Rob Wickings's Blog, page 19
April 23, 2022
The Cut Season 3 Episode 17
Two four-day weeks in a row and we blink and it’s the weekend again. The season of bank holidays is upon us, and we get to breathe a bit before summer rolls in on us. There are five tomato plants in the office, all reaching and stretching towards the sunlight, unfurling pale yellow flowers in delight as the days lengthen. There’s a lot of crap out there. We believe in focussing on the small things which bring a little joy to life. It would be hugely presumptuous of us to assume our weekly emissions could be factored into your list of small joyful things, but hey, we’re here regardless.
This week—time loops, frog porridge and the scariest episode of Space: 1999. If you’re gonna go niche, go hardcore niche.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
Hit up the link below. It will provide you with the opening page of a book. Read it. If you like what you get, you can find out what the book’s called, who it’s by and where you can get a copy. Honestly, it’s that simple. It’s also massively enabling for the bibliomaniacs amongst The Readership (we like to think the majority of you are book-hungry, to put it mildly). Some habits are worth tending like tomato plants. Feed those hungry roots.
You don’t get a great deal of good food writing in the local press these days, sadly. Which makes this review of a humble cafe in Chorlton in Manchester all the more remarkable. It understands the big rule of good writing about food—it’s never just about what’s on the plate.
Film School Rejects has issued a list of the 75 best closing shots in cinema. They will no doubt have missed your favourite. Maybe you’d like to tell us how badly they messed up. You know we love to hear from you.
Nothing More Important Than An Ending
Our home town of Reading is best known nowadays as a tech hub, making the grade in the Sunday Times list of Best Places To Live for 2022. Traditionally, though, Dingtown was defined by its production of The Three B’s—beer, bulbs and biscuits. Handsome and charismatic local writer Steve Charnock looks into the most important of those three and reflects on the resurgence in brewing in Dingtown. We’re waiting for the craft biscuit revolution, frankly…
The most important B in Reading
In further food news… look, give it a year and we’ll all be eating this stuff.
We finish the food portion of proceedings in the same way everything we eat ends up. This long piece by Ian Belcher was published back in 2002 but still has much relevance to the tail end of the human condition. Shit happens, alright?
We were not aware, before reading this great review of Frank Tashlin’s The Girl Can’t Help It, that the director started off in animation. It makes a lot of sense, looking back at the film. Animators know to work moment to moment, punchline to punchline, letting the funny bits build to a hilarious whole. We recommend The Girl Can’t Help It as a snapshot of the moment Hollywood saw rock and roll as something to exploit without quite knowing how to do it. This was, of course, the dizzy point in time where audiences would tear up cinemas in glee at the opening credits of otherwise dour and preachy youth drama Blackboard Jungle just because it was soundtracked by Bill Haley and The Comets’ Rock Around The Clock.
Editor Rob considers his childhood…
‘I was a nervous and easily spooked child who loved science fiction. The 70s, as the scariest decade for British kid’s entertainment, were no fun for me. On the BBC, Doctor Who under the evil auspices of Douglas Adams explored all the horror tropes going, from mummies to aristocratic one-eyed tentacled art collectors. ITV was no better. Space: 1999 regularly featured horror icons like Christopher Lee and, in the notorious episode Dragon’s Domain, showed moments designed to scar a boy’s psyche for life. No wonder I spent most of 1978 behind the sofa shivering with fright…’
The Cut is a petrol-head free zone. Perversely, we love automotive design. We especially love this excellent database of concept cars, wild-eyed dreams of motors which never existed. Useful for artists looking for futurey inspiration or just those of us who like to imagine taking a ride in something less ordinary.
Last call. Joseph Mallozzi is a TV writer with an extensive CV and a pleasing sense of delight in his chosen form. He’s always entertaining and informative but he’s on point when talking about his favourite kind of SF story—the time loop episode. There are rules, of course, but the fun comes in finding out how to break them. Re-rewind. Flip it back and reverse it.
A whole concert for your Exit Music pleasures this week. The return of Arcade Fire has been met with delight by all members of The Cut Crew. Their epic set at the recent AT&T Block Party shows a band on top form, ready to go. Fists high. Get hollering.
See you next Saturday, neighbours.
April 16, 2022
The Cut Season 3 Episode 16
Happy Eggmas! Googoogachoob as the Beatles traditionally wassail at this most merry time of sacrifice and rebirth. We hope you are enjoying the equinox vibes and trust Bunny Jesus laid lots of delicious chocolate nuggets under your trees. As the blossom sprouts and our tomato plants stretch towards the sky, we hope we can give your long weekend some linktastic moments.
This week: Nicolas Cage, some great food writing and all the science fiction you can handle!
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
Let’s be honest, we don’t really deserve Nicolas Cage. He is unafraid in the face of possible failure and has pulled off the trick so few actors manage—staying himself no matter what role he plays. He is deserving of no less than our complete love and admiration.
A Sincere Man In An Ironic World
The femme fatale—one of the key ingredients in the spicy stew that is noir fiction. Sometimes predatory, always ambiguous in intent, she brings the heat and provides the meat. Angelica Jade Bastien takes a look at one of the great modern femme fatales and the actress born to play her…
‘You’re not too smart, are you? I like that in a man’.
