vlogbrothers

[alittledizzy]

Definitely seems fitting to have a vlogbrothers thread with the new book coming out.

Just don't forget to use the spoiler tag if you post anything spoilery about the book!

[obscureDnPreference]

I could talk about my history with Vlogbrothers for a long while, but right now, I am a bit emotionally exhausted after reading Turtles All the Way Down last night. The last time I read a book in one sitting, it was The Fault in Our Stars. Seems like a theme.

[nigel ratburn]

I'm not going to get to read the new book until Friday because I accidentally had it shipped to my house instead of my address at school but I'm really excited.

The vlogbrothers were one of my first YouTube obsessions and I still have an enormous amount of respect for them, so the fact that they always have nice things to say about each other makes my heart feel warm things

[citizen_erased]

The vlogbrothers were the second channel I subscribed to (after charlieissocoollike), and even now, years later, I watch most of their videos and listen to every single podcast episode.

I bought the new book today and have already started reading it, even though I wasn't a super big fan of The Fault in Our Stars. We'll see how I feel about this one!

[obscureDnPreference]

The vlogbrothers were the second channel I subscribed to (after charlieissocoollike), and even now, years later, I watch most of their videos and listen to every single podcast episode.

I bought the new book today and have already started reading it, even though I wasn't a super big fan of The Fault in Our Stars. We'll see how I feel about this one!

I feel like we're similar in our relationship to the vlogbrothers. In 2011, I started watching YouTube with subscribing to Alex Day (ugh) and then Charlie and the vlogbrothers. I really really loved The Fault in our Stars when it came out. I was 17 at the time and I sobbed and sobbed. This one made me cry for very different reasons. I feel that it has the familiarity of a John Green book but it's different in many ways. More real? Maybe more mature? I'm not sure yet. It's been an emotional few days and I still have lots to unpack.

[citizen_erased]

The vlogbrothers were the second channel I subscribed to (after charlieissocoollike), and even now, years later, I watch most of their videos and listen to every single podcast episode.

I bought the new book today and have already started reading it, even though I wasn't a super big fan of The Fault in Our Stars. We'll see how I feel about this one!

I feel like we're similar in our relationship to the vlogbrothers. In 2011, I started watching YouTube with subscribing to Alex Day (ugh) and then Charlie and the vlogbrothers. I really really loved The Fault in our Stars when it came out. I was 17 at the time and I sobbed and sobbed. This one made me cry for very different reasons. I feel that it has the familiarity of a John Green book but it's different in many ways. More real? Maybe more mature? I'm not sure yet. It's been an emotional few days and I still have lots to unpack.

I'm currently about halfway through and I did notice a lot of sentence that I could practically hear John say in my head so yeah I would agree it's a very John-book, which is not a bad thing, I love the way he talks, those ridiculous sentences brought in a deadpan way are one of my favourite things of the podcast.

oh god, I'm so glad tfios did not exist when I was 17. I would not have been able to read it (personal reasons, around the time I turned 17 a coworker, who was also 17, died from cancer. I've never been able to read or watch anything that involves teenagers dying from cancer. I did read tfios in, idk, 2014 or something, a full 7 years after my coworker died, but it still hit me like a brick.)

(next bit under spoiler cut just to be sure)

This time I do feel like I'm probably going to cry, but also partially from recognition? I have a very similar type of OCD to John/Aza and it's very strange for me to see something so incredibly recognizable (and seeing people go 'ohhh, so this is what OCD is like' makes me go ???? this is totally normal for me.)

[obscureDnPreference]

The vlogbrothers were the second channel I subscribed to (after charlieissocoollike), and even now, years later, I watch most of their videos and listen to every single podcast episode.

I bought the new book today and have already started reading it, even though I wasn't a super big fan of The Fault in Our Stars. We'll see how I feel about this one!

I feel like we're similar in our relationship to the vlogbrothers. In 2011, I started watching YouTube with subscribing to Alex Day (ugh) and then Charlie and the vlogbrothers. I really really loved The Fault in our Stars when it came out. I was 17 at the time and I sobbed and sobbed. This one made me cry for very different reasons. I feel that it has the familiarity of a John Green book but it's different in many ways. More real? Maybe more mature? I'm not sure yet. It's been an emotional few days and I still have lots to unpack.

