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MY FACE ON A BUS

2014-10-17 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:59 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube (also: Personal life, Projects, Pop culture, Nerdfighteria) · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion, community lore

Hank reveals his secret LA trip was a shoot for YouTube's SciShow ad campaign; he can't find a feeling about being on TV and buses, hopes it helps SciShow and science literacy, but is ambivalent about YouTube going mainstream and glad Vlogbrothers is too weird for it.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Secret LA trip: In-N-Out cashier SciShow fan; hotel clerk asks if he is there to party; Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

  • ★ Hank says that a month and a half ago he flew to Los Angeles; at his first stop, In-N-Out Burger, the cashier was a SciShow fan. — 00:00:01 · Los Angeles, SciShow
  • ★ Hank says the hotel clerk asked if he was there to party and, not joking, listed twenty nearby parties; he was staying at Hollywood's Roosevelt Hotel, advertised as celeb-friendly. (playful) — 00:00:06
  • ★★ Hank says the trip's secrecy annoyed him, because the point of being a video blogger is getting to share the weird things that happen to you. — 00:00:47

00:00:47 — Reveal: YouTube's SciShow print and TV ad campaign with Michael Aranda and Caitlin Hofmeister; on TV during The Walking Dead premiere etc.; hope viewers think science is cool

  • ★★★ Hank reveals he was in LA for YouTube's channel promotion: he, Michael Aranda and Caitlin Hofmeister were shot for SciShow print and TV ads now in Chicago, LA, New York and on TV. — 00:00:58 · YouTube, SciShow, Chicago (city), Los Angeles, New York City
  • ★★ Hank says the ads ran during The Walking Dead premiere, The Big Bang Theory and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon; the premiere had seventeen million viewers, and those who didn't TiVo past saw him. — 00:01:18
  • ★★ Hank hopes the ad subconsciously persuaded viewers that science is still cool and that they are still curious about the world. (hedged) — 00:01:35 · SciShow

00:01:46 — Joke: what powers Walking Dead zombies? Zombie hamster wheels for infinite free power

  • ★ Hank jokes that Walking Dead zombies need some power source - photosynthesis, dark energy? - and that zombies on hamster wheels chasing a brain would give infinite free power and a utopia. (joke) — 00:01:46

00:02:18 — How he feels: no feeling; is it good for SciShow and for online video; the campaign legitimizes YouTube; ambivalence about YouTube going mainstream

  • ★★ Hank says he doesn't know how he feels about being on TV, buses and subway cars: part of him knows it's a big deal but can't find a feeling about it. (unsure) — 00:02:18
  • ★★★ Hank hopes the campaign is good for SciShow, because he thinks more SciShow is better for the world: society needs more scientific literacy, and SciShow does that fairly well compared with TV science. (hedged) — 00:02:32 · SciShow
  • ★★★ Hank says the campaign is not about SciShow but about making YouTube seem legitimate to viewers and advertisers, welcoming more people and more money into the medium than ever before. — 00:02:47 · YouTube, online advertising, SciShow
  • ★★★ Hank is a little ambivalent: as the YouTube community grows into plural communities, YouTube as a thing becomes a little less special if it is mainstream. (hedged) — 00:03:10 · YouTube

00:03:25 — Vlogbrothers is too weird to be mainstream; shouted in-joke mash-up; Death to pennies; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank says he is extremely happy Vlogbrothers is too weird ever to be mainstream, and that they are dedicated to keeping it weird. (playful) — 00:03:29 · Vlogbrothers

    “We will not allow Vlogbrothers to be unweird enough for it to be mainstream!”

Humor (significant)

  • Asked by the hotel clerk if he is there to party, baggy-eyed, dirty-T-shirt Hank answers sarcastically. — 00:00:14

    “that I'm not 100% turning down for what?”

  • Hank proposes capturing zombies and putting them in hamster wheels chasing a brain for infinite free power. — 00:02:04

    “We could go from the zombie apocalypse to a complete utopia!”

  • To prove Vlogbrothers must stay weird, Hank shouts a string of Nerdfighter in-jokes. — 00:03:48

    “THE PIZZA JOHN HAS TO HUMP THE PUPPY SIZED ELEPHANT WHILE SWOODILYPOOPING IN AGLOE, NEW YORK!”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: SciShow · YouTube

Also: People: Caitlin Hofmeister · Michael Aranda

Works: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon · The Big Bang Theory · The Walking Dead (TV series) · Turn Down for What (“turning down for what”)

Organizations: In-N-Out Burger

Terms: Pizza John · puppy sized elephant

Concepts: online advertising · scientific literacy

Places: Agloe, New York · Chicago (city) · Hollywood · Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel · Los Angeles · New York City

Characters: Swindon Town Swoodilypoopers (“SWOODILYPOOPING”)

Products: Google Maps · TiVo

Policies: Abolish the US penny

Myths: zombie

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