Brian Warner (Manson) is incredibily smart and very articulate. He use to be a (music) journalist back in the late 80's before he made it big.
As for all the makeup, I found it very interesting to find that he was a huge HUGE Kiss fan growing up, hence the inspired make-up he wears. He said he always dreamt of being the lead singer of the most famous rock band in the world when he was a kid. Although his popularity has died down, I think at one point, they actually acheived that.
Anyways, I always find myself just stopping what I'm doing and just listening to him when I come across him on TV, or reading an interview of his.
The guy is basically a good business man. He knew peeps would eat up his renewed Kiss act. Towards the end of his autobiography, he essentially admits that. I highly recommend it.