Movies! rave! and a shrimp tank.

9th March 2026

Hello!

I continue to try not to tempt fate, but: if all goes well, there's only about a week or so until the first details of the new project will be released. It does feel strange to be headed back to YouTube.

But until then! In this week's Lateral: Charlotte Yeung, Annie Rauwerda and Alexis Dahl take on questions about serial sequences, picture purchases and washed-out words.

Here's some good stuff I've found on YouTube this week:

The Vintage Filmmaker talks about The Greatest Show on Earth, a 1952 movie that still resonates today. This is a really interesting... well, perhaps "polemic" is too strong a term, but this video isn't just about one film. It's a story about, and a defense of, the entire concept of physical cinema versus streaming "content". I don't have the same sentimentality for actual movie theatres, and I'm not sure I agree with everything here, but this is a very well-argued and well-produced piece from a small channel, and it's worth your time.

But one thing I definitely do agree with the Vintage Filmmaker on is the value of craft. In 2026, with a million pieces of near-zero-effort nostalgia-bait "hey remember this movie" videos being created, some by humans, some by machines, it is a delight to find a story that is so clearly, obviously human: filmed on location, with personal anecdotes and storytelling craft. (Thanks Viktor for the suggestion!)
Mixed Signals talks about how a joke sound defined 90s rave. Even if you don't know rave music, you probably know the sound. Bonus points for the Dutch pronunciation of "gabber". (Thanks Paweł!)
And I'm sure that this has already crossed your feed, but just in case: Dianna, Physics Girl, has uploaded her first science video in three years, the first time since contracting long Covid that she's been able to produce something new and scientific for the internet. Want to learn about a picture of the sun taken at night? (Thanks to many people for sending this over.)

Now, normally at this point, I would link to some interesting articles, games and web toys. But for this week only, I'm going to change the format, because I've got several weeks' surplus of "and-finally links from TikTok". I know some people prefer to avoid TikTok entirely, in which case I'd recommend you scroll down to the baby albatross at the end of the newsletter.

Each video has two links: the first is for mobile, the second for desktop, because TikTok remains a baffling hive of villainy designed to create an addiction loop, but here we go anyway:

And finally, not on TikTok: weighing a baby albatross. (Thanks Leisa!)

All the best,

— Tom

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