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The Looking for Alaska Movie, Davos, and Hufflepuff Shade: It's Question Tuesday

2016-01-19 · Q&A · John · 3:23 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Personal life, Books & writing, Projects) · mode: Q&A & conversation · tags: recurring series, on location, self promotion, community lore

From an airport on his way to the World Economic Forum in Davos, John answers rapid-fire viewer questions; the longest answer explains that the Looking for Alaska movie may never be made and that he is no longer involved.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — At the airport en route to the World Economic Forum in Davos; Magic Mountain literary tourism; follow the trip on social media

  • ★★★ John is in an airport on his way to the World Economic Forum in Davos, a gathering of world leaders, CEOs and Leonardo DiCaprio, and already feels a little out of place. — 00:00:01
  • ★★ John says Davos is the setting of one of his all-time favourite novels, Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain, so he gets to do some literary tourism there. — 00:00:13
  • ★ John jokes that his three favourite hobbies are eating pizza, sponsoring fourth-tier soccer teams and literary tourism. (playful) — 00:00:26 · AFC Wimbledon
  • ★★ John invites Hank and viewers to follow his Davos trip on his Twitter, Instagram or Snapchat, though he doesn't know how to log on to his Snapchat. — 00:00:31 · Twitter, Instagram

00:00:38 — Question Tuesday rapid answers: writing, book title, inside jokes, the election, Slytherins, Kevin Bacon, dog pants, debates, the end of the world

  • ★★ Asked how the writing is going, John says he thinks it is going well and apologizes that it is taking so long. (hedged) — 00:00:45
  • ★★ Asked the title of his new book, John says he doesn't know and asks viewers to leave title ideas in the comments. — 00:00:49
  • ★★ Asked whom he will vote for, John says he is not paying attention to the so-called presidential election until 100 days before Indiana's primary, and will enjoy his last few days of not thinking about it. — 00:01:02 · United States presidential election, Indiana
  • ★★ Asked to six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon himself, John says he acted in The Fault in Our Stars movie (scene cut, but in the extended version) with Laura Dern, who was in Novocaine with Kevin Bacon. (playful) — 00:01:23 · Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, The Fault in Our Stars (film)
  • ★ Asked how a dog should wear pants, John says that on dogs with pants he stands with the president. (playful) — 00:01:33 · How would a dog wear pants?
  • ★★ John says that, as far as he can tell, presidential debates now exist to sell expensive advertising on cable news networks, and at that they are very effective. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:39 · United States presidential election

  • ★★ Asked how the world will end, John says he has a top-ten list of eschatological anxieties but sides with T.S. Eliot: not with a bang but with a whimper. — 00:01:49

    “Not with a bang but with a whimper.”

00:01:56 — When will Looking for Alaska be a movie? Rights sold long ago, attempts fell apart, John not involved

  • ★★★ John says he sold the Looking for Alaska movie rights more than ten years ago, has tried many times to buy them back, attempts to make the film keep falling apart, and he is no longer involved. — 00:02:02 · Looking for Alaska (novel)
  • ★★ John admits this bums him out but reminds him how lucky he was with two great book-to-movie experiences; authors are almost never as welcomed into the process as he was with The Fault in Our Stars and Paper Towns. — 00:02:19 · The Fault in Our Stars (film), Paper Towns (film)
  • ★★ John says the Looking for Alaska movie may never happen: he hopes that will change someday but doesn't expect it to. (hedged) — 00:02:34 · Looking for Alaska (novel)

00:02:41 — Crash Course Literature mini-series planned for summer

  • ★★ John says this summer Crash Course will do another Crash Course Literature mini-series: Huckleberry Finn, Invisible Man, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Their Eyes Were Watching God and some Shakespearean sonnets. — 00:02:43 · Crash Course

00:02:53 — Celebrity crush; the 'Spring Rain' scent and high school; thoughts from Davos next week; sign-off

  • ★ Asked his celebrity crush, John says right now it is definitely Lin-Manuel Miranda. — 00:02:54
  • ★★ A spray scent called 'Spring Rain' takes John back to high school, where he and his roommate used it to cover the smell of cigarette smoke; the horrific scent makes him happy. — 00:03:00
  • ★★ John tells viewers not to smoke, calling it a tremendous waste of time and money. — 00:03:08
  • ★★ John says he has to board his plane and that next week (week of 25 January 2016) he will give Hank some thoughts from Davos. — 00:03:17

Humor (significant)

  • John lists literary tourism among his three favourite hobbies. — 00:00:26

    “eating pizza, sponsoring 4th tier soccer teams and literary tourism.”

  • Asked if he will be friends with a Slytherin, John agrees, praising Hufflepuffs as kind, caring and open. — 00:01:19

    “Unlike some people I know...”

  • Asked to six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon himself, John says he acted in the Fault in Our Stars movie. — 00:01:25

    “Admittedly, my scene was cut but it was in the extended version!”

  • Asked if presidential debates still accomplish their purpose, John says their purpose is selling cable news ads. — 00:01:45

    “In which case, yeah - they're very effective!”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Crash Course · Davos · Looking for Alaska (film) · World Economic Forum

Also: People: Aleksander Gamme · Kevin Bacon · Laura Dern · Leonardo DiCaprio · Lin-Manuel Miranda · T. S. Eliot

Works: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn · Invisible Man · Looking for Alaska (novel) · Novocaine · One Hundred Years of Solitude · Paper Towns (film) · Shakespeare's sonnets · The Fault in Our Stars (film) · The Hollow Men · The Magic Mountain · Their Eyes Were Watching God

Organizations: AFC Wimbledon · Instagram · Snapchat · Twitter

Rituals: Question Tuesday

Concepts: Cable news · literary tourism · pizza · primary election · tobacco smoking

Places: Indiana

Events: United States presidential election

Characters: Hufflepuff · Slytherin

Memes: How would a dog wear pants? · Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Only in the description or credits: Thomas Mann

Also centred on Davos: Billionaires and Radical Hope: Thoughts from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

Also centred on Looking for Alaska (film): Brotherhood 2.0: May 16: Beating the EBO into the ground · Travel Tips (and Paper Towns Movie Updates) · Some News · The Looking for Alaska Thing

Also centred on World Economic Forum: Billionaires and Radical Hope: Thoughts from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

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