A no-cockpit airplane! a frustrating game! and otters!
3rd July 2023
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Heads up! This newsletter is more than a year old. Links may be out of date or lead to unexpected places, or the context may have changed. Please handle with care.
Hello!
If you didn't see my slightly-early annual update video this week: there are now six months left until my channel stops! Which means that if you have an idea for a video that you're connected to, this is the last call to send it to me.
If you didn't see my slightly-early annual update video this week: there are now six months left until my channel stops! Which means that if you have an idea for a video that you're connected to, this is the last call to send it to me.
Also, hello to the new subscribers who've joined from that video! There's usually three parts to this newsletter: the stuff I've made, other interesting videos on YouTube, and then things from around the rest of the internet.
Which
means we start with this week's regular video: how can you legally fly a plane designed in 1910? The technical answer is "by making a lot of changes", but none of those changes included "adding a cockpit".
And over on Lateral, it's a Jet Lag: The Game special! Sam, Adam and Ben from Jet Lag take on questions about copyright chicanery, microstate melodies and fruitless flights.
Let's look at the rest of YouTube (and, for one link, Vimeo), then!
- This is the video I should have made at the G-CANS flood channel in Tokyo: "you're surrounded by tiny dams, here's why". Solid work by Andrew Lam here.
- I've been on a bit of a musicals kick this week. A while back, I linked to the Little Shop of Horrors Tiny Desk Concert: and it's great! But I want to highlight two other incredible performances from Little Shop that I've seen this week. First, the newest Audrey, Joy Woods, performs Somewhere That's Green with Alan Menken on piano. This is a masterclass in
acting while singing — and what an incredible voice.
- And second: MJ Rodriguez and George Salazar perform Suddenly Seymour on the Late Late Show, from the 2019 Pasadena run. There's a lot of little touches here that make the
performance — plus, whoever's directing it made some really clever camera choices that help sell the whole piece. (Content warning: James Corden stealing the spotlight during the final applause, swooping in like a seagull that's spotted someone with a bag of chips.)
- Behind the scenes on Eurovision 2023's stage and lighting design. I'd like some more technical detail here, but it's still worth a watch.
- One of silent film and stunt legend Buster Keaton's last movies was The Railrodder: a 1965 commission by the National Film Board of Canada, a travelogue from coast-to-coast on an open-top rail maintenance vehicle, with sight gags and a lovely tour of mid-20th-century Canada.
Other interesting links I've found this week:
- You've seen the Password Game, right? Everyone's seen the Password Game. I got to level 20-something and then gave up in frustration, but I did laugh several times along the way; if that sounds like your sort of game, it's recommended. Just don't overfeed Paul, and note that you can ask for a new CAPTCHA or color if you need to.
(Thanks to several people who sent this in!)
- I was reminded this week of The Fifth Gift, which is a short science fiction story by Roger Williams that feels a little bit like it's in the vein of Clarke or Asimov. One
protagonist, a simple setup, and a world where realistic characters take a bit of a back seat to a Good Idea. It was refreshing to read science fiction that doesn't involve Everything Being Awful All The Time. (Strong language.)
- Huh, our fake beach is good for sharks.
And finally: adorable domesticated otters with a plasma ball.
Right! 25 more videos to go until January. Wish me luck; I'm probably going to need it!
All the best,
— Tom
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