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Hank Has Questions

2010-10-29 · letter vlog · Hank · 4:00 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Pop culture (also: Nerdfighteria) · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, self promotion, community lore

Hank strings together questions he has been pondering and asks why video games like Fable III are so compelling, concluding that they offer clear goals and clear success or failure, which real life, whose ambiguity is still remarkable, does not.

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's string of questions: dancing cows, upbringing, why video games are rewarding, a Fable III dilemma, the giraffe shirt at Target, his Halloween costume, a Glee Rocky Horror plot hole, trying hard to look like you aren't trying

  • ★★ Hank lists questions he has been thinking about, among them whether a person can ever be free of their upbringing and why playing video games is so easy and rewarding. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Among his questions Hank wonders whether non-Nerdfighters would wear the giraffe love shirt if it were sold at Target or Hot Topic. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank calls it a plot hole in Glee's Rocky Horror episode that Mr. Schuester cast himself as Rocky opposite 16-year-old Rachel as Janet, wondering how the 'Touch-a Touch Me' number would really have gone. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • ★★ Hank asks what it means that young people's social structures are so often built on trying very hard to appear not to be trying. — 00:00:29

00:00:58 — What the Vlogbrothers will be like in 20 years: worst case (John writing vampire novels, Hank in a Vegas lounge show) and best case

  • ★★ Hank jokes that in the worst case, in 20 years John writes vampire novels and Hank plays an afternoon Vegas lounge show, singing his quark song to five people who don't know him. (joke) — 00:00:58 · Vlogbrothers, John Green
  • ★★ Hank says the best case for the Vlogbrothers in 20 years looks a lot like now, making videos that are 'informational' and 'educational', and says to shoot for that. (playful) — 00:00:58 · Vlogbrothers

00:01:27 — Hank buys Fable III after Nerdfighteria urges him to; why video games are compelling: clear goals and clear success or failure, unlike the ambiguity of real life

  • ★★ Hank just got Fable III; before buying it he asked Nerdfighteria on Facebook and Twitter whether he should, given he'd likely be unproductive for weeks, and the overwhelming answer was yes. — 00:01:27 · Nerdfighteria, Facebook, Twitter
  • ★ Hank is puzzled that viewers urged him to buy the game, since he thought they wanted entertaining videos and songs, which he can't make while saving Albion; he admits he'd have bought it anyway. (playful) — 00:01:56
  • ★ Hank says being nerdy is important to his job, joking that nerds playing video games is a law of nature. (playful) — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ Hank thinks video games are compelling because they simplify real life, which is complicated: games give goals and you know when you've failed or succeeded. (hedged) — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ Hank says in real life, especially as you get older, everything is a mix of success and failure; the mission is never complete because the mission is your life. — 00:02:34

00:02:58 — Last day to pre-order the giraffe love shirt, now the best-selling shirt in DFTBA Records history

  • ★★ Hank finds playing video games intensely comforting, while holding that the ambiguity of real life is remarkable and awesome, just less soothing. — 00:02:58
  • ★★ Hank says today is the last day to pre-order the giraffe love shirt. — 00:02:58
  • ★★ Hank says the giraffe love shirt is officially the best-selling shirt in DFTBA Records history, and he is proud his design holds that title. — 00:02:58 · DFTBA Records

00:03:19 — Giraffe gag; Hank's Halloween costume (Dexter, not Rocky Horror characters or Phineas Gage); asks for Phineas Gage pictures and Glee/costume comments; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank won't be Rocky, Dr. Frank or Phineas Gage (an idea he long considered and gave up) for Halloween; he is going as Dexter. — 00:03:19
  • ★★ Hank asks any Nerdfighters dressing as Phineas Gage to send him pictures. — 00:03:19 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ Hank asks Nerdfighters to say in the comments what they thought of Glee and what they will be for Halloween. — 00:03:19 · Nerdfighteria

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says Hank liked the Rocky Horror Glee show about 50% of the time, a low percentage for his television viewing. — video description
  • ★ The description links to the Esther bracelets. — video description
  • ★ Fable III is keeping Hank up late trying to save his citizens, and he thinks he will have to replay it from the start to get everyone to live. (playful) — video description

Humor (significant)

  • Worst case for the Vlogbrothers in 20 years: Hank playing a Vegas lounge show. — 00:00:58

    “30 minutes off the strip singing to five people in the audience who have no idea who I am.”

  • Explaining why he had to buy Fable III, Hank says being nerdy is part of his job. — 00:01:56

    “And nerds have to play video games. It's a law of nature.”

  • Plugging the giraffe love shirt, Hank describes what the adorable giraffes want. — 00:03:19

    “love each other for a very short and terrifying amount of time before the dude runs off and shags a bunch of dudes.”

  • Going as Dexter for Halloween, Hank asks commenters for their costumes and adds a threat if they don't. — 00:03:49

    “I won't kill you unless I suspect that you are a murderer and that you're going to kill more people in the future.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Fable III · video game

Also: People: Phineas Gage (historical)

Projects: DFTBA Records

Works: Giraffe love shirt · Glee · Strange Charm · Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch-a, Touch Me

Organizations: Facebook · Hot Topic · Target Corporation · Twitter

Concepts: giraffe · nerd

Places: Caesars Palace · Las Vegas

Events: Halloween (holiday)

Characters: Albion · Dexter Morgan · Frank N. Furter · Janet Weiss · Rachel Berry · Will Schuester

Only in the description or credits: The Rocky Horror Picture Show · This Star Won't Go Out bracelet

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