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Becoming Someone Else

2015-05-12 · challenge / punishment · John, Zulaiha · 3:42 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Philosophy & meaning (also: Personal life, Projects) · mode: Personal essay · tags: guest or collab, self promotion, fundraising ask, community lore

John and DFTBA office manager Zulaiha do Tameka Norris's Art Assignment 'Become Someone Else': she wears traditional clothing, he puts on a hat to feel like his 2008 self; John concludes some loss is inherent to change but he is always becoming someone else.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Quadragocon tie means a 2016 rematch; John pulled his hamstring training

  • ★★ Since the Quadragocon was a tie, John supposes the brothers will have to hold another one in 2016. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:01
  • ★ John says he started training for the rematch but pulled his hamstring in his first session, which shows in his walk. (playful) — 00:00:07

00:00:16 — The Art Assignment and Tameka Norris's 'Become Someone Else'; Zulaiha joins; the rules

  • ★★ John explains that he and Sarah make The Art Assignment with PBS Digital: they visit contemporary artists around the country who give viewers art assignments. — 00:00:17 · The Art Assignment, Sarah Urist Green
  • ★★ John says Tameka Norris's assignment 'Become Someone Else' has stuck with him, so he tries it with his friend Zulaiha, office manager and long-time nerdfighter. — 00:00:26
  • ★★ The assignment: change one thing about your physical appearance and take a before and an after selfie of who you have become. — 00:00:38

00:00:59 — Zulaiha's traditional clothing and hijab; John's anxiety at being recognized, nostalgia for 2007-2009, the hat

  • ★★ Zulaiha changes from her everyday Western clothing into the traditional clothing that people like her mother wear every day. — 00:01:05
  • ★★ Zulaiha says she respects people who wear such clothing without caring what others think or feeling self-conscious. — 00:01:13
  • ★★ Zulaiha: Asked by John, Zulaiha says she does not feel self-conscious wearing hijab in public; she is used to it. — 00:01:23
  • ★★★ John says he is much more self-conscious: being recognized makes him anxious, and though grateful, he finds people photographing him from a distance weirdest. — 00:01:28 · celebrity
  • ★★ John is nostalgic for 2007-2009, when everyone who met him on the street was a nerdfighter, though that is terrible since good things followed: his children, his book's success and film. — 00:01:41 · Nerdfighteria, The Fault in Our Stars
  • ★★ To become his 2008 self, John puts on a hat. — 00:01:57

00:02:11 — The failed Starbucks trip and Zulaiha's experience

  • ★ Having forgotten money, their Starbucks trip fails, but they did go out in public and talk to strangers as someone else. (playful) — 00:02:20
  • ★★ Zulaiha felt little different, she thinks because she links the clothes with her family, around whom she acts differently, but not with work. (hedged) — 00:02:38
  • ★★ Zulaiha wonders if she is more comfortable in this clothing than she thought and should wear it every day. (hedged) — 00:02:47

00:02:52 — The hat works; the assignment shows loss in change and that John is always becoming someone else

  • ★★ John says the hat makes him feel like someone else, someone he is more comfortable being in public: strangely effective. — 00:02:55
  • ★★ John loves that The Art Assignment makes him do and think about unusual things; here, what has and hasn't changed in the last few years. — 00:03:04 · The Art Assignment
  • ★★ John thinks some kind of loss is inherent to change. (hedged) — 00:03:13

  • ★★★ John says Tameka's assignment reminded him that he is always becoming someone else. — 00:03:16

    “I am always becoming someone else”

00:03:22 — Check out The Art Assignment; question to Hank; Penguin UK's Teenage Cancer Trust project

  • ★★ John thanks Tameka Norris and asks viewers to check out The Art Assignment's many assignments and videos about contemporary art. — 00:03:22 · The Art Assignment
  • ★★ John asks Hank whom he would become if he had to become someone else. — 00:03:27 · Hank Green
  • ★★ In a P.S., John says Penguin UK has a Fault in Our Stars-themed project raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust and asks UK and Ireland viewers to check it out. — 00:03:31 · Penguin Books, The Fault in Our Stars, United Kingdom

In the description and comments

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Become Someone Else · personal identity · The Art Assignment · Zulaiha

Also: People: Sarah Urist Green

Projects: Crash Course · Quadragocon

Works: The Fault in Our Stars

Organizations: Chipotle Mexican Grill · PBS Digital Studios · Penguin Books · Starbucks · Teenage Cancer Trust

Concepts: celebrity · contemporary art · hijab · nostalgia · selfie

Places: Ireland · United Kingdom

Events: Night of Infinities

Only in the description or credits: Brandon · Rosianna Halse Rojas · Stan Muller · Tameka Norris

Also centred on personal identity: We're all Scared · The Space Time Continuum: Thoughts from Dublin · Who Am I?! - Some thoughts on Personal Identity · Can You Ever Really Change? · Are We The Same Person? · NOW I AM THE SCIENCE ONE…

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