OCR Text |
Show UVU REVIEW LIFE MARCH 24, 2014 COLUMNIST Trying times with teachers By Marinann Castillo Staff Writer PHOTO COURTESY OF FUNSAUCE.COM Hales leans in for a closer look at a random individual he met on the street. Making strangers uncomfortable is Hales' expertise. Andrew Hales: Experimenting with awkward Local YouTube star finds his variety of humor through unexpected encounters with a downto-earth attitude By Jimmy Hall Assistant Opinions Editor alimmyrhall A tweet and a day later, I walk into study room 407 to Andrew Hales resting his head on the tabletop. "Just getting a little rest," Hales says as he looks up. As we speak about his experiences filming around Utah and around the globe, he is smiling ear to ear while recalling those memories. I wouldn't call his demeanor awkward or shy, but calm like a fall Californian beach. He doesn't seem to have a care in the world. Hales has made a name for himself, especially around UVU campus. His YouTube channel, LAHWF— an acronym for "Losing All Hope Was Freedom" from "Fight Club"— is based around taking advantage of unsuspecting students around college campuses. His brand of humor brings out the awkward situations anyone can relate to. Approaching 100 videos, Hales' has reached a staggering 1.4 million subscribers with 157 million total video views. His fairly innocent pranks have gone viral and some have been based around our own campus Although Andrew calls Utah his home for now, he grew up in multiple places. His father's job as a pharmaceutical salesman moved him and his family from New York to New Hampshire and eventually to Bountiful. In high school Andrew was a shy kid, which is similar to how he is now. "I never spoke up in class. Participation points were always hard for me," Hales says. "I had close-knit friends but I was never `popular.' I'll never be comfortable in social settings." Hales' own discomfort is the face of his videos, but not necessarily who he is. He grew in love with the skateboard culture during his high school years. Accompanying this clique, he also enjoyed early forms of trickery like MTV's "Jackass," "Punk'd" and even "Candid Camera." 2005's launch of YouTube marked Hales' initial inspiration to become a YouTuber and modern version of Barn Margera and Ashton Kutcher. "I've always thought it would be fun to be a popular YouTuber," Hales says. In 2012, Hales took that plunge. With a swipe of his credit card, he was the proud owner of a brand new Canon Rebel T2i and ready to make a name for himself. Having an entrepreneurial spirit, Hales dropped out of UVU to pursue his own fiscal endeavors and to dodge further tuition expenses. His first video, "Almost Picking Up Chicks," spread like any other viral video would and established his brand of awkward humor. A week later he posted "NO-NOTYOU-ING at UVU," which also got picked up by WorldStarHipHop.com where it gained him 200,000 views and 20,000 subscribers. From there, his channel gained serious traction. With any kind of profession, there are highs and lows. Hales' leading downfall is getting up the initial courage every week to carry on his antics. "A lot of it has to do with energy," he says. "Like if I drink a Red Bull or take Adderall it really helps me get out of my shell." Yet, Hales isn't his only worst enemy Within 10 minutes of filming on UVU campus, a police officer, who saw his "Sweeping Girls Off Their Feet" video with other Utah YouTube star, Stuart Edge, escorted Hales and his cameraman off campus with the threat of giving a sexual assault charge if they were to film there again. "We've heard rumors of some feminist group at BYU forming petitions to press some kind of charge. Nothing ever happened though," Hales says with a laugh. Other than the occasional getting tackled in the snow for running off with a stranger's phone, this is the extent of the contentions of filming week after week. He has had pleasant experiences in his filming as well. Two videos in particular were based on generosity and the spirit of giving. One in particular was filmed around Thanksgiving where he was sponsored by energy supplement cornpany, GungHo, to pay for random family's groceries at the Pleasant Grove Macey's. "We paid for a lot of groceries before we got a good reaction," Hales says. "A lot of it had to do with the cashier who told [the customers] about it. The other cashiers weren't excited... We almost gave up on the idea." Luckily, they went back for another night of shooting where the Macey's employee was more enthusiastic about the generosity than those before. One downfall of