Rob Wickings's Blog, page 21
December 4, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 48
December has landed. Guess we’re getting into it. Here at Cut Central, we are gently breaking out the seasonal traditions. Daily readings from Nigel Slater’s The Christmas Chronicles (there’s no entry for December 4th—instead we are treated to his epic and essential treatise on the mince pie). Studious avoidance of Wham’s Last Christmas (no-one wants a #whamageddon). Even more determined swerving of the dull conversations as to whether certain action films are Christmas movies. And of course the supreme effort involved in holding off on the urge to dive into a hibernation-hole and not emerge until 2022. Christmas is a lot of work, yo! We try not to be grumpy but ultimately, we stand with Joni Mitchell when she sang:
It’s coming on Christmas
They’re cutting down trees
They’re putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
I wish I had a river I could skate away on
Classier than ‘Bah, humbug’, doncha think?
Anyhoo. This week, enjoy our figgy eggnog along with bits on the first turducken, David Bowie’s Christmas scarf and the best comic of 2021.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
But first, a puzzling urban artefact. Is the Norfolk Keyboard really an imprint of a print plate from an 18th century monastery? Well, probably not, but it’s still an interesting story…
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/norwich-keyboard
Robot Archie was a mainstay of the sixties and seventies Britcomic scene, barging around with no care for the people or buildings who got in his way. An iconic design matched to an increasingly irascible personality made his adventures in the pages of Lion a real treat. But things got really interesting when he was reinvented as a 90s raver. Mad mental crazy!
Our last episode went to press slightly too early to mourn the passing and celebrate the accomplishments of Stephen Sondheim. It would be impossible for us to sum up his achievements. Instead, we choose to dance, soundtracked by this brilliant disco reinvention of his greatest tunes. Play it loud, lovers.
Some people were confused at this post by director and delightful nerd Duncan Jones which recently resurfaced on Twitter.
Went looking for sock monkeys in the storage boxes and FOUND THE SCARF!!! YAY! pic.twitter.com/1pcdPqcD5U
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) December 23, 2020
That scarf is the one his dad wore for a very important bit of British TV history and was, for quite a few years, considered lost. It’s a great excuse to break out the story of Bowie and The Snowman again.
OK, we’re conflicted. Yes, Xmas can make us a little grumpy. But at the same time the time of the season has its own set of pleasures. And you know us, Readership. Any excuse to close up the airlock and snuggle down is welcome.
https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/the-best-time-of-year-is-when-it-gets-dark-at-4-p-m
Strictly speaking the turducken existed before December 1996. But a very particular meeting between the excessive Christmas centrepiece’s creator and football star turned commentator John Madden around Thanksgiving would bring the three-meat joy to a much larger audience. We could feel our arteries clog just reading this. In a good way.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32698561/the-day-john-madden-met-turducken
We’re going to get a little cosmic with you now. You may want to sit down with something mind-expanding or at least mood-altering to hand, as we join Ryan F. Mandelbaum in an exploration of the things we will never know. We find this strangely comforting. It’s a very, very big universe and yet there’s still a place in it for us and Christmas and turduckens.
https://gizmodo.com/what-we-will-never-know-1848104677
There are members of The Cut Crew old enough and ugly enough to remember and gently participate in the wildest of early Internet forums, Something Awful. It was a place where much of the furniture, mood and tone of today’s social media was trialled and prototyped. The recent death of the forum’s creator and abusive landlord Lowtax gives us a chance to look back and understand how influential Something Awful was and remains.
https://maxread.substack.com/p/the-most-influential-man-on-the-internet
Common discourse around the current movie scene is ‘it’s all superhero movies and IP grabs.’ Attempts to shift the arguments back towards the idea that Hollywood has always been about trend-chasing now settle on the idea of how in the 50s and 60s you couldn’t throw a rock at a big screen without hitting a western. It’s a reductive argument which Self-Styled Siren Farran Smith Nehme cheerfully and emphatically dismantles. Cinema really was more diverse back then…
https://selfstyledsiren.substack.com/p/box-office-blues
And finally. Ninth Art types like us have collectively lost their shit over Kelly Sue DeConnick and Phil Jimenez’s extraordinary Wonder Woman-Historia. A vast, furious and psychedelic retelling of the origin of Diana, we haven’t seen another comic like it this year. It reframes the stories you think you know into forms which will be uncomfortable for some. It’s the loudest, proudest piece of art going and we cannot recommend it highly enough. If you like mythology and fantasy, if you like Queer Eye and Drag Race, if you like art which stretches the boundaries of the possible and writing that doesn’t give a fuck about your feelings… you’re gonna freaking love this. Don’t just listen to us, though. Here’s more from Kelly-Sue and Phil on the comics event of 2021.
Spotify’s 2021 Wrapped lists rolled out this week, putting our listening habits under a harsh spotlight and leaving many wondering if we’d really listened to ABBA quite that much over the past 12 months (answer—yes, probably). The algorithm-generated playlist popping up as part of the event is also a good way to rediscover those songs we loved for a bit then forgot about.
A prime example for The Cut Crew is Aldous Harding’s delightful and surreal 2019 track The Barrel which showed up on a Daily Mix and hogged the stereo for a good couple of weeks in the summer. We think it’s about arranged marriages and possibly predatory behaviour. We could be wrong. Instead we choose to enjoy the way Aldous pronounces ‘gentle’ and her boss moves and groovy hat in the slightly creepy video below. Not festive in the slightest, but oh so very joyful.
See you next Saturday, ferrets.
November 27, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 47
Nearly there, writers. Nearly there. At the time of Ep 47s drop there are three days of Nanowrimo left. The majority are either finished, on the final push or have collapsed by the wayside. Then there are writers like us, who have chosen to do what they can, write every day but not stress the wordcount too much. Honestly, it’s helped our mental state no end this year. We will have accomplished what we set out to do, at any rate. Whether you’re struggling or cruising, just know that we are with you as November recedes into the rear view mirror. Whatever you’ve managed to do, you’ve done good.