Horror and SF has become all the better over the last decade as Black, female and queer creators bring new perspectives to the field. Just look at the list of Nebula and Hugo winners recently for proof (and more on that subject later). We loved Celia Mattison’s piece on the scream in horror, and how even that simple building block carries a lot of weight.
British comedy is the best in the world. There, we said it. The writing and performances are consistently ground-breaking and shape-shifting. From Charlie Chaplin to the Derry Girls, no nation does it better. But comedy is a harsh mistress, and no vision emerges without scars. Lee Tyrell takes a long hard look at the comedy moments we haven’t seen, and some of the best-kept secrets.
The Ninth Art Desk is open! First up, a beautifully coded piece of web design from Amy Wiboro on growing up online. For those of us who know the distinctive mating call of a modem connecting, this will bring on all the feels.
This is a nice surprise. Mangaka extraordinaire Tatsuki Fujimoto has just dropped a free 200-page story on Viz Media’s website. A fascinating take on creativity, grief and the blurred lines drawn between fact and fiction, Goodbye, Eri is a delight. Bleeding Cool gives some extra context, and we’ve provided a link to the comic too.
Norman Garrett owns a vintage Porsche 914 that he keeps unlocked. This would, you’d think be an easy mark for a thief with a penchant for old cars. Norman offers some hints to anyone with the foolhardiness to attempt such a caper.
Some process nerdery which will be of no interest to anyone who doesn’t run a blog or newsletter. Needless to say, this particular item is catnip to Editor Rob. We base a lot of the under-hood mechanics going into The Cut on the thoughts of Robin Sloan, Austin Kleon and Dan Hon. The curious may enter. All others pass along the carriage, please.
Cut Crush Jack Monroe spent some time this week eviscerating the thoughtless mindset which states food poverty is an easy fix and mostly the fault of those who suffer from it. This sort of nonsensical victim-blaming is, of course, patently bollocks and it’s a shame Jack needed to spend some of her valuable time on pointing out the bleedin’ obvious. We’re glad she did, though. Her writing is always on point and highly entertaining. We’re not sure if our favourite Jack is the goofy geeky nerd ball with a silly sense of humour or, as here, the furious avenging angel. We’ll take any and all we can get.
It’s not about the pasta, Kevin.
On the subject of good food writing, here’s a useful overview from The Atlantic on some of the best examples in literature. Yes, ok, those madeleines are in the list, but there are other delicious moments to be had.
And finally. If you want an idea of the rude state of health of modern science fiction, we have a treat. Super Punch has collated a handy list of every short fiction nominee for the 2022 Hugos, all available to gobble up for free. Quality is guaranteed. Go on, dig in! It’s Easter, what else are you gonna do?
Right, brace yer selves. We’re going out with a clang boom bang as we crank up some Tom Waits. Goin Out West is our man in full ‘hollerin’ hillbilly beating up on percussion built from a broken-down combine harvester and an inflated goatskin’ mode. This is rock n roll, Readership. This is the blue milk straight from the teat. Spring’s a-comin, let’s face it with teeth bared and shovels sharpened.
See you next Saturday, chickadees.
April 9, 2022
The Cut Season 3 Episode 15
As Covid rates spike, the inevitable hit to the workplace is cracking knuckles across the UK. Sadly, The Cut is not immune to the events of the outside world, and The Situation has finally made itself apparent in the office. Most of the Cut Crew are off, isolating and dealing with the brain-fog and exhaustion which seem to be the signature moves of this iteration of the virus. However, we carry on. Our plans for the weekend may be in tatters, but our obligation to The Readership is the fuel which will keep us going.
Despite everything, now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
(Featured pic created by IA image-generator WomboDream, using the keyword Covid).
It’s important to fact-check most of the stuff you come across on the interwub. Don’t ever take things at face value. There may be malice afoot. Or the sheer joy of playful invention leading us down a delightful but obviously absurd path. Take the work of prankster Chis Shapan, whose editing and Photoshop skills along with a solid background in comedy have come together to birth a wonderful set of faux-retro clips and ads.
The years of cinema before the Hays Code were an era of unbridled creativity. Films dealt boldly and brilliantly with adult subjects in an adult way, treating their audiences with respect. After Hays, cinema became a bowdlerised shadow—movies would take decades to recover from the regressive infantilisation. The so-called Pre-Code films are starting to reappear, giving us the chance to revel in a storytelling era which is close to lost. Take this review of forgotten drama Three On A Match, which sounds like an absolute stonker…
Brain Worms—like ear worms but for ideas. As we have come to realise over the past couple of decades, information is viral. As The Situation rages and we have retreated to a data-rich, fact-poor environment, it’s easier than ever to catch ideas which have the nutritional value of cardboard. How do we steer clear of brain worms? Not easy, and you won’t like the conclusions.
Film critic and all-round cool cat Anne Billson understands good content. Stay away from the conspiracy theories and silly memes and focus on something good, pure and honest—her rundown of toilets in the movies. You know it makes sense.
Short fiction time. Kij Johnson’s Raratoskr manages to include both squirrel ghosts and a squirrel god into a tale of growing up and letting go. It’s warm and sweet, but unflinching in the understanding that all things must pass.
