And so, just like that, Halloween is over.
Those pumpkins you put so much effort into just sit there decomposing (like a metaphor for life, or something), everyone becomes easier to find on Twitter again, and shops start to fill with the sights and sounds of everyone’s favourite holiday because it’s now officially Christmas season. (We’ve already got All I Want For Christmas Is You on repeat at TenEighty HQ and we have zero shame about it. It’s just so JOYOUS.)
What do you mean we’ve got Bonfire night to get past first? UGH, fine, we’ll put the tinsel away and get the fireworks out, to light up the skies like YouTube videos light up our life (look at that segue). Yes, here come some highlights from the week that was on YouTube. LET’S GO!
#YouTubeRED | RageNineteen
So you’ve probably heard that YouTube launched it’s new service YouTube Red in the US this week, against a backdrop of criticism from UK YouTubers following reports that content creators might not be paid during the free trial month. Someone else with strong feelings on YouTube Red is Jamie Spicer-Lewis, which he rather bluntly, and brilliantly, makes known in this video.
Animation currently gets a raw deal on YouTube, a situation TenEighty explored in detail earlier this year. Sadly this state of affairs doesn’t seem like it will improve with the new premium service, and the future of animation on YouTube remains uncertain. So sit back, watch, and support your favourite animators, so that we can keep on enjoying content like this.
Gay Jokes | jimmy0010
This week Jimmy Hill talked to us about jokes. No, he wasn’t telling us all his secrets on how to be funny (please do that one day though, we’re in desperate need), but instead focused on how certain jokes can contribute to a culture of oppression against gay people, particularly in relation to those people who are worried about coming out.
Since coming out himself earlier this year, it’s been great seeing Jimmy comfortable talking about sexuality, both here and when he took part in the Coming Out on YouTube Panel at SitC 2015. He makes interesting and important points in an engaging way, and we can only hope that the future holds more!
burton holmes | ed stockham.
Ed Stockham is talented. Like super, super talented. It makes us sick how talented he is…
…oh no, wait, that’s just all the candy we ate over Halloween, we’re still cool Ed. Seriously though, his latest video is a wonderful slice of sublime song-crafting and sumptuous sight-goodness (by which we mean visuals, we didn’t want to stop that alliteration). Special shout out to the massively #relatable #poignant lyrics; we know those feels.
This song also inspired us to find out more about the Mr. Holmes the song revolves around. Educating us too Ed, is there nothing you can’t do?
GOING BRALESS?! | musicalbethan
From its title, you might be forgiven for thinking Bethan Mary Leadley has confused YouTube Red with that other site. You would, however, be wrong. In this video Bethan talks about how she’s become comfortable going sans-bra in life. With a shoutout to the #freethenipple campaign, she also sadly reveals how she moderates what she wears not because of her own wants, but how others might behave towards it.
We applaud Bethan for giving this topic some greater exposure, and we’re excited to see what further discussion will come of it. Together we can learn to view nipples in a context specific way, away from cisnormative and binary centric conceptions. It’s great to see Bethan tackle this, while chatting positively about the impact it’s had on her body image.
Baking With Layton (Also The Fratocrats) | Daniel J. Layton
It may be a month since Season 6 ended, but here at TenEighty HQ we’re still suffering from The Great British Bake Off withdrawal in a big way. Luckily Daniel J. Layton is here to give us our baking fix with his Baking With Layton series, which this week featured comedic twins The Fratocrats. The concept, and execution, of this episode’s cake (we won’t spoil it) is magnificent and definitely wins Star Baker award from TenEighty.
Daniel’s reactions throughout, The Fratocrats singing, and Ciaran OBrien turning up with his face like a, well, Ciaran OBrien, this video is a big slice of fun from beginning to end.
What’s that, you want this Catherine wheel of videos to keep on spinning?
Ah, go on then! A couple more for you. Gary C became everyone’s favourite sea witch Ursula this week, with help from Electra Snow. It’s a really cool transformation, and we got serious nail envy from Gary’s new claws.
Lex Croucher taught us How To Pumpkin, with possibly our favourite voice-over work of the Halloween season.
And finally, on top of appearing in Hazel Hayes’s Halloween sketch (which featured as part of our Five More of the Best: Halloween), Dean Dobbs appeared in PJ Liguori’s one too (does he ever sleep?). We’ve got to hand it to them though, it’s great!
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