Viral by Becca Tapp

Viral A Day at Rehearsal

With Starkid What cameras are best for vlogging? New features we think need to be added to YouTube Red

TEAM INTERNET TAKING OVER

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CONT ENTS Features

Collaborations:

Ever wondered why so many YouTubers are always doing collaboration videos? Go to page 8 to learn more!

#TeamInternet:

Read about why the YouTube community is so special to #TeamInternet leader Tyler Oakley, along with some of the biggest accomplishments from #TeamInternet on page 19.

Spotlight:

Ever wondered what it is like to spend a day with the members of Starkid? Now is your chance. Go to page 28 and read Rebecca Godwinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s experience!

Gone Viral Turn to page 4 to see a recap of the most viral videos of 2015.

Refresh Go to pages 13 and 14 to be refreshed on what happened in 2015.

Behind the Screen

Viral Becca Tapp Editor in Chief

Writers

Contributing Writers Austin Null Kevin Fallon Danielle Pistono Fine Brothers Liam Dryden Benedict Townsend Rebecca Godwin Salman Aslam Alicia Adejobi Danielle Zimmerman Becca Tapp

Art and Photo

Art Director Becca Tapp Graphic Artist Becca Tapp Photos Contributed By Starkid YouTube We The Unicorns

Production

Copy Editor Becca Tapp Extra Set of Eyes Roth Lovins

Now that YouTube Red is here, find out what we think they need to add to the benefits. Go to page 16 to see our suggestions.

Guru Wisdom Having trouble with deciding on which brush to use for a certain task? Turn to page 26 to learn more.

Tech Source So you want to make a YouTube video? Let us help you start by helping you pick a camera on page 34.

facebook.com/viral twitter.com/viral Art and Journalism Building Ball State University Muncie, IN 47306 (317) 407-0811 rmtapp@bsu.edu

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Grace Helbig

Subscribers: 2,777,197 Views: 154,377,185

Letter From The Editor Becca Tapp Editor in Chief

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I know what you’re thinking, “A magazine about YouTube? Really?” But just hear me out. To say that I’m a YouTube addict would be an understatement. My obsession started when I came across Jaclyn Hill’s makeup tutorials in 2013, but it was a small obsession. Then, a year later, I came across Meghan Reinks’ Vlogmas videos and I was hooked. From there I found Joshua David Evans which lead me to Colleen Evans (Ballinger), which lead me to Miranda Sings and then it was an upward spiral from there. Since then I have subscribed to over 120 channels, bought 5 books written by YouTubers, bought some of their merchandise, and even created a channel of my own. All of this combined is why I started this magazine. Viral is about the amazing things that the creators on YouTube are doing throughout the year. One thing that I have discovered over my life in these fandoms is that their subscribers truly care about what is going on in these creators’ lives. From watching their lives through vlogs to following them on all social media outlets, their subscribers are there to watch and listen. One example of this is shown when Colleen Evans does livestreams because she can’t think of ideas for new Miranda Sings videos. No matter what time of night, her core group of subscribers tune in and will tweet her ideas which usually end up as videos on Miranda’s channel. So indulge in this community with me and take a look through Viral and see just how interesting these creators are. Viral gives you inside access to their lives, along with taking interesting perspectives on stories that you might not have heard before. We also provide breaking news when it comes to the world of YouTube.

Joshua David Evans Subscribers: 1,112,915 Views: 138,008,401

Miranda Sings

Subscribers: 5,361,287 Views: 720,673,790

Mamrie Hart

Subscribers: 1.546,410 Views: 70,645,681

Red Introducing YouTube Red Enjoy ad-free videos, saving offline, background play

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Gone Viral

Top 10 Viral Videos of 2015

1 2 3 4 5

What Did Zoey Say? (from Dan Schneider)

Zoey 101 fans rejoice for this follow up to an episode that the series has been 10 years in the making revealing that Zoey thought that Chase may have been her soulmate and he tries to find her, breaking up with his current girlfriend.

Shia LaBouf says: “Do It”

This clip from a collection of short films featuring Shia LaBeouf has him giving an over-the-top motivational speech telling us to “Do It!”

Diversity & Inclusion Love Has No Labels

Couples and friends stand behind a giant X-Ray machine before revealing they’re of different races, religions, and same genders to show love has no labels.

Nasty X-Factor Judge Pop star and X Factor judge Natalia Kilz and her husband blast a contestant for copy catting him, calling the man disgusting, creepy, along with comparing him to a serial killer.

102 Year Old Dancer Sees Herself on Film

A 102 year old dancer gets pleasantly surprised when she is shown footage of herself professionally dancing during the 1930’s and ‘40s for the first time ever.

Consider yourselves warned because we are about to spoil 10 of the web’s top videos from 2015. Remember that you can watch all of the full videos on YouTube or by downloading the iPad version of this issue!

6 7 8 9

Caitlyn Jenner Is Finally

Turn Your Smartphone

“Free” on Vanity Fair’s Cover Caitlyn Jenner, formally known as Bruce Jenner, reveals herself in a Vanity Fair photoshoot after completeing her gender transition.

Matthew McConaughey’s

Reaction to Star Wars Teaser #2 A scene of Matthew McConaughey in Intersteller is hilariously cut to look like he’s watching the newest Star Wars trailer with pure happiness.

Daniel’s Promposal Boy and his girlfriend drive by signs made by him asking her to prom, but she ends up making fun of it before realizing it was from him causing her to cry, but she makes it up by saying yes!

Taylor Swift & Lisa Kudrow “Smelly Cat” from “Friends”

Taylor Swift invites actress Lisa Kudrow on stage during her concert to sing her character from the TV show’s song “Smelly Cat.”

into a 3D Hologram

Mr. Who’s Boss teaches you how to turn your phone into a hologram projector by cutting a pyramid out of a CD case, placing it on your phone and playing specific videos

3 Tips To Get The Most Out Of YouTube Collaboration Projects Austin Null Reelseo.com

Since the early days of YouTube, collaboration has been a key stepping stone for creators to take their channels to the next level. A classic example is Shaycarl getting a shout out from Philip Defranco, eventually making videos with him and the rest is history. Nowadays, collaboration is looked at in a different light. Some creators are skeptical, some creators feel used through collaboration, others feel ignored and some creators just don’t know how to set up a successful, meaningful collaboration even if both parties are interested. The following tips should help you get off to a sure start and help you establish meaningful, smart and rewarding collaborations with other YouTubers.

