Writing, Walling, Racing, and Wizard Schooling

2015-09-29 · letter vlog · John · 3:07 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Personal life, Books & writing, Science & nature, Projects) · mode: Personal update · tags: self promotion, community lore, fundraising ask, timely hook

John tells Hank he is on a social media hiatus to write a novel, will race Maggie Stiefvater in race cars for charity near NerdCon: Stories, has finally decorated his wall with vlogbrothers relics, and cheers Hank's DFTBA Games Wizard School Kickstarter.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Social media hiatus to write a book after four years of 'working' on a novel

• ★★★ John says he is on a social media hiatus, which he finds very difficult, in order to write a book. — 00:00:02
• ★★ John says he has been 'working' on a novel for four years and is trying to take the quotation marks out of that working; when into a story he can think of little else. — 00:00:08
• ★ John thinks the writing is going well, but who knows; he's been wrong before. (hedged) — 00:00:20

00:00:23 — NerdCon: Stories in Minneapolis; charity race car race with Maggie Stiefvater at Princeton Speedway

• ★★ John says NerdCon: Stories is a week and a half away in Minneapolis, with a great bunch of storytellers coming. — 00:00:25
• ★★★ Separately from NerdCon, John and his friend Maggie Stiefvater will race actual race cars at Princeton Speedway outside Minneapolis on October 9 at 7:30; $5 at the door, proceeds to the charity Drivers Edge. — 00:00:32
• ★★ John says he has to wear a helmet and a fire suit in case his car catches fire, and that he is going to lose. (playful) — 00:00:55

00:01:03 — Flowing water on Mars and SciShow's excitement; be psyched about flowing water on Earth

• ★★ John notes there is, apparently, occasionally flowing water on Mars; the SciShow people got so excited they made shirts and posters. (hedged) — 00:01:03 · Mars, SciShow
• ★★ John is vicariously happy for Hank about Mars news but says we haven't taken a second lately to be psyched about flowing water on Earth: 'What a planet!' (playful) — 00:01:11 · Earth, Hank Green, Mars

00:01:23 — Showing how his tattoo is doing

• ★★ At Sarah's suggestion John takes off his shirt to show Hank how his tattoo is doing: it is 'still there a little bit'. — 00:01:23 · Sarah Urist Green

00:01:30 — The wall: objects from vlogbrothers history finally put up; asks what is missing

• ★★ Because many people complained about the blank blue wall behind him, John has finally put up his wall stuff; it is just a start but looks pretty good. — 00:01:33
• ★★ John tours the wall's relics: Willy, a puppy-sized elephant, a card of Hank humping Peeps, Daniel Biss's 'bloated triangles' paper, an Agloe road map, An Imperial Affliction 'stolen' from the movie set. (playful) — 00:01:35 · Willy, puppy sized elephant, Peeps, Yeti, Daniel Biss, Brotherhood 2.0, nerdfightastic, DFTBA, French the llama
• ★★ John asks Nerdfighters to tell him in the comments what his wall is missing. — 00:02:25 · Nerdfighteria

00:02:26 — Hank's new company DFTBA Games launches the Wizard School Kickstarter

• ★★★ Breaking his hiatus to check Twitter, John learns Hank launched a new company: DFTBA Games, co-founded by Hank, has a Kickstarter for its first game, the card game Wizard School. — 00:02:26 · Twitter, Kickstarter, Wizard School, Hank Green
• ★★ John says he is excited, was one of the first ten backers, and that he and the Yeti are huge nerds for tabletop card games. — 00:02:53 · Sarah Urist Green, Wizard School, Yeti

00:02:59 — Back to working on the story; sign-off

• ★★ John goes back to working on the story, hoping to report real progress on a real book soon. (hedged) — 00:02:59

Humor (significant)

• John stumbles over Maggie's surname - Stevater? Stivater? Stream Water? - then gives the pronunciation. — 00:00:41

  “Steve like the name, otter like the mammal.”

• After SciShow's excitement over water on Mars, John asks what exciting thing nobody has been psyched about lately. — 00:01:19

  “Flowing water on Earth!”

• Touring his wall of in-joke objects, John reflects that it seems weird to anyone who has not watched every Vlogbrothers video. — 00:01:57

  “but then it occurred to me that it also seems weird if you have.”

