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INTERNET SENSATION B$%CH

2008-08-21 · other · Hank · 3:55 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria · mode: Comedy & performance · tags: community lore, timely hook

Hank plays a Chicago CBS 2 news report about the brothers' 8/8/08 library event and Nerdfighters, mocking its 'internet sensation' framing and correcting that they stopped all textual communication, not just texting.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Hank riffs on being called an 'internet sensation', his blue-construction-paper blue screen and his dislike of local news

  • ★★ Hank says he is not a big fan of local news and would like more people to watch this video on YouTube than the TV report, to prove they're better. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:00 · YouTube

00:00:46 — CBS 2 report by Susan Carlson with Hank's commentary: textual communication vs texting, 13.5 million viewers, John on the community's message, the Chicago library crowd, the non-existent prize, air quotes, JT, fans and a parent on Nerdfighters

  • ★ Hank says he enjoyed the report, which turns out to be mostly about John, but it has several factual inconsistencies he wants to comment on. — 00:00:46 · John Green

  • ★★ Hank corrects the report: the brothers did not merely stop texting a year earlier; they gave up all textual communication, which is different. — 00:01:20 · No textual communication, Brotherhood 2.0

    “Textual communication is different from texting, Susan.”

  • ★★ Susan Carlson (quoted): The report says the brothers' public video communication became a YouTube sensation with 13.5 million viewers to date. — 00:01:43 · YouTube

  • ★★★ John, interviewed in the report, says the brothers are trying to bring people who feel like outsiders into a place where they feel like insiders. (hedged) — 00:01:43 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ Susan Carlson (quoted): The report says John was already a successful teen author whose fame skyrocketed through the internet, and that he was back in Chicago, where he once lived, promoting his books at the library. — 00:02:08 · John Green, Chicago (city)
  • ★★ Susan Carlson (quoted): The report says about 400 young adults came to the library event, some waiting over two hours to meet the brothers. — 00:02:08
  • ★★ Hank awards today's non-existent Nerdfighter prize to fans seen in the report, identified only as 'Mrs. Pink Hair and DFTBA Trucker Cap' (one or two people, unclear). (playful) — 00:02:08 · non-existent Nerdfighting Prize of the Day
  • ★★ a guest: A fan in the report says the appeal is having somebody with so much in common with them, like valuing reading and education and thinking that's cool. — 00:02:58 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★ a guest: A parent in the report says the brothers send a strong message about young people in America growing up as individuals. — 00:02:58

00:03:27 — Report's close: the vlogs will continue 'as long as people will watch'; Hank's jab at John; WWTF News sign-off

  • ★★ Susan Carlson (quoted): The report says that after a year of video-only messages the brothers communicate in other ways again, but the vlogs will continue. — 00:03:27 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ John says in the report they will keep making the videos for as long as people will watch them. (hedged) — 00:03:27 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★ Hank jokes that he and John never discussed continuing the vlogs before John announced it to the world. (playful) — 00:03:27

Humor (significant)

  • Hank mocks the report's 'internet sensation' label by pointing to his makeshift blue screen. — 00:00:00

    “I'm enough of an internet sensation that I've just taped several pieces of blue construction paper behind me”

  • Hank reads the news report's description of the brothers as an internet sensation. — 00:00:00

    “Internet sensation, b****! It says so right there!”

  • Hank addresses the reporter about how she pronounced 'Nerdfighters'. — 00:02:08

    “really the Velociraptor air quotes were not necessary”

  • The report says Nerdfighters aren't obsessed with Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake. — 00:02:58

    “Just to be clear, that is not entirely true. I kind of have a JT thing.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Susan Carlson

Also: People: Britney Spears · Justin Timberlake

Projects: Brotherhood 2.0

Organizations: Harold Washington Library Center · WBBM-TV · YouTube

Rituals: No textual communication

Terms: nerdfighter · non-existent Nerdfighting Prize of the Day

Places: Chicago (city) · Orlando, Florida

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