Rob Wickings's Blog, page 25
March 5, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 10
+++BREAKING NEWS FROM THE ARTS DESK+++
As we hit the last lap on locking this week’s issue, news emerged regarding the graffitoe which appeared on the walls of Reading Gaol on Sunday evening. Following a week of fevered speculation, stencil-wrangler and prankster Banksy has confirmed they are to blame for the artwork. Many see the piece as a show of support from the influential street art collective for the ongoing campaign to turn the long-disused site into an arts hub. The references to Oscar Wilde’s stay are clear. We note with a smile that the work’s position, high up on a wall which is still government property, will dissuade the usual chancers, shysters and thieves which gather at the first sniff of easy profit from ‘buying’ it and denying access to a work of art which belongs to the people. As Reading locals and street art fans, we at The Cut are doubly delighted at this new addition to our already rich cultural heritage.
We now return you to our scheduled programming.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
Further considerations on Banksy loom as a new way of adding ‘value’ to digital art emerges. The NFT, or ‘non-fungible token’ is a way to confirm a digital file is the original. The crypto-currency based protocol is an unforgeable method to guarantee authenticity. Digital artist Beeple is the first to try this in practice, collaborating with auction house Christie’s to sell hundreds of his pieces in a deal which will make him milllions. In a fascinating swerve to the narrative, a group of collectors upped the game by buying an Banksy, making a high-resolution scan then burning the original. The NFT-linked file is now, if you follow the logic, the truest version of the work. Head-melting stuff…
In a crypto-heavy week, we were fascinated to read this Rolling Stone piece on how Bitcoin and others could bring about the golden dream for musicians—getting fair pay for their work online which bypasses record label and streaming service shenanigans.
A Field Guide to Music’s Potential Crypto Boom
Right, that’s enough future economics for one issue. Let’s talk monster movies. In a rare film night here at Cut Central, we screened the agreeably goofy Kong: Skull Island. Frankly, any film which features a giant monkey throwing helicopters around is good in our book. Universal Studios is going large on their Monsterverse series, with Godzilla Vs. Kong out this spring. Film School Rejects has an alternative proposal for the franchise of which we whole-heartedly approve…
‘Kongzilla’ Must Come After ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’
RIGHT, LISTEN UP. The next link features language and images which are super very Not Safe For Work Or Life Generally. If you are at all offended by swears and/or cartoon depictions of the act of love, then please jump to the link on Silent Running after the break. But if, as we suspect, you have passed our Readership Compatibility Test, then the boot-filling station can be found below.
The Tijuana Bible is, in some ways, the prime example of what comics can and should be. Cheap, fast and dirty in every sense of the word, the eight-page pamphlets were irreverent, uninterested in copyright and counter-cultural before our common definition of the term sparked into being. They can be spotted in the pages of Watchmen, and there is an argument Alan Moore’s Lost Girls books are an expansive and elaborate take on the sub-genre. However, unlike your average Bible, Lost Girls is not a book you could tuck into a back pocket away from prying eyes. They are a fascinating, near-forgotten corner of comics history that retain an edge and sense of danger. Inky fingers at the ready? Let’s open up…
“My God, Fuckin’ Pictures!”: Peeping into the History of the Tijuana Bibles
For those of you whose chose to heed our warnings, welcome back. We note with interest how 1970s science fiction seems to be a harsh reflection on current times. Case in point: Douglas Trumbull’s beautiful, angry, Silent Running. Join us as we explore a film which only seems to be more relevant in the face of our climate emergency than ever. The older members of staff on the Film Desk will cheerfully admit the ending always makes them cry…
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210212-silent-running-the-sci-fi-that-predicted-modern-crises
Of course, Peter Morgan is the master of solid and serious screenwriting as any fool who has watched The Crown will know. A writer worth their salt will be taking notes as to how he deals with the challenges of dialogue—specifically how a well-crafted exchange can drive plot as well as build character.
The Queen’s English: How ‘The Crown’ Helps You Write Better Dialogue
The English-speaking world is finally catching up to Olga Tokarczuk. The Nobel-Prize winning author writes with mythic resonance on a very wide screen. But she also understands the most tiny, intimate moments. Her Nobel lecture is a work of sheer shining beauty. As a palliative to the thing about the grubby fuck-books above, wash your soul clean in this.
The following is an extremely rare and openly honest interview with Frances McDormand. Nothing else needs to be said.
If we asked if you knew what horno was, you’d probably think we were about to throw out more smutty comics. Relax. Once an issue is enough. No, we’re talking traditional Mexican clay ovens. Designer Ronald Rael is building a string of them along the US-Mexico border, for reasons that will quickly become apparent…
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-horno
And finally. Some authors fall through the gaps in common knowledge as they drop out of fashion, get lost in the maze of publishing rights wrangles or are simply too much themselves to ever succumb to dull old popularity. We are delighted to fire up a flare (in conjunction with our pals at Wired) to help bring one of the Skiffy Desk’s favourite wordsmiths safely back to port. Say hello to R. A. Lafferty…
https://www.wired.com/story/who-is-r-a-lafferty-best-sci-fi-writer-ever/
The audio bullies on the Music Desk have saturated the airwaves of Cut Central this week with the work of Israel Nash. Sneaky buggers. We are committed to the Tao of The Cosmic Cowboy (we have the hat and boots and the rocket-embroidered shirt from Rockmount Apparel of Denver Colorado is on order) so Israel’s music is sinking into our bones all too easily. We offer up this live version of a stellar cut from his new album Topaz. Saddle up.
See you in seven, buckaroos.
February 26, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 9
How are we all feeling about the roadmap to the future? For a ‘data not dates’ release, there seem to be a lot of dates in there. It’s so hard. We’re all desperate to get some sense of normality back. Shunt the kids off to school, go to the shops, get a haircut, pop in somewhere for a cheeky pint. We have to take this in baby steps, we suppose. At least it’s light nearly till six now. That feels like progress of a sort.
Sigh.
A slightly truncated episode this week. The feeds have been cruel. Enjoy a load of control panels, an exploding head and Transformers rocking out.
Now is the time. Here is the place. Oh yes, this is The Cut.
For horror movie fans of a certain age, there are few images more iconic than the head explosion scene in David Cronenberg’s Scanners. A moment which arrives surprisingly early in the film and sets the pace and tone for what’s to come. A bloody banner held high in in the pantheon of horror movie history. Here’s how Cronenberg and his merry crew pulled it off…
We like to think the patented Readership Compatability Test is no longer needed. If you’re still with us, then you know what’s on offer. With that in mind, we are delighted to present a Tumblr feed full of chunky old control panels. If your imagination is already toggling those big chrome switches and fiddling with a Bakelite chicken-head actuator then you are truly one of us.
No-one does voice-mail any more. It’s a simple fact of twenty-first century life. We don’t leave them, we don’t listen to them. Part of the problem, we think, is they’re so ephemeral. Ghost voices in the machine. But for one of the innovators in the realm of recorded sound, it was the spoken word rather than music which held the most interest. Maybe podcasting has a vinyl antecedent…
The Voice Keepers
We love Afro-and African-Futurism, and we’re big fans of writers like NK Jemisin and Nnedi Okorafor. We tend to skew skiffy at The Cut, but news of an epic new Afro-Fantasy story still fills us with thrills. The Guilded Ones looks like a goodie!