Tip #1 Collaborate With Similar Audiences, Not Just Channels

Many people will tell you, “Find a channel like yours to collaborate with!” This isn’t bad advice but it’s not the best advice. Content is important but the audience watching that content is more important. After all, you do a collaboration to gain the audience of another YouTuber and turn them into your own audience. For example, if a vlogger (guy or girl) has an audience of primarily 13-17 year old girls and a beauty guru has the same demographic, those two channels are an ideal fit for collaboration. Their content may be different but if they collaborate in a smart, fun way while still showcasing each of their

respective brands, their audience can easily cross over.

Tip #2. Get Creative With Your Video Content

Collaborations that are done well and see the most success are ones that make sure both pieces of content for the collaboration are a logical, cohesive fit for each other. You don’t want the two pieces of content to be too similar but you also don’t want them to be too out of left field. Our2ndLife members Connor Franta and Ricky Dillon are two good of examples of this. For instance, Connor did a video with British YouTuber Marcus Butler where they talked about how British and American people say the same things in different ways. On Marcus Butler’s channel, they kept the British vs. American theme going but with a pop quiz, true/false video quizzing each on the different countries. This is a good example of staying on a topic while creating two different pieces of content. Ricky did a video with Grace Helbig where they each did completely different things. One video was Truth or Dare and the other was them singing karaoke. Completely different, slightly random but both fun and engaging which is what their audiences are there to see and it worked perfectly.

Tip #3 Establish A Marketing Plan, And Stick To It

This probably sounds very “corporate-y”

but it’s important to work together with each other when doing a collaboration to make sure that both of your videos gain the maximum amount of attention possible. This means that communication between both YouTubers needs to be open and honest. You need to both decide and agree what you’re willing to do to help both videos succeed. Here are a few suggestions for questions that should be discussed: • Are we putting each other’s videos up as

a PIP video within our video to link to via annotations? • Are we including each other’s videos in our endslates? • Are we both setting up clicktotweet campaigns @ replying both of us? • Are we both sharing the video from our own personal social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, etc.)? All of these questions and more are

important to discuss before you move forward with a collaboration or things could turn ugly if you have different ideas of how this should go later on in the collaboration process. I hope these tips have been helpful. Collaboration is a great way to gain an audience, make connections and showcase your creativity. If you have any questions about collaboration feel free to tweet me, I’d love to help you out with specific collaborations you may be working on.

Quiz: Can you guess the YouTuber from their collab video?

1. Who is Dodie Clark’s mystery duet partner?

2. Who is brandishing a banana at Grace Helbig?

Charlie McDonnell Evan Edinger Jon Cozart

Colleen Evans Bethany Mota Ingrid Nilsen

3. Who is Mamrie Hart serving up drinks for?

4. Who is drunkenly cooking with Hannah Hart?

JusReign iiSuperwomanii Chescaleigh

Kingsley Todrick Hall Nathan Zed

5. Who is cracking up Kingsley?

6. Who is twinsies with Connor Franta?

GiGi Gorgeous Grace Helbig Jenna Marbles

Connor Franta Sawyer Hartman Joey Graceffa

7. Who is Zoella giving a 7-second challenge?

8. Who is making Phil physically uncomfortable?

Tanya Burr Miranda Sings Grace Helbig

Dan Howell Alfie Deyes Jim Chapman

1. Jon Cozart 2. Ingrid Nilsen 3. iiSuperwomanii 4. Kingsley 5. GiGi Gorgeous 6. Joey Graceffa 7. Miranda Sings 8. Jim Chapman

From wetheunicorns.com

HOW TO:

Other Popular Challenges

Do YouTube Challenges Safari File

Edit

Object

Type

Select

Effect

View

Window

Help

Fri 3:30 PM

The Ouiji Challenge

The Ouiji Challenge has recently been made popular by Shane Dawson.

What You Need: • Ouiji Board • Candle • Friend • Camera

Safari File

Edit

Object

Type

Select

Effect

View

Window

Help

The Yoga Challenge

Fri 3:30 PM

The Yoga Challenge has been around for a while. It’s been done by plenty of famous YouTubers and, on occasion, their dog.

What You Need: • Friend • Soft surface • Camera • Dog (optional)

Safari File

Edit

Object

Type

Select

Effect

View

Window

Help

Fri 3:30 PM

The Touch My Body Challenge

Get your head out of the gutter. The non-blindfolded person makes you touch a body part and you have to guess what it is.

What You Need: • Friend • Camera • Body • Blindfold

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What happened in 2015? Oscar’s Hotel

Oscar’s Hotel, a project by Kick the PJ, was released on Vimeo this fall. This project included multiple YouTubers including Mitchell Davis, Hannah Hart, Grace Helbig, and more. The series costs $10.00 on Vimeo.

Tours

Many tours happened this year, some of which including Tori Kelly (1), The Holy Trinity’s #NoFilter tour (2) and Tyler Oakley’s Sleepover tour (3). Along with these tours, many YouTubers went on book tours.

Joshleen Wedding

On July 2, YouTube stars Colleen Ballinger and Joshua David Evans got married in a surprise wedding in Santa Barbara, CA. The couple has been together for a while now, battling Ballinger’s alter ego, Miranda Sings, for Evans’ love.

YouTube Red

YouTube Red was released to the public on October 28 starting a new way to watch YouTube. To read more about it go to page 25.

2 1

YouTubers Coming Out

Many YouTubers came out in 2015 including Joey Graceffa (1) as gay, Ingrid Nilsen (2) as lesbian and Shane Dawson (3) as bisexual. These three aren’t the only YouTubers to have come out on their channels, others include Connor Franta and Troye Sivan.

