NORTH AMERICA!!
As you might know, we have a BOOK coming out later this year.
When we made this announcement a few weeks ago, some people got in touch to say āBut I live in the USA or Canada. Do I have to get on a boat and sail all the way to the UK if i want to buy a copy?ā
Well, if thatās you, then we have good news! You can cancel your boat ticket because Mark and I are very pleased to announce that you can now pre-order our Map Men Book from your favorite* book emporium in North America via this link:
www.harpercollins.com/products/map-men-map-men?varā¦
*Thatās right! Itās a special version specifically for you lovely North Americans so weāll spell words just the way you like them.
In other news, keep an eye out for more Map Men stuff coming very soon indeed! But, most importantly, book book book book!
Good buy!
Sorry, I mean. Goodbye!!
:)
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MAP MEN BOOK - OUT THIS AUTUMN!!! šŗļø š
(We havenāt designed the cover yet)
Order your copy here: lnk.to/MapMen
It being World Book Day and all, we are incredibly excited to announce we are releasing our debut MAP MEN BOOK later this year - all about maps that went wrong.
So thatās why the YouTube channelās been a bit quiet lately - weāve been busy bashing away at our typewriters, as well as taking research trips to the library (Mark) and doing research polls on Twitter (Jay).
We canāt wait for you to read it, because its pages are packed with all the amazing map stories weāve been collecting over the years, but could never do justice to in a ten minute YouTube video. And of course, besides all the juicy details and map-facts, itās stuffed with all our usual silliness - making it probably the stupidest book about maps ever written.
Oh - and it WILL be available in the US and Canada as well, with a separate link for North American pre-orders coming very soon.
Please reply with any questions about our upcoming book you may have. Unless itās one of the FAQs belowā¦
When can I buy it?
Now. here. Pay attention. lnk.to/MapMen
When will it arrive?
Autumn this year, when itās released.
Where can I buy it?
All good book shops. And some bad ones.
Will there be an audiobook?
Yes! Jayās doing all the consonants, Markās doing all the vowels (subject to approval from HarperCollins.)
When is Map Men coming back to YouTube?
Summer 2025 - at the latest!
Why do they call it a āfloppy diskā?
They genuinely used to be floppy. By the time the hard version came along, the name had stuck.
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NEW SERIES OF MAP MEN
Set your watches for exactly tea time on Monday 10th July (Jason Orangeās birthday) because thatās the debut of the first brand new episode in the brand new series of Map Men!
Thanks for your patience while weāve been getting this series ready. It took longer than we expected (Markās got a proper job and Iāve got a proper baby) but weāve finally filmed all the bits, so I can now spend every waking hour editing, and thereās nothing to stop regular new episodes of Map Men bouncing onto your internet every month for the rest of 2023.
Wellā¦ apart fromā¦ bit of newsā¦ weāve got ANOTHER baby coming along in November! (Not me and Mark, me and my wife.) So there might be another gap in uploads around then. But the good news is, that would mean this series goes on for longer. So, itās win win. Thatās maths.
Anyway if Jason Orangeās birthday is too far away for your liking, and youād prefer instead to watch the new episode of Map Men on Tom Hanksās birthday, then did you know you can sign up to my Patreon for just $1 to get early access to all new videos?
Youād really like it over on my Patreon. You get lots more updates like this one Iām typing now, plus early access, plus there are bonus tiers where you get your name in the credits and behind the scenes stuff like outtakes and deleted scenes etc. And thereās plenty of that on the way for these next few episodes.
So, if that tickles your fancy, then hover your mouse over the colourful underlined hypertext below and left click the mouse button. Or for those on a mobile device, hover your thumb as if it were a mouse and left click your thumb instead.
www.patreon.com/jayforeman
Anyway, whether youāre watching it early over the weekend, or on Monday afternoon, we really hope you enjoy the episode!
End of message.
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IāM IN GEOGRAPHY NOW!!!
As some of you might already know if you follow either me on twitter, or Geography Now on twitter, or Geography Now on YouTubeā¦ Iām in the UK episode of Geography Now! And the episode will be ready to watch at the end of this sentence.
https://youtu.be/_uL3a3aMdMQ
For those of you who donāt know, Geography Now is a YouTube channel run by Paul (āBarbsā to save time) Barbato, which discusses, in strict alphabetical order, every single country in the world. Itās educational, itās fast paced, itās very funny, itās right up my street, and if youāre one of my subscribers (which you very likely are if youāre reading this) itāll be right up your street too. Iāve been a big fan since I discovered the Belgium episode way back in 1978, and have been waiting with shivering impatience ever since for the inevitable UK episode. I never imagined that my wildest dreams* would come true and Barbs would ask me to be the co-host for the UK episode. I was delighted and honoured (with a U), and I said yes immediately!
