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John's Best Gift to Me

2018-03-09 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Pop culture (also: Personal life) · mode: Personal essay

Prompted by Lauren Lapkus's tweet that older siblings are the original influencers, Hank says John's trusted taste, especially in music, brought They Might Be Giants into his life; in Portland for about his 12th show, he argues the band's unpretentious enthusiasm and effort have shaped his whole life, and thanks John.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Greeting; movie-trailer voice about vlogging after a late night and an early baby

  • ★ In a movie-trailer voice, Hank says he has to make a video blog though he was up late and his baby was up early. (playful) — 00:00:03 · Orin Green

00:00:13 — Lauren Lapkus's 'original influencers' tweet and the older sibling's taste-making authority

  • ★★ Lauren Lapkus (quoted): Lauren Lapkus tweeted that older siblings are the original influencers: her brother called sausage pizza gross and she didn't eat it for 20 years. — 00:00:13
  • ★★ Hank quote-tweeted it: his older brother thought it was a good idea to make video blogs, which Hank stresses is not an exaggeration. — 00:00:28 · John Green, Vlogbrothers
  • ★★★ Hank says something about the older-sibling relationship creates absolute confidence in the older child's taste-making, a remarkable responsibility he doesn't expect children to live up to. (hedged) — 00:00:38
  • ★ Sometimes the older sibling is into weird or dumb stuff, like smoking cigarettes and reading Ulysses for fun. (playful) — 00:01:03

00:01:10 — John's good taste in music: Flood comes into the house; the Chumbawamba counterfactual

  • ★★★ Though John is not particularly musical, Hank says he has extremely good taste in music: every band he got Hank into was far better than a random selection. — 00:01:10 · John Green
  • ★★★ Hank remembers John and Matt Brown bringing They Might Be Giants' album Flood into the house and playing it in Dad's giant CD player. — 00:01:28 · John Green, Mike Green
  • ★★ Had it been a Chumbawamba CD, Hank would have learned every song, but probably couldn't have sustained a decades-long love affair with the band; he apologizes to Chumbawamba fans. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:37

00:02:05 — At a They Might Be Giants show in Portland: why the band lasts and how it shaped Hank; thanks to John

  • ★★ Hank is in Portland, Oregon with his wife and child to see probably his 12th They Might Be Giants show. (hedged) — 00:02:05 · Katherine Green, Orin Green
  • ★★ Hank describes They Might Be Giants as a weird, artsy, nerdy rock band with opaque but meaningful lyrics and a cohesive style that hardly ever sounds like itself. — 00:02:12
  • ★★ Part of Hank suspects he likes the band because nerdy guys his age are supposed to, but he trusts his gut, which says the band is good; deeper listening keeps revealing layers. — 00:02:24
  • ★★ Hank senses the band aims to create something simple to enjoy with a lot of complexity within it. (speculative) — 00:02:48
  • ★★ They Might Be Giants are in their late 50s yet still release very good albums, learn new instruments, find new ways of working, tour and make people happy. — 00:02:57
  • ★★★ The band's lack of pretension and lean into enthusiasm and effort has maybe infected Hank's entire life, an infection that started with something John brought home. (hedged) — 00:03:12 · John Green
  • ★★ Hank thinks the band's self-awareness and honesty give it longevity: it never tried to be anything but itself, yet always tried to be interesting and good. (hedged) — 00:03:23
  • ★★★ The band has been a lifelong gift to enjoy and be inspired by; John didn't know he was giving it, but Hank thanks him anyway. — 00:03:36 · John Green
  • ★★ Hank wishes everyone were lucky enough to have such good and nerdy tastemakers while growing up. — 00:03:45

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description adds that certainty about what is valuable, awesome and cool is great: knowing his time loving the band was worth it meant not fretting about wasting time. (hedged) — video description
  • ★★ Hank misses believing that whatever John thought was cool was cool; he thinks our habit of making up our own minds about everything is the weird way, bringing stress, anxiety and maybe depression, and that a little more faith in other people's tastes would be more relaxing. (hedged) — video description · John Green

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: They Might Be Giants

Also: People: Katherine Green · Lauren Lapkus · Matt Brown · Mike Green · Orin Green

Works: Flood · Ulysses

Groups: Chumbawamba

Concepts: intuition · nerd

Places: Portland, Oregon

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