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Signing Psychosis, BlizzCon, TFiOS, Awesome Adventures, and URLatron

2011-10-21 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:44 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Projects, Books & writing) · mode: Announcements · tags: community lore, self promotion, on location, civic or action cta

Dressing badly in solidarity with John's 'signing psychosis' outside BlizzCon in Anaheim, Hank praises Nerdfighters' self-started projects - an iOS game starring the brothers and the fan covers that changed how Penguin treats covers - defends the TFiOS cover as a classic's cover, and launches URLatron.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — John has 'signing psychosis', which makes him dress poorly; Hank dresses poorly in commiseration and asks Nerdfighteria to do the same and post tagged photos

  • ★★ Hank diagnoses John with 'signing psychosis', a disease that makes him dress poorly, and dresses poorly himself in commiseration (a 'Weekend at Bernie's' look). (playful) — 00:00:00 · John Green
  • ★★ Hank asks all of Nerdfighteria to dress poorly in commiseration with John and post photos tagged 'signing psychosis', preferably on Tumblr or Twitter, so they can laugh at them. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Nerdfighteria, John Green, Tumblr, Twitter

00:00:29 — Hank is in Anaheim, VidCon's venue, during BlizzCon to steal ideas; Nerdfighters' iOS game John and Hank's Awesome Adventure: the brothers' voices, proceeds to a secret fund, thanks to the makers

  • ★★ Hank is in Anaheim, where VidCon will be held, during BlizzCon, because he wanted to steal BlizzCon's ideas for making conferences epic. (playful) — 00:00:29 · VidCon
  • ★★★ Hank especially loves it when groups of Nerdfighters get together and do cool things without the brothers even knowing. — 00:00:29 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ A group of people worked for nine months on an iOS game, John and Hank's Awesome Adventure, starring the brothers; asked what they needed, the makers wanted the brothers' voices. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ The makers gave the brothers a cut of the game's proceeds, which they are putting into a fund Hank cannot talk about yet. — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — Zerg-rushed by WoW players; the hundreds of fan-designed TFiOS covers led to a fan-designed cover in bookstores and Penguin taking the TFiOS cover seriously; Nerdfighters who dislike the cover should read Karen Kavett's and the Yeti's blog posts

  • ★★ Hank thanks the game's makers, led by the person who put the project together, and says the game is fun and costs $1.99. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ Hank cites the hundreds of people who designed covers for The Fault in Our Stars as another example of Nerdfighters doing something awesome together. — 00:01:27 · Nerdfighteria, The Fault in Our Stars
  • ★★★ Hank says the fan-cover project convinced a publishing company, for the first time in history, to put a book in bookstores with a cover designed by its fans. — 00:01:27 · An Abundance of Katherines
  • ★★ The project also convinced Penguin to take the cover of The Fault in Our Stars very seriously, which it did. — 00:01:56 · Penguin Books, The Fault in Our Stars
  • ★★ Hank finds it interesting that so many Nerdfighters dislike the TFiOS cover, when it is only so good because of them. — 00:01:56 · Nerdfighteria, The Fault in Our Stars
  • ★★ Hank recommends two blog posts on the cover: one by Karen Kavett, Nerdfighteria's unofficial chief creative officer for years, and one by the Yeti, John's wife and a modern-art museum curator. — 00:01:56 · Sarah Urist Green, Nerdfighteria

00:02:26 — Hank: the TFiOS cover is a classic's cover; BlizzCon limo gag; URLatron launches: Tumblr to .com in five minutes for $30, simpler and cheaper than his old how-to video

  • ★★★ Hank's view: it's the kind of bold, iconic, timeless cover publishers give books they want to become classics, and having read the book he knows it fits. — 00:02:26 · The Fault in Our Stars
  • ★★★ A year ago Hank's video on setting up a .com domain described a process costing about $80; a friend's brain crack simplified it and, after months of work, URLatron is ready to launch. — 00:02:26 · URLatron, brain crack
  • ★★★ URLatron turns a Tumblog into a .com domain in about five minutes of work for $30, with custom email addresses; Hank invites interested viewers to check out urlatron.com. — 00:02:26 · URLatron, Tumblr

00:03:11 — Plug for urlatron.com; congratulations to John on the cover; sign-off; start of the URLatron tutorial with an 'in your pants' jingle

Humor (significant)

  • In commiseration with John's signing psychosis, Hank dresses poorly and shows his outfit. — 00:00:00

    “Sort of Weekend at Bernie's look going on.”

  • In the Nerdfighters' iOS game, killing a poop-shooting Nintendo with a wind turbine triggers Hank's recorded voice. — 00:00:58

    “that is actually my voice screaming, holy giraffe sex!”

  • Filming outside BlizzCon, Hank is surrounded by World of Warcraft players mid-thanks. — 00:01:27

    “I'm being Zerg-rushed.”

  • The URLatron tutorial starts with a rushed jingle telling the viewer to leave now. — 00:03:11

    “Hurry, go get in your pants.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: John and Hank's Awesome Adventure · The Fault in Our Stars · URLatron

Also: People: Karen Kavett · Sarah Urist Green

Projects: VidCon

Works: An Abundance of Katherines · Weekend at Bernie's

Organizations: Penguin Books · Tumblr · Twitter

Terms: brain crack · in your pants

Concepts: giraffe

Places: Anaheim, California

Events: BlizzCon

Only in the description or credits: Anaheim Convention Center · World of Warcraft

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