Another great bit from writer Adam Roberts, who we admire with increasing fervour. His piece on the Thames and Kennet, and the place where they meet, (our beloved home town of Reading), has a brilliant final argument. We’re fully behind his proposal to rename, or at least acknowledge, the roots of the river’s name…
Beer. Lovely, lovely beer. Source of and solution to so many problems, to paraphrase that great thinker and drunk Homer Simpson. It’s ever more apparent that beer, rather than bread, is possibly the first processed foodstuff and as such is a major keystone in the construction of our civilisation. Archeologists are discovering more evidence of brewing activity at the earliest explored junctures of human history, which would be amazing enough. But they are also using the yeast cultures they find there to brew their own. We’ll take a pint!
Vampires are cool and all, but we’ve always been bigger fans of the werewolf. Somehow, the stories of the folk who are hairy on the inside seem to be more thematically rich, dealing with the effects of the seasons and the moon on our spirits, the duality of human nature, and ultimately discussions on good and evil. Here’s a great piece in the London Review Of Books on a particular court case dealing with an unrepentant werewolf in fifteenth-century Latvia who believed he was on the side of the angels…
What We Talk About When We Talk About Werewolves
Spiritualised have a new record out this week. We are very fond of their psych-blues-gospel stylings and The Music Desk recommends you give Everything Was Beautiful a listen on its release. However, we are more concerned at the moment with an earlier iteration of the band who, alongside other British psychonauts, sought to bring a different splash of colour to the Second Summer Of Love in the mid-eighties. If acid house hadn’t happened, we could have had strange days indeed…
And finally. Here’s a big find. One of the greatest SF films of all time, Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, has just arrived on YouTube in full in a sparkling HD transfer. It’s been posted by rights-owner Mosfilm, who have clearly seen the benefits in sharing a classic of modern fantastic cinema with the masses. We seriously recommend you spend time with this film. It’s a slow burn but gets right under your skin and into your soul. Take the trip.
A huge treat for this week’s Exit Music. Celebrate with us the return of Elizabeth Fraser, working with percussionist Damon Reece as Sun’s Signature. An EP under that name will be out for Record Store Day on June 18th with a digital release following on in July. Here’s the first track, “Golden Air”, a gorgeous pastoral-psych balm to our fuddled brains, a cool palm on our fuming brows. We needed this, and it’s sweet that Liz chose to broke her 13-year silence to help us out. She’s one of the good ones.
See you next Saturday, survivors.
April 2, 2022
The Cut Season 3 Episode 14
This time last week we had a staff day out to the seaside and ate a chippy lunch on the pier at Bognor Regis in our shirtsleeves. Now we’re wrapped up in thermal underwear, watching the snow fall.
The weather may not be predictable, but at least you can count on your pals at The Cut for something juicy to snuggle up to in front of a blazing fire (as no-one can afford to run the central heating any more).
This week–putting bad mojo on Hitler, the unexpected beauty of slime moulds and what to do if you’re trapped in a cabin with Lord Byron.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
We’ve spoken before about Steve Albini—musician, producer, troublemaker. He speaks his mind, and there’s a lot on it. Steve was the fearsome intelligence behind the soundscapes of a ton of brilliant albums, guided by some simple rules and straightforward guidelines. Here, courtesy of Letters Of Note, is the pitch he sent to Nirvana when they were looking for a producer to their follow up to Nevermind. Steve got the gig.
Science fiction is the guiding force for a lot of the technology we’re living with today. A bold statement, we know, but as an example Star Trek communicators and tricorders were a key influence behind the tablets and smartphones we carry around with us. The folks that built them admitted as much. But science fiction has always been about more than the science, as the folks behind the Sci-Fi Economics Lab are keen to prove. We’re not just talking about bitcoin, but a fundamentally different way of looking about money…
Sotherans is one of the oldest book dealers in the UK, with a proud history of dealing in rare and distinctive volumes. They also have a great sense of humour and an endearingly nerdy streak. What other bookshop do you know would publish a ready-to-roll one page role-playing game called Trapped In A Cabin With Lord Byron?
How do you combat evil? Do you treat it with kindness or violence? Do you skewer it in a withering light, or cast it into the outer darkness? For occultist William Seabrook, faced with the greatest evil of the 20th century, the choice was obvious. Along with a merry band that included an heiress to the Birdseye frozen food empire, he set out to hex the heck out of Hitler…
A couple of nice big photo galleries in this week’s ep. First up, these pics of disaffected American youth in the 70s and 80s from photographer Joseph Szabo are tiny stories from which you could build much bigger narratives. These scream of a time and a place that’s gone, an attitude which is eternal.
From the sublime to the more sublime. Or slime. Slime moulds, to be exact. Not glamourous, right? The clue’s in the name. But once you get up close—we mean really, really, close—a different story emerges. Barry Webb’s pictures are alien, bizarre, but beautiful.
The Wonderful World Of Slime Moulds
This long piece on the work which went into the creation of Robert Eggar’s latest movie The Northman (out in cinemas later this month) affirms the point we made last week about the collaborative nature of film. At the same time, it recognises the importance of a singular vision in art. We stand by our views but are prepared to admit there’s an element of truth to auteur theory after all…
(In the interests of full disclosure we should note Editor Rob, in his professional capacity, had a small role in putting The Northman on screen. No, he’s not Fourth Viking From The Back).
