We’re coming up on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. Funny. It feels like we’ve had more than one of those in 2021. As we enter the doldrums month, thinking about another set of plans made only to be abandoned, let’s give it one last try to hold it together. Hope we at The Cut can help, in our mountain retreat somewhere in the wilds of Cumbria.
In this ep, crazy masks, the greatest stunt ever filmed and the amazing story of Miss Shiling’s orifice.
The hills are the place. Sunrise is the time. This is The Cut.
Portals are fun. We love shows like Stargate and episodes of Star Trek such as ‘The City On The Edge Of Forever’ where our brave heroes step through a meniscus of shimmering light to arrive… elsewhere. Although this art installation in Lithuania and Poland can’t quite manage the feat of instantaneous travel, it manages something nearly as wondrous…
Sci-Fi “Portal” Connects Citizens of Lublin & Vilnius, Allowing Passersby Separated by 376 Miles to Interact in Real Time
One of the strangest items finding a new market in The Age Of The Situation is the MRE, or Meal Ready to Eat. Dried ration packs for the military, they have found a new following amongst the sort of people who are happy to stockpile in the face of a future societal collapse—or just folks who wonder what freeze-dried food tastes like. The New York Times has more.
We were talking last week about how certain chefs and home cooks would determinedly take their beloved recipes to the beyond with them, keeping their mouths shut even on their death beds. This is the flip side of that, ensuring with certainty that a particular dish will live on after the person who cooked it best has gone.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/4avavd/if-you-love-a-recipe-enough-you-can-put-it-on-your-grave
This Bon Appetit article reads like a companion piece to Nomadland. A striking recollection of food and companionship found in an RV park. Poetic and moving. We could almost taste the mesquite smoke.
https://www.bonappetit.com/story/dining-blind-salamander-rv-park
These are incredible. Let us stress before you dive in—Joel Cooper folds his masks from a single sheet of paper, no cutting allowed. Even when you see how they’re made, it’s still difficult to believe.
Elaborate Geometric Masks Made from a Single Sheet of Paper
No, of course Miss Shilling’s Orifice is not what you’re thinking, naughty Readership. It’s a tale of innovation at the time it was most needed, and helped to turn a war around. A damn good read, which shows how World War 2 was won in the hidden labs and facilities the Allies kept under a heavy veil of secrecy…
How Miss Shilling’s Orifice Helped Win the War
We’ve mentioned in past issues how stunt work is all about minimizing risk in the pursuit of the perfect shot, making sure everyone walks away unharmed. There’s always an exception to the rule. Jackie Chan does his own stunts and is well known for taking things a little further, a little higher, a little more bonkers. Here’s the tale of how he shot the pole stunt in Police Story, an iconic moment in action cinema…
How They Shot the Explosive Pole Jump Stunt in ‘Police Story’
According to writer Jason Crawford, it’s possible to see the future. Or at least look as if you do. All it takes is observation and the willingness to act quickly on the information you find. Simple, right? Well, yes and no. Developing a superpower always takes a little work. As a certain thinker, baseball hero and inspiration for a beloved cartoon bear put it…
It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.
Yogi Berra (1925-2015)
https://jasoncrawford.org/precognition
(Via Kevin Kelly)
And finally. We talked in an earlier episode about how important the news cycle is to the way we perceive and therefore react to world-changing events. This experiment on how the actions of bots is skewing the availability of good, honest information is, the more you think about it, utterly terrifying.
https://gizmodo.com/this-bot-clicking-ads-on-climate-articles-shows-the-new-1847123170
We saw this and instantly thought of you, Readership. It’s roller skates and day-glo skintight costumes and brutalist urban settings. It’s I Can’t Get You Out Of My Head and True Faith and Eastern Bloc SF and all sorts of other grooviness in a joyously po-faced package. Great to see Public Service Broadcasting back with such a strong track. Let’s skate our cares away!
See you next Saturday, skaterbois and rollergrrls.
EXCUSES AND HALF TRUTHS 