Let’s give thanks for a distracting dip into this week’s flummery, featuring the Pirate Queen of Brittany, a deep dive into a very colourful movie and a masterclass in jazz piano.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
(featured image —NYC, Benn Mitchell via Flashbak.com)
As writers, we’re bothered by the increasing need for movies and books to explain everything. Why do we need to drip-feed our audience with every little bit of backstory, or make the motivation of our characters explicit rather than implicit? The bad guys and girls, particularly in the big franchises, can no longer just be villainous. There has to be painfully spelt-out motive and opportunity. Dorian Lynskey for Unherd has more on this very modern and frankly quite dull phenomenon.
https://unherd.com/2021/11/pop-psychology-has-killed-the-villain
This bit by Lux Alptraum on the theft and distribution of the Pam Anderson and Tommy Lee sex-tape is fascinating for all sorts of reasons. It taps into our obsession with celebrity, how we expect them to behave and what we can take from them, and the very nature of privacy in the digital age. With the upcoming release of a movie version of the story, we can look on this moment as the go signal allowing our toxic relationship with the rich and famous…
https://www.vulture.com/article/pam-anderson-tommy-lee-sex-tape-tabloid-podcast.html?s=09
We move ever closer to panto season, which means a whole new set of actors in tights wire-flying across the stage as Peter Pan. The character is, as author Adam Roberts points out, a much more complex character than the J. M. Barrie story shows us. An un-aging pagan deity with some very questionable morals? Oh yes he is…
https://medium.com/adams-notebook/adding-the-pan-to-peter-a2d59d63bc8c
Director Ridley Scott wasted time whinging this week about the luke-warm reception and decidedly chilly box-office to his movie The Last Duel. He blamed the lack of success on those young kids and their pesky mobile phones. We feel it had more to do with a flat and uninvolving story. If Scott is still up for epic historical dramas, we suggest an adaptation of the story of Jeanne De Clisson, the Lioness Of Brittany. The Cut Crew would be first in the queue for that!
https://narratively.com/the-pirate-queen-who-avenged-her-husbands-death-on-the-high-seas/
This may be the most important data visualisation you’ll see all week. Trust us. We’ll say no more.
https://www.chris-williams.me/fry-universe
We loved this jam strip in the New Yorker on the visit to a classic New York bar with cartoony connections from Ros Chast and Emily Flake. Their art styles are different enough to make things interesting while still feeling complementary. In short, the strip is a perfect depiction of a pleasant afternoon spent by two friends.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/11/29/two-cartoonists-walk-into-a-bar
Context for those of you who may not have heard of Bemelmen’s Bar: https://www.grubstreet.com/2020/11/bemelmans-in-repose.html
The end of November brings us, of course, to Thanksgiving weekend. Not an event celebrated in the UK, but the notion of spending a little time expressing gratitude for the things you have and people you love isn’t such a bad idea, once you decouple it from the inevitable colonialist baggage. How do you express that gratitude? With vast amounts of food? Again, not such a bad idea. Our pal Austin Kleon has another idea, and naturally it comes in the form of a zine.
https://austinkleon.substack.com/p/a-gratitude-zine
Another one from Unherd, who are going great guns right now with the stuff we like to read. If you’ve ever wondered where the new faces in film are coming from, well, it’s a smaller than expected talent pool. It ain’t what you know, folks, it’s who you’re related to…
https://unherd.com/thepost/acting-dynasties-are-ruining-tv/
Your deep dive for the week is a fascinating insight into the colour choices which guided the creation of one of the most interesting films of the last few years–the Safdie Brothers’ Uncut Gems (on Netflix if you haven’t seen it yet, we strongly recommend). Film is considered a visual medium, yet often it is examined purely in theatrical terms–storytelling and performance, with little attention given to what’s actually up on screen. But form and colour can be just as important in crafting a well-rounded piece of cinema…
https://filmschoolrejects.com/uncut-gems-color-theory/?amp
And finally. A bit of a sideways swerve for us, but we simply couldn’t resist this clip from the Dick Cavett show in 1980, featuring jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. In five minutes he provides a wonderful masterclass in how different musicians will approach the same piece of music. This is seriously lovely.
Peter Jackson’s revisit of the Abbey Road sessions which led to the breakup of the Beatles, Get Back, has just been released on Apple TV. It’s a telling document of an uncomfortable time, especially when it becomes clear how poorly George Harrison was treated by his fellow band members. He was bringing songs like All Things Must Pass to the sessions, which were sidelined with a shrug. It’s unsurprising he left.
The album with that song at its heart celebrates its 51st birthday this November. We thought we’d nod back to it with this performance of the title track at George’s tribute concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Paul steps up to take vocals. We guess he must have liked the song a little after all.
See you next Saturday, mortals.
November 20, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 46
We are sliding into the strangest bit of the year. Post-Halloween (we believe all of November should be designated as Spooky Season), pre-Christmas. The time of Black Friday. It is, apparently, our duty as good citizens of the global capitalistery to buy and consume right damn NOW. Spend spend spend, even if you don’t have the wherewithal.
Or take the cost-effective option and snuggle up with us instead. We ask for nothing but your fleeting attention and a crumb of love.
