Viewer questions, 2018

61 viewer questions, requests and challenges answered in 11 videos uploaded in 2018, grouped by topic (the domain of the part of the video the answer is in), in upload order within a topic. Each question is followed by the answer as summarised, with the speaker and timestamp. Question Tuesday marks the Q&A series. Back to the overview.

Topics: Books & writing (21) · Nerdfighteria (15) · Pop culture (8) · Everyday life (5) · Personal life (4) · Projects (2) · Science & nature (2) · Internet & YouTube (1) · Philosophy & meaning (1) · US politics & society (1) · World affairs (1)

Books & writing

• Q: “What're you reading?” (00:00:04) — My Hollywood Star, Brexit Pears, and Hank's Book: It's QUESTION TUESDAY · Question Tuesday
  • John: John has just read an amazing, properly brilliant book by first novelist Hank Green, but won't say more until it is available for pre-order. (00:00:06)
• Q: “What's your favorite song at the moment?” (00:00:20) — My Hollywood Star, Brexit Pears, and Hank's Book: It's QUESTION TUESDAY · Question Tuesday
  • John: John's kids have discovered that their Uncle Hank is a musician on Spotify and won't stop listening to him. (00:00:22)
• Q: “What's the best book you've read lately?” (00:00:21) — What is That Plane Rainbow? (It's Question Tuesday) · Question Tuesday
  • Hank: Hank's best recent read is Dawn by Octavia Butler, part of the Xenogenesis trilogy. (00:00:33)
• Q: “How is book editing going?” (00:01:01) — What is That Plane Rainbow? (It's Question Tuesday) · Question Tuesday
  • Hank: Asked how book editing is going, Hank says not great: a busy week, a deadline he may miss, and a lot of stress. (00:01:01)
• Q: “What is our official emoji slash emoji combination for your new book, Hank?” (00:01:12) — What is That Plane Rainbow? (It's Question Tuesday) · Question Tuesday
  • Hank: Asked for an official emoji combination for his book, Hank asks people to come up with one and promises to return to it at the end of the video. (00:01:17)
• Q: “How do I stay informed of current events without having them take over my life and stress me out?” (00:01:27) — What is That Plane Rainbow? (It's Question Tuesday) · Question Tuesday
  • Hank: Asked how to stay informed about current events without stress, Hank says everyone would like to know the answer if the asker figures it out. (00:01:27)
• Q: “What was the first thing you did after you finished writing your first book?” (00:01:35) — What is That Plane Rainbow? (It's Question Tuesday) · Question Tuesday
  • Hank: After finishing his first book, Hank watched a French man play accordion in an airport while his children played, thinking that weird things happen both in his book and in the real world, then flew home. (00:01:35)
• Q: “Any news on the Looking for Alaska series?” (00:00:28) — Question Tuesday: Secrets & Primes · Question Tuesday
  • John: John says Looking for Alaska is to be adapted into a Hulu limited series; it's still happening, he has read the great first-episode script, and that's all he knows. (00:00:29)
• Q: “Best prime number?” (00:01:06) — Question Tuesday: Secrets & Primes · Question Tuesday
  • John: John's best prime number: he has always been partial to 37. (00:01:08)
• Q: “Hey, why don't any of your books have a prime number of chapters?” (00:01:10) — Question Tuesday: Secrets & Primes · Question Tuesday
  • John: John reveals an inside joke with himself: each of his books has a prime-minus-one number of chapters; TFIOS and Turtles All the Way Down have 24, Will Grayson, Will Grayson and An Abundance of Katherines 20. (00:01:12)
• Q: “Wait, what other inside jokes do you have?” (00:01:36) — Question Tuesday: Secrets & Primes · Question Tuesday
  • John: John says books take him long to write so he entertains himself with inside jokes: having overused 'deadpan' in Looking for Alaska, he has used it exactly once in every book since. (00:01:38)
• Q: “Are you writing a new book?” (00:01:50) — Question Tuesday: Secrets & Primes · Question Tuesday
  • John: Asked whether he is writing a new book, John says: sometimes, but not usually. (00:01:51)
• Q: “Why did you name your protagonist April? Is there some kind of metaphor here?” (00:00:29) — Beautiful if Damp: Answering Questions in Melbourne
  • Hank: Asked whether naming his protagonist April is a metaphor, Hank says he is an on-the-page writer with little subtext; there are reasons, not metaphorical, that readers don't know. (00:00:31)
• Q: “How does writing a book change the way you experience other books?” (00:00:29) — Beautiful if Damp: Answering Questions in Melbourne
  • Hank: Writing a book changed how Hank experiences books: he compares himself to good writers and sees more of the process, a deeper understanding but less immersive, different not better or worse, as with video and music. (00:00:45)
• Q: “Are there any songs you listen to that inspired the plot or characters in your novel?” (00:01:18) — Beautiful if Damp: Answering Questions in Melbourne
  • Hank: Hank can't listen to anything but maybe white noise while writing, but a number of songs inspired the book, as reading it will show. (00:01:18)
• Q: “What have you found to be the hardest part of writing your book?” (00:01:18) — Beautiful if Damp: Answering Questions in Melbourne
  • Hank: The hardest part of writing was stopping: it is terrible knowing he can't change anything, and an improvement he thought of last night won't be in the book. (00:01:40)
• Q: “If someone offers to make an absolutely remarkable thing into a movie, would you say yes?” (00:01:47) — Beautiful if Damp: Answering Questions in Melbourne
  • Hank: Asked if he would let An Absolutely Remarkable Thing become a movie, Hank doesn't know: he hasn't said yes yet; it would be cool but, he has seen, a lot of work. (00:01:47)
• Q: “Will you give us the robot slash car chase scene that John will never write?” (00:02:17) — Beautiful if Damp: Answering Questions in Melbourne
  • Hank: Asked for the robot car chase scene John will never write, Hank says he is looking for ideas and inspiration can come from anywhere, so maybe. (00:02:17)
• Q: “Why did you write a slash this book?” (00:02:54) — Beautiful if Damp: Answering Questions in Melbourne
  • Hank: Hank wrote the book because he wanted to talk about things he hadn't found good ways to, and it was a good way to tell a story he was excited about. (00:02:54)
• Q: “What was the seed for the story that became the book?” (00:02:54) — Beautiful if Damp: Answering Questions in Melbourne
  • Hank: Somewhat embarrassingly, the seed of the book was a literal dream that Hank found interesting. (00:03:08)
• Q: “Now that you're both the author one, what will be your one word differential?” (00:01:58) — How Much Do You Love Each Other? It's Question Tuesday · Question Tuesday
  • Hank: Now that both are authors, Hank says he is the science one and John is the old one. (00:01:58)

