Shits and Giggles: The Chins Get Wagging

Above: John and Chris. Awesome decor.

On youtube, Chin Review caused a bit of an online riot. Two upside-down chins, called Tarquin and Julian sit together for their book and film reviews, except this surreal journey into Schindler’s List and Origin of Species (which has spawned the catchphrase ‘Smash Dem Guinea Pigs)’ is stupidly hilarious – and with a combined total of 206 223 hits, there are a hell of load of other people that think they are funny too. Their chemistry is electric and their laughter contagious, they are just two blokes having a whale of a time. All in the name of – CHEESE AND WINE!!

Hello guys, for those of us just familiar with your Chin Review personas, could you introduce yourself to us?

John: Hello, I am Chris. My favourite colour is Yellow Ochre.

Chris: Hello, I am John. My hobbies are Scalectrix.

My brother and I used to talk to each other upside down just as you do on Chin Review so I feel like you jacked our idea (!) Where did the idea for Chin Review originate from, it’s hilarious! Who helps you with the set up? How did you feel when it blew up on Youtube?

It’s one of those age-old ideas that everyone does. We just raised the bar by making jazzy felt suits for our faces. Unfortunately we have to film it all ourselves, which is quite difficult when the blood is rushing to your head. What you are actually witnessing is the slow brain death of two young men.

The best thing about the way that you work is your obvious chemistry, how did you meet and when did you found We Are Ace?

We met at Mrs Curly’s play school. We made some videos with a VHS camcorder when we were very young and We Are Ace is a desperate attempt to recapture our lost youth.

Excluding Chin Review, what are you most proud of?

C: I captured the flag at a paint ball event. I was the second person ever to do it.

The adrenaline was pumping through my veins. Picture the scene, Sheena: I was in a bush, my heartbeat thumping in my ears, paint balls ricocheting around me like tiny spastic melons. My team mates were running past me towards the enemy’s flag. Time seemed to stand still as, one-by-one, my team mates – my brothers – fell in a hell-orgy of screams and coloured paint. Slowly, steadily, and with the determination of Tyra Banks I crawled, Sheena. I became one with the ground, invisible to my enemies, fused with the earth. At one with the soil and sticks. I crept on my hands and face over through the foul stink of death and emulsion. All around me I could hear the muffled cries of my fallen comrades as I slithered over the wet ground like an oily ghost in pursuit of some cloth on a stick. And as I lay in the mud there, Sheena, I saw the true futility of war; that we would be the forgotten ones, that no gravestone would mark the spot where so many of us laid down our lives for glory, for honour, for our country, for a bit of cloth on a stick.

Cloth on a stick.

It was then, Sheena, that I made up my mind. I fought through the existential mine-field of over-used war metaphors and crawled on with a single purpose burning in my heart and coursing through my veins. The flag would be mine, Sheena. I got up and ran forward, the paint balls bounced off me as I ran; none of them burst – I was invincible, and with the will of God at my side and the smell of glory in my nostrils I took the flag and returned unharmed to the base. The cheers of my team mates sounded muffled in my ears as I was overcome with emotion and the rush of adrenaline. That day, the day of the fallen, I finally understood victory and the cost which we all must bear.

War is hell, Sheena. Paint ball is bearable.

Wow, Chris. That was awesome, Chris.

John: I once met Geoff Capes, world’s strongest man 1985, at a Haven holiday camp when I was 7.

Who was your last text from?

John: It was a text from Channel 5 saying that I’d not won the Gadget Show competition. Again.

Chris: It was from my girlfriend asking if our friend Charlie had been sick in the sink.

What was the last lie you told?

“Yes, we have permission to film here.” x10

What plot line of a book are you currently ripping apart with rabid teeth? (I mean, what are you reading?)

John: I am reading a biography of Orson Welles. Awesome Welles.

Chris: I am reading Cormac McCarthy’s “Suttree.” I also have a lot of philosophy books I bought off Amazon which I have never opened. They make me look deep and cool.

What was the last film you watched and why did you watch it?

John: The last film I saw at the cinema was Hook. It was in 1993.

Chris: The last film I saw was Mel Gibson’s “Apocalypto”. To keep a fast pace they decided to make all the characters run a lot.

What other projects are you working on at the moment?

There will be a new video out very soon, which has required a lot of post production work (but only took a day to film).

Our output is sporadic because we do it for mere shits and giggles, but that’s the best way; we’re not aiming to please a particular demographic. We make stuff that we find funny, it’s pure coincidence that other people seem to find it funny too.

Addicted yet? Then we have your next fix! Check out We Are Ace’s Youtube page and their webpage

Above: They couldn’t understand why there was a crowd of women heading towards them.

E-terview conducted by Sheena Patel