This week: musical anniversaries, killing a lobster and scary comics for girls.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
Here’s a transmission for those of us who remember when kid’s TV wasn’t afraid to be a bit odd, surreal and yes, spooky. The Adventure Game mixed puzzles, shonky CGI and a frankly bonkers narrative into a brew with celebrity guests and a host who would later become a mainstay of BBC News. All this and a talking aspidistra too. Think of it as The Crystal Maze for nerdy kids. Gronda gronda!
https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/looking-back-at-the-adventure-game/
We have long been fans of writer and snark-monster Kelly Oxford. She’s started a Substack newsletter (like every other bugger on the planet, it feels like), bringing some choice content on modern life and the horrors of parenting to discerning subscribers such as what we are. This tale of a luxurious meal gone horribly wrong is worth the price of admission all by itself.
https://kellyoxford.substack.com/p/the-killing-of-a-lobster
The pubs and breweries of Reading have faced the challenges of the pandemic with courage, fortitude and an eye to expansion. None more so than our local alehouse, Loddon Brewery in Dunstan Green on the Oxfordshire borders. They’ve gone full heart and open arms into making the best of a bad situation, starting with direct sales and delivery to the public (a bit of a lifesaver for us here at Cut Central during the darkest days of lockdown) before seriously rethinking the space they had available. The old car park became outdoor seating, a covered area was built and the bottle shop expanded. This summer, they invited food trucks in at the weekend and hosted their first music festival. The cold weather isn’t slowing them down. A new indoor tap room is coming together and a winter craft fair is happening next week. The DIY aesthetic is in full swing at Loddon: they are the true beer punks. All power to their collective elbows!
https://www.getreading.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/loddon-brewery-hidden-gem-oxfordshire-22098295
Back in the halcyon days of Britpop, the must-read comic magazine for the cool kids was Deadline. Launchpad for the Tank Girl phenomenon, it was home to a ton of great strips alongside band interviews and all sorts of pop-cultural shenaniga. We still have a near-complete run up in the archive which we must dig out. One of the best artists of the era, Philip Bond, has now teamed up with sometime-Deadline writer and bassist with Britpop B-listers Cud William Potter to create a new comic set in those golden days. It looks like a fun package. Get in on the ground floor!
https://www.offregister.press/geezer
Still on the Ninth Art tip, Rebellion Publishing continue to impress with their series of reissues covering the classic IPC era. We’re particularly pleased to see the love they’re giving to one of the most missed yet least appreciated of girl’s comics–Misty. Editor Claire Napier on one of Misty’s finest artists really helps provide the vibe to this spookiest (yes, that word again) of 70s thrills and chills…
https://treasuryofbritishcomics.com/deadly-elegant-the-sinister-spellbinding-style-of-jumeu-rumeu/
One more from the gutters. We talked last week about the Gorbals Vampire hunt, when packs of Glasgow children roamed local cemeteries in search of errant blood-suckers. The reasons for their strange behaviour has never been discovered. Blame was, for a while though, placed on them pesky comics. Which reminds us of the big comics scare of the 1950s which effectively neutered the form in the same way as the Hays Code did for moves in the 30s. It’s a key moment in comics history which shows how dangerous and subversive the Ninth Art was once considered.
https://www.vox.com/2014/12/15/7326605/comic-book-censorship
See, the trouble with children’s literature, particularly stories dating back to the late 19th century, is their relevance to modern audiences. We’re not just talking about problematic issues around race and gender. Language and imagery which references things for which we have no context any more is also surprisingly tricky. Surely, though, a tale of two dogs and their owners in the wilds of the Scottish Highlands shouldn’t be that troublesome to update… right?
https://believermag.com/lydia-davis-childrens-book-translation/
As we mentioned in the lede, it’s the liminal period between Spooky Season and Christmas. What better way to celebrate this time of year than with a rundown of the scariest monsters in Christmas movies? It’s Krampus time!
https://gizmodo.com/the-11-scariest-monsters-in-christmas-movies-1848036099
We need to talk about Bake Off. A show that was once an absolute must has become less and less relevant. This year we feel as if we’re watching out of habit rather than interest. The change of venue to Channel Four and the shedding of key presenters was a shock to many which the programme weathered. But it’s become increasingly silly and frankly starting to look a little desperate. Many people have problems with Paul Hollywood’s alpha-male antics. But there’s another issue to discuss. Leave it to the Americans to set the problem out plainly…
https://www.eater.com/22783623/great-british-bake-off-season-12-roundtable
And finally. This year marks many significant cultural anniversaries. For now, we choose to focus on the 20th birthday of Washington punk legends Fugazi, whose final album The Argument was released this week in 2001. Like all their work it’s a stinging rebuke of society’s ills delivered with laser-sharp wit and righteous fury. We recommend most highly. Fugazi were well known for fully embracing the can-do spirit of punk–booking their own shows, starting their own label to distribute their own records. Much like our pals at Loddon (and to an extent this here newsletter), they took what they could lay hands on and made something better. Punk ain’t dead, right?
https://www.stereogum.com/2164172/the-argument-turns-20/reviews/the-anniversary/
One more anniversary to celebrate this week. The Cut Crew had a night out on Wednesday, joining many more of their tribe at Oxford’s lovely New Theatre. The occasion? A night with Orchestral Manoeuvres in The Dark, whose seminal album Architecture And Morality is 40 (!) this year. There are those of us in the team who remember seeing the band when they first toured the record’s release back in 1981. Yes, we’re that old. Anyway. Any excuse to play this classic of the 80s synth era. That opening riff makes for a fine ringtone, you know.
See you next Saturday, synthaholics.
November 6, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 44
We’re deep into Nanowrimo now. The wordcount is never quite what it could be, the characters are flat and unengaging, the plot is full of holes and the prose is ugly as a frog in a tiara. But then you hit that glorious point and magic happens. A nice phrase pops up, your hero or heroine does something unexpected and all of a sudden the words are flowing and you’re having fun. At least, that’s what we hope is happening to everyone on the path with us. Keep going, people. The only way out is through.
If you need a break, we are here with our usual Saturday Shenaniganalia. This week: how to communicate with aliens, sex with cars and poisoned humbugs.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
‘They say there are two things in life you can rely on—death and enchiladas.’
