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To Be Anything At All: Thoughts from Places, Chicago and LeakyCon 2012

2012-08-14 · letter vlog · John · 3:26 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Books & writing) · mode: Personal essay · tags: on location, recurring series, community lore

John recounts his LeakyCon 2012 Saturday in Chicago and a walk past the places of the first big Nerdfighter gathering on 8/8/08, where a chance meeting with a Dutch Nerdfighter at the Bean leads him to marvel at how improbable, strange and lovely it is to be anything at all.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Gifts from Brazilian Nerdfighters (Pelé-signed jersey); LeakyCon Saturday: Lev Grossman chat, shattered phone, Nerdfighter gathering and sword fight, signings at the DFTBA booth

  • ★★ John shows gifts from Brazilian Nerdfighters at LeakyCon: a Brazilian soccer jersey signed by Pelé, who wrote DFTBA on it, and a book hundreds of them read and annotated. — 00:00:00 · Nerdfighteria, DFTBA, DFTBA Records
  • ★ John calls Chicago America's best city. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Chicago (city)
  • ★★ At LeakyCon 2012 John chatted with Lev Grossman in front of a crowd, then shattered his phone by dropping it from about eight inches. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ At a massive Nerdfighter gathering John and Hank discussed the edgelessness of the universe and books belonging to their readers; John claims he won the sword fight that followed. (playful) — 00:00:33 · Nerdfighteria, Hank Green
  • ★ John signed for hours with Hank and others, then signed posters at the DFTBA booth, saying he has gotten really good at signing his name. (playful) — 00:00:33 · DFTBA Records

00:01:02 — Author friends and Maureen Johnson; 'I Was a Teenage Author' panel: John reads his high-school firefly story

  • ★★ After time with author friends including Maureen Johnson, John read at the 'I Was a Teenage Author' panel a story about an injured firefly he wrote for his high-school literary journal. — 00:01:02 · Maureen Johnson

00:01:26 — Walk to the Apple Store via Grant Park (first wizard rock concert, 8/8/08), the Art Institute, the Chicago River and a Descartes café

  • ★★ Embarrassed, overwhelmed by people and needing a new phone, John walked toward the Apple Store, first crossing to Grant Park, scene of his first wizard rock concert on 8/8/08. — 00:01:26
  • ★★★ John says that day he first found that other people knew the words to Hank's songs and began to understand how awesome Nerdfighters and Harry Potter fans are in real life. — 00:01:55 · Nerdfighteria, Harry Potter (book series)
  • ★ John walked past the Art Institute, across the Chicago River and past a café he says ignores that René Descartes died before coffee reached France, to the Apple Store. (playful) — 00:01:55 · Chicago (city)

00:02:25 — The Bean: the first huge Nerdfighter gathering on 8/8/08; 'how strange it is to be anything at all'; chance meeting with Dutch Nerdfighter Buddy; how improbable we are

  • ★★ John recalls that the Bean was where the first huge Nerdfighter gathering happened on 8/8/08 at 8:08 p.m., when Amy Krouse Rosenthal began The Beckoning of Lovely. — 00:02:25 · Nerdfighteria, The Beckoning of Lovely
  • ★★ John loves the Bean for the way it reflects and distorts us and our world back to us, while also giving seagulls a good perch. — 00:02:25

  • ★★★ Thinking of the four years and four days since 8/8/08, John felt, in Neutral Milk Hotel's words, how strange it is to be anything at all. — 00:02:25

    “how strange it is to be anything at all”

  • ★★★ Just then a Dutch Nerdfighter and author, Buddy, visiting the Bean because part of Will Grayson, Will Grayson is set there, ran into its co-author; he gave John his book and they exchanged DFTBAs. — 00:02:54 · Will Grayson, Will Grayson, DFTBA, DFTBA Records

  • ★★★ John marvels at how improbable that meeting was, how improbable we are, and how strange and lovely it is to be anything at all. — 00:02:54

00:03:19 — Sign-off

Humor (significant)

  • At LeakyCon John manages to destroy his phone by dropping it — 00:00:33

    “from a height of approximately 8 inches as shown in this dramatic reenactment”

  • At the Nerdfighter gathering, after discussing the edgelessness of the universe — 00:00:33

    “there was a sword fight from which I of course emerged victorious”

  • John reads aloud the injured-firefly story he wrote for his high-school literary journal — 00:01:26

    “What will we do without a gun?”

  • Walking north to the Apple Store John passes a café — 00:01:55

    “willfully ignore the fact that Rene Descartes died before coffee was introduced to France”

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: Buddy Tegenbosch · Chicago (city) · Cloud Gate · LeakyCon

Also: People: Lev Grossman · Maureen Johnson · Pelé · René Descartes

Projects: DFTBA Records

Works: Harry Potter (book series) · John's high-school literary-journal story about an injured firefly · The Beckoning of Lovely · The Hunger Games (book series) · Will Grayson, Will Grayson

Organizations: Apple · Art Institute of Chicago · YouTube

Groups: Neutral Milk Hotel

Terms: DFTBA

Concepts: Wizard rock

Places: Chicago River · Grant Park

Only in the description or credits: Amy Krouse Rosenthal · Thoughts from Places

Also centred on LeakyCon: WROCK! · ELLEN HARDCASTLE IS HERE! A Reunion Video · Plane Butts, Fish Farts, LeakyCon, and Marriage Equality

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