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Special Friday Video! (On Saturday)

2009-09-12 · John · watch on YouTube · Pop culture · reflection essay

Responding to Hank's crime-show song, John argues that shows like CSI sell the comforting lie that evil lives only in certain people, and that we like stories that make sense; he also updates the wall, plugs Nerdfighter causes and names contest winners.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting; five parts; Part one: the Great Wall Fail of 2009 continues, drawings on the wall

  • ★★ John says the wall is still there, 'the Great Wall Fail of 2009', though he has made some progress. — 00:00:00
  • ★ John shows drawings on the wall: the great white wall of cow ridden by Willy as the Dread Pirate Fireball Wilson Roberts, and a unicorn meant to motivate him, since he hates unicorns. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Willy, unicorn

00:00:40 — Part two: Hank's song prompts why we like predictable crime shows: CSI vs The First 48; the lie that evil is outside us; stories that make sense

  • ★★ John says Hank's song was incredibly good and made him think about why we like crime shows even though they are so predictable. — 00:00:40
  • ★★ John and the Yeti, who rarely watch TV, like to follow an episode of CSI with The First 48, A&E's show about real detectives and real crimes. — 00:00:40 · Sarah Urist Green
  • ★★ John contrasts CSI, where David Caruso outwits master serial killers, with real murders, where detectives end up comforting a remorseful killer who got drunk and killed a friend. (playful) — 00:01:07
  • ★★★ John argues CSI-type shows give the delusion that evil is an uncomplicated thing living inside certain people and not others. — 00:01:07
  • ★★★ John thinks we all deeply want to believe the lie that evil is outside of us, which is why we watch these shows again and again. (hedged) — 00:01:07
  • ★★★ John adds that our brains like stories that make sense, and a key difference between real-life and TV stories is that TV stories make sense. (hedged) — 00:01:36

00:01:36 — Part three: vote to send Kristina Horner to Antarctica; Part four: Ningmaster Tom becomes senior executive nerdfighter

  • ★★ John says there are no Nerdfighters in Antarctica, and asks viewers to vote for Kristina Horner in a contest so she can go there. — 00:01:36 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★ If Kristina reaches Antarctica, John says, there could be videotaped Nerdfighter happy dances on all seven continents. (hedged) — 00:01:36 · Happy dance
  • ★★ John announces Ningmaster Tom is now officially the senior executive nerdfighter, head of the Ning, who will improve it since the brothers have failed; he urges everyone to go to nerdfighters.com. — 00:01:36 · Nerdfighter Ning, nerdfighters.com

00:02:22 — Thanks to Ningmasters; secret brother Tom runs for office in Cambridge, Massachusetts

  • ★ John thanks all the Ningmasters who have made the Ning awesome for the last several months. — 00:02:22 · Nerdfighter Ning
  • ★★ John says secret brother Tom is running for office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and asks Cambridge residents to work for or vote for him. — 00:02:22 · secret sibling

00:02:51 — Mock Nerdfighter political agenda; Part five: contest expanded to videos and songs, four winners read; sign-off and new outro

  • ★★ John is excited to see Nerdfighters seeking political office, joking that the Nerdfighter agenda is 'in your pants' book titles and puppy-sized elephants. (playful) — 00:02:51 · Nerdfighteria, in your pants, puppy sized elephant
  • ★★ John expands the paperback giveaway to Paper Towns-related videos and songs as well as 10-word comments, and admits he has more than 14 books. — 00:02:51 · Paper Towns
  • ★★ John names four winners from the contest's first three days and reads their comments, one of which, saying his books changed her life, moved him. — 00:03:20 · Paper Towns

Humor (significant)

  • John's wall is still standing despite his demolition attempt. — 00:00:00 > «the Great Wall Fail of 2009 continues to be both a wall and a fail.»
  • John imitates a CSI one-liner from David Caruso: 'I don't think you were playing the marimba.' — 00:00:40 > «I think you were playing the murderer, Imba.»
  • John mimics the fantasy that evil is something outside us that we can defeat. — 00:01:07 > «Hey, evil, I got you with my screwdriver!»
  • John says Nerdfighters seeking office can push forward the Nerdfighter political agenda. — 00:02:51 > «to mandate the addition of In Your Pants to the end of book titles and to increase funding for the re-evolving of puppy-sized elephants.»

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