How’s your week been? Ours has been smashing, thank you for asking…
With a severe lack of new memes, national holidays that divide the public or major celebrities causing drama, we haven’t had much else to do but watch YouTube. It has been literally exhausting.
As usual, here are some of our favourite bits and bobs from the past seven days.
The UnSafe Sex Song – Rosie Holt
“Sex! It’s a beautiful thing!” begins Rosie Holt, before continuing into sharing a hypothetical tale from a cold, lonely night when she just wanted some company (but said company didn’t want to wear a condom).
While the ukulele might make the whole video seem light hearted, it’s actually a pretty nifty lesson in dealing with the pressures of being persuaded to have unsafe sex.
Essentially: no matter how hot someone is, you don’t know what they’re riddled with on the inside.
GAY GUY CALLS WESTBORO BAPTIST CHURCH – Riyadh K
As feedback goes, having the leader of an internationally known, gay-hating Church leave a comment on one of your videos is quite the achievement.
Following the success of his Mom Reads Son’s Grindr Messages video, Riyadh K has returned by calling up Shirley Phelps-Roper, head of the Westboro Baptist Church. She’d left a comment on his previous video suggesting that Riyadh’s behaviour didn’t really align with her own beliefs, and in true internet fashion she seemed unable to get her point across without being ever so slightly offensive. Oh Shirley, you massive troll!
Riyadh tries to talk to her but she doesn’t really let him get a word in, lest his logic and reasoning slip under her guard and turn her into a decent human being. At least you tried, dude.
P.S. there are SO many appropriate Taylor Swift songs to lip-sync to for this situation we don’t even know where to begin: ‘Mean’, ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’..
What Young People Think About Politics || Spoken Word – Versified Life
Talking about politics (woah, DON’T SWITCH OFF NOW OK?!) is always a bit tricky because it inevitably ends up being about policies, manifestos and other SRS BSNS stuff that tends to make people feel sleepy. To make politics engaging you have to present it differently, which these guys from Versified Life have managed.
Alternating between an interesting discussion on why young people don’t care about politics (plus where this belief has come from) and four spoken word pieces, this video provides a refreshing perspective on an integral part of our lives that is still, unfortunately, thought of as an older person’s game.
Thankfully, between organisations such as Versified Life and Bite The Ballot, politics is being made far more accessible to younger people. Good job guys.
How I Wash My Natural Hair – AJ Odudu
This might be the smiliest video ever.
AJ Odudu smiles as she’s having her head massaged, she smiles when she has her head wrapped in Clingfilm, she even smiles when her head is blasted with one of those hairdryers you put yourself in from the waist up. She literally does not stop beaming the entire time and we LOVE IT.
AJ makes everything clear and simple, with bits of information for anyone interested in general hair care and washing techniques when in-between weaves. It’s all about keeping hair healthy and strong, the results of which clearly mean you end up smiling a lot.
Nerd³ Vlog – Pay What You Tube – OfficiallyNerdCubed
A couple of days ago YouTube emailed creators to say that the platform was changing in terms of a new subscription model (and being able to pay to remove advertising). There was quite a lot of jargon in this message, but thankfully we have Dan Hardcastle from OfficiallyNerdCubed to break it all down for us.
He explains why this change has come about, who YouTube’s rising competitors are and how the new model will change content creators and their approach to making videos, including upload frequency. Dan also explores the role of gamers and other creators, who aren’t necessarily making videos for a mainstream audience, and how they will fit into all of this (and if they’re even recognised as part of YouTube culture right now).
It’s super interesting and a well-considered analysis, though we really hope his predictions about collabs becoming less popular won’t come true. We really love a good Boyfriend Does My Makeup video every couple of days.
BONUS VIDEOS!
PJ Liguori went on yet another adventure (this time outside of his studio) and met the wonderful Brian Grazer along the way. The conversation between the two great story-tellers is fascinating, especially when Brian questions PJ about his own motives and techniques. Please remember us, PJ, when you’ve made it big[ger].
It’s worth watching this video just to see Jake Boys struggling to get out of a women’s sports top. His multiple female impressions are also quite a sight to behold (as in, so flawlessly executed we COMPLETELY forgot it was Jake underneath those terrible wigs.)
Coming out can sometimes be a difficult process, other times it can go very smoothly and the people around you can be very accepting – Lewis Flockhart had the latter experience. We’re even lucky enough to get to see real footage of him enthusiastically exiting the closet.
Do you know any lesser-known YouTubers who deserve some attention? Let us know via @TenEightyUK on Twitter or TenEighty UK on Facebook. PLEASE.
