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Dec. 28th: John's Last Brotherhood 2.0 Video

2007-12-29 · John, a child of the brothers · watch on YouTube · Nerdfighteria · reflection essay

In his last Brotherhood 2.0 video John says the project let him know Hank as an adult, a rare pleasure between grown siblings, and that it was finished only because people watched; he argues that Nerdfighters are not about the brothers but a centerless community doing things that don't suck with people who don't suck.

What is said

00:00:00 — John lets a child of the brothers, a child, do the intro: 'Good morning Hank', the video comes in two parts

  • ★ John breaks off his greeting to let a child of the brothers, a child, do the intro, and asks him how many parts the video should have. (playful) (hedged) — 00:00:10

00:00:22 — Part one, 'You': surprised Hank is smart and funny, since John last knew him well at 11; adult siblinghood is rare; grateful to know Hank as an adult; they finished only because people watched

  • ★★★ Watching Hank's 130 previous videos, John is always surprised Hank is so smart and funny, because the last time he knew Hank really well Hank was 11. — 00:00:22 · Hank Green
  • ★★ John jokes that eleven-year-olds' wit isn't nuanced: his own jokes at that age always had poop as the punchline, while Hank's now do only about 30% of the time. (joke) — 00:00:46
  • ★★★ John thinks that for many people today siblinghood is mainly a childhood relationship: adult siblings talk mostly about family matters and stay stuck with their childhood image of each other. (hedged) — 00:01:01
  • ★★ John's tripod is a stack of books, one of them 'Pompeii: Tales from an Eruption', which he adds 'In Your Pants' to. (playful) — 00:01:19 · in your pants
  • ★★★ Busy grown-up siblings living across the country lack time for games like adding 'In Your Pants' to book titles; John calls knowing your siblings as adults an increasingly rare pleasure. (hedged) — 00:01:20 · in your pants
  • ★★★ John is grateful for the project mainly because he now knows Hank as an adult: smart, funny, clever, with ideas both brilliant (naming the forum 'My Pants') and diabolical (making John wax his chin). — 00:01:34 · Brotherhood 2.0, Brotherhood 2.0 forum, Hank Green
  • ★★★ John says that, much as they enjoyed it, the brothers would never have finished the project if people hadn't watched, because it was hard and because he loves not finishing things. — 00:01:47 · Brotherhood 2.0, Nerdfighteria

00:02:03 — The first viewer mentioned on Brotherhood 2.0 (January 4) and the never-sent baby-warming present; John will send him Wynflete's book, 362 days late

  • ★★ Searching the Brotherhood 2.0 archives, John finds the first viewer the brothers mentioned was on about January 4th, a viewer who had just had a baby, before Nerdfighters called themselves Nerdfighters. — 00:02:03 · Brotherhood 2.0, nerdfighter
  • ★★ John recalls promising a baby-warming present for that viewer that the brothers never sent, because he loves not finishing things. (playful) — 00:02:17
  • ★★★ Wynflete sent John an extra copy of 'Mummy, How Do I Know If I'm a Nerdfighter?'; John will send it to the viewer as a 362-day-late baby-warming present, completing the task. — 00:02:26

00:02:37 — Part two, 'Nerdfighters': not about the brothers but a book from Australia for a US baby, causes, community, projects; a community with no center; life is doing things that don't suck with people who don't suck

  • ★★★ In part two John makes clear that Nerdfighters are not about him and Hank. — 00:02:37 · Nerdfighteria > «Nerdfighters are not about you and me.»
  • ★★★ John says Nerdfighters are about a made-of-awesome book by a woman in Australia going to a baby in the US, raising money and awareness for causes, and a supportive community of friends 'in my pants'. — 00:02:41 · Nerdfighteria, made of awesome, Australia, United States, Brotherhood 2.0 forum
  • ★★ Nerdfighters, John adds, are about stupid beautiful projects and making each other laugh and think with t-shirts, pocket protectors and rants about Pakistan, whose situation he says sucks right now. — 00:02:57 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ Borrowing 'things fall apart and the center cannot hold', John says that in the contemporary world you have to imagine a community where there is no center. — 00:03:04 · Nerdfighteria > «you have to imagine a community where there is no center»
  • ★★★ John has come to think a lot of life is about doing things that don't suck with people who don't suck, which is why he enjoyed the Happy Dance Project and the Project for Awesome. (hedged) — 00:03:11 · Nerdfighter Happy Dance Project, Project for Awesome > «a lot of life is about doing things that don't suck with people who don't suck»
  • ★★ John says that, as he recalls, people who don't suck doing something that doesn't suck together is the point of the scavenger hunt. (hedged) — 00:03:26 · Nerdfighter Scavenger Hunt

00:03:30 — Sign-off: 'see you in my pants', thanks to Hank, see you Monday; a sung line 'I wish it didn't have to end at all'

Humor (significant)

  • John recalls that every joke he told at eleven built up and up to the punchline. — 00:00:57 > «Poop. The punch line was always poop, Hank.»
  • John's tripod today is a stack of books, and he reads one title. — 00:01:19 > «one of those books is called Pompeii, Tales from an Eruption, In Your Pants.»
  • John praises Hank's ideas as both brilliant (naming the forum 'My Pants') and diabolical. — 00:01:47 > «diabolical: making me wax my chin.»
  • The brothers would never have finished the project if people hadn't watched, first because it was hard... — 00:01:56 > «and second because I love not to finish stuff.»

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