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.
If you’re a Pavement enthusiast (that’s everyone, right?) then get your paws on this lively & comprehensive Ultimate Music Guide from @uncutmagazine.bsky.social I took a deep dive into Brighten The Corners (their best, imo) & tracked Malkmus’s solo adventuring but there’s a ton of w/e goodness here.
November 7, 2025 at 12:38 PM
If you’re a Pavement enthusiast (that’s everyone, right?) then get your paws on this lively & comprehensive Ultimate Music Guide from @uncutmagazine.bsky.social I took a deep dive into Brighten The Corners (their best, imo) & tracked Malkmus’s solo adventuring but there’s a ton of w/e goodness here.
Birthday felicitations to the brilliant Bill Woodrow, 77 today. I especially love this assemblage, Car Door, Armchair and Incident, from 1981.
November 1, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Birthday felicitations to the brilliant Bill Woodrow, 77 today. I especially love this assemblage, Car Door, Armchair and Incident, from 1981.
A cruel & unjust punishment, I think we’d all agree. His struggle starts now.
November 1, 2025 at 1:30 PM
A cruel & unjust punishment, I think we’d all agree. His struggle starts now.
Halfway through & still dazzled & charmed by this skilful jump-cut of a novel. I loved his ‘… Kavalier & Clay’ but couldn’t get with ‘Telegraph Avenue’. At all. But this is a total joy - vivid, funny, profound, generous. A coincidence that ‘Wonder Boys’ is Michael Douglas’s best film? I think not.
October 30, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Halfway through & still dazzled & charmed by this skilful jump-cut of a novel. I loved his ‘… Kavalier & Clay’ but couldn’t get with ‘Telegraph Avenue’. At all. But this is a total joy - vivid, funny, profound, generous. A coincidence that ‘Wonder Boys’ is Michael Douglas’s best film? I think not.
The surrealistically-inclined artist (& eco protester) Isabel Rock has imagined the need of fish for shoes when they wed - I mean, who would deny them? - & made these extraordinary pairs from papier-mâché accordingly.
October 26, 2025 at 3:10 PM
The surrealistically-inclined artist (& eco protester) Isabel Rock has imagined the need of fish for shoes when they wed - I mean, who would deny them? - & made these extraordinary pairs from papier-mâché accordingly.
This is the beautiful Bella, guardian/boss of my temp residence & bane of the life of resident dog. She’s 14 & could easily live to 60, I’m told. That’s quite the pet commitment. Bit disappointed in her literal parroting, tbh. It’s a LOT of ‘ça va’.
October 10, 2025 at 4:48 PM
This is the beautiful Bella, guardian/boss of my temp residence & bane of the life of resident dog. She’s 14 & could easily live to 60, I’m told. That’s quite the pet commitment. Bit disappointed in her literal parroting, tbh. It’s a LOT of ‘ça va’.
She speaks no English, I speak no Arabic. But there is always the international language of enTREATy.
October 10, 2025 at 8:39 AM
She speaks no English, I speak no Arabic. But there is always the international language of enTREATy.
Please allow me to boast about this empty beach. Not that I made it myself - but I did just nap on it. Magnificent…
October 9, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Please allow me to boast about this empty beach. Not that I made it myself - but I did just nap on it. Magnificent…
I wobbled with “Purity”, which often felt stodgy, I remember. This is fantastic, though- a rich, compelling narrative & perfect pacing, plus recognisably cringe behaviour by believably conflicted characters on almost every page. Also - funny. Perfect #holidayreading (thanks, Oxfam).
October 4, 2025 at 12:35 PM
I wobbled with “Purity”, which often felt stodgy, I remember. This is fantastic, though- a rich, compelling narrative & perfect pacing, plus recognisably cringe behaviour by believably conflicted characters on almost every page. Also - funny. Perfect #holidayreading (thanks, Oxfam).
Trying the daily Three Good Things exercise. Again. Today’s number one…
September 20, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Trying the daily Three Good Things exercise. Again. Today’s number one…
You say ‘sfumato’…
September 12, 2025 at 5:05 PM
You say ‘sfumato’…
Sheesh. How deep were they digging?
