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I Need to Get Myself Away from this Place

2020-05-01 · documentary visit · Hank, Michael Carmichael · 3:53 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Philosophy & meaning (also: History & curiosities, Personal life) · mode: Personal essay · tags: on location

In footage from a road trip just before the pandemic, Hank visits the world's largest ball of paint that John had shared with him; its keeper Michael brings John up unprompted, and Hank reflects that we are minor characters in each other's stories, maybe all orbiting the paint.

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 is home in Montana; footage of a road trip from John's house to Albion College just before things got hinky

  • ★★ At John's suggestion Hank heads to a big ball, though not actually: he is home in Montana and shows a road trip from just before things got hinky. — 00:00:00 · Montana, John Green
  • ★ Hank says he meant to upload this video months ago, but then other things happened. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank says he was driving from John's house to Albion College in Michigan. — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — Driving to the world's largest ball of paint from nowhere to nowhere, and finding it seemingly closed

  • ★★ Hank's route passed an attraction John had shared with him and that Hank had wanted to visit for about a decade. — 00:00:29 · John Green
  • ★★ Hank says the ball is not anywhere in particular: driving to it feels like heading from nowhere to nowhere, and he stopped believing it would exist. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ Arriving at a tiny sign, Hank thought the ball was closed, until the owner turned the light on. (playful) — 00:00:58

00:01:35 — The ball, Michael's 40-year-old baseball, Hank's urge to cut it in half, and Michael bringing up John

  • ★★★ Hank says over 40 years ago the owner had his son paint a baseball, the ball in front of him, which has been painted 26,849 times. — 00:01:35
  • ★★ Hank admits a wild, destructive urge to cut the ball in half, like wanting to step off a cliff edge, though he does not want to destroy it. (playful) — 00:02:04
  • ★★★ Hank tells John that Michael brought him up unprompted. — 00:02:04 · John Green
  • ★★ Michael Carmichael: Michael says he wants to get a picture of John to put up. — 00:02:04 · John Green

00:02:40 — Influence, painting the ball with Monica, three young visitors, and everyone as minor characters orbiting the paint; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank says we all influence each other, but John would not have thought he could influence this man enough to bring him up unprompted. — 00:02:40 · John Green
  • ★★ Hank says he kept telling Michael what a big fan John is, and tells John that once this is all over he needs to go see Michael. — 00:02:40 · John Green
  • ★★ Hank and Monica painted part of the ball; Michael told them to leave the rest for people about to arrive, three nice young people who then came. — 00:02:40
  • ★★★ Hank felt he was no longer in his own story but in the young visitors', an extraordinarily minor character in their road trip: the guy who painted the other half of the ball. — 00:02:40 · perspective-taking
  • ★★★ Hank muses that John is in Michael's story and the visitors in his, and maybe the real main character is the paint, with all of them minor satellites in a place that is always there. (hedged) — 00:02:40

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In a comment, John quotes Hank's line 'maybe the real main character is the paint' and calls it beautiful. — creator comment
  • ★ Answering a commenter, Hank says the ball's keeper had no idea that Hank and John are brothers. — video description

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: Michael Carmichael · perspective-taking · World's Largest Ball of Paint

Also: Albion College · COVID-19 pandemic · Michigan · Monica (person, mentioned from 2020) · Montana

Also centred on World's Largest Ball of Paint: Making the World's Largest Ball of Paint

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