Thanksgiving in Asheville

2008-11-27 · letter vlog · John · 3:04 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria · mode: Personal essay · tags: calendar ritual, community lore, self promotion

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

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

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 · Sydney Green, Mike Green
• ★ 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 · 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

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 · hope
• ★ 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

• looked back · Tour de Nerdfighting 2008 edition — John looks back on three weeks with Hank and Katherine on the tour: playing cows, meeting thousands of nerdfighters, watching Hank become a rock star. (00:00:00)
• restate · Is it reasonable to be hopeful about the future? — John says living through a difficult moment in history can make one more hopeful, and that the community's normalising of awesome gives him hope. (00:01:13)
• callback · John's wife Sarah as 'the Yeti' (2007) — John asks whether there is a Yeti down there and hopes it will one day be normal to call your wife a Yeti. (00:01:13)
• callback · John throws himself against a wall to prove he's not an octopus (2008) — The hands demand John throw himself against the wall to prove he is not an octopus; he does, declaring 'I am NOT an octopus'. (00:02:16)

Mentioned

Central: Asheville, North Carolina · Thanksgiving

Also: People: Katherine Green · Mike Green · Sarah Urist Green · Sydney Green

Projects: Tour de Nerdfighting

Organizations: Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe · YouTube

Terms: nerdfighter

Concepts: environmentalism · hope · nerd

Places: Bangladesh

Also centred on Thanksgiving: November 21st: What I'm Grateful For · 50 THINGS!! That I'm Thankful For · Black Friday: An Accident of History · personal risk · societal risk · It Wasn't Supposed to be Thanksgiving Yesterday

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