The Swipe Volume 3 Chapter 8
Lots to see and do this week, so let’s crack on. C and I are away for a few days for to celebrate her birthing-time anniversary (they should really come up with a better term for that) so I honestly have no idea what foolishness you’ll get in the next chapter. I’ll try to resist a gardening update but so much is growing right now, youse guys.
Wherever you are, whenever you are, however you are, welcome to The Swipe.
Rob is reading…
The Nebula Awards Finalists. Well, not all of them because that would take all my available time, but a lot of the shorts and novelettes are available online for your reading pleasure. You can depend on high quality—more so I think than for the Hugos which has been buffeted by controversy and poor judging decisions over the past few years.
Rob is watching…
Daredevil: Born Again. I’m intrigued to see how different this will be to the classic Miller/Mazzucchelli comic run with which it shares a name. But I have faith in the creative team and the cast. I remain a big fan of the original show, and so far I’m enjoying the dive back into Hell’s Kitchen.
Rob is listening…
A rather groovy long playlist that Aphex Twin chap put together as part of his sellout to sneaker-money. I feel no personal urge to wear an overpriced t-shirt with the Windowlicker girl on it, but I’ve seen the queues outside Supreme in Soho when a limited edition drops so, hey, obviously not my area of expertise.
Rob is eating…
Pork. Loin stuffed with waaay too much garlic and rosemary, slow-roasted to succulence in a tight-fitting pot with cider bubbling at the base. I cannot get crackling right no matter how I try, but then if it’s not chicaronne-style light and puffy I’m not really that bothered. I was never a fan of pork scratchings. Too much chewing around bristles for my liking.
Also: shoulder, pressure-cooked in the Instant Pot over onions and peppers, with a little stock and again, some cider. This lasted us for three meals—over rice with spicy beans, on top of jacket potatoes with cheese and sour cream, and finally mixed with noodles in a soy-heavy sauce.
Both came out of a freezer dive—Costco do a big slab of shoulder which I break into bagged portions, and the loin was a half-price deal at Morrisons just after Christmas which was sitting patiently for an excuse to be used. Under a fiver and it fed four people with room for leftovers.
Rob’s Low-Key Obsession Of The Week…
Wood-fired hot tubs. I’ll elaborate next week.
I feel I need to get my mitts on Scarlett’s cookbook. The joie de vivre in this whole article is bubbling over, and I found myself cackling with glee all the way through.
All the lovely things about fandom in one gloriously effusive piece. Reece Connolly nails the joy and positivity of Doctor Who. Screw the haters and gatekeepers. This show really is for everyone.
Some extremely creative parenting from Séamas O’Reilly. The original bit in The Guardian is worth the read, but stick with the Bluesky thread for all the updates.
Stay For The Clickable Tooth Map
I have mithered on about my old Soho stamping grounds for a very long time, so I won’t add any other context to this excellent meander round what’s left of the drinking scene there.
Except. Dammit. Alright, two things. The Old Coffee House is still my favourite and well worth the visit. David Beckham was a bottle boy there, you know. And describing anywhere north of Oxford Street as Soho is stretching this reader’s credulity to breaking point. The Ship is lovely, but there’s a perfectly nice Fuller’s joint of the same name on Wardour Street. No mention of that, I notice.
Sorry, but boundaries matter.
Cat Valente drops the second part of her great state-of-the-psyche examination of what happened to humanity over the past decade, and why we are the lesser for it. It’s a depressing read but delivered with verve and humour, so we can all feel a little better about the imminent collapse of our status as the dominant species on the planet.
Move Fast And Break People Part 2
I remember the magnificent, multi-award winning Sony Bravia ad when it first dropped. It was on cinema screens for a while and let me tell you, those colours pop on the big screen. I’d always assumed it was achieved with ahead-of-the-curve CGI. Nope.
There are times when I get back from work, think about doing some writing, then realise what I really need to do is sit quietly for half an hour and let my brain spin down. This lovely piece by Brendan Leonard is kind of about that, with the added wisdom that sometimes it’s important to just walk away.
It’ll Never Be Enough Until You Decide It’s Enough
This Sunday, March 23rd, marks five years since lockdown was announced in the UK. We live in a world haunted by what happened next, which has changed us in ways we still struggle to understand. Five years is no time at all, yet somehow the Covid years seem impossibly distant, fever dreams from a twisted alternity. We need to steer away from that comforting fantasy. Covid continues to influence the 2020s, terrible as it is to admit.
I can’t finish on that much of a downer. Let’s explore a happier dreamland, a more joyful otherness. Come on, let’s take an amble through the imagination of Tove Jansson.
A World In Which Dreaming Is Essential
One last thing.
Meanwhile, back in 2001 Zero 7 exude some lushness which has yet to be out smoothed. Yes, that’s Sia’s actual face. Who knows what she looks like now.
See you in seven, fellow travellers.
