Oisín Breen
Poet, Financial Journalist (RIABiz), and occasional narratologist.
Buy my work here: linktr.ee/OBreen
@Breen@mastodon.ie // @Breen
- Back in the 90s, as a teen, I supported the 'blue ribbon campaign' to stop government censorship of the internet. I now realise, I was absolutely and categorically wrong. We should have let government take control, then and there.
- On WashPo, are there any old legacy minded philanthropists who could give the 300 fired start-up cash to bootstrap a trust-owned paper? There's literally the exact talent to start a full paper next week, with some ad men and finance needed. Lean, mean, & angry. It's perfect.
- One day, perhaps, the 90% of Gen-Z, who can't stop waggling their feet or wiggling their legs, at all times, will learn how to sit still. I've never quite understood why they are such ferocious adepts of constantly fidgeting. Did their parents never say, stop fidgeting?
- I'd recommend people in the US read this book today.
- Remembering the guy at house parties who always tries to take over the music to play you 'real hot shit,' in other words, the seven millionth attempt to play arcade five, the flaming lips, and, maybe, Beirut. Is he still a thing?
- Strumpet City What a line.
- Good stuff for a Saturday afternoon.
- From now on, imagine Trump's speeches in valley girl vocal fry. 'oh my gawd, it's juhst soh unfair, we got everything, then we wanted more and they said no? Like worst people ever!' Then you realise how small, how weak the man really is. A petulant embarrassment.
- Slightly surreal listening to Schwab's do-de-da-do-de-da-do earnings call pre-call muzak for work, when everyone in the world is listening to the orange nitwit at Davos.
- Christ, minus 7 outside, inside this taxi, his thermostat's at 35... And he's wearing a bubble boiler coat... God damn, why!? Just because it's freezing out, doesn't mean beach weather inside... I'm dressed for the cold, this cab is ghastly as a result.
- Where did all the adults in the US go? Can we ask the bond market to do us a favour and force someone like Mario Draghi on them? You know... Boring ... Competent... Dull... Not utterly fucking mental. It's not a big ask, right? An actual adult in charge? They elect movie & TV stars. It's weird.
- Isn't there an incompetence article in the US constitution? You'd think now might be an appropriate time.
- I've been accosted by a Styrian truck driver who keeps buying me shots. Amazingly my German is vaguely holding out.
- Went to an Eng lit event in a European city. Was sure it'd suck (it largely did, bar 2, and 2 nice people in crowd), but it strikes me just how homogeneous these things now are. No risk taking, no attempt at art, just drab beige and authenticity bingo.
- How it's taken me 40 years to read Strumpet City...
- I absolutely bloody love that this was reported in the news...
- If Iran does break from the Ayatollah, just how badly does that hurt Russia, I wonder. Would China fill the weapons shortfall?
- Duck yeah
- Art is not about you.
- Ah Dublin Dublin Dublin Town
- Hessell, my best friend, the rabbit, died today, last year. I miss him greatly. Last of a wonderful warren of four. My love for them is absolute.
- Happy New Year from Jamaica!
- Christmas, the time of giving. @aerlingus1.bsky.social long haul flight, hold my beer. #enshittification #ripoffireland
- Happy Christmas!
- Happy Christmas!
- The pleasures of home.
- "'Censorship of free speech' is mere code for the regulation of social media corporations," says Fintan O'Toole. Solid article.
- Tomorrow, the 36-day Odyssey begins. Edinburgh -> Dublin -> Toronto -> Jamaica -> Toronto -> Dublin -> Vienna -> Edinburgh. Thank god for remote working.
- Reposted by Oisín Breen🚨 The UK government just published a breakdown of the responses to its consultation on AI & copyright: - 95% of respondents want AI companies to pay for their training data (made up of 88% saying strengthen copyright law, & 7% saying leave it as is) 🧵 1/2
- There's a real chance 'ai' will go the way of 3d cinema or smell-o-vision. It's already painfully uncool,its biggest fans are derpy basement dwellers mewling that their theft is 'gatekept creativity,' and the tech bros are mostly so dweeby it hurts.
- As a smoker, who accepted the smoking ban, I'm increasingly tempted to suggest we should all just light up beside and blow smoke in the face of anyone on public transport playing music without headphones.
- "He was compromised between a pun, and a text." Charles Maturin, 1820.
- Day 2.5 of cold. It has defeated my dream of recovering sufficiently to totteringly attend a long booked opera evening. The sucker is, I'm about 70% certain I'll be well again tomorrow.
- You might not think so, but looking after 120 house plants takes a bloody tonne of work.
- I'm sick to my back teeth about the 'HR'ification of the literary world. I'm not a 'select' group, but I write pretty damn good work. It's constant, and the prioritization of 'who', not 'what'. Gah! It probably marks me out as a pariah, or problematic, or whatever, but fuck off.
- I do normally avoid putting headphones on when working in cafés, but dear god these two people sitting beside me have such squeaky voices, it's mind-numbing!
