You’d think as we slide into spooky season that activities in the garden would be slowing. That’s not how we roll. New fencing went up just before we took our trip to Norfolk, with the side benefit of clearing out a fresh border along the right-hand edge. Clare is deep in the zone of plotting, figuring out what to do with old friends who need a new home and what else to bring along to the party. I have been directed to dig holes, lug gravel to refresh the central path, and in general fetch, lift and carry. There is a Hippo-bag of fresh compost by the front door which needs barrowing into place. After the hot summer which forced us into unwilling inactivity, autumn feels like the time to get some real work done.
We’re already looking ahead. It’ll be spring before you know it.
Wherever you are, whenever you are, however you are, welcome to The Swipe.
Rob is reading…
Still grinding through Red Sheet, but C has recommended The House In The Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune as my next read. A cosy magical fantasy, it sounds like just the palate-cleanser after Ellroy’s dark vision of post-Cuba LA.
Rob is watching…
Digger. Full disclosure—I have a credit on this movie.
It’s pretty obvious that a movie this weird, shrill and theatrical was never going to do well at the box office. Even with a huge budget, the big name director, DoP and one of the most recognisable movie stars on the planet, Digger is no mainstream movie. It owes a strong historical debt to Dr. Strangelove of course, not just in tone and delivery but the wide, low-level, deep focus VistaVision shooting angles. It all feels a bit 70s to me, a touch of Ken Russell, a whiff of Jodorowsky. Honestly, though, Iñárrutu doesn’t have the wild-eyed visionary instincts of either, and the messaging is simply too on-the-nose to make Digger feel like nothing but a lecture on climate change delivered with a soundtrack of farts and comedy honks. It’s just bloody exhausting. A lot of folks who enjoyed Digger say you need to see the film twice to get the full effect. I profoundly disagree. Once was more than enough for me.
Rob is listening…
To this huge crowd-sourced playlist of beloved songs. One person’s perfect is another person’s purgatory, but on the whole there’s enough greatness on offer here to justify the occasional skip. Start it off today and you’ll have music till next Tuesday.
Rob is eating…
The chicken biryani at Clay’s in Caversham. If you know, you know. The food critics of the Times, Guardin, Observer and Mail on Sunday can’t be wrong.
Rob’s Low-Key Obsession Of The Week…
The number 60. More to come on that.
Let’s kick off with an extraordinary piece on time, memory and family by Lili Loufbourow. This goes to some very shocking and unexpected places. Kudos for the best opening sentence I’ve read all week.
Silence Was Always Out Of The Question
Jumping back to Caversham for a minute, The Reading Reporter recently hosted a fascinating interview with some of the women transforming the centre of our little conclave into a vibrant independent community of businesses. All power.
An inspired bit of food writing which is defiantly, gloriously biased. As it should be when faced with a game-changer like the product under discussion.
I have opinions on the field of film restoration, and in particular the enthusiasts who think they know better than the people who made the movies in the first place. I will keep them to myself, but if your jaw clenches at the moment when the head of a video distribution company displays the entitlement to scold Wong Kar-Wei for not wanting to acquiesce to his plans for a catalogue re-release, well, welcome to my world.
And don’t get me started on the notion of ‘release-accurate’ — that would have been a print which was run through exhausted photochemistry into a projector which would very likely scratch the film to bits.
Breathe, Rob, breathe.
I love this bit on how the editor of Loaded got his start in publishing. Zines are as punk as it gets and tie back to a long history of citizen-led opinion distribution through cheap mediums like libels, pamphlets and posters.
This is a very dense, thoughtful but ultimately funny defense of critical theory which sits neatly into my growing realisation that people have forgotten how to read, but have decided that doesn’t stop them loudly proclaiming on a subject they know bugger-all about. Please, take your time with this one. It really is worth the effort.
A radical new approach in illustration for cook-books, moving away from carefully composed photographs into something a little more — vibe-based? Impressionistic? However we choose to define it, I like it!
A FAcebook link. Yes, I know, I know, but the trick displayed here is so utterly evil I couldn’t resist a share.
It’s a comic set in the Star Trek universe where the lead character is a cat. This could not be more precision-engineered to my tastes. Swipe and enjoy. If you get a little misty at the end — yeah, me too.
In conclusion.
Let’s Outro with new music from Michael Kiwanuka, and wish him the best after the stroke which hit last year and still keeps him in attended care to this day. His new album was supposed to come out twelve months ago. I’m so glad he’s chosen to release it finally.
See you in seven, fellow travellers.
