We’re not noted for our political commentary here at The Cut, so let us just say in response to the events of the last week—hahahahhahahhahhahhhhaaaaaaaa. What a delightful gift the voters of North Shropshire have given us for the season. Anyway. Tis the week before Christmas and all through The Cut, the grindstones are turning cos we never shut.
This week, we talk about mindful gaming, play a game which uses the mind and join many Frank Sinatras for dinner.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
Big fans of The Nib here, as you all probably have sussed by now. We loved this collab comic in which four cartoonists talk about family food and the memories they evoke. It’s really nicely done.
https://thenib.com/family-food-response/
Haggard Hawks is a fine source for those esoteric words you never know you needed. As writers, we need new vocabulary on a constant drip feed. It’s not an addiction. Really, we’re fine. HH is celebrating the time of the year with a great little quiz. Let us know how you get on!
https://www.haggardhawks.com/games
We loved this Atlas Obscura bit on how one monk in the seventies managed to breed the best bees in the world. It’s just our level of geeky but a great story about determination and the forthright pursuit of a vision. A lesson we could all use, doncha think?
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/honey-bee-breeding
The bit of the week as far as we’re concerned comes from Airmail News, and concerns the annual get together of a group of Sinatra ‘tributeers’ in a Midtown New York restaurant. Bruce Handy nails the atmosphere and voices. You can almost taste the chicken parm.
https://airmail.news/issues/2021-12-11/linguine-with-a-side-of-sinatra
This is a bit self-indulgent, and serves almost as a bookmark for the Music desk. But we think The Readership will find some great tunes in this breakdown of the best country and Americana albums of the year. We’re cheerfully rolling around in it and really liking what we hear.
Staying with the Music Desk, we are still really enjoying Get Back, the epic documentary on the last days of the Beatles. The one presence always at the studio, a strange kind of wordless Greek chorus on the whole affair, is Yoko Ono. Knitting, painting Japanese calligraphy or simply sitting and watching while Paul wrangles Get Back out of the ether, she becomes strangely compelling to watch. We’re not the only ones to think so…
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/08/arts/music/yoko-ono-beatles-get-back.html
Serving as a sidebar to last week’s bit on Twitch gamers, you’ll find this piece by Edwin Evans-Thirlwell on how he played games for an audience of one—his dying sister— both moving and strangely life-affirming. We’ll offer up a trigger warning for themes of grief and mourning. But if you feel you can read it, it’s an amazing piece on how gaming works in all sorts of unexpected ways to help us heal and allow us to grow.
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-11-29-playing-videogames-carefully
Once upon a time, when you saw a spaceship on screen it would have been built by a dedicated team of artists and model makers. The love and craft involved can be incredible. Please feel free to have a wallow in the beautiful ‘miniatures’ of The Betty and Auriga from Alien: Resurrection, possibly one of the last big features to use such large-scale models before the industry shifted over to CGI.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/o22Lxq
And finally. We’ve all become used to food shortages this year as supply chain issues from The Situation and Brexit continue to bite. One bizarre offshoot of that has been the shortage of key ingredients from recipes posted on TikTok which have gone viral. If you’re wondering why it was so hard to get hold of feta cheese for a while this year, here’s why…
https://www.eater.com/22832651/viral-tiktok-recipes-food-shortages
We have a request for you attached to this week’s Exit Music. Punk rapscallions Kunt And The Gang have released an updated version of their punt for Christmas No. 1, complete with nods to the KLF. It’s a scorching 70 seconds of pointed commentary which we should all be singing along to. More on how you can help get the tune to the top of the charts at the band’s homepage: http://www.kuntandthegang.co.uk/
See you on Christmas Day, Santa Babies!
EXCUSES AND HALF TRUTHS 
Nice