Nerdfighteria

• Q: “Are numbers real, or did we make them up?” (00:00:08) — What is That Plane Rainbow? (It's Question Tuesday) · Question Tuesday
  • Hank: Hank's first question from Twitter is whether numbers are real or made up; he balks that they started out hard when question videos should be easier. (00:00:14)
• Q: “Scott Manley says, what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?” — asked by Scott Manley (00:00:53) — Laurel or Yanny and Baby Dance Moves - It's Question Friday · Question Tuesday
  • Hank (joke): Asked by Scott Manley for the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow, Hank answers with the Monty Python counter-question: African or European? (00:01:02)
• Q [request]: “Grace Helbig says, dance.” — asked by Grace Helbig (00:00:53) — Laurel or Yanny and Baby Dance Moves - It's Question Friday · Question Tuesday
  • Hank: To Grace Helbig's 'Dance', Hank objects that it is not a question and that it is stressful because so many people are watching. (00:01:09)
• Q: “Have you watched the Orin butt wiggle video yet today?” (00:00:55) — Laurel or Yanny and Baby Dance Moves - It's Question Friday · Question Tuesday
  • Hank: Asked by Amanda whether he has watched the Orin butt wiggle video today, Hank says he watched it yesterday, but he also has the real thing. (00:00:57)
• Q: “Would eating a carnivorous plant be considered vegan?” (00:03:06) — Laurel or Yanny and Baby Dance Moves - It's Question Friday · Question Tuesday
  • Hank: Asked whether eating a carnivorous plant would be vegan, Hank first says of course, then concedes the questioner is right, and asks whether we need rules for everything. (00:03:06)
• Q [request]: “Recreate Orin's dance.” (00:03:28) — Laurel or Yanny and Baby Dance Moves - It's Question Friday · Question Tuesday
  • Hank: After many requests to dance, Hank says his baby has a bunch of dance moves and performs his current favorite, which he calls finger guns. (00:03:19)
• Q: “What specific piece of art had a big impact on your life?” (00:00:07) — Question Tuesday: Secrets & Primes · Question Tuesday
  • John: A painting (shown on screen) had a big impact on John, opening him to the idea of a direct form of expression for the abstract, hard-to-describe problem inside his brain. (00:00:10)
• Q: “What's your third favorite type of rock?” (00:00:19) — Question Tuesday: Secrets & Primes · Question Tuesday
  • John (joke): Asked his third favorite type of rock, John punningly starts with Dwayne Johnson and settles on the Rock of Gibraltar. (00:00:22)
• Q: “When does the Project for Awesome start this year?” (00:01:56) — Question Tuesday: Secrets & Primes · Question Tuesday
  • John: John says the Project for Awesome starts on December 7th this year (2018). (00:01:56)
• Q: “Why do people think pineapple pizza is bad?” (00:02:09) — Question Tuesday: Secrets & Primes · Question Tuesday
  • John: John says pineapple on pizza was invented in 1962 by a Greek immigrant in Canada, inspired by Chinese cuisine to put a South American food on an Italian dish. (00:02:15)
• Q: “What are you excited about right now?” (00:02:31) — Question Tuesday: Secrets & Primes · Question Tuesday
  • John: John says he really loves making The Anthropocene Reviewed. (00:02:33)
• Q: “How excited are you for AFC Wimbledon's new season?” (00:02:50) — Question Tuesday: Secrets & Primes · Question Tuesday
  • John: John is very excited for AFC Wimbledon's new season; all 'our' stadium advertisements now advertise An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, reaching third-tier English football supporters. (00:02:52)
• Q: “And finally, are you ever going to win at Fortnite?” (00:02:55) — Question Tuesday: Secrets & Primes · Question Tuesday
  • John: John plays Fortnite as a pacifist on HankGames, refusing to let Epic make him violent, and will continue until he wins or people get bored of Fortnite, probably the latter. (00:03:05)
• Q: “Hank, what would you name a robot that you found in New York City?” (00:01:20) — REUNION!!! Mountain Goats Aren't Goats
  • Hank: Asked what he would name a robot found in New York City at 3 a.m., Hank says Carl, an extremely metaphorically resonant name (John offers Benjamin). (00:02:05)
• Q: “Hank, is there a secret code in the building pages of an absolutely remarkable thing?” (00:00:00) — How Much Do You Love Each Other? It's Question Tuesday · Question Tuesday
  • Hank: Asked whether the building drawings in the book's endpapers hide a secret code, the answer is that the viewer is overthinking it: there are no Easter eggs in the endpapers. (00:00:00)