I'm currently about halfway through and I did notice a lot of sentence that I could practically hear John say in my head so yeah I would agree it's a very John-book, which is not a bad thing, I love the way he talks, those ridiculous sentences brought in a deadpan way are one of my favourite things of the podcast.

oh god, I'm so glad tfios did not exist when I was 17. I would not have been able to read it (personal reasons, around the time I turned 17 a coworker, who was also 17, died from cancer. I've never been able to read or watch anything that involves teenagers dying from cancer. I did read tfios in, idk, 2014 or something, a full 7 years after my coworker died, but it still hit me like a brick.)

(next bit under spoiler cut just to be sure)

This time I do feel like I'm probably going to cry, but also partially from recognition? I have a very similar type of OCD to John/Aza and it's very strange for me to see something so incredibly recognizable (and seeing people go 'ohhh, so this is what OCD is like' makes me go ???? this is totally normal for me.)

I cried out of recognition on several occasions. Much of what hurt me were the interactions between Aza and the other characters. I frequently feel like a burden to my friends and family, which is something Aza deals with. Looking forward to chatting more once you finish. The end is just.... something.

[citizen_erased]

I cried out of recognition on several occasions. Much of what hurt me were the interactions between Aza and the other characters. I frequently feel like a burden to my friends and family, which is something Aza deals with. Looking forward to chatting more once you finish. The end is just.... something.

(spoilers for the book & mental health discussions under the spoiler tag:)

I finished reading the book last night (at like 3am, because hey who needs a proper sleeping pattern anyway, amiright), and now I'm wondering what part of the end you meant?

Having read it, I'm glad I've got enough of a hold on my ocd to never have drunk hand sanitizer. Which is, ironically, partially thanks to ocd as well, because I'm terrified of accidentally ingesting sanitizer and killing off myself through that. I did have a very weird moment though, where in the first chapter while Aza is talking about being worried about getting poisoned, I was eating a sandwich, found a weird spot on the sandwich (probably just sauce) and went straight down into the same spiral. So that was great

I do get the part about feeling like a burden. My dad, earlier this week, said "it's hard for us too, you know" and I know it is, I know it's not easy for my family, but my instant response was "well try being stuck in this head literally all the time" Seeing almost the exact same conversation in the book was very harrowing.

I'm going to reread the book when I'm in a better headspace and can actually take in more of the emotions, but for now I'm recommending this book and dan's video about depression to people who want to know a bit of what it's like to be me. They were also both incredibly good reminders of the fact that I have not been taking good care of myself, I have not been doing even the bare minimum of staying healthy, and I really need to pick that up more again.

[obscureDnPreference]

I cried out of recognition on several occasions. Much of what hurt me were the interactions between Aza and the other characters. I frequently feel like a burden to my friends and family, which is something Aza deals with. Looking forward to chatting more once you finish. The end is just.... something.

(spoilers for the book & mental health discussions under the spoiler tag:)

I finished reading the book last night (at like 3am, because hey who needs a proper sleeping pattern anyway, amiright), and now I'm wondering what part of the end you meant?

Having read it, I'm glad I've got enough of a hold on my ocd to never have drunk hand sanitizer. Which is, ironically, partially thanks to ocd as well, because I'm terrified of accidentally ingesting sanitizer and killing off myself through that. I did have a very weird moment though, where in the first chapter while Aza is talking about being worried about getting poisoned, I was eating a sandwich, found a weird spot on the sandwich (probably just sauce) and went straight down into the same spiral. So that was great

I do get the part about feeling like a burden. My dad, earlier this week, said "it's hard for us too, you know" and I know it is, I know it's not easy for my family, but my instant response was "well try being stuck in this head literally all the time" Seeing almost the exact same conversation in the book was very harrowing.

I'm going to reread the book when I'm in a better headspace and can actually take in more of the emotions, but for now I'm recommending this book and dan's video about depression to people who want to know a bit of what it's like to be me. They were also both incredibly good reminders of the fact that I have not been taking good care of myself, I have not been doing even the bare minimum of staying healthy, and I really need to pick that up more again.

Hey I saw Hank and John on Sunday as a part of the Turtles book tour. IT WAS SO GOOD. But to the ending point (that I never answered like 2 weeks ago), what got me about the end was that there was one. I've always found the endings to his books unsatisfying. But this one finished up the story and gave the reader an idea of Aza's future. (spoilers under the cut)

Like she'll get better but she won't ever be well, she'll fall in love, get married, have kids, but get too sick to take care of them. That sort of thing.