This one is a bit of a head-spinner, but worth the whirlies. Adam Roberts is one of our cleverest writers, and this bit on Victorian ghost stories and how they can be a way to think about the future play strongly into his joint areas of specialty–SF and Dickens. If you think the two subjects can’t track together, then buckle up, buttercups. This one’s for the hardcore…
We initially read the headline on this next piece as ‘The Life And Confessions Of Mob Chief David Ruggiero’ and nearly spun onwards. Then we read the lede again and found our interest re-piqued. Fair warning–the article is unflinching in its portrayal of mob violence. But it’s one heck of a story.
And finally. This chat with the magnificently named Jackson Galaxy will have some members of The Readership taking furious notes, and the rest rolling their eyes. If you’re cat people (Cut Central is firmly feline-friendly) you’ll understand.
We head back to 1986 for our Exit Music with the climax to Infected, Matt Johnson’s furious state of the planet statement—a statement which seems to make as much sense today as it did in the Thatcher-cursed times in which it was written. Directed by Tim Pope, the videos which accompanied the album were shot in Bolivia and have a febrile, apocalyptic verve which boils into full-on Jodorowsky-style surrealism when we hit the final track, The Mercy Beat. As Matt rampages through the streets of Bogotá in a custom-painted Caddy, challenging the devil to a knife fight, it’s all we can do to hang on for the ride.
See you next Saturday, hellions.
March 26, 2022
The Cut Season 3 Episode 13
The plan to lose readers last week worked well. A little too well. Boy howdy. If we could reverse-engineer the slide in views and fire up a mirror version we’d be in clover for sure. Hey ho, be careful what you wish for. Hope we didn’t honk you all off too much, Readership.
This week: more of the usual. Comics heavy. We may be about to shed another tranche of casual readers. ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
There is no set method to picking a book, not at Cut Central. We grab a tome with a come-hither look and see what adventures come out of the ensuing liaison. This method has worked well and has led to an embarrassment of riches. We’re thinking of hiring a librarian to keep order. However, other ways are available.
Unscientific Methods For Picking Your Next Book
We promised you more short fiction this year, and we are slacking. Allow us to make amends with a story from a favourite writer of ours, Robin Sloan. It’s a neat take on how authors and the fans of their work interact and what it takes to actually finish a work of art.
This is fascinating stuff from Mike Sowden at Everything Is Amazing. Why do we need to read early science writing, especially when so much of it has been fundamentally disproved? Why read classic fiction with its staid language and social mores that feel so wildly unrealistic to readers with a modern perspective? Good questions. The answer takes a slalom ride through hundreds of years of history to come to a conclusion we won’t spoil here. Take a deep breath and hit the slopes.
We struggle a lot with the idea of religious faith. Rampant atheists that we are, we can’t really understand the absolutism, the obstinacy or the mental mindset needed to simply wave away fairly obvious arguments and inconvenient facts as irrelevance. One thing we can agree on is the joy we find in the expression of that faith—in music, poetry, art and in this particular instance, architecture. The Chicken Church Of Indonesia may not have turned out as its creator intended, but the world would be a lesser place without it.
The Chicken Church Of Indonesia
It’s forty years since V For Vendetta first hit the news-stands in the pages of Warrior (you’d better believe we still have our copy stashed away) and Alan Moore and David Lloyd’s story doesn’t get any less relevant. We seem, if anything, to be moving closer and closer to the isolated and damaged England in which the story is set. A true classic of The Ninth Art.
Well, as we’re in a comics kind of mood… Moore and Lloyd both got a start in comics through the auspices of Tharg and The Galaxy’s Greatest Comic, 2000AD. One of the early strips which rang the bells of a lot of readers was The Harlem Heroes, a future-sport story with an all-Black leading cast—a radical step for staid old British comics. A new take on the story is launching as a bonus to 2000AD’s Regened line, designed to lure in younger readers who don’t care about 45 years of backstory. It’s colourful, fast-moving and lots of fun!
Comics creator Ronald Wimberley writes with insight and passion on another aspect of Black comics culture. Specifically how appropriation can take on many forms and be perceived in a host of different ways. Allow us to recommend Ronald’s Prince Of Cats, which is one of the most fun takes on Romeo And Juliet we’ve read in a very long time. Yeah, we’re slow on the uptake, but we get there eventually.
On comics, Black and Asian Culture
Food writer Jonathon Gold spent a year working, writing and eating his way down LA’s Pico Boulevard. It’s no Hollywood Boulevard. The neighbourhood (and OK, the food) can be rough. But as a major artery of the city, Pico pumps blood and life into the soul of the place. Gold understood that—one reason why his work on the lower-end of the LA food scene endures so powerfully today.
We suppose the Ukrainian conflict has to make appearances here in some form. We liked this bit in Eater on how the country’s blossoming fine-dining scene has pivoted to provide the essentials. After all, an army marches on its stomach…
And finally—this, tweeted by Sophia Cosby (@shmlophia) from Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott. Sophia calls it ‘the best writing advice ever’. We call it ‘standing order no. 1 for generating an issue of The Cut’.
We are late catching the Ghost train but wow, we’re glad to finally hitch a ride. The look is Slipknot if they caught religion. The sound is sleek, hook-heavy hair metal with Scandi-pop smarts. The closest example we can think of is Eurovision heavyweights Lordi, who understood the power of bonkers theatricality matched with a lick of the heavy stuff. Ghost’s latest album Imperative has blasted up the charts with good reason. These guys are a blast. Get on board.
See you next Saturday, ghoulies.