Pop culture

• Q [challenge]: “In Turtles All the Way Down, how can Daisy say that Attack of the Clones is the most underrated Star Wars Movie?” (00:01:07) — My Hollywood Star, Brexit Pears, and Hank's Book: It's QUESTION TUESDAY · Question Tuesday
  • John: Answering a hostile question, John says Daisy in Turtles All the Way Down is wrong about a lot but right that Attack of the Clones is the most underrated Star Wars movie. (00:01:16)
• Q: “How important is nature to you?” (00:02:17) — My Hollywood Star, Brexit Pears, and Hank's Book: It's QUESTION TUESDAY · Question Tuesday
  • John: Nature is very important to John: we are nature just as much as birds and trees are. (00:02:19)
• Q: “When did you get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?” (00:02:44) — My Hollywood Star, Brexit Pears, and Hank's Book: It's QUESTION TUESDAY · Question Tuesday
  • John: John has no star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; that star belongs to the John Green who won five Oscars. (00:02:47)
• Q: “If you could wear any Elton John outfit, which one would it be?” (00:02:52) — What is That Plane Rainbow? (It's Question Tuesday) · Question Tuesday
  • Hank: After googling Elton John outfits, Hank picks the one he calls Sparkly Banana Beetlejuice. (00:03:27)
• Q [request]: “Red Eyed tree frogs?” — asked by Henry Green (00:01:01) — This Video is about Red Eyed Tree Frogs?
  • John: The podcast reminded John that sustained, careful attention to almost anything can be tremendously rewarding, so he tries it with the red-eyed tree frog. (00:00:37)
• Q: “Favorite song by the Mountain Goats?” (00:00:43) — Question Tuesday: Secrets & Primes · Question Tuesday
  • John: John's favorite Mountain Goats song keeps changing; at the moment it is 'Weekend in Western Illinois'. (00:00:45)
• Q: “How do you measure success?” (00:00:49) — Question Tuesday: Secrets & Primes · Question Tuesday
  • John: John measures success by asking what he learned and whom it helped. (00:00:51)
• Q: “What are you geeking out about these days?” (00:00:53) — Question Tuesday: Secrets & Primes · Question Tuesday
  • John: John is geeking out about a novel by Tommy Orange, DoctorBenjyFM's YouTube series managing a fictional football team (never so invested in pixels), and the new season of the podcast In the Dark. (00:00:55)