We like to think we can both inform and entertain. Sure, you get the funny links, the long reads, the song at the end. Every so often, though, we come across an article which is just plain useful. You’re going to thank us for this the next time you take a wrong turn and fall out of a 747 at thirty-five thousand feet. You’re welcome. All part of the service.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/outdoors/a35340487/how-to-fall-from-a-plane-and-survive/
If you haven’t yet, may we recommend you cast an eye over the brilliant new French crime drama Lupin on Netflix? It features the latest iteration of a character who has been a mainstay of Gallic pulp fiction for over a century, featuring in books, films and comics. Heck, even Studio Ghibli has has a crack at him! Check out the history of the world’s best-loved gentleman thief…
Over the years, we have come to the realisation that we’re more Star Trek than Star Wars. We love the show enough that we even enjoy the flaws in it. Yeah, it can be cheesy, over-earnest and preachy. But when Trek gets it right, it speaks to the time in which it was made and offers strikingly thoughtful commentary. The shows and films have always addressed issues of race, gender and politics. One high water mark was the last movie featuring the full original cast. The Undiscovered Country is not just a great Trek film. It’s a great film full stop. It also features a brilliantly broad portrayal of a Bard-quoting Klingon general by none other than the recently-passed Christopher Plummer. If you’ve not seen it, let’s see if we can’t persuade you…
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country Rejected Franchise Nostalgia in a Way Impossible Today
And finally. As we’ve never collaborated we can’t regard poet and novelist Claire Dyer as an X&HTeam-mate (much as we’d love to), but she is a fellow traveller and, most importantly, a friend. We were privileged to snag an invite last week to the (sadly, Zoom only) launch of her latest collection of poetry, Yield. This one may be her best yet—a triptych of nested pieces chronicling the life changing experience presented to her family by her daughter, Lucy. Claire’s work is always moving and thought-provoking. Yield brings that clarity of story-telling all the way home. We can’t recommend it highly enough.
Yield
The best Exit Music tunes are the ones which just land in our laps. We honestly can’t remember when or how this pinged our radar. We’re grateful, however. It sums up The Cut’s particular aesthetic a treat. We’ll say no more. Usual instructions concerning volume apply.
See you in seven, Autobots.
February 19, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 8
We may, perhaps, finally, be on the verge of a beginning of an end. At least to this phase in The Situation. Vulnerable and aged members of The Cut Crew (yeah, ok, that describes most of us) have been given their microchips and are now beaming all our secrets to a server in Wuhan Province. Whatever gets us back in the pub soonest, right?
In this ep, how political cartoons have always been science-sceptic, all the radio on the planet and a childhood favourite goes prog.
AYE AND GAMORRAH. Here is the place. Now is the time. This is The Cut.
Shelley Duvall is probably best known as Stanley Kubrick’s punching bag in The Shining, enduring hundreds of punishing, emotionally draining takes of the same scene. She was also Robert Altman’s go-to female lead, starring in five of his movies, including an iconic Olive Oyl in his remarkable take on Popeye. Now in her seventies, she’s retreated from the public eye to live a simple life in Texas. Fragile but still tough where it counts, this lovely Hollywood Reporter portrait gives us a peek into the third act of a beloved icon of cinema and TV…
This is a little gruesome, but our Music Desk insisted, and they have control of the stereo so we have no choice. Is there anything more metal than a guitarist playing an instrument he built using his dead uncle’s skeleton? No is the answer. None more metal. There’s more to the story though. This is a tale of legacy, memory and tribute. Horns high.
We love a good cause here at The Cut. We’re charitable types who care about the planet and all the wonderful creatures upon it. It is with pride and delight, then, that we have decided to adopt a mascot for the newsletter. The welcome pack is yet to arrive, but we can’t wait to say hello to the newest pledge to The Cut Crew, a member of one of the most endangered species on the planet. Let us introduce you to the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus…
https://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
There is more context, which we suggest you also cast an eye over, below.
Is the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus Endangered?
Political cartooning is an important part of a free press. A well-aimed sketch can often do more to puncture reputations and pop over-inflated egos than any other medium. However, sometimes the target is less deserving. Nature Magazine looks at how cartoonists of the eighteenth and nineteenth century took a very jaundiced view of scientific advances such as the cowpox vaccination. The more things change, the more they stay the same…
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00261-2
The Korean SF romp Space Sweepers dropped on Netflix last week to largely positive reviews. It is of course eye candy of the highest order. It also takes a surprisingly nuanced and mature view of the economics of life in space, and how class will still play a big part in how a post-Earth society is ordered. In other words, the working class will still get the sticky end of the stick…
Space Sweepers and the History of Working Class People In Space
What would you call an item which starts as a physical object before getting scanned into a computer, manipulated and then reprinted as another physical object? Author, thinker and all-round future-guru Robin Sloan calls them flip-flops. He has examples and more consideration on the way the boundaries between digital and analogue are starting to blur.
https://www.robinsloan.com/notes/flip-flop/
We’ve all seen the clips of an athlete pulling off an extraordinary and effortless feat of skill. From impossible gymnastic flips to sick skateboard stunts, they’re everywhere on your Tiks and Instas. The work going into these flawless few seconds is not mentioned. When freestyle biker Matt Jones wanted to try a stunt no-one had ever managed, he chose to document the whole process. There’s a lot going on here, which Jason Kottke unpacks, but the gist is simple. You want to get good at something? You’d better be ready to work.
https://kottke.org/21/02/1000-fails-lead-to-a-single-success
Hats off to our pal Rob ‘King Kaiju’ Maythrone for the next link. Radio Garden is a window onto the plethora of audio entertainment available. Back in the day, you’d need a shed full of kit and a tree-tall antenna. Now, open up a browser. Set yourself aside some time and get exploring. Your ears will thank you.
And finally. It is time for yet another of our Readership Compatability Tests. Quiet at the back. Who’s up for a list of the indisputable fifty greatest craft in SF, compiled by director, massive geek and supervisor of the special effects for Duncan Jones’ Moon Gavin Rothery (Seriously, check out Archive, now available to purchase on Amazon Prime, it’s great)? Of course you do, and of course you’ll have opinions. Hit us up in the comments with your faves.
https://www.gamesradar.com/top-50-sci-fi-spaceships/
Our Exit Music this week combines two of our great loves. The Charlie Brown cartoons and prog rock legends Yes. Put the two together and magic is created. Turn this one up and dance like Snoopy.
See you in seven, sweethearts.
February 12, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 7
It’s all feeling a bit liminal. Although the news improves around vaccination levels and dropping R rates, life still has the frozen quality of a holding pattern. The streets remain quiet, the shops mostly closed. The pubs… better not to think about that lest we dissolve into a puddle of regretful tears. But hey, as the great seer Steve Miller put it— ‘time keeps on tickin’, tickin’, tickin’, into the future’. Bring on the summer.
Today we check out the fun you can have with explosives, consider how a Mars colony might deal with a pandemic and consider the vexed question of American cheese.
