There are few things in this world less interesting than the disturbing, depressing world of Vine stars—but every once in a while, someone makes a delightful seven-second Lion King subway video, and suddenly the medium starts to make some sense in our age-addled brains.
Vine star Logan Paul is one such likes-craving-automaton, who has been on a mission to perform deadpan splits all around NYC. It's no po-po pimps on horseback, but it's mostly worth it just to see how many New Yorkers don't bother acknowledging what he's doing.
If you want to learn more about Paul, Business Insider had a long profile of him earlier this summer that is as illuminating on the strange niche Vine industry as it is sorta sad: "I want to be the biggest entertainer in the world," Logan told the writer. "That's my deal. I'll do whatever it takes to get that. As many hours as is needed." Then there is this unintentionally revealing bit:
I learn there are actually two potential MTV shows in the works, according to Logan. There is one about him and Jake, "two kids from Ohio who know how to make videos on the internet and do it because it's fun and makes us money," and one Logan tells me is tentatively called "Hollywood and Vine," about this friend group of Vine stars who all ended up living on Vine Street. Both shows would feature Logan starring as Logan.
We reach the business room in the apartment complex, which consists of a few desktop computers and a printer. As he prints his lines for an audition he's going on tomorrow, he tells me he's "addicted" to the legendarily soul-sucking process.
Logan drags a highlighter across the page, scrawling the character's name — Jimmy Borelli — at the top. "It's a little hard for me to get into it when the character is very unlike me, in the sense that he's like, needing approval, like he wants to impress, and that's not me — I believe in myself," Logan says. "But this guy is not like that at all. I feel like I have a hard time conveying that to the casting director."
Overall, Logan comes across as someone who genuinely cares about his followers, and is self-aware about the ticking clock on his viral career. Or maybe, as some Redditors who claim to know him put it, he's just a "douche:" "This guy went to my university freshman year. He used to yell at everyone who would get in the background of his shots when he was filming IN THE FUCKING MIDDLE OF CAMPUS. complete tool."