GRACE & STYLE The Art of Pretending You Have It On Sale February 2, 2016

Behind the screen

Real, Genuine, Actual Features That Will Make YouTube Red Awesome AF By Benedict Townsend Now that we know a lot more about some of the features of YouTube’s paid service, we have some… better suggestions. “YouTube Red”, the brand new paid ad-free subscription service from everyone’s favorite video site, is just about to burst on to the scene. Using a powerful combination of expert knowledge, scientific research and wild speculation, we’ve come up with a list of features we’re certain are going to be included with the service. Seriously, actually, for reals. 1. An “ULTRA LIKE” Button This will function like your standard ‘thumbs up’ button but will harness the power of money to create a thumbs up four hundred times more powerful than usual. Once the “Ultra Like” button has been pressed, the video will instantly be granted 400 more likes and YouTube will automatically mail a photograph of you giving a thumbs-up to the YouTuber in question. Please be warned: the force of the amount of fan-love expressed by this button will most likely crack your computer screen and/or you. 2. A “NOPE” button What’s this? YouTube thinks that I want to watch a video of a million spiders eating an entire house? Yeah, NOPE. On the other end of the scale from the “ULTRA LIKE” button, YouTube Red will feature a “NOPE” button, to be pressed when a video is NOPE and makes you

say “NOPE“. Hit this bad boy and the video will turn off, your internet will be disconnected and a team of Marines will be deployed to your house to destroy your computer WITH JUST SO MUCH FIRE. 3. An option to just give YouTube a whole bunch of money YouTube Red costs $9.99 a month – but what if that’s not enough? What if you want to give YouTube more money? Well have no fear, now you can! Every YouTube Red video will feature a subtle, seamless, full-page pop-up ad that says “CLICK TO GIVE MONEY NOW”. All you have to do is enter your chosen amount ($100 minimum) and hit go! Hooray! YouTube says they are going to use the extra money to make the “ULTRA LIKE” button powerful enough to melt glass. 4. The ability to subscribe to a YouTuber – endlessly YouTubers work hard to produce great content. PewDiePie, Caspar Lee, Zoella – whoever your favorite is, we’re sure you’ll agree they could always use another sub, just to show them how fantastic they are. YouTube Red will let you hit subscribe to your online hero(ine) as many times as your clicking-finger can handle, meaning you can share the love forever. On that note, we’d like to pre-emptively congratulate PewDiePie on reaching 4.8 Trillion, Trillion subscribers. 5. A “Don’t Stop Replaying” button Sometimes it takes two or three

(hundred thousand) watches before you can truly appreciate a new video from your favorite YouTuber. That’s normal and healthy, right? But having to click ‘replay’ over and over again? That’s crazy! It just takes up valuable time that could be spent re-watching that video! Luckily YouTube Red will let you set YouTube to just replay the same video over and over, forever and ever. Red will also disable every other program on your computer to make sure nothing interrupts you and will send Marines to your house to make popcorn for you (with a regular amount of fire). 6. Videos you can touch Sure, it’s fun to just gaze upon your favorite stars, but what if you could reach out and touch them? High-five them? Ruffle their hair? The possibilities are endless! Just be careful about what videos you decide to watch…. 7. An “Add A Ton Of Puppies” button Puppies: just a selection of puppies, inserted right into your video. Even if you are not a dog fan (say whaaaat?), you’ll still agree that there isn’t a video in the world that wouldn’t benefit from some tiny canine antics. So it seems (we hope) that YouTube Red is going to have some really useful features! It also seems like YouTube now has control over the Marines, but let’s not worry about that. Let us know if you want any of these features, or if we’ve missed any that you would want!

Vlog like a pro Feel like a pro

It Is Time to Take YouTube’s Tyler Oakley Seriously

Kevin Fallon

The Daily Beast It’s the curse of the YouTube personality. Amass over 20 million fans across various platforms, have an audience with Barack Obama, and appear on the cover of a major magazine and still leave most of the country hearing your name and wondering, “Who?” But with YouTube supernova Tyler Oakley leading the way—his luminescent shock of white-gold hair and megawatt Cheshire Cat grin surely the guiding lights— #TeamInternet, as he affectionately calls his peers and their loyal fans, is steadily marching towards legitimacy. The 26-year-old openly gay Michigan native posted his first video on YouTube eight years ago, an awkwardly shot greeting card meant for just his close friends that accidentally amassed around 100 views. He now has more than 7 million subscribers to a channel where he continues to build his personal brand simply by being himself, with titles like “Pancake Art FAIL” and “MY EPIC FOOD FIGHT.” In each of them, he’s exuberantly goofy and eager to share his slightly raunchy sense of humor and declassé taste in junk food with fans. He’s as high-spirited when interviewing Michelle Obama, where he may have been the first person to have screamed, “Yaaas queen,” while interviewing her with blue hair, or in a borrowed designer suit on the red carpet of the Grammy Awards; he ended up accidentally throwing his fine garments into a dumpster. “When I started doing it in 2007, nobody

had a million views,” he tells The Daily Beast, rambunctious after a flight back home from Australia, where he concluded the international leg of his Slumber Party tour, on which he meets fans and chats with them while everyone wears pajamas. “The most subscribed person I remember when I first started might have had 40,000 subscribers or something. Now you can really be in charge of your own trajectory.” For Oakley, that means an unexpected career as the gay BFF of millions of hashtagwielding Internet fiends, the majority of whom might be found beaming with their glistening orthodontics at the two “vlogs”— video blogs—Oakley posts each week. It’s a following that’s led to Oakley being named one of TIME’s Most Influential People on the Internet and described by OUT magazine as the leader of “The Cult of Oversharing.” With his name garnering a bit of media omnipresence and Oakley himself appearing on traditional TV outlets and even as a guest on Ellen—Oakley refers to DeGeneres as “my queen and also my doppelganger and we are twinsies for life”—it’s hard to shake a feeling that #TeamInternet is on the cusp of a mainstream crossover. Certainly an indication of this is this year’s Streamy Awards, which recognizes excellences in online video and is in its fifth year. This year’s lineup was the best example yet of the marriage between this community of online stars and old-school Hollywood entities, with names like James Franco,

Weird Al Yankovic, and James Van Der Beek joining Oakley and his Internet famous brethren as nominees. For the first time, the awards were broadcasted on actual television, a curious case of online awards airing on actual TV. Oakley, who won Entertainer of the Year the ceremony in 2014, co-hosted the proceedings with fellow YouTube-tomainstream crossover success Grace Helbig. And the timing of the awards was certainly noteworthy, too, taking place just days before the 2015 Emmy Awards, which honors more traditional television entertainers. Are we on the verge of an old vs. new turf war? “I think that it’s been pretty evident for a while now how traditional [media] has wanted to go a little digital and digital has wanted to go a little bit traditional,” Oakley says about the awards shows’ timing. “I think we’re all meeting in the middle. The lines are getting blurred, and the fact that the Streamys were on TV this year shows how much that audience is there.” As a pure numbers game, it should make total sense that the Streamys got a telecast as legitimate as the Emmy Awards. Oakley alone has over 7.5 million subscribers to his YouTube channel, which is multiple times the average viewership for most of the shows that were nominated for Emmys. Mad Men averaged just 2 million viewers in its last season, for example. In an entertainment industry fraught over the splintering of viewers and declining ratings, #TeamInternet has an astronomical reach. But numbers don’t always add up to credibility. (Donald Trump is leading the GOP polls, after all.) Despite his millions of followers, sphere of influence, and validation in various business pursuits— Oakley’s, Binge, released at the end of October and turned his predilection for Taco Bell into a legit business relationship—there are still hurdles to jump before he’s taken seriously, at least in some circles. Perhaps a modicum of skepticism from “traditionals,” as Oakley refers to those who are dubious of the influence of digital media stars, is justifiable when one considers how hard it is to really describe what exactly he and hordes of YouTube personalities like him do for a living. He’s a self-described “professional fangirl,” with many of his vlogs dedicated to quick-witted and ebullient gushing over his favorite celebrities, chiefly Darren Criss and One Direction. You know when your mom says things like, “Why would I join Twitter?

