If you are on the internet all day “working”, you have already seen both of these videos. The first is by the always flamboyant, Leslie Hall. The former art student, turned bling sweater curator, turned rapping sensation. Leslie knows that tight pants aren’t her friend. She’s what you might call “self ironic”.  Like all great train wrecks you start to watch because you want to see the carnage. However, with Leslie you continue to watch because she’s not really half bad. The fact that she’s embracing her quirks and owning them outright….well its almost inspiring. You want in on the joke. You might even buy the t-shirt.

The following video of “Melissa” (if that is her real name – and I hope for her sake its not) is quite the opposite. This half-hearted rendition of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance is tragedy. It too is a train wreck, but far less self-ironic and really kind of sad. Produced for a “film class” I doubt this video was ever really supposed to be shared by endless strangers laughing at and not with this poor girl.

Viral videos are funny. And at the end of the day, in our evil little hearts, we want  for them to be “real”. We are asking the powers that be out there to “Blair Witch” us whenever possible. We would much rather see footage of actual death than see a movie with the same scenes. But if the movie sets us up to believe, well we’ll take that too.

I don’t know if “Melissa” is being honest with herself in this footage. I do know that it creeps me out a bit to watch.

Both videos are pretty “bad”. I guess the only difference is that Leslie’s is up to 1,965,767 views and Melissa is only at 46,278. Maybe at the end of the day, we are a little more comfortable laughing with you after all.

Words by Barbie Brady