That’s just the lede. We’re starting strong, with Alex Begg’s beautiful piece on food, memory and mourning. We find good writing to be an inspiration. This one is very inspiring indeed.
https://www.bonappetit.com/story/alex-beggs-chicken-mole-enchiladas
Communication is a complicated subject. We live on a small planet in a back-water solar system at the edge of an unremarkable galaxy. Even so, we find it hard to make ourselves understood amongst members of our own species. How can we reach out and introduce ourselves to members of an alien civilisation? Illustrator and designer Rian Hughes has no easy answers, but at least he unpacks the questions in an entertaining manner…
https://www.departures.com/arts/how-to-communicate-with-aliens-rian-hughes
Writer Marie Le Comte has had enough. Lockdown has shown just how unbearable the workplace had become in the times before The Situation. She voices the feelings many of us are having in her usual smart and witty fashion. This may just be the manifesto of The Great Resignation.
https://youngvulgarian.medium.com/i-do-not-want-to-work-71e4af66a258
Benjamin Grimm, AKA The Thing, is one of the more complex and fascinating characters in the Marvel Universe. Never just a dumb thug, he has heart and soul under that crusty exterior and represents for many readers a reflection of their own complicated lives. For perspective, we need look no further than towards acclaimed author Walter Mosley, who’s about to publish his own take on Yancy Street’s favourite son…
We’re sure you’ve all read about the lawsuit filed on the Nirvana estate on behalf of the baby on the front cover of Nevermind—or rather, the man that child became. He is not the first to claim copyright on his own image, of course, and there’s a fascinating history of similar cases to be found.
Here’s a treat for animation fans, or indeed anyone with an interest in mid-20th century design. The fine folks at Animation Obsessive have dropped a high-res copy of the long-out-of-print Cartoon Modern, a truly comprehensive look-book on the UPA era. There are design cues here that are still recognisable—heck, still used today. Nerdy? Yup. Essential? Totally.
https://animationobsessive.substack.com/p/our-treat-to-you
We are delighted to note Aimee Mann has a new album coming out. She has always been one of our favourites. Her dry wit and exceptional tunesmithery regularly grace the Cut Stereo. As part of the promo rollout for Queens Of The Summer Hotel, she’s given a remarkable interview to The Guardian on her life and strange times. Believe us, some of those times are very strange indeed…
We are still in spooky season, so we present a story that will make you look at the Halloween sweets still sitting on your shelf in a whole new light. There are urban myths every year about candy that’s been adulterated with everything from razors to CBD (why anyone would give expensive weed gummies to kids for free is beyond our understanding, but rumours gonna rumour). Here is the ur-text from which all those scare-stories sprung.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/poisoned-candy
And finally. This one is not for everyone, so we’re slapping a big fat content warning over it. This incredible piece from NeotextReview on body horror and the transformative nature of the automobile takes films like David Cronenberg’s Crash, Tetsuo The Iron Man and the upcoming Titane and mashes them into a fresh and disturbing narrative. The human-machine interface just took a hard left turn…
https://neotextreview.com/culture/gender-as-a-car-crash-trans-narratives-in-body-horror/
We’ll let Aimee Mann provide this week’s Exit Music, with a fine rendition of her song Save Me. This one has always resonated with us and is a great starting point if you’re new to her stylings. We hope this could be the start of a beautiful relationship.
See you next Saturday, saviours.
November 5, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 45
Nanowrimo progress is slow this year. The plan was always to do a half-gas version, focussing on the completion of one of the many unfinished drafts in our word vault. We’ve been running closer to quarter-gas this week though, the slow pace not helped by the many events we booked over the last eighteen months which have all rescheduled to November. The Aussie Pink Floyd show at the start of the month (excellent, by the way—a big show impeccably performed). OMD this Wednesday. An honest-to-god Star Trek convention tomorrow! Plus our Reading Writers commitments. You’d better believe we’re including The Cut as part of our Nano-output.
So, let’s business this. Lunar elevators, the Gorbals vampire hunt and a very long read on the writer of the first science-fiction story.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
(Also, of course, so long, Dean. Go to sleep, everything is alright.)
Those of you warily watching out for the first signs of the robot apocalypse will have no doubt accelerated your plans to set up that bunker in the woods after reading this article. Those of you thinking the Facebook rebranding should have been as Skynet will be putting your best ‘told you so’ faces on. Short read for the cheap seats—robots killed people in a military theatre recently without human intervention. Death by algorithm.
Let’s take a more cheerful look at a science subject. We are happily hooked to Apple’s adaptation of one of the great SF texts, Foundation. The first season’s inciting incident is the destruction of an orbital platform tethered to the planet Trantor by a great space elevator. Why use expensive rockets to get into orbit when you can just take the lift? It seems we already have the technology and expertise in place to construct one, and it’s cheaper than you think. Get on this, Musk and Bezos!
https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/lunar-elevator/
This bit on video games and popular crime dramas converging via the medium of memes is fascinating to the recently created New Media desk here at The Cut. We’re seeing fan-created content which takes two existing properties and building something completely new out of them. The idea of readers becoming more than just consumers of stories fills us with joy. Fan fiction has long been a bubbling cauldron of creativity. We think it’s coming up to the boil.
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/sopranos-skyrim-memes
We believe very strongly, as old age tiptoes up behind us with the big stick in gnarly hand, in embracing senior pleasures. The early night. The day-drinking. Most importantly, the early dinner, which has a properly decadent feel. Why book a 7:30 table like all the suckers having to compete for the attention of your server when you could cruise in at 5, have the place almost to yourself and just enjoy the mellow vibes. You’ll have time for cocktails afterwards and still be home in time for Strictly. Frankly, we feel this is a pro move. Let the youngs have the night. Late afternoon is our time.
We have yet to watch David Lowery’s psychedelic take on the legend of Gawain And The Green Knight. It has divided opinion, which all good art should do. Interesting that Cut Guru Robin Sloan, who live-casts a reading of the story every New Year’s Eve, did not like it at all. The story is very rich and very strange, in some ways alien to us now in terms of language and the behaviour of the hero in the face of his travails. This examination in The White Review may be more than you need, but it remaps Gawain’s journey to a path which many will see as entirely suited to today’s landscape.
https://www.thewhitereview.org/reviews/ye-are-not-gawain/
A rumour can lead to extreme real world action. The madness of crowds is a real and disturbing phenomenon. Sometimes, people get together and do things they cannot properly explain. There is a school of thought that a mob is a form of temporary intelligence built from many individual elements all working, for one wild instant, in concert. When that moment ends the thought-being it brought to life vanishes too, leaving all involved no wiser as to what they’ve just done. For more, see below.
