TV Obsessive
Welcome to What’s the Buzz, where members of our staff provide you with recommendations on a weekly basis. This week’s entries come from: Abbie Sears, Bryan O’Donnell, and John Bernardy.
Abbie: Yesterday, Friday November 1st, was the day that the entire beauty community has been waiting for. The Shane x Jeffree collab finally launched, and with it we got the Conspiracy Palette, the Mini Controversy palette, 6 sickening velour liquid lips, Shane Glossin’, a diet root beer scented lip balm, plus all the amazing merchandise. This could be the biggest launch to ever happen in the makeup community, and I would go as far as to say that Shane’s YouTube series could even be the most revolutionary series to ever come to the platform.
This concept of documenting the process of creating a palette and the entire marketing/sales journey has never been done before and I am completely amazed by every episode. I can’t express how much love I have for Shane. I’ve been watching his videos since I was 12 years old watching them during school breaks, and he has never taken anything for granted. To see Shane finally being treated the way he deserves is incredibly touching, and this series and the launch are bringing him all the riches (in many ways) that he should have.
I’ve been a long time fan of Jeffree too. I discovered Jeffree when in his music days he collaborated with Blood on the Dance Floor, and again, I was in high school. I rediscovered him through his beauty channel and his cosmetics line, and his products completely changed my views on makeup. Their quality is something I have never seen and I literally only have Jeffree Star makeup in my makeup bag these days. This series, along with Shane’s series looking into the world of Jeffree Star last year, has brought together two of the most genuine, loving people in this world and it brings me such joy to watch it.
Don’t be mistaken, though, the palette launch may have happened, but the series is not yet over. Today, Shane and Jeffree are at a Morphe meet and greet to celebrate the launch and meet thousands of fans, and this is being recorded too. There are still multiple episodes to come, although we aren’t sure exactly how many right now.
I strongly urge you to head to Shane Dawson’s YouTube channel and check out the series so far. Even if you don’t wear makeup, it’s fascinating to learn the business side of the beauty world. It’s something no ‘beauty guru’ has been honest with us about, and it answers those questions we all have. How much are they making from this specific product? Where are these photoshoots being taken? How long does this process last? How are the final designs selected? You see everything, and I mean everything. Plus, along the way, you will fall for Shane, Jeffree, Andrew and Ryland like I did years ago.
I want to give major credit to Andrew Siwicki too, as Shane’s cameraman he has really let his on-screen personality shine. He has been with Shane day and night and worked so hard. The Conspiracy palette design we are all obsessed with came right from him coming up with an idea on photoshop. So we owe major thanks to Andrew.
Check out the series so far, and head to Morphe to pick up your own Conspiracy palette.
https://www.youtube.com/user/shane
Bryan: On Halloween, indie rock band Deerhunter released a new tune: “Timebends.” Coming in at a sprawling 12 and a half minutes, “Timebends” begins with a steady piano riff and a vulnerable-sounding Bradley Cox singing:
I feel nothing. No pride or joy. But no pain or discomfort. I’m made this way by chemical choice. It’s an action. For protection. And I’m this way, and you’re that way.
The song then morphs into an uncharacteristically psychedelic-type jam (Cox said “I hate psychedelic music” in an interview earlier this year) before returning to the soft lyrical section from the beginning. Deerhunter recorded “Timebends” in one night in September in New York. The end of the official video for the song features Cox explaining the song to his bandmates.
Deerhunter released its eight album, Why Hasn’t Everything Disappeared?, in January. As usual for the band, the album was very solid. Does “Timebends” hint at more new music to come this year from Deerhunter? I’d be very excited about that—I’m a huge Deerhunter fan. Venturing into more of an improvisational feel would be really interesting. I’d be pretty surprised to see that happen, but perhaps “Timebends” is a sign of new things to come.
John: There are a boatload of Watchmen podcasts, all bearing similar looks and names, and to cut through some of the confusion, I’ll be reviewing one of them every week of Watchmen’s run on HBO. Who knows, maybe you’ll meet your new favorite podcast along the way.
This week, I’m looking into We Watch: Watchmen. You’d think with host names like Black Soul and La Boom that they would sound like radio announcers, but they keep the bombast to a thankful minimum. They speak clearly and concisely, and come off like real people having a discussion. These are good things, and even better is how well researched they are.
Every week the hosts put out a quick reaction podcast on Mondays, and a deeper dive episode sometime between Tuesday and Thursday. I’m focusing on the deep dive they did for Episode 2.
Because race relations and white supremacy are at the foundation of Watchmen, it’s worth noting that both hosts are black. This fact rarely comes up in their commentary though. Since the show began, they mentioned in their first quick take episode how therapeutic Watchmen will likely be for so many people finally seeing their history presented on screen. And in this episode, their POV becomes clear when they’re discussing how reparations would work in the series. The hosts’ race is a feature of the commentary rather than strictly activism. The way they deal with race relations is educational rather than judgemental, and I for one—as a straight white male—welcome this because I’m generally unaware of this covered-over history.
What else do the hosts focus on through this episode? They dig into the meaning of the episode’s title, wonder if Will Reeves was taking pills made by Veidt, and they know the backstories of Mothman and Captain Metropolis from the comics. They ask where Cal went during the battle, and if racial unrest is the looming crisis in the show or if it’s wider than that. They wonder if Angela lost a baby when she was shot, and debate why her partner’s father wouldn’t have been the one to adopt his kids. They connect the Asian woman to Veidt’s time travel and assume her trillions come from him somehow. They also theorize about Veidt time traveling, Angela and Topher’s particular connection, and how the clones have come about. There’s a ton of insight in here, and I’m happy to listen to We Watch for the rest of Watchmen’s run.
https://podbay.fm/podcast/1483887699/e/1572376117
Those are our recommendations this week. What would be yours? Let us know in the comments!