It is a very hopeful and yet heartbreaking ending. For people with mental health issues, it's proof you can life a full and meaningful life. And that got me sobbing.

[citizen_erased]

I cried out of recognition on several occasions. Much of what hurt me were the interactions between Aza and the other characters. I frequently feel like a burden to my friends and family, which is something Aza deals with. Looking forward to chatting more once you finish. The end is just.... something.

(spoilers for the book & mental health discussions under the spoiler tag:)

I finished reading the book last night (at like 3am, because hey who needs a proper sleeping pattern anyway, amiright), and now I'm wondering what part of the end you meant?

Having read it, I'm glad I've got enough of a hold on my ocd to never have drunk hand sanitizer. Which is, ironically, partially thanks to ocd as well, because I'm terrified of accidentally ingesting sanitizer and killing off myself through that. I did have a very weird moment though, where in the first chapter while Aza is talking about being worried about getting poisoned, I was eating a sandwich, found a weird spot on the sandwich (probably just sauce) and went straight down into the same spiral. So that was great

I do get the part about feeling like a burden. My dad, earlier this week, said "it's hard for us too, you know" and I know it is, I know it's not easy for my family, but my instant response was "well try being stuck in this head literally all the time" Seeing almost the exact same conversation in the book was very harrowing.

I'm going to reread the book when I'm in a better headspace and can actually take in more of the emotions, but for now I'm recommending this book and dan's video about depression to people who want to know a bit of what it's like to be me. They were also both incredibly good reminders of the fact that I have not been taking good care of myself, I have not been doing even the bare minimum of staying healthy, and I really need to pick that up more again.

Hey I saw Hank and John on Sunday as a part of the Turtles book tour. IT WAS SO GOOD. But to the ending point (that I never answered like 2 weeks ago), what got me about the end was that there was one. I've always found the endings to his books unsatisfying. But this one finished up the story and gave the reader an idea of Aza's future. (spoilers under the cut)

Like she'll get better but she won't ever be well, she'll fall in love, get married, have kids, but get too sick to take care of them. That sort of thing.

It is a very hopeful and yet heartbreaking ending. For people with mental health issues, it's proof you can life a full and meaningful life. And that got me sobbing.

Oh my god I'm so jealous! Glad you had a great night though!

I can't say much about the endings of his other books since I only read tfios, but idk, I'm a bit on the fence about this ending.

like yes, I know it's about proof that a full and meaningful life is possible even with mental illness, but sometimes it's also really hard for me to accept that this mental illness will be with me for the rest of my life, you know? And the idea that I could relapse and things can get unmanageable again at times is absolutely terrifying. The book reminding me of that is a bit bitter. Though I did also appreciate its honesty, because the truth is it doesn't end, at least not for me and not for Aza and not for John either, you just learn to live with it and deal with it. But also just bleegh.

This is the least eloquent I've ever been about anything

[obscureDnPreference]

I cried out of recognition on several occasions. Much of what hurt me were the interactions between Aza and the other characters. I frequently feel like a burden to my friends and family, which is something Aza deals with. Looking forward to chatting more once you finish. The end is just.... something.

(spoilers for the book & mental health discussions under the spoiler tag:)

I finished reading the book last night (at like 3am, because hey who needs a proper sleeping pattern anyway, amiright), and now I'm wondering what part of the end you meant?

Having read it, I'm glad I've got enough of a hold on my ocd to never have drunk hand sanitizer. Which is, ironically, partially thanks to ocd as well, because I'm terrified of accidentally ingesting sanitizer and killing off myself through that. I did have a very weird moment though, where in the first chapter while Aza is talking about being worried about getting poisoned, I was eating a sandwich, found a weird spot on the sandwich (probably just sauce) and went straight down into the same spiral. So that was great

I do get the part about feeling like a burden. My dad, earlier this week, said "it's hard for us too, you know" and I know it is, I know it's not easy for my family, but my instant response was "well try being stuck in this head literally all the time" Seeing almost the exact same conversation in the book was very harrowing.

I'm going to reread the book when I'm in a better headspace and can actually take in more of the emotions, but for now I'm recommending this book and dan's video about depression to people who want to know a bit of what it's like to be me. They were also both incredibly good reminders of the fact that I have not been taking good care of myself, I have not been doing even the bare minimum of staying healthy, and I really need to pick that up more again.

