Wednesday Wonders 8

1. Friday Night Lights

Someone recently asked me if this show was any good and the question reminded me just how great this was. If you have never seen it, rectify this immediately. If you did see it, here's the opening sequence, to give you goosebumps:

2. London Cycle Routes

Recent tube strikes had me back on my bike again, and the Cycle Maps app for iPhone took me to some really interesting places. Where other apps put you either on roads like you're just more traffic, or on cycle paths (London's are getting better and better), Cycle Maps seems to hold really in-depth knowledge not just of cycle paths but of those alleyways and apparent dead ends than you COULD get a bike through. It's an incredible way to explore the city and it never seems to take you the same way twice.

3. The Imperfectionist

Oliver Burkeman's books "Four Thousand Weeks" and "Meditations For Mortals" should be required reading for all human beings. Perhaps less well known is his newsletter "The Imperfectionist" which always manages to be thoughtful, timely, practically useful and interesting. It costs you nothing to get Burkeman's ideas dropped into your inbox once or twice a month. Subscribe HERE.

4. Astronomy Photographer of the Year Award

I mean, literal wonders: https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/09/zwo-astronomy-photographer-of-the-year-17-winners/

5. The Criterion Closet

If you collect movies on disc, you already know about the Criterion Collection, which is a peerless curation of great, classic and unusual movies, beautifully presented. They also have a YouTube show where actors and film-makers get to go into their collection, pull out some favourites and talk about them. It's a great way to learn about movies you maybe haven't heard of or haven't seen for a while. I could pick literally any episode of this out, but I'm going with the most recent: Josh Brolin.