Adorable Baby and Insufficient Cartography

2011-09-12 · letter vlog · John, Henry Green · 2:46 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Personal life, Philosophy & meaning) · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, guest or collab, self promotion, fundraising ask

John says the maps the brothers make in their videos, including Hank's September 11th video and his own Gatsby video, are always distorted and insufficient, but Nerdfighteria together draws better maps than any of them alone.

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; posters arrived; September 11th walk with Henry and the Yeti: Henry practises words, watches the White River; family on September 11th

• ★ John says his posters have arrived. — 00:00:02
• ★★ John says that yesterday (11 September 2011) he walked in the woods with Henry and the Yeti, down to the White River, where Henry watched the water for a long time, then to a playground. — 00:00:03 · Henry Green, Sarah Urist Green
• ★ On the walk John and Henry practise words: Henry says 'tractor', 'nerd' and 'happy' (and mumbles 'fighter'). — 00:00:05 · Henry Green
• ★★ John says September 11th is always a good day to spend with family because it reminds him we are only here a little while, with only so long to play in the dirt. — 00:00:31

00:00:41 — One point of being alive is paying attention to an elegant, heartless universe; John's clone interrupts with a joke

• ★★★ John tells Hank that one of the points of being alive is that we get to pay attention: to both participate in and observe a universe at once stunningly elegant and completely heartless. — 00:00:41 · meaning of life

00:01:04 — Some Nerdfighters were put off by Hank's Friday 9/11 video; maps must distort; Hank's 9/11 map and John's Gatsby map were distorted and insufficient

• ★★ John thinks some Nerdfighters were put off by Hank's Friday video, feeling he did not address 9/11 directly or seriously enough. (hedged) — 00:01:04 · Nerdfighteria
• ★★ John found Hank's video much less offensive than Budweiser's 9/11 commercials, but something about it was weird, and he kept thinking about it on his walk. — 00:01:10
• ★★ John says rendering the planet in two dimensions forces distortion: you must pick north as up or down and squeeze the continents one way or another. — 00:01:18
• ★★ John says that all year the brothers have been talking about how the truth resists simplicity. — 00:01:29 · the truth resists simplicity
• ★★★ John agrees with everything Hank said about memory, 9/11 and terror, but says that, like any map, Hank's video was distorted and insufficient; so was John's Gatsby video last week (week of 5 September 2011), though the 9/11 map is more emotionally charged. — 00:01:32

00:01:43 — Vlogbrothers maps are always insufficient, but thousands of Nerdfighters improve them through YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, the Ning and Your Pants (still hacked); reminding each other to be awesome

• ★★★ John tells Hank and Nerdfighteria that the maps they make with vlogbrothers videos will always be distorted and insufficient. — 00:01:43 · Vlogbrothers
• ★★★ John says the great thing is that the brothers are not the only Nerdfighters: thousands work together through YouTube comments, Twitter, Tumblr, the Ning and Your Pants to improve the maps, making better maps than anyone could alone. — 00:01:50 · Nerdfighteria, collective action, YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr, Nerdfighter Ning
• ★★ John says Your Pants is still hacked, apologises, and says they are working on it. — 00:02:09

• ★★★ John says Nerdfighters call each other to pay attention: in short, Nerdfighteria is in the business of reminding each other to be awesome, and he would argue business is good. — 00:02:20 · Nerdfighteria

  “we're in the business of reminding each other to be awesome”

00:02:28 — Asheville, North Carolina talk and signing as a fundraiser for his parents' hometown library; sign-off

• ★★★ John says that next month (October 2011) he will speak and sign in Asheville, North Carolina as a fundraiser for his parents' hometown library; all proceeds go to the library; tickets are ten dollars, details in the description. — 00:02:33

In the description and comments

• ★ In the description John says The Fault in Our Stars comes out in January and all preorders will be signed. — video description · The Fault in Our Stars

Threads in this video

• told · John's September 11th walk in the woods with Henry and the Yeti to the White River (2011) — John walks in the woods with Henry and the Yeti on September 11th, practising words with Henry and watching the White River, then going to a playground. (00:00:03)
• restate · Does human life have real meaning, given oblivion, cosmic scale and an indifferent universe? — John says one of the points of being alive is that we get to pay attention to, and take part in, an elegant but heartless universe. (00:00:41)
• restate · Should people fear terrorism? — John says he agrees with everything Hank said about memory, 9/11 and terror, while calling the video, like any map, distorted and insufficient. (00:01:32)
• restate · Do people achieve more together than as individuals? — John says that together as a community Nerdfighters make better maps than any of them could make alone. (00:02:16)
• restate · What is the community for? — John says Nerdfighteria is in the business of reminding each other to be awesome, calling each other to pay attention. (00:02:22)
• announced · John's talk and signing in Asheville, North Carolina, a fundraiser for his parents' hometown library (October 2011) — John announces he will speak and sign in Asheville, North Carolina next month (October 2011) as a fundraiser for his parents' hometown library, all proceeds to the library. (00:02:33)
• asked · John asks viewers to buy ten-dollar tickets for his Asheville library fundraiser talk and signing (2011) — John points viewers to ten-dollar tickets for his Asheville library fundraiser, with more information in the description. (00:02:42)
• progress update · John: sign every copy of The Fault in Our Stars (2011) — In the description John says all preorders of The Fault in Our Stars will be signed. (video description)

Where the stories that moved here went next

• John: sign every copy of The Fault in Our Stars (2011) — kept; last: recalled, 2024-12-31

Mentioned

Central: Henry Green · map–territory relation

Also: People: Sarah Urist Green · Sydney Green

Projects: Nerdfighter Ning · Your Pants

Works: The Great Gatsby

Organizations: John's parents' hometown library · Tumblr · Twitter · YouTube

Concepts: collective action · meaning of life

Places: Asheville, North Carolina · White River (Indiana)

Events: September 11 attacks

Products: Budweiser

Only in the description or credits: The Fault in Our Stars

Replies to

• continues · The Great Gatsby: Living the Dream in the Valley of Ashes — “So was my map last week about the Great Gatsby”
• continues · 10 Years after September 11th, and Diablo III — “some nerdfighters were put off by your video on Friday”

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