Hey, you there! Now is the time, yeah? This is the place, right? What else could this be but The Cut‽
Front and centre this week is Helen Lewis’ brilliant portrait of explosives expert Sidney Alford. You will learn things. You will be entertained. If you’re anything like us, you will feel the urge to blow some shit up. Seriously, it’s that good.
Our second interview of the week features a school-days crush for several of the Cut Crew—the force of nature that is Toyah Willcox. She’s picked up a ton of new fans as, along with husband and certified prog-rock god Robert Fripp, she makes Sunday lunchtime all sorts of fun. Like Sidney, she has always been determined to live her own life. In some cases that has led to results nearly as explosive as the BootBuster…
Making comics is hard. It’s an artform which, done right, engages the reader’s interior world in a way no other experience can. We understand the relationship between art, text and the weird stuff happening between panels at an almost primal level, but wrangling that synergy is a task with a very particular set of challenges. However, the very fact we know how to read comics means that, with a bit of a push, we can also create them and have some fun along the way. Allow us to introduce you to Five-card Nancy.
https://www.scottmccloud.com/4-inventions/nancy/index.html
Author Charlie Stross applies a rigorous and precise eye to the problems of plot and world-building. This bit on his blog looks at the situations that could arise if an infectious disease landed in a sealed environment such as a colony on Mars. There’s enough believable detail in the piece to make you wonder why he doesn’t write a whole darn novel. Maybe that’s the point. He’s given us just enough background to spin out a story ourselves…
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2021/01/covid-on-mars.html
We’ve all heard the old saw about beating swords into ploughshares. The twenty-first century equivalent is forging bomb casings and artillery shells into pro-grade cleavers. The steel used by blacksmith Wu Tseng-dong is denser and tougher than the regular stuff—all the better for killing people. Wu’s approach seems far more sensible to us.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/kinmen-knives
What cheese would you like on your burger? Swiss? Cheddar? Perhaps a crumble of melty blue (trust us, the best choice)? Then of course there is the plastic-wrapped-in-plastic option—American. Who in their right mind would choose the emulsified cheese-style product when there are, yes even in America, so many other, tastier toppings? Well, king of food science Kenji Lopez-Alt is here to rid you of your prejudices, shed a little light on the whole situation and maybe, just maybe, persuade you that when it comes to burgers there is no better way to go…
https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/07/whats-really-in-american-cheese.html
A new series from polymath and pattern-matcher Adam Curtis is always worth a look. His forensic, archive-heavy approach gives a fresh search vector on the way the world is now, often leading us into unexpected and uncomfortable places. Curtis’ counter-histories show us a world even stranger than the conspiracy theorists would have us believe exists. As his new show ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ launches on iPlayer, Curtis talks to Sam Knight at the New Yorker about what we have in store…
https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-uk/adam-curtis-explains-it-all
On the subject of a universe connected in ways you might not realise, Tom Lennon gets tangled in the web connecting shows as disparate as The Wire and Sesame Street. If you haven’t before (and we get a feeling you may have at some point), meet Baltimore’s finest, Detective John Munch.
The John Munch Cinematic Universe
Musicians are finding it harder to cope in the post-Brexit, ever-Covid world, as touring becomes a near-impossibility. Even if venues reopen, getting in the van and crossing the Channel instantly lands you in a swamp of paperwork and added costs. How can a musician make any cash? Streaming services seem intent in giving out a pittance even if you do find an audience online. It turns out, though, if you have the technical chops and the tenacity, it’s possible to make millions off Spotify. Fire up them Raspberry Pi’s!
https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/88aedv/how-to-become-a-millionaire-by-streaming-music-on-spotify
A couple of notices for our X&HTeam-mates. Simon Aitken’s second feature, the romantic anthology Modern Love, is releasing this V-Day on Amazon Prime! We’re excited to see this one, years in the making and we’re certain, worth the wait. Here’s a trailer.
Meanwhile, Keith and Pete are doing great work on their podcast Let’s See What’s Out There. With a dearth of Trek content around right now, they’re live-streaming views of WandaVision. It’s as geeky and adorable as you’d expect, and deserves a listen. Here’s the archive of last week’s ep…
And finally. We urge you to check out King Rocker, Stewart Lee and Michael Cumming’s remarkable anti-rockumentary on Birmingham’s finest, Robert Lloyd and The Nightingales. Largely ignored by all, they’re still recording, punching out deceptively smart doses of pop-punk. King Rocker is a testament to tenacity, a celebration of the rewards that come from forging your own path, no matter how rock-strewn it seems. Now popping up on Sky Arts in the UK, please make time for the man and the big monkey.
https://thequietus.com/articles/29527-film-king-rocker-stewart-lee-michael-cumming-robert-lloyd
We guess we’re pushing out a Nightingales track for Exit Music, then. Gales Doc plays over the end credits Of King Rocker and is a very fine meta-commentary on the construction of yer standard indie-pop groove. Somewhat superior, indeed.
See you in seven, rockers.
February 5, 2021
The Cut Season Two Episode 6
Cold. Damp. Miserable. At least it isn’t January any more, right? Look, we know it’s tough for all you G’s, but see it the way we do—it honestly can’t get any worse. Vaccinations are bombing along. Sunrise is starting to happen at a point after we stick our collective noses over the duvet. And it’s Friday! Come on y’all, upside down them frowns and put a little sugar on it.
This week—sex! Cheese (which is sex in dairy form)! Little Richard (the man who was sex and drugs and rock and roll)!
OY! TIME YES NOW PLACE HERE YES! COME AND GET YER CUT!
Sex scenes—the bit of the movie where you inevitably wish you’d picked something else to watch with your parents on Netflix. Done right, they can elevate a film, bringing you closer to the emotional journey of the characters. Done badly and boy howdy, someone pass the brain-bleach, daddy’s got some memory to flush out.
But how do you shoot a sex scene in the first place? The rules have shifted significantly in the last few years in this post-#MeToo world—and rightly so. There’s a lot more to it than a closed set, though. Think choreography. Consider the work needed in terms of a stunt sequence. Deploy the crash mats!
https://www.buzzfeed.com/kaylayandoli/actors-filming-sex-scenes-movies-tv-shows
We are always intrigued by a sports movie that takes a tack away from the average final-seconds-winning-score bit. Moneyball and Jerry Maguire both managed the remarkable job of making sports management entertaining. Big Fan does a similar job, nailing the extreme nerdery of football fandom, stat focus, cosplay and all. We wanna see this one now…
https://www.theringer.com/movies/2021/1/29/22254986/big-fan-new-york-giants-cult-movie-patton-oswalt
This is only going to be of interest to a very tiny subset of The Readership, but our Ninth Art Desk insisted on its inclusion. It’s a look at the state of British comics, where we are and where it would be good to be, based on a study by Comics Laureate Hannah Berry. We have some of the most acclaimed creators out there, but most of their work goes to American publishers. We can do better, surely!
https://thequietus.com/articles/29486-hannah-berry-uk-comics-creators-research-report-essay
We see a lot of effort designed to divide us across boundaries of politics, ideology, race, religion, sexuality and all those other artificial firing lines. The simple fact is we are more similar and more able to connect than certain ugly forces in the world would like us to be. Fukc them. We’re better than that. Enjoy this fine piece, simply entitled Knuckles.
