The Swipe Volume 1 Chapter 28
Summer’s back! Well, at least for a bit. We’re maybe two weeks away from the August Bank Holiday, then all of a sudden the days will start closing in and the leaves will drop and you take a breath and it’s Autumn. Some of the pubs near me are already advertising their Christmas menus. Who knows where the time goes…
Wherever you are, whenever you are, however you are, welcome to The Swipe.
Rob is reading…
Shipping Out by David Foster Wallace, also known as A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again. One of the great pieces of longform journalism, recently alluded to by Lauren Oyler in her extraordinary article on Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop Cruise (linked in a previous Swipe).
Rob is watching…
A ten minute film on how Hokusai Pencil Co in Japan mass-produce their stock. Calming, restorative, fascinating.
Rob is listening…
To Kieran Hebden’s never-ending Spotify playlist. You may know him better as Four Tet. This thing is 171 hours long and still growing. Think of it as a kind of musical diary/scratch pad. Dip in and out as you choose, or leave it running in the background as the soundtrack to a long weekend. There’s a lot of goodness in here…
Rob is eating…
Bean-hole beans, like a Canadian logger at the dawn of the 20th century.
Rob’s Low-Key Obsession Of The Week…
Orange cars. They just seem to be everywhere this week, cheering up my commute. The low-slung sunshiny wedge of the MG4. That citrus pop from the rare but gorgeous version of the Ford Focus. I even saw a motor that looked very much like a Tango-flavoured Lamborghini. I don’t understand why people refuse the allure of a brightly-coloured car. Why just settle for battleship grey when you can own a ride which you can always spot in the car-park?
I love a wander in the Lake District. I love a well-made sandwich. This lovely piece by Craig Mod combines the two. Honestly, it’s laser-targeted at my interests.
Turn-on was, for a long while following its abortive launch, a myth—the great white whale of TV comedy. Too wild to survive in the mainstream, in an era where it was the networks or nothing. The e discovery of a lost episode has archive buffs (like me) buzzing with excitement. Let’s flip the switch!
UPA was one of the great animation studios, and its influence continues to echo down the decades. Modern cartoons still owe a debt to innovators like Robert Cannon and John Hubley. Their stripped-back, vibe-heavy style still looks contemporary. Take a look!
The TARDIS is, I’d argue, the star of Doctor Who. Home, transport, refuge, companion. It also changes costume as often as the Time Lord, changing to fit the times. The new interior is, according to returning show-runner Russell T. Davies, the biggest and best yet. I can’t wait.
This is a neat little distraction. See if you can find all 13 crime novels hidden in this short tale of detection. I did it, but it took me a while…
The Swipe is, as I’ve often reminded you, a product of lockdown boredom. My pal Ryan Morris took the same need to create in a void and built his own Taskmaster. It took him two years to make two episodes. They are both worth your time. I’m linking to the second one—I think it’s the better of the two (Ryan agrees) and for SEO reasons, it has less than a fifth of the views of the first. Also, there’s a special surprise guest to watch out for…
Chris Godfrey in The Guardian attempts eight recipes from The Bear for a dinner party. Needless to say, he’s over-reaching. It looks like a great idea, and TLC is keen for me to try it. Just… not all at once, eh?
In the ‘comics do it better’ corner, a fine example of the healing power of the Ninth Art. Burned out with reading? Try a comic or two!
Swans have a new album out. The Beggar is their usual flavour of Zen noise epicness. Michael Gira has done plenty of press in support of the record, but I was drawn to this interview for Guitar World, which focuses on his approach to the creation of the music. Typically, Mr. Gira does not make it easy on himself.
Last up, check out this brilliantly-made overview of cooking videos, from James Beard and Julia Child to today’s hyper-speed TikTok breakdowns. As with written recipes, your mileage will vary as to how much your dinner will look like theirs. Nevertheless, it’s cleverly done.
I cannot get enough of this new track from Dan Auerbach. There’s some sly bits of musical appropriation going on—from the sitar drone you hear at the start of Canned Heat’s ‘On The Road Again’ to the fuzz riff that Norman Greenbaum would like a word about, to the central riff which is certainly in the neighbourhood of ‘Son Of A Preacher Man’. Doesn’t matter. It all works beautifully in the support of an easy-struttin’ groove which is the perfect soundtrack for summer. This is a good one, I can feel it in my bones.
See you in seven, true believers.
