Hey you lot, are you thinking what we’re thinking? Yeah, it’s about time for another round-up!
This week on YouTube there’s been a lot of reflection and serious discussion. Y’know, amid the usual waves of cat videos and Nash Grier.
In this round-up we’ve got morality, alcohol, women in film and how best to get revenge on your roommate after he’s pranked you. OK so it’s not all heavy stuff, don’t you worry!
Rosianna Halse Rojas – The Women Offscreen: Sexism in Film
With hashtags such as #yesallwomen arising on twitter recently, it’s very clear that there’s still a great inequality between genders, even today. Rosianna Halse Rojas is a YouTuber who has always been very aware and vocal about feminist and social issues, and has often vlogged about topics within this realm for years.
However it is this video in particular that caught our eye, in which she discusses a report by Stephen Follows that investigates how few women are involved in the film industry off-camera.
Considering how hard-hitting the report is and the seriousness of the topic, she delivers it in an entertaining and engaging way. She also brings up a point about female stories being scarcely told on-screen too.
We’re with Rosianna on this one (and the billions of women around the world who aren’t being represented in film), it’d be nice to see more female characters developed as people themselves, not just as subplot romantic interests.
Who knows, maybe Rosianna will be the one to lead the revolution? And then maybe we will get a film about her! Oh my god, who would portray her in a movie? Wow, that escalated quickly.
Joe Sugg & Caspar Lee – Ultimate Roommate Revenge Pranks
After pranking Joe Sugg, surely Caspar Lee must have known vengeance was coming? Little did he expect a week of old-school pranks concluding in a magnificent cup based trick. With pranks on YouTube becoming more and more vulgar (*cough* Janoskians *cough*) or just plain bizarre, it’s refreshing to see some old fashioned pranks being delivered.
We admire Joe’s dedication to his art greatly. It must have been time consuming all that post-it-note-ing and water-cup-ing! Nonetheless, if we know Caspar as well as we think we do (OK, we barely know him, but we like to think we do) we’re sure he’ll get some payback and we can’t wait to see it. That’s if he can… it’s going to be a tough one.
Hazel Hayes – Alcohol: The Good, The Bad & The Messy
Known for her Tipsy Talk videos, Hazel Hayes sat down this week to have a frank and honest discussion about alcohol and how it should properly be consumed. Lets face it, people do drink underage and those of all ages often get carried away when they do.
What’s great about this video is how down-to-earth it is. She doesn’t patronise her audience when discussing enjoyable experiences with booze and how others can too in a safe environment, and we feel this is an incredibly important approach to have when discussing alcohol.
Even if you don’t drink, there’s still invaluable advice here for you too, as she discusses peer pressure and what to do if you don’t want to drink. If only some of our friends had as much control and awareness as Hazel when they’re drunk!
Niki & Sammy Albon – Twins Draw My Life
Most people who aren’t twins always wonder what it’s like growing up with one. Well now you can find out thanks to Niki & Sammy Albon and their highly belated Draw My Life video (seriously guys, the tag is long dead… there’s two of you, surely it should take half the time to make?). It’s may be too late for it to make our Five of the Best: Draw My Life list, but it’s still a stonker of a story.
It’s a charming and personal account of their lives together, which includes various pet dogs, school, college and university and a lot of comfort eating. We also dramatically learn about their third twin Keith (surely that means the boys are triplets not twins? They’ve been lying to us!) who lives on Mars… apparently.
What we love about the twins is their chemistry, how they cut each other off and interject with different stories and memories from their lives. Honestly, we’re kind of surprised there wasn’t more talk of arguments or falling out, because surely that’s what all siblings do? No. Must be a twin thing.
Miraduel – Beautiful Mind, Ugly World
Shy and mysterious ex-vlogger Miraduel has turned his hand to filmmaking, creating a beautifully shot short film Beautiful Mind, Ugly World. The film questions morality in a 17-minute reflective yet enjoyable existential crisis. (As if an existential crisis can be enjoyable? Yeah, usually those two words don’t go together, but trust us here!)
The fractious, raw and poetic dialogue seems like a homage to late playwright Sarah Kane – with less effing and blinding of course – with suicide and ‘nothingness’ pervading the dark corners of every shot. He does all this whilst successfully avoiding clichés and theatrical excess, broaching the topics in a truly profound way.
We would argue that it’s rare for such a young filmmaker to comprehensively achieve all this, but with Bertie Gilbert’s Tick Where It Hurts dropping a month or so back, it seems they’re all set out to amaze us with their deepest and darkest concepts. However, we will argue that if Miraduel tops his standard after this one, than he may give Bertie a run for his money!
That’s All, Folks…
Just kidding, y’know we wouldn’t leave you hanging like that. Of course, this week we found out how much of a bae Jack Harries is, when he travelled all the way to Australia last minute to surprise his girlfriend Ella for her birthday.
Lets be honest, this one doesn’t need any more press – BuzzFeed, The Mirror and everyone’s favourite Daily Mail are all rattling on about it – but if you somehow were under a rock this week, check it out. We bet Jack has already added ‘best boyfriend ever’ to his CV already.
Also this week – or this month really – has been Emily Diana Ruth’s Letter’s to July series. Every day this month Emily has invited guests to write a letter of reflection that can cover all sorts: thoughts and feelings to ambitions and philosophies.
The past week has played host to guest letter writers, including the hilarious Khyan Mansley – who seems to have brilliantly misunderstood the concept – and our own Lucy Evenden. As one of TenEighty’s writers, we promise you Lucy’s involvement in no way swayed it’s inclusion (it did).
Last but not least, we have the ever-charming Charlie McDonnell dancing. That’s literally it. He just dances awkwardly. Truly noteworthy!
Did we miss something? Tell us your highlights from the week below in the comments. Don’t forget to follow us on twitter, where you can tell us throughout the week who we should be looking out for next weeks round-up. See you next week you sexy sexy people, you!
