The Swipe Volume 1 Chapter 27
Our greenhouse full of tomatoes is starting to bear fruit. I go out every morning now, checking to see if the little sweethearts will detatch neatly from the vine, or if they need a little longer. The scent on my fingers as I dig and pull is amazing: heady, heavy, dense and bright all at once. I’m growing four different varieties, including a dark purple plant called Chocolate Cherry which is a flavour bomb. Wish I could say the same for the cucumbers, which are all flower and nothing for the salad bowl. Blame the weird weather.
Wherever you are, whenever you are, however you are, welcome to The Swipe.
Rob is reading…
Aconie’s Bees by Jessica Reisman, an Analog Analytical Laboratories finalist. When in doubt, pay attention to the bees.
Rob is watching…
This extraordinary clip of interviewees in a pub on the night before drink-driving rules come into play. Attitudes change after seemingly restrictive legislation is enacted, and quickly, as people realise simple common sense is at the core of the rule change. You’ll always get pushback, though. ULEZ and LTN advocates should take heart. You’re on the winning side.
Rob is listening…
to Biffy Clyro. I first came across them in 2005 at my first Reading Festival, when they opened the main stage with fire and thunder. They pop on and off my radar with metronomic regularity, but a deeper dive this week showed me there’s a lot to like about the feisty Kilmarnock-born threesome.
Rob is eating…
Hot dogs, Chicago style. We don’t do ketchup round here. Still not clear on what constitutes a sport pepper, though. Or how you’d get hold of them in the UK.
Rob’s Low-Key Obsession Of The Week…
The logo for South Western Railways, which strongly features an arrow pointing north-east. I get that design is a tricky and convoluted business, but why would anyone sign off on branding which has a key element directly opposite to the name of your business? Please, someone, explain it to me…
I’m wary about throwing a piece as dense, complex and thoughtful as Brian Phillips’s piece for the Ringer on Oppenheimer into pole position. But it’s just so good. A wide ranging amble around quantum physics, storytelling and the cinema experience which plays its own little game with narrative structure. Pay attention to the numbers. They’re important.
Theory Will Only Take You So Far
Heartbreaking and cheering all at once, this portrait of guitarist Vini Reilly will hopefully send you down a streaming hole to check out some of his music. I discovered him when he was working with Morrissey for Viva Hate. Yeah, I know. Back then it was OK. Play Suedehead, then move on.
The Best Guitarist In The World
A piece about obsession, the urge to collect and getting in over your head. Sometimes you choose the task, sometimes the task chooses you. I love the images. They’re miles away from your average PowerPoint presentation.
Design, as I pointed out with the South Western Railways logo above, is a tricky business. A product or campaign which seems like a total win in the office will have every flaw and weak point mercilessly exploited as soon as it’s released into the wild. Any plan lasts as long as first contact with the enemy. That great quote from William Gibson comes to mind.
The Street Finds Its Own Uses For Things
Another long one. Look, it’s a rainy weekend, I’m just trying to help out here. Jamie Brooks takes a hard look at the future of music and the end of the era of the recording artist. I often wonder where we go from here—so much modern music sounds like rehashes of material I was familiar with when I was a youth, and the cycle seems to be tightening. There’s a resurgence in nu-metal, ferchrissakes.
Let’s have a quick lesson in film theory, helpfully illustrated with examples from the master of the low angle, Quentin Tarantino. Trust me, this is more accessible than I’m making it sound.
The fonts and typefaces of Akira. That’s it. That’s the link.
It seems I can’t post a link about Oppenheimer without including one about Barbie—the two films are entangled at the quantum level. This one is a doozy, though. The Pink Movie has become a litmus test for relationships, based on the boyfriend’s reaction to it, and in particular America Ferreira’s big speech.
I think you’re all aware of my political and moral stance by now. To the list of crimes I’ve committed as a tofu-eating, Guardian reading wokerati, you can now include my cocktail of choice. Who knew I was such an open book? Maybe I should just leave it all behind and have a Love & Murder instead…
Dan Amira is a striking writer trying to find tasks to fill his time. He has chosen a very special rabbit hole down which to disappear. The whole thread just gets funnier the longer it gets. Five Guys, of course, does not count.
Just when you thought I’d run a whole chapter without any Ninth Art content, I pull it back at the last minute. I insist you read this interview with indie comic creator Dean Haspiel, and urge your participation in his latest Kickstarter. I really wanna read Billy Dogma And Jane Legit.
I’m certain I’ve wrapped things up with the stunning voice of Minnie Riperton before. But dammit, Les Fleurs is a song which gets me every time it pops up on the stream. As the garden goes into overdrive with the hard dose of rain we’ve had lately, the tune seems even more appropriate.
See you in seven, true believers.
