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August 31: Copyright and Airports

2007-08-31 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:47 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Personal life (also: Internet & YouTube) · mode: Personal update · tags: on location, community lore

Hank, leaving John's house for Montana, asks to see songs John wrote for a high-school band idea, reports that the brothers' YouTube partnership call was a copyright lecture (choreographed dances are copyrighted; their happy dances are Creative Commons), and jokes about Pittsburgh's airport and Labor Day.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — John mowing the lawn; John's high-school band idea and Hank's request to see its songs; Hank and Katherine about to go back to Montana

  • ★ Hank says the buzzing in the background is John mowing the lawn. — 00:00:10 · John Green
  • ★★ Hank recalls that in high school John had the idea of a band called 'Mow and the Lawns' (as heard) and remembers John actually writing songs for it. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:10 · John Green
  • ★★ Hank asks John whether he wrote songs for the band and, if so, to show them; any John Green original music is part of 'this project'. (playful) — 00:00:10 · John Green
  • ★★ Hank and Katherine are about to go back to Montana, which is sad but also very happy. — 00:00:10 · Katherine Green, Montana

00:00:57 — What Hank misses about home

  • ★★ Hank misses home: his cat, friends, regularity, his barber, grocery store, garden and sanity; the visit was wonderful, but there's something to be said for home. (playful) — 00:00:57

00:01:20 — Late flight; the YouTube partnership call as a copyright lecture; choreographed dances are copyrighted; happy dances under Creative Commons; no sound in project submissions

  • ★ Hank won't be home until about 1 a.m. because of the flights. (playful) — 00:01:20
  • ★★★ Hank and John had their phone call with the YouTube partnership people yesterday; Hank says it was a 45-minute lecture on copyright law. (playful) — 00:01:20 · YouTube, John Green
  • ★★★ Hank learned that a dance can be copyrighted: if a dance is choreographed, it is copyrighted. — 00:01:43
  • ★★ Hank calls dance copyright very sad, since he can no longer do the Macarena in his YouTube videos. (playful) — 00:01:43 · YouTube
  • ★★★ All Brotherhood 2.0 happy dances are licensed under a Creative Commons license for distribution and modification, though everyone should really have their own happy dance. (playful) — 00:01:43 · Happy dance (practice), Brotherhood 2.0
  • ★★ Sound from submitted happy dances won't be used, since music will likely play over the whole project, hopefully music that doesn't violate copyright. (hedged) — 00:01:43 · Happy dance (practice)

00:02:21 — Music over the project; Hank in Pittsburgh: 'yesterday's airport of tomorrow'

  • ★★ Now in Pittsburgh, Hank mocks the airport's boast of being 'yesterday's airport of tomorrow', i.e. today's airport, as no vote of confidence. (playful) — 00:02:21

00:02:51 — Airport quip, missing John and the guest bed, Labor Day and whether Brotherhood 2.0 counts as labor; sign-off

  • ★ Hank already misses John, mostly the big bed in the guest bedroom. (playful) — 00:02:51 · John Green
  • ★★ Hank will see John Monday or Tuesday: Monday is Labor Day, but Brotherhood 2.0 hardly counts as labor, so John may take it off only if he thinks it does. (playful, hedged) — 00:02:51 · Brotherhood 2.0

Humor (significant)

  • Having learned choreographed dances are copyrighted, Hank turns on viewers. — 00:01:43

    “I will sue your ass if I see you doing my happy dance!”

  • Hank laments that dance copyright has consequences for him. — 00:01:43

    “Because it means that I can no longer do the Macarena on my YouTube videos.”

  • Hank reads Pittsburgh's boast that it has 'yesterday's airport of tomorrow' and decodes it. — 00:02:51

    “today's airport. The airport of today.”

  • On Labor Day being a holiday, Hank considers whether the brothers qualify. — 00:02:51

    “Brotherhood 2.0 doesn't really count as labor. You have to, like, lift a tripod every once in a while”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: copyright · Happy dance (practice)

Also: People: Katherine Green

Projects: Brotherhood 2.0 · Nerdfighter Happy Dance Project

Works: Macarena

Organizations: Creative Commons · YouTube

Places: Montana · Pittsburgh · Pittsburgh International Airport

Events: Labor Day

Products: YouTube Partner Program

animal: Cameo

Only in the description or credits: Indianapolis

Also centred on copyright: Top 5 Reasons ████ ██ ██████ · Old Man Narrates Young Girl · On the Ownership of Ideas · Across Three Continents: A Tale of Tumblr, Copyright, and Excellent Posters · Who Owns a Monkey's Selfie? And a Song About Meningitis! · The Bizarre State of Copyright

Later videos replying to this one