The Cut 🪒 Issue 21

Michaelmas has come and gone. The nights are starting to draw in. We are heading into spooky season… like things weren’t freaky enough already. Oh well. Draw the curtains, pull up to a bottle and join us as we flag up the pings on our radar this week. We have a metal god, a robust response to some poorly-judged street art and a song that could well be the anthem of 2020.

Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.

---

We rather enjoyed this listicle of the best meals in the movies, especially as it shuns some of the obvious choices (anyone bothered with Babette’s Feast lately?) but has the wisdom to mention Miyazaki. Some tasty picks here. Dig in!

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/aug/28/from-miyazaki-to-the-matrix-10-of-the-best-meals-in-movies

Sometimes, Twitter can be a force for good. Case in point: a warm and lovely thread which recast the Lord Of The Rings entirely with Muppets. Well, nearly all. If you could keep one human actor in the whole shebang, who would it be?

https://news.avclub.com/twitter-bands-together-to-fancast-the-muppets-into-lord-1845182743

Long-time X&HTeammate Dom reached out to us after last week’s issue and said ‘it sounds like you want the whole thing to be over.’ Yes, I think we can all agree with that, although what shape we’re in when and if that occurs is yet to be determined. We are living, as Nick Couldry and Bruce Schneier point out in this excellent piece on CNN, in horizonless times. The world is so unsettling now because we simply can’t imagine what the future is going to look like.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/22/opinions/unrelenting-horizonlessness-of-covid-world-couldry-schneier/index.html

One more depressing bit and then we’ll be back to the fun stuff. The release of Donald Trump’s tax returns has unsettled many while leaving most of us under-surprised. It’s the extent and brazen nature of the cheating that amazed us. There’s been plenty of analysis on this slow-motion bomb blast, but we particularly enjoyed this dose of truth serum from author and burrito-sensei John Scalzi.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2020/09/28/what-we-knew-what-we-know-and-why-it-matters/

Phew. Right, relax. Let’s enjoy some conversation. More specifically, a chat that Melvins boss-man Buzz Osborne had recently with Metal God Rob Halford, the leather-clad driving force behind Judas Priest. Rob is about to release his autobiography, which promises to be a balls-out thrill-ride. Buzz is an obvious fan of Rob and his music, and the whole conversation has a warmth and enthusiasm which gives the old rockers amongst the Cut staff a pleasing glow.

https://www.revolvermag.com/music/melvins-buzz-osborne-interviews-judas-priests-rob-halford

We make no excuses about our continuing and ever-enduring love of all things R.E.M. This deep dive into the creation of one of their more esoteric deep cuts gives us big happies. And of course we dug out Dead Letter Office, the album in which it appears. A must!

http://www.openculture.com/2020/09/r-e-m-s-michael-stipe-created-the-lyrics-for-the-voice-of-harold.html

We are hardcore font-heads and typography nerds, as well as massive Trekkies. Find a post that mixes the two and boy howdy step back cos you just lit our touch paper. Typeset In The Future is a particular favourite website for us, and this type-heavy nose into the design of Star Trek – The Motion Pictures gave us much pleasure. Much to enjoy here, even if you’re not into the differences between Eurostile Bold Extended and Microgrammatica…

https://typesetinthefuture.com/2020/08/17/startrek/

While we’re on the subject, Reagan Ray’s clever extraction of artist names from jazz album cover art really lays bare how well designed they were. Plenty of great ideas here if you need a band logo.

https://reaganray.com/2020/09/22/jazz-lettering.html

As we move into the spookiest of months, what better way to whet the appetite for shadows in moonlight than this Dangerous Minds overview of the French obsession with those of us who are hairy on the inside? We see a bad moon risin…

https://dangerousminds.net/comments/could_be_worse_the_beast_of_gevaudan_and_the_french_werewolf_epidemic

Meanwhile in Whitechapel, the historic stomping ground of the most infamous serial killer of them all, a piece of spectacularly ill-conceived street art had the locals enraged. Then one man took on the task of setting things right with a simple but very clever retort…

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/sep/29/jack-the-ripper-mural-eastenders-hit-back-zabou-snipper-chipper

And finally. Our Music Desk is exceedingly excited by the prospect of a new Bruce Springsteen album. Letter To You, out later this month, sees The Boss reunited with the E Street Band in a blast of joyful noise that was apparently down on tape in five days. To celebrate, the Desk has put together a Spotify playlist of songs in the key of Springsteen—from artists that have inspired or been inspired by the man from Freehold, NJ. We call it From The Fireroad To The Interstate. Hope you like it.

Which brings us to our Exit Music. We present a song featured on our Spotify playlist, which seemed to suit the spirit and mood of the times so well it’s been on rotation in the office ever since. As an anthem of our horizonless, Acadian future, we don’t think you could do better.

See you in seven.