Skip to content

Thanksgiving in Asheville

2008-11-27 · John · watch on YouTube · Nerdfighteria · reflection essay

On Thanksgiving at his parents' house in Asheville, John thanks Hank and nerdfighters for teaching him that awesome can become normal, which gives him hope; then his 'hands' demand he be funny and he throws himself at a wall to prove he is not an octopus.

What is said

00:00:00 — Thanksgiving at Mom and Dad's in Asheville; widescreen YouTube; the tour is over and life is 'normal'; what can become normal

  • ★★ John spends Thanksgiving 2008 at his parents' house in Asheville, North Carolina, 'where it all started' for him. — 00:00:00 · Thanksgiving
  • ★ John welcomes YouTube's new 16x9 widescreen format, though he later says he doesn't know what to do with all the space. (playful) — 00:00:00 · YouTube
  • ★★ John enjoyed three weeks with Hank and Katherine on the Tour de Nerdfighting: playing cows, meeting thousands of nerdfighters, watching Hank become a rock star. — 00:00:00 · Hank Green, Katherine Green, Tour de Nerdfighting, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ John says it is weird what can become normal: talking to his brother by video blog before thousands, crowds singing Hank's songs, caring for people in Bangladesh like family, being a nerdfighter. — 00:00:00 · Bangladesh, nerdfighter, Nerdfighteria

00:00:49 — Grateful to Hank and nerdfighters for teaching that awesome can become normal; hopes for nerd culture and protecting the planet

  • ★★★ John is grateful to Hank and the nerdfighters for teaching him that awesome can become normal. — 00:00:49 · Hank Green, Nerdfighteria > «making awesome normal»
  • ★★★ John hopes that one day celebrating intellectualism and nerd culture, and making sacrifices to protect the planet, might be normal. (hedged) — 00:00:49 · nerd

00:01:13 — Preposition gag; Yeti callback; hope in difficult times; thanks; signing at Malaprop's on Saturday

  • ★★★ John says that living in a difficult moment in history can sometimes make you more hopeful, not less. — 00:01:13
  • ★ John jokes that he hopes it may one day be normal to call your wife a Yeti. (joke) — 00:01:13 · Sarah Urist Green
  • ★★ John will sign at Malaprop's bookstore in Asheville on Saturday at 1 o'clock; no formal presentation or reading. — 00:01:13

00:01:43 — Widescreen hands skit: the hands call the message lame and demand he throw himself at the wall to prove he is not an octopus

  • ★★ John says he means to remind nerdfighters and Hank how important they are in his life and what a community they are building and will keep building. — 00:01:43 · Nerdfighteria, Hank Green
  • ★★ Goaded by his talking hands, John throws himself against the wall to prove he is not an octopus. (joke) — 00:02:16

Humor (significant)

  • John stumbles over whether we live in or on the planet. — 00:01:13 > «Mmm, prepositions! You are always causing me trouble!»
  • John calls down to see if the Yeti is there, then extends his list of hopes. — 00:01:13 > «It gives me hope that one day it might be normal to refer to your wife as a Yeti.»
  • John's hands, filling the widescreen, answer back to his sincere message. — 00:01:43 > «That Thanksgiving message sucked. You should just try to be funny.»
  • The hands order John to throw himself at the wall; he gives in and runs at it. — 00:02:16 > «I am NOT an octopus»

Threads in this video

BR2_e33dc632dc