Skip to content

Happy Birthday John Green!

2012-08-24 · letter vlog · Hank · 2:59 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria · mode: Personal essay · tags: calendar ritual, community lore, civic or action cta, self promotion

For John's birthday Hank presents a photo mosaic of the brothers made from over 5,000 Nerdfighters, looks back on what the brothers and the community have done together as they near their 1,000th video, and thanks John and the online community; he closes by urging viewers to vote and bringing back the Chewie-Solo 2012 shirts.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Birthday greeting; the Nerdfighter photo-mosaic present; nearing the 1,000th vlogbrothers video

  • ★★★ Hank and the Nerdfighters give John a birthday present: a picture of the brothers at VidCon 2011 made up of over 5,000 Nerdfighters doing the Nerdfighter sign. — 00:00:00 · Nerdfighteria, VidCon
  • ★ Hank says they now have a database of 5,000 Nerdfighters to photo-mosaic into anything, such as Mario, a TARDIS, John Green or Matt Damon, whom he loves. (playful) — 00:00:00 · John Green
  • ★★ Hank says the brothers are about seven videos away from their 1,000th vlogbrothers video. — 00:00:00 · Vlogbrothers

00:00:29 — Looking back: time watched vs time made, other channels, companies, the foundation, tours, the Evil Baby Orphanage card game, fan art, famous viewers; praise for John

  • ★★ Hank's original metric of success: as long as people spend more time watching the videos than he spends making them, they are successful. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ Counting HankGames, SciShow, Crash Course, Hank's channel, Truth or Fail and forgotten second channels, Hank says they have made well over a thousand videos. — 00:00:29 · HankGames, SciShow, Crash Course, hankschannel
  • ★★ Beyond videos, Hank lists that they started companies with people who like their jobs, a non-profit foundation, went on tour, and both stage-dived. — 00:00:58 · Foundation to Decrease World Suck
  • ★★ Hank notes that their Evil Baby Orphanage idea is now a real card game with two decks of cards. — 00:00:58 · Evil Baby Orphanage, Evil Baby Orphanage card game
  • ★ People have drawn, sculpted and knitted the brothers; Kimya Dawson, Lupe Fiasco and Minecraft creator Notch watch, and John got to hang out with Rainn Wilson. — 00:01:42
  • ★★ Hank calls two of John's recent videos wonderful, unselfish gifts to the students of the world. — 00:01:42
  • ★★★ Hank says he is impressed that John never forgets their achievements owe more to the people who do things with him than to himself. — 00:01:42

00:02:11 — Online community as a new way to organize and care; Hank grateful, thankful and proud

  • ★★★ Hank credits online community, a marvelous, weird new thing with no structure or rules, as a new way for people to organize, act, give and care about each other. — 00:02:11 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ On John's birthday and the eve of the 1,000th video, Hank says he is grateful, thankful and proud of all they have done together. — 00:02:11 · John Green

00:02:41 — Sign-off; vote reminder; Chewie-Solo 2012 shirts brought back

  • ★★ Hank asks viewers over 18 to vote for somebody, not caring whom they vote for. — 00:02:41 · United States presidential election
  • ★★ For election time Hank brings back the Chewie-Solo 2012 shirts, still his favourite ticket, though he jokingly says not to write it in but vote for a real candidate. (playful) — 00:02:41

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In the description Hank thanks everyone who is part of what the brothers do: no one does anything alone, and that is truer for the two of them than anyone. — video description · Nerdfighteria

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Nerdfighter photo mosaic of the brothers (John's 2012 birthday present) · online community

Also: People: Kimya Dawson · Lupe Fiasco · Markus Persson · Matt Damon · Rainn Wilson · Ted Kaczynski

Projects: Crash Course · Foundation to Decrease World Suck · HankGames · hankschannel · SciShow · Truth or Fail · VidCon

Works: Chewie for President t-shirt · Evil Baby Orphanage card game · Minecraft

Rituals: Nerdfighter gang sign

Terms: Evil Baby Orphanage

Events: United States presidential election

Characters: Mario · TARDIS

Only in the description or credits: Chewbacca · Han Solo

Also centred on online community: Ending the Age of Outrage (at least in ourselves, if not in the world) · YouTube's New Thing (and a New Thing of Our Own) · The Most Interesting Thing I've Ever Done · It's Like Shark Tank, but for Charity

← Previous: Is College Worth It? · Next → Six Reasons Neil Armstrong was a BADASS