Paul O’Brien
@ifdestroyed.bsky.social
📤 1582
📥 528
📝 1624
Writes about comics at housetoastonish.com
This is right. The download market is tiny these days. If you're listening digitally, you're streaming. If you're buying, you're doing it physically. Being number 1 on a genre download chart is meaningless.
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about 8 hours ago
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On House to Astonish, this week's chart post.
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House to Astonish » Charts – 7 November 2025
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11521
3 days ago
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Paul O’Brien
Al Kennedy
3 days ago
17 years ago THIS VERY DAY,
@ifdestroyed.bsky.social
& I released the first episode of House to Astonish, a podcast of comic book news & reviews with a bit of mucking about at the end. To mark the occasion, I thought you might want to hear that first mildly wonky episode!
archive.org/details/Hous...
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House To Astonish Archive : Al Kennedy and Paul O'Brien : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
An archive of the first 51 episodes of comic book podcast House to Astonish, previously made available for free via Podomatic.com but now otherwise unavailable.
https://archive.org/details/HouseToAstonishArchive
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On House to Astonish, this week's X-Axis.
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House to Astonish » The X-Axis – w/c 3 November 2025
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11524
3 days ago
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Paul O’Brien
General Boles
5 days ago
BBC really burying the lede there
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On House to Astonish, annotations for Laura Kinney: Sabretooth #2.
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House to Astonish » Laura Kinney, Sabretooth #2 annotations
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11518
4 days ago
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On House to Astonish, annotations for Binary #2.
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House to Astonish » Binary #2 annotations
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11515
5 days ago
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On House to Astonish, annotations for Amazing X-Men #2.
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House to Astonish » Amazing X-Men #2 annotations
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11512
6 days ago
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Um… I think for that point to work the city has to have defeated him before at some point. Did I miss the bit where that happened?
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7 days ago
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Paul O’Brien
pixelatedboat aka “mr bluesky”
7 days ago
Wow. In another huge upset, Mesmero, the Master of Mentalism, has been elected mayor of Chicago. Political pundits are shocked - he’s a first-time candidate who barely spent anything on advertising, and there wasn’t even an election scheduled for today
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Paul O’Brien
Dr Selena Wisnom
9 days ago
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
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My bet is that she and her family will cope by using the conventional oven which is clearly visible to the right of the photo.
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9 days ago
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On House to Astonish, this week's chart post.
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House to Astonish » Charts – 31 October 2025
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11506
11 days ago
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The Radio 1 chart show isn't a well produced show at the best of times, but playing the entire instrumental version of "WGFT" by Gunna & Burna Boy without noticing is quite something. It has a looped background vocal (now clearly audible) of "We getting fucked tonight."
11 days ago
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Paul O’Brien
Rob Ford
12 days ago
Good news, though with two important caveats: 1. "Winning" in the current Dutch context means "being the tallest Hobbit in Hobbiton" - D66 won 17% of the vote and has 26 seats in Parliament - with 76 needed to govern. 2. Far right vote didn't fall overall, it just split between three parties
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reposted by
Paul O’Brien
FT Alphaville
12 days ago
Big shed, funky bond.
as.ft.com/r/43444409-b...
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A closer look at the record-smashing ‘Hyperion’ corporate bond sale
[FREE TO READ] Buckle up, fixed income nerds
https://as.ft.com/r/43444409-bfb6-4029-81e2-9ea6b1da5d48
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On the blog, this week's X-Axis.
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House to Astonish » The X-Axis – 30 October 2025
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11504
12 days ago
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On House to Astonish, annotations for Expatriate X-Men #1.
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House to Astonish » Expatriate X-Men #1 annotations
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11501
13 days ago
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I think what we have to admire here is that the Dutch political system has not run out of colours.
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13 days ago
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On House to Astonish, Daredevil Villains #62: The Congregation of Righteousness.
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House to Astonish » Daredevil Villains #62: The Congregation of Righteousness
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11436
16 days ago
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On House to Astonish, this week's chart post.
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House to Astonish » Charts – 24 October 2025
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11493
18 days ago
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One way of reading this would be that party members are not, in fact, that bothered about the direction of the party and keen to send a message to the leadership about it. That is probably how the leadership will interpret it.
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18 days ago
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On House to Astonish, this week's X-Axis.
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House to Astonish » The X-Axis – w/c 20 October 2025
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11491
18 days ago
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Paul O’Brien
Dr Seth Thévoz
19 days ago
Well, that's the lesson for Labour in tonight's Caerphilly by-election: keep obsessing about losing votes on the right, placating Reform voters...and lose votes on to the left. Here, Plaid Cymru benefitted. I wrote about Labour's strategic dilemma here:
www.opendemocracy.net/en/labour-st...
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On House to Astonish, annotations for X-Men: Book of Revelation #1.
