Skip to content

Hank Reads from 'An Absolutely Remarkable Thing'

2018-10-12 · story · Hank · 19:54 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing · mode: Comedy & performance · tags: self promotion, song or performance, community lore

Keeping the channel tradition that an author brother reads his new book's first chapter, Hank reads chapter one of An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, in which April May finds a giant robot sculpture in Manhattan at 3 a.m. and calls her friend Andy to film it; he then reports the art he funded and fan projects since publication.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — The first-chapter reading tradition, why Hank likes it, the audiobook narrator and a curse-word warning

  • ★★ Hank explains the channel tradition: when one of the brothers has a book out, he reads its first chapter in a video; so far only John, back to Paper Towns nine years ago. — 00:00:00 · Paper Towns
  • ★★ Hank says the reading video is exempt from the four-minute rule, so he can go on as long as he wants. — 00:00:00 · Four-minute rule
  • ★★ Hank says a reading is an easy video and feels a bit of a cop-out, but writing the book was labor-intensive. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:25
  • ★★ Hank wants to tell people about his book because he is proud of it and thinks they will like it, hoping it is useful and enjoyable, which is what he aims for in life. (hedged) — 00:00:25 · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
  • ★ Hank jokes that being useful and enjoyable is what he tells his son every morning, in actions, and that he may have found the meaning of life. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:25 · meaning of life
  • ★★ Hank reads the chapter himself; Kristen Sieh, who reads the audiobook, is fantastic. — 00:00:54 · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing
  • ★★ Hank warns that his book has a lot of curse words and that this chapter has some. — 00:00:54

00:01:24 — Hank reads chapter one: April May, her startup job, Maya, the sculpture on 23rd Street, and Andy filming it

  • ★★ April May introduces herself as one of the most important things ever to happen to humanity and also a woman in her twenties who has made mistakes. (fiction) — 00:01:24
  • ★★ April May: With art-school loans, April settled on a design BFA and took the first job that kept her in New York, at a doomed startup, rather than move home to Northern California. (fiction) — 00:02:40 · New York City
  • ★★ April May: April lives with Maya, her girlfriend of over a year, but insists they are roommates who are dating, so her bed stays in the living room. (fiction) — 00:04:07
  • ★★ April May: Walking back to the office at night after her metro card is rejected, April finds a ten-foot transformer in samurai armor standing on the sidewalk. (fiction) — 00:06:30
  • ★★ April May: April recalls meeting Andy when a professor put him in her and Maya's group project, the Bubble Bum brand; they became a trio. (fiction) — 00:08:28
  • ★★ April May: April calls Andy at 3 a.m. and tells him to bring his camera and his roommate Jason's lights to film the sculpture. (fiction) — 00:11:30
  • ★★ April May: Andy argues it would be better for the artist if April, not he, were on camera, and she agrees to do it. (fiction) — 00:16:54
  • ★★ April May: April distinguishes fine art, which exists for its own sake, from design, art that does something else, like visual engineering. (fiction) — 00:17:24

00:18:56 — Art Hank funded from his advance, the fan-led Carls map, and his gratitude for the response

  • ★★★ Hank says, as Twitter followers may already know, he used part of his book advance to fund independent artists to make art based on the book; the pieces are on his Instagram. — 00:18:56 · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, Twitter, Instagram
  • ★★ Hank points to the fan-led thecarlsarecoming.com, where people fold paper Carls, photograph them and pin them to a map; there are lots all over the world. — 00:18:56
  • ★★ Hank says the responses and works people have made from his book are the most interesting part of creation. (hedged) — 00:19:26
  • ★★ Hank feels lucky: he has never had an experience like this book's reception, and it is special and awesome. — 00:19:26

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says this is probably the longest Vlogbrothers video and certainly the one with the most curse words, as the tradition demands. (hedged) — video description · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ The description says Hank reads the first chapter of his first book, about April May, who meets a bizarre robot sculpture in Manhattan on her way home from a terrible UI design job. — video description · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Also: Projects: thecarlsarecoming.com

Works: Paper Towns

Organizations: Instagram · Twitter

Rituals: Four-minute rule

Concepts: meaning of life · profanity

Places: Manhattan · New York City · Northern California

Characters: Andy Skampt · April May · Carl · Maya

Only in the description or credits: Kristen Sieh

← Previous: How Big a Problem is Mental Illness? · Next → Life's Library