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The Unzipped Zipper (Of Your Pants)

2008-10-29 · John · watch on YouTube · Books & writing · conversation qa

John answers Nerdfighters' requests for what he can do for them: he can't do NaNoWriMo, argues a movie can't ruin a book, tells of giving a Seattle school talk with his zipper unzipped, rejects skydiving and Walmart requests, and agrees to happy-dance in 18 states.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting from Nerdfighters in Phoenix; the new camcorder can't film itself

  • ★★ John greets Hank with Nerdfighters in Phoenix, Arizona, filmed on his new camcorder, which he is very excited about. (playful) — 00:00:08 · Nerdfighteria

00:00:34 — Nerdfighter requests: NaNoWriMo vs. revision month and brother-road-trip month; a Paper Towns movie and adaptation

  • ★★★ John recalls that in his last video he asked Nerdfighters what he could do for them after they put Paper Towns on the New York Times bestseller list, and they sent requests. — 00:00:34 · Nerdfighteria, Paper Towns, The New York Times
  • ★★ Asked to do NaNoWriMo, John says he cannot write a novel in a month and apologises that doing it in November is impossible. (playful) — 00:00:46
  • ★★ John says he is considering doing 'national finish-your-revision-of-your-book month' in November and will try to. (playful) (hedged) — 00:00:56 > «'finish-your-revision-of-your-book-I-mean-seriously-come-on' month, also known as NaFRBIMSCON»
  • ★★ John says November is also 'national drive-around-America-with-your-brother month', which he is definitely going to do. (playful) — 00:01:03 · Tour de Nerdfighting
  • ★★★ Asked to make sure a Paper Towns movie doesn't ruin the book, John says a movie can't ruin a book: All the King's Men is still great despite Sean Penn's unconvincing accent. (hedged) — 00:01:18 · Paper Towns
  • ★★★ John holds that to adapt a book properly into a film you have to change radically almost everything about the book. — 00:01:32

00:01:40 — Request to promote literature in schools: Seattle high-school talk given with zipper unzipped

  • ★★★ Answering a request to promote literature in schools, John tells how he spoke at a Seattle high school about why books matter while his zipper was flagrantly unzipped, which a student pointed out at question time. (playful) — 00:01:41 · Seattle

00:02:33 — Requests: a hug (teddy bear, Weight Watchers), skydiving for minors, getting Paper Towns into Walmart

  • ★ Asked for a hug by a viewer who calls him a giant teddy bear, John objects to 'giant' and admits Weight Watchers hasn't gone well on the road. (playful) — 00:02:33
  • ★★ Asked to campaign to make skydiving legal for minors, John says skydiving should not be legal for anyone; people should not jump out of planes. (playful) (hedged) — 00:02:47
  • ★★★ Asked to get Walmart to stock Paper Towns, John argues buying books at Walmart is a bad idea: if everyone did, only about 30 to 50 books would be published a year, chilling American cultural discourse. — 00:03:05 · Paper Towns
  • ★★ John adds that it would also put him out of a job, because Walmart thinks his books are too dirty to stock. (playful) — 00:03:19

00:03:37 — Fulfillable request: happy dance in 18 states; zipper callback; see you at Seattle Public Library

  • ★★★ John finds one request he can fulfil, recording his happy dance in 18 different states, and says yes. (playful) — 00:03:37 · Happy dance
  • ★ John says he will see Hank in a few minutes at the Seattle Public Library. — 00:03:52

Humor (significant)

  • John tries to show Hank his new camcorder using the camcorder itself. — 00:00:23 > «I'm just gonna take a picture of the camcorder using the camcorder--DANG IT!!»
  • John realises he gave his whole talk on imagining others complexly while unzipped. — 00:02:22 > «with, like a massively unzipped zipper.»
  • A viewer calls John a giant teddy bear while asking for a hug. — 00:02:33 > «Couldn't you have just said that I'm like a regular teddy bear?»
  • John rejects legal skydiving for anyone. — 00:02:58 > «You shouldn't jump out of a plane, planes are for staying in!»

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