John Green Answers Your John Green Questions
2018-04-17 · Q&A · John · 3:56 · watch on YouTube
Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Books & writing, Internet & YouTube, Personal life, Sports) · mode: Q&A & conversation · tags: community lore, self promotion
To displace Hank's 2011 'John Green is an Idiot' as the top Google video for his name, John answers questions people ask Google about him: his homes and the novels set there, family, Hufflepuff, DFTBA, Canada, his cut film cameo, a namesake composer, AFC Wimbledon, the Mountain Goats, nerdfighters, awards and VidCon.
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 2011 video is the top Google video result for John's name; John sets out to replace it
- ★★ John learned that the first video result for his name on Google is Hank's 2011 video 'John Green is an Idiot'; he will try to replace it by answering questions people ask Google about him. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Google, Hank Green
00:00:24 — Alive; where John lived and the novels set there; the books he wrote
- ★ Asked whether he is dead, John says no, though it depends on when you're watching, but not currently. (playful) — 00:00:24
- ★★ John lives in Indianapolis, where TFIOS and Turtles All the Way Down are set; earlier he lived in Chicago (part of An Abundance of Katherines), Birmingham, Alabama (Looking for Alaska) and Orlando, Florida (Paper Towns). — 00:00:35 · Indianapolis, Chicago (city), The Fault in Our Stars, Turtles All the Way Down, An Abundance of Katherines, Looking for Alaska (novel), Paper Towns
- ★★ Besides those books, John wrote half of Will Grayson, Will Grayson and one third of Let It Snow. — 00:00:56 · Will Grayson, Will Grayson, Let It Snow
00:01:02 — First book, siblings and Dave, Hufflepuff, DFTBA, marriage, children, podcasts, Canada screening
- ★★ John published his first book in 2005. — 00:01:02
- ★★ John and Hank are brothers and there are no other siblings. — 00:01:09 · Hank Green
- ★★ John is a Hufflepuff, quite proudly. — 00:01:16
- ★★ John says DFTBA is an initialism for several phrases, including Don't Forget To Be Awesome, Darling, Fetch The Battle Axe, and Dave: Forgotten Through Brotherly Adventures. (playful) — 00:01:20 · DFTBA, Dave Green
- ★★ John is married and has two children. — 00:01:27
- ★ John has two podcasts. — 00:01:36
- ★★ John is not banned from Canada, but gets extra screening on entry because he is on a list of potential undesirables after being denied entrance in 1995 for insufficient funds. — 00:01:36 · Canada
00:01:54 — Cut TFIOS cameo, the namesake composer's Hollywood star, which book to read, a new book
- ★★ John's cameo was cut from the TFIOS movie because, he says, he is a terrible actor; the scene is available as a DVD extra and on YouTube. (playful) — 00:01:54 · The Fault in Our Stars (film), YouTube
- ★★ A different John Green has a Hollywood star: a composer who won five Academy Awards for scoring films such as An American in Paris and West Side Story. — 00:02:01
- ★★★ The composer is mostly forgotten today: a reminder that time washes away every sandcastle, so there is no sense reaching for immortality when there is real work to do with real people now. — 00:02:09
- ★ John does not have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. — 00:02:29
- ★ Admitting bias, John thinks you should read all his books. (playful, hedged) — 00:02:29
- ★★ Asked whether he is writing a new book, John says possibly, but it's hard to know for sure. (hedged) — 00:02:34
00:02:38 — Soccer: his sponsored team's last-kick comeback and John's tears
- ★★ John likes soccer enough to sponsor a third-tier English team, which over the weekend might have avoided relegation by coming back from two-nil down at half-time to win 3-2 on the last kick. (hedged) — 00:02:38 · AFC Wimbledon
- ★★ John wept like a baby at the win; Henry asked why he was crying if it was happy, and John said it was. — 00:02:47 · Henry Green
00:03:01 — Mountain Goats, what a nerdfighter is, awards, co-founding VidCon, Hank's many projects
