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John Gets a Tattoo

2015-09-15 · challenge / punishment · John, Laura · 2:19 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Pop culture) · mode: Comedy & performance · tags: punishment or challenge, community lore, guest or collab, on location

John finally gets the inkless DFTBA tattoo he owed as a punishment, is comically anxious, and finds it the least punishing Vlogbrothers punishment ever.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — John arrives at Firefly Tattoo with Rosianna to get an inkless tattoo as a punishment for something from 2012

00:00:15 — Aside: John has just seen Firefly for the first time and loves it

  • ★★ John has just seen the TV series Firefly for the first time, calls it excellent and asks why it was cancelled. — 00:00:15

00:00:21 — Getting the DFTBA inkless tattoo from Laura: placement, John's anxiety, first-ever inkless tattoo, it doesn't hurt

  • ★ Laura: Asked the least painful place for an inkless tattoo, tattoo artist Laura says anywhere with some good muscle. — 00:00:26
  • ★★ John chooses to have the tattoo say DFTBA on his upper arm. (hedged) — 00:00:34 · DFTBA
  • ★★ Anxious and scared at first, John finds the inkless tattooing doesn't hurt at all and thinks he might sort of like getting tattoos. (hedged) — 00:01:17

00:01:26 — Voice-over: water instead of ink, least punishing punishment ever, love of impermanence, five-letter names; it is over; wants a real tattoo; sign-off

  • ★★ Laura made John's DFTBA tattoo with water instead of ink, so it will go away in about a month. — 00:01:26 · DFTBA
  • ★★★ Though he spent the last several weeks fearing it, John says this turned out to be the least punishing Vlogbrothers punishment ever. — 00:01:29 · Punishment, Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ John says he really loves the tattoo, especially in all its impermanence; DFTBA are the five most important letters in his life, then jokingly corrects himself: his children's names also have five letters. — 00:01:38 · DFTBA
  • ★ Laura made the whole process relaxing, fun and pretty painless; they chatted and suddenly it was over. — 00:01:52
  • ★★ Now John wants a real tattoo, but has to talk to his wife first. — 00:02:03 · Sarah Urist Green
  • ★ John says it was fast, easy and relatively fun, adding that he is not saying 'get a tattoo'. (playful) — 00:02:08

Humor (significant)

  • Laura says the least painful place is anywhere with good muscle and that she knows he has some on his arm. — 00:00:31

    “My bicep is just huge muscles.”

  • Nervous John asks whether he is the most anxious tattoo recipient of Laura's career; she says he might be. — 00:01:01

    “I'm honored.”

  • John calls DFTBA the five most important letters in his life, then a voice-over correction follows. — 00:01:46

    “Update: Just realized that both of my children have five-letter names, so I would like to amend my previous statement.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: DFTBA · Laura (tattoo artist, mentioned from 2015)

Also: Alice Green · Firefly (tv series) · Firefly Tattoo · Henry Green · Punishment · Rosianna Halse Rojas · Sarah Urist Green

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