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A Little Joy and Color in an Otherwise Unbearably Bland Life

2021-02-23 · letter vlog · John · 3:59 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing (also: Pop culture) · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion, community lore

John recalls a five-star review of purple Sharpies that brought joy and color to a bland life, says purple Sharpies do the same for his signing of 250,000 copies of The Anthropocene Reviewed book, connects it to his love of repetitive endurance art and games, and says that when the test of endurance gets hard, sometimes a bit of color and joy is enough.

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 five-star review of purple Sharpies that lives in John's head

  • ★★ John recalls a five-star review of a 12-pack of purple Sharpies: in monotonous work, the reviewer found purple ones brought a little joy and color to an otherwise unbearably bland life. — 00:00:00 · Sharpie

00:00:29 — Signing 250,000 copies with a purple Sharpie; writing the very personal Anthropocene Reviewed book

  • ★★★ John has been signing with a purple Sharpie in his quest to sign all 250,000 copies of the first US printing of The Anthropocene Reviewed book, and it has brought him joy. — 00:00:29 · Sharpie, The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)
  • ★★ John says the richness of the purple really makes repetition somehow less repetitious. — 00:00:44
  • ★★ The first hundred thousand or so signatures were easy, John says, because signing felt like a break from writing the book, which he found exhausting and emotionally draining at times. — 00:00:50
  • ★★ Despite its grandiose title, John says, The Anthropocene Reviewed is a very personal book, his first attempt to write about his actual self. — 00:00:58 · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)
  • ★★ John does not want to imply writing is difficult work, since he has done difficult work and writing is not it, but it needs intense focus that can be emotionally exhausting. — 00:01:05
  • ★★ Because this book was about him, John felt his whole self was being poured into it, which was a little terrifying; signing was a break from that. — 00:01:18

00:01:27 — Beautifully foolish endeavors: Doubleagent, Kurt J. Mac, repetitive art, John's circles, Robert Hughes on repetition

  • ★★ John loves beautifully foolish endeavors, like Doubleagent, who reached the highest World of Warcraft rank as a pacifist panda, mostly by picking flowers millions of times. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ John is a fan of Kurt J. Mac, who has walked in one direction in Minecraft for ten years in search of the Far Lands (the description links his Far Lands or Bust). — 00:01:44
  • ★★ John loves artwork involving a lot of repetition and careful mark-making, showing pieces by Hiroyuki Doi and Robyn O'Neill. — 00:01:52
  • ★★ John makes drawings obsessively, like his drawing of 17,000 circles, or rather 17,000 failed attempts at circles. — 00:01:56
  • ★★ John does not know why he is drawn to art as endurance efforts, but he likes them and they bring him joy. — 00:02:05
  • ★★★ Citing art critic Robert Hughes on the peculiarly modernist hell of repetition, John says he likes work that turns that on its head and finds color and joy in repetition. — 00:02:14

00:02:26 — Signing gets harder: endurance becomes a test; the TFIOS memory; a bit of color and joy is enough

  • ★ John jokes that Hughes thinking repetition is modern implies he never attempted agriculture: try thinning row after row of carrot seedlings. (playful) — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ Now signing has become harder: John still has 300 hours of signing left, his hand hurts a little, and this is where even a silly test of endurance actually becomes a test. — 00:02:40
  • ★★ The book comes out in three months and must be printed before then, so there is not much time left to sign and many marks left to make. — 00:02:55 · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)
  • ★★ John recalls signing 150,000 times for The Fault in Our Stars: at the end he signed 12 or 14 hours a day and doubted he could do it, until the purple Sharpie reminded him he had made this promise and would keep it. — 00:03:05 · The Fault in Our Stars, Sharpie
  • ★★★ John concludes that sometimes a bit of color and joy is enough. — 00:03:20
  • ★★ John will be signing live on YouTube for an hour this afternoon, joking that it will be very boring but purple the whole way; link in the description. — 00:03:22 · YouTube

00:03:24 — Signing livestream plug, PS on the Perseverance rover and hairmergencies

  • ★★ Echoing his 2021 vision board, John toasts perseverance, both the rover and the value, and thanks Hank for making him a Mars fan so he could openly weep when the rover landed. — 00:03:30 · Mars, Hank Green
  • ★ John recalls when not scheduling haircuts was his biggest problem and he thought hairmergencies were emergencies, and wants to go back in time and pinch that little boy's cheeks. (playful) — 00:03:43

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In a comment John says the challenge he set himself this week (week of 22 February 2021) was to make a video about the pandemic that is not about the pandemic. — creator comment · COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★★ The description invites viewers to preorder a signed copy of The Anthropocene Reviewed book; in a comment John adds he must sign the same number regardless, as most signed copies go to bookstores. — video description · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Sharpie · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)

Also: People: Doubleagent · Hiroyuki Doi · Kurt J. Mac · Robert Hughes · Robyn O'Neill

Works: Minecraft · The Fault in Our Stars · World of Warcraft

Organizations: YouTube

Concepts: perseverance · vision board

Places: Mars

Events: Mars 2020 (“that rover landed on the red planet”)

Only in the description or credits: COVID-19 pandemic · Far Lands or Bust

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