- ★★ John listens to the Mountain Goats, early and recent. (playful) — 00:03:01
-
★★★ Hank and John have made Vlogbrothers videos for more than 11 years; the community around them calls themselves nerdfighters because they fight for intellectual engagement and celebrate unironic enthusiasm. — 00:03:08 · Vlogbrothers, Nerdfighteria, nerdfighter
“they fight for intellectual engagement and celebrate unironic enthusiasm”
-
★★ John's books have won a Printz Award, an Edgar Award and, 'most prestigiously', an MTV Movie Award. (playful) — 00:03:22
- ★★★ John technically co-founded VidCon, but only because he was on the phone with Hank when Hank came up with the idea; that is true of most things they made together. — 00:03:37 · VidCon, Hank Green
- ★★ Looking at his Wikipedia page, John mostly thinks of all the things Hank did while John was writing books. — 00:03:44 · Wikipedia, Hank Green
00:03:50 — Ask for more questions in comments; sign-off
- ★★ John asks viewers to leave any other questions in comments and says he will answer as many as he can. — 00:03:50
Humor (significant)
-
John lists the cities he lived in and the novels he set in each. — 00:00:48
“I am NOT given over to acts of geographical imagination”
-
Reading the Google question 'What books did John Green wrote?' — 00:00:53
“I guess we're just living in a world without verb tenses”
-
John says he and Hank have no other siblings. — 00:01:09
“Well, except for Dave But we don't talk about Dave.”
-
Listing his books' Printz and Edgar awards. — 00:03:22
“but most prestigiously an MTV Movie Award.”
Threads in this video
- variation · Answering Google autocomplete questions (2010) — John answers questions people ask Google about him, hoping to replace Hank's 2011 'John Green is an Idiot' as the top video result for his name. (00:00:17)
- callback · Dave Green: the imaginary third Green brother invented on Tumblr (2014) — John says there are no other Green siblings except Dave, whom they don't talk about, and expands DFTBA as 'Dave: Forgotten Through Brotherly Adventures'. (00:01:09)
- retold · John is denied entry to Canada for insufficient funds (1995) and has been flagged at every entry since 2001 — John is not banned from Canada, but gets extra screening on entry because he is on a list of potential undesirables after being denied entrance in 1995 for insufficient funds. (00:01:36)
- asked · John asks viewers to leave further questions about him in comments (2018) — John asks viewers to leave any other questions in comments and says he will answer as many as he can. (00:03:50)
- restate · Does human life have real meaning, given oblivion, cosmic scale and an indifferent universe? — The composer is mostly forgotten today: a reminder that time washes away every sandcastle, so there is no sense reaching for immortality when there is real work to do with real people now. (00:02:09)
- restate · What is the community for? — Hank and John have made Vlogbrothers videos for more than 11 years; the community around them calls themselves nerdfighters because they fight for intellectual engagement and celebrate unironic enthusiasm. (00:03:08)
Mentioned
Central: Google
Also: People: Henry Green · John Green (oscar winner)
Projects: VidCon
Works: The Fault in Our Stars (film)
Organizations: AFC Wimbledon · Edgar Award · Michael L. Printz Award · Wikipedia · YouTube
Groups: The Mountain Goats
Terms: DFTBA · nerdfighter
Concepts: life extension
Places: Birmingham, Alabama · Canada · Chicago (city) · Hollywood Walk of Fame · Indianapolis · Orlando, Florida
Events: Academy Awards · MTV Movie & TV Awards
Characters: Dave Green · Hufflepuff
Only in the description or credits: An Abundance of Katherines · An American in Paris · Let It Snow · Looking for Alaska (novel) · Paper Towns · The Fault in Our Stars · Turtles All the Way Down · West Side Story · Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Replies to
- answers · John Green is an IDIOT! And so are you. — “a video you made in 2011, Hank, called John Green is an Idiot”
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