing for the New Yorker, encounters w Georgia O’Keefe & Robert Rauschenberg, his domestic life & more. Terrific self-portrait.
If you’re in the moody for a sexy, modern (2021) French drama, in b&w, I can recommend ‘Paris, 13th District’ on iPlayer. Jehnny Beth stars.
December 16, 2025 at 8:41 PM
If you’re in the moody for a sexy, modern (2021) French drama, in b&w, I can recommend ‘Paris, 13th District’ on iPlayer. Jehnny Beth stars.
Reposted by Sharon O'Connell
RIP JOSEPH BYRD
amazing musician with United States of America, the Field Hippies & solo. he was the guy who turned John Fahey onto indian music back when they were at ucla & did one of the weirdest xmas LPs ever. no firewall
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/a...
amazing musician with United States of America, the Field Hippies & solo. he was the guy who turned John Fahey onto indian music back when they were at ucla & did one of the weirdest xmas LPs ever. no firewall
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/a...
Joseph Byrd, Who Shook Up Psychedelic Rock, Dies at 87
www.nytimes.com
December 15, 2025 at 10:53 AM
RIP JOSEPH BYRD
amazing musician with United States of America, the Field Hippies & solo. he was the guy who turned John Fahey onto indian music back when they were at ucla & did one of the weirdest xmas LPs ever. no firewall
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/a...
amazing musician with United States of America, the Field Hippies & solo. he was the guy who turned John Fahey onto indian music back when they were at ucla & did one of the weirdest xmas LPs ever. no firewall
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/a...
Actual guffaw. Looks like it’s about to snap into a Bob Fosse routine.
December 15, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Actual guffaw. Looks like it’s about to snap into a Bob Fosse routine.
Such sad & bewildering news re Rob Reiner & wife Michele: that feeling that you’ve lost someone you know, bec they’ve been a constant in your cultural life, had a signature of sorts & gave you a ton of good times. Assumed he’d be making movies - & enabling others to do so - forever. RIP
December 15, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Such sad & bewildering news re Rob Reiner & wife Michele: that feeling that you’ve lost someone you know, bec they’ve been a constant in your cultural life, had a signature of sorts & gave you a ton of good times. Assumed he’d be making movies - & enabling others to do so - forever. RIP
This year’s award for the most inspired (& rather stylish) Christmas tree goes to…
December 14, 2025 at 3:29 PM
This year’s award for the most inspired (& rather stylish) Christmas tree goes to…
Reeling from the news from Bondi, Sydney’s emblematic heart. Not leaping to conclusions before more is known but it’s hard not to assume the obvious worst, re targeting. What unimaginable horror.
December 14, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Reeling from the news from Bondi, Sydney’s emblematic heart. Not leaping to conclusions before more is known but it’s hard not to assume the obvious worst, re targeting. What unimaginable horror.
The cutting down of the Durham Christmas tree utterly confounds me. In that it’s not “mindless vandalism” - that’s say, breaking off a car’s wing mirror. Opportunistic. Pointless. Here was malicious intent, the will to emotionally wound. Where tf did that come from? It’s… bizarre. Or I’m naive.
December 13, 2025 at 4:25 PM
The cutting down of the Durham Christmas tree utterly confounds me. In that it’s not “mindless vandalism” - that’s say, breaking off a car’s wing mirror. Opportunistic. Pointless. Here was malicious intent, the will to emotionally wound. Where tf did that come from? It’s… bizarre. Or I’m naive.
A warm & sunny 8 degrees. Outlook - fabulous.
December 13, 2025 at 11:53 AM
A warm & sunny 8 degrees. Outlook - fabulous.
Just watched “Fragments Of Paradise” Film4 & it’s brilliant. Knew nada about Jonas Mekas apart from fact he made experimental films & hung out w John & Yoko, but. A remarkable man w a difficult past, painfully shy but a cultural dissident. And his work! His quote at end is real lump-in-throat stuff.
December 12, 2025 at 11:39 PM
Just watched “Fragments Of Paradise” Film4 & it’s brilliant. Knew nada about Jonas Mekas apart from fact he made experimental films & hung out w John & Yoko, but. A remarkable man w a difficult past, painfully shy but a cultural dissident. And his work! His quote at end is real lump-in-throat stuff.
There’s a song on the upcoming Bill Callahan album called ‘Why Do Men Sing’, which makes me snigger just thinking of it. #inconclusive
December 12, 2025 at 5:17 PM
There’s a song on the upcoming Bill Callahan album called ‘Why Do Men Sing’, which makes me snigger just thinking of it. #inconclusive
I’m hardly a cheerleader for AI - or McDonald’s - but c’mon, as anti salutes to Christmas go, their ad is a sweetly comic one. Really. Who are these outraged killjoys whose love of the festive season is so fragile they can’t handle a bit of slapstick sark?
December 11, 2025 at 5:08 PM
I’m hardly a cheerleader for AI - or McDonald’s - but c’mon, as anti salutes to Christmas go, their ad is a sweetly comic one. Really. Who are these outraged killjoys whose love of the festive season is so fragile they can’t handle a bit of slapstick sark?