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Harry Potter Nerds Win at Life

2009-07-19 · letter vlog · John · 3:32 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube (also: Nerdfighteria, Pop culture) · mode: Comedy & performance · tags: community lore, timely hook

In a four-part Sunday video John announces his Chicago gathering, says the half-hour of excitement before the Harry Potter movie shows what is great about nerds being allowed to love things unironically, reports 20Q guessing unicorns and Perez Hilton, and asks for love questions.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Sunday Newsday replaced by four parts; Part 1: Chicago Nerdfighter gathering Thursday at the Harold Washington Library; electron joke

  • ★★★ John announces he will be in Chicago this Thursday (23 July 2009) at 11 a.m. for a free Nerdfighter gathering at the Harold Washington Library, details in the sidebar. — 00:00:00 · Chicago (city), Nerdfighteria

00:00:38 — Part 2: seeing the Harry Potter movie with the Yeti; liked it (funny, sad, no destructive lies about teen sexuality)

00:01:10 — What John loves about being a nerd: unironic enthusiasm; 'nerd' means 'you like stuff'

  • ★★★ John says the excited half-hour before the movie is what he loves about being a nerd: nerds are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic and to love things openly. — 00:01:10

    “nerds like us are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff.”

  • ★★★ John argues that calling someone a nerd mostly means 'you like stuff', which is not a good insult at all. — 00:01:10

    “when people call people nerds, mostly what they're saying is, you like stuff.”

00:01:39 — Part 3: the 20 Questions artificial intelligence guesses unicorns for puppy-sized elephants and Perez Hilton for Hank

  • ★★ John describes a website Nerdfighters have been discussing where an artificial intelligence plays 20 Questions, and says it is astonishingly often right but fails badly when wrong. — 00:01:39 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John says that when he played 20Q thinking of puppy-sized elephants, a creature 'in pre-existence', it guessed unicorns. (joke) — 00:02:08 · puppy sized elephant
  • ★★ John says he answered 20Q honestly about Hank and it guessed Perez Hilton. (joke) — 00:02:43 · Hank Green

00:03:10 — Part 4: ask for love and romance ('nerdmans') questions; nerd life is better; sign-off

  • ★★ John asks Nerdfighters to leave questions about love or romance ('nerdmans') in comments. — 00:03:10 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John repeats that nerd life is just so much better than regular life. — 00:03:10

Humor (significant)

  • John notes 'if you live in Chicago' implied he'd be elsewhere for non-Chicagoans. — 00:00:00

    “one of the ways that we are not like electrons is that my position in space is not dependent upon your position in space.”

  • John tries 20Q with puppy-sized elephants, 'the most outrageously wonderful creature not currently in existence'. — 00:02:08

    “it guessed unicorns, which everyone knows were left off the ark for a reason.”

  • Answering 20Q honestly about Hank, the only hard question was whether he has a substance abuse problem. — 00:02:43

    “Because I had a difficult time deciding whether or not corn dogs constituted a substance.”

  • John asks Hank to imagine the one guy he least wants the AI to think he is. — 00:02:43

    “They guessed you were Perez Hilton.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: 20Q · Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film) · nerd

Also: People: Perez Hilton · Sarah Urist Green

Works: Doctor Who

Organizations: Harold Washington Library Center

Rituals: Newsday

Terms: puppy sized elephant

Concepts: artificial intelligence · electron

Places: Chicago (city)

Characters: Luna Lovegood · Ron Weasley

Myths: unicorn

Only in the description or credits: Harry Potter (book series)

Also centred on 20Q: Twenty Questions and Michael Collins

Also centred on nerd: Brotherhood 2.0: June 20: Moving · July 27: How Nerdfighters Drop Insults · October 24th: RANDOM NERDFIGHTING · How to Make Guys Like You · Thoughts from Comic-Con (NO MORE CHEETO MEDIA!)

← Previous: Selling Out, Chewbacca and Taking Leave · Next → Twenty Questions and Michael Collins