I mean, we can’t even. The news is acting like a kid after an illicit raid on the cookie jar, jabbering wildly and flinging stuff around so quickly that we simply don’t have the capability to keep up. So we won’t. We’re sticking to our lane, hands firmly on the wheel at ten to two. If we seem to be gripping a little too tightly, our knuckles whitening… that’s just the way we drive, yeah?
Anyway. Either the greatest or the worst sandwich in the world, salt, yanks and the world’s most satisfying checkbox await your attention on the other side of the fold. Join us. It’s safer in there.
Now is the time. Here is the place. This is The Cut.
The peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a childhood classic, the love of which many carry through into adulthood. However, as you grow your tastes change. How do you update a beloved comfort food for more complex flavour profiles? Here’s a suggestion. We have no issue if you recoil with horror at the idea. We’re still not convinced ourselves.
Comics, as we never tire of proclaiming, do it best. Here’s a handy list of some which, rather than telling stories, explore and deal with philosophical and spiritual ideas. We would respectfully add the work of Darryl Cunningham to the mix, but everything mentioned here is good, and good for you!
Some interesting thoughts on writing from Warren Ellis, who is gradually making his way back to the light after facing (and willingly working to make amends for) a #metoo confrontation at the beginning of lockdown. His tone has changed a little—the Essex abrasiveness softening as he learns to improve himself. But Warren has always been wise in the ways of creativity and the processes by which art gets made. And his core metaphor here is more elegant than the whole ‘planner vs pantster’ bit.
Where would we be without salt? Well—dead. It’s an essential part of our diet, not just there to sprinkle on a bag of chips. This Bon Appetit article on the stuff is sciency and flavoursome. That’s quite an achievement, and one you should definitely devour.
We could start up on the whole USA Gilead situation but this is not really the place or time. It’s coming, though. Instead, we’ll simply share this inspired rant from Patrick Marlborough at Gawker on why we should simply banish America from the internet. He makes a very good point.
Publishing is in a bad way. The pay structure is awful and the sector is riddled with outdated ideas and ridiculous trend-chasing. But, more importantly, it’s facing a crisis of self-doubt which is destroying some writer’s ability to control basic crowd-management issues. If everyone’s a critic, what do you do when one of your authors is subject to a pile-on?
Music is, at its core, mathematical. The relationship between notes and chords is simple, logical and subject to easily understandable rules. These rules can be subverted in surprising ways. Take, for example, the war work of Merryl Goldberg, whose compositions contained some very important messages…
Our digital life involves a lot of complex interaction disguised under layers of clever computational smoke and mirrors. Every time you touch a link or click send on an email, a lot happens in the nanoseconds after that simple action. The thought processes which go into the things that happen when you, say, touch a check box, are explained beautifully here by the folks behind andy.works. Seriously fascinating stuff.
The World’s Most Satisfying Checkbox
The Music Desk are in remix heaven this week, spinning old platters from the eighties and praising the virtues of the twelve-inch remix. To some, these reinventions of chart hits seemed to simply glue a layer of cruft onto a finely-crafted jewel of tunery. The point, though, was not to sit and listen. The point was to get up and dance.
And finally. A memoir, some recipes, a bit of history, all exquisitely wrapped up this strip from Yazan Al-Saadi and Ghadi Ghosh. Once again, loudly for the gallery, comics do it best.
We’ve gone full out for this week’s Exit Music. A huge playlist of tracks guaranteed to give you goosebumps in the right way. Call it frisson, call it chills. Either way, there’s gonna be something here to set up a wave of delicious shivers.
See you next Saturday.
EXCUSES AND HALF TRUTHS 