by Patrick Appel
Hye Yun Park remade last week’s mega-viral video with “with more color, dust, dirt, curves, spark and queer juice”:
Amanda Hess, who hated on the original, describes Park’s version:
“Ahhhhhhh,” one participant says after she takes off her blindfold and immediately averts her eyes from her kissing partner. “This is very awk—OK, awkwaaaard.” Other icebreakers include, “Do you like, do you, like, um, do you like food,” “I like your, um, sweatshirt,” and “I like Jewish people.” Like Pilieva’s version, Park’s video is overlaid with a romantic pop track, but it’s not loud enough to drown out the disquieting squishy noises. The stilting side-eye that one woman gives her partner when he goes in for the kiss at the 2:15 mark is a video highlight, as is one man’s acknowledgment that he totally has a boner. Then there’s the dude who asks his partner “how deep” she wants it, grazes her boob without warning, then grasps her hand a little too long after the kiss is completed. Pilieva’s version peddled the fantasy that when you sign up to kiss a stranger, you’ll be paired with a gorgeous French model, but let’s be honest—it’s a lot more likely that that guy is gonna show up.
A commenter pushes back:
The first video, despite being an ad, was still really sweet. And the more “honest” and “awkward” video shown here is likewise totally sweet and endearing. Why are you so creeped out? I don’t get it.
Vice also got normal people to kiss. In London, they “went out into the street and found 20 strangers who aren’t models of any description to stick their stiff British upper lips together for £20 (about $33) a pop”:
The Dish 