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Accio Decade Hallows

2017-07-18 · story · John · 3:57 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Personal life, Philosophy & meaning) · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, community lore, self promotion

On the tenth anniversary of Hank's song 'Accio Deathly Hallows', John recalls five memories of sudden happy news (his children's births, Sarah's breakup, the Printz Award call, and the song itself) and says its YouTube front-page feature turned Brotherhood 2.0 into a lasting project, thanking Hank and viewers.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Signing update: past 135,000 signatures

  • ★★ Signing update: John is just past 135,000 signatures. — 00:00:00

00:00:05 — Bad news as events, good news as slow processes, and the exceptions: happy news out of nowhere

  • ★★ John says ten years ago today was one of the most important days of his life. — 00:00:05
  • ★★★ John recalls Hank's idea that bad news usually comes all at once and good news slowly: declines in absolute poverty, child mortality and violent deaths go unreported because they are decades-long processes, not events. — 00:00:09 · Hank Green, progress, extreme poverty, child mortality
  • ★★ Sometimes, though, bad news is slow, like climate change, and good news comes all at once, from a surprise A on a test to something bigger. — 00:00:39 · climate change

00:00:54 — Memories of shocked joy: his children's births, Sarah's breakup in 2003, the Printz Award call in 2006

  • ★★★ Of John's five memories of shocked joy, the first two are his children's births: expected, yet both times the feeling, an overwhelmedness of joy and awe, was a complete surprise. (hedged) — 00:00:59 · Henry Green, Alice Green
  • ★★ Third: in 2003, after a couple of years as friends, Sarah mentioned at her apartment that she and her boyfriend had broken up months earlier. — 00:01:13 · Sarah Urist Green
  • ★★★ Fourth: in January 2006, engaged and walking in New York with his parents to register for wedding presents, John got a call that Looking for Alaska had won the Printz Award; his dad photographed the moment. — 00:01:24 · Looking for Alaska (novel), Sarah Urist Green, Mike Green, New York City

00:01:54 — July 2007: a new house in Indianapolis, Brotherhood 2.0, and Hank's Accio Deathly Hallows reaching YouTube's front page

  • ★★ Fifth: in July 2007 John and Sarah had just moved from New York to Indianapolis for her job and bought a first house, exciting but scary, and John had no friends there. — 00:01:54 · New York City, Indianapolis, Sarah Urist Green
  • ★ John's second book didn't sell very well. — 00:02:12 · An Abundance of Katherines
  • ★★★ In July 2007 John was doing Brotherhood 2.0, a year-long project of weekday videos with Hank, watched by a few hundred people a day. — 00:02:12 · Brotherhood 2.0, Hank Green
  • ★★ It had not occurred to John to keep going with the project after the end of 2007. — 00:02:26 · Brotherhood 2.0
  • ★★★ Ten years ago today (18 July 2007) Hank uploaded Accio Deathly Hallows, a song about his excitement for the publication of the last Harry Potter book. — 00:02:31 · Hank Green, Harry Potter (book series)
  • ★★ The song was picked up on Harry Potter fan forums, so the project was discovered by passionate people who know how to build internet communities. — 00:03:05 · Harry Potter (book series)
  • ★★★ Days later the song was featured on YouTube's front page and the channel went from about 200 subscribers to over 5,000; the year-long project began to feel like it could last. — 00:03:12 · YouTube

00:03:24 — A decade later: what the song made possible; thanks to Hank and viewers; sign-off

  • ★★★ A decade later the brothers are lucky to still be talking to each other and to still have people watching; without Accio Deathly Hallows their lives would look different. — 00:03:24 · Hank Green
  • ★★ Without the song they wouldn't have met Esther or the people behind the Project for Awesome, Hank probably wouldn't have sung before thousands, and John doubts he would be signing 200,000 copies of his new book. (hedged) — 00:03:34 · Esther Earl, Project for Awesome, Turtles All the Way Down
  • ★★ John thanks Hank for the song and for one of his favourite memories, and thanks everyone who watched then and watches now. — 00:03:46 · Hank Green

In the description and comments

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Accio Deathly Hallows

Also: People: Alice Green · Esther Earl · Henry Green · Mike Green · Sarah Urist Green

Projects: Brotherhood 2.0 · Project for Awesome

Works: An Abundance of Katherines · Harry Potter (book series) · Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows · Looking for Alaska (novel) · Turtles All the Way Down

Organizations: Michael L. Printz Award · YouTube

Concepts: child mortality · climate change · extreme poverty · progress

Places: Indianapolis · New York City

Also centred on Accio Deathly Hallows: July 20: Green Mohawk · Re: July 18: Accio Deathly Hallows · Book Eight...Another Harry Potter Song · Hank Vlogs (and a String Quartet) · I Hung out with Snookie...Accidentally · An Evening of Awesome at Carnegie Hall

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