March 19, 2022
The Cut Season 3 Episode 12
At this point, we’d almost welcome a new variant of Covid, just to quiet things down a bit.
Kidding. Honest.
This week, we go all out to lose ourselves some readers.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
We had an inkling there was a community into ambient music. We were not aware that their views on gentle synthesised burbling or softly-blown pan pipes could be anything other than mild and slightly fuzzy round the edges. We were wrong. Take this detailed and frankly rather distressed review of—well, let’s just say you’ll never view low tide on the beach at Bournemouth in the same way again.
Fan culture is, of course, not easily quantified. An existing franchise—any existing franchise—can be easily spun off wildly into unexpected directions. Or, in the case of a collection of bars in South America, unexpected locations.
Can’t Get Enough Of That Wonderful Duff
We are big, big fans of comics editor Claire Napier. Her mordant views on the state of The Ninth Art keep us cheerfully grounded, and her insights are never less than educational. Here, she writes with her usual sharp focus and bone-dry wit about what it takes to be a comics fan in a country which views the form as little more than kids stuff.
It all starts with Frankenstein. Mary Shelley’s fever-dream tale is arguably the core text in both modern science fiction and horror. But it’s also a work of deep philosophical exploration. While we’re at it, Frankenstein could be an element of the spark which led to an explosion in modern science and medicine.
The Border And How It May Be Breached
After Yang, an upcoming SF movie starring Colin Farrell, sounds like one of those thoughtful and arty films which resonate long after their sadly limited theatrical engagements. If you’re fans of movies like Ex Machina and HER, this could be right up your information super-highway. Here’s an interview with Colin and film-maker Kogonada about the film. See you in the cheap seats.
Adventure cartoon Jonny Quest was not really a thing for British kids in its 1960s heyday, but it certainly was for a generation of American sprouts. Some of whom went on to major careers in the police and military. Which is a worry as Jonny Quest was without argument one of the most violent shows on the box…
We may lose followers by posting this long, thoughtful piece on how we got ourselves into such a state over gender. Big deal. We think Nancy Powaga is right on the money here, and happily endorse her message and her writing.
Time for refreshments. Lots and lots of refreshments. If you plan on eating your way through The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, better start off with an empty stomach. Although that adds to the risk of wooziness with all the booze on the schedule. It’s a finely-tuned balancing act. Nate Crowley takes the road less travelled…
There And Back Again In Time For Dinner
Film is a collaborative process. Getting a movie in front of a paying audience involves the hard work of hundreds of dedicated and skilled professionals. The auteur theory is plain wrong. Don’t ever believe a credit which say ‘a film by…’ unless it’s followed by the entire cast and crew list. But somehow, the myth that film music is the work of one composer is still out there and widely believed. Nope. Sorry. And now some of the people working for the big names in soundtracks want to be heard for themselves…
The Folks Who Write The Music For The Movies
And finally. The perfect piece for this here newsletter—nerdy, wide-ranging and gleefully uninterested in your level of patience. It also talks about comics at some point. We might just set up a stall there. Presenting the themes and magical thinking behind the lyrics of one of the great English mystics and poets, Mark E. Smith.
(As a sidebar to all the above, and only if you can stand any more, we offer The Mark E. Smith Guide To Writing). It’s not as long, promise. And it’ll get you into the pub.
Right, we need a blast of cleansing punk after that lot. Let’s crank up The Dead Boys, Live at CBGBs in 1977 with a furious noise-wall of a set. This is rock ‘n’ roll, Readership. This is the good stuff, fresh from the vein. Gulp it down. REFRESHING.
See you next Saturday, deadlings.
March 12, 2022
The Cut Season 3 Episode 11
This issue of The Cut is dedicated to Glen Dinning and the good people behind Blue Collar Corner, which opens in Reading today. It’s a street food and open-air bar venue which has grown from a single event to one of Dingtown’s most exciting ventures. Gods know, we need something to celebrate. Best of luck, folks! We’ll be down to see you soon.
Meanwhile, this week’s roster includes the lies of Robert Pattinson, long songs and the smallest coffee shop in London.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
We’d like to start with a piece that will be of interest to a select part of The Readership and completely bewildering to everyone else. For some kids of the seventies and eighties, hedge porn was a rite of passage and an uncomfortable signifier of the big strange world rearing up to meet us. We appreciate the time and effort which has gone into this overview of the subject. Ah, sweet nostalgia…
Celebrity interviews come in two different types. The dull, generic puff piece, released as part of the promotional campaign for a product featuring the face in question. Then there are stories which go completely off the rails with much unintended entertainment to be had (that Grimes interview this week where she inadvertently admits to having a second kid with Elon Musk springs to mind). Actually, there’s a third sort—the interviews given by Robert Pattinson. He makes sure he isn’t bored, that’s for sure…
This long read on a film and music festival in New York and the restless genius who ran it is all kinds of fascinating. Filled with twists and turns, it examines how patronage in the arts has always been a push-pull affair. How much can the artist get away with before they ruinously piss off the person funding them?
Look What We’re Doing With Your Money
We are great believers in the purity of the three-minute pop song—verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus, chorus, fade out. A simple and unbreakable formula. But you know, sometimes you just need to stretch out a bit.