I don’t need people to know what I ate for dinner.” Oakley’s YouTube channel is, in some respects, just like that. He’s mastered the art of the confessional, and figured out the power of authenticity and dialogue. Oakley’s videos alternate between breathless recaps of his week and Q&As with his followers about everything from whether he will see a movie coming out the next weekend to what age he was when he lost his virginity—he was 18 and it was on St. Patrick’s Day. Basically, it’s just giddy talking, but with a candor, accessibility, and sunniness that vacillates wildly between silly and serious with nimble ease. It’s a quality that online communities clearly crave from role models and weren’t getting from the PRcontrolled TV and movie stars who stand on glamorous pedestals. It may be all the more powerful coming from Oakley, a person who is unabashed and unapologetic about his gayness. Sure, it’s nice to have the Tiger Beat poster pulled out of the magazine and plastered onto your wall, but it’s even better when the person on the poster will talk to you— like, directly to you and share, or at least be willing to talk about, all of your concerns. In a video uploaded at the beginning of October, Oakley posits, “me being me may have even helped some of you guys be you.” It’s almost insufferably cheesy, were it not completely accurate. (Again, this guy has an international tour to prove this.) It’s an influence he takes seriously, too, having parlayed his YouTube influence into advocacy for the Trevor Project, not just speaking on behalf of the organization, which fights bullying and prevents suicide of LGBTQ teens, but often fundraising for it through his channels. Two years in a row, he

raised $500,000 for the organization. “I understand that with the audience comes a sense of responsibility,” he says. “Although I’m there to entertain, I also want to make sure I’m using my opportunity in the best way possible. Because although I don’t have an obligation, necessarily, I feel like it would be a missed opportunity if I didn’t try using it for good.” That’s especially true when it comes to young gay people. He thinks about being from a small town now versus when he was growing up and coming out. There may have been no opportunity to seek guidance from an openly gay person then. “Nowadays if somebody in America is feeling alone and wants to find a coming out story, they just search ‘coming out’ and they’ll find millions of first-person examples of people telling their story,” Oakley’s included. If it sounds a little bit like teenage selfhelp, it might be just that. The swift rise of Oakley’s YouTube channel—and his fame and sponsorship deals (watch how seamlessly he weaves product integration into his videos)—might be simply because teenagers are rabid for self-help, or at least affirmation or acceptance, and thrilled to have found easy access to it on the smartphones their thumbs never leave. “I think social media has amplified a lot of voices that maybe traditional media hasn’t perfectly portrayed,” he says. Further proof of this community’s influence on the culture at large—not just the thriving online community that turned these personalities into stars—is the conversations the content created by these people are starting. There certainly was evidence of that with the response to Oakley’s “It Gets Better” video, but it’s never been more evident than

One of the biggest showcases of Team Internet is the amount of YouTubers who have written books and that have made it on to the New York Time’s Best Sellers List. Below are the five YouTubers who’s books were in the Top 10 the longest. Information from the New York Time’s Best Sellers List.

TOP five

1. A Work In Progress 2. I Hate Myselfie By: Connor Franta

By: Shane Dawson

On Top 10:

June through September

April through June

Subscibers:

Nearly 5 million

Over 12 million (combined)

Views:

Nearly 300 million

Over 2 billion (combined)

3. Selp Helf

4. YDAD

By: Miranda Sings

By: Mamrie Hart

On Top 10:

August through October

June

Subscibers:

Over 5 million

Over 1 million

Views:

Over 700 million

Nearly 70 million

5. In Real Life

By: Joey Graceffa

On Top 10: July

Others You Say?

Grace’s Guide My Drunk Kitchen Binge This Book Loves You I, Justine

Subscibers:

Over 6 million (combined)

Views:

Nearly 800 million (combined)

Lights, Camera, Action! YouTube creators aren’t just writing books, they’re on TV and making movies too!

SMOSH

Grace Helbig

Movie: SMOSH: The Movie

Book: Grace’s Guide Grace & Style

TV Show: The Grace Helbig Show Movie: Dirty 30 Movie Camp Takota

with one of the most recent firestorms, this one surrounding YouTube comedian Nicole Arbour, whose “Dear Fat People” video has been criticized for its aggressive fat shaming. (Sample line: “I don’t feel bad for you because you are taking your body for granted…What are you going to do, fat people? What are you going to do? You going to chase me? I can get away from you by walking at a reasonable pace.”) Arbour has since defended the video, which seems a cardinal sin according to

the Bible of positivity and anti-bullying that #TeamInternet seems to worship and live by. Oakley himself had just spoken about his own past eating disorder to Seventeen magazine when Arbour’s video was published. “As somebody who has gone through body image issues and who has been pretty vocal about all that and trying to amplify voices in other communities going through that, it’s disheartening that somebody could make content like that and deny

responsibility,” he says. “I feel like everybody, whether you have one follower or a million followers, has an opportunity to either positively or negatively affect people,” he goes on. “I’m the first to appreciate and accept growth, if that were to come from that creator, but from what I’ve seen I haven’t seen anything like that. But it can take time. Not everyone is born with a sociology degree. It’s just disappointing sometimes when people who have a lot of influence are a little bit resistant to growth.”