• John describes Wizard School as a card game for those still waiting for their letter from Hogwarts. — 00:02:47

  “which one hasn't totally given up on, even though one is technically 38 years old.”

Threads in this video

• told · John's social media hiatus to write a novel (2015) — John says he is on a social media hiatus, very hard for him, in order to write a book. (00:00:02)
• announced · John and Maggie Stiefvater's charity race car race at Princeton Speedway (2015) — John announces his race car race against Maggie Stiefvater at Princeton Speedway on October 9 at 7:30, $5 at the door, proceeds to Drivers Edge. (00:00:44)
• predicted · John: he will lose his race car race against Maggie Stiefvater (2015) — John says he is going to lose his race against Maggie Stiefvater. (00:00:58)
• asked · John invites viewers to come see his race against Maggie Stiefvater and support Drivers Edge (2015) — The description invites viewers to come see John and Maggie race cars and support Drivers Edge. (video description)
• update · John's tattoo (2015) — At Sarah's suggestion John shows Hank how his tattoo is doing: 'still there a little bit'. (00:01:23)
• told · John decorates the blank blue wall behind him with objects from vlogbrothers history (2015) — After complaints about his blank blue wall, John puts up objects from vlogbrothers history behind him. (00:01:33)
• callback · John's puppy-sized elephant (2008) — A puppy-sized elephant is among the objects on John's new wall. (00:01:35)
• callback · Humpy Hank: Nerdfighter animations of Hank humping things (2011) — John's wall holds a card someone sent him of Hank humping Peeps. (00:01:38)
• callback · John's wife Sarah as 'the Yeti' (2007) — Touring the wall, John plays on Sarah's nickname: 'speaking of the Yeti', there is a yeti on the wall too. (00:01:45)
• callback · 'French the llama': John's misreading of FTL as an exclamation of amazement (2009) — French llamas are among the objects on John's wall. (00:02:18)
• asked · John asks Nerdfighters what his video wall is missing, in comments (2015) — John asks Nerdfighters to tell him in the comments what his wall is missing. (00:02:25)
• launched · Wizard School: DFTBA Games' first card game and its Kickstarter (2015) — John reports that Hank's co-founded company DFTBA Games has just launched a Kickstarter for its first game, Wizard School. (00:02:38)
• milestone · NerdCon: Stories 2015 edition (Minneapolis, October 9-10) — John says NerdCon: Stories is a week and a half away in Minneapolis, with a great bunch of storytellers coming. (00:00:25)

Where the stories that moved here went next

• John: he will lose his race car race against Maggie Stiefvater (2015) — came true
• NerdCon: Stories 2015 edition (Minneapolis, October 9-10) — completed; last: looked back, 2025-11-28
• John and Maggie Stiefvater's charity race car race at Princeton Speedway (2015) — completed; last: outcome, 2015-10-13
• Wizard School: DFTBA Games' first card game and its Kickstarter (2015) — completed; last: outcome, 2017-03-31
• John's social media hiatus to write a novel (2015) — followed over 3 videos (2015); last: update, 2015-11-18
• John's tattoo (2015) — followed over 3 videos (2015); last: update, 2015-11-12

Mentioned

Central: DFTBA Games · John Green and Maggie Stiefvater's charity race car race · Maggie Stiefvater · Wizard School

Also: People: Abraham Lincoln · Daniel Biss · Francis of Assisi · Sarah Urist Green (“the Yeti”) · Woody Guthrie · Yoshitomo Nara

Projects: Brotherhood 2.0 · NerdCon: Stories · SciShow

Works: The Fault in Our Stars (film)

Organizations: Drivers Edge · Kickstarter · Twitter

Terms: DFTBA · French the llama · nerdfightastic · puppy sized elephant

Concepts: water on Mars

Places: Agloe, New York · Earth · Mars · Minneapolis · Princeton Speedway

Events: FA Cup

Characters: An Imperial Affliction · Black Santa · Chewbacca · Hogwarts · Swindon Town Swoodilypoopers

Products: Peeps

Myths: Yeti (“the Yeti”)

animal: Willy

Also centred on John Green and Maggie Stiefvater's charity race car race: John Green's Fiery Race Car Disaster

Also centred on Maggie Stiefvater: John Green's Fiery Race Car Disaster

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