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I Gotta Go: Signing Off and Thinking about Inspiration

2014-03-25 · letter vlog · John, Hank · 3:53 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Philosophy & meaning) · mode: Personal essay · tags: community lore, guest or collab

Noticing Hank skipped the sign-off, John traces the vlogbrothers' sign-off and style to Ian Shoales, a radio commentator they loved as kids, and argues art is not lone genius but people building on influences across time and space to make the world suck less.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Tiny chicken disease; Hank's goose video ended without 'John, I'll see you on Tuesday'; why have a sign-off?

  • ★ John says he has a bit of the 'tiny chicken disease', hence his husky voice. (playful) — 00:00:02 · tiny chickens
  • ★★ John says he loved Hank's snow goose migration video: fresh, smart and lovely. — 00:00:04
  • ★★ John notes that for the first time in several years Hank ended a video without 'John, I'll see you on Tuesday'; 'several nerdfighters' noticed - two people and John. (playful) — 00:00:05 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John says dropping the sign-off was the correct artistic decision but felt weird, and made him wonder why they have a sign-off at all. — 00:00:18

00:00:25 — Ze Frank's The Show inspired vlogbrothers conventions but had no sign-off; John remembers 'I gotta go'

  • ★★★ John says Ze Frank's The Show inspired most vlogbrothers conventions, like jump cuts and 'Good morning', but Ze never had a consistent sign-off. — 00:00:25 · Vlogbrothers

00:00:43 — Phone experiment: John plays Hank an Ian Shoales clip and Hank recalls 'I gotta go'

  • ★★★ As an experiment, John phones Hank and plays him a short Ian Shoales audio clip, hoping he will remember its three-word catchphrase. — 00:00:43
  • ★ Ian Shoales: In the clip, Ian Shoales advises young people to avoid Colonial American Literature, mocking its authors as all dull. (joke) — 00:00:51 · United States
  • ★★★ Hank: On the phone, Hank names the catchphrase 'I gotta go', saying he doesn't know where it came from: it's deep in his brain. — 00:01:15

00:01:27 — Ian Shoales: the childhood tape 'I Gotta Go', why the brothers loved him, his influence; Merle Kessler

  • ★★★ John says their parents owned Ian Shoales's tape 'I Gotta Go'; when John was about 14 and Hank 11 they listened to it constantly, hundreds of times. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ John says they loved Shoales because he was funny, fast and smart without snobbishness, and never boring: his commentaries never ran past four minutes and always ended 'I gotta go'. — 00:01:41
  • ★★★ John says Hank remembering the phrase after 20 years shows how hugely Shoales influenced them: everything he did in 1985 is what they try to do now. — 00:01:56 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ John says Ian Shoales is a character created by Merle Kessler, who still does theatre and radio work in northern California and is still very funny. — 00:02:12

00:02:19 — A successful creative life; Sarah on defining art; creativity is not lone genius but networks of influence; John's definition of art

  • ★★★ John says Kessler's work still rippling outward is, for him, the definition of a successful creative life. — 00:02:19

    “his work is still rippling outward, and, for me at least, that’s the definition of a successful creative life”

  • ★ John recalls that on a recent Art Assignment episode a viewer asked Sarah to define art; she was comfortable without a definition while he blathered. — 00:02:26 · The Art Assignment, Sarah Urist Green

  • ★★★ John says we imagine creative work as singular feats of genius, like James Joyce writing Ulysses or Beyoncé's surprise album, but even they rely on vast networks of influence. — 00:02:36
  • ★★★ John says Americans feel obliged to praise individuals, but individuals mostly process their influences and build on them, hoping to make things helpful to others. (hedged) — 00:02:55

  • ★★★ John defines art not as great individuals making their mark but as many people working together across time and space to make the world suck less. (hedged) — 00:03:06 · world suck

    “lots of people working together across time and space trying to make the world suck less”

00:03:21 — Links in the doobly-doo, belated thanks to Mr. Shoales, 'Hank, I gotta go', a Whitney Houston attempt

  • ★★ John points viewers to links to a couple of Ian Shoales commentaries in the description. — 00:03:21
  • ★★ John belatedly thanks Mr. Shoales, a little embarrassed to have made videos deeply inspired by him for seven and a half years without knowing it. — 00:03:23
  • ★★ John signs off with Shoales's catchphrase: 'Hank, I gotta go.' — 00:03:31

In the description and comments

Humor (significant)

  • John explains his husky voice with an old family illness bit — 00:00:02

    “I got a little bit of the tiny chicken disease.”

  • John says several nerdfighters noticed Hank's missing sign-off — 00:00:13

    “by several, I mean, these two people and myself.”

  • John wonders how to explain tapes to young people — 00:01:34

    “They were kinda like Spotify only not free and it only came with twelve tracks on it”

  • With his husky voice, John attempts the refrain of Whitney Houston's 'I Will Always Love You' — 00:03:51

    “Didn’t get there.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: cumulative culture · great man theory · I Gotta Go · Ian Shoales · See you tomorrow

Also: People: Beyoncé · James Joyce · Sarah Urist Green

Projects: The Art Assignment

Works: I Will Always Love You · The Bodyguard · Ulysses

Organizations: Spotify

Terms: doobly-doo · tiny chickens · world suck

Places: Northern California · United States

Only in the description or credits: Merle Kessler · The Show with Ze Frank · Whitney Houston · Ze Frank

Also centred on cumulative culture: Redefining What it Means to Matter · 5 Songs You've Never Heard That You've Heard 1000 Times · Dear Young People, You Terrify Me · What a Concept!! · On Immunity, Inoculation, and Individuals · The Weirdest Post-Chemo Symptoms

Also centred on great man theory: The Myth of Greatness · Redefining What it Means to Matter · Making the World's Largest Ball of Paint · On Immunity, Inoculation, and Individuals

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