As writers, we are encouraged to bang out fast and ugly first drafts. It gets the idea out of your head and onto the page. We are not, however, supposed to let that rough document go out to anyone else. Giles Turnbill explains why, illogical as it seems, you might want to show your working…
All first drafts are bad drafts (and that’s what makes them good)
If you are at all plugged in, you will have seen this…
(the female members of the Cut Crew confirm this is true).
The links between cheese and witchcraft are deep and long and rich. There’s plenty to parse in the story of yet another way in which fermented milk is so truly magical…
https://theconversation.com/the-spellbinding-history-of-cheese-and-witchcraft-153221
We love love love Binging With Babish. Millions of YouTube viewers agree with us, but this is an example of how popular doesn’t mean low quality. As cooking streams go, BWB is thoughtful, well-researched and inspiring as much as it’s entertaining and downright hilarious. The trouble is there’s a lot of content now as Andrew Rea has expanded his Culinary Universe over the past year. Where do you start if you’re interested in building a Meat Torpedo or want to cook up a stack of Steamed Hams? Luckily, Mashable has your back…
https://mashable.com/article/best-binging-with-babish-tv-and-movie-recipes/
This next link is, frankly, a bit of a downer. Tony Bennett’s camp recently revealed the beloved entertainer has Alzheimer’s. That hasn’t stopped him from recording a new album, which has presented a real set of challenges. There were a couple of points in this article from AARP where we had to step away from the screen. It’s desperately sad but strangely inspiring all at once. Pick your time to read this if you’re feeling a little fragile, but do please give it a look.
https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/celebrities/info-2021/tony-bennett-alzheimers.html
If you need some calming music after that, we’ve got ya. Get your lugs round this previously unreleased set of ambient cool from Brian Eno…
https://ubu.com/sound/eno_textures.html
And finally. We urge you to make time for this remarkable NPR groove on the one, the only, the irreplaceable Little Richard. His life was an extraordinary clash of influences—the sacred and the profane, the straight and the queer, guilt and gleeful acceptance. From Good Golly to good booty, he didn’t just embrace the contradictions. He stirred them into the glorious stew he cooked and fed to us, bite by spicy, flavoursome bite.
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/22/948963753/little-richard-black-queer-grief-he-was-an-architect
Our Exit Music comes from X&HTeam-mate Dominic Wade, who we feature regularly both here and on WROB. He’s shared a new mix of electronic textures with us. Dom insists on mixing from vinyl. That needle drop at the start? It’s for real…
See you in seven, crate-diggers.
January 29, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 5
Hotchie motchie! Another wild ride of a week, eh? We feel as if we’ve been shoved headfirst into the bell of a euphonium which is being enthusiastically but tunelessly played by an elephant with really bad halitosis. If you too are getting the hardcore blasts of bad wind blues, then retreat to your safe, quiet space—here at The Cut we will firmly coddle your mollies.
This week we’ve got dragons, William Burroughs putting a coffee bar into a time warp and the story of how the Emperor got his Groove.
Now be the time. Here be the place. This be The Cut.
OK, maybe one peek at the ongoing Sitiational car crash, but only because it is pertinent to our Ninth Art Desk’s remit. Of all the things you’d expect to be affected by Brexit, hands up who had comics on the list? Yeah, us neither. Let’s invite John Hendricks of Big Bang Comics to put us in our place…
Ugh, enough of this gloominess. Shall we consider the art of the casting director? What goes into the process of picking the perfect person for a particular role? Don’t mention the casting couch, there’s a lot more to it than that!
This next link is a goody. Famously irascible psychonaut William S. Burroughs spent time in England in the early seventies, and fell out with the management of his local coffee bar. Many people would choose to drink elsewhere. Burroughs decided to use a tape recorder to nullify the joint from existence…
How William S. Burroughs Used the Cut-Up Technique to Shut Down London’s First Espresso Bar (1972)
NeoTextCorp is always good value for that pop-culture/Ninth Art interface. Chloe Maveal takes a long hard look into the visual choices made by George Miller in his direction of Mad Max: Fury Road, and how it ties into the aesthetic of classic Brit comics, limited colour palettes and all. Of course, 2000AD artist Brendan McCarthy is credited as a writer on the film, which only ties everything more closely together…
‘Mad Max Fury Road’: The Best Comic Book Movie (That Was Never a Comic Book)
In yet another of our Readership Compatibility Tests, we ask—who’s interested in a brief history of dragons in Western literature? Honestly, we need to say no more.
A Brief History of Dragons Throughout Western Literature
Our intake of wine over the past twelve months may have increased somewhat. We’re sure there are plenty of you out there who would be forced to confess the same. Much as we’d love to claim that we do our research into terroir and flavour compounds, we can still be drawn to purchase when faced with an alluring label. There are some very specific design rules behind the branding of wine, as Eater explores…
https://www.eater.com/wine/21303085/how-to-design-wine-label-art
We are big fans of the outlier films in the Disney canon. Frozen? Meh? Snow White? Whatevs. We like the odder offerings, like The Black Hole, Basil The Great Mouse Detective or Treasure Planet. The most bonkers of them all is The Emperor’s New Groove, which went through a deeply difficult and protracted birthing period…
https://www.vulture.com/article/an-oral-history-of-disney-the-emperors-new-groove.html
Is it a sign of impending doom when we feature a second obituary in two months? Well, read into it what you will. But we urge you to read this tribute to ‘professional clipper of coupons, baker of cookies, terror behind the wheel, champion of the underdog, ruthless card player, and self-described Queen Bitch’ Margaret Marilyn DeAdder, and mourn a world that must face the future without her.
http://www.cobbsfuneralhome.ca/obituaries/151483
There’s a saying passed around science-fictional circles which states ‘there’s nothing as dated as yesterday’s future.’ If you consider how much SF is a reflection of the times in which it’s written, you can see the reasoning. Fifties communist paranoia fed into the alien invasion stories which were all the rage. Concerns over the environment and fear of nuclear warfare were the foundation for strange tales of mutation and apocalypse in the eighties. As for nineties-style cyberpunk… well, we’ve just passed the date when the movie version of William Gibson’s story Johnny Mnemonic was set (January 19th 2021, to be exact). Leah Schnelbach for Tor looks back at the movie, and sees a world with strong parallels to current times…
Is It Possible That Johnny Mnemonic’s Future Is Better Than Our Own?
And finally. You may remember, back in the heady days of a couple of weeks back, a twenty-four hour furore around a guy who became known as Bean Dad. He made an attempt at a learning experience with his kid, and The Internet had Opinions. As ever, we came to the story late, only to find that we had come across Bean Dad before. In fact, we’re a fan of his work. John Roderick is a sweet and funny podcaster and musician whose work as songwriter in The Long Winters offers a masterclass in solid power pop.
Should we feel differently about John because of the Bean Dad thing? Well, as we (along with everyone who Had Opinions) don’t really know him through anything other than his internet presence, no, not really. This, we suppose, ties into the old argument about art versus artist, which sees no sign of settling any time soon. We’re all flawed, we all make mistakes, and there’s always more to the story. Anyway, we provide a little context from John’s podcasting pal, Merlin Mann…
https://www.kungfugrippe.com/post/9604198827/carparts
…and offer up a song called Carparts. It’s not here to influence your opinion. It’s just a really, really good song.
