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2020-04-21 · story · John · 3:35 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Personal life (also: Pop culture) · mode: Personal update · tags: calendar ritual

Ahead of Hank's 40th birthday, John tells the story of his 14-month, Ahab-like hunt for an All Star sing-a-ma-jig, a rare Fisher-Price toy sold only at Tesco in the UK, because All Star marries the sublime and the ridiculous as their brotherhood does; after rip-offs and a collector backing out, he apologises for failing and asks viewers for leads.

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 coming 40th birthday and the great white whale of a present John has chased for 14 months

  • ★★★ John says Hank's 40th birthday is coming and tells the story of the great white whale of a present he has maniacally chased for 14 months. — 00:00:00 · Hank Green
  • ★ John says the story begins in 2010, when he discovered the Singamajig. — 00:00:00

00:00:26 — Sing-a-ma-jigs: their songs, Fisher-Price's variety, and The Hits set sold only at Tesco

  • ★★ John explains that sing-a-ma-jigs sing when squeezed, either a series of notes or, in another mode, an actual song such as When the Saints Go Marching In. — 00:00:26
  • ★★ John says Fisher-Price made a huge variety of sing-a-ma-jigs, songs from Skip to My Lou to Jingle Bells and the US national anthem, for a toy never particularly popular. — 00:00:26
  • ★★ John says almost a decade ago Fisher-Price released a set of three sing-a-ma-jigs called The Hits, sold only at Tesco in the UK for a very limited time. — 00:01:06 · United Kingdom
  • ★ John recommends everything about the Singamajig wiki. (playful) — 00:01:06

00:01:27 — The All Star sing-a-ma-jig, Hank's love of All Star, silliness meeting wonder, and the scarcity of the toy

  • ★★ John says one of The Hits played Smash Mouth's All Star, the song that has obsessed Hank for decades. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ John recalls Hank once very seriously proposing a 478-part video series analysing each of the 478 shots in the All Star music video. (playful) — 00:01:27 · Hank Green
  • ★★ John says Hank is on record calling the internet's remixing and reimagining of All Star one of his favourite things about online culture. — 00:01:27 · Hank Green

  • ★★★ John says All Star and the internet's responses are the ultimate marriage of the sublime and the ridiculous, and much of their brotherhood has been about sharing places where silliness meets wonder. — 00:01:56

    “finding and sharing the places where silliness meets wonder”

  • ★★ John says he had to find the toy for Hank's 40th, but few exist and their owners really don't want to part with them. — 00:01:56

00:02:25 — Rip-offs, a collector backing out, a Moby-Dick parody, the apology, the ask and an All Star sign-off

  • ★★ John says that, twice, he was ripped off by people who claimed to have the All Star sing-a-ma-jig but did not. — 00:02:25
  • ★★ John says that earlier this year (2020) a collector showed him the toy over FaceTime and agreed a price after hearing the story, then decided at the last moment not to sell. — 00:02:25
  • ★★ John apologises to Hank for failing to get him the sing-a-ma-jig and wishes him a happy birthday nonetheless. — 00:02:54 · Hank Green
  • ★★ John asks viewers with ideas for another present for Hank, or with an All Star sing-a-ma-jig, to let him know. — 00:02:54

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description says John wanted to make an old-school vlogbrothers video today. — video description

Humor (significant)

  • John likens his hunt for Hank's birthday present to the white whale. — 00:00:00

    “Like Herman Melville's Captain Ahab before me, I couldn't stop chasing the dream even as it destroyed me.”

  • John recalls the depth of Hank's All Star obsession: Hank once very seriously proposed a video series. — 00:01:27

    “a 478-part video series analyzing each of the 478 shots in the music video for All Star”

  • John says Melville said it best when he wrote of the All Star sing-a-ma-jig, adapting a Moby-Dick passage about the sea to the toy. — 00:02:54

    “For here, in this all-star singamajig, millions of mixed shades, drowned dreams, synambulisms, reveries, all that we call lives and souls, lie dreaming, dreaming.”

  • John signs off with a line from All Star. — 00:02:54

    “Hank, the years start coming and they don't stop coming.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: All Star · Singamajigs

Also: People: Herman Melville

Works: Jingle Bells · London Bridge Is Falling Down · Moby-Dick (“There is one knows not what sweet”) · Skip to My Lou · The Star-Spangled Banner · When the Saints Go Marching In

Organizations: Tesco

Places: United Kingdom

Characters: Captain Ahab

Only in the description or credits: Fisher-Price · Smash Mouth

Also centred on All Star: YOU'RE AN ALL STAR! · Didn't Make Sense Not to Live for Fun · All That Glitters Is Gold · I ain't she was with well and I so and it's and but so and I'll and

Also centred on Singamajigs: YOU'RE AN ALL STAR!

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