The Swipe Volume 2 Chapter 19
Hello from Swipe Mobile Command, a converted Methodist chapel in the pretty village of Knodishall in East Suffolk. It is calm and peaceful here, a building of clean white walls and high ceilings. A big bright open space where we can cook, listen to music (and at this time of the morning, birdsong) and reset. Aldeburgh and Southwold are short drives away, as is the UFO walk at Rendlesham Forest, where we will doubtless find the truth is indeed out there.
It is June and we are remembering what it’s like to be grown up, married people with proper internal lives. I am increasingly content. All I need now is to get my toes into some seawater.
Wherever you are, whenever you are, however you are, welcome to The Swipe.
Rob is reading…
I made a pact with myself not to be so distracted with internet bells and whistles and focus on reading one book this week. I have a lovely hardback Penguin Classics edition of A Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Poole which has been staring at me from the bookshelf for a while, so it’s time we got acquainted. The novel is a springy, sprightly chunk of prose and I’m already in with both feet. It’s the right choice for the holiday—a book with heft and chew but nothing too bleak and dark.
Rob is watching…
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. The last word in the title is the important one here—it is a tale told in legend of a figure who endures unimaginable trials to become a fearsome warrior. It’s a different animal to Fury Road—wider in vision, broader in scope. Visually extraordinary, at times utterly berserk. I love the dynamic between Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth as the villainous Dementus. She barely speaks, he can’t shut up. The division and duality is clearly and simply set up. The film is a perfectly designed bit of clockwork, the fuse to a bomb which director George Millar winds up and sets off. Pure cinema. Yes, see it on the biggest screen you can, and try and park yourself dead centre and close enough so the edge of the image is in your peripheral vision. A thing of savage beauty.
Rob is listening…
To Otoboke Beaver, a punky glitterball from Kyoto. The four-piece are having the times of their lives at every gig, and you can feel the NPR Tiny Desk bulging at the seams with the fizzing energy they give off. It’s like being beaned with a bath bomb. You know, in a good way.
Rob is eating…
This is everything I want in a burger in one super-savoury, umami-dunked bite. Hereford’s own Beefy Boys, as featured on Saturday Kitchen and Tom Kerridge’s Hidden World Of Hospitality, do an award-winning version, but frankly Kenji’s version looks deliciously simple and perfectly to grill up at home. Yes to pickles, by the way. I could even go a little mustard.
Rob’s Low-Key Obsession Of The Week…
It used to be a badly-kept secret that Western celebrities would do commercials in Japan, safe in the knowledge no one in their fan base would see them. That is no longer the case, and it’s a good thing. Enjoy this compilation of Madness extolling the virtues of the Honda City and I offer no regrets for the way you will be bellowing ‘City In City!’ and ‘HondaHondaHondaHonda’ for the whole of next week.
In which the religious aspects of the Doctor Who story and the actors and writers behind it are explored. This is genuinely fascinating, especially in light of the more fantastical aspects of the current series. Steven Moffat has already explored aspects of blind faith in the third episode, Boom. You can’t shake the parallels with Christian mythology which have always been core to the tale of the immortal being and their magical box.
Taking Weetabix as a starting point, Jack Thompson for Vittles neatly sums up the state of British farming and food production in general. It’s a worrying read. If we treat essential workers like farmers like this, what does it say about us as a nation?
This’ll put you off your breakfast.
Comedy is serious business. Kliph Nesteroff is a historian of the scene who explores what the discipline is, was and could be. There aren’t many laughs to be had here, but you’ll sure as heck come away with something to think about.
The part that makes you laugh is more important than the part that makes the point.
Whereas this rambling tale from Ellen Klages starts funny and goes up from there. She answers the most important question right at the end, so it’s worth sticking with. Remember, folks, you can only age a ham for so long…
The story of Leopold and Loeb, two upper-class kids who decided to kill a classmate as a jape, is well-known and often told. It’s still creepy as hell, though, and shows how demons can slip into us in the most banal manner and for no easily-explainable reason.
Yuck. Let’s have a livener. In four minutes Fredrick Backman absolutely nails the absurdity at the heart of the writerly life. The deadpan delivery makes this. I like to hope Kliph Nesteroff would approve.
Yes, I know I’m YouTube heavy this week. No apologies, I’m sure we’ll be back to normal next week.
Regardless of your opinion on AI, the simple truth is it’s being used as a cheap, lazy option which provides sub-standard results. In an era where we’re seeing fewer options to enjoy classic movies, surely we should have the option to choose the best version of the films we love. I’m surprised James Cameron allowed this to happen to his legacy, but then I guess he’s rich enough not to care any more.
Finally, I have banged on in previous chapters about how hard it is to make a film, based on personal and observed experience. An anonymous producer tells all to The Fence. Guess what? It’s worse than you think.
I’ll Outro with a bit of Joni Mitchell. Hejira is one of her key albums, a spooky, earthy road movie. She is accompanied on her travels by coyotes, black crows and the patron saint of solo voyagers, Amelia Earhart. Joni is so incredibly influential—I hear her voice and styling in so much modern music, from Weyes Blood to Laura Marling. I love those artists, but Joni was the first one on the road, and she treads her own path. Long may the ride continue.
See you in seven, fellow travellers.
