The Swipe Volume 2 Chapter 8
Leap years are weird. I’ve never understood the reason. Sure, I could Google it, but I honestly prefer (for once) to stay uninformed. It means you can make stuff up and have a bit of fun with the whole ridiculous situation. There’s plenty of myth and lore associated with the 29th of February, a lot of it inverting tradition. Personally, I think it should be a holiday, a chance for us all to take a leap away from the normal, do something we wouldn’t normally do. Step out of the calendar for 24 hours and perceive time from the outside.
If you’re a leap year baby, happy birthday for Thursday! I hope you get four years worth of treats and love. You deserve it, you curious time travellers.
Wherever you are, whenever you are, however you are, welcome to The Swipe.
Rob is reading…
Small Fires by Rebecca May Johnson. Possibly one of the most infuriating books I’ve ever read. I span between wanting to throw it in the charity pile and agreeing passionately with a concept or thought. Rebecca overthinks her relationship with food to an obsessive degree, grinding through a thousand different attempts at a simple tomato sauce to find its perfect iteration. The epiphany never comes (honestly, that’s not a spoiler) but there are other revelations along the way. I still don’t know what I think about the book, or whether I can recommend it. I know I have more to say on the subject but that’s a matter for another post. Nigella gave it a cover quote, if that’s any help.
Rob is watching…
Panos Cosmatos’ Mandy is one of my favourite movies, a a bonkers black metal horror epic with a fearless Nicolas Cage performance which is big and loud even for him. Beyond The Black Rainbow is a different proposition—quieter, sneakier but equally trippy and drenched in red light. The YT embed has subtitles you can’t remove but, hey, what do you want for free?
Rob is listening…
To this bold blast of Scottish rave-up. BA Robertson was a regular fixture on the TV of my childhood, but the recent reappraisal of the guy as a soul stirrer gives him a new respect in my eyes. BA teams here with the tempestuous Maggie Bell, whose voice was so powerful that she had to stand two feet away from a microphone for fear of blowing the diaphragm. This is a blast. No quarter given or received.
Rob is eating…
Trotter Gear. Well, not eating per se, but Ferguson Henderson’s evil concoction feels like a fine weekend project with future benefits down the pipe. Morrison’s will do you a couple of trotters if you can’t get to a butcher.
Rob’s Low-Key Obsession Of The Week…
The craft, time, effort and skill involved in Instagram user Nerdforge’s magnificent obsession gives me all the warm fuzzies, even though she has effectively rendered 14 books into an unreadable object.
There’s a lot to unpack in Casey Neistat’s own magnificent obsession. It is an object lesson in faith, in never giving up on your dream. At the same time, it shows how your priorities change over time, how life will inevitably turn you into a different person (with, in Neistat’s case, an increasingly odd choice of facial hair) and, ultimately, how the goals you have as a young man make less sense as you grow.
The William Morris quote, ‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ resonated strongly with me as I read this Graham Mackay piece on the simple objects which can bring us joy in everyday use.
The inevitable digital garden post. You’ve built a website? Now what? I’ve done a lot of musing on this subject in the past few months. Sometimes it’s worth just having a tinker and a prod under the hood, just to see what new ideas emerge. Like a garden, I suppose. A personal website should always be a work in progress.
I use sites like Metafilter as a way to wander around the quiet corners of the internet, finding the fun stuff—even if it’s just fun to me. Cloudhiker does something similar, offering up a random site with every click of the button. Similar to the late, lamented StumbleUpon, which kept me busy for quite some time in the naughties.
More resolutions from famous writers courtesy of Maria Popova at The Marginalian, Yes, I know we did one of these last month. But frankly, there’s no statute of limitations on starting a good habit. Get going when you’re ready. Don’t let the calendar hold you back.
Resolutions For a Life Worth Living
Hollywood, pay attention. This is how you make a great-looking movie on a tight budget. It’s not about the money you throw at a problem. It’s about the imagination and lateral thinking you use to solve it. See also the amazing work of Gareth Edward’s The Creator, shot cheaply and quickly on location before the effects were laid over the top. The tools are there, and easily accessible. Gain your skills and use them well.
A reminder for those of us excited for the launch next week of Dune: Part Two that it goes in without a recap or reminder. If you need a refresher on the story so far, Read Max has your back.
Last up, a thread on Threads on random utterances and how they can become part of your private lexicon. The more left-field the better. Some of these are extremely out there.
The Outro this week should really be the Low-Key Obsession. It’s ear-wormed me all week so now it’s your turn. Big voice, big hair, big emotions, camp as a pack of pink wafers. Don’t overthink it, just let the music take you.
See you in seven, fellow travellers.
