Six Things, Volume 23

Music | Cube | Bollocks | Reindeer | Trolley | Cables

Jun 17, 2023

It’s one thing having a good idea; quite another to deliver on it.

When Justin Lewis asked if I’d like to take part in a project he called First Last Anything I quickly agreed because a) Justin is good and b) it sounded like an intriguing idea.

The concept is simple. Each guest chooses three pieces of music:

– the first record they bought

– the most recent one they bought

– a wildcard

A neat idea, then, with all sorts of possibilities. But what makes First Last Anything really worthwhile is the thought and care with which it is… (I am desperately trying to avoid using the word ‘curated’ here) … put together, and the skill and judgement with which it’s delivered.

In a world of many podcasts (often haphazardly edited, if edited at all) Justin decided to make something different. He calls it a ‘textcast’ – the interview is recorded over Zoom and then Justin transcribes and edits it. The result is the kind of thing you look forward to reading over a leisurely cup of coffee every Sunday morning (which is when it’s published). It’s an old-school approach, and unfailingly produces interesting conversations, full of insights from both interviewer and interviewee.

The success of First Last Anything owes a lot to Justin’s editing skills and to his encyclopaedic musical knowledge – no matter who the guest is and what their musical choices, he’s able to add insight and context, and will often take the conversation into surprising areas – areas, if my experience is anything to go by, the guests might not have considered themselves.

I was delighted to be the very first guest in the first season of First Last Anything (which ran to 16 conversations – well worth a delve), and now there’s a new season, the first conversation of which was with Bernard Hughes, whose excellent CD, Bagatelles (an album of his music for piano, written over the course of more than 30 years) I also commend to the house.

Thing 2 – Rubik’s cube

In my pomp I could do the Rubik’s cube in about three minutes, although it came with a fair amount of muttering and brow-furrowing – and of course I would have been quite helpless if I hadn’t learned how to do it from a book.

This, of course, was back in the day, when we had to weave the cubes ourselves out of flax and mud, working only by the light of a smouldering cobblestone. Nowadays the cubes are made out of text messages and Instagram and all the kids have nanobots to help them. It’s a different world in so many ways.

All of which is just a feeble way of introducing this extraordinariness. I’m fond of going on about the insane reaction times of small insects, but I’ve never seen a dragonfly do a Rubik’s cube in just over three seconds.

If you’re after a longer fix of cube-related viewing, this 40-minute documentary on the speed cubing phenomenon should do it.

There’s a Rubik’s cube website. Of course there is.

And here’s a brief history of it in case you feel the need to catch up.

Thing 3 – Arty Bollocks

“My work explores the relationship between gender politics and urban spaces. With influences as diverse as Munch and L Ron Hubbard, new variations are created from both constructed and discovered textures.”

“What starts out as vision soon becomes finessed into a hegemony of defeat, leaving only a sense of decadence and the inevitability of a new reality.”

“Endless oscillation of the zeitgeist.”

To generate your own examples of this fine and elusive art form, get yourself over to artybollocks.com.

Nuff said.

Thing 4 – Reindeer

This very short film of reindeer migration is beautiful and haunting.

Thing 5 –Absurd trolley problems

This, on the other hand – an examination of the exact parameters of your moral compass – isn’t. It’s very silly. Or possibly very serious. Or possibly both. It depends whether you pull the lever.

Thing 6 – Submarine cable map

I’ve just spent a happy half hour idly exploring this global map of submarine cables.

It’s pretty, of course, and nicely designed. But it’s also fascinating as an insight into How Things Work (Without Our Ever Really Thinking About It Very Much).

Six Things