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Question Tuesday! Paula Deen Riding Me (and critical reading)

2011-06-15 · John · watch on YouTube · Books & writing · conversation qa

Lower-confidence wave

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

In a Question Tuesday from Amsterdam John corrects Hank on Data, reports the Let It Snow film-rights sale, restarts the Blurbing Book Club with The Great Gatsby, sets Hank's punishment (Humpy Hank All Over Town), and argues that what authors mean matters less than reading critically as a way into our own lives.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting gag: 'Hank' as the sentient android who had a daughter; Hank's Monday video got its Star Trek facts wrong

  • ★★ John corrects Hank's Star Trek facts: the Next Generation's sentient android (Data) can reproduce, as any true fan knows, because he had a daughter. (playful) — 00:00:02
  • ★★ John calls Hank's Monday video one of his favourite Vlogbrothers videos ever. — 00:00:10

00:00:17 — It's Tuesday, uploading tomorrow after flying with a baby; Question Tuesday intro

  • ★ Recording on Tuesday, John will upload tomorrow after spending all day flying across the world with a baby. — 00:00:17

00:00:25 — Vegetable garden; shoes and feet on foreign editions; Let It Snow film rights sold to Paramount, which also holds Looking for Alaska

  • ★ Asked about them, John finds there are indeed a lot of shoes and feet on the foreign editions of his books, and doesn't know why. (playful) — 00:00:35
  • ★★★ The movie rights to Let It Snow have just sold to Paramount, a large Hollywood studio. — 00:00:47
  • ★★ Paramount also owns the movie rights to Looking for Alaska, not yet made; John says maybe they'll make one of them someday. (hedged) — 00:00:51 · Looking for Alaska

00:01:02 — US vs Europe: medical bankruptcies in the US and the Netherlands

  • ★★★ Asked about US–Europe differences, John says the biggest is that 60% of US bankruptcies are caused by medical costs, against 0% in the Netherlands. — 00:01:05 · United States, Netherlands

00:01:13 — The new book's title is not decided yet

  • ★★ The title of John's new book is still not totally decided, so he can't say yet, but soon. — 00:01:14

00:01:20 — The Nerdfighter Blurbing Book Club returns for summer with The Great Gatsby

  • ★★★ Since summer in Nerdfighteria means SPF 30 and classic American literature, John announces The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald as the new Nerdfighter Blurbing Book Club book. — 00:01:22 · Blurbing Book Club, The Great Gatsby
  • ★★★ John points to a purchase link (outside the US the book is probably public domain and free) and asks readers, first-time or returning, even past haters, to read Gatsby with him. — 00:01:32 · The Great Gatsby, Nerdfighteria

00:01:52 — Pizza John shirts back in all sizes at DFTBA.com

00:02:00 — Joke answers: nihilism, the identity thief, the Yeti and the Pizza John shirt, never eat pizza again

00:02:21 — Hank's punishment: Humpy Hank All Over Town

  • ★★★ John sets Hank's punishment as the one most popular in Nerdfighteria, Humpy Hank All Over Town: Hank must hump the town. (playful) — 00:02:23 · Punishment, Hank Green, Nerdfighteria > «Humpy Hank All Over Town!»

00:02:32 — Tumblr: images of Paula Deen riding John

  • ★★ Asked about Tumblr, John calls it the internet's number one destination for images of Paula Deen riding him — the title bit. (joke) (hedged) — 00:02:34 · Tumblr

00:02:40 — Benign dictatorship is an oxymoron

  • ★★ Asked whether benign dictatorships are a good form of government, John says 'benign dictatorship' is a bit of an oxymoron. (hedged) — 00:02:42

00:02:45 — John's biggest inspiration is Nerdfighters: stories that help, as books helped him

  • ★★★ John's biggest inspiration is Nerdfighters: he writes books and makes videos to tell them interesting, hopefully helpful stories, as books changed his own life. — 00:02:47 · Nerdfighteria

00:03:02 — What authors mean doesn't matter; critical reading as a way into real lives (Moby-Dick), how they will read Gatsby; sign-off

  • ★★★ Asked if he means what teachers say 'the author means', John says probably, but teachers shouldn't say it: they can't read authors' minds, and what authors mean doesn't really matter. (hedged) — 00:03:06
  • ★★★ What matters is critical reading as a concrete way into hard questions — e.g. nature's indifference, expressed by white in Moby-Dick, lest you end up like Ahab — using story to think about our lives; that's how they'll read Gatsby. — 00:03:15 · close reading, The Great Gatsby > «using story as a way into thinking about our actual lives»

Humor (significant)

  • John's greeting turns into a fan's definition of 'Hank', the android Hank wrongly said cannot reproduce. — 00:00:02 > «true fan would know, is capable of reproduction because he had a daughter!»
  • Asked about a vegetable garden, John shows his Amsterdam backyard. — 00:00:29 > «are cigarette butts vegetables? Because if so, yes.»
  • John reads the question 'What is the name of the hospital you were born in?' — 00:02:06 > «...asked the identity thief.»
  • Asked his thoughts on Tumblr. — 00:02:34 > «the number one destination on the internet for images of Paula Dean riding»

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