Late to the Party

I’m the kind of obsessive fool who doesn’t do very well with partial experiences. I have a hard time enjoying a TV show unless I get to start at the beginning, if I start a book I need to finish it, and if I dive into some kind of series, I’ve got to consume the whole thing, beginning to end. I’m a completionist of sorts.

So when I read The Fault In Our Stars just after New Year’s, I decided that I kind of like this John Green fella and that I ought to read the rest of his bibliography. I’m not quiet done with that project, although I’m close: I’ll finish An Abundance of Katherines tonight (sorry everyone, I read his books out of order – very unlike myself) and then have only Green’s contribution to Let It Snow to go. It’s been a very enjoyable experience thus far. Green’s a fantastic author and his books compel you to read them quickly – really it’s only been my frugality on the ‘buying stuff’ front, and the stack of other books that I have to read, that’s slowed me down. The reading is easy. It’s the watching that’s a bit harder.

You see, way back in 2007 Green and his brother (Hank Green), started a video blog (vlog) project – they’re now called the Vlog Brothers – and, after reading some of Green’s books and subsequently getting hooked on the awesome Mental Floss videos that he hosts, I figured that I might be interested in this whole vlog series, too. And that’s how I fell down the Vlog Brothers completionist rabbit hole.

I won’t go into too much detail here since the whole project is described elsewhere, but the summary is this: in 2007 the Greens made a video on every weekday of the year (save holidays). And while they’ve scaled that level of production back a bit, they’ve continued to do at least a couple of videos a week. For seven years. And I, being a completionist, have decided to start at the beginning. No skipping. So, even though each video is usually only four minutes or so, I’ve got a lot of watching to do.

The series itself is fantastic. The brothers Green are hilarious and interesting and, frankly, seem like a couple of pretty cool dudes. For an aspiring author, watching John’s development into a best-selling novelist is an unparalleled look into an industry I’d love to join. I’m really enjoying watching the series. It just takes forever. I’ve been binge-watching in spurts for the better part of two months and I only just finished 2008.

And it’s weird to get invested in everything that’s happening in the vlog as I’m watching it because, well, it already happened. Six or seven years ago. In our frenetically paced internet age, that’s a decidedly long time. Maybe more than anything, my delinquent entry into Nerdfighteria means that, even though as I’m watching I feel like I’m on the cutting edge of all the cool things that the Nerdfighters have achieved and are achieving, I’m actually seven years behind. It’s a weird feeling. But better late than never, I guess.