Hey I saw Hank and John on Sunday as a part of the Turtles book tour. IT WAS SO GOOD. But to the ending point (that I never answered like 2 weeks ago), what got me about the end was that there was one. I've always found the endings to his books unsatisfying. But this one finished up the story and gave the reader an idea of Aza's future. (spoilers under the cut)

Like she'll get better but she won't ever be well, she'll fall in love, get married, have kids, but get too sick to take care of them. That sort of thing.

It is a very hopeful and yet heartbreaking ending. For people with mental health issues, it's proof you can life a full and meaningful life. And that got me sobbing.

Oh my god I'm so jealous! Glad you had a great night though!

I can't say much about the endings of his other books since I only read tfios, but idk, I'm a bit on the fence about this ending.

like yes, I know it's about proof that a full and meaningful life is possible even with mental illness, but sometimes it's also really hard for me to accept that this mental illness will be with me for the rest of my life, you know? And the idea that I could relapse and things can get unmanageable again at times is absolutely terrifying. The book reminding me of that is a bit bitter. Though I did also appreciate its honesty, because the truth is it doesn't end, at least not for me and not for Aza and not for John either, you just learn to live with it and deal with it. But also just bleegh.

This is the least eloquent I've ever been about anything

No I totally get what you mean! That's honestly what I liked about the ending. It's REAL. Yes, I know that it's a harsh reminder of the reality of mental illness and it reminds me that I may hit a super low point again. At the same time, it reminds me I can succeed in my career in spite of this thing. And Dan reminded us of that in his video too. (Which came out the day after I read this book and it wrecked me)

[itasca00]

I just finished An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, and I thought it was excellent! I'm hoping that Dan and/or Phil will comment on it in a liveshow or something when they've finished reading it. I think their opinions on the opinions expressed in the book would be really interesting.

[citizen_erased]

I just finished An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, and I thought it was excellent! I'm hoping that Dan and/or Phil will comment on it in a liveshow or something when they've finished reading it. I think their opinions on the opinions expressed in the book would be really interesting.

same! I read AART recently and knowing both Dan and Phil have their own copies I'd be really curious to see what they think of it. I think they have a lot of very relevant IRL experiences that could be really interesting for them to talk about. I'm forever holding out hope that one day they'll appear on Dear Hank & John, which could be a great opportunity for them to talk about the book as well (though I'm not actually holding that much hope).

Also I need the sequel to this book ASAP.

[itasca00]

@citizen_erased Exactly! Literally any substantive opinion they offered on anything in the book would be super interesting to me.

I always live in hope that they'll one day be inspired to do more collabs of any kind with anyone, but I also think this is somewhat unlikely.

I agree with you on the sequel as well. So many things have been left unresolved!

[bestfriendsclub]

I really want to hear what they think about AART as well! I noticed a ton of similarities between AART and Interactive Introverts. On the back of the book it says "how vilification and adoration spring from the same dehumanisation that follows a life in the public eye." That was a big theme in Interactive Introverts. And little things in the book reminded me of Dan and Phil too, when it says Andy has printer-paper-pale skin, I imagined Phil reading that and going "same" And I accidentally imagined Robin as Dan and once I did I couldn't imagine him any other way. Hank describes him as "a fashionable young man" and "the cute assistant guy" "his voice was sweet and soft" I love that Hank and John aren't afraid to call guys cute because they know their audience isn't homophobic idiots, and it's the same way for Dan and Phil. I ship John and Hank and Dan and Phil as friends. Sometimes Hank can be random and silly like Phil, and existential crisis and reminding us all of the inevitability of death is like both John and Dan's "thing". They would make the cutest videos together.

[itasca00]

@bestfriendsclub Lol at Robin being Dan! The description does fit, but I imagined him being short and twinky...actually, now that I think about it, the way I imagined him looking is pretty similar to the way Brent Corrigan looks (example under the spoiler). And I definitely imagined him being gay since he seems to be the only character in the book that has zero romantic/sexual interest in April May.

Dan also reminds me of John, and I would absolutely love to see the duos of Dan & Phil and John & Hank make some kind of content together.

[kavat]

I haven't read the book yet (I'm waiting for the audiobook to come to my provider of choice) but big yes to a collab. Actually, I would love for dnp to appear on Hank's ICG podcast were he interviews creators for the Internet Creators Guild. Hank has mentioned before (in the tatinof doc? Or did I dream that?) that he's fascinated by how they handle fandom, and how Hank and John now take notes from Dan and Phil, instead of the opposite like a few years ago. I would love to hear them talk as peers about fandom, internet fame and maybe what it's like to become famous when you're ~20 compared to when you're ~30. All interviews we've seen of dnp are from outsiders that don't have the insight like Hank and John does, and it would be a really interesting perspective.

