There are at least three types of advent calendar users…
- You punch open your cardboard door within a five-minute window every night, cherishing each small square as it comes. Patience is a virtue that pays back in milk chocolate goodness.
- You’ve eaten all the chocolates already. You’re not remotely concerned about this fact.
- You’d forgotten about your advent calendar for five days up until now. Oops.
Luckily for you, if you’re a number three, we’ve got a queue of videos for you to watch while you catch up on your choccie…
The Jigsaw Of You And I | Spoken Word | AD – Lucy Moon
Starting off this week’s list is the impeccable Lucy Moon, whose spoken word performance definitely warmed us up from the inside out. Adopting the themes of love and fate present in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Lucy takes us around a twinkling London painted in black and white, while simultaneously giving us insane coat-envy. If you could please lend us a fraction of your winter wardrobe, we’d be endlessly grateful.
In addition to being flat-out brilliant, the video was also a collaboration with the British council to help celebrate Shakespeare’s four-hundredth anniversary — so break out your inner Hamlet and recite that passionate soliloquy. Or, just check out their #ShakespeareNoFilter campaign.
Sick of Losing Soulmates – dodie
Here at TenEighty we thought we had the Dodie Clark formula figured out: Dodie releases beautiful song, we cry, repeat. But, lo and behold, she pulled a fast one on us with this stunning new music video (on a sparkly new Vevo channel to boot!).
The delicate simplicity of Dodie’s original is supplemented this time around with cymbal crescendos, a building percussion section, and a choir of angelic backing vocals to rival your favorite holiday tunes. Watch Dottie James and Cambria Bailey-Jones navigate all the twists and turns of a relationship under pressure, captured by director (and another TenEighty favourite) Sammy Paul. We can’t wait for the next beautiful depiction of Dodie’s music to break online!
I’ve messed up. | December Diary 8 – Melanie Murphy
We all know and love Melanie Murphy. After this week’s video, you’ll know and love her even more.
This week Melanie comes to us with a poignant list of personal mistakes and failures. She reminds us that humans are just that: human. They break down and fall under pressure. But she also recounts that, through those experiences, you will grow and you will learn – not how to never make mistakes again, but how to better deal with trouble when it arises. So thank you, Melanie, for reminding is that we’ll forever be works-in-progress. And that’s perfectly fine.
Dealing With My Body Issues – Bethan Leadley
Continuing on the train of self-reflection this week is Bethan Leadley, who continues to impress with her mature introspection on health and body image. This week she looks back at her relationship with food and the way she has worked to shift her mindset on healthy eating to one not associated with losing weight, but with taking care of your body from the inside out.
Good on you, girl. DM that avocado salad recipe to TenEighty HQ, stat!
Are You F**cked?! Call 0800-UNF**KME Today! – Fratocrats
In need of a little pick me up? Or a totally trustworthy way out of any current legal troubles? Look no further than the Fratocrats, who wrap up our list this week with a video certain to grant you one of those (we won’t tell you which). Appearances from Daniel J. Layton, Eddie Bowley, and some truly fabulous greenscreen editing: what more could you want in a sketch? Just, err, maybe use headphones with this one.
The pair have also launched a Patreon page, so if you fancy showing them some support, head on over! Bonza, indeed.
Moved on from advent calendar chocolate to mince pies? We’ve got you covered…
Charlie McDonnell’s cat, Gideon, has released a Christmas EP. Yep, you read that right. Check out the preview here and learn how you can snag a copy of your own through donating to the Project For Awesome before they run meow-t!
Which part of the world HASN’T Louis Cole captured in his amazing travel vlogs? His latest Amsterdam montage has us itching to hop into a canal boat and munch on some stroopwafel.
It really can’t get more festive than the actual embodiments of holiday cheer — Gary C, Carrie Hope Fletcher, and Pete Bucknall — dressed in Christmas jumpers doing… Harry Potter-themed impressions? We’re sold.
Interested in some more body talk? Angela Innes brings us an intelligent, succinct discussion on the double standards women face when it comes to appreciating their own bodies.
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