Fine Bros

Show: React to That Six Degrees of Everything

Todrick Hall Show: Todrick American Idol Music: so many singles on iTunes

It seemed appropriate that Oakley spoke a sort of State of the Union on all issues related to YouTube. That detail, along with many others from the intersection of Oakley’s burgeoning fame and his ability to laugh at himself, is revealed in Binge, his first memoir. The book covers Oakley’s Michigan upbringing, his relationship history and a variety of interactions with stars from Obama to One Direction. While Oakley goes darker than he ever has before—revealing his history with

domestic violence and eating disorders—the book invariably returns to the sunny, fun tone familiar from his videos; the joke is always on him. “Here’s what happens between the edits,: says Oakley. “What you see on the YouTube videos is the highlights reel of 10 or 20 minutes of me coming to the camera with a very clear thought of what I want to present. It’s not that I’m saying that’s not who I am, but it’s definitely the highlights reel. So Binge means embracing not just the highs

and the lows, and encouraging the reader to do the same.” Of all the books released by YouTube vloggers, Binge might be the most brutally honest yet. When asked which chapter was the hardest to write, Oakley admitted: “There were a few where I would start the chapter and then delete everything because I didn’t really know how to talk about it. One of those chapters would have been the title chapter, Binge, talking about eating disorders and body image issues.

ile

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The medium is a red-hot conflagration kindled by all the ambitions that seem to drive young people today: confession, community, candor, self-branding, and selfmarketing. It’s selfishness and selflessness rubbing together like sticks: I going to make money by just being me; also, I’m going to help people. And if the community is generating heat, Oakley is the star that is most on fire. President Obama seemed to have gotten the smoke signals. He invited Oakley to the White House as part of a group of YouTube influencers he hoped would help his administration get more young Americans signed up for the Affordable Care Act. But more visibility breeds even more criticism, as Oakley has learned throughout his ascent (he says he’s been accused of “acting gay and putting on a lisp” for views), and so his White House visit brought even more scrutiny to the idea that he should be taken seriously. “To me it was like, oh my god, the most powerful person in the world cares about me and my peers and what we do and how we connect with our audiences and is wanting to learn from us? It boggled my mind,” he says. “It was a cool moment, but even then people were like, ‘Why is he wasting his time with YouTube blah blah blah?’ Whatever the success might be, there will always be people that don’t get it.” The 2015 Streamy Awards then, in which Oakley not just hosted, but hoped to repeat his Entertainer of the Year award, was one more crucial step in that direction.

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Do you have any music from Team Internet on your phone? What about podcasts? Take a minute to explore the variety of artists that have gotten their start on YouTube.

Psycho Babble

Tyler Oakley & Korey Kuhl

Overexposed

Not too Deep

Ear Biscuits

Grace Helbig

Dear Hank & John John and Hank Green

BROKEN

Pewdiepie and CinnimonToastKen

Jenna & Julien Jenna Marble and Julian Solomita

Kingsley

Rhett and Link

Explain Things To Me Anna Akana

Overphlow Philip DeFranco

Shane & Friends Shane Dawson

Guru Wisdom

Brush It On

Brushes have certain purposes. Duh, right? But do you actually know these purposes? Read below so you can make sure to use them for the right purpose!

By Danielle Pistono for Style Caster and Becca Tapp

Stippling Brush

Highlighter Brush

Contour Brush

Concealer Brush

Blending Brush

Brow Brush

Eye Shadow Brush

Powder Brush

Pencil Brush

Lips Brush

Eyeliner Brush

Beauty Blender

This brush is used for light powder, liquid or cream products. It can give you an airbrushed look when used with powder.

This brush is used to define your face. Buff in linear and small circular motions to blend contour shades.

This brush is perfect for blending in your eye shadow along the crease of your lids.

Use this brush to apply any type of eyeshadow. The bristles are just right for eyeshadow application.

A smudging eye brush helps to obtain the coveted smokey eye. It has soft bristles that let you smudge a concentrated area.

This thin brush will give you a precise line and allows you to choose the thickness of your liner.

But What Brand? Now that you know what they do, time to buy! We went through and found the best companies for makeup brushes and ranked them by prices.

NARS Sigma Laura Mercier it Cosmetics MAC

This soft brush is used to lightly brush highlighter on the bones of your cheeks.

This firm, narrow brush is tapered at the end and allows you to brush on concealer in a concentrated area.

This is important when you are filling in your eyebrows. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s angled so that you can get even the thinnest areas of your brows.

This should be in every makeup collection. It should be used to apply any type of powder foundation product.

These brushes are typically tiny and allow lipstick or gloss to be applied more precisely to the lips.

A blending sponge is a great tool to use with liquid foundations. It gives your face a flawless, smooth

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bareMinerals Anastasia Make Up For Ever E.L.F. Morphe

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HOW TO:

CLEAN YOUR BRUSHES

Get To Know: Michelle Phan

Mix olive oil and dish soap.

Swirl brush

Work it through the brissles.

Rinse it out with warm water.

Hang upside down so the water doesn’t get into the glue.

It started as a simple hobby but Michelle Phan has managed to turn posting make-up tutorials on YouTube into an incredibly lucrative empire. The beauty vlogger features on Forbes’ list of the highest-earning YouTube stars of 2015, just days after her company Ipsy was reportedly valued at $500m (£323.7m). Phan has been placed at number seven on the list with estimated earnings of $3m, which Forbes claims comes through reinvesting revenue the 28-year-old has made from her various business ventures, which include her cosmetic line and beauty subscription service. In September, reports emerged that she had raised $100m in additional funds towards Ipsy, a subscription beauty sampling business that she launched in 2012. It is reported that Ipsy now ships more than 1.5 million “glam bags” around the US and Canada each month but Phan claims its success was completely unexpected. Speaking at an event in September, the vlogger said: “I didn’t have a roadmap, I just did it because it was meaningful to me and I wanted to disrupt the beauty industry. “The beauty of the internet is there’s a niche market for everything and if you can focus on it you can build a sustainable and viable business of it. The internet is where you can find people who are authentic. Some 87% of women today trust in influencers in YouTube over celebrity ads and endorsements and it’s only going to grow. “Ipsy was a platform that was built for this generation of people who want to express inner and outer beauty. Makeup is not a mask that covers up your beauty, it’s a weapon that helps you express who you are from the inside.” Phan started her YouTube channel eight years ago and has now amassed more than eight million subscribers. Addressing the fame she has achieved through the video platform, Phan explained: “I thought, if [YouTube] is going to be the global television of the future, I need to build my brand here. Within the first week, 40,000 people watched it and hundreds of comments came in and that’s when I realised I’d found my calling. Influence is the new power – if you have influence you can create a brand.” YouTube gamer Felix Kjellberg, also known as PewDiePie, has topped the highest-earning list by Forbes after earning more than $12m throughout 2015.

