Friday, April 25, 2008

I Just Can't Stand It


Because I cannot stand this video, I’m going to talk instead about the time surrounding the first time I was made to watch it. I moved to Orlando on January 17th, 2007. I was going to Florida to take a job I was unfamiliar with, live with people I’d never met and try to survive in a climate approximately 800% more humid than I’d ever experienced for an extended period of time. I was excited and nervous, especially about these girls with whom I was going to be rooming. I’d never lived with five other people before, not to mention five girls. We had an interesting spectrum of girls going on in that apartment; there was the dumb one, the sorority girl, the badass, the one who thought she was black, the weird one and me. We got moved in and had a couple days of general training before we had time to share stupid YouTube videos with each other. The very first one just had to be the “Shoes” video. I remember leaning over Mallory’s shoulder as we watched the monitor of her laptop. I honestly have no memory of the “plot” of the video or anything that goes on in it. I do remember the scratchy pea green carpeting that covered the entire apartment and the lumpy paint job covering past tenants’’ nail holes. The weather was startlingly warm, especially coming from the subarctic winter of Nebraska. We’d been vehemently warned to keep windows shut and take out the trash every day because of the pervasiveness of bugs. Inside the apartment though, for the next eight months, the most used words were “betch” and “shoes”. I love those girls, but dear God, I hate this video.

3 comments:

Wes Rodenburg said...

This video may be the soul of everything that I hate in this world. It's funny how internet stars can pop up over night and make you want to kill yourself over the successor, it's not that it's not funny. It's because everyone begins to quote them, just as you said. I remember when people started saying grawesome. I wanted to kill somebody or something. And then before you know it they move on to saying something else that makes absolutely no sense and is no longer funny. I completely agree with you.

Anonymous said...

Was Mallory the badass or sorority girl? I just had a feeling she could be either, but you never actually elaborate. Anywho, I happen to think this music video is annoying as well, but I will say that I loved it once upon a time. I think your narration is perfect with this video and it made me laugh as well. I remember being freaked out on the first day I moved on campus because there wree 40 girls and their families running about the floor of my dorm hall. I was scared, especially about the community bathrooms to which I have not yet adjusted. So, thank you for reminding me of that horror through your AWESOME kick-ass narrative. I loved it and even though I don't really like the video, I watched the whole thing. It must be an addiction.

manders2 said...

I find this video also completely annoying. If I would of thought of this video myself I would of put it as the worst video ever. I don't see how it got so much hype for being so stupid and pointless. All they does is say shoes and then just say shoes an even weirder way. I don't see how people can sit on youtube for hours and watch this video over and over. I don't see the humor in it but i do see the stupidity in it though. All and all I really will never watch the full length of this video because I can't get through it all. It is just too much for me.