Sumer is ycumin in, according to the old song. Really? We see little evidence of the change in sessions as yet. If anything, things seem to be going backwards. Still, all this rain is good for the garden, if not for our mood. We hold out hope for a sunny long weekend cos boy howdy do we need to get some mowing done.
This week, impractical devices, violent deaths and a card trick that still stumps all the experts.
Now is the bank holiday. The garden is the place. This is The Cut.
Paul Bettany is now best known for his role as everyone’s favourite android in the Marvel movies and WandaVision. For the Film Desk, he’ll always be Geoffrey Chaucer in his breakout performance alongside the very much missed Heath Ledger in A Knight’s Tale. As the movie hits its twentieth (!) anniversary, Paul took a few moments to reminisce and answer questions…
https://www.vulture.com/2021/05/paul-bettany-answers-every-a-knights-tale-question-we-have.html
The dining experience has been a little… shall we say unusual over the past eighteen months. Restaurants became takeaways or started offering meal kits, allowing us to make a rough approximation of the food we missed so much. Of course, chefs will always enjoy experimentation and finding a way to stand out from the crowd. In an effort to bring us the ultimate comfort food, a couple of American cooks have gone back to the fifties and resurrected a classic—the TV dinner, tray and all.
https://www.eater.com/22372045/tv-dinner-comeback-restaurant-takeout-meals-pandemic
Basil Rathbone was one of the great villains of the golden age of cinema. As such, he died on screen. A lot. The Great Baz breaks down the many ways he met his end. We would like to recommend the clip from The Court Jester where he battles a hypnotized Danny Kaye—an extraordinary bit of swordsmanship, stunt work and comedy.
https://thegreatbaz.wordpress.com/2021/05/16/the-violent-deaths-of-basil-rathbone/
Form over function or function over form? The best bits of tech manage to embrace both, being both efficient and nice to use. Then there are the three musical devices built by Yann Seznac, which are both and neither at the same time. This is a thoughtful and strangely beautiful project with a lot of melancholy and humour stitched through it.
Home
How are you reading The Cut? On a phone, a tablet, perhaps even a good old-fashioned desktop machine? However you’re doing it, you’re indulging in an experience which, not that long ago, would have been incredibly difficult and expensive. Here’s how you would have checked your email and shopped online in 1984…
How to Shop Online & Check Your E-Mail on the Go: A 1980s British TV Show Demonstrates
We’re presenting this short piece from one of our favourite writers, John Scalzi, as an example of reportage that cuts to the heart and chops through the preconceptions of a common argument. No further commentary. Just read it.
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/
“If you could triple your lifespan, and look young while doing it, would you? Would you still do it if it involved ingesting a tapeworm that rejiggers your fundamental physiology and slowly unravels the fabric of the society around you?”
We get the feeling there are still people out there who would absolutely go for this.
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/05/ant-tapeworm/618919/
Our long read is the remarkable story of how the Allies found a way to defeat Hitler’s final desperate assault on Britain—the V1 flying bomb. It’s a tale of extraordinary ingenuity under the most impossible of odds.
https://www.wired.com/story/the-american-scientists-who-saved-london-from-nazi-drones
Craig Davison’s art depicts the feeling of sheer unalloyed joy that kids take when they embrace a film, TV show or comics character and involve them in in their play. We really like his work, and believe you will too. Editor Rob notes that he had a Chopper bike much like the one in the article, and that he too used to pretend to be Judge Dredd on it.
https://downthetubes.net/?p=127310
And finally. There are card tricks and card tricks. And then there is The Berglas Effect. Seemingly simple, yet it has stumped every magician who has witnessed it. Its creator, David Berglas, has revealed the secret behind many of his tricks over the years (we recommend watching the video where he explains how he made a piano disappear in front of a hall full of onlookers which is linked in the article) but has kept his cards very close to his chest when it comes to The Effect. Will we ever find out? The magician is now in his nineties and seems disinclined to put us out of our misery…
For our Exit Music, we had to share the sheer glorious blast of joyful noise coming from The Linda Lindas. This group of punky youngsters have blown up the interwebs this week with their brand of girl power, and we would be failing in our duties if we didn’t make sure you had a taste. The Linda Lindas have made a lot of new fans this week, us included. Hopefully, after this, you too.
See you next Saturday, grrls and bois.
EXCUSES AND HALF TRUTHS 