My Day at Rehearsal with StarKids REBECCA GODWIN

Daily Arts Writer at University of Michigan

My Wednesday last week offered no evidence that it would be anything but normal — that was, until I found myself opening an e-mail from one of the original StarKids, Brian Holden, a 2008 Music, Theatre & Dance alum, inviting me to come to their rehearsal to interview the group. I have made multiple friends through a shared love of the group. Their shows helped remind me how much I love the theatre, and their humble start at the University left me with the hope that I, too, could create and stage my own show — which I did. So it’s pretty safe to say StarKid has had a pretty big impact on my life. I immediately cleared my to-do list, rearranged my work schedule and conveniently forgot about my classes. For those who don’t know, StarKid is a theatre group that originated here at the University in 2009 when they performed their original musical, “AVery Potter Musical,” a parody of the Harry Potter series. They uploaded the show to YouTube, and soon the group of college friends found themselves launched into Internet fame. The production is still their most popular with more than 11 million views, but they have gone on to do many other successful parodies. The group has since moved to Chicago, and while it has added members over the years, it’s still made up almost entirely of University alumni, including “Glee” star Darren Criss. In celebration of the 100 year anniversary of the University of Michigan’s theater

department, Team StarKid returned to their Ann Arbor alma mater on October 8 and invited as many former castmates as possible to be involved in a big reunion concert for both friends and fans alike. The group promised an incredible night for fans, including “a retrospective on the beginnings of StarKid, featuring music, laughs, and as many members of StarKid as we can gather in one place!” This review is likely to be the biggest and most emotional StarKid gathering since their one-night-only performance of A Very Potter Senior Year in 2012. It didn’t take long for me to make my way to the Power Center, and then suddenly I was in the room and shaking Brian’s hand and he was introducing me to the entire group. Darren was the first to stop and introduce himself, shaking my hand and letting me know he was there to help with whatever I may need. I returned the handshake with a polite smile and pretended as though I didn’t already know his name and I wasn’t a huge fan. This would eventually become a theme throughout the day. I sat and observed for about 20 minutes until I noticed Lauren Lopez, a 2009 Music, Theatre & Dance alum, taking a break. Lauren is best known for her portrayal of Draco Malfoy in “A Very Potter Musical,” but she has been with StarKid from the beginning and has starred in almost every production. I approached slowly, asking what made her want to come back and do the reunion show.

“There wasn’t even a question,” she said. “It was an immediate yes, because the chance to come back to Ann Arbor, not only come back but to come back with a group of friends that I’ve known for 10 years, who we all share a college experience, and to come back to the place where literally all of this started is super special. It is just a really special opportunity.” Very quickly, Nick Lang, 2008 Music, Theatre & Dance alum, called Lauren back up on stage, but my first StarKid interview was a good start. Nick was taking on the role of director for the concert, but he is best known for writing the StarKid shows, along with his brother, 2010 LSA alum Matt Lang. Others have assisted with the writing on different shows, but Nick and Matt are the only ones whose names can be found on every StarKid script. The group received a break a few minutes later and Lauren came back over to talk to me. Moments later, Joey Richter, 2011 Music, Theatre & Dance alum, and Dylan Saunders, 2009 Music, Theatre & Dance alum, joined her and I was suddenly talking to a group of StarKids. The Michigan Daily: So I asked Lauren already, but what made you guys decide to come back and do this reunion concert? Joey Richter: Well … Dylan Saunders: Because they asked us to. Joey: Yeah. Dylan: Yeah. Joey: It was kind of like a resounding … Dylan: No duh. Joey: Yeah. That happened a couple years ago when there was like the third Potter thing. When they were like, “Does everyone want to come back and do this together?” and we were like, “Yeah, absolutely.” And I think that a lot of it has to do with being able to be back here, too, because there’s a lot of us who haven’t gotten the chance to spend time with each other a lot over the past couple years, but we have been lucky enough to be able to do a lot of performances with StarKid all over places, but I think coming back together in Ann Arbor is something that we haven’t

done since the concert tours. But then to actually perform in a school function thing is pretty cool. Not as a concert, but doing it like an actual show where we’re doing scenes from shows. Dylan: Yeah, it’s good to be back in a spot where it’s etched forever. This is where we were developing a lot of this stuff, you know what I mean? It’s just cool after like a fiveyear break to be back in this exact space. It’s just like really wild and really fun. Joey: And to be developing as human beings. Dylan: Totally. To look back with a little “Oh, OK, I get it now.” Lauren: To look back with a little perspective. Dylan: Yeah. There’s a ton of that. (Darren Criss sits and joins the conversation.) TMD: What was the last show you guys remember doing on this stage? Lauren: I was in a show called “J.B.” with Dylan. Dylan played J.B. It was a big deal. Joey: I was in “Macbeth.” Lauren: Don’t … you can’t say that in here! Joey: Whoops. Lauren: What’s wrong with you? Darren: You totally can say it. Lauren: No you can’t. Joey: I was in “The Scottish Play.” We said the name during the play. Lauren: Just forget it.

“This is like a dream come true. I think we all pretty much jump at any opportunity to come to Ann Arbor to be together.” - Jaime Lyn Beatty

Then & Now 30

Joey: I was Banquo. Dylan: Um, yeah. The last thing I did was “Tommy” and “Pride & Prejudice.” Darren: You were so good in “Tommy.” TMD: How do you feel the University helped get you where you are now? Joey: Honestly, for me it just has everything to do with meeting the friends I met here. It’s like if I didn’t go to this University and meet all these friends and have all these people

Darren Criss

Role: Harry Potter Latest Projects: • Glee • How To Succeed

• •

in Business Girl Most Likely Hedwig and the Angry Itch

that are the only people I spend time with now in my life … Lauren and Joey: Exactly. My life would be 100 percent different. Dylan: As a foundation, this set the stage for everything that’s happened since. Like literally everything. Darren: When I first went out to L.A. and started meeting people in the industry, it was predicated upon the fact that I went to Michigan. Lauren: Yeah. U of M has such a crazy alumni network. Dylan: All of our first agents went to Michigan. *** Darren: I think this is the part where we’re supposed to talk about how great the School of Music was. I always feel bad when people are like, “What was the best part about Michigan?” and I go, “My friends, uh, the times I had.” It all has nothing to do with the actual institution. For most theatre people, artisan types, stereotypical kids from high school, they tend to gravitate toward small, liberal arts colleges because it’s just sort of the vibe of the school, it’s just a bit more typical. And somebody told me, “You can always make a big place small, you can’t make a small place big.” The cool thing about this school is, yeah, there are 30,000 kids running around and our class was anywhere from 16 to 20-odd people, so we had our tiny little community, and it was great. Dylan: It was a tiny family within a giant operation. Joey: It was like being in a mixed-gender sorority and fraternity. Darren: So we had the small thing, and if the small thing ever got annoying, we had the big thing. Dylan: And being able to switch back and forth is great, especially when you’re studying an art form. Do you know what I mean? Because you need a break sometimes. Darren: Because there’s a huge chunk of people at this University who don’t know anything about theatre or the department, and I’m fine with that. Dylan: Which is so fine. Which is all good because … Darren: I don’t know things about certain parts of the math department, which is cool because when I’m on the bus, (I’m like), oh cool, you do what? Awesome. That’s amazing. TMD: Has the dynamic changed in the

