Maev MacCoille
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msmaev.bsky.social
Maev MacCoille
@msmaev.bsky.social
Playwright with a day job.
I have never worked for a political party or on a political campaign, and I have no intention of ever doing so.

But try telling LinkedIn that.

(The time they suggested I worked for the Biden/Harris was funnier, as I don’t live in the US, and the Biden/Harris campaign had ceased to exist by then).
October 14, 2025 at 2:12 PM
When your seat is right beside the light box, is it technically a spoiler?
September 30, 2025 at 6:34 PM
It would appear my local M&S has incurred the wrath of a Thunder God or Gods.
September 3, 2025 at 4:43 PM
One woman carries a carpet across London - quick, someone write a musical about me.
August 13, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Some stereotypes are absolutely worth living up to - I had to at least try it!
July 23, 2025 at 1:33 PM
An innovative method of newspaper disposal I glimpsed on the bus yesterday.

You may ask why, but I think the more pertinent question is How?
May 22, 2025 at 12:35 PM
I know everyone complains about Evri. I know it’s a tired topic - but I think we’ve all been underestimating them.

They collected my parcel in the future.
April 12, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Flann O’Brien’s extended gag about the Ventriloquists Union, and the terrors perpetuated by its members on innocent theatregoers, lives in my brain forever.

Not that ventriloquism comes up that much - but more often than you might think.
April 5, 2025 at 9:34 AM
I have mounted a door - less than perfectly, but somewhat successfully.

(I will say that whoever it was who installed the hinges back in the day, put them in a real stupid place. But I make do).
April 4, 2025 at 9:48 PM
I swear, when I was stumbling my way to my Grand Circle seat, the angle of this set made me dizzy for a second.
March 15, 2025 at 2:31 PM
In the process of re-sealing my windows (for I am a lunatic) and discovered these apparent paint patches which, when scraped, turn brown and smell utterly vile.

I am baffled.

Is this some weird smoking remnant?
February 22, 2025 at 7:00 PM
And with that, Merry Christmas to all, and eat lots of chocolate.
December 24, 2024 at 12:39 PM
Matisse made it in 1952, two years before he died. He had started making paper cutouts towards the end of his career, and he worked with a glass maker to turn Christmas Eve into a stained glass window.
December 24, 2024 at 12:37 PM
When I started doing Artvent, I commented that it’s hard to make it Christmas themed, because for some reason, the Nativity story doesn’t lend itself to interesting paintings.

But every once in a while, there is an exception.

See this glorious Christmas Eve window by Matisse.
December 24, 2024 at 12:36 PM
The penultimate Artvent is Still Life With Prunes by Henk Helmantel.

Helmantel is a contemporary painter, who specialises in “modern naturalism.” And he’s on to something, because I could look at the textures in this painting for hours.
December 23, 2024 at 7:13 PM
In what is probably a sign that I’m a terrible person, my reaction to this painting was to laugh - the contrast between the horrifying subject matter and the skilful, detailed execution* was too much absurdity for me to handle.

(Pun mostly unintentional)
December 22, 2024 at 2:53 PM
The actual Saint Justus (if he really existed, which is questionable) was 8 years old, not the muscular young man Rubens depicts here.

Which I mention, because there was a way to make this painting MORE disturbing, and Rubens didn’t take it.
December 22, 2024 at 2:51 PM
I looked it up - because of course I did - and apparently there are dozens of cephalophores in early Christianity.

That is, saints who were beheaded, and then picked up their - still talking - heads, and walked around with them. Which is pretty metal.
December 22, 2024 at 2:49 PM
I am talking about this… beauty - the miracle of Saint Justus by Peter Paul Rubens.

Please note, this painting is about 8 or maybe 8 feet tall, so you really get to bask in the full detail of the beheaded body.
December 22, 2024 at 2:49 PM
The Sainte Chapelle was built to be the private chapel for the Kings of France.

Which, given how costly all of that stained glass must have been, does give me distinctly “I see why they had to get rid of you” vibes.
December 21, 2024 at 2:23 PM
The stained glass windows of the Sainte Chapelle are unquestionably one of the greatest works of Christian art ever made. (There are both old and New Testament stories in there).
December 21, 2024 at 2:22 PM
Happy the Sun is on its way back day everyone! (Have I mentioned I hate winter?)

Celebrating the power of the sun with today’s Artvent, which is the stained glass windows of the Sainte Chapelle in Paris.
December 21, 2024 at 2:22 PM
Supposedly, In the Restaurant is inspired by Manet’s Suzon, which I can kind of see - Manet’s painting is more stark, and challenges the viewer more.

But the way he captures the dress is astonishing.
December 20, 2024 at 7:07 PM
Apparently he frequently tried to convince Disney to do an animated film about Napoleon, and Disney thought he was such a good artist, he put up with the constant badgering.
December 20, 2024 at 7:06 PM
Hoffbauer was French, but spent most of his adult life in the US (aside from service in World War One).

While there he painted historical murals (including ones celebrating the Confederacy, eek), New York cityscapes, and worked with Walt Disney.
December 20, 2024 at 7:06 PM