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Thoughts from Comic-Con (NO MORE CHEETO MEDIA!)

2016-07-29 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:47 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Pop culture (also: Nerdfighteria) · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, on location, recurring series, self promotion

Back from his first San Diego Comic-Con, Hank argues that what makes fans special is not how much media they consume but their passion for it, and resolves to stop consuming 'Cheeto media' and love fewer things more deeply.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Hank's first San Diego Comic-Con: panels, a performance, thoughts on tiers of fame and on conventions concentrating fandom

  • ★★ Hank says he went to his first San Diego Comic-Con last week (week of 18 July 2016), doing panels alone and with friends and a little performance. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank finds it weird to share a stage with people he considers famous, and says the tiers of humanity we create are, in his experience, pretty identical. — 00:00:10 · celebrity
  • ★★ Hank says conventions like Comic-Con and the ones he helps run concentrate fandom, excitement and expression into the real world, and that is great. — 00:00:20

00:00:32 — So much media: Stranger Things, Mr. Robot, Ghostbusters; constant pressure to consume and move on; the passion at Comic-Con versus snacking; which media he returns to

  • ★★ Hank says there is so much media now: his friends talk about Stranger Things while he is still catching up on Mr. Robot and hasn't seen the new Ghostbusters. — 00:00:38
  • ★★ Hank says we are constantly told to consume media quickly and move on, the media industry advertises on its own media to push more, and there has never been this much. — 00:01:00
  • ★★★ Hank says the special thing about Comic-Con fans is not how much media they consume but their passion, which a nibble-and-move-on culture keeps from developing. — 00:01:20
  • ★★ Hank asks which shows, books, podcasts and communities he thinks about and contributes to more than he consumes; there are not many, but he wants more. — 00:01:39

00:02:05 — Aside: the Dole produce port outside his hotel and a time lapse, with a joke about Thoughts from Places connections

  • ★ Outside his Comic-Con hotel was a Dole produce port; Hank jokes that this Thoughts from Places video will not connect it to his point and shows a time lapse. (playful) — 00:02:05 · Thoughts from Places

00:02:34 — Resolution: stop consuming 'Cheeto media' and love things the way the fans do; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank wants to snack less, stop consuming 'Cheeto media', and focus on things that take up his brain and make him love the world, loving things the way the fans do. — 00:02:34 · Cheeto media

    “I wanna stop consuming cheeto media”

00:02:57 — Plug for NerdCon: Stories: Hank can't attend this year; John and a list of guests will

  • ★★ Hank suggests viewers who want to love things like that check out NerdCon: Stories, the conference he built with a team; last year (2015) was fantastic. (hedged) — 00:02:57
  • ★★ Hank won't attend NerdCon: Stories this year (2016), for reasons that will become clear on next week's (week of 1 August 2016) Dear Hank and John or in a long video just posted on hankschannel. — 00:03:09 · Dear Hank and John, hankschannel
  • ★★ Hank says John will be at NerdCon: Stories, along with guests including John Scalzi, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dylan Marron, M. T. Anderson, John Darnielle, Maureen Johnson and Patrick Rothfuss. — 00:03:23 · Maureen Johnson

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In the description Hank names Kim Stanley Robinson books, Star Trek and The Tick as what he loves, and says community built around loved things beats the content and its makers. — video description
  • ★ The description thanks Patife for supplying some of the Comic-Con footage in the video, since Hank didn't film enough himself. — video description

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Cheeto media · nerd · NerdCon: Stories · San Diego Comic-Con

Also: People: Ben Acker · Ben Blacker · Cindy Pon · Dessa · Dylan Marron · John Darnielle · John Scalzi · M. T. Anderson · Mary Robinette Kowal · Maureen Johnson · Nalo Hopkinson · Paolo Bacigalupi · Patrick Rothfuss

Projects: Dear Hank and John · hankschannel · Thoughts from Places

Works: Ghostbusters (2016) · Mr. Robot · Stranger Things

Organizations: Dole Food Company

Groups: The Mountain Goats

Concepts: celebrity

Only in the description or credits: Kim Stanley Robinson · Patife · Star Trek (franchise) · The Tick

Also centred on nerd: Brotherhood 2.0: June 20: Moving · July 27: How Nerdfighters Drop Insults · October 24th: RANDOM NERDFIGHTING · How to Make Guys Like You · Harry Potter Nerds Win at Life

Also centred on NerdCon: Stories: Announcing NerdCon: Stories · Book Towers for Miles · Post-NerdCon Haze · Let's Talk about Failure

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