Brotherhood 2.0: April 18th: Prom and Consequences

2007-04-18 · letter vlog · John · 2:57 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Personal life (also: Books & writing) · mode: Personal update · tags: guest or collab

After an opening clip of Gawker co-editor Emily Gould, John lies exhausted on his living-room floor in a beat-up seersucker suit after the young adult literature prom, dreads flying to Mobile, Alabama, and jokes that his carbon-cutting week will not include unheated food.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Opening clip, identified by John as Emily Gould

00:00:11 — John on his living-room floor in a beat-up seersucker suit after the young adult literature prom, 'the social event on the young adult literature calendar'

• ★★ John identifies the opening clip as Emily Gould, co-editor of 'the world-famous website Gawker.com'. — 00:00:11
• ★★★ John is lying on his living-room floor in a beat-up seersucker suit because he was up very late at the young adult literature prom, which he calls the social event of the YA calendar. (playful) — 00:00:11

00:00:57 — The long night; he must go to Mobile, Alabama; carbon-footprint week: no unheated food, lights only when needed; the prom had no lights; he doesn't want to fly

• ★★ After the long night John now has to go to Mobile, Alabama; he doesn't want to get on an airplane or go to an airport and would rather stay on the floor. (playful) — 00:00:57
• ★★★ On his carbon-cutting week, John jokes he didn't know reducing his footprint meant eating unheated food and won't do that; he is just not turning on the lights unless he really has to. (playful) — 00:00:57

00:01:40 — Staying on the floor; prom music vs Hank's wedding and the Mickey song; why he doesn't love New York: car alarms at 10:25 in the morning

• ★ John says the prom music wasn't as good as at Hank's wedding but fairly good; it's always nice to hear the Mickey song. (playful) — 00:01:40

Humor (significant)

• John, cutting his carbon for a week, reacts to learning that reducing one's footprint meant eating unheated food. — 00:00:57

  “In that case, I'm not reducing my carbon footprint at all.”

• John says the YA prom last night wasn't bad for his carbon footprint, though. — 00:00:57

  “There were no lights at all.”

• John explains he doesn't love New York because car alarms go off while a man tries to sleep in his brand-new seersucker suit — 00:01:40

  “at the ungodly hour of 1025 in the morning”

Threads in this video

• progress update · John: use only the electricity he absolutely needs for a week to cut his carbon emissions (2007) — John updates his low-electricity week: he is not eating unheated food, but he is not turning on the lights unless he really has to. (00:00:57)

Where the stories that moved here went next

• John: use only the electricity he absolutely needs for a week to cut his carbon emissions (2007) — open (updates through 2007, not reported done); last: progress update, 2007-04-18

Mentioned

carbon footprint · Emily Gould · Gawker · Mickey · Mobile, Alabama · New York City · young adult literature prom

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