It’s been a year since the Grand Valley LipDub hit the web and changed the way we look at lipdubs forever. As a participant in the video, I got my 13 seconds of fame outside of the Student Services building, and ever since, people have approached me asking, “Were you in the LipDub?”

I always say, “Yeah, but, y’know, I do this column for every issue of the Grand Valley Lanthorn—”

“Yeah, whatever,” they say. “That was so awesome!”

I agree that, yes, it was so awesome, and follow with the inevitable awkward silence. Eventually, some people ask, “So, what are you guys doing next year?”

Suddenly, “next year” turned into “this year” and people are still curious. The question always takes me off-guard. I can’t speak for everyone involved, especially the talented production team behind the video, but I always assumed that the video was a one-time deal — a great premise that accentuated GVSU’s 50th anniversary. It was a chance to show how much this school meant to us by making umbrella formations and running over the school mascot. Doing something this year almost feels cheap.

But because I am not above being cheap, I have come up with a few ideas for videos that, if GVSU cared to back them up, could make our university YouTube superstars yet again:

• Campus Dining “Epic Meal Time”- Sure, every so often Campus Dining does something interesting like a cupcake baking competition, but where is the scale? Cupcakes are so small. A 50-pound hamburger casserole covered in bacon is not. We could have our own version of the Internet phenomenon happening at Fresh to go the extra mile. And add more bacon.

• Rube Goldberg Machine. Like the LipDub, but with hundred of hours of engineering and planning behind it, a GVSU Rube Goldberg machine could show that we are the coolest, hippest school around, and we don’t actually care about putting our talents to practical uses.

• Our Drunk Campus. The popularity of online series like “Drunk History” and “My Drunk Kitchen” is difficult to ignore, so why not capitalize on the trend with our own version? What’s more appropriate in showcasing our dry campus than a video of students getting tanked and discussing GVSU’s history. We’ve been around for 51 years, so we have a lot of history to drunkenly talk about.

• Something with kittens.

Some people may ask why we don’t just do another LipDub this year? Besides the fact that I’m too afraid to attempt to top it, I like to take my mother’s advice and try something new. We have plenty of creative minds wandering (and wondering) around campus who have some visionary ideas we could use.

[email protected]