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Thoughts from a Cruise

2014-03-07 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:31 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Personal life · mode: Personal essay · tags: on location

Hank, back from the JoCo Cruise Crazy, argues that the real value of a resource-guzzling cruise ship was a small, simple community of like-minded people, though he wonders whether it must take a boat.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Leaving Port Everglades on a cruise ship: its size, amenities and fuel use; environmentalist vs scientist Hank

  • ★★ Hank says that this time last week (week of 24 February 2014) he was pulling out of Port Everglades on a sunny evening on a boat, hard to believe given Missoula's current weather. — 00:00:01 · Missoula, Montana
  • ★★ Hank says the ship was a 150,000-ton, 240-foot-tall, 1,111-foot-long, 183-foot-wide floating luxury hotel with a climbing wall, pools, hot tubs, a casino, a mall and ice rinks. — 00:00:14
  • ★★ Hank says the ship burns 8,000 gallons of fuel per hour, powering not just the engines but seawater distillation, over a dozen elevators, the ice and the hot tubs. — 00:00:39
  • ★★ Hank says environmentalist Hank rebels against the very existence of the ship, while scientist Hank wants to know how such a thing works and was ever created. (playful) — 00:00:51
  • ★ Hank says the ship's goal seemed to be making passengers forget they were on a ship at all. — 00:01:06

00:01:18 — The fourth annual JoCo Cruise Crazy: nerd performers; the value was being locked on a boat with cool people

  • ★★★ Hank was on the ship for the fourth annual JoCo Cruise Crazy, a floating nerd adventure with semi-celebrity nerds including John Hodgman, Wil Wheaton, Hank himself and Jonathan Coulton. — 00:01:18
  • ★★★ Hank says the cruise's biggest advantage was not the luxury amenities but being locked on a boat with cool people. — 00:01:35
  • ★★ Hank says John Hodgman sat in a hot tub answering questions every day; Hank discovered new talents, met his idols and hung out with Nerdfighters, which is why everyone was there. — 00:01:51 · Nerdfighteria

00:02:03 — Caribbean stops; the real value is an ancient, simplified small community; complexity to get back to simplicity; does it need a boat?

  • ★ Hank says they stopped at Caribbean islands, swam with stingrays, snorkelled, rode the longest zipline over water in the world and saw a goat on a grave in Jamaica. — 00:02:03
  • ★★★ Hank argues the real value of the ship is giving people an ancient, simplified life: a small walkable community of the same people who share values, interests and passions. — 00:02:11

  • ★★★ Hank says such a community is a place to be foolish, comfortable, joyful and proud, and that these days we need a lot of complexity to get back to simplicity. — 00:02:33

    “we require an awful lot of complexity to get back to simplicity”

  • ★★ Hank grants that cities are valuable, the internet is lovely and we can't live such an insular life every day, but six days didn't feel long enough. — 00:02:42

  • ★★ Hank describes the cruise ship as a boat that consumes a gallon of gas every twelve feet. — 00:02:52
  • ★★ Hank says such community maybe doesn't have to come from a fuel-guzzling boat, but he doesn't know how else to pull it off, and will be thinking about that. (hedged) — 00:02:55

00:03:00 — Missoula's bad weather; sign-off

  • ★ Back in Missoula, Hank will also be thinking about sunshine: the weather is terrible and his surroundings are 'just a lake now'. (playful) — 00:03:00 · Missoula, Montana

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In the description Hank writes the cruise made him feel guilty but was immensely valuable, showing how hard people will work and how much they'll pay to get to community. — video description
  • ★★ Hank thanks Paul and Storm, Jonathan and Drew for putting the cruise together, calling it something so amazing. — video description
  • ★ Hank's description points viewers to Sara Watkins's and Jim Boggia's YouTube channels and to The Thrilling Adventure Hour's website. — video description

Humor (significant)

  • Hank corrects 'boat' to 'ship', then to a giant floating hotel, piling up its amenities. — 00:00:35

    “and a mall, and a giant cake, and freaking ice skating rinks!”

  • The ship is designed so you forget you are at sea; best to imagine a nice venue that happens to be in — 00:01:13

    “the longest, most laid-back earthquake of all time.”

  • The cruise's real advantage was the company: — 00:01:43

    “it was being locked on a boat with cool people, with no escape except for watery oblivion!”

  • Back home in Missoula, Hank shows the miserable weather around him. — 00:03:10

    “This is just a lake now.”

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: cruise ship · JoCo Cruise · sense of community

Also: People: Grant Imahara · John Hodgman · John Scalzi · Jonathan Coulton · Molly Lewis · Paul F. Tompkins · Peter Sagal · Wil Wheaton

Organizations: Johnny Rockets

Groups: Paul and Storm · Pomplamoose · The Doubleclicks

Concepts: environmentalism

Places: Caribbean · Jamaica · Missoula, Montana · Port Everglades

Only in the description or credits: Drew · Jim Boggia · Sara Watkins · The Thrilling Adventure Hour

Also centred on sense of community: THE BEST DAY

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