Reality competition shows all operate under the same hyper-specific unreality, one where the point of life is compressed into a singular purpose: It\u2019s about winning. It\u2019s about being the best. Nothing else matters. These high stakes catch on\u2026 when they\u2019re rooted in reality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There is (or in some cases, was) genuine cultural cache in taking home the title of American Idol, Iron Chef<\/a>, America\u2019s Next Top Model or the Sole Survivor. The rewards of winning Netflix\u2019s glass-blowing competition \u201cBlown Away\u201d and becoming Best In Blow \u00ad\u2014 yes, that\u2019s really the title they chose \u2014 are less sweeping. But that doesn\u2019t make this 10-episode series any less enjoyable to watch. If anything, it might actually heighten your viewing experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBlown Away<\/a>\u201d is a Canadian series and, as a result, lacks some of the edited-in rancor present in American reality TV. This works in the show\u2019s favor. Drama in the \u201chot shop\u201d (the place where you blow glass, apparently) is minimal and mostly glass-related, which allows viewers to focus on the show\u2019s biggest asset: the fact that glassmaking and glass art are sick to look at. It\u2019s just cool! There\u2019s no way around it!\u00a0<\/p>\n Each episode is a little more than 20 minutes long and consists of a single challenge. The competing glass artists are given a prompt, an assistant or three, and then set loose in the hot shop for hours. Once the clock stops, the artists display their work and are judged by host Nick Uhas, a former Big Brother contestant and current \u201cscience influencer,\u201d Katherine Gray, an art professor and glass artist<\/a> who gives\u00a0super<\/em>\u00a0harsh feedback, and a third guest judge.<\/p>\n Uhas is the perfect host for \u201cBlown Away,\u201d because unlike all of the other seasoned professionals or dedicated enthusiasts who populate the show\u2019s landscape, he admittedly does not know anything about glassblowing. He\u2019s quippy, bland and incredulous, and he seems to judge entries entirely based on whether or not he personally thinks they are cool \u2014 which is exactly what pretty much anyone willing to dedicate their time to watching a reality TV glassblowing competition would do in his stead.\u00a0<\/p>\n The show\u2019s tone is serious to a degree that is, at times, comical, given that the stakes aren\u2019t so high. But it\u2019s also authentically moving to see the passion the competing artists feel for their work, and for the work of glassmaking<\/a> as a whole. The most realistic thing about \u201cBlown Away,\u201d and about reality TV competitions in general, is that for the contestants, this\u00a0matters<\/em>. The constraints aren\u2019t real, but the contestants are \u2014 and they\u2019re all pretty talented to boot.\u00a0<\/p>\n Like all good reality TV, \u201cBlown Away\u201d does the work to explain the glassblowing process so as to imbue its viewers with a (temporary, artificial) sense of authority on the topic. Even without personal glass-blowing experience, we as an audience can cast a stern eye on a subpar vase in the same way that frequent \u201cShark Tank\u201d viewers are able to call out an unreasonable sales pitch, even if they had to cheat their way through a college economics course.<\/p>\n Overall, \u201cBlown Away\u201d is a pleasant, visually arresting watch. The appeal stems from the fact that, again, it\u2019s dope to look at glass art. It\u2019s even more dope to watch skilled artists go through the process of making a piece of glass art.\u00a0<\/p>\n Also, because it has to be said: No, they don\u2019t make bongs<\/a>. Yes, that would be sweet. Sorry.<\/p>\n But this series\u00a0is<\/em>\u00a0best viewed when one is 75% of the way to uncomfortably high. Clear out a four-ish hour window in your schedule (you can probably binge this thing in a sitting or two), throw it on and get ready for a pleasantly mild ride.\u00a0<\/p>\n Who knows \u2014 you might even feel like you learned something.<\/p>\n \u00a0TELL US<\/strong>, have you seen \u201cBlown Away\u201d?<\/p>\n The post Review: \u2018Blown Away\u2019 Is a Soothing Watch for Glass Enthusiasts<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Reality competition shows all operate under the same hyper-specific unreality, one where the point of life is compressed into a singular purpose: It\u2019s about winning. It\u2019s about being the best. Nothing else matters. These high stakes catch on\u2026 when they\u2019re rooted in reality.\u00a0 There is (or in some cases, was)Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11723,50,6566,125,532,4569,127],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37455"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37455"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37456,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37455\/revisions\/37456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Review: \u2018Blown Away\u2019 Is a Soothing Watch for Glass Enthusiasts<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"