For most of The Cut Crew, technophiles that we are, ‘luddite’ is an insult saved for those really choice moments and people who really honk us off. It’s really annoying to find out we’ve been using it wrongly for all these years.
Sure, you could use an old phone box as a tiny library. Many of them are doing sterling service as a handy dumping ground for those Dan Brown novels no charity shop will take. But the noble red boxes can serve in other ways. As long as you’re happy to take your fix to go, that is.
The Smallest Coffee Shop In London
This is probably a bit of an edge case (which the writer admits) but it’s nevertheless a fascinating glimpse at how a restaurant’s profit margin is calculated. Sometimes the counter-intuitive move is the right one to take.
The Maths Behind Closing A Restaurant On Saturday Night
The Wild West of popular fiction is just that—mostly made up. The lives of the pioneers who tamed the American frontier were stranger and wilder than the books and movies would have us believe. Like Willie Nelson sang, Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Each Other…
Buffy The Vampire Slayer is 25. Yeah. We know. Us too. Let’s not underestimate the massive influence of the show on modern pop culture and how it evolved the way episodic drama is written, performed and consumed. Buffy rules in our house, and we will brook no criticism. Ian Carlos Crawford, showrunner of the Slayerfest ‘98 podcast, discusses the enduring legacy of The Girl Who Saved The World. A Lot.
Of course, we can’t (sadly) celebrate the show without addressing the issues around its creator. The BBC presents a decent overview. The link title gives our view.
Finalment. Streaming services offer the illusion of choice. Sure, there’s a ton of stuff to watch. But there’s also a huge part of cinematic history which is simply unavailable. Horrifying example: less than 20% of the silent films which built the structure and grammar of cinema we take for granted can currently be watched in any form. We cheer on this new initiative to get films which have been unseen for decades back on the screen. Any screen.
This week’s Exit Music is delightful and bizarre. Chipmunks At 16 Speed does what it says on the cover—it’s a rip of an Alvin And The Chipmunks album covering pop and punk songs, slowed down to 1/16th speed. The result is doomy, gothy heaven.
See you next Saturday, chipmunks.
March 5, 2022
The Cut Season 3 Episode 10
Yeah. We know. Come on in. The kettle’s on. We have biscuits. The good kind. The Aldi kind with the chocolate on.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
This primer on how you get a tune to swing is pretty dang nerdy but there are plenty of good musical examples to listen to. Sometimes, it’s good to just wallow in musical theory for a while, understand how mathematically straightforward the whole thing is and how much the interpretation of a piece of music is down to the person playing it. If nothing else it implies an element of control, which has be comforting, right?
There’s a school of film criticism which excoriates the Daniel Craig era of Bond films as a wasted opportunity, heavily beholden to past glories. Of course, other opinions are available. Here’s a long but worthwhile examination of the last days of 007, paying attention to the construction of the films as a single piece of narrative and how callbacks to the past aren’t such a bad thing.
Boy, we’re skewing nerdy this week. What can we say? Reading is a comfort in uncomfortable times. You may have some questions after looking at this bit from Clive Thompson. Which is only to be expected, of course…
Darryl Cunningham is one of the British comic scene’s hidden treasures. Working in the factual realm, he has moved confidently from autobiography to politics. His latest book on Putin’s Russia is an absolute must-read, and a smart primer on understanding where we are and how we got here.
Putin’s Russia – A Graphic Depiction
BBC2’s Rock Till We Drop started this week and inevitably fumbled what could be an interesting idea—giving older people the chance to follow their dream of a moment of rock stardom—by framing it as a reality show complete with fake deadlines and contrived drama. Ugh, no thanks. We prefer the approach the Adult Music Club in Baton Rouge takes and their ace students, Your Mom. They’re in it for real, man. And they’ve brought cookies.
More music and another appearance from Stevie Wonder, as we look into his pioneering synth work. His run of solo albums in the seventies were an extraordinary outpouring of joyous creativity, sparked by Stevie’s realisation that he really could get the sounds in his head and give them to the people. All it took was a little bit of synthesis…
Why the story of how a young Julius Caesar was kidnapped by pirates and took his revenge has not been made into a movie or graphic novel is completely beyond us. It’s a tale for the ages with a compelling, if brutal, leading man. And oh, that ending…
Matt Reeve’s long, dark take on That Batman opens in cinemas this week. Whatever you think of another gloomy version of the Darknight Detective, it gives us another chance to see a fresh take on the most enduring comic book backdrops—the city of Gotham. The Ringer takes us through the many movie versions of Bruce Wayne’s home town and how they came to be put up on screen.
Yes, we Wordle. The initial news cycle and Contrary Opinions on the simple but addictive game have passed, thank goodness. We think it’s safe to confess, we enjoy a quiet five minutes with a grid and a single word each day. It’s a community thing, which Austin Kleon makes clear.
And finally. One last burst of nerdery, which may come in handy if you’re a creative in need of inspiration. Ideas are everywhere. You just have to be able to spot them. Or, if the well is dry, find a way to spark a train of thought. Lots of useful techniques in here. We think the specific focus is on journalism, but honestly, we think these could work in any discipline.
Have a blast of joyous power-pop to see you on your way into the weekend. This one-two hit of crunch and bang come from Superdrag, pinged to us though the radar of Marlin Mann. This hit all our needs hard. Needless to say, you’ll need to crank volume for the best effect. Join us, take a bit of you-time and jump around a bit. We guarantee you’ll feel better for it.
