The garden has suffered over the past few weeks, and we have had to be cruel. We simply can’t keep everything watered, so some pots and beds have had to be sacrificed to the sun god. We have to be practical in the face of the drought and a hosepipe ban which is likely to last till the end of the year.
Don’t think we’re admitting defeat, though. We’re looking to reset, retask. Even replant, getting some autumn and winter crops into a newly-vacated veg bed, taking bigger plants out of thirsty pots and into the ground where they’re far more likely to survive. It’s an opportunity to get more drought-hardy, structural plants like pittisporum and sedum in place. Gardening is all about adaptation, moving with the seasons. A change in the weather, however it presents, is a challenge we need to embrace.
Wherever you are, whenever you are, however you are, welcome to The Swipe.
Rob is reading…
All the signs and portents and making plans accordingly.
Rob is watching…
Emily Medhurst showing the joy of nerdery in her Mastermind appearance this week. Not only smashing her round on the nicest of niche subjects but wearing a fetching top in one of the colourways under discussion. The socials were all a-flutter the morning after, let me tell you.
Rob is listening…
To the 2026 King’s Day mixes from the mighty Kleptones. Bumpin’ bouncin’ party tunes that should reset your trajectories and put some elastic back in your hipsway. I’ve embedded the first hour below but please do go and check the rest out, then have an explore of their archive. Remix culture done right.
Rob is eating…
Nip Liyanapathirana reminisces about the childhood lunches he ate in his native Sri Lanka. One of the reasons I love to cook is not just for sustenance. Food can connect you to the past, to a culture, to a community in a delightfully straightforward way. This, I have to confess, made me a little bit misty.
Rob’s Low-Key Obsession Of The Week…
Utterly bonkers. The expression on Adam’s face in the thumbnail says it all, frankly.
A great four-part comic about a semi-retired thief and the one last job she’s forced into after her new life is threatened. A winning mix of western and SF told with style, verve and pace. I really enjoyed this and I think you might too.
A long piece on the copyright two and fros of a literary author and a comics creator who both chose the same subject for their works. I wouldn’t call this an unbiased report on the story, but one thing is clear. A lot of the blowback and pile-ons came from folk who had not read either book and were therefore in no position to pass judgement. Not that that stopped them, of course.
Sometimes it takes someone from outside your culture to tell you how weird you can be. It also shows how you think you’re speaking the same language when you really, really aren’t.
I could listen to Matt Berry read the phone book. This is even better.
N D Stevenson on body image and matching the inner you to the outer expression. I’ve followed Nate’s journey for a long time and it never ceases to leave me in a sense of wonder over the bravery of people who decide ‘actually, this isn’t me’, then go ahead and put the incredible amount of work required work into making things right.
We’re coming up on the fiftieth anniversary of two British institutions — 2000AD and Judge Dredd, who has appeared in every issue since Prog 2 back in 1997. For perspective, we’re now at Prog 2496 — an extraordinary, unbroken publication run.The comic and the characters have been a part of my life since childhood and I’m so happy my weekly dose of thrill-power is still charging me up. The celebrations start next month with The Day Of Dredd. Don’t miss out, citizens!
This gave me the ick in all sorts of way. I honestly believe that, back-end metrics and number-crunching aside, AI has little meaningful part to play in the creative industries. I note that the interview subjects asserts that ‘most writers use AI’ with no form of evidence. In my opinion, if you are, you don’t get to call yourself a writer.
I can understand why writers would look to use any advantage they can get their hands on to break into the industry, though. It’s virtually impossible to get yourself published and the vast majority of works sit unread, either on an author’s hard-drive or vast slush piles. But you have to keep going, don’t you? Obstacles mean nothing against the sheer, joyous rush of the urge to create. I mean, that’s why I’m here every week.
This is starting to feel a little gloomy, so let’s finish with a bit of positivity. We live in an era where the dreams and desires of our ancestors are not just met but viewed as simple, ordinary, hardly worth thinking about. I grumble about the woes of getting published, yet here I am, sitting in my shorts on a Saturday morning, able to push my thinkery out to hundreds of people with hardly any effort. Truly, we live in an age of wonders.
Finally, I wish all of us the joie de vivre and zero-fucks attitude of this queen. That is the smile of someone who understood the assignment and got with it.
We Outro with a nod and a tip of the hat to ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard, who roared off into the sunset for a final time this week. One of those simple, precise yet grooovy beat-keepers, he was the engine of the Top hot rod. I suspect I may have posted I Gotsta Get Paid before on The Swipe, but it’s a great track and the promo has plenty of nods to the band’s Afterburner imperial phase.
See you in seven, fellow travellers.
EXCUSES AND HALF TRUTHS 