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/650659/scotland-gorbals-vampire-hunt
Every so often, comedians and writers will come up with the clever and original idea that perhaps instead of dressing in black leather and beating up street thugs, Bruce Wayne should simply give a ton of money to charity. This, as Steve Morris makes clear in an article for Shelfdust, is a very bad idea. The problem is Gotham…
https://shelfdust.com/2021/11/03/bruce-wayne-should-never-give-any-money-to-charity/
This one is doing the rounds quite a bit this week, but we wanted to make sure you saw it, Readership. Steve Albini, producer and musician whose work was massively influential back in the nineties, has carefully examined his past behaviour and come to a conclusion—he was, for the most part, a confrontational prick. What happens next makes for a fascinating read. Albini is many things, but dumb is not one of them. If he chooses to address and make amends for his past actions, we’d be wise to pay attention. Perhaps this is a way back from cancel culture.
https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/steve-albini-counsel-culture-interview
Right, this is your long read. Get a cuppa and some biscuits and settle in as Maria Popova relates the history of Johannes Kepler, thinker, scientist, writer and, for five long years, a son who fought to prevent his mother from being burnt at the stake as a witch. There is so much good stuff here. Please, if you have the time this weekend, give it a go.
https://www.themarginalian.org/2019/12/26/katharina-kepler-witchcraft-dream/
And finally. A tip from our favourite Leading Man, X&HTeam-mate Clive Ashenden. This bit on the transformative power of cinema is striking both in the power and beauty of its writing but the relevance to the time. If you’re a film fan a tough part of the pandemic would have been the inability to go to the pictures. We’re gradually making it back to the back row. Drew Mcweeny gives us another reason to buy a ticket.
https://drewmcweeny.substack.com/p/youre-never-going-to-believe-what
Our Exit Music popped up on the Cut’s Random Feed this week and was so on the nose we suspected a transmission from the newsletter gods. None more appropriate. Also, a fine tune from a seriously under appreciated song-writing genius.
See you next Saturday, compadres.
October 30, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 43
It’s All Hallow’s Eve Eve! The second spookiest day of the year. We hope and trust you’re all feeling the chill in your bones as the spirits whirl around us. A few seasonal links for you in amongst our usual level of nonsense. We’re trying not to theme it too heavily.
However, we do have bits on pumpkin carving, haunted houses and ghostwriting so, you know, your mileage may vary.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
But first, a continuation of last week’s musings on chicken nuggets, as we consider the most important part of any cooked breakfast—the hash brown. Or browns, depending on your location. We brook no argument. It’s not a cooked breakfast without a big chip or two.
http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2012/06/incomplete-history-of-hash-browns.html
Why do we carve pumpkins into scary lanterns? Well, up until quite recently, we didn’t. Like the way we celebrate Halloween, the ‘tradition’ is comparatively modern. There’s history there, but not the story you know…
https://food52.com/blog/18110-why-we-carve-pumpkins-and-other-vegetables-to-turn-into-lanterns
Another nod back to last week, as we join Paul McCartney in a wander around Liverpool, picking up the hints and traces which would become Eleanor Rigby. Lots to enjoy here as he takes us through different versions of the story and characters.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/10/25/paul-mccartney-writing-eleanor-rigby-beatles
An Englishman’s home is his castle. In the USA, the status of the roof over your head can be far more fraught. The AV Club explore the haunted house story and how it keys into a particular kind of American anxiety…
https://www.avclub.com/how-hollywood-weaponizes-america-s-housing-anxiety-thro-1847836288
The source of a story is a mystery to anyone who writes. It often comes to us in quiet moments. While walking, in the bath, sometimes out of dreams. Alongside that phenomenon comes the fear that someone else will have the same idea as you and will get it out there first. You’ll sometimes see that when a spate of films or books in a particular genre all come out at once. Sometimes, artists just have the same dreams at the same time.
Which brings us to New York in 1936, a screening of a surrealist film called Rose Hobart and an unexpected outburst from one member of the audience…
https://www.openculture.com/2021/10/when-salvador-dali-viewed-joseph-cornells-surrealist-film.html
Next time the Cut Crew take a visit to London we will definitely head to Somerset House, where an exhibition is taking place on a truly iconic British publication—The Beano. Over 80 years of comic capers have firmly set it as a cornerstone of our culture, to the point when it can cheerfully satirise the establishment. One exhibit is the cease-and-desist order placed on Jacob Rees-Mogg for copyright infringement on the image of Softy Walter. A very proud moment for all involved…
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/oct/20/beano-the-art-of-breaking-the-rules-review
An important part of any artistic endeavour is the moment when you find your own voice, showing the world how you present as a creative being. There’s one exception to the rule, though. Ghostwriters have to subsume and muffle their voice, pretending instead to be somebody else. Alex Sujong Laughlin writes about her life as a ghost, and what it look for her to break her artistic silence. We think this is the read of the week.
https://studyhall.xyz/ghostwriting/
Not many people would call the creation of computer code to be writing. Unless, of course, you’re a coder yourself and can recognise the elegance in a well-crafted programme. A legendary name amongst the Ruby community is a character called why_the_lucky_stiff, whose work revolutionised how the language was taught and could be used. There’s a mystery at the heart of the story as well. Why_ burned hard and bright for a short while then simply disappeared…
https://github.com/readme/featured/why-the-lucky-stiff
We are not gamers, as we may have mentioned. The closest we come to playing is a quick blast of Candy Crush while we’re waiting for a bus. However, we’re becoming more fascinated by gaming itself—its language and the way people use games to process the world around them, building communities out of the strangest connections. We really enjoyed this bit in The Believer about so-called sandbox games, and how the ability to roam free in an never-ending landscape became a balm to many during lockdown.
https://believermag.com/logger/sandbox-games-in-a-locked-down-world/
And finally. A short piece on pianist Jim Dickinson, Wild Horses and the importance of simplicity. Sometimes it’s not about what you put in but what you leave out…
https://blog.ayjay.org/across-the-borderline/
We dedicate this week’s Exit Music to those of us who have eyes beyond Hallowe’en, to the first of November and the opening salvo of Nanowrimo. We will not be ‘doing’ it in the traditional sense this year, but plan to spend the month usefully, picking up and hopefully finishing off some old drafts which we can then actually do something with. Nano is always a special time of year for us—difficult at times, a struggle towards the end of the month but inevitably worth the effort. Good luck to everyone about to begin the road to fifty thousand words. We’re with you. Feel free to chat about the process in the comments or have a moan if you like. We’re with you. Most importantly…Follow Your Bliss.
