Michael Hatchett, an A&E
Editor for the Voice, can
Last semester, I wrote a short article about some of the best videos on YouTube under 50,000 views. It was well-received in the sense that nobody told me that they outright hated it. So I decided to do a follow-up because I didn’t have any ideas what to write about this week. To reiterate, I spend a lot of time alone on the Internet. I watch a lot of YouTube videos. Most of them are pretty bad but these gems stand out as some of the best undiscovered vids out there. Don’t be surprised if you see them on a BuzzFeed in the next month or so.
“Elvis Presley Shreds” by Elliott Walters
Mr. Walters isn’t the first to create a video where they dub over someone’s musical performance with someone playing an instrument crappily, but he is one of the best to ever do it. Every aural detail in this video is perfect, from the shuffle of feet, to the slight cough, to the perfectly timed whoops and yells that erupt from his mouth. I also love this video for its cross-generational appeal. Your parents know about Elvis. Show them this video!
“Balloon Popping is back again” by danleggymail
I admit that I am mostly a pretty happy guy. I try to get as much joy out of life as I put in it. I smile a lot, I laugh a lot. Again, I am pretty happy. But I recognize that my happiness has a limit in that I will never be as happy as the nameless, faceless voice behind “Balloon Popping is back again.” A man joyfully cackles in pure ecstasy as he fills up various colored balloons with helium until they pop. That’s it. No twists. No tricks. Pure. Simple. Raw. Entertainment.
“He was a good friend.jpg” by Inthinkable
I like Star Wars as much as the next guy, but I’ve been a little overstimulated by it in the past few months. The marketing blitz behind The Force Awakens was pretty annoying although the film was absolutely delightful. But I liked the movies growing up and although I was young at the time, I still had enough sense to be disappointed by the prequels. My point is that I like Star Wars but I’m certainly not crazy about it like some of my peers. I picked this video because it has some of the best editing and timing I’ve seen in any YouTube video in a while.
“Hazel Barking at Dustpan” by Emilia Russo
Yeah, yeah, it’s a dog video. But it’s too damn cute. It’s not just a cute dog trying to be cute, it’s a cute dog trying to be tough! At a dustpan! At a flippin’ dustpan! How adorable is that? If this video brings no joy, you might be a robot. Or at least Marco Rubio.