John Green's Blog, page 13

Deserving

In which John talks about luck and what we deserve. And also some books he likes. And probable mouse poop. And Crash Course Big History, which will debut in a couple months over at http://www.youtube.com/crashcourse

The Myth of Greatness

Animal Wonders on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/anmlwndrs

This was a hard video to squeeze into four minutes, I had to leave a lot of information in the cracks. If a city of 70,000 people simultaneously contained dozens of the most influential humans in all history, it simply can't be that there was something special about those humans, the odds are just too great.

It's about circumstance, and one of the most important parts of that, and one thing that I admire greatly in people and am lucky enough to have found some of on my own, is the deep belief that your goals are important. Important enough to get out of that comfy bed. Important enough to overcome the apathy and ennui. Important enough to work hard and make sacrifices for.

Amazingly, a lot of those things that people become extremely passionate about and believe in so insanely deeply are, on their own, completely arbitrary. Like Football...people train their entire lives, wreck their bodies and destroy their health to put a ball over a line. It is important because it is important...and that's true of all of the great human endeavors. We are the deciders...the great trick of great people is convincing yourself that what you're doing is so important that it's worth sacrifice to achieve.

And I am very grateful to Nerdfighteria for inspiring that belief in me for the last seven years. I've never questioned how important and wonderful this is, and that's because of this community.

Perfect Puff and Endless Interviews: Touring and Hollywood Press Junkets

In which John travels the country with the cast of The Fault in Our Stars, meets tens of thousands of people, considers the difficulty of really engaging with people (including journalists) on the road, and meets Caroline, who saves the day. Thanks to everyone who came out to support us and the movie!

Thanks to @sunnyburleson for letting me use her footage of TFiOS TX: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAhpT...

Hank's album Incongruent is now on iTunes, and it's great: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/inc...

Oh JK Rowling – Kinetic Typography

THIS DESCRIPTION IS JUST GOING TO BE A TON OF LINKS! Links to get tickets to shows are at the bottom.

Thanks to Risa Rodil for the amazing work on this video. You can check out her stuff here: http://www.risarodil.com

INCONGRUENT IS NOW AVAILABLE:
Physical Copies (with digital downloads): http://dftba.com/product/1e3/Incongru...

iTunes: http://dftba.com/incongruent

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Incongruent-Exp...

Google Play: It's still "Processing" sorry...

Get Tickets to see Hank Green and the Perfect Strangers as well as Driftless Pony Club, Harry and the Potters, Andrew Huang and Rob Scallon:

6/28 Anaheim, CA - VIDCON!!! http://www.vidcon.com

6/30 Los Angeles, CA - The Glass House in Pomona - Tickets: http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/eve...

7/1 San Francisco, CA - Slims -Tickets: http://tickets.slims-sf.com/events/41...

7/2 Eugene, OR - WOW Hall - Tickets: http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/Sale...

7/3 Portland, OR - Analog Theater - Tickets: http://ticketswest.com/events/hank-gr...

7/5 Seattle, WA - The Crocodile - Tickets: http://www.thecrocodile.com/event/563173

7/6 Boise, ID - The Crux - Tickets: http://theduckclub.com/events/all-age...

7/7 Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex - Tickets: http://www.24tix.com/event.html?show_...

7/9 Denver, CO - Marquis Theater - Tickets: http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/Sale...

TFIOS Movie Madness, Incongruent, and Headless Hotel People

Preorder your signed copy of INCONGRUENT: http://dftba.com/product/1e3/Incongru...

In which John makes a video in four, no three, no five parts discussing The Fault in Our Stars film, his tour, the headless and/or faceless people in his very nice hotel room, his excellent brother Hank's excellent new album Incongruent, and Johning.

Hank vs. Hank: The Net Neutrality Debate in 3 Minutes

In which Hank debates Hank on one of the most important debates in the United States today, whether to keep the internet open or to allow cable companies to open fast lanes (and slow lanes) for different parts of the internet to flow through.

Please make a public comment here!
http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/upload/begin...

Tell the FCC that they should reclassify broadband internet as a telecommunications (or "Common carrier") service. Right now broadband is regulated like TV or radio, which doesn't make sense.