This was a huge amount of fun to make, but also a huge amount of intimidating. Have you ever had the grave responsibility of accurately representing your entire country in front of the entire internet without making any mistakes or missing anything out? With so much to say about this country (which is 3 and a half countries, really), this turned into the longest ever episode of Geography Now, and soooo much had to be cut. Basically, what Iām saying is, if you do spot any mistakes or omissions, donāt blame Barbs, or me, or the other awesome contributors (some of whom you may also recognise from the British corner of YouTube). Blame the government.
Anyway, massive enormous thank you very much to Barbs for letting me join in. I hope I did my country proud. I hope you enjoy watching this video at least 80% as much as we enjoyed making it. See you again soon!
Very best wishes etc
Jay etc.
*One time I dreamt I had a small waterfall instead of a leg.
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MAP MEN IS COMING BACK!
If you like Map Men, then thereās good news. (And if you hate Map Men, then thereās dreadful news.) After a hiatus of nearly two years, Map Men, the YouTube programme where TVās Mark Cooper-Jones and I sit behind a desk and talk about maps, is coming back for a new series*!
HOW MANY EPISODES?
Seven! (Eight if you include the cheeky bonus one written by ChatGPT that we might also film for fun if we have time. Not sure where weāll upload it though. Itās quite shit.)
WHAT ARE THEY ABOUT?
All sorts of different things. Some modern, some historic, some British-centric, some worldwide-centric. One topic gets done twice for good measure but in completely different ways. Something for everyone. (Unless you hate Map Men, in which case youāre really not going to like any of it.)
HAVE YOU FILMED IT YET?
A bit. Weāve made a good start on the sketches and some of the green screen, but thereās still LOADS to go, including all the bits where weāre sat behind the desk (which is like 80% of every episode). And some props still havenāt arrived yet. And thereās still some tweaking to do in the writing. BUT!!!! We ARE very close - close enough for us to finally be able to officially tell everyone that the new series IS coming.
This is the middle of the message.
WHEN IS THE FIRST EPISODE COMING?
Errrrrā¦ good question. Thereās still a gargantuan amount of editing to do. I wanna sayā¦ June? Iām going on holiday in June though - that might delay things a bit. So, shall we sayā¦ end of June? Early July at the latest. Once the first oneās done, thereāll be one episode per month for seven months after that. So thatās good news. (Or bad news. See above.)
WHY DONāT THEY LET YOU USE YOUR PHONE ON A PLANE?
I dunno. Itās weird isnāt it. Probably cos in the olden days, phones used to make the pilotsā equipment go āduk duk da duk duk da duk dukā.
Stick around for more detailed announcements coming very soon.
This is the end of the message.
*season, if youāre American
*cyfres, if youāre Welsh
etc
20K - 710
Hooraaaay!!! One of my songs, āSkin Sofaā has been given the āŖ@GeorgeCollierā¬ treatment! As in, itās been transcribed into proper music notes on a proper stave, so you can play along at home on the instrument of your choice.
https://youtu.be/LzTF9asphUg
(I assume this is accurate - I canāt actually read music. I wonder if I made the job of transcribing harder by saying at the start āThis is in 5/8 time.ā Itās probably in 5/4. I donāt really understand the difference, I just said ā5/8ā to sound clever. This was recorded at a comedy night called āAn Evening of Unnecessary Detailā, (run by āŖ@standupmathsā¬, āŖ@SteveMouldā¬ and āŖ@HelenArneyā¬) where performers are encouraged to make their material sound as gloriously nerdy and inaccessible as possible.)
Anywayā¦ if this sort of thing isnāt your bag (I appreciate that these days, for most of you, it isnāt - most of you are here for the Map Men theme music)ā¦ then stick aroundā¦. Thereās another announcement coming up in the next few minutesā¦ā¦
watch video on watch page
1.4K - 54
Itās a landslide!
After carefully tallying* up all your votes, B is, it turns out, more popular than A, by a considerable margin.
(See previous community post for what the hell Iām talking about.)
Itās worth pointing out at this point, that I came up with A, and then my wife suggested B, and I was all like āI dunno, I think I still prefer Aā and she turned out to be right. And thatās fine.
