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I Don't Have a Good Title for This Video.

2022-04-01 · letter vlog · Hank · 4:00 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Philosophy & meaning (also: Personal life) · mode: Personal essay

Hank says he feels stuck because he doesn't know what to look at: the ships he watched in Seattle with Oren, like things on his desk, both harm and delight. Middle age has made things less clear, but nothing gets done without seeing both harm and joy, ideally at once.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Feeling stuck; the Seattle vacation with Oren and watching ships in the port

  • ★★ Hank says he has been a bit stuck recently because he often doesn't know what the right thing to look at is. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Last week (week of 21 March 2022) Hank went on vacation to Seattle, his first real vacation in a long time and Oren's first ever; a favorite part was watching ships come and go in the port. — 00:00:00 · Orin Green

00:00:27 — The ships seen as polluting or as collaborative wonders, ugly or beautiful

  • ★ Oren shouted at every new ship, and they ran to the window to watch tugs push it and containers being moved around the port. — 00:00:27 · Orin Green
  • ★★ Hank says the ships burn 30 gallons of fuel every mile they travel, pumping CO2 and other pollutants into the atmosphere. — 00:00:27
  • ★★★ Hank says he can see the ships as hateful polluters or as lovable collaborative effort, ugly or beautiful, old and outdated or a very recent innovation. — 00:00:56
  • ★★★ Hank doesn't know what the right way to see these things is. (unsure) — 00:00:56

00:01:18 — Middle age without clarity; scars made by malice and by living; harmful things he loves; cynical people exist

  • ★ Hank says he is not in crisis: he just had a lovely vacation and has lots of support. — 00:01:18
  • ★★★ At 41 in 2022, Hank says, middle age has not brought the clarity he expected; if anything things have grown less clear as he got older. — 00:01:18
  • ★★★ Hank used to think the scars we leave on the planet and each other came purely from malice, evil or ignorance; now he sees many made by living, love, trying and pushing too hard. — 00:01:18
  • ★★ At his desk Hank sees things that have done harm, his iced tea bottle, a chicken sandwich, websites where we share and tear at each other, yet he loves them too. — 00:01:57
  • ★★ Hank says awful, cynical, greedy people do exist; some carefully cultivate fear like a crop to harvest on election day. — 00:02:20

00:02:48 — Nothing gets done without seeing both harm and joy; looking for a way to see both at once; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank says nothing gets done if there is no room for joy, and nothing gets done if we only see the harm or if we don't see it. — 00:02:48
  • ★★ Hank doesn't know which to see more, or whether he sees the right amounts of joy, harm, grief or aid. (unsure) — 00:02:48
  • ★★★ Hank knows he has to see both. — 00:02:48
  • ★★★ Alternating between horror and beauty, grief and joy isn't helping him get anything done, so Hank wonders if there is a way to see both at the same time. (hedged) — 00:03:17

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description says the music is a lo-fi cover of Bo Burnham's 'That Funny Feeling' by CM Junk, used with CM Junk's permission but not Bo's. — video description

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Awesome Socks Club · greenhouse gas · Journey to the Microcosmos · Middle age · Orin Green · Seattle

Only in the description or credits: Bo Burnham · CM Junk · That Funny Feeling

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