This is a public comment for the public record...official government stuff... so you'll have to include your actual name and address.

You can also email the FCC directly here: http://dft.ba/-tell_the_FCC

If you want to help some organizations that work their butts off trying to fight the telecoms, check out:

Save The Internet (from FreePress) http://www.savetheinternet.com/sti-home

Public Knowledge: http://www.publicknowledge.org/

And contact your congress people: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Influence, Airports, and the Nerdfighter Book Club

Katherine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers: http://www.amazon.com/Behind-Beautifu...
Maximum City by Suketu Mehta: http://www.amazon.com/Maximum-City-Bo...

In which John discusses his surprising (and unearned) place in the TIME 100, Time's annual list of the most influential people in the world, and then goes to the airport to discuss this summer's nerdfighter book club pick, Behind the Beautiful Forevers. I hope you enjoy the book (read it by June 10th!) and look forward to our discussion of it.

I Love Science (Clean Version) (Uncensored link in the Description)

Uncensored: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RECuQ...
Censored: http://youtu.be/IC0m31P_qyk?t=7s

Pre-order Incongruent:
http://dftba.com/product/1e3/Incongru...

TOUR BECAUSE AWESOME!
http://edwardspoonhands.com/post/8383...

You can also get my other two albums for the price of one right now: http://dftba.com/product/1608

Thank you to Michael Aranda for editing and shooting and directing this: https://www.youtube.com/michaelaranda

And to Nick Jenkins for shooting and directing as well: https://www.youtube.com/user/thelonel...

They are both awesome.

Lyrics:

I Love Science
Can you even imagine
(Way back in the past when)
We thought that storms were caused by petty gods
Fightin' on top of a mountain.

And yeah I like a good story
But eventually it's gonna bore me
If it doesn't have that truth;
That incontrovertible, testable, repeatable proof

I love Science
I Love Charles Darwin
Cause I don't think it's bold to question what you're told
If you're told that the world's a thousand years old.
There's nothing here to argue against,
It's a process not an ideology,
And I! Love! Science!

Sometimes people ask me,
Of all of the centuries,
Which I'd pick to live life in.
We'll, that's pretty easy...
Right now. If you think objectively.
If you like hot running water,
And memory foam beds,
And TV shows and cell phones,
And not being dead

You love science,
And I love Carl Sagan
'Cause I think it's fly to look up at the sky
And never ever ever stop wondering why
There's nothing here to argue against
It's a process not an ideology,
And I! Love! Science!

Wooly mammoth embryos
Vaccines for smallpox and polio
Your TV set, the internet
Your PS4, supersonic jets.

Exoplanets galaxies,
DNA, germ theory, relativity,
Just take a sec to think about it
How screwed we would be without it.

I love Science
And I love Rosalind Franklin,
'Cause I want to die remembering why
The truth is more important than winning a prize.
There's nothing here to argue against.
It's a process not an ideology,
And I! Love! Science!

Understanding the Central African Republic

In which John discusses the ongoing war in the Central African Republic and how complex news stories that don't meet our expectations can go ignored, even when they're very important. REMINDER: EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS ARE ALLOWED TO BE OVER FOUR MINUTES.

A much more detailed and very interesting overview of the conflict beginning in 2012: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_...

The (slightly out of date but still very helpful from a historical/demographic background perspective) CIA Factbook on the CAR: https://www.cia.gov/library/publicati...

Further background from the ICRC on the internal displacement in the CAR: http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/doc...

Good story about the CAR from the Economist: http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab...

What is The Oldest Song?

In which Hank sings the oldest song we know of...the Seikilos Epitaph. Most songs from this period were written with only the lyrics, but the Seikilos Epitaph, buried as part of a funeral, contained an unmistakable chord chart. And so, 2000 years later, I can still sing it for you.

Here the Seikilos song on the lyre...possibly a little bit more likely of an interpretation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xERit...

And here's Hurrian Hymn #6, the oldest piece you're ever likely to hear, though it's incomplete. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpxN2...

And here's where you can buy my album:
Explicit: http://dftba.com/product/1803
Clean: http://dftba.com/product/1802