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Eating the Unicorn

2011-05-23 · John · watch on YouTube · Personal life · personal update

Lower-confidence wave

2011 videos did not pass the QA gate (17 %); their analysis is shown but less reliable.

In a five-part letter from Amsterdam John tells of a Google-translated dinner invitation promising someone would eat the unicorn, praises a Nerdfighter's Gus Is a Bug book, says his new book makes him believe in spoilers and asks people not to spoil it, and recommends Tumblr.

What is said

00:00:00 — Dutch greeting, a post office behind Nerdfighters; the puff on vacation for the Venice Biennale; new suits and a shirt-jacket poll

  • ★★ John says he had to put the puff on vacation and buy a couple of suits because he is getting ready for the very fancy Venice Biennale. (playful) — 00:00:09 · the Puff
  • ★ John asks Nerdfighters whether they like his shirt-jacket combo: he will wear it at a party only if they do. (playful) — 00:00:16 · Nerdfighteria

00:00:23 — Part one: Google Translate and the dinner where someone would eat the unicorn

  • ★★ Over the last month of living in Amsterdam, John has repeatedly used Google Translate on Dutch documents; imperfect, but it gives the sense. — 00:00:26 · Amsterdam
  • ★★ Two nights ago John dined with his Dutch translator and publishing people; the Google-translated document about the dinner ended by saying they did not know who would eat the unicorn. — 00:00:39 · unicorn
  • ★★ John jokes that he volunteered to eat the unicorn at the dinner, but it was not on the menu, so he had the sea bass. (joke) — 00:01:05 · unicorn

00:01:23 — Part two: a Nerdfighter's Gus Is a Bug illustrations made into a book a child of the brothers loves

  • ★★ John recalls that when the Yeti was pregnant with a child of the brothers, Nerdfighteria illustrated his favourite out-of-print picture book, Gus Is a Bug, so he could read it to a child of the brothers. — 00:01:23 · Nerdfighteria, Sarah Urist Green
  • ★★ John says one Nerdfighter turned her Gus Is a Bug illustrations into an actual book that a child of the brothers loves, that is, chews on; he calls it amazing. — 00:01:32

00:01:45 — Part three: John's position on spoilers evolves because his new book is spoilable; please don't spoil it

  • ★★★ John says he long said he doesn't believe in spoilers but, borrowing President Obama's phrase, his position is evolving: he now believes in them. (playful) — 00:01:50 · Barack Obama
  • ★★★ John says his position changed because his new book is quite spoilable and he doesn't want it spoiled for readers. — 00:02:04
  • ★★★ About nine months in advance, John begins asking Hank and Nerdfighteria not to spoil the book. — 00:02:07 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John says they will work hard to create safe spoilery places, leaving a big unspoiled world outside. — 00:02:13
  • ★ John says he has started ending sentences with 'yeah?' because people say that in the Netherlands. (playful) — 00:02:26

00:02:28 — Part four: punishments still undecided

  • ★★ John tells Hank they still haven't decided on punishments and need to do that this week. — 00:02:28 · Punishment

00:02:34 — Part five: the brothers get Tumblrs; Nerdfighter content on Tumblr; follow Eff Yeah Nerdfighters, Hank and John; sign-off

  • ★★ After years as fans of the Eff Yeah Nerdfighters Tumblr, John and Hank both got Tumblrs earlier this month, on the same day. — 00:02:34 · Tumblr, Hank Green
  • ★★ John says Tumblr seems to be the top destination for Nerdfighter jokes, Looking for Alaska quotations, DFTBA tattoos, Pizza John jokes and Humpy Hank sites. (hedged) — 00:02:50 · Tumblr, Looking for Alaska, DFTBA, Pizza John, Hank Green
  • ★★ John tells Nerdfighters on Tumblr to follow Eff Yeah Nerdfighters, and also Hank at edwardspoonhands and John at fishingboatproceeds.tumblr.com. — 00:03:09 · Tumblr, Hank Green
  • ★ John calls 'Edward Spoonhands' the most underappreciated Hank song. — 00:03:13

Humor (significant)

  • Google Translate renders the last sentence of a Dutch document about John's dinner with his translator and publishers. — 00:00:45 > «"We do not know which of them will eat the Unicorn."»
  • After sorting dinners into three categories by who eats the unicorn, John arrives at the dinner. — 00:01:05 > «Anyway, Hank, when we got to the dinner I immediately volunteered to eat the unicorn.»
  • John has often said over the years that he doesn't believe in spoilers. — 00:01:54 > «to borrow a phrase from President Obama, my position on spoilers is evolving.»
  • The Yeti is very amused by the Humpy Hank pictures on Tumblr. — 00:03:01 > «when she saw the one where you hump me, she said "It's gone too far".»

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