Skip to content

Volunteering (In Your Pants)

2009-07-26 · announcement · John · 3:09 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Global development (also: Books & writing) · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: fundraising ask, civic or action cta, community lore, heavy topic, timely hook

John introduces YouTube's Video Volunteers program and, in his first video for it, uses the 'in your pants' book-title game to urge support for the Book Wish Foundation, which brings books, reading lights and a library to Darfur refugees in camps.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Not about the puff; YouTube's Video Volunteers program; John's first video for the Book Wish Foundation; invites Nerdfighters to join

  • ★ John opens by saying he will not talk about the damage recently inflicted upon the puff. (playful) — 00:00:00 · the Puff
  • ★★ John says YouTube has launched a program that lets everyone help charities they like by making videos for them. — 00:00:00 · YouTube
  • ★★ John has made his first video volunteer video, for the Book Wish Foundation. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ John invites Nerdfighters to join him in making video volunteer videos at youtube.com/videovolunteers. — 00:00:00 · Nerdfighteria, YouTube

00:00:37 — The 'in your pants' rule, found with Maureen Johnson: book titles plus 'in your pants'

  • ★★ John recounts that he and Maureen Johnson discovered in a coffee shop that adding 'in your pants' to book titles makes them funnier, and runs through examples. (playful) — 00:00:37 · Maureen Johnson, in your pants

00:01:26 — Refugee camps lack books, lights and libraries; the Book Wish Foundation's work with Darfur refugees; check out bookwish.org

  • ★★★ John says some places in the world have no books, and that real access to reading needs lights to read by, libraries and the right books, not just books. (playful) — 00:01:26
  • ★★★ John says the Book Wish Foundation goes into refugee camps holding thousands of people displaced by the Darfur conflict, bringing solar reading lights, glasses and the right books. — 00:01:55
  • ★★★ John says the Book Wish Foundation is currently raising money to build a much-needed library. — 00:01:55
  • ★★ John says the foundation chooses books with people in the camps, based on what they need and want (after joking it picks the best in-your-pants jokes). (playful) — 00:02:24 · in your pants
  • ★★★ John says displaced people have many needs, but Book Wish has learned they ask for books, both for entertainment and as a way to get to university. — 00:02:24
  • ★★★ John asks viewers to check out the Book Wish Foundation at bookwish.org. — 00:02:24

Humor (significant)

  • John adds 'in your pants' to the title The Sun Also Rises. — 00:00:37

    “Which, come to think of it, is in fact what The Sun Also Rises is about.”

  • Imagining a portable Dorothy Parker in his pants, John asks his pants what they said and approves their observation. — 00:01:26

    “Brevity is the soul of lingerie.”

  • John claims Book Wish ensures every book sent is the best possible in-your-pants joke, then is corrected off-camera. — 00:02:24

    “They base it on what people need and want? Oh. Yeah, that's good too.”

  • After a sincere point that books can lead to university, John names the main reason refugees want books. — 00:02:24

    “so that they can more fully appreciate the rich and diverse world of the in-your-pants joke.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Book Wish Foundation · refugee · YouTube Video Volunteers

Also: People: Dorothy Parker · Maureen Johnson

Works: A Spot of Bother · Everything That Rises Must Converge · Funny Little Monkey · Rabbit at Rest · The Forgotten Man · The Key to the Golden Firebird · The Last Good Kiss · The Man Who Ate Everything · The Neverending Story · The Portable Dorothy Parker · The Sun Also Rises

Organizations: YouTube

Terms: in your pants · the Puff

Events: War in Darfur

Only in the description or credits: Andrew Auseon · Chad · Flannery O'Connor · John Updike

Also centred on refugee: THE PROJECT FOR AWESOME 2013 IS UPON US! · Understanding the Refugee Crisis in Europe, Syria, and around the World · The Refugee Crises: Project for Awesome 2015 · Aida and Majeeda: Thoughts from the Azraq Refugee Camp · The Extraordinary Story of Hussam: Teenager, Writer, and Syrian Refugee · Zaatari: Thoughts from a Refugee Camp

Also centred on YouTube Video Volunteers: The World Sucks: Help it Suck Less

← Previous: 50 MORE JOKES in FOUR MINUTES · Next → Love and Romance Questions ANSWERED