See you next Saturday, seekers.
October 23, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 42
There are times when we look at the gathered input for an episode of The Cut with a mixture of confusion and bewilderment. What does it say about us that these are the links we choose to share with you, Readership? What does it say about our browsing habits? More worryingly, why is there stuff in here we don’t even remember seeing? Is the whole thing assembled in a kind of fugue state, a half-dreaming mode? Is there an argument for The Cut being, to some extent, a self-generating object? Is there really anyone in the office at all?
For example—this week, we look at Yugoslav pop, chicken nuggets and ask the question ‘is the Earth a giant crystal?’ What the heck is all that about?
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
We recommend watching Spike Jonze’s clip for Kenzo World first (an embed is available at the end of the article), then going back to read how he and his team pulled it off. What looks like a comparatively simple performance piece has a lot of hidden special effects going on under the hood…
https://www.fxguide.com/quicktakes/best-perfume-spot-ever/
John Higgs is one of our greatest contemporary thinkers. He has a real affinity for the psychedelic angles in British culture. This chat with the Quietus, in which he winkles out the hidden connections between the songwriting of the Beatles and the dark creatures of Lovecraftian lore will give your brain-meats a suitably bracing workout.
https://thequietus.com/articles/26699-the-beatles-yesterday-lovecraft-john-higgs
Here’s one of those lists on a particular kind of creative endeavour with applications in, well, every kind of creative endeavour. Mark Ravenhill knows his drama. There’s a lot of solid advice in this piece to improve your writing or painting or woodwork or whatever.
https://www.writeaplay.co.uk/mark-ravenhill-101-notes-on-playwriting/
As we reach a certain age, those of us in Cut Central who are not figments of the imagination or possible virtual constructs of a thought-golem like to read about protagonists of our own vintage. They’re just more interesting, particularly in tales where they shrug off the shackles of a hitherto-mediocre life and go on adventures. Wish-fulfilment? Well, duh.
https://electricliterature.com/7-books-about-older-women-behaving-badly/
The Eighties was, undeniably, the greatest decade (complaints or refutations can be addressed to The Bin, Over In The Corner By The Coffee Machine, Cut Central, Reading RG4). To discover and read about a subculture flourishing under our radar which brings up a whole new golden seam of synthy dramatic pop to enjoy is a treat we feel needs to be shared with all, even you surly youngs who wouldn’t know good music if we chilled it and shoved it up your jumper.
It seems deeply odd to us that people wouldn’t want a vaccine to halt the worst disease of the modern age. The patience and fortitude of those who are administering the cure is nothing less than extraordinary, and we applaud all those working to keep the world safe. None more so than the medical operatives rolling out the vaccine to remote rural communities in South America. This is going above and beyond…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2021/colombia-coronavirus-vaccine/
The USA is, essentially, a series of loosely-connected communities made accessible to each other by very long roads. Is it any wonder that the gas station has become such an iconic part of the American experience or that so many of the immigrants to this vast, strange country have realised they can best share their distinctive cuisines by using these modern-day staging posts?
https://www.eater.com/22444977/immigrant-owned-gas-stations-in-america
We hesitate to talk about the peculiar Tango-orange lump of hate and ugliness who was so much a part of the news cycle in The Before Times. But this bit in Ars Technica on the techniques and processes by which his brand of nastiness was spread (and the people who profit from it) is well worth a look as an examination of what ‘fake news’ is and continues to be.
This is the bit where a discussion is had as to whether the Earth is a giant crystal. That’s the tweet. Go read.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3xp85/is-the-earth-a-g-crystal
And finally. It should be remembered that the chicken nugget is a constructed object. As such, it was designed. Think about that. Someone was hired to come up with the shape and texture of the chicken nugget.
Rebecca Taylor, trading as Self-Esteem, is creating some of the smartest sharpest pop right now. Her new record, Prioritise Pleasure, is a clear statement of intent which, as an added bonus, is a glitchy treat that’s fun to flail about to (official Cut policy regarding The Dance is very forgiving and accepts all forms of arhythmic thrashing around as long as a good time is had: judgement-free zone, all skill levels embraced). She’s coming to Reading next month and we plan to be there. Enjoy this as our Exit Music presentation, and check out more below about where Rebecca came from and is going.
See you next Saturday, pleasure-seekers.
October 16, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 41
We are slowly coming out of our bubble. The first in-person meet with members of our affiliate organisation Reading Writers took place this week, a hybrid affair with Zoom folk and room folk—a technical challenge which we just about fumbled through. It was nice to be out and seeing people, but the thought of Covid cases still going up gives us pause. Is this the right thing to do? Is it still too soon to be making this step? We may yet find the bubble closing back around us.
