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Is bronchitis contagious? Is black a color?

2011-01-03 · list · John · 2:54 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube · mode: Comedy & performance · tags: community lore, civic or action cta

On the vlogbrothers' four-year YouTube anniversary John answers Google autocomplete's 'is b…' questions, mocking celebrity-gossip queries, and announces 2011 plans: Monday-Wednesday-Friday videos, more question videos and Thoughts from Places, and a Question Tuesday on Friday.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Greeting, date (Monday, January 3, 2011) and happy four-year YouTube anniversary; John dressed up

  • ★★ John wishes Hank a happy four-year YouTube anniversary and says he dressed up because it is their special day. — 00:00:00 · YouTube, Vlogbrothers

00:00:06 — Answering Google autocomplete's 'is b' questions: BearShare, Bob Harper, Bam Margera, Beyoncé, Brett Favre, Beezid, bronchitis, Bleach, and whether black is a color

  • ★★ John sets out to answer some of Google autocomplete's common questions beginning with 'is b' (he calls it auto-correct). (playful) — 00:00:06 · Google
  • ★★ John answers a run of autocomplete questions: BearShare is not safe; Bam Margera is technically still married; Beyoncé is not pregnant; Brett Favre is married; Beezid is a rip-off, not a scam; bronchitis is contagious; Bleach is not over. (playful) — 00:00:09
  • ★★ Answering 'Is Bob Harper gay?' (a man on The Biggest Loser), John asks Google whether we'd have a unified theory if we thought as much about quantum physics as about celebrities' sexuality; he thinks so. (playful) — 00:00:13 · Google
  • ★★★ John calls 'is black a color?' the one interesting question: functionally yes, since mixing the primary colors gives near-black, but technically blackness is the absence of light and achromatic. — 00:00:46

00:00:58 — 'Is benj': Natalie Portman's fiancé, Benjamin Button, a headdesk, and whether Benjamin Franklin is a president

  • ★★ Answering 'is Benjamin Franklin a president?', John says Franklin was never president of the United States and died aged 84, 221 years ago. — 00:01:13
  • ★ John mocks the present tense and indefinite article of 'is Benjamin Franklin a president?' (as if there were several US presidents, or Franklin were in the band The Presidents of the United States of America) and solemnly informs 'the Googlers of the world' that Franklin has died. (joke) — 00:01:13

00:01:51 — 'Is bieb': the Justin Bieber autocompletes and what Google thinks we want to know in 2011

  • ★★ After the 'is Bieber' autocompletes (gay, in jail, a girl, really 51, dead, going to North Korea…), John says the answer to all is either no or 'ahhh', and that in 2007 they did not imagine a world where Google thinks we want to know such things. (playful) — 00:01:51 · Google

00:02:24 — 2011 plans: Monday-Wednesday-Friday videos, more question videos, Thoughts from Places and info-tational videos; Question Tuesday on Friday; mixed-up sign-off

  • ★★★ Thanking Nerdfighters for sticking with them, John says the vlogbrothers will continue Monday-Wednesday-Friday videos in 2011 and, having heard viewers, will make more question videos, Thoughts from Places and 'info-tational' videos. — 00:02:24 · Nerdfighteria, Vlogbrothers, Thoughts from Places
  • ★★ John will do a Question Tuesday video this Friday (7 January 2011), asks for questions in the comments, and will answer as many as he can in four minutes. — 00:02:37 · Question Tuesday
  • ★ John signs off to Friday, corrects himself to Wednesday, and jokes that his mental calendar won't improve after four years. (playful) — 00:02:45

Humor (significant)

  • Reaching the autocomplete 'is Benjamin Button real?', John says he has to make a quick journey over to his desk. — 00:01:08

    “Ah headdesk!”

  • John treats 'is Benjamin Franklin a president?' as a question from people who don't know Franklin is dead. — 00:01:39

    “American hero, patriot, non-president, has died”

  • John combines every 'is Bieber' autocomplete into one description of what Google thinks we want to know. — 00:02:12

    “deceased, imprisoned, fifty-one-year-old, gay, bisexual, female, german basketball”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Google · Google Autocomplete

Also: People: Bam Margera · Benjamin Franklin · Beyoncé · Bob Harper · Brett Favre · Justin Bieber · Natalie Portman

Projects: Thoughts from Places

Works: Bleach (manga) · The Biggest Loser

Organizations: Beezid · YouTube (“Youtube-versary”)

Rituals: Question Tuesday

Concepts: black (color) · bronchitis

Characters: Benjamin Button

Products: BearShare

Memes: headdesk

Also centred on Google Autocomplete: Why Does My Dog Eat Poop? · Why are Barns Red and Kardashians Famous · What's the Difference Between A and Z · Why is There an Egg Shortage (And More)

Later videos replying to this one