See you in seven.
January 22, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 4
The temptation to drop this episode yesterday, the 21st day of the 21st year of the 21st century, was very strong. But we believe in continuity, even in a week of momentous change. We like to hope as the sands shift under us, this weekly offering of Friday foolishness offers a foothold of stability on which to perch.
A packed programme ahead, featuring the greatest EVAR home cinema, boozy monks, and why you should never sneer at Mills and Boon.
YES TIME NOW. YES PLACE HERE.
This is The Cut.
We promise, there will not be much in the way of talk regarding the big political event of the last couple of weeks. There’s plenty of coverage out there if you care to chuck a stick. But drawn as we are to the power of language, we want to highlight Cut Crush Susie Dent’s piece in the Indie on the rhetoric of protest and how it can colour major events like the breach of the US Capitol…
https://inews.co.uk/opinion/insurrection-revolution-capitol-donald-trump-protests-831475
We’re all sick of turkey and given Veganuary a sniff and a lick. What’s next? Now’s the time to be trying new and interesting grub. Allow us, with the help of Eater, to point you in the direction of a nutritious, sustainable but overlooked protein. Fans of Bugs Bunny may want to look away…
https://www.eater.com/22149324/why-you-should-be-eating-rabbit-meat
As bon viveurs and sophisticates, we are becoming more prone to a nice cocktail as our booze of choice. The Cut’s drink store is filling with all kinds of interesting liquors. One we’re missing which we absolutely need to try is Chartreuse, if only for the back story. We should get in quick. Worryingly, there’s a risk of the recipe being lost forever, as the article makes clear…
“I really have no idea what it is I sell,” a Chartreuse Diffusion president told The New Yorker in 1984. “I am very scared always. Only three of the brothers know how to make it — nobody else knows the recipe. And each morning they drive together to the distillery. And they drive a very old car. And they drive it very badly.”
On a related subject—should we be worried that most of the world’s banking systems rely on software written over sixty years ago, which can now only be worked on by a shrinking band of aged technicians? Seriously, if you want a job for life, you could do worse than to get your head around COBOL…
https://www.wealthsimple.com/en-ca/magazine/cobol-controls-your-money
We miss going to the pictures almost more than any other privations suffered over the year of The Situation. If only we were friends or neighbours with Anderson Jones, who has taken the idea of the ultimate home cinema to magnificent extremes.
We’re always fascinated by the way different writers get through the working day. Early or late start? Is a specific pen or kind of notebook or particular room needed to summon the muse? The knowledge that Neil Gaiman works longhand with a nice fountain pen in his own godsdamned library, for example, doesn’t help us to be better writers. It does lead to a form of connection and understanding, though. The struggle is real, as Margaret Atwood makes clear…
Margaret Atwood: Daily Routine
In further booky linkage, we loved this interview with one of our favourite authors of recent times, Mick Herron. His Slough House books are bleakly brilliant thrillers invoking the spirit of John Le Carre and bringing his mordant vision of the Secret Service bang up to date. We cannot recommend them highly enough.
After a quiet year for Marvel, it’s great to see the first of their dedicated Disney+ shows, WandaVision, starting off with a real bang. It’s a real shift in scale after the three hour sturm und drang of the last two Avengers flicks. It reminds us of the delicious surrealism of Legion, an X-Men related show that slipped under a lot of viewer’s radars (is it going to be part of the new Star lineup on Disney+? We do hope so). Claire Napier fills us in on the comics to read as background to the story of our new favourite newly-weds…
WandaVision: What’s the Source?
No genre is more disparaged and sneered at than romance. This is a nonsense. Romfic has the most dedicated and voracious of fan bases, and the sector is worth an absolute fortune. It’s also very tricky to get right. There are strict rules and formulas to follow and understand. You don’t dash off a hot slab of romance in an afternoon, you know…
Apart from cinema, we miss live music more than anything else (ok, maybe pubs too). Nothing beats a night out with like-minded fans bouncing around to some favourite tunes. The news that Glastonbury has been forced to go fallow for a second year makes it clear we’re not ready to cram into sweaty little venues and pogo quite yet. Sarah Lavigne looks back at how 2020 was for Bristol venue The Louisiana in a moving but ultimately hopeful piece. Someday we will all join again under a dripping roof and let the music take us away.
A year in the life of an independent venue
The power of the written word is directly affected by the type used to land it on paper or a screen. Reading the Declaration Of Independence set in Comics Sans will rob the piece of some of its grandeur, we feel. We were taken, then, by the efforts of the design team at Dysfluent Magazine, who have found a really clever way to visually signify the speech patterns of those affected by the mind-body break that is the stammer…
And finally. We defy you not to be charmed by this story of Betty, the moggy who nearly brought a railway to a standstill. As feline fans, we can only agree it’s a cat’s world, and they have only begrudgingly allowed us into it.
1933: Betty, the Hobo Cat of Hoboken Who Hitched a Ride on the Lackawanna Limited
This week’s Exit Music has to sum up a sense of fresh starts and new, bright horizons. There is no better song for that than Mary Margaret O’Hara’s Anew Day. She’s only released one full album, 1988’s Miss America. It’s a fully formed statement of intent that doesn’t need a follow up. Delightfully wonky and strangely angular, Anew Day is scuffed and raggedy but utterly shining with an unforced joy. Everybody, walk in brightness.
See you in seven, newbies.
January 15, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 3
Dunno about you, Readership, but we are starting to get a bit bored with this whole living in interesting times bit. We’d rather read about history, not find ourselves living it. We assume you’re covered when it comes to the Trump thing and the Covid thing and the Brexit thing. That’s not why you’re here. You’re after some hot links to archive Soviet science fiction movies, or to read about the bars at the South Pole, or to check out the un-nerving return of Seinfeld, right? Well, you, our loves, have come to the right time and place.
This is The Cut, and we haven’t had our breakfast yet.
Our featured image this week is by Michael Bennett, a shutterbug specialising in a pleasingly bleak style of British seaside photography. Mixing social realism and a sharp eye for tiny stories, his work commissioned for a gallery in Llandudno was a little too accurate a portrayal of life in the North Wales town in the late seventies for their tastes. Mothballed until 2019, we’re only now getting the chance to enjoy Bennett’s gritty, luminous images. More after the link…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-55537454
No less an authority than Alex DiCampi bigged up this post by Kim O’Connor for Shelfdust, calling it ‘absolutely, hands down, the best article about making comics you will ever read.’ Who are we to argue with the Mighty One? If you follow the Ninth Art, we recommend you grab a seltzer and a snack and dig the heck in, pilgrim.
