Impossible Is Nothing (video résumé)

Frame from title video illustrating ballroom dancing scene.

Impossible Is Nothing is a 2006 video résumé by Aleksey Vayner (formerly Aleksey Garber)[1][2] which became an Internet meme.

History of job application

In October 2006, Yale University student Aleksey Vayner applied for a job with UBS, an investment bank. Amused by Vayner's apparent puffery, an unknown member of UBS staff emailed his application materials to other investment banks. The video was posted on various blogs, then YouTube, where it became an immense viral Internet phenomenon.[3]

Summary

The video opens with a staged interview between Vayner and an offscreen voice. However, the "interview" ultimately consists of a single question, to which Vayner gives a lengthy, rambling response. Using considerable amounts of business-speak jargon, Vayner praises himself and shares his various insights on success, talent, and overcoming adversity. Interspliced with the interview are clips of Vayner performing various feats designed to look impressive, including bench pressing, skiing, playing tennis, ballroom dancing, and finally karate-chopping a stack of bricks. The video ends with a dedication to Radomir Kovačević, and a fairly lengthy credits sequence.

Features

Vayner's job application includes:

Dispute with IvyGate

Legal threats by Vayner against UBS, YouTube, and various blogs did not slow its progress, and only provided further fodder, subject to the Internet Streisand effect. One blog, IvyGate, became famous from its disputes with Vayner. When Vayner emailed a cease-and-desist letter demanding that IvyGate remove "Impossible is Nothing" links from its website, the blog instead published the threat and taunted Vayner to sue them. In further investigating the incident IvyGate learned and published[4] that:

Other details

Other investigating publications learned that Vayner has variously claimed the following[1]

Rumpus Magazine, a Yale University tabloid, had already exposed Vayner as a possible fake before attending Yale.[2]

Aftermath and development of meme

The Internet meme surrounding "Impossible Is Nothing" spread in typical fashion: by word of mouth on blogs and by Internet, then covered both as a meme and a human interest story by major newspapers, which further accelerated growth. After the first phase of popularity, blog posters and others began adding their own fanciful contributions to Vayner's legend. These include several classic meme features:[1]

Vayner did not receive a job offer from UBS or any other bank. He took a leave of absence from Yale.[4]

Subsequent work

In January 2008, Vayner set up a website promoting his book, Millionaires' Blueprint to Success.[8][9]

Cracked.com, an Internet humor site, pointed out that his book is extremely similar in layout and content to a book titled Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker in their article "Where Are They Now: Six "Stars" From Embarrassing Viral Videos,"[10] about the aftermath of several viral videos.

Vayner appeared in Winnebago Man, a 2009 documentary about Jack Rebney, whose profanity-laced outtakes from a Winnebago industrial film also became an internet meme. In it, Vayner discusses his video resume and seems to accept that his unwelcomed fame is simply a part of who he is.

Death

On 23 January 2013, the Ivy League blog IvyGate reported,[11] and Gawker.com later confirmed,[12] that Vayner had died of unknown causes. A relative later said he had been told Vayner apparently had a heart attack after taking medicine of some kind.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 McGrath, Ben (2006-10-23). "Aleksey the Great". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2007-07-05.
  2. 1 2 "Craaaazy Prefrosh Lies, Is Just Weird" (PDF). Rumpus Magazine. May 2002. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  3. Lener, Lisa. "How Not To Get A Job". Forbes. Archived from the original on 3 June 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-05.
  4. 1 2 Kaplan, Thomas (2006-10-25). "Vayner faces public criticism". Yale Daily News. Retrieved 2011-05-08.
  5. 1 2 de la Merced, Michael J (2006-10-19). "The Resume Mocked 'Round the World". The New York Times Dealbook. Retrieved 2007-07-05.
  6. Stamp, Trent (2006-10-10). "I'm Not Laughing". Trent Stamp's Take. Archived from the original on 2007-07-11. Retrieved 2007-07-05.
  7. Cera, Michael (2006-12-20). "Impossible is the Opposite of Possible". YouTube. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
  8. Rovzar, Chris; Pressler, Jessica (2008-01-07). "The Return of Aleksey Vayner". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2008-01-08.
  9. Aleksey Vayner. "Aleksey Vayner". Archived from the original on 2008-01-09. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
  10. Howard Perez. "Where Are They Now: 6 "Stars" of Embarrassing Viral Videos".
  11. Aleksey Vayner reported dead in New York, IvyGate, 23 January 2013.
  12. Confirmed: Aleksey Vayner, the Yale Grad With the Infamous Video Resume, Is Dead, 2013-01-24.
  13. Notorious video resume job-seeker Aleksey Vayner, of Queens, died Saturday at Jamaican Hospital after possible drug-induced heart attack. New York Daily News, 25 January 2013.

External links

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