See you next Saturday, dragsters .
February 26, 2022
The Cut Season 3 Episode 9
Ok, look, we know it’s a shitstorm out there. We offer no commentary apart from the obvious position: we stand with Ukraine. Otherwise, we’ll do what we always do—try to offer a quiet, silly place for a bit of a breather from, you know, *gestures at everything* this. Hope we can help.
This week—Lego birds, dive bars and DJ booths.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
We found this bit in the New Yorker strangely fascinating. How is it that the same bit of news or information can be perceived differently depending on the method in which it’s delivered? We believe this is still relevant as we move from blogs to Substacks, Facebooks to TikToks, podcasts to—well, more podcasts, as far as we can tell.
The Medium Is Still The Massage
A little bit of loveliness. Art from humble means. Always make sure there’s some Lego in your house. It’s useful for all sorts of stuff.
Editor Rob had a tiny role in his professional capacity in bringing the Architects At Abbey Road project to fruition. They’re one of the most interesting heavy bands around and their story is equally fascinating. Dig up a track or two. Do we have to tell you to play them loud?
Staying with the Music Desk for a moment, we really enjoyed this deep dive into—well, a deep dive. Into a cake, to be precise. Into one of the most famous cakes in rock, to be more precise. No, not the one on the front cover of that Rolling Stones album, although it is pretty fab. Baked by Delia, doncha know.
We are, as a group, not drawn to the posh side of town, especially when it comes to finding a place to hang with a beer or several after work. No, we prefer a joint with a bit more of a divey vibe, where we can people-watch and air out our inner Bourdain. What defines that dive bar feel, though? Well, allow us (or rather, Alicia Kennedy for Bon Appetit) to enlighten you. No need to thank us, but the next round’s on you.
Look out, time for some comics. First up, we were very drawn to this new venture, a kind of companion to the venerable Tharg’s Future Shocks in 2000AD. Short and sharp tales with a skiffy twist. Like the best snacks, we guarantee one won’t be enough.
There have been many Opinions Regarding The Book Of Boba Fett, mostly negative (we thought the show was fine, if a bit slow to get going). Does the Galaxy’s Deadliest Bounty Hunter really need all that back story? We believe there’s no getting away from it now as Disney wring their IPs dry. As ever, you have to leave it to the comics world to get this stuff right. Here’s ND Stephenson with a lovely take on the early life of the Diamyo of Tatooine.
Then there’s this killer short from Daniel Warren Johnson which packs more emotion and action into a few pages than seems entirely fair. It’s a stonker, and all the more powerful for the lack of dialogue.
Dance music has always been guided by technology, a machine-driven groove. We’re not just talking about the methods of production. Distribution of the music is arguably more important. DJs controls the floor from their booth, but how they do it and the kit they use has been key in how they shape the sound of the music and the journey everyone takes through the course of the night.
One for the animation nerds out there, but equally fun for those of us curious about story, character and all the juicy stuff. Disney have released a very comprehensive guide into their bespoke methodology for animated film production, taking as a guiding text the brilliant Encanto. We found it all too easy to get lost in the side streets and fun little piazzas dotted through the site. Go on, dig in, get a bit lost. It’s worth the delve.
How Disney Make An Animated Movie
Bread is one of the most simple and complex foodstuffs we have. Flour, yeast, water. That’s it. So what happens when you swap one of those basic ingredients for something a little more—electrolytey?
And finally. Rule number one—never read the comments. It’s just not worth the psychic load and will leave you feeling significantly worse about humanity. Except on this occasion, when the comments are absolutely the point. Please read on and remember, add more garlic.
It’s rotten when Exit Music is just that—a tribute to an artist who has moved on down the road. Mark Lanegan hit the city this week, leaving behind an extraordinary catalogue of solo albums and killer collaborations (this tribute from Isobel Campbell is beautiful and heartbreaking). Mark’s music has been on constant rotation on the office stereo since the news of his passing landed. It feels in some ways that he left way too early, but his life was always conducted hard and fast, dancing with the dark-eyed lady until he finally gave up and let her take him home. There are so many songs we could have played. If you’re a fan, let us know which one you would have chosen.
See you next Saturday.
February 19, 2022
The Cut Season 3 Episode 8
Lots to talk about this week, so let’s crack on with it. In lieu of the usual strained folderol, here’s a quote, the meaning of which will become clearer as this week’s episode unfurls.
“Excellence in the great things is built upon excellence in the small.”
John Updike
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
Editor Rob takes the floor.
‘On this day forty-five years ago, the first issue of a new comic arrived in newsagents. Designed to take advantage of the increasing public interest in science fiction as Star Wars rolled towards UK shores, it became, and to an extent remains, a very British cultural phenomenon.
‘2000AD launched with Dan Dare on the cover, sharing space with a plastic frisbee (the legendary Space Spinner). The strips inside were a proper slumgullion: analogues of popular TV shows and movies (M.A.C.H. 1 as a cheeky copy of The Six Milliion Dollar Man, Harlem Heroes featuring a weird blend of the Harlem Globetrotters playing a jet-pack powered version of Rollerball); gritty near-future apocalyptic tales (Invasion! showed an incursion on UK shores by very lightly disguised Russians faced down by a cabbie called Bill Savage) and Ray Bradbury-style lunacy (Flesh is still a favourite of mine, with time-travelling cowboys harvesting dinosaurs for hungry 23rd century diners in the Jurassic era). Oh, and that old favourite Dan Dare, brought bang up to date with the psychedelic stylings of Massimo Belardinelli.