Oh, look, let’s not get too gloomy, though. It’s the weekend. Read all about tacos and medieval tennis and yes go on then Jake Gyllenhaal.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
As readers of this largely Berkshire-based newsletter, you will be delighted to hear the San Francisco Gate has hired a new Taco correspondent. La Dona is a musician and writer with a real sense of purpose. Her personality shines through in her work. She really sold the Food Desk on her review of La Taqueria, and we believe she’ll do the same for you. Who’s hungry?
https://www.sfgate.com/column/article/San-Francisco-La-Taqueria-La-Dona-16500608.php
On the recommendation of internet pixie Laurie Penny we recently started following Funranium Labs. Their main claim to fame is the creation of some of the world’s strongest cold-brew coffee, Black Blood Of The Earth (a must try but handle with care). But Phil B, the man at the heart of the group is also a scientist and thinker who knows a bit about how to navigate the murky inlets and hidden bays of social media without scuttling yourself. This, on trolls and how to keep secrets online, is essential reading.
http://www.funraniumlabs.com/2011/12/life-lessons-from-the-land-of-q-clearances/
What connects Genesis frontman Phil Collins and ex-Rotten John Lydon? Well, the following article for one thing. This, from Quillette, is also a sharp and surprisingly moving piece on the nature of fame and rivalry. The Music Desk has long been fascinated by the interstices between prog and punk. The two musical genres share more moving parts than might be obvious.
https://quillette.com/2021/10/04/pistol-shot-rocker-crocked/
If we could agitate for a sport to be represented in the 2024 Paris Olympics, it would be this one. It looks like a fun spectator sport and a clear precursor to every racket game played today. The Campaign starts here!
https://www.openculture.com/2021/10/medieval-tennis-a-short-history-and-demonstration.html
A fine example of autobiography in comics form from Teresa Wong, who does some very clever things with simple page-turn techniques. This is simple but highly effective and quietly moving. A new way to think about what goes on between the gutters of the panels on a comics page—that magical place where the reader becomes a part of the story.
https://believermag.com/piano-lessons-teresa-wong/
Certain members of the Cut Crew are confirmed Gyllenhaalics and would string up the editorial staff by their innards if they didn’t share this excellent bio of Jake in the Indie. His performance in The Guilty (currently streaming on Netflix) is riveting, holding your attention through the ninety minutes of what is essentially a one-man show.
Another interview, this time with actor Kumail Nanjiani, set to become the breakout star of Marvel’s Eternals this November. He chats frankly about both the physical and mental work that went into his transformation into Bollywood star and immortal warrior Kingo. These performances are never just phoned in, ya know…
https://www.gq.com/story/kumail-nanjiani-profile
Branislav Kropilak takes photos of billboards from unusual angles. They are strangely science-fictiony, ethereal, moody and beautiful. Our words don’t do them justice. Go look.
https://www.kropilak.com/works/billboards
The food interwebs have been all about Salt Bae this week, boggling at the Instagram chef’s inflated prices and ridiculous food. People clearly go there to be seen and to be seen to spend. But there is a more interesting question to be asked about the high-end dining scene (and sneer or don’t, Salt Bae’s prices make his restaurant a high-end experience). Why does it cost so much to eat at a Michelin-starred joint?
And finally. Choice in the age of streaming services has become a trap. How do you decide what to watch on a Saturday night? At what point do you give up and just pick something at random? Film-maker Charlie Shackleton has leant into this feeling. His film The Afterlight has been designed to be almost impossible to find and watch. We wonder how artists who struggle to get their voices heard feel about this reversal, but it’s an interesting experiment (and one which, with Guardian coverage and a showing at the London Film Festival is almost certain to fail).
One banjo, one oddly-held double bass. Two singers. Some simple dance moves and very clever editing. We are bouncing along to The Dead South this week, and are pleased to introduce you, beloved Readership to In Hell I’ll Be In Good Company. Bounce with us.
See you next Saturday, pardners.
October 9, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 40
We are autumnising. Cut Central is slowly transforming, becoming more of a snug nest in which we can hunker down and shelter against the change in the weather. The soft furnishings are coming to the fore. There are many cushions. Comfort is the key, a protective layer between us and the sharp edges of the world. We might even build a fort.
This week—1001 albums, the Tiktokification of mental health and the most inappropriate place to put a soup advert.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
Music on the move has been part of our lives for longer than we think. We may have all the music we could ever need and more in our pockets, but let’s not forget innovations allowing us to take our tunes out with us have been around for decades. Think about the iPod. Think about the pocket transistor radio. Then there’s the Mikiphone, the first record player you could carry in your pocket. Sure, you still need to lug the platters to play on it around with you, but as proof of concept it’s a great-looking piece of industrial design!
https://flashbak.com/the-1924-mikiphone-was-the-worlds-first-pocket-record-player-428477/
Having so many options in music can lead to a contraction in aural boundaries. Rather than opening up to new forms, it’s easy to fall back on your favourite playlists. The algorithms behind Apple Music and Spotify pick up on that and simply offer more of the same under the guise of ‘new music’. It’s a scattershot way of listening, too, as vast playlists take the place of a full album. Which is where 1001 Albums Generator comes in. It picks a record a day from the book 1001 Albums You Must Listen To Before You Die, and serves it up with handy links to your streaming service of choice. It’s a great way to get back into the habit of playing a complete piece of work. We love it.
https://1001albumsgenerator.com/
Here’s another set of musical recommendations from a great set of authors and artists. They big up and discuss records which inspired them and in some cases helped give birth to iconic works. There’s some good stuff from good people in here.
The Situation has brought mental health out as a subject we can talk about much more openly than in The Before Times. We’re all struggling to some degree and have realised how important it is to talk about our worries. Social media has had two effects in relation to the subject. There are positives to a discussion about mental health but it’s also very easy for randos to diagnose you with conditions you don’t have, based on their poor reading of your posts and laughably incomplete ‘research’…
There are some iconic movies in the wild world of trash cinema, from The Room to Plan 9 From Outer Space to Paul Verhoeven’s bonkers tale of Hollywood excess, Showgirls. We aren’t sure we can recommend it but it’s a ‘once seen never forgotten’ experience. Daily Grindhouse points us at the sequel, a low-budget remix focusing on a side-character from the original. The Film Desk is mildly obsessed with this movie now. Sometimes you just have to keep it trashy.
http://dailygrindhouse.com/thewire/trashterpiece-theater-showgirls-2-pennys-from-heaven/
Kelly Thompson has a newsletter! The Ninth Art Desk is delighted to see a brilliant comics creator talking about her work and, more importantly, sharing her process. If you’re any sort of comics nerd you need this in your life. If you’re at all interested in the choices and decisions which go into the creation of a piece of art, this will rock your boat. What we’re saying is, go read.
https://1979semifinalist.substack.com/p/process-junkie
As we are in spooky season now, it behooves the Ninth Art Desk to share this brilliant article from NeoTextCorp on some of the greatest horror comics ever published. Creepy and Eerie were prime examples of how great art and storytelling married to a GDAF attitude brought about a huge change in scary-books. We are still influenced by those comics today—just look at Creepshow!
