Skip to content

Burning Peeps, My OTP, and Velociraptors: It's Question Tuesday

2012-10-16 · Q&A · John, Henry Green · 3:43 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Books & writing) · mode: Q&A & conversation · tags: recurring series, community lore, self promotion, guest or collab

After a Cincinnati Nerdfighter gathering and a walk he chose not to film, John rapid-fires Question Tuesday answers: mostly jokes (Congress, Peeps, YOLO, who the eff is Hank), plus a book recommendation behind The Fault in Our Stars, the box set date and a world-history lesson about collaboration versus ideology.

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; Cincinnati gathering; walk in Miami Whitewater Forest without making a Thoughts from Places; Question Tuesday intro

  • ★★ John says he met a lot of Nerdfighters the previous night in Cincinnati. — 00:00:04 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ Walking alone in the Miami Whitewater Forest, John decided not to make a Thoughts from Places video and just go on a walk without videotaping everything he does. — 00:00:08 · Thoughts from Places

00:00:31 — Quick answers: Halloween, the penny and Congress, OTP 'Pea-bunny', Poe's raven, microwaved Peeps, pancakes, the alphabet

  • ★★ Asked why legislation to kill the penny is held up in Congress, John jokes that the current Congress could not pass anything, even to save itself. (playful) — 00:00:37 · United States Congress
  • ★ John says the raven in Poe's poem symbolizes death, and as a rule of thumb anything that looks like a symbol in Poe is death. (playful) — 00:00:51

00:01:30 — Books: The Blood of the Lamb and An Imperial Affliction; the platypus; box set date; Augustus Waters

00:01:54 — Pi; Henry picks velociraptors; YOLO; jumping from space; statues; favourite president Polk

  • ★ Henry Green: Asked to settle velociraptor versus brontosaurus, John asks Henry, who prefers velociraptors. — 00:02:01 · Henry Green
  • ★ John names favourites: James K. Polk, "Napoleon of the Stump", as president, Gandalf over Dumbledore, and the Mongols as his favourite period of history. (playful) — 00:02:32

00:02:35 — Hank's voting video on Obama's Tumblr; no siblings in John's books and 'who the eff is Hank'; Atlas Shrugged

  • ★★ Asked whether Barack Obama's Tumblr really posted Hank's voting video, John first says no, then, surprised, tells Hank he is on the President's Tumblr. — 00:02:37 · Barack Obama, Tumblr, Hank Green
  • ★★ Asked why his main characters have no siblings, John jokes it is his way of telling Hank he doesn't exist in his narrative imagination, then 'who the eff is Hank?' (joke) — 00:02:48 · Who the Eff Is Hank, Hank Green

00:02:59 — Lessons from teaching world history; next book; Gandalf; the Mongols; five favourite John Greens; thanks and sign-off

  • ★★★ From a year of teaching world history, John says humans generally get less miserable when they collaborate and get totally hosed when they choose ideology over actual humans. — 00:03:02 · Crash Course, collective action
  • ★★ John doesn't know when his next book will come out, perhaps 2014 or 2015; it's going to be a while. (hedged) — 00:03:11

Humor (significant)

  • Asked why the bill to kill the penny is stuck in Congress, John describes the current Congress. — 00:00:37

    “if the current Congress were actually and physically on fire, they couldn't pass a Throw Water on Congress Act.”

  • Asked what he has always wanted to microwave, John serves himself Peeps on a hot plate. — 00:01:02

    “disgusting, somewhat burnt, microwaved peeps.”

  • John says YOLO is appropriate whenever you act out of an abundance of caution, e.g. obeying the speed limit. — 00:02:15

    “"I'm gonna pass up this opportunity to go skydiving because YOLO".”

  • Having said his characters lack siblings to tell Hank he doesn't exist, John asks 'who the eff is Hank?' — 00:02:52

    “Hank is an American folk rock band originally formed in Claremont, California.”

Threads in this video

Mentioned

People: Barack Obama · Edgar Allan Poe · Henry Green · James K. Polk

Projects: Crash Course · Thoughts from Places

Works: Atlas Shrugged · John Green box set · Looking for Alaska (novel) · The Blood of the Lamb · The Fault in Our Stars · The Raven

Organizations: Tumblr · United States Congress

Rituals: Question Tuesday

Terms: doobly-doo · Who the Eff Is Hank

Concepts: collective action · ideology

Places: Cincinnati · Miami Whitewater Forest · Mongol Empire

Events: Halloween (holiday)

Characters: Albus Dumbledore · An Imperial Affliction · Augustus Waters · Gandalf · Peter Van Houten

Products: Peeps

Policies: Abolish the US penny

Memes: YOLO

Only in the description or credits: Peter De Vries

← Previous: Human Sexuality is Complicated… · Next → Revolutionizing Education...With Weirdos