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Squeezing Strangers' Bikes in Amsterdam!

2017-04-07 · letter vlog · Hank · 4:00 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Personal life (also: Nerdfighteria) · mode: Personal update · tags: on location, guest or collab

Having left his computer on an airplane, Hank wanders lost through Amsterdam before VidCon Europe hunting for row houses, cyclists and a canal, squeezing bike tyres along the way, and has viewers edit the footage and vote on the version that goes on the channel.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Squeezing bike tyres; Hank left his computer on a plane, so viewers edit this vlog; the list of Amsterdam things to find

  • ★★ Hank left his computer on an airplane, so he is having other people edit this vlog. — 00:00:12
  • ★★★ Hank's plan: he puts his footage online, people make their own videos from it, and a vote decides which goes on the channel, all within about 24 hours. — 00:00:17 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ Hank sets out to find typical Amsterdam things: row houses, cyclists and a canal. — 00:00:27 · Amsterdam

00:00:47 — Lost in Amsterdam without maps: a chocolate drink, a tiny bike light, a pigeon, row houses, the canal hunt, abandoned bikes

  • ★★ Hank is immediately lost: the city is not on a grid and his phone can call and text but has no data for maps. — 00:00:53
  • ★ Hank finds a tiny, cheap bike light on the ground and keeps it. (playful) — 00:01:28
  • ★ Hank finds row houses with hooks used to lift things up, because the houses are too narrow to carry them up. — 00:01:50
  • ★ Hank sees two people smoking pot on the street, which he says is normal there. — 00:02:00
  • ★★ After getting lost, Hank is sure he has found a canal, completing his list of things to find. — 00:02:52
  • ★★ Hank suspects many of the bikes he sees are not in use, joking that they have been there for centuries or are left out to make it look like there are lots of cyclists. (playful, hedged) — 00:03:10

00:03:36 — Glad to be in Amsterdam for VidCon Europe; thanks to the editor and a pointer to the other versions; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank is glad finally to be in Amsterdam, which he has long wanted to visit, and to be there for VidCon Europe, which he expects to be a ball. — 00:03:36 · Amsterdam
  • ★★ Hank thanks the person who edited this version and encourages John and anyone else to look at the other versions edited by other people. (hedged) — 00:03:43

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description thanks Théo for the chosen edit and everyone who submitted videos; Hank found it fascinating what people kept or discarded compared with what he would have kept. — video description
  • ★★ Hank explains that several edits got more votes, but he chose Théo's because it still felt like something he might have made, had the highest votes-to-views ratio (over 50%), and had the most great moments and a strong story structure. — video description

Humor (significant)

  • Hank urges a pigeon to go eat a whole tortilla lying on a windowsill — 00:01:40

    “You could feed your entire family for a month.”

  • Hank passes a strange object on the street — 00:02:04

    “I think this is a wedding cake made out of diapers.”

  • Hank tells John the Dutch people think he is weird, but that's okay — 00:02:31

    “I think the Dutch people are weird.”

  • Hank walks down a street lined with parked cars — 00:03:01

    “Every single Amsterdam car is here right now.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Amsterdam

Also: Amstel · Chocomel · VidCon Europe · Yoo-hoo

Only in the description or credits: Théo

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