Hello, world. I’m MacDara Conroy, and this is my blog.

Il Sogno del Marinaio on stage at The Grand Social. From left: Stefano Pilla, seated in jeans and T-shirt and playing guitar; Paulo Mongardi in overalls and on drums; Mike Watt in jeans and Chucks with yellow socks and anorak, playing his signature bass.

Popped down to Dublin last night after work to see Il Sogno del Marinaio, featuring the legendary Mike Watt. My third time seeing this band, but I’ve seen Watt a few other times too, since 2001. He’s 66 with a gammy knee but still jamming econo #image

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Streaks of magenta and green in the night sky from the aurora borealis over Dundalk, Ireland

Never thought I’d get to see the #aurora borealis here, but here it is. This is closer to how it looked to the naked eye than other shots I’ve seen; I didn’t change the settings of my iPhone camera at all #image

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A model of the USS Enterprise-D’s shuttle craft Goddard, from Star Trek: The Next Generation, made from LEGO-compatible bricks. It’s sitting upon the dust cover of my turntable which has side D of Sonic Youth’s Walls Have Ears in silver vinyl on the platter, and the LP sleeve (orange, featuring a lit jack-o’-lantern) is displayed in the background on the left.

Weekend project. Next up: the DS9 runabout I impulse bought last week that’s easily five or six times bigger than this #image

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The Canadian experimental metal band BIG|BRAVE performing live in a small venue: vocalist/guitarist Robin Wattie in the foreground on the right singing into a mic, Mathieu Ball on the left bent over his guitar and Tasy Hudson in the background behind the drum kit

I might not get home till 1am but BIG|BRAVE were worth it #music #image

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Cover art of Lankum’s 2023 album False Lankum, featuring the four members of the band in a sepia-toned, partially out-of-focus image above an excerpt of abstract art with the band name and title superimposed above, in a layout reminiscent of Vaughan Oliver’s designs for the 4AD record label in the 1980s and ’90s.

I thought Lankum were releasing a new album, not reissuing their mid-’90s debut on 4AD. #image

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Bret 'Hitman' Hart with 'Mean' Gene Okerlund at the 1993 King of the Ring PPV

The only royalty I recognise #image

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Screenshot of a phishing text message

Oh yeah, totally legit message and link, I’m sure #image

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Napalm Death were brilliant

Napalm Death were brilliant #image

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Bob Mould was brilliant

Bob Mould was brilliant #image

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Jawbox on stage at the Electric Ballroom in London

Jawbox were brilliant, part two #image

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Jawbox performing on stage at Whelan's

Jawbox were brilliant #image

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Cyborg capybara, generated by DALL-E AI

My favourite is the one on the bottom right #image

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Young bird sitting in a batch of long grass, viewed from above

Is this a starling chick? Anything I can do? Just leave it till its parents find it? > @MacDara #image

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Found this little one on my desk #image

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Quite the couplet in my timeline #image

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Not sure why Duolingo doesn’t consider this a streak milestone but whatever #image

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I’ve been walking a lot lately, trying to make it a habit again. Here’s one of the sights from my usual route #image

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> There are bus stops within metres of where this photo was taken #image

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> Timeline magic @EZSnappin @DDDrewDaniel #image

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> Bonus points for being at the show where he started this reign > @FiteTV #image

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2001 called; it wants its festival lineup back > @MacDara #image

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Close-up of a Jushin Thunder Liger action figure

Got my green Liger fig from @RingsideC in this morning’s post and, er, I think there’s something missing… > @MacDara #image

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Was in Drogheda this afternoon. Here’s a seagull and fledglings on a roof > @MacDara #image

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Decent watercolour wash over Dundalk this evening

Decent watercolour wash over Dundalk this evening > @MacDara #image

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Hey @lidl_ireland do you think this potato I just brought home is in sellable or edible condition? Because I don’t

Hey @lidl_ireland do you think this potato I just brought home is in sellable or edible condition? Because I don’t > @MacDara #image

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Last post before Christmas had The Last’s ‘lost’ second album Look Again which sounds pretty damn good to me #image

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Went out early for the big shop and saw a seal #image

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Look who I found on Apple Maps last night. #image

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Stuck on Animal Crossing Wild World for the first time in, like, a decade and I found this in my mailbox #image

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Jushin Thunder Liger and Ebessan action figures, boxed for display

Look what I just picked up from the post office @Liger_NJPW @kikutarosan > @MacDara #image

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Another thing I did not expect to be doing this week: seeing this > @MacDara #image

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Caught the sky looking gorgeous…

Caught the sky looking gorgeous earlier this evening. #image

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Godzilla: The Showa Era Films box set

Look at how gorgeous this artwork is. And the individual covers within the set are just as fantastic. It’ll make it hurt that bit more if it turns out this box set won’t be getting a European release/can’t be played on Euro Blu-ray players. #image

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A collage featuring WWE wrestler Shinsuke Nakamura

The ‘dream match’ between AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura at WrestleMania 34 turned out to be a bit less than what we were sold. But this gallery on WWE.com in the run-up to the event was a nice touch regardless. #image

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