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Paper Towns Madrid with Nat Wolff! THE TOUR BEGINS

2015-06-16 (said on 2015-06-13 — implied: date said in the video; uploaded 3 days later) · letter vlog · John, Nat Wolff, Henry Green, Alice Green · 2:40 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Personal life (also: Pop culture) · mode: Personal update · tags: on location, guest or collab, self promotion

John's travel diary of the start of the European Paper Towns press tour: leaving the kids with his parents in Asheville, flying sleeplessly to Madrid with Nat Wolff, and touring the Reina Sofia museum, where he credits Nat with teaching him to value movies.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Greeting (actually Saturday); off to Europe via North Carolina; kids left with Mom and Dad in Asheville: chickens, goats, fairy garden, the dog

  • ★★ John says it is actually Saturday and they are on their way to Europe, and asks Henry where they are going first; Henry answers North Carolina. — 00:00:01 · Europe, Henry Green
  • ★★★ In Asheville, John's parents, 'noted American heroes Mom and Dad', will look after John's kids for the week while he is in Europe. — 00:00:16 · Sydney Green, Mike Green, Europe
  • ★ John's parents' house has flowers, chickens, goats, crustless grilled cheese and a fairy garden where Mom installed tiny fairies to find, like a scavenger hunt. (playful) — 00:00:24 · Sydney Green

00:00:44 — New York to Madrid with Nat: no sleep on planes, jet lag and 'just keep swimming'

  • ★★ Having dropped off the kids, John reaches New York just in time for the flight to Madrid, hoping to sleep the whole way, and finds Nat. (hedged) — 00:00:44 · New York City
  • ★★ John finds it very hard to sleep on airplanes because a voice inside him insists that 34,000 feet up calls for ceaseless vigilance. (playful) — 00:01:05
  • ★ Nat Wolff: Nat says he slept probably an hour. — 00:01:17
  • ★★ John says their way of dealing with jet lag is Dory's 'just keep swimming' from Finding Nemo: shower, caffeine, fresh clothes, no sleep, then a museum. (playful) — 00:01:20

00:01:35 — Reina Sofia museum: Carl Andre, early Picasso, Guernica, a Warhol, period films

  • ★★ At the Reina Sofia museum John and Nat see works by Carl Andre, an early Picasso, crowds at Guernica and a Warhol; John praises period films in every room as a fascinating curatorial choice. — 00:01:35

00:01:57 — Friendship with Nat Wolff and John's new appreciation for movies; 'I love you, Nat Wolff'

  • ★★★ John says he and Nat have become close over a year and a half; Nat taught him to value movies, which he used to think of as lesser novels, as fascinating in themselves. — 00:01:57
  • ★★ While Nat's back is turned, John calls him a great actor and a brilliant person and says he loves him. — 00:02:11

00:02:18 — Fried-bacon lunch; too tired to go on; 'when I grow up' exchange; sign-off and a near miss with a car

  • ★ Lunch is fried bacon; John and Nat end the video exhausted with two miles still to walk. (playful) — 00:02:19
  • ★★ Nat Wolff: Nat says he is going to be John when he grows up. (playful) — 00:02:27 · John Green
  • ★★ John replies that he just hopes he is Nat Wolff when he grows up. (playful) — 00:02:29

In the description and comments

  • ★★★ The description says the European leg of the Paper Towns press tour begins in Madrid, with John and Nat Wolff pushing through crushing jet lag. — video description · Paper Towns (film)
  • ★★ The description says the Paper Towns movie is 38 days from its US release on July 24th, and John will share a Mountain Goats song he loves every day until then. — video description · Paper Towns (film)

Humor (significant)

  • On the flight to Madrid, John films himself with his eyes closed instead of actually sleeping. — 00:01:00

    “videotaping yourself with your eyes closed is not the same thing as sleeping.”

  • John explains he can't sleep on planes because a little voice keeps reminding him he is 34,000 feet above the ground. — 00:01:05

    “a situation that calls not for sleeping, but for ceaseless vigilance!”

  • As they sign off, Nat is almost hit by a car; John says he's glad Nat wasn't hit. — 00:02:36

    “That would have been really bad for press.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Madrid · Nat Wolff

Also: People: Alice Green · Andy Warhol · Carl Andre · Henry Green · Mike Green · Pablo Picasso · Sydney Green

Works: Finding Nemo · Guernica

Organizations: Museo Reina Sofía

Concepts: film · jet lag · novel

Places: Asheville, North Carolina · Europe · New York City · North Carolina

Characters: Dory

Only in the description or credits: John Darnielle · Paper Towns (film) · Quentin Jacobsen · The Mountain Goats

Also centred on Nat Wolff: Question Tuesday with Nat Wolff (aka Isaac in The Fault in Our Stars movie) · The Future of the Project for Awesome: Pizzamas Day 8 · Question Tuesday with Cara Delevingne and Nat Wolff · Paper Towns, Agloe, and Touring: Thoughts from (Many) Places

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