The Swipe Volume 2 Chapter 3
This time yesterday I had four links ready for The Swipe and very little else. I thought I’d have to pull up something from the archive for you all to read. And then, as a quiet afternoon wore on, the links started appearing, in newsletters, through the newsfeeds. By the time House Of Games started, I had a full roster. Sometimes the universe will provide, even if it takes its bleedin’ time.
Of course, I could have just taken a week’s break. But the newsletter has been running as an unbroken chain since May 2020. You might not notice I hadn’t posted. But I would.
Wherever you are, whenever you are, however you are, welcome to The Swipe.
Rob is reading…
Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman. A globe-spanning near-future adventure which takes the very real horror of climate change and species extinction and builds a romp around them. I was very strongly reminded of Neil Stephenson, particularly in his less SF-nal tales like REAMDE and Termination Shock. Still not sure about the ending, but otherwise the book is a hoot and a worthy winner of the Arthur C. Clarke award.
Rob is watching…
Reacher, on Amazon Prime. The promise of the first season is fulfilled in the new stack of episodes, based on Bad Luck And Trouble. The big fella teams up with members of his old military unit as it becomes clear that they are being bumped off one by one. The team mechanics give a fresh, lighter air to what is a pretty dark story. It’s pretty funny. It’s also extremely well cast, with Alan Ritchson solid as a rock as the main man. This is great action TV. TLC and I, long-time fans of the books, are hooked.
Rob is listening…
to Bleachers. Yeah, fine, Chinatown is bordering on pastiche even before you factor in the guest star. But when it all kicks off I got chills zipping up and down my spine like New Jersey lightning. It’s good enough for a cold January when all you really want is to be rolling down a turnpike in an open-top Caddy with The Boss riding shotgun.
Rob is eating…
Thor’s Pie. Winter barbeque? Why the heck not?!
Rob’s Low-Key Obsession Of The Week…
The angry lady from the British Airways Holidays ad. She is so poised and elegant yet so righteously aggrieved on our behalf. Honestly, I think these commercials are beautifully executed. The writing and performance is on point. The phrase ‘stay much less dead for much much longer’ is a polished, shiny gem. Turning the legal boilerplate ‘ATOL Protected’ into a punchline? Genius.
How does Taylor Swift manage to perform for three and a half hours a night on The Eras tour without a break? She recently shared her workout regime and well, brutal doesn’t begin to cover it. Ultra-runner Zoë Rom takes us through it.
You may not have heard of Italian liqueur Tuaca. Unless you live in Brighton. In which case, you can’t get away from the stuff. It sounds like an amaro I need to try. And it’s been a while since I hit Party Town…
A good shower thought can subtly shift a tiny element of your existence and make you question the whole thing. The human mind, particularly in those quiet moments where it’s allowed to wonder and wander, is capable of some really odd twists in logical assumption.
Tyromancy is the art of telling the future through the medium of cheese. That’s it, that’s the link.
We need a wider, weirder web. The walled gardens of the social networks don’t allow for healthy cross-pollination of ideas and conversation. The second era of blogs and homebrew online spaces is coming. For it to succeed, we need the tools to quickly and easily make our claim on digital acreage—in short, as easy as setting up an account on Facebook. For full transparency, Excuses And Half Truths runs as a WordPress-hosted build. I’ve always been happy with it, but there needs to be other options.
The end of 2023 saw me hit an age where filling in web forms pushes me one button down on the age demographic clicker. So yeah, getting old is something I think about now. Sarah Wilson takes a warmly nuanced look at the inevitable.
If you do anything creative and put it out for other people to look at, you will have to deal with imposter syndrome, that little voice in your head which tells you you’re not good enough, you have no talent, no-one believes in you, everyone’s laughing. Sound familiar? That’s a direct quote from my tiny critic. It’s important to have an element of self-awareness but in general, you’re being too hard on yourself.
I did not know how much I needed Steven Hyden’s ranking of every Radiohead album and side-project, until I started reading and couldn’t stop. As a fan from The Bends on, the list was like slipping into a hot bubbly bath of nostalgia and fandom. The weekend’s soundtrack will have a very distinct vibe, I think.
Everything In It’s Right Place
When you think of dance legends, the name of David Byrne does not spring naturally to mind. But you have to agree the man’s got moves. This ain’t no fooling around…
Last up, the joy of the vending machine in all its multi-functional magnificence. My personal favourite is the cheese vending machine at Cote Hill Farm shop in Lincolnshire. Cheese on demand! What a world of wonders we live in!
Yes, yes, OK, Olivia Rodrigo twice in two weeks. But let’s face it, she’s got the writing chops and her songs shine brightly from behind the Tiny Desk. This is a really good set.
See you in seven, fellow travellers.
