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A Long Good Day

2015-04-14 · letter vlog · John, Sarah Urist Green, Justice Smith, Alex Wolff · 3:40 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Pop culture (also: Books & writing, Personal life) · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, self promotion, guest or collab, on location

John diarises his long day at the 2015 MTV Movie Awards, where The Fault in Our Stars won Best Movie; he says the celebrity machine, like LA's palm trees, is beautiful but unnatural, while the real people behind the films care for each other when the cameras are off.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Sunday travel: 4:10 a.m. start with Sarah, Indianapolis airport, NYT profile of Julie Strauss-Gabel, flight to LA, naps, signing books, bath not shower, makeup, sock emergency

  • ★★ John woke at 4:10 a.m. on Sunday and drove with Sarah to the Indianapolis airport, then flew five hours to Los Angeles for the MTV Movie Awards. — 00:00:01 · Sarah Urist Green, Los Angeles
  • ★ At the airport John picked up The New York Times because his editor and publisher Julie Strauss-Gabel was profiled in it; on the plane he read a great profile of Toni Morrison. — 00:00:05 · The New York Times, Julie Strauss-Gabel
  • ★ In his hotel room John signed a huge pile of books out of habit, not knowing what they were for, then had his makeup done and survived a sock emergency. (playful) — 00:00:29
  • ★ John says showers are disgusting: water droplets pelted at you like an attack from above are uncivilized, and you cannot eat while getting clean, so he takes a bath. (playful) — 00:00:37

00:00:58 — Meeting Justice Smith, Alex Wolff and Nat Wolff at a hotel; driving to the awards

  • ★★ John met up with Justice Smith, 'a.k.a. Radar', Alex Wolff and Nat Wolff at another hotel, and they drove to the awards. — 00:01:02

00:01:16 — The strangeness of the red carpet: photographers treat you as an object, and they come to seem objects too

  • ★★★ John says the red carpet is intensely, overwhelmingly strange: photographers seem to imagine you as an object they need to acquire rather than a human being. — 00:01:19 · celebrity
  • ★★ In turn, John says, it is hard to see the photographers as people who, in Whitman's words, contain multitudes; they feel like clicking objects, and you worry only about the captured object-version of you. — 00:01:37 · perspective-taking

00:01:57 — The show: Cara Delevingne, introducing a Paper Towns clip, the giant popcorn, Shailene's Best Actress win, TFIOS wins Best Movie and John thanks Esther

  • ★★ After the carpet Cara Delevingne arrived; she, Nat and John introduced a clip from the Paper Towns film of Q and Margo Nair-ing off Chuck's eyebrow. — 00:01:57 · Paper Towns (film)
  • ★★ Shailene Woodley won best actress for her role in The Fault in Our Stars; her kindness about John in her speech made him cry, and Nat teased him for it. — 00:02:23 · The Fault in Our Stars (film)
  • ★★★ The Fault in Our Stars won Best Movie, and John made the acceptance speech, as everyone had urged, so that he could thank Esther. — 00:02:38 · The Fault in Our Stars (film), Esther Earl
  • ★★ John says the award is not the Oscars but was 'our Oscars'; it was great to be there with Nat, Justice, Cara and Shai, grateful for The Fault in Our Stars while excited about Paper Towns. — 00:02:44 · The Fault in Our Stars (film), Paper Towns (film)

00:02:58 — LA palm trees are unnatural and unsustainable like celebrity; real friends care for each other off camera; Isaac makes John turn the camera off; sign-off

  • ★★ John says LA's famous palm trees are not native to Los Angeles and cannot survive there without copious watering. — 00:02:58 · Los Angeles

  • ★★★ John says the palm trees are cool, beautiful, totally unsustainable and unnatural, much like the whole screaming machine of celebrity. — 00:03:06 · celebrity

    “much like the whole screaming machine of celebrity”

  • ★★★ At a restaurant later with the real, complicated people who made The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns, John kept thinking that they care for each other, especially when the cameras are off. — 00:03:14 · The Fault in Our Stars (film), Paper Towns (film)

  • ★★ His friend and movie producer Isaac made John turn his camera off, which John calls the best part of a very good and very long day. — 00:03:29

Humor (significant)

  • John defends taking a bath instead of a quicker shower: showers are an uncivilized attack from above. — 00:00:45

    “Plus there's the indignity of not being able to eat while getting clean.”

  • Getting ready for the MTV Movie Awards, John has his makeup done. — 00:00:48

    “God, I love make-up!”

  • During the show a giant thin-legged popcorn bucket seems to stare at John lasciviously while he tries to have fun. — 00:02:17

    “then God that giant popcorn is still looking at me!”

  • John is still crying over Shailene's speech during the commercial break when Nat speaks up. — 00:02:30

    “This would be really touching if you didn't cry over, like, a good meal”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: celebrity · MTV Movie & TV Awards · The Fault in Our Stars (film)

Also: People: Alex Wolff · Cara Delevingne · Esther Earl · Isaac Klausner · Julie Strauss-Gabel · Justice Smith · Nat Wolff · Sarah Urist Green · Shailene Woodley · Toni Morrison · Walt Whitman

Works: Paper Towns (film) · Song of Myself

Organizations: The New York Times

Concepts: perspective-taking

Places: Indianapolis International Airport · Los Angeles

Events: Academy Awards

Characters: Chuck Parson · Margo Roth Spiegelman · Quentin Jacobsen · Radar

Only in the description or credits: Hazel Grace Lancaster

Also centred on MTV Movie & TV Awards: Walking the Red Carpet: Thoughts from Los Angeles

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