How’s your diet these days? Eating healthy? Cutting out the bad stuff and focusing on the good as a way to shed some of that lockdown wobble? There’s a problem, though. Our perception of what constitutes a healthy diet is subject to change as the science refines. The ugly truth—we simply have no idea about what foods are good for us.
https://aeon.co/essays/will-we-ever-get-a-clear-idea-about-what-foods-we-should-eat
As film, animation and food fans we nurture a deep and enduring love for Pixar’s Ratatouille. It’s the story of a cartoon rat who follows his dream of cooking in a high-end French restaurant—what’s not to love? But for some, the film has an even deeper meaning which highlights aspects of their own life and identity. Ratatouille as a coming-out metaphor, who saw that coming?
https://www.eater.com/22696466/ratatouille-movie-tattoo-coming-out-gay-chef
The Book Desk’s favourite story of the week came courtesy of author Diane Duane, who spotted a strange addition in a German translation of one of her Star Trek novelisations. Not just a typo or a misinterpretation of a metaphor. A full-blown advert for soup jammed into the text. Which is when Terry Pratchett enters the room…
https://www.dianeduane.com/outofambit/2015/02/14/whats-rihannsu-soup/
And finally. A brilliant piece of graphic journalism by Andy Warner at The Nib on Silicon Valley’s obsession with and quest to find the holy grail—immortality. Who wants to live forever? Zuckerberg, apparently…
https://thenib.com/who-wants-to-live-forever/
We return to our 1001 Albums generator to share the one track we have not been able to get out of our heads since we blasted it out on the office stereo earlier in the week. A classic slice of dramatic, bombastic pop from the masters, ABC. Who broke my heart? You did. You did.
See you next Saturday, lovelorns.
October 2, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 39
And we’re back. The first break in transmission for 16 months. Life finally, delightfully, got in the way of our business. Hope you didn’t all find the abrupt swerve towards slightly soulful introspection too much of a neck-breaker. Anyway, we’re back to it, even if we are still finding sand in our socks and shells in our pockets.
This week: haptic cartooning, some Monster Fun and yes, ok, something about James Bond.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
There are some genres of music which seem impenetrable to the outsider. Free jazz. Gamelan. Polka. Christian music—not, we hasten to add, gospel—is a wild sideswerve to all that. Ostensibly mainstream, any Christian music album offers something a little… off. In many cases, downright surreal.
https://reprobatepress.com/2020/06/29/gods-chosen-puppets-the-weird-world-of-christian-music-lps/
A chunk of content from the Ninth Art Desk today, you lucky punters. First up, NeoTextCorp offer a humdinger of an interview with the most metal of British comics artists, Simon Bisley. His work is insanely detailed, massively violent and utterly gorgeous. We’ve been fans since his breakout work for The ABC Warriors in 2000AD. He polarises a lot of people, but his art is never boring to look at…
https://neotextcorp.com/culture/an-interview-with-simon-bisley-part-one/
There’s an element of haptic cartooning in some of his work, too. A free, wild line which, though spontaneous, does exactly what’s needed on the page. Sometimes, you need less idea of what’s going into your art (in whatever form it takes) and more of a feel that the line is taking you for a walk.
Oxford-based publisher Rebellion are going full-on with their reboots and reimaginings of classic IPC titles from arguably the golden age of Brit comics—the 1970s. (Are we biased? Well, yes, of course!) Latest on the list of special editions is a real favourite—Monster Fun! Creepy, spooky and altogether kooky, this bumper issue would make a great gift for the Halloween-loving kids in your life, however old they might be hint hint.
Film School Rejects are great at teasing out the secrets behind some of cinema’s most extraordinary sequences. We’ve marvelled along with them before on The Cut, but particularly enjoyed this breakdown of how Terence Malick pulled off the locust scene from Days Of Heaven. No CGI, of course, but tons of imagination and lateral thinking.
https://filmschoolrejects.com/days-of-heaven-locusts/
You may have seen images doing the social media rounds of a pudgy guy in alien makeup (actor Paul Winfield, fact fans) describing classic memes in slightly convoluted language. For example—
This is a prime example of the internet eating it’s own tail. The stills are from a Star Trek: TNG episode called ‘Darmok’ in which the crew of the Enterprise meet a race of aliens who communicate… oh look, jump into the article. There’s a lot there about language, metaphor and how we make ourselves understood. It’s a deep dive but very rewarding.
If that’s inspired you but you’re not sure where to start, we offer up this clarion call to creativity. It’s hard to get going, but once you have the habit it’s harder to stop. We should know, after over seventy weeks of this ongoing foolishness of a newsletter. Just, as the plimsoll advertisement and the Shia Labouef meme says, do it.
https://www.covertocover.co/post/write-no-matter-what
In a similar vein, this manifesto from games developers superbrothers makes a case case for a wild belly flop when it comes to diving into the creative act. Planning is good and useful, but sometimes it’s worth taking the plunge just to see how warm the water is.
https://boingboing.net/features/morerock.html
And finally. With No Time To Die finally hitting screens across the planet, we thought we’d take a look at that Bond chap through the rheumy gaze of writer and hedge wizard Alan Moore. He took a crack at the character as part of his League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen fiction-verse and well, let’s just say he didn’t view the Martini-swilling super spy as much of a hero…
https://ew.com/movies/james-bond-alan-moore-league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen/
We could never be accused of having our thumb on the pulse when it comes to new music, although we try to poke our noses outside the comfort zone on occasion. We have, like many of you better-connected groovers, fallen for the dry humour and sharp tunesmith of Isle of Wight duo Wet Leg. Chaise Longue was the sound of our summer and the new track, Wet Dream, lollops along in much the same pleasing fashion. This pair are going to be huge.
See you next Saturday, dreamers.