Joey Richter

Role: Ron Weasley Latest Projects: Tin Can Bros

The Trail to Oregon Jessie Glee

Sands ofTakeTime Me Back

group since you graduated? Dylan: Other than geographically, I mean, not really. Lauren: We’re all a tiny, tiny bit more mature, but other than that it’s pretty much the same. Darren: We’re still dumb enough to be doing this, so that’s good. Lauren: Yeah, we’re dumb in the right places. TMD: Has being so spread out made it harder to keep doing projects together? Dylan: I think so, but the advantage is that everything is ultimately produced for the Internet. Joey: But then it’s always really special when it happens. It always feels like a reunion. It’s like every time we do do something, it’s that feeling: “Ahh, I get to see all these people again.” TMD: Are you guys working on any upcoming projects? Lauren: A lot of people are doing their own side projects. Joey: I am going to be writing and producing a musical with my sketch group, the Tin Can Bros that Brian (Rosenthal) and Corey (Lubowich) are in, and that’s happening in L.A. in March. And we’re kick-starting that right now. Joe Walker is going to be in it and, like, a bunch of other friends, so that’s pretty fun. Dylan: Yeah, it’s a lot of individual pursuits. I just finished a cartoon for Nickelodeon, which aired last week. *** At this point, their short break was over and Lauren, Darren and Joey were all called back on stage to rehearse, so I made my way over to Jaime Lyn Beatty, 2010 Music, Theatre & Dance alum, who had just taken a seat after rehearsing “Rogues Are We” from StarKid’s 2012 musical “Holy Musical B@man!” TMD: So what made you want to come back and do this reunion concert? Jaime Lyn Beatty: This is like a dream come true. I think we all pretty much jump at any opportunity to come to Ann Arbor to be together so nothing made me. My own willpower and love for my friends. TMD: How did the University help get you to where you are now? Jaime: Basement Arts gave us and gave me the gumption to do stuff on my own, and to not be afraid to go against the big man and create something. The University is just a great place. It nurtures everyone’s abilities. TMD: Is it strange having your friendships out there in the world for other people to comment on? Jaime: It’s really weird. Dylan: Um, yeah. There was an aspect of a lot of what we did where we were just ourselves, so like you’re presenting a version of yourself. Jaime: It’s like a caricature of yourself out there. TMD: Have you had any truly memorable fan experiences?

Bonnie Greusen Role: Origional Hermionie Granger Latest Projects: Motherhood

Jaime Lyn Battey ROLE: Ginny Weasley LATEST PROJECTS: The Trail to Oregon

Twisted Airport For Birds

Jaime: Fans make the most beautiful art. I’ve saved every single letter I’ve ever been given. And that’s just the most touching. Everybody shows their love and geeks out about it in their own way. Oh, one girl gave us a tiger whisker on tour. Sometimes we’ll get weird, funky gifts. Dylan: I actually got a handmade, beautiful Michigan-color quilt once. The stories I think are the most memorable to me are the ones about people who meet as a result of the group. People who forge friendships because they met each other on some kind of online forum or at a show or at a concert. That’s the coolest to me. At the end of the day, if we can create connections with other people and allow that to live on, that’s pretty special, I think. TMD: What do you think has been your favorite role? Dylan: Oh man. There’s so many factors that go into it but I think in terms of where we were as people and where we were as a company, I’d probably have to say it was in “Starship,” and I played a character called Tootsie Noodles that was based on my actual persona in a lot of ways. It was like written in some respects after things I had actually said, and it was also the first time we had left Ann Arbor and were doing it on our own, so it felt pretty special to be able to create completely original work in a new city and try to ingratiate ourselves into the city in that way. TMD: What do you love the most about being a part of StarKid? Dylan: (Stopping to laugh at the rehearsal of a scene) This. I can look up and see people that I haven’t seen in years and you fall right back into a routine of performing and of camaraderie and of friendship. And then I also love that it kind of exists, for me at least, in a bit of a bubble. We do it for 48 hours and

it’s beautiful and then I’m home. It’s crazy how transient it is but also how important it is. Jaime: Because I’m an only child, this is the closest I’ve ever come to siblings. TMD: You guys have parodied a lot of big things, like “Harry Potter,” Disney, “Star Wars” and DC Comics. Is there anything you’d love to parody? Dylan: A new parody? Oh man, I’ve always wanted to see StarKid do a revamped “Little Shop of Horrors” and bring back some of the puppets and puppeteering. I’d probably also want to parody something from the ’80s like a “Ferris Bueller” or “Home Alone.” Like, take some of the tropes from ’80s coming-ofage stories and spin them on their head. I’ve always wanted to see “Back to the Future” as a musical, too. Yeah, a “Back to the Future” parody would be pretty wild cause you’ve got three stories right there to make into a show. *** It was around this time that the dinner break was announced and I realized I had already spent three hours with StarKid. I didn’t want to be bothersome, but after Dylan invited me, I needed no further convincing to join. It ended up being one of the most entertaining and strangest experiences I’ve ever had. Multiple people stopped at the table to chat and ask for photos. And none of them seemed to care that I wasn’t a StarKid. I was sitting at the table, which meant I was going to be in the pictures. I still can’t imagine getting used to such an occurrence, but everyone handled each fan encounter with poise and politeness. After the break, we returned to the Power Center, where the tech team was preparing to start a cue-to-cue and the costume designer was helping everyone get into his or her first costume. I found Nick sitting off to the side on his own, so I grabbed a seat in the row behind him and asked if he had a

