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Perfect Puff and Endless Interviews: Touring and Hollywood Press Junkets

2014-05-12 (said on 2014-05-13 — implied: date said in the video; uploaded -1 days later) · letter vlog · John · 4:00 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Books & writing) · mode: Personal essay · tags: on location, guest or collab, timely hook, community lore, self promotion

Back from Fox's TFIOS film tour, John says crowds, press junkets and red carpets made him feel disconnected and self-conscious as a nerdfighter, until a fan's moment showed him the community was never about the brothers but about big questions and lifting people up.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Tour finished: Fox's TFIOS film tour with the cast; Miami's crowd underestimated, Cleveland better prepared

  • ★★★ John tells Hank he has just finished Fox's tour for the TFIOS film with Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort and Nat Wolff. — 00:00:07 · The Fault in Our Stars (film)
  • ★★ The tour began in Miami, where everyone dramatically underestimated the turnout, causing big A/V and crowd-control problems; John apologises. — 00:00:13
  • ★★ After lessons learned, Cleveland was much better prepared, and several thousand people there wanted to say hello to Hank. — 00:00:22

00:00:29 — Reunion with the support-group actors, co-host Evelina Barry, Nat Wolff

  • ★★ John was reunited with friends who played the support group in the film, all of whom have lived with cancer, and toured with YouTuber Evelina Barry as co-host. — 00:00:29 · The Fault in Our Stars (film)

00:00:48 — Press junket: hair and makeup, hours of five-minute TV interviews and why they are hard; goodie bags

  • ★★ After early hair and makeup ('a lot of work to wrangle the puff'), John found hours of press-junket interviews weird: a new TV interviewer every five minutes, for hours. (playful) — 00:00:48 · the Puff
  • ★★ John lists why it is hard to talk meaningfully at junkets: only five minutes, they need quotes, the same question asked countless times, fear of saying something stupid or insensitive, and losing his voice. — 00:01:03
  • ★★ Admitting these are the 'first-worldiest first-world problems', John says his point is that it was hard to engage. (playful) — 00:01:21 · First World problem
  • ★ Goodie bags came with treats, and touring with someone who doesn't eat processed food meant John got Shailene Woodley's Goo Goo Clusters. (playful) — 00:01:26

00:01:35 — Nashville red carpet and bodyguards, Nat and Alex Wolff's concert, Dallas crowds

  • ★★ In Nashville, at a red-carpet-like event, John signed for many people but large men kept pushing him along amid screaming, no more conducive to meaningful conversation than the junkets. — 00:01:35
  • ★ Inside, Nat and Alex Wolff played a concert, and John and Shailene lay on the floor to peek under the curtain. — 00:02:00
  • ★★ After more press, Dallas brought another red carpet, screaming, bodyguards and interviews, and many thousands of people who wanted to wish Hank a good morning. — 00:02:13

00:02:25 — Feeling disconnected as a nerdfighter; a fan with lymphoma cheered by the crowd; what the community is really about; thanks

  • ★★★ Grateful to see so many nerdfighters and talk about the film with the actors, John nonetheless felt disconnected: with outsiders watching, he felt self-conscious as a nerdfighter and found it hard to be a community together. — 00:02:25 · Nerdfighteria, The Fault in Our Stars (film)
  • ★★★ During a Q&A a young woman told them The Fault in Our Stars has helped her as she lives with lymphoma; everyone was emotional, and thousands in the crowd began chanting her name. — 00:02:47 · The Fault in Our Stars

  • ★★★ John realised that even under outside scrutiny Nerdfighteria is still Nerdfighteria: the community was never about the brothers but about big conversations around big questions and lifting up people who need it. — 00:03:07 · Nerdfighteria

    “It's been about having big conversations around big questions and lifting up people who need it.”

  • ★★ John thanks nerdfighters from Miami to Dallas for welcoming new people while sticking together, lifting each other up and decreasing suck; they make him feel less far from home. — 00:03:25 · Nerdfighteria, world suck

00:03:42 — 'I love you... even Hank'; congratulations on Hank's album; sign-off

  • ★★ John congratulates Hank on his album being a huge hit on the iTunes charts and tells everyone to get it. — 00:03:49 · Incongruent

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Caroline (TFIOS tour fan) · The Fault in Our Stars (film)

Also: People: Alex Wolff · Ansel Elgort · Evelina Barry · Nat Wolff · Shailene Woodley

Works: Incongruent · The Fault in Our Stars

Rituals: Good morning greeting

Terms: world suck

Places: Cleveland · Dallas · Miami · Nashville

Products: Goo Goo Cluster · iTunes

Memes: First World problem

Only in the description or credits: 20th Century Fox (studio)

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