A Sharper Image: Kim O’Connor on Spawn #1
In YES YET ANOTHER of our Readership Compatability Tests (all we really care about is your undying and unquestioning loyalty), we want to know how interested you are in a big list of Soviet science fiction movies over the last sixty years. All free to stream, all very much your bag if you like it slow, bleak and desperately meaningful ‘entertainment’. Yes, of course Tarkovsky’s Solaris and Aleksi German’s Hard To Be A God are in here. What kinda mooks do you take us for? Go get some!
https://sovietmoviesonline.com/fantastic
Some TV shows have the perfect ending, and any attempt to rebuild or carry on seems both pointless and money-grubbing. Does anyone really want a Sex And The City reboot? Nah, thought not. We have to admit we’re intrigued by editor Dominick Nero’s take on a return to the dark world of Seinfeld. He’s doubling down on the evil at the show’s heart by making a follow up based on Twin Peaks-The Return. This is both really bloody odd and utterly bloody perfect. We recommend, especially if you feel you’ve been getting too much sleep lately…
Liminal space. Sounds kinda science-fictiony, and in some ways it is. Best described as the zones we enter while travelling, liminal space includes airports, bus stations, train termini—in other words, places to pass through that you never really want to get stuck in for any length of time. Earnest Pettie takes a look at the architecture of and prevailing mood hanging over such places, and considers how they sum up the times in which we find ourselves…
https://www.earnestpettie.com/liminal-spaces-may-be-the-most-2020-of-all-trends/
We all know fake news is something to be avoided, but it comes in all shapes and forms and can sneak up on you. A lot of the more stunning photos of the natural world which pop up on our timelines are nothing of the sort. Heavily manipulated or even CGI renders, they’re posted for the most unscrupulous of reasons—cold, hard cash. The Halifax Examiner talks to PicsPedant, one guy kicking against the pricks…
Debunking fake supermoons and other internet garbage
George Saunder’s last novel, Lincoln In The Bardo, won all the awards and rightly so. Saunders is a writer at the height of his powers, so it’s especially pleasing to see his new book examining the process, art and grunt work behind getting words on the page. George being George, there’s more to it than that, of course…
George Saunders on the Vitality of Fiction in Increasingly Turbulent Times
There are rough bars, the joints with reputations and clientele where you have to earn the right to admission. Then there are the bars that service the community who work one of the toughest gigs there is—Antarctica. Run on an honour and barter system, they are tended by folk who kinda fall into the gig and realise they can make a difference—or at least snag some serious kudos. Atlas Obscura talks to Philip Broughton, who, despite protestations, is the kind of guy who is perfect for the role. Why else would he have brought Angostura bitters to the South Pole?
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/bartender-antarctica-south-pole
Hit Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit has rekindled an interest in a game which seems to slip in and out of fashion like the tide. But how much do you really know about chess? We have dug into the archives of gaming site Rock Paper Shotgun, where the brilliant Kieron Gillen gives an important overview on all you need to know. Drop the fact that chess was invented in 1958 by Mr. Chess into your next Zoom social and see how impressed people are!
7-in-1 Magnetic Family Game: Chess
Und schlussendlich. Last week marked both the anniversary of David Bowie’s birth and death. There is still a school of opinion thinking he was holding the line against a tsunami of evil which has flooded the world since he passed five years ago. Is it a coincidence that Domuld Tromp and Bruxit happened after his rise to the higher plane? We’ll leave that to you, Readership. You’re all smart cookies. You don’t need us to show you which way the wind blows.
We have to have a bit of Bowie as our Exit Music. Which is of course, a hard ask. So much to choose from! Tempting as it would be to drop The Laughing Gnome or something from his godawful Tin Machine era on you, we choose to embrace the singular pleasure of his flirtation with drum ‘n’ bass, which provided us with a song we feel is a perfect sum-up of so many of his recurrent themes. The alien. The lost. The voice calling desperately to a home so, so far away. More Ziggy and Thomas Newton than Major Tom, but full of an unfathomable yearning meshed with, let’s be frank, a proper CHOON. And holy smokes, that video’s an eye-popper.
Little wonder he’s still so loved.
See you in seven, starchildren.
January 8, 2021
The Cut Season 2 Episode 2
(image courtesy of our pal and X&HTeam-mate Dominic Wade – more of his work available to view here.)
Right, who had a third UK lockdown, calls for a second Trump impeachment and shots fired in the Capitol Building on their Apocalypse Bingo card? Us neither. Nice to see 2021 is off to a slow and gentle start, eh? Allow us to ease you into the first proper weekend of the new year with our mix of effervescent nerdery. You’ll feel both smarter, cooler and more refreshed. That’s our promise to you or your moneys back.
Lo! This am place. Now am time. This am The Cut.
A spite house is not somewhere to gather and hiss at people you don’t like out of the window (although sometimes we think that might not be such a bad idea). No, the idea is to build a structure with the express and explicit purpose of pissing someone else off. Imagine hating another person enough to drop a house-sized wedge of cash just to give them a stress ulcer. The commitment to the cause is simply mind-blowing.
https://www.cracked.com/article_29322_spite-houses-architectural-monuments-to-peoples-grudges.html
Tricksters, inventors of stadium house and all round masters of discord The KLF dropped a very sweet New year’s gift to us — a managed rollout of their self-deleted back catalogue on streaming services and the Tube of You. Great to hear the old tunes again in decent quality. The Quietus has an overview of the strange life and curious times of the band most likely to burn a million quid.
https://thequietus.com/articles/21674-the-klf-justified-ancients-of-mu-mu-bill-drummond-jimmy-cauty
Meanwhile Paul Duane, chronicler of all things Drummond, has released a new movie on the latter-day activities of the group. No longer music creators, they are finding new usefulness as pyramid-builders and funeral directors…
We love a good heist story. The planning. The things that go wrong halfway. The hair’s breadth getaway. The inevitable double-cross and betrayal. This story has none of those things but it’s still a thrilling and fascinating recount of Argentina’s most famous bank raid, and the characters who very nearly got away with a fortune…
https://www.gq.com/story/the-great-buenos-aires-bank-heist
As mentioned previously, phew, lockdown, eh? Frankly, we’ve never been fans of threequels and the timing of this one just sucks. What are we to do with ourselves? Well, Anneli at Pigletish has a few ideas. One hundred, to be exact…
https://pigletish.com/100-places-to-go-when-you-cant-leave-the-house/
We interrupt our regular programming to introduce another Readership Compatability Test. Are you the sort of person who would enjoy an exhaustive breakdown of the best pens on offer in five different categories? If not…well, we’ve got our eyes on you, sunshine. Notes are being taken. If it’s a yes then BOY HOWDY HAS WE GOT A TREAT FOR YOUSE.
https://nymag.com/strategist/article/best-pens-gel-ballpoint-rollerball-felt-fountain.html
We were recently introduced to Helen Lewis’ most excellent newsletter, The Bluestocking. Fine chat and insight on culture, criticism and writing. A high and solid recommend. We were especially drawn to this overview of the new TV adaptation of a beloved Terry Prachett Discworld strand. We’d just say, if you’re a fan of the Ahnk-Morpork Watch books, you may want to steer clear…
https://helenlewis.substack.com/p/the-bluestocking-terry-pratchett
There is something both creepy and endearing about Twin Strangers, a site which allows you to find and even meet the person who looks almost exactly like you. It’s narcissistic and wildly stalkery, but there’s a sweetness about the joy people have found in seeking out that very special someone. Kottke has more…
https://kottke.org/20/12/identical-strangers
Back in the day we were big fans of Elijah Quashie, AKA the Chicken Connoisseur. He applied a steely eye and refined taste to the chicken shops of London and the South-East, rating chips, wings, strip burgers and the general vibe brought to the joint by the bossman on a tightly controlled scale. After a long set of hiatuses, he’s announced a comeback and an expansion of remit. Check your creps and stand by for action!