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House to Astonish » X-Men: Book of Revelation #1 annotations
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11488
19 days ago
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Paul O’Brien
Alex Andreou
20 days ago
Quite an unfortunate place to drift off into an ellipsis.
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Marios Richards
20 days ago
A policy *supported by a smaller % of the population* than it would seek to deport!
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On House to Astonish, annotations for The Last Wolverine #1.
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House to Astonish » The Last Wolverine #1 annotations
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11485
20 days ago
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Paul O’Brien
Todd in the Shadows
22 days ago
Despite my ambitions to be literate and well-read, I have steadfastly refused to learn what "sanguine" or "phlegmatic" mean. You can try to tell me below but I will forget, same as I always do. The four humours are a stain on human history and we should erase its influence on our vocabulary
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reposted by
Paul O’Brien
Al Kennedy
23 days ago
House to Astonish Episode 215 is now live, as
@ifdestroyed.bsky.social
and I chat through the news out of NYCC and review the first issues of Endeavour and DC K.O.! Fill yer boots!
bit.ly/astonish215
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House to Astonish » House to Astonish Episode 215
https://bit.ly/astonish215
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Paul O’Brien
oli
23 days ago
Edinburgh castle failing to render, likely thanks to the AWS outage
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I should watch more AEW. Where the WWE long since defaulted to generic entrance graphics, AEW still thinks this is a perfectly reasonable entrance video for a stable of wrestlers.
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"Conglomeration Blvd." The Conglomeration AEW Entrance Theme | AEW Music
YouTube video by AEW Music
https://youtube.com/watch?v=xzMgfC7G4fw
24 days ago
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On House to Astonish, this week's chart post.
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House to Astonish » Charts – 17 October 2025
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11477
25 days ago
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On House to Astonish, this week's X-Axis.
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House to Astonish » The X-Axis – w/c 13 October 2025
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11475
25 days ago
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On the contrary, this is pattern recognition at its finest.
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25 days ago
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Paul O’Brien
Ricardo Autobahn
26 days ago
Props to Mercury Communications still getting their sponsorship money's worth 28 years after they expired. In these days of boom and bust that's quite an inspiring business model.
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On House to Astonish, annotations for Rogue Storm #1.
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House to Astonish » Rogue Storm #1 annotations
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11471
26 days ago
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Paul O’Brien
Paula Surridge
27 days ago
From the cross tabs - these figures are equally newsworthy but I think a much better reflection of vote intention Don't know 34% Conservative 10% Labour 9% Liberal Democrats 7% Reform UK 22% Green Party 9% Scottish National Party (SNP) 2% Plaid Cymru 1% Other 5%
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On House to Astonish, annotations for Unbreakable X-Men #1.
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House to Astonish » Unbreakable X-Men #1 annotations
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11468
27 days ago
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On House to Astonish, this week's chart post.
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House to Astonish » Charts – 9 October 2025
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11465
about 1 month ago
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Paul O’Brien
David Bryant
about 1 month ago
Blog update: on w/e 2nd November 1985 The Cult reached number one in the NME Indie Charts with "Rain", a National Top 20 hit which has lived in the shadow of "She Sells Sanctuary" since. It's, er... really nothing like as memorable in general.
indienumber1s.blogspot.com/2025/10/69-c...
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69. The Cult - Rain (Beggars Banquet)
All the singles to top the NME Indie Charts since its launch in 1981, complete with an overview of the other music in the charts each week.
https://indienumber1s.blogspot.com/2025/10/69-cult-rain-beggars-banquet.html
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Also, every time I see that name, it takes me a fraction of a second to remind myself that the film is not, in fact, called TRON: ARSE. I accept that this may be more of a British issue.
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about 1 month ago
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On House to Astonish, this week's X-Axis.
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House to Astonish » The X-Axis – w/c 6 October 2025
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11463
about 1 month ago
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On House to Astonish, annotations for Laura Kinney: Sabretooth #1.
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House to Astonish » Laura Kinney, Sabretooth #1 annotations
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11460
about 1 month ago
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Paul O’Brien
Charles EP Murphy
about 1 month ago
But don't worry, Lecornu's relaunch is starting with four variant covers and a tie-in to the current crossover, he'll sell THIS time
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Not surprising. Music channels just don't make any sense in a world where YouTube exists. In theory they could serve a curator function but in practice radio does that better.
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about 1 month ago
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On House to Astonish, annotations for Binary #1.
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House to Astonish » Binary #1 annotations
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11457
about 1 month ago
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On House to Astonish, annotations for Amazing X-Men #1.
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House to Astonish » Amazing X-Men #1 annotations
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11454
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
Paul O’Brien
On House to Astonish, Daredevil Villains #61: Willow.
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House to Astonish » Daredevil Villains #61: Willow
https://www.housetoastonish.com/?p=11364
about 1 month ago
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Paul O’Brien
Al Kennedy
about 1 month ago
I maintain there is absolutely a book to be published in collecting Paul's columns on this
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