The new series launches!
23rd March 2026
| « Previous | Index |
Hello!
The sabbatical is over! Well, it was over a few months ago when I started work on the Big Project and
took a two-month road trip around England, but now it's publicly and officially over. So here we go! Episode 1 of the new series is up right now for Nebula subscribers: there's fire, sledgehammer swinging, and metal hotter than a volcano, because I helped break a 142-year-old bell, and that's okay.
That'll be on YouTube in a week's time! But for those who aren't Nebula subscribers now, there's also a big catch-up video, for the
vast majority of people who have no idea that I'm coming back to making videos at all: I made some new videos. Here's the trailer.
I'm so proud of this new series, and everyone who
helped put it together. I was out on the road solo, just me and my cameras, but you'll notice a full set of credits in the Nebula video description. That's for the tireless producers who handled logistics for both the road trip and the later studio shoot; and the skilled post team who took the raw footage, along with my notes and scripts, and put everything together. I'm so grateful to all of them. This is, I think, the best series I've ever been part of -- but of course, the world of online
video has changed since I left, and it remains to be seen whether the world will agree!
There's a lot of other news as well, so we've got some bonus bullet points before we even get to the video recommendations!
- Evan Edinger's made a follow-up "bonus material" video after publishing the big Race Across London last week, and helps defend some of my terrible gameplay decisions!
- I have a voice cameo near the
start of Abigail Thorn's new Philosophy Tube video on why conversion therapy is still a thing. (I would have put an exclamation point at the end of that sentence, but it's a serious video that covers a lot of difficult topics. Although, it does also include a chicken.)
- And of course, there's this week's Lateral! Where Rowan Ellis, Jarvis Johnson and Jordan Adika face questions about Disney decorations, cartoon casts and birthday backs.
Now, what about other people's stuff on YouTube? This week's video recommendations are all about design, architecture, homes and locations. That's not through any deliberate choice, it's just that these are the videos that caught my eye!
- "Delightful" is an overused adjective, but it's absolutely the right description for "The room nobody designs" by CARL Architect. I wouldn't normally click on a video on a house renovation, so thank you to reader James for recommending it.
The production values are rough-and-ready: Lego-and-paper dioramas, or a diagram made with whiteboard marker on the side of a van. That all just adds to the charm -- like an ideal home, it feels human and welcoming.
- Spiritually
depraved and misery-inducing landscapes of North America, episode 1. (Strong language and suicide references.) It's wonderful to hear an angry, profane, sarcastic, Chicago-accented rant... when that accent also delivers accurate information about plants and urban design.
- "This is the most excited I've been about a video topic in a long, long time", says Dime Store
Adventures, who hits it out of the park again with another incredible deep-dive research-hole debunk .The incredible mystery behind the (American) house number font. I've linked to this channel several times over the years as it continues its slow, steady growth: the unique 4:3 visual style, the on-camera presence and storytelling, and all the
referenced research, make this stand out from the crowd. (Thanks to both Logan and Katie for the suggestion!)
Just some quick article suggestions this week from around the rest of the web:
- More Australian animal news, and
it's perhaps the most Australian headline yet: "Northern Territory mum wrangles Humpty Doo crocodile".
- A scientifically accurate black hole simulator -- warning: unless you have a very powerful computer and/or phone, this may slow or crash your device. Source code and details.
- How people woke up before alarm clocks.
And finally, on
TikTok: here's Terry, and here's Sally. (Desktop link.)
All the best,
— Tom
| « Previous | Index |