Everyday life

• Q: “What's the weirdest thing you've ever caught John doing?” (00:00:29) — How Do Adults Make Friends?
  • Hank: Asked the weirdest thing he has caught John doing, Hank says nothing, besides sponsoring a third-tier English soccer team. (00:00:34)
• Q: “What's a cute Orin story?” (00:00:41) — How Do Adults Make Friends?
  • Hank: Hank's cute Orin story: in the morning Orin says 'Papa Da Nana', meaning pick me up, take me downstairs and feed me a banana. (00:00:41)
• Q: “How do you know when it's the right-ish time to have a baby?” (00:00:53) — How Do Adults Make Friends?
  • Hank: Asked when to have a baby, Hank notes he made a whole video on it but answers because the asker's mom replied 'ask your mom if she's ready to be a grandma': no, bad mom. (00:00:55)
• Q: “How do you stay in touch with family when you're separated by a long distance?” (00:01:05) — How Do Adults Make Friends?
  • Hank: Hank says you stay in touch with distant family by sharing the same free time and desire to talk (unlikely), by being nagged into calling, or best, by scheduling it on the calendar. (00:01:05)
• Q: “How do you make friends as an adult?” (00:01:43) — How Do Adults Make Friends?
  • Hank: Hank says the young make friends easily because valuing others comes easily: the kid next door is implicitly a big deal whose opinion matters, and feels the same way back. (00:02:01)

Personal life

• Q [request]: “Can you sing your last text message?” (00:02:31) — What is That Plane Rainbow? (It's Question Tuesday) · Question Tuesday
  • Hank: Singing his last text message, from Marianne, Hank learns it is Julie's birthday and confirms he can record DadCast on Monday; he thanks Marianne for keeping his life in order. (00:02:38)
• Q: “No, the first question is from Mandy who asks, if you fart in space, could the sound propagate through its gas?” (00:00:00) — The Cutest Thing My Son Has Done and More (With Katherine)
  • Hank: Asked whether a fart in space could be heard, Hank says both people would have to be out of spacesuits and dying, ear close to the butt, but he bets you could. (00:00:34)
• Q: “Julian would like to know what the sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing will be named.” (00:01:00) — The Cutest Thing My Son Has Done and More (With Katherine)
  • Hank: Asked what the sequel to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing will be named, Hank says he has a working name, but his publisher, editor and agent have told him it is bad. (00:01:13)
• Q: “What's the cutest thing Oren has ever done?” (00:02:36) — The Cutest Thing My Son Has Done and More (With Katherine)
  • Katherine Green: Katherine's cutest Orin moment: left in his crib after a nap with a book, he put his hippo lovey on his lap and said 'Hippo, read a book.' (00:02:36)

Projects

• Q: “Hey John, you working on anything new?” (00:01:44) — My Hollywood Star, Brexit Pears, and Hank's Book: It's QUESTION TUESDAY · Question Tuesday
  • John: John has a new series on HankGames, John Green Solves Your Problem, in which he plays FIFA while solving people's problems. (00:01:45)
• Q: “Hey, which charities one the Project for Awesome money?” (00:02:01) — My Hollywood Star, Brexit Pears, and Hank's Book: It's QUESTION TUESDAY · Question Tuesday
  • John: Twenty-five charities will get grants from this year's (2018) Project for Awesome; John congratulates them and thanks everyone who donated. (00:02:03)

Science & nature

• Q: “What is the most likely way for humans to go extinct?” (00:02:53) — My Hollywood Star, Brexit Pears, and Hank's Book: It's QUESTION TUESDAY · Question Tuesday
  • John: John, who thinks about it a fair amount, ranks disease as the most likely way for humans to go extinct, then AI or a post-human species, then an extinction-level war. (00:02:57)
• Q: “What is this adorable rainbow I saw under the plane wing on the flight home from PodCon?” (00:01:52) — What is That Plane Rainbow? (It's Question Tuesday) · Question Tuesday
  • Hank: Hank says the rainbow seen under a plane wing is a glory: like a rainbow, an effect of light diffracting on water droplets, but with smaller droplets. (00:01:57)

Internet & YouTube

• Q [request]: “Why don't you start a whole new competitor thing to YouTube?” (00:00:00) — Making a Better YouTube
  • Hank: Hank says this comes down to a central question for any situation you're upset with, whether government, relationship or online platform: do you revolt or reform? (00:00:08)

Philosophy & meaning

• Q: “How do you stop worrying about not living your life to the fullest?” (00:03:14) — My Hollywood Star, Brexit Pears, and Hank's Book: It's QUESTION TUESDAY · Question Tuesday
  • John: John doesn't know how to stop worrying but thinks 'living your life to the fullest' is flawed: jumping out of a plane isn't better than reading, nor an Instagram-worthy life more meaningful than a quiet one. (00:03:17)

US politics & society

• Q: “Hey, John, how do I vote in every state?” (00:00:34) — How Much Do You Love Each Other? It's Question Tuesday · Question Tuesday
  • John: Asked how to vote in every state, John says to look at Hank's 'amazing project' How to Vote in Every State. (00:00:34)

World affairs

• Q: “Thoughts on Brexit and pears?” (00:00:37) — My Hollywood Star, Brexit Pears, and Hank's Book: It's QUESTION TUESDAY · Question Tuesday
  • John: Asked about Brexit and pears, John likens it to buying a ton of pears for future you, then regretting it and finding you cannot return them. (00:00:48)