John Green's Blog, page 21
September 24, 2013
Started from the Bottom: Benjamin Franklin and Drake Compared
In which John compares the Drake song "Started from the Bottom (Now We Here)" with Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, two American dream narratives that turn out to be significantly more complex and problematic than they initially seem.
Videos from the #tfiosmovie set will return next Tuesday, but I've been wanting to make this movie for months, because I am weird.
BY THE WAY, have you heard that my wife Sarah and I are working together on a new show called The Art Assignment produced and distributed by PBS Digital? It's true! Subscribe: http://www.youtube.com/theartassignment
Thanks to Harley, PA on the set of The Fault in Our Stars, without whose sweet sweet Internet access I could never have uploaded this video.
September 20, 2013
42 Amazing Maps
The map, as an innovation, is extremely important. Simply constructing a useful representation of our world onto a piece of paper (or clay or vellum or whatever) vastly increased the capabilities of humankind. But we continue to add and alter this medium, in ways that allow for greater understanding of our world and even of ourselves.
So in this video I talk about 42 maps that are really amazing.
Resources that were very helpful included:
http://www.reddit.com/r/mapporn
http://www.worldmapper.org/index.html
http://www.twitter.com/amazing_maps
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/map...
And this story is just AMAZING
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/201...
Thanks to Katherine for being my research assistant on this one :-)
ALL THE MAPS!
United States on the Moon
http://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comme...
Carta Marina:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carta_ma...
The Town of Chicago
http://www.oldimprints.com/pages/book...
Pomponius Mela
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomponiu...
Seven Billions
http://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comme...
Australia is Empty
http://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comme...
More in than Out
http://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comme...
...Actual Circle
http://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comme...
Longest Straight Line
http://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comme...
On a Globe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpQwuG...
Earth Sandwich Locations
http://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comme...
Alcoholic Drink Preference
http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/pu...
Side of the Road
http://chartsbin.com/view/edr
Joshua Katz Linguistic Maps of America
http://www.businessinsider.com/22-map...
Metric Use
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil...
Maternity Leave
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2...
Juvenile Death Penalty
http://www.prisonpolicy.org/atlas/juv...
World Mapper
http://www.worldmapper.org
Carna Botnet Project
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carna_Bo...
A Day in the Life of Air Traffic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1L4GU...
Population by Latitude
http://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comme...
The True Size of Africa
http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailyc...
Ptolemy's Map
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy&...
The Sawley Map
http://blog.metmuseum.org/penandparch...
September 17, 2013
Question Tuesday with Nat Wolff (aka Isaac in The Fault in Our Stars movie)
In which John Green and Nat Wolff sneak off The Fault in Our Stars film set to answer some of your questions in the woods. Nothing creepy about it.
My tumblr post on why that stuff doesn't matter to me: http://fishingboatproceeds.tumblr.com...
Videos about The Catcher in the Rye: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI1Cus... and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R66eQL...
September 13, 2013
Syria in Five Minutes
In which Hank discusses the situation in Syria as deeply and completely as he can in five minutes.
Negotiations are ongoing as to whether and how chemical weapons will be removed from Syria. This is an opportunity for the global community, but for the people of Syria, no matter how this discussion goes, there will be years of bloody conflict. We cannot prevent that, but we can help individual people.
Help refugees rebuild their lives http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vt...
September 10, 2013
Secrets of the Movies: Thoughts from The Fault in Our Stars Set
In which John returns to the set of The Fault in Our Stars movie, hanging out with Shailene Woodley (Hazel), Ansel Elgort (Gus), Nat Wolff (Isaac), Deb Who Does The Slate Thing, and many other members of the cast and crew.
Also, MY BROTHER GOT ME AERO FIGHTERS, THE ARCADE GAME THAT CREATED THE WORD NERDFIGHTER, FOR ME FOR MY BIRTHDAY.
Thanks to everyone involved with the movie (and Fox!) for letting me run around with a camera everywhere, and for their dedication to the story.
September 6, 2013
Undigested Lump (A Song)
In which Hank sings a song that is mostly Shakespearean insults, and talks about his own broken reasons for not writing much music for the last year or so. Also, announces that he's working on an album!
NOTE: I had to re-upload this because I accidentally unlisted the last video and YouTube was malfunctioning and not allowing me to re-list it. Sorrryyyy.
$15 CD Bundle:
http://dftba.com/product/18o/Hank-Gre...
$12 Harry Potter Songs CD (all proceeds to the HPA)
http://dftba.com/product/16k/Hank-Gre...
Threadless shirt:
http://www.threadless.com/product/221...
September 5, 2013
undigested lump
In which Hank sings a song that is mostly Shakespearean insults, and talks about his own broken reasons for not writing much music for the last year or so. Also, announces that he's working on an album!
$20 CD Bundle:
http://dftba.com/product/18n/Hank-Gre...
$12 Harry Potter Songs CD (all proceeds to the HPA)
http://dftba.com/product/16k/Hank-Gre...
Threadless shirt:
http://www.threadless.com/product/221...
September 3, 2013
Bigger Pizzas: A Capitalist Case for Health Care Reform
In which John discusses some of the many ways that our current massively inefficient health care system leads to the irrational allocation of capital. He discusses the fascinating cases of Henry Reich (creator of http://www.youtube.com/minutephysics) and Hank Green (creator of, you know, all this) and how in a world without health care reform, their careers might look very different. John argues that employer-dependent health insurance privileges employees over entrepreneurs, thus limiting innovation, growth, and job creation.
Check out Henry's videos: http://www.youtube.com/minutephysics and http://www.youtube.com/minuteearth
This is part two of a three or possibly four-part series about health care reform and the Affordable Care Act. Part one can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSjGou...
August 30, 2013
Raw Onion, Twerking, and Speech Jam
In which Hank does what you told him to do. INCLUDING!
Dancing to Brazilian Music, discussing stress, Parkour (not actually), eating raw onion, interviewing the sidewalk, singing about the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, a book recommendation, a couple rants, flopping around on the deck, and talking a bit about life and Subbable.
This was really fun, I shall do it again some time!
The songs...in order:
Mike Diva - BFD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxiIt...
Bala Bala - Michel Telo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEiqS...
A song I just wrote about LBD winning an Emmy
Strange Charm - By me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0kXk...
The World is Mine - Alex Day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rlKFE...
I Know - By me - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lRldr...
Everlasting Love - Gloria Estefan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clpW8w...
Mike Diva - BFD (again)
Local Forecast - Kevin Mcleod, http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Get it Get it - Young Solar
August 27, 2013
On the TFIOS Movie Set
In which John checks in from the set of the TFIOS movie. Look behind the scenes at all the hardworking people who are making this movie a real thing in the world.
