I was recently introduced to some amazingly strange youtube videos. You may know Liam Kyle Sullivan's videos as the "Shoes" video, the "Let me borrow that top" video, and the "muffins" video. Interesting to say the least.
Johnny Plata says of the shoes video; "Its random, doesn't have really any kind of flow, just goes from one thing to another, but at the same time with the songs they sing, they keep the lyrics going."
It seems to be the case that every person who has an opinion about shoes videos feels very strongly one way or the other.
Every time I've heard somebody talk about the videos it's either with great appreciation or hatred towards them, whether it be from students at Green River, or other friends and people I know, they either love or hate the videos; there is no middle ground in the world of shoes. You are either entertained by the pure craziness that is these videos or they just annoy the crap out of you.
Hanging out with his friends Keith Drury and them discuss there opinions on the videos.
There is a unanimous dislike for the videos. "Annoying," "I can't stand it," "Got old fast," were his friend's, Frank Hicks, Sam Hicks, and Kayla Young's opinions respectively. Keith says, "I found it amusing, but pointless." So Keith's opinion brings up another point that I was thinking of, you can appreciate the videos like him, but still dislike the whole phenomenon.
They all agreed that it annoys them when they hear other people referencing the videos, talking about or quoting.
Even if you don't appreciate the cultural phenomenon, everyone must take a nonbiased look at the characters as well as the world and environment that have been created.
Starting with the video "Shoes," Sullivan has created a whole cast of very creative, very wacky, entertaining characters. All of these characters have such unique personalities, that they could all have video series of there own. But it's even cooler to see all of them interacting in this crazy world that Sullivan has created.
Also you've got to give props for Sullivan's ability to act and play with entirely different personalities. There is the main character of the world, which is Kelly.
She's a wacky girl that does all of the stereotypical girl things, but at the same time she seems extremely stupid. The character comes off as crazy and very entertaining. Especially with the way she looks. You can tell it's a guy in a blonde wig, wearing girl glasses, dressed in all girl clothes and black nail polish, and he's always wearing the most dopey look, like when you push your head back to make yourself have a double chin while crossing his eyes.
Then there's her brother, Chris, everything that a boy should be, in Sullivan's eyes, but to the extreme. He's also like a built in antihero of most of the stories, he makes fun of his sister Kelly and impresses their parents, while the parents and the brother make fun of her.
The rest of Kelly's family is just as insane as her and her brother. Her two parents, her father Bill who is portrayed by Sullivan, and Mom who is portrayed by Pam Cook, come off as stupid and rude. They side along with the brother all the time because he is more socially accepted by the other people of the town.
Kelly isn't as well liked...Could it be because Kelly is a girl that is played by a dude, and it just comes off as strange.
Another of the wacky crazy characters is Kelly's grandma. She is an alcoholic, crazy old woman that believes that everything can be solved with the addition of a little alcohol.
Hanging out with her boyfriend, Keri Paulson chimed in with her views of Sullivan,
"He exuberantly plays his set of characters, he's great at bringing the characters to life."
Another thing about these videos is the world, or the feeling that you get when you are watching these videos, like you're a part of this crazy little world that Sullivan has created.
Even with all the craziness that goes on in the little town that Kelly, her family and friend inhabit, the town is pieced together so well, that it seems like it could actually be real.
This is done, like Keri pointed out, simply because Sullivan brings all of these crazy characters, and this strange world to life so well, he gives each of his characters such personality that they must be real. His characters have taken on a life of there own. Kelly is such a well thought out character and is so well thought out and so detailed.
Someone who has watched the videos could tell you exactly how Kelly would react in a situation because they have witnessed this character, and how real she is, and we know that as a real person she deals with problems in a certain way, she would freak out the same way with problems, she would be selfish and self centered in the same way every time.
Sullivan just builds his characters completely. He's created so many different personalities, so many different characters, it's impressive, and that's why I think you should enter this amazing world of Kelly and her family and friends, and all there amazing adventures in these videos.
Also if you liked these videos Mr. Plata has a recommendation for you "It reminds me a lot of the show: Tim and Eric Awesome show Great Job."
is a member of the 
Be the first to comment on this article!