Anyway, time for another poll. And this time, because thereās no photo, itās a proper poll poll where you can vote with actual resultsā¦.
Option B can be yet refined into sub-options. Which is more likely to make you (if you were a newcomer to this channel whoād never seen my videos before) click?
B.1. āWhat went wrong with the Tube Map?ā
B.2. āWhat went wrong with the new Tube Map?ā
Option 2 is longer, which is bad. But it gives more context, which is good. But itās a bit misleading (itās not THAT new), which is bad. But it raises more questions, which is good.
You see the quandary Iām in?
Vote now on your phones.
Thank you so much for getting involved! Not long to go now til the video, whatever we decide to call it, comes out!
Bye for now!
*Hahahahaha, no.
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PART 2 IS COMING ***VERY SOON***!!!!
Thereās good news for those of you who followed the instructions at the end of the last video and have not moved in nearly two monthsā¦. The thrilling conclusion of the Tube Map themed twology, episode 15 of Unfinished London overall, is coming very VERY soon!!
Interestingly (if youāre interested) this twology was originally supposed to be just one episode, but, as so often happens on this channel, it ballooned in size during the writing process and became so unwieldy we had to chop it in two. With the split being for logistic reasons rather than artistic ones, the break comes at a rather arbitrary halfway point in the story, chosen only because it makes both episodes the same length.
We did go through both scripts to make sure they still stand on their own, crowbarring an extra outro and intro where they belong, but for the optimum storytelling experience, with a satisfyingly balanced beginning, middle and end, we recommend watching part 1 followed immediately by part 2, with a gap of, say, no more than about 8 seconds.
BUT!!!!!!
What should we call part 2? YouTube videos these days have got two titles, really: The actual title and the text in the thumbnail. We canāt decide which way round this episodeās titles should be. Which do YOU preferā¦.?
OPTION A:
āThe Tube Map is rubbish nowā
(thumbnail text = āWhat went wrong?ā)
OPTION B:
āWhat went wrong with the Tube Map?ā
(thumbnail text = ārubbish!ā)
Vote now by replying A or B.
(YouTube doesn't let you do a poll *AND* a photo at the same time??! Boy, if I had $44 billion.....)
Anyway, many, many, and many thanks again for your continued subscribership. If you're also on my Patreon you'll see the episode earlier than everybody else, **AND** there will be a whole lot of extra special secret behind the scenes stuff and coming very also soon indeed after the episode. Hope you like the episode!
Bestest wishes,
Jay
6.9K - 2.4K
Just a quick note to say Iām not dead.
A few people both here and on twitter.com have got in touch asking me where episode 15 is. And theyāre absolutely right. Episode 15 was indeed promised āby the end of Octoberā which, as of yesterday, makes me a liar. So, the very least I owe you is an apology. And slightly more than the very least I owe you is an explanation: Baby hard work. And slightly more than slightly more than the very least I owe you is an update...
Episode 15, the thrilling conclusion of episode 14, will *NOW* be coming before the end of November.
If you donāt believe me (and I canāt say I blame you now that Iām a proven liar) then rest assured that A. The episode is already about 75% done, and B. If I *DONāT* meet this deadline, then I get in massive trouble with the sponsor. (Incidentally has anyone got any good ideas for an advert for Surfshark that I can film while my babyās asleep?)
Thank you so much for your patience. Iām really sorry for the delay, but I promise you, this episode will be worth the wait - with more facts and maps and sketches and cameos than you can shake two sticks at.
Many thanks indeed and I hope you have something really tasty and interesting for your lunch.
Best wishes,
Jay
13K - 590
This Way Up: When Maps Go Wrong - available now from lnk.to/mapmen
For business enquiries, email
jayforeman@delkatalents.com
Support my channel, get early access, and see behind-the-scenes extras
www.patreon.com/jayforeman
www.twitter.com/jayforeman
Buy T-shirts, mugs, posters, stickers, face masks, and much more...
www.mapmenmerch.com
UNFINISHED LONDON
A show about London's quirky, unexplained unbuilt infrastructure, exploring bridges over nothing, tunnels to nowhere, and borders that don't make any sense.
MAP MEN
Me and Mark Cooper-Jones (the comedian off the telly who used to be a geography teacher and really loves geography) team up to talk about the world's weirdest/funniest/interestingest maps.
POLITICS UNBORINGED
What does the Prime Minister do? Who does the government? What does Right Honourable mean? If you don't understand the first thing about British politics, but you want to, this series was made for you.
VARIOUS OTHER THINGS
Various other things.