We have all the time in the world for Nick Cave, especially when he lets his dark gunslinger guise relax to display the goofy side of his nature. For Interview magazine, he reveals some of his lockdown activities. Cute drawings of small fluffy animals feature surprisingly strongly…
https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/nick-cave-takes-us-on-a-tour-of-his-creative-universe
For any SF or fantasy writer, world-building is an essential skill. Setting your story in an entirely imaginary universe is a tricky proposition with a ton of potential pitfalls. Too much detail, not enough detail, scientific or geographical implausibility. It’s a proper spiny hog’s nest. Some of our most popular modern skiffy authors share their secrets for putting us in the frame…
And finally, a couple of shouts to X&HTeam-mates with projects in which our Rob had involvement. Firstly, we are delighted to mention a new episode of KaijuFM’s show of chance, coincidence and conversation, Of Dice And Robs. Maythorne and Wickings ramble cheerfully on two of their randomly chosen topics, allowing the chat to wander where it will. It’s a gentle, warm hug of a show.
https://www.kaiju.fm/ofdiceandrobs/never-again/
We’d like to finish up with some excellent news from our pal Simon Aitken. After seven years of work his second feature, Modern Love, is launching on Amazon Prime—appropriately on Valentine’s Day! An anthology film, Simon embraces all sorts of different dramatic techniques to talk about the glorious tribulations surrounding the most universal of subjects. Full disclosure, our Rob has a technical credit on this. We won’t let that stop us from unreservedly recommending Modern Love. Make a date.
Given the events of a week which feels like an accelerated recap of 2020 with an extra dollop of surreal on top, we know it can feel hard to be positive. In times like these, we always turn to the favourite sons of Athens, Georgia (the state who just hammered the last nail into the Republican Party’s hold on the Senate). Crank up the jangularity and holler along, why doncha? We are hope despite the times.
See you in seven. Stay safe.
January 1, 2021
The Cut Season Two Episode One
We made it! Welcome to 2021, the year of hope after whatever the hell that shitshow we’ve just endured was. All is reset, we can begin again as if nothing had happened, secure in the knowledge that the world is now a better, brighter place…
Yeah, alright, maybe not. Nevertheless, here we are at the arbitrary start of a new unit of time measurement. Let’s at least start with a positive outlook, yeah?
We’ll have reports from our film, literature, food and music desks who all have a nod for their favourite thing of the year, as well as some more of the random nonsense you’ve come to tolerate over the last months. Shall we begin?
Now be the time. Here be the place. This are The Cut.
This first link may arrive too late for our international Readership, but we’ll give the heads-up anyway. Author, raconteur and all-round fiction-master Robin Sloan embarks on his annual live read of Sir Gawain And The Green Knight today from 6pm GMT (other time zones are available). It’s an enticing, creepy and mesmerizing start to proceedings and one we cannot recommend strongly enough.
https://www.robinsloan.com/live/
For the British contingent, no event summed up the year more than failed comic book villain Dominic Cummings’ trip to Barnard Castle in a blatant flauting of lockdown rules. This timeline of the event and its repercussions gives perspective to a defining moment which sparked no end of memes, satire and even a beer!
https://www.vice.com/en/article/epdbvw/dominic-cummings-barnard-castle-scandal-oral-history
We approve very strongly of positive listicles. 2020 was not, despite all evidence to the contrary, unrelenting gloom and doom for everyone. Again from Vice, here are stories from people who made it through the year with a smile on their face.
One last look back at the big success story of 2020–the race for a Covid-19 vaccine. The front-runner, based on dogged research into mRNA by Katalin Karikó, shows how important it is to stick to your guns in the face of almost overwhelming odds.
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/mrna-coronavirus-vaccine-pfizer-biontech
Transdiffusion are great at archive broadcast geekery of all sorts, from TV idents to old Radio Times schedules. On Christmas Day they dropped this wonderful true story of young amateur radio buffs who took to the airwaves with piratical glee…
https://www.transdiffusion.org/2020/12/25/pirate-radio-station-run-by-schoolboys
The Film Desk frames it up…
We were very lucky a couple of years ago to attend the Sheffield Documentary Film Festival and catch the premiere of Bryan Fogel’s Icarus, a twisty tale of sporting corruption which went on to win him an Oscar. His new film, The Dissident, on the killing of journalist Jamal Khasoggi, should have been a lock for worldwide distributors. Bryan found, however, that some of the big names were more interested in their audience figures than the truth…
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/24/business/media/dissident-jamal-khashoggi-netflix-amazon.html
It’s been a strange, strange year for film, with cinemas closing and many big-ticket titles shunting back into 2021. The tent pole movies that did make it out—Tenet and Wonder Woman 1984—suffered from lackluster reviews and an audience which wasn’t really there. At least one big studio plans day-and-date drops of all their major releases on streaming services. Disney+ is leading the charge with the Christmas Day reveal of Pixar’s transcendent Soul. Where this leaves cinema is anyone’s guess. We suspect the smaller indies will do better, offering boutique luxury services as a way to draw punters in. The days of the sticky-floored, popcorn-reeking multiplexes could be numbered.
With such a stuttery release schedule, we struggled with our Film Of The Year pick. The aforementioned Soul is a real treat, and we also loved David Fincher’s Mank and the harrowing The Painted Bird. But nothing else matches up to the film which signalled the end of our movie-going experience for the year. Still a perfect puzzle-box of a film with the twist of the year at its heart, we are calling Parasite our Film Of 2020.
The Music Desk sounds off…
We forget how quickly some of the most iconic bands in music history appeared, bloomed and flared out. Sure, legends like the Stones just keep on rollin’, but the Beatles were done and dusted in six years. Nirvana only released three studio albums. As for the Sex Pistols, the band who fired the starting gun on punk, they were formed, signed, dropped, re-signed, released a single album and split in two and a half years. Their final UK gig sums up the amped-up surreality of the Pistol’s rise and fall—playing a gig supporting striking miners that was literally for the kids…
The TV variety shows of the late sixties and seventies, particularly those hosted by a musical artist who brought their own likes to the table, were often home to some delightful surprises. Jimi Hendrix’s brilliant blast of Sunshine Of Your Love took place, for example, on Lulu’s self-titled programme. Sure, there was plenty of cheese on offer, but sometimes we got a serving of the good stuff. Take this shot in the arm from The Tom Jones Show in 1969, where he traded whoops and soul hollers with none other than Janis Joplin on Raise Your Hands. The sheer joy on display from two remarkable vocalists as they bounce off each other is something to witness. This one’ll clear out the cobwebs…
The disappearance of live performance was a killer for many musician’s incomes in 2020, and led to a lot of pointed questions about revenue from streaming services and lack of support from the UK government of one of our most profitable industries. Brexit and the change to customs and border control aren’t helping that either. It wasn’t just musicians affected, of course. We were deeply saddened just in The Cut’s home town Reading to see the cancellation of festivals like Are You Listening? , Down At The Abbey and Readipop, and the closure of brilliant venues like South Street, The Rising Sun and our personal favourite, Sub89. We hope and pray that everyone involved comes back stronger and brighter in 2021. Zoom gigs just aren’t the same.
