Tag: Hank Green

Becoming YouTube

I never thought the day would come when YouTube, yes YouTube, that dangerous ad-filled video uploading website full of things I don’t want or need to spend three minutes of my life watching, would be a huge part of my life. That was my initial opinion of YouTube back then, and preferred to frequent websites like Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr etc where I can express opinions instead of listening to other people’s (it was a very narcissistic phase of mine…I think some might understand what I’m putting down here).

And then it started when I found a link to Alex Day’s (nerimon) Alex Reads Twilight video series on his channel, and then I found Charlie McDonnell (charlieissocoolllike), Ryan Higa (nigahiga), John and Hank Green (vlogbrothers), Jack Harries (JacksGap) and many, many other YouTubers who quite frankly, have managed to brighten my day with just a single video multiple times. There’s just something different about watching videos compared to reading blogs and books because besides the much larger impact the visualization element has on you, it’s also like striking a conversation with an interesting online persona and chances are, if you’re as much of an Internet parasite like I am, you will share very similar opinions with aforementioned persona that will send you into fits of laughter as you stare wide-eyed at the screen shouting, “YES YES YES!!!!!!” In the wise words of Dan Howell (danisnotonfire), we are after all, an Internet support group.

Another thing that makes all these YouTubers so enticing (enticing…mmm) is the fact that they are all this huge community of love and friendship. But seriously, some of the friendships made between YouTubers are friendships I can only dream of. And write fanfiction about. I remember when Beneh (my equally YouTuber-enthusiastic companion) and I found out about Jack Harries, and through him found Sam Pepper, and through him found Marcus and Alfie, and then Caspar, Zoella, BriBry and eventually Dan and Phil, who in turn also know Alex and Charlie (and also One Direction [!!!] but let’s not go there) and I SWEAR TO GOD ALL BRITISH YOUTUBERS KNOW ONE ANOTHER!!!!!!!!

Of course, on the other side of the world (in America, to be precise), there’s the YTF group of YouTubers, one of the earliest YouTubers I found and quite frankly, was one of the main reasons how I got so hooked on YouTube. And then of course there are the Green brothers, who created DFTBA and then the whole chain cycle thing commences again.

In a nutshell, everyone I’ve ever known (or rather, watched videos of) on YouTube have built really strong relationships with one another and that, in Tumblr talk, gives me so much feels I can’t even.

Plus, there literally is one for everyone on YouTube. Besides vlogs, penguinz0 is my favourite gameplay and commentary channel of all time, there’s also the Lizzie Bennet Diaries of Hank Green’s creation, SciShow and CrashCourse of vlogbrothers’ creation, Dan & Phil’s Super Amazing Project and of course, a video of Charlie biting his brother’s finger.

More to the main gist of the video above, it’s a shoutout to everyone who has ever wanted to be a YouTuber (or in Benjamin Cook’s words, crazy Internet famous) to go ahead and just do it. Now don’t laugh at me and scream “IT’S JUST A PHASE MICHELLE!!!” but I honestly have thought about it. In fact, several times, Beneh and I have considered doing a joint channel together and I even filmed my day by the lake celebrating Anum, Lela and Leea’s birthday party on my phone but sadly, those videos remain untouched in my phone, justified by my ultimate excuse which is I don’t know how to edit videos, coupled by who’s gonna watch them anyway, they’re most just crap, I’m just going to make a fool out of myself, isn’t blogging terrible enough in terms of ‘what will people think of me’ etc hence why this video had quite an impact on me because IS IT A SIGN????????

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to leave blogging for vlogging, but there’s just something very tempting (besides narcissism) about uploading videos of yourself expressing your own opinions on the Internet for millions to see. Writing isn’t the same as speaking, and it’s also something new I’ve never tried before. Besides, it’d be something better to do than to lie around the whole day lurking on the Internet during these six gap months before I go to college right?

I don’t know!!!!!! Show me the way, magic eight ball!!!!!!!

Before I leave, on an unrelated note:

https://twitter.com/danisnotonfire/status/277793227145363457

Nerdfighteria Awesomeness

First things first. If you go to 0:24, when John Green says, “echoingrabbits asked, ‘Describe a fight between you and a laser-armed porcupine?'”, you will find out that that was the question I tweeted to him last week, and it has made it onto his latest video on vlogbrothers.

My lack of capslock and keyboard smashing and exclamation mark usages certainly don’t do my excitement justice, but wait!!! Because my Twitter username appearing on John’s latest video isn’t the only reason for my excitement because…look!!!

It’s the The Fault In Our Stars‘ actual, literal and official cover! Released just today!

…this is a perfectly relevant gif and nope, I’m not using it just because Andrew Garfield is doing an adorable dance in it, nope.

  • “Wait, wait, this is all going too fast. Who the eff is John Green?”

John Green is an American author slash vlogger who wrote An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, Looking For Alaska, Will Grayson, Will Grayson (a collaboration with David Levithan), Let It Snow (another collaboration with Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle) and finally, The Fault In Our Stars, which is scheduled to be released on the 12th of January 2012.

He is also a vlogger on his channel which he shares with his brother, Hank Green, on vlogbrothers. He also owns a Twitter and this is his official website/blog.

  • “Okay…so what is Nerdfighteria?”

It all started with the word ‘nerdfighters’. ‘Nerdfighters’ are, as quoted by John himself, “people who, instead of being made up of cells and organs and stuff, are actually made out of awesome.” Contrary to popular belief, nerdfighters do not fight nerds…in fact, we are nerds. We love nerds and everything in this world that is nerdy.

The Nerdfighteria manifesto (of sorts) in this video!

  • “Oh. Sounds interesting. How do I become a nerdfighter? Is there a website or Facebook group that I am required to join? A contract that I need to sign?”

If you want to be a nerdfighter, then you are a nerdfighter! So if you just asked that question, that congratulations! Welcome to Nerdfighteria!

Of course, if you are still adamant on an initiation ritual then I suppose you can ‘Like’ the Nerdfighters’ Facebook page (which has a photo of John Green as a child as its display photo as a plus) and join the Nerdfighting community. (By the way, this is my profile.)

So many links! So many nerdy words and books and videos and pictures…and awesome! I didn’t mean for this post to sound like a FAQ page, but I thought everyone deserved to be touched by this little bit, oh wait I mean, GIGANTIC ball of awesomeness.

DFTBA!