‘And we haven’t even mentioned the best-known member of the crew, Judge Dredd, who started in issue 2 and hasn’t missed a week since.
‘Imagine that lot in the hands of a dreamy, impressionable and already space-obsessed 9 year old. Readership, I never looked back.
‘I still hold a subscription to the comic, digital now. Admittedly my faith has not been untested. In the late nineties it became nearly unreadable as it chased different trends and evaporating audiences. Like many readers I assumed, come the title date, the comic would fade quietly away. But thanks to Oxford-based publisher Rebellion who took over in (yes!) 2000AD, it has roared back to loud and lunatic life, still anarchic and gleefully satirical. 2000AD’s influence spreads wide—an early home to most of the best-known comic artists and writers of the end of the 20th century, whose work now colours Marvel’s cinematic work and a thick fatty wedge of modern pop culture. Look deeply enough at the way we portray the 21st century, and you’ll see Tharg looking back at you.
‘I’ll stop gushing. Here’s an interview with the current editor, and an invite to an online convention in March featuring some very well-known guests. Splundig vur Thrigg!’
45 Years Of The Galaxy’s Greatest Comic
While the Ninth Art Desk is still open for business, let’s take a look at this great strip by Mallorie Udischas-Trojan describing her experience with a social media pile-on. Well worth a read if you think the best way to deal with such things is simply to switch off notifications for a while…
One more from the Ninth Art desk then we’ll move on, promise. We are, as has been mentioned on many occasions, huge fans of John Allison. His Bad Machinery strips, which introduce most of the current cast of books like Giant Days, are now hosted on GoComics and are available for free. Go ahead and immerse. It’s worth a few days of your time.
Ok, you can unclench, we’re done with the comics stuff. Ever wondered what it would be like to be on Mastermind? Wonder no more. Spoiler alert—just as terrifying as you’d imagine.
The English have a way of taking global cuisine, covering it in gravy and claiming bagsy on it. Chicken tikka masala, for example—a fine example of Birmingham’s cultural heritage. But there are some exports from our fair isle which have been given the reverse twist and shunted into international waters. What, as a thought exercise, do you think Mexicans call salsa inglesa?
Shakespeare’s Sister. Now that was a band. Their remarkable goth/glam stylings were a solid lock on many of the Music Desk staff’s Dixon-branded tape decks when they were but youngers. In an appropriately rambling chat with The Guardian, Marcella and Siobhan give us the skinny on the influences behind and making of their greatest hit. Altogevvah nah, once you’ve larded on an excess of eyeliner and squeezed into a spangly catsuit—‘you better…’
Thor Harris is a dude. Stocky of build, luxuriant of hair and beard, heart as big and solid as the furniture he crafts with his bare hands. Oh, Thor’s also one of the finest percussionists on the planet. Here, he outlines his tips for living a good, noble life which won’t leave you feeling like you’re missing out on the good stuff…
How To Live Like A King For Very Little
The Readership may recall we mentioned a food-replacement product called SquarEat which boiled yer meat and two veg down to pucks of plasticky goo. Doesn’t sound that great, but we shouldn’t judge without experience of the product. Hence the link below, where writer Ellis Brookes bravely takes the plunge. We’ll spoil no further—although you may want to have a glass of water to hand to help tamp down the gag reaction. Dig in.
Noir is becoming a bit of an overused phrase, applying to everything from boxset to podcast which features a vaguely grubby, morally ambiguous crime-based subject. Cut Crush Anne Billson argues that the term has a much narrower framing and should be applied as such…
We think this is The Bit Of The Week, the one you should read before all else. Taking on OCD, HIV and the music of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, it’s a ride you’ll be happy you took. We dedicate this one to X&HTeam-mate Rob Maythorne (just because of the music). Love you, man.
It has been over twenty years since any member of The Cut Crew tramped the streets of New York. When the opportunity presents itself again, we plan to take this thigh-twanging wander around some of the finest lobby art available to the adventurous cogniscenti. If you’re a fan of mid-century American art, there are many treats to be had here—and all for free, too!
A Different Sort Of Street Art
Aaaand finally. We refer you back to the Updike quote at the top of the post as we invite you to watch surrealist master Luis Bunuel make a dry martini. Pay attention. It really is about the simple things.
Luis Bunuel Builds A Dry Martini
Readipop (also known to locals as The Real Reading Festival) is finally back in the field (Christchurch Meadows in The Cut’s home manor of Caversham to be precise) this July. A heady mix of local bands, 90s stalwarts and a generally-applied Mellow Vibe, it’s a grand few days out. One of the headliners is Badly Drawn Boy, who knows how to bring the sunshine. This track, the opener from his hit album The Hour Of Bewilderbeast, hit a nerve unexpectedly when it popped up on The Custom Cut Musical Algorithm and brought on a sudden attack of the wobbly lip and blurry vision. Not great at 80mph on the M4. We survived to tell the tale. If you’re in the mood, it would be great to see you. Look out for Editor Rob rocking his cowboy hat.
Don’t engage too closely though. He might start talking to you about comics.
See you next Saturday, shiners.