Lockdown has, however, had an astonishing effect on creativity over the past twelve months, with home bound artists venting their feelings on remarkable new music. We found comfort and pleasure in Taylor Swift’s two albums, cathartic rage in Bob Mould’s surging, furious Blue Hearts and sheer joy in Bruce Springsteen’s Letter To You. But our Album Of The Year nod goes to the artist who chose to lockdown before the rest of us, rampaged around her house making music on whatever she could find and summed up the year with one quote. Shout out to Fiona Apple and ‘Fetch The Bolt Cutters.’
We are not strong at sports journalism here at The Cut—our interests lie elsewhere, and our Sports Desk has been gathering dust and tumbleweeds over in the dark bit of the office. We couldn’t resist this lovely portrait of Dundee United’s irascible, passionate and uncompromising manager Jim McLean, though. A beautifully observed character piece.
http://www.nutmegmagazine.co.uk/issue-11/jousting-with-jim/
The Food Desk sets the table…
I think we can all agree the hospitality sector has been hit hard time and again this year. The lines have been redrawn over and over, and every time pubs and restaurants have been forced to pivot, changing business models often with next to no warning. At The Cut we believe hospitality has been unfairly targeted. Our favourite places have made Herculean efforts to keep their customers safe with little to no help.
All of which sounds like there’s no hope and we’re going to lose a huge chunk of our favourite pubs and eating places. Perhaps that’s true. But there is hope amidst the fear and uncertainty. Looking locally again, we celebrate the Reading businesses that have changed their focus, like Geo Cafe, Caversham’s new indie grocer. We are also cheered by the places who have been able to expand—the Grumpy Goat found new premises in the centre of town and Vegivores doubled its floor space in time for Christmas. This is enormously positive and we wholeheartedly support these and the other local independent joints across the country who are punching back against 2020.
The big success story in Reading has to be Clay’s Hyderabadi. With no outdoor seating and a tiny footprint, it seemed doomed to fail despite the brilliance of the food and warmth of welcome. Instead, the team began providing cook-from-chilled kits which earned rave reviews from big foodie names like Jay Rayner and orders went through the roof. Nandana, who runs Clay’s with her husband Sharat, sums up the year on the Clay’s blog. She gives shouts to the other brilliant businesses which are helping to make Reading such a great place to eat and drink. We hope and pray that we can get out and see everyone again soon.
https://www.clayskitchen.co.uk/blogs/blog-posts/2020-and-what-it-did-to-us
The Book Desk Turns The Page…
We took a lot of pleasure in an interview with 90s pop star Tony Mortimer of East 17, who discovered the joy of books and reading in his 50s. His sheer joy and wonder at the way his world has opened is utterly infectious. We wish nothing more than that feeling for every one of you.
Language is a virus, the old saying goes. It’s infectious, it mutates, it is part of all we are, but the changes kind of sneak up on us. When did it become the done thing to start every statement with the word ‘so’? It’s difficult to say, but someone started it, and the habit began to spread. Linguistics is a source of constant fascination for us as the ways in which we talk to each other changes, particularly in 2020 when we found older methods of communication became more restricted. This Irish Times interview with writer Manchán Magan is insightful on how language is a slippery beast to keep hold of.
Sex is notoriously hard to write. OK, the word itself is pretty straightforward, three letters, one vowel. But the act—hoo boy, there are traps a plenty awaiting the unwary. The Bad Sex Awards celebrated the best of the worst every year, clunky, ugly, or plain surreal moments from writers with plaudits and awards up the wazoo. Sadly 2020 put the event on pause. Instead, Electric Literature chose to create their own Awards, reaching out to authors and inviting them to submit their own horny offerings. The results are as hilarious and uncomfortable and unsexy as you could hope for.
https://electricliterature.com/they-canceled-the-bad-sex-in-fiction-awards-so-we-made-our-own/
Yes, we know we’ve already featured one best comics list of the year already. But Séamus O’Reilly’s overviews are always worth your time. The big story for him is the untimely end of Si Spurrier, Aaron Campbell and Matias Bergara’s run on John Constantine-Hellblazer (which hit the top spot on many year-end lists for very good reason) but there’s plenty more to enjoy in his overview of a busy year for the Ninth Art.
https://seamas.medium.com/my-bumper-comics-of-the-year-2020-extravaganza-fa9e3b264770
Our pick for Comic Of The Year should not come as a surprise to anyone that’s followed our unabashed fanboying of John Allison’s work over the past couple of years, from the Scary-Go-Round mysteries to a whole new universe of adventure and laffs. He threw out a load of free-to-view serial webcomics including the Cornish-set religious sitcom Steeple and a new instalment of his time-travel romp Destroy History featuring a certain Fab Four. For us, though, the return of teen detective Charlotte Grote was real cause for celebration, and her trials and tribulations in Wicked Things absolutely did not disappoint. The scripts are fantastic, snappy and tight. But artist Max Sarin pulls as much weight, making an effortless job from pages and character work which is clear, rich and hilarious. It’s seriously good comics work which carries the weight of experience and craft at its core very lightly. You don’t see that very often.
Which leads us onto our Book Of The Year. Again, the last twelve months brought us a stuffed bookcase with a ton of really great storytelling. 2020 was the year we discovered the bleak world of Mick Herron’s Slough House novels (as ever, we are slow to the pass but we get there in the end), got carried along in the tide of taut noir shorts that made up Don Winslow’s Broken and revelled in the wild skeletal Gothic madness of Tamsin Muir’s Harrow The Ninth. We’d like to give a special shout to Arkady Martine’s Hugo-winning A Memory Called Empire which brought us an extraordinary, richly imagined universe and a thrilling murder mystery to boot.
But there was only ever really going to be one choice. M. John Harrison’s The Sunken Land Begins To Rise Again is a novel for its time—a quiet and very English apocalypse, spooky and surreal and atmospheric. As the mire begins to silently rise to close over our heads, this is the book which will come to be seen as the document of a very peculiar time in our history, without needing to explicitly address it at all. Winner of the Goldsmith Prize, The Sunken Land Begins To Rise Again cements Harrison in a position he’s held for us on the Book Desk for a long time—a genre-independent writer of extraordinary control and power.
All of which brings us to our hails and farewells. As ever, if you’ve read and enjoyed our foolishness over 2020, thank you. We started this mostly for ourselves to keep a low level of sanity simmering away, so it’s great to hear from members of the Readership who have connected with the weekly output. Nice to know you’re not just imaginary. Work continues into the New Year. If you have any suggestions or thoughts, please drop us a line. We do love not howling into a void.
Our Exit Music comes from Ben Watt. His gentle way with a tune has often been a balm to our troubled souls, and this track seems to suit the time nicely. Not a party banger, but who’s doing that right now anyway? Let’s allow 2021 to take us gently by the hand and lead us into whatever’s coming next.
See you in seven, newborns.
