A lot of good internet things!
12th June 2023
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Hello! It's a really good newsletter this week, there's been a lot of brilliant stuff that I've found on the internet. The first part is, as ever, the projects I've uploaded myself this
week:
This submarine simulator floats through a tiny world. This is so good. It's so good. The thing I'm talking about, I mean. The video itself could use a lot more polish but I
had no idea what I was getting myself into. I am just very very enthusiastic about the submarine simulator.
The Technical Difficulties continue, as I become the Mayor of
Hell!
And on this week's Lateral, it's the return of Emily the Engineer, Wren Weichman and Kip Heath, to face questions about benefit bonuses, stationery sales and plummeting platforms.
That's just my stuff! Here's some good things other people have made:
That's just my stuff! Here's some good things other people have made:
- Why these old Japanese vending machines are genius. If I'd have known about this place, I'd have filmed it when I was in Japan. Scotty from Strange Parts, who I was introduced to on the new season of Jet Lag, is the right person to
look inside a vending machine museum with wonderfully so many wonderfully complicated moving bits.
- Likely inspired by the same TV shows that inspired me: Paul and Rebecca Whitewick's most recent video is a lovely on-location dive into
ancient Roman mapping. It must have taken so long to put this together!
- I've worked with Sorted Food before, but haven't seen their recipe relay format before. Watch as four chefs try to cook a single meal... but they only get
ten minutes each, one after the other, and there's no communication allowed. The joy shines through the camera.
- No Rolls Barred is a board game YouTube channel, and if you'd like an hour of chaos, why not watch them take on card counter Steven Bridges at blackjack? (Just to set your expectations, this is not a serious experiment, the result's basically random, it's an excuse for a conversation!)
What about away from the world of video?
- The Last Egg is another great post from the Antarctic, as the pseudonymous brr continues to file reports from the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. If you still have an RSS reader, this is a blog worth subscribing to.
- A new daily game! Daybrix, from the creative mind of Matt Round, is best pitched as "Tetris meets Wordle" although, for legal reasons, neither of those words appear anywhere on the page. I disagree with a few creative decisions here (identical blocks should have identical colours!) and if you're a Tetris expert you'll probably hate it because it's not using the usual tetrominos and the controls and "feel" aren't
quite the same. But assuming that doesn't bother you, the daily colour scheme and music changes make it a fun one to return to.
- The Italian streets that don't exist on any map. This feels like a Lateral
question waiting to happen: Atlas Obscura continues to be a site worth visiting.
- The line between YouTube prank and scientific inquiry is closer than you might think, as one researcher disguises himself as a car seat.
And finally: Jazz Emu makes catchy comedy songs, and I Would Rather Die is no exception. (Slightly-bloody violence and death, all played for comedy.) What stood out to me is not just the musical production or the detailed compositing work... it's the complicated rhyming, breaking words across lines. There's a lot of skill here.
Right! That's it for this week. I wrote a lot. There were a lot of good things. Next week: I think it's a video from Slovenia!
All the best,
— Tom
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