[opendoor]

I read AART a few weeks ago. As a fan of John's books (Looking for Alaska will always be The Shit, man) and their channel, I thought I might like it.

For me it didn't really work as a book. I thought the writing style was clunky and I didn't think the character construction was good; I especially found April very unsympathetic. However, the bits about marketing yourself to become internet famous were interesting. Incredibly cynical, but interesting. I also thought "The Dream" was a really cool idea.

[alittledizzy]

Time to confess: I only read half of AART because I was afraid April and Maya were going to break up and that made me too sad. It got the fanfic treatment for me, where I realized I'm not in the right mood to handle something sad, so I just perpetually delay finishing it.

(That's not a spoiler; I genuinely don't know if they do or not. I was just afraid they would.)

[lefthandedism]

I recently picked AART up on a trip to the library looking for something to read. (I read loads of fic, but I read loads of published novels and other books as well.)

I enjoyed it! The science fiction plot was pretty lightweight (but I don't there was any intention to make it more substantive; it was mainly a device), but I really liked reading a story about someone's meteoric rise on social media, and then all the ways things can go wrong. Surely Hank, of all people, is well situated to understand how that sort of fame can affect different sorts of people.

I like reading published fiction that actually feels as though it is taking place in the present (as opposed so some vague near-past); this is much harder to achieve in published work, with the built-in delay, than in fic.

I also really liked having a bisexual main character.

I'm not sure about a sequel....I don't know if the insider knowledge that Hank leveraged for AART would extend to another book, and I'm not sure his story-telling skilled are up to plunging off in another direction.

[itasca00]

This project has always been planned as a two-book package, so I'm not worried about Hank running out of steam for the second book. I think he's had the outline for the whole story for a long time, and he only told one half of the story in the first book. In any event, it looks like he's making steady progress:

I also seem to recall Hank saying somewhere (Twitter, YouTube, etc.) that the best is yet to come in the sequel, but I haven't been able to verify this for sure. We shall see!

[itasca00]

I had a few hours of driving to do yesterday, so I decided to check out The Anthropocene Reviewed. I just now finished binge listening to the last episode. In my opinion, each episode is like a long-form version of a vlogbrothers video made by John. Except I've been quite surprised and pleased by John's willingness to talk about himself, not only in terms of the frequency that he shares stories from his life, but also in terms of the incredibly personal and intense nature of some of his stories. Right now, I especially wish I had someone to talk to about John's reviews of "Googling strangers" and Harvey. I think it's no exaggeration to say that the stories he shared in these reviews will stay with me forever.

At times, John's stories also made me think of Dan. I don't personally have a hard time contemplating existentialist questions, and I've often felt that I only have a vague understanding of what it's like to be troubled by these kinds of questions. In the podcast, John talks about his own thoughts/feelings/emotions related to existentialism several times in a way that I found very clarifying...and shocking. For example, in his review of Tetris, he describes feeling a constant emotional agony related to the possibility that his life is meaningless. Like I said in a previous post, I see a lot of John in Dan, and I can't help but wonder if Dan experiences similar thoughts/feelings/emotions.

At this point, I feel I need to say explicitly that the podcast is not all about John, and it is not all doom-and-gloom. With each review, John does a wonderful job of providing history and context on the subject at hand in a succinct, entertaining, and thoughtful way. All in all, I think this is an excellent podcast, and I highly recommend it!

[alittledizzy]

I love The Anthropocene Reviewed - it's such a good zone out podcast, I could listen to him just explain esoteric things to me forever.

I also really enjoyed his newest video, and I hope a lot of the online influencers who could benefit from his calm advisement somehow have it cross their path.

[obvsly]

I also really enjoyed his newest video, and I hope a lot of the online influencers who could benefit from his calm advisement somehow have it cross their path.

I was coming to post the video as well. Loved it! Dan and Phil check every box on his list huh? John and Hank must be so proud of them. In lights of all the drama happening around Youtubers, I’m in awe of how smart and sensible dnp have always been.

[itasca00]

I get a lot of enjoyment thinking about Dan and Phil following John and Hank’s recent “All Star” journey.

That is all.