being stationed around a campus comes easy recognition, which spoils takes. With Hales' heightened popularity, he has been globetrotting with his brand of awkward as near as Colorado and Idaho, and as far as China, Amsterdam, Hawaii, New York, Los Angeles, Italy, London and Miami. Surprisingly, Hales doesn't see cultural differences when carrying out similar tricks in various parts of the world. "Awkward is a universal language," he says. With his traveling, he's also been able to collaborate with other online pranksters such as Stuart Edge and Vitaly Zdorovetskiy, two personalities with completely different thought-processes of candid humor. With a dense history of videos, Hales isn't ready to stop just yet, especially in YouTube's booming industry. "It's definitely a living. I can definitely raise a family from it. The income has been rising since I first began. It's been great," Hales says. He shows me a list on his iPhone where he has a neverending scroll of ideas. He is only one of the ranks of YouTube stars who make a substantial living from pranking others. Speaking of this niche of the GRADUATE SCHOOL LAMES S OEMILEINEM... e)F ALL AGES, WELCOME TNT MEATEOT SNOW ON EAMF lltgi CAN IFeta. 50A4dE A AINNTOF THE Wf AMP MIX IP OF IN MOM 5In I r MC nit ILS Bur FM Carl' FOOL ALL TIE PEOPLE NI 17E 7781E.." mow I have never had a teacher that I didn't like — as a person. As a professor? Let's just say I prefer the style of some more than others, if you know what I mean. One of the hardest things about coming back to college has been trying to figure out exactly what each professor expects. I have decided it takes at least three weeks to get the hang of each one's quirks. But by then it just might be too late. I find it ironic that my teachers who claim to personally detest the very idea of grades are the ones that give the hardest tests. Be prepared to find the most minute detail buried amongst the 357 pages of assigned reading that week, because that is the very question they are sure to ask. Usually those are the same ones that are impossible to take notes from, since just when I think they are rambling or have gotten off topic, there it is again. The dreaded test question. The professors I like best are the ones that spell out exactly what will be on their exams, but that is only because I like getting good grades. Call me crazy. Just tell me what to do and I'll do it, or at least give it the old college try. Each semester I have a couple of instructors that I absolutely love. They are dedicated to their students and passionate about the subject. No question is unimportant and no comment insignificant. They make me work hard and stretch and are fair in their grading. I also seem to get at least one teacher every semester who I struggle with. It seems like they are there with the sole purpose of making their students confused. Their lectures are so fast that I have to either listen OR take notes because if I try to do both I miss the whole thing. So I go home and learn what they just tried to teach me on YouTube. That way I can rewind as often needed. Then there are the professors that are just frustrating. These are the teachers that seem to thrive on grading papers based on form rather than content. Their tests include things that were never covered in class. And if they were in the textbook, I never saw them. My husband insinuated it might be my problem when I was whining to him last week. He wondered how it is that I always seem to get some of the most troublesome instructors. I assured him it was because "Rate My Professor" lies. It couldn't be me, could it? Looking back I can see ways I could have applied myself better. And let's face it — teachers are people too. They are just doing the best they know how. So for now, I will try to remember that. And do my best not to pull all my hair out. But when you see an old bald lady on campus, you will know exactly what happened. SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY MPA Master of Public Admisistration Do You Have a Passion for Student Services and Higher Education? Southern Utah University offers an MPA in Student Services as an on-campus assistantship experience or an online experience for those already working in the field of student services. —a Cala s100 51/At/WA FLOM TR 2-4145 PM 11MIEg J BLEXKI 2-4:45 YOUR iti/AlGift10 TER: Pit PHIL GORDON Please join us for our Student Services Panel: Utah Valley University Wednesday, March 26th at 10:00 am Losee Center Room #409 Hear from Student Services faculty, experts, and current students. Refreshments served. |