August 29, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Sheesh. How deep were they digging?
Just delivered, my first post-Brexit passport - reigniting my anger & despair at everything I/we have lost. Travel/residence freedoms no small part of a disastrous decision we chose to bloody make. Absolute bollix to it.
August 27, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Just delivered, my first post-Brexit passport - reigniting my anger & despair at everything I/we have lost. Travel/residence freedoms no small part of a disastrous decision we chose to bloody make. Absolute bollix to it.
Nobody turns to Philip Roth for shits & giggles but… jeez. In terms of telling life truths, he’s totally unforgiving. This (from ‘Everyman’) is brutal - but beautiful in its boldness, too. (Stiff drink now required.)
August 12, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Nobody turns to Philip Roth for shits & giggles but… jeez. In terms of telling life truths, he’s totally unforgiving. This (from ‘Everyman’) is brutal - but beautiful in its boldness, too. (Stiff drink now required.)
Underwhelming pic of tonight’s truly magnificent (full) moon. Step outside & treat yourself to a good stare…
August 9, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Underwhelming pic of tonight’s truly magnificent (full) moon. Step outside & treat yourself to a good stare…
New to me & a quid very well spent, it turns out. Gives a different charge to the phrase ‘deathless prose’.
August 7, 2025 at 6:23 PM
New to me & a quid very well spent, it turns out. Gives a different charge to the phrase ‘deathless prose’.
Wow, this is quite the bombshell.
July 26, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Wow, this is quite the bombshell.
My tranquility base (no hotel).
July 4, 2025 at 9:07 AM
My tranquility base (no hotel).
It's what everyone admiring the sunset's glory needs to cap off their day – some buffoon in a bucket hat, brandishing his acoustic guitar: 'Guys, listen! I've just written an amazing new song!'
July 2, 2025 at 12:35 PM
It's what everyone admiring the sunset's glory needs to cap off their day – some buffoon in a bucket hat, brandishing his acoustic guitar: 'Guys, listen! I've just written an amazing new song!'
Use of “icon” entirely permissible in this tiny Russian Orthodox chapel. (They should have a notice.)
June 28, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Use of “icon” entirely permissible in this tiny Russian Orthodox chapel. (They should have a notice.)
This weekend’s reward. Though there’s some nervousness alongside the excitement: surely not *all* TW’s novels can be extraordinary. But it seems so. Transcendent in scope, often unbearably tense & emotionally devastating, always full of heart. He cuts to the core of what it means to be human.
June 27, 2025 at 3:41 PM
This weekend’s reward. Though there’s some nervousness alongside the excitement: surely not *all* TW’s novels can be extraordinary. But it seems so. Transcendent in scope, often unbearably tense & emotionally devastating, always full of heart. He cuts to the core of what it means to be human.
And I love this: Kendrick On His Way Back From Camber Sands, an (unstretched) oil on canvas work by Hastings artist Sophie Barber. A sharp take on celebrity culture/photography, it’s much larger than it seems here - commanding, faintly droll & oddly poignant.
June 17, 2025 at 8:04 PM
And I love this: Kendrick On His Way Back From Camber Sands, an (unstretched) oil on canvas work by Hastings artist Sophie Barber. A sharp take on celebrity culture/photography, it’s much larger than it seems here - commanding, faintly droll & oddly poignant.
Tom Cruise has never been a movie pull for me (think Magnolia & Eyes WS are only two films I’ve seen him in) but this lengthy Q&A @sightsoundmag.bsky.social is a terrific read: his intensity, deep study habit, curiosity, 120% commitment & depth of enthralment by cinema (even now) burn off the page.
May 28, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Tom Cruise has never been a movie pull for me (think Magnolia & Eyes WS are only two films I’ve seen him in) but this lengthy Q&A @sightsoundmag.bsky.social is a terrific read: his intensity, deep study habit, curiosity, 120% commitment & depth of enthralment by cinema (even now) burn off the page.