Good morning Hank it's Tuesday. It's Question Tuesday, the day that I answer real questions from real nerd fighters.
So let's get right to it. "What're you reading?"
Well I just read an amazing book by a first novelist named Hank Green.
I don't want to say anything more until it's available for preorder
but wow it's like...properly brilliant.
And now I'm reading An Introduction to Global Health Delivery,
which is quite different from Hank's book, but also excellent.
"What's your favorite song at the moment?"
So my kids have discovered that their uncle Hank is a musician whose songs you can listen to on Spotify
and they won't stop listening to him.
I've probably heard "This isn't Hogwarts" 10,000 times in the last two weeks.
And I have to say, it's pretty darn good.
Is this becoming a Hank Green appreciation vlog?! No more Hank for the rest of the video.
"Thoughts on Brexit and pears?" Now that is a Question Tuesday question.
So sometimes I'll be at the grocery store and I'll think "you know what future me would like to eat?"
Pears. A ton of pears.
So I'll buy a bunch of pears.
And then later when I am future me I'll open up the refrigerator and I'll think:
"Ugh I really wish I hadn't gotten these pears, I wish I could just return them and get my money back.
"Because I completely misapprehended my appetite for pears!"
But you can't return pears.
Speaking of which, "pears or apples?"
Hmm I don't know if we're still talking about Brexit but regardless, apples.
"In Turtles All the Way Down, how can Daisy say that Attack of the Clones is the most underrated Star Wars Movie?"
That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
I'm going to try not to respond to hostility with hostility here
but look, Daisy's wrong about a lot of things but she's right about this.
Empire Strikes Back: correctly rated as the best Star Wars movie.
A New Hope, also correctly rated as excellent.
Return of the Jedi is if anything slightly overrated.
Rogue One and The Force Awakens are both rated correctly.
The Phantom Menace is correctly rated as THE WORST.
Revenge of the Sith widely and appropriately believed to be the best of the prequels.
Leaving Attack of the Clones as the only and ergo the most underrated Star Wars movie.
"Hey John, you working on anything new?"
Yeah I've got a new series over at Hank Games called John Green solves your problems
in which I play FIFA while solving people's problems.
So far I've solved the problem of somebody who couldn't reach the spot on their back that itched.
And someone else whose taste was too expensive for their budget.
But over the course of many episodes I'm hoping, you know, to solve all of the problems.
"Hey, which charities one the Project for Awesome money?
These 25 charities will all be getting grants from this year's Project for Awesome.
Congratulations to them and thank you again to everyone who donated.
"How do you deal with stress?"
Poorly.
"Favorite Winona Ryder movie?"
Heathers.
"Are you having a midlife crisis yet?"
Maybe a little bit.
"How important is nature to you?"
I think the thing to remember is that we are nature just as much as, like, birds and trees are.
So...very important.
"Why isn't there any Turtles All the Way Down merch?"
There is, at DFTBA.com! You can find amazing posters and also a wonderful pencil set with quotes from the book.
"Favorite Marvel character?" Probably the Hulk.
"Favorite DC character?"
Right now, probably Paul Manafort.
I cannot look away from the Paul Manafort storyline.
"Are you upset about this?"
No I'm just glad my books can be useful.
"When did you get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?"
I didn't, that star belongs to the John Green who won 5 Oscars, not me who once won an MTV movie award.
"What is the most likely way for humans to go extinct?"
This is a question I spend a fair amount of time thinking about.
I think disease is most likely followed by some kind of AI or post-human species rendering us obsolete.
Followed by an extinction-level war.
Basically, I think it's still it's most likely that microorganisms will be our undoing.
But I think there's a growing possibility that we will be our own undoing.
"How do you stop worrying about not living your life to the fullest?"
Well I don't know how to stop worrying but I do think the idea of living your life to the fullest is a little flawed.
Like, why is jumping out of an airplane inherently better than reading a book?
Or why is living a life that looks good on Instagram inherently more meaningful than a life lived quietly?
I just don't buy it. Like Eurdora Welty wrote:
"A sheltered life can be a daring life as well, for all serious daring starts from within."
So live your life.
Hank, I will see you on Friday.
