I cannot sleep…
So I am going to go answer some questions at the blog where I answer readers questions about TFIOS, WHICH YOU CAN ONLY READ IF YOU HAVE FINISHED THE FAULT IN OUR STARS BECAUSE THERE ARE SPOILERS.
Danica always puts easter eggs in the Crash Course subtitles. The new CC:WH episode, by the way, talks about Mansa Musa and his fascinating role in the history of West Africa.
(Source: lostnwandering)
The Fault in Science Fiction.
Well, it is kind of science fiction, in the sense that it is fiction that occasionally mentions science. (But seriously, Target. Thanks for reading my book!)
Only if You’ve Read The Fault in Our Stars…
I have updated the tumblr devoted to your questions, and my answers, about The Fault in Our Stars. I will try to answer a few more questions tonight. There are lots of spoilers. Don’t click that link if you haven’t read the book. Seriously. Okay, thanks.
Is Advertising the Future—Or the Past?
Hank and I have always felt varying degrees of discomfort supporting our YouTube videos with advertisements. We don’t control the content of the ads or who sponsors our shows, and many times we disagree with the advertisers.
I do not, for instance, think gold is a good investment, or that Obama is a terrible President, or that sexy geeks are just a click away. I also don’t particularly enjoy being supported by for-profit universities, oil companies, and Super PACs.
Recently, some nerdfighters have been upset about ads they’ve seen on vlogbrothers videos, and we share their concern. But these videos are a big part of our jobs—we spend a lot of time making them and trying to be good leaders of this community—and while there are other ways we make money (t-shirts, books, music, etc.), the ad revenue is a vital part of how I buy diapers.
But it’s not really that much money relative to the size of nerdfighteria, because online advertising rates are so low. Even so, I still think that most nerdfighters would rather glimpse an ad than use kickstarter or something to create a delightfully ad-free world of vlogbrothers. But with ad rates pretty stagnant and the success of kickstarter projects like Ze Frank’s, I’m beginning to wonder A. if I’m wrong, and B. if creators of online video might find themselves turning to new models of supporting their work rather than continuing to seek corporate patronage. Also, C. these days, I find myself personally more inclined to support online video projects and their creators directly.
EDIT: To be clear, I am not suggesting some awful subscription model in which you have to pay to watch videos. That would be gross. I’m suggesting a model like the one you find here in the US with National Public Radio: some people pay to support the station, but the listening experience is available to all, regardless of whether they pay. (There are bonuses for members, of course: tote bags or This American Life CDs or whatever.)
Mostly, I’m curious what you think. Do you want to watch stuff supported by ads, or supported directly by viewers? Are there youtube channels (not just vlogbrothers or crashcourse or scishow but any YouTube channels) you’d give $5 or $10 or more per year? Or do you like the current system and believe that advertising should continue to play the central role in visual media funding it has since the earliest days of television?
Thoughts from Places: On being right but wrong—and pantsless in Amsterdam.
I am boarding a plane to Amsterdam, but I was all Alec Baldwiny about DON’T CLOSE THE AIRCRAFT DOOR UNTIL I CAN TUMBL ABOUT THE NEW CRASH COURSE PLZ KTHX.
Learn about the Silk Road, ancient trade, and the demographics of Crash Course viewers (mostly muggle quidditch players and grammar nazis).
Tulipomania
“AIA is about this girl names Anna (who narrates the story) and her one-eyed mom, who is a professional gardener obsessed with tulips…” (Green 48)Tulips are mentioned in a couple other sections of the book, and in this particular circumstance of Anna’s mother (and by extension in Hazel’s mind, her own mother) being obsessed with tulips. The vlogbrothers video above discusses how the most beautiful and prized tulip above all others was also carried the disease which made it beautiful. This parallels the idea in TFIOS of beauty in disease that began with Thoreau’s quote on consumption and the hectic glow. Anna’s mother being obsessed with tulips appears to be not just a horticultural disposition, but a mother’s own obsession with her beautiful and sick child.
God I love this blog. It’s like the nicest blog ever to happen to a writer ever, because s/he reads with such clarity and care and thoughtfulness. It’s obscenely flattering.
Hi, Tumblr. This is a thank you.
I just found out that The Fault in Our Stars will be #1 on the New York Times bestseller list for the SEVENTH consecutive week.
This is ridiculously wonderful news, and I could never have imagined my book would have this kind of life (particularly given that none of my previous books has been anywhere on the bestseller list for even half this long).
I just want to say thank you.
Thank you for reading the book (and to the many of you who preordered it before you even knew what it was about). Thank you for responding to it with such generosity and thoughtfulness (TFiOS has more five star reviews on Amazon than all my other books combined). Thank you for sharing the book with your friends and family, extending its reach. Thank you for making fan art and fanfiction and all the amazing things that extend and deepen the thing I made. And thank you for believing in Hazel and Augustus.
I will probably even SHAKE HIS HAND and say things like, “It’s great to meet you,” and “Thanks for the generous introduction, Chris,” and, “My friend Tyler Oakley prefers Darren Criss.”
(Source: privilegetoloveyou)
