Skip to content

Vital Status Report from NYC

2008-10-17 · documentary visit · Hank, John, Alex Day, a guest · 3:57 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing (also: Internet & YouTube, Nerdfighteria) · mode: Personal update · tags: guest or collab, on location, self promotion, timely hook

Footage from the Paper Towns release party in New York, where John says the book is about people misimagining each other, friends and YouTubers joke around, and Hank, now in Boston, tells absent nerdfighters the Internet is their first and last place.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Greetings; John introduces the Paper Towns release party guests; Charlie skipped meeting the Queen; Paper Towns is about misimagining each other

  • ★★ John reports from the Paper Towns release party with Liane from the Five Awesome Girls, his agent Jodi, Hank's wife Katherine, and Alex and Charlie from London. — 00:00:00 · Paper Towns, Katherine Green, London
  • ★ John says Charlie came to the party instead of meeting the Queen of England. — 00:00:00

  • ★★★ John says Paper Towns is about people who constantly misimagine each other because they think of one another as something other than a person. — 00:00:00 · Paper Towns, perspective-taking

    “a bunch of people who are constantly misimagining each other”

00:00:29 — John on how hard it is to imagine another person as they imagine themselves; asked about teaching, he says he loves reading books critically with young people

  • ★★★ John says that, stuck inside our own skins, it is very difficult to imagine another person as they imagine themselves; nobody sees himself as a guy whose thoughts don't matter. — 00:00:29 · perspective-taking
  • ★★ John: Asked whether he has considered teaching, John says he loves reading books critically with young people, finds it hugely fulfilling, and definitely thinks about teaching. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ John says he would not want to teach writing because he does not think he knows anything about it, but likes reading books with people. (hedged) — 00:00:58

00:00:58 — Diner roll-call of 'famous' guests (John Green, Scott Westerfeld, Maureen Johnson, Charlie, Alex, Caitlin Hill); a guest on meeting YouTubers in person; dance party

  • ★ a guest: At a diner, a guest playfully introduces John Green, Scott Westerfeld and Maureen Johnson as famous people. (playful) — 00:00:58 · John Green, Maureen Johnson
  • ★ Alex Day introduces himself as responsible for the largest tag project in history. (playful) — 00:00:58
  • ★★ a guest: A guest recalls watching early YouTube videos (a rap, Brooke Brodack, lonelygirl15) and says she now understands how such videos get made: amazing to be there, puzzling to watch online. — 00:01:27

00:02:03 — Alex tells how he and Charlie flew from London to New York for the Paper Towns launch

  • ★★ Alex Day: Alex says that after finishing Paper Towns and seeing it would launch in New York, he asked Charlie to come and booked tickets leaving in about two and a half days. — 00:02:03 · Paper Towns, New York City

00:02:32 — Comic 'reader' interview: Paper Towns is about paper, a picture book, and Tom Cruise will play the towns; end of the New York footage; Hank, now in Boston, says another Nerdfighter event is about to start

  • ★★ a guest: In a comic bit, a guest who has not read Paper Towns claims it is about paper, sounds like a picture book, and will be a movie with Tom Cruise playing the towns. (joke) — 00:02:32 · Paper Towns
  • ★★ Hank says he is now in Boston before another Nerdfighter event and will soon see John at dinner with their parents and cousin. — 00:03:02 · Nerdfighteria

00:03:29 — Hank to nerdfighters who could not come to the events: the Internet is our first and last place; see John on Monday

  • ★★★ Hank tells nerdfighters who could not come to the events that the brothers love them and will always be on the Internet, which is their first and last place. — 00:03:29 · Nerdfighteria

    “The Internet is our first place, it's our last place.”

Humor (significant)

  • At the diner every guest is introduced as famous. — 00:01:27

    “Caitlin Hill, who's famous for being Australian.”

  • A guest who hasn't read Paper Towns claims it is being made into a movie. — 00:02:32

    “Tom Cruise is going to play the towns.”

  • The same guest decides Paper Towns must be a short picture book. — 00:03:02

    “If you want it, it's at the library somewhere, probably in the picture book section.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Paper Towns · perspective-taking

Also: People: Alex Day · Brooke Brodack · Caitlin Hill · Charlie McDonnell · Elizabeth II · Jodi Reamer · Katherine Green · Liane Graham · Maureen Johnson · Scott Westerfeld · Tom Cruise

Projects: Paper Towns Tour

Works: lonelygirl15

Groups: Five Awesome Girls

Places: Boston · London · New York City

← Previous: Paper Towns Collab Album Project!!! · Next → Travel Tips, Delivered Hoarsely