Joe Walker ROLE: VOLDEMORT LATEST PROJECTS: Tin Can Bros ANI Twisted

Joe Moses Role: Professor Snape Latest Projects: Ani: A Parody Star Trek: Into Darkness The Joe Moses Showses

chance to chat. He said he refused to believe that the show had sold out, and that he had never expected StarKid to have the impact it has had. “I don’t accept that that is real,” he said. “I’m continuously surprised that people like it.” As the night wore on, it became harder and harder to conduct more interviews. The cue-to-cue turned into a soft run of the full show, so the cast was running all over the place. I was a little disappointed I wasn’t going to be able to speak with every StarKid member, but luckily, toward the end, Joe Walker, a 2009 Music, Theatre & Dance alum who is best known for playing Voldemort in “A Very Potter Musical,” found a few free minutes and sat down to speak with me. Walker mentioned that he is moving to L.A. to star in Joey Richter’s new musical, and he said that this show felt like “a retrospective” on the last five years of his life. I asked him what he loved most about being a StarKid. “The jokes,” he replied. “I think our stuff is funny and it makes me laugh. That’s why I did it in the first place. Five or six years is a really long time to do one creative endeavor, but no matter what, I’ll hear a joke that was written five, six years ago for whatever, and I’ll go ‘God that is so stupid and funny,’ you know. It’ll really make me laugh. So I think that’ll be the thing that I’ll always love.” And thus ended my final StarKid interview. I continued watching their rehearsal until the end, finally emerging from the Power Center at 10:30 p.m., almost nine hours after I arrived. As I walked home, I was struck by the fact that StarKid was truly just a group of friends trying to make each other laugh and who never imagined that one day, millions of people would know their names and be invested in their lives. It was remarkable and unforgettable to be at the center of it all.

Lauren Lopez Role: Draco Malfoy Latest Projects: Muzzled the Musical The Trail to Oregon Twisted

Dylan Saunders ROLE: Dumbledor LATEST PROJECTS: Twisted Chicago Fire The CLAN

Nine Fun Facts You Might Not Know About Team Starkid Think you know everything about Team StarKid? Take a peek at some of the fun facts we learned during our backstage tour this summer at Stage 773! So, without further ado, here are a few things that our tour guide, the one and only Brian Holden, told us during our backstage tour! 1. Stage 773 flooded right before the season opening You may or may not have seen a few desperate tweets on Team StarKid’s Twitter account right before they kicked off their summer season, but there were quite a few nasty storms in Chicago in late June/early July. The storms were so bad that parts of Stage 773 had flooded! They had water running down the back wall backstage and the floors out in the audience were soaked. They simply moved everything away from the walls and other possible flooding areas and tried to wipe and soak up the rain as best they could. Fortunately, they were able to get everything cleaned up and ready to go before the opening. 2. ‘Holy Musical B@man’ and ‘Starship’ were performed on the same stage How’s that for a bit of a mind bender? In our opinion, the stage for Starship looks bigger than the one for Holy Musical B@man (although, that could be because this writer saw the latter live in person and saw exactly how tiny that theater space actually was). 3. Actors could only enter from stage right during ‘Twisted’ Yep, you read that right. The stage in the Greenhouse Theater was so small that actors were forced to come on stage from only one side of the stage. Since the stage couldn’t support more than the actors themselves, the band was situated upstage behind the curtain in the back. If you look closely, you can see their silhouettes in a few scenes. Anyway, since the band was back there, they blocked any actors from getting to the other side of the stage from the backstage area. So, everyone entered and exited stage right. “But Aladdin and Jasmine used stage left in the musical! I saw them!” you may argue. This is true, but only half so. See, when they would exit stage left, they’d merely just sit behind the painted set decoration over there until it was time for their next entrance. Then, they’d walk onstage like they never went offstage! The next time you watch Twisted, pay close attention to the cast’s movements!

4. Team StarKid uses the same materials for practically everything that they build From set backgrounds and decorations like the ones seen in The Trail to Oregon to the 2D bugs in Starship and the menacing swords in Twisted, there’s always a specific material that Team StarKid turns to whenever there’s anything they need to build. If we’re not mistaken, it’s some sort of Pink Panther (yes, like the cartoon) insulation foam. By this point, they know how to build with it, paint it, and even handle it. Which brings us to our next point… 5. Switching between sets during the StarKid Summer Season took a bit more planning than originally thought You see, the material that the StarKid troupe uses for their sets and such is slightly single-sided in that one side has a Pink Panther design. They had originally planned to use both sides of the foam boards and just turn them around to the corresponding side for each show. However, they realized that no amount of paint or artwork would mask the Pink Panther design on the one side. So, unless they wanted to incorporate the Pink Panther into one of the shows, they had to come up with another solution. Instead of building two completely separate sets of backgrounds/set pieces and having to completely take one down to put another up, they simply and painted the Ani: A Parody set artwork on sheets that they hung on top of the Trail to Oregon sets. 6. Joe Walker breaks everything Not all that hard to believe, right? Especially since StarKid uses affordable and not life-proof equipment. According to Brian Holden, Joe broke a sword during almost every performance of Twisted. To be fair, we’d probably do the same and break a few swords of our own if we were in his position. He’s allowed and encouraged to play with swords.

7. The Pincer puppet had a hard time getting onstage The Pincer puppet in Starship couldn’t really fit through a door easily so it took some maneuvering to get the entire thing on stage. As the puppeteers would walk onstage with the giant puppet, they’d have to bend down pretty far and practically crawl to get Pincer through the door. We would’ve loved to have seen that! 8. The door they always use onstage is affectionately referred to as ‘Joey’s door’ How cute is that? They actually call it “Joey’s door” and in a really natural way! Like, Brian never referred to it that way in a mocking tone. The door is on wheels, which makes it easy for travel and, we’d imagine, bringing it into storage. The door is also actually pretty light! It’s made of a very lightweight wood, which makes it a bit hard to slam. Or, at least, that’s what it felt like to us when we were invited to make a fun entrance through it. This writer was the first one of the day to walk through it. It was SUPER cool. 9. Converse are a very StarKid thing You may have noticed (and fallen in love with) the fact that Team StarKid favors Converse shoes. Holy Musical B@man, The Apocalyptour, Ani: A Parody… All of these productions feature StarKids in Converse. Why? The troupe started using Converse because they’re easy to walk and dance in. Their other option was going barefoot, which is pretty unprofessional. When we asked Brian Holden if they continually buy new Converse or if they reuse the same ones, his answer kind of surprised us. He had never really considered reusing them before! He told us that Nick just tells the cast to keep their shoes because it’s less stuff that they have to find storage for. Plus, the Holy Musical B@man ones were just so unique. However, he said that he’d definitely

Techsource

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