Across Three Continents: A Tale of Tumblr, Copyright, and Excellent Posters
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ย. 2024
- Preorder a (signed!) copy of the tri-continental poster that inspired this video: dftba.com/produ... In doing so, you'll support beautiful nerdfighters bringing beautiful things into the world.
In which John discusses intellectual property, the complexity of protecting it, and the total insufficiency of current copyright law. The failure of copyright law has led to a kind of Wild West mentality here on the Internet, particularly on tumblr, where strange and complex collaborations happen every day. John happened across one such collaboration, fell in love with it, and then spent weeks trying to untangle the business of who, exactly, should own what.
Nica (the original artist) has a tumblr: / incredibru
So does Ashild (who adapted Nica's art into a poster): / bestunderworldkiss
So do I: / fishingboatproceeds
![Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2 | เพื่อจักรพรรดิ ! [ตอนเดียวจบ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4M0ckYMA4-U/mqdefault.jpg)
John Green, as a swedish nerdfighter I challenge you to pronounce the swedish title of TFIOS accurate. Which means you'll have to pronounce the letter Ö, and believe me, it'll be hilarious to watch.
We need to actually make this happen.
A little bit late but I agree. It would be really fun to hear John pronuonce Ö.
+Hanna Hanna is the ö you mean the same as the german ö
London Weekend Television Almost definitely
As someone who put an ö in their name when they changed their name after comin out; i agree that wud be very fun to watch.
The funny thing is my last name Söldner is still vastly easier for ppl to guess how to say in a close to correct way than my middle name i picked at the same time Dubh, which is Gaelic and honestly has like 13 slightly different ways to pronounce it but none sre intuitive to an English speaker who just tries to say "Dub-hu?" or somethin else if they actually see my middle name xD
I made it super easy with my first name tho as be it my nickname shown here or my actual legal first name (still a chosen name mind you, just a diff one cuz i decided i wanted to have two first names); both are common English names at least and dont include any accent marks.
I still love how much effort Hank and John put into always doing the Right Thing. Even when it's hard or not something they HAVE to do for legal reasons. They are always remembering to be awesome.
"TWO BROTHERS SLOWLY AGE!!!" THAT WAS GREAT!
TH-cam on Playstation lets me put John Green's wonderful face on 42" HDTV all the time.
Has the app gotten better? I stopped using it because the search was a mess.
I love how the volgbrothers always have something meaningful and completely true to say.
Your face is currently on a 50 inch smart TV mate, and it's lovely!
This was a good episode of "Two brothers slowly age."
I'm amazed you are so grateful and appreciative of fan's work, to go to extremes to find out who made them, so you can assure they get royalties so you can use it. I think you're the only person I've heard of doing that. Everyone else would've been like, "Alright, this is too complicated, I give up."
Thanks to Chromecast, your face is on my HD television. Sorry, John.
I'm here. After finding the Vlogbrothers in late fall and watching random videos for a while, I finally watched all 1043 vlogs, in chronological order, beginning a couple weeks ago. That, along with all the Swoodilipoopers videos, some of Hanks channel, reading all of John's books and listening to all of Hanks songs, watching the magic of nerdfighteria at work, I just want to say thank you to everybody that made Vlogbrothers possible. John and Hank are my idols and I'll watch asmuchastheycreate.
"Two Brothers Slowly Age"
I'd watch it.
Thank you for this, and thank you for coming to such an amicable agreement with these young artists. It too frequently does not happen this way, but i'm glad this awesome poster gets to see the light of so many bedroom walls because of how wonderful you are!
"Two brothers slowly age." I'm still laughing.
I definitely feel afraid to create sometimes because the laws are so vague in many cases and I get nervous that someone is going to sue me because I didn't know I broke one of them. I think that the fair use law should especially be updated and a bit more specific, because it really is defined by everyone. So if someone tries to sue and you say it is covered under fair use, but the judge you get decides it is not, you are in trouble. On the other hand, you could get a judge who has a totally different point of view on fair use and win.
I know people like this are annoying but... Go Norway!!
BTW here TFIOS is called "Faen ta skjebnen", which basically means "F*ck Fate"
+littlehouseonthepreposterous In Holland it is called 'een weeffout in onze sterren' which is an exact translation of the fault in our stars. I wish we had such a cool title. Love your username btw.
Not only does art and fanfiction and video and all the things show someone's appreciation for an original work, it also allows people to hone their skills and gain the confidence they need to create their own original work which is awesome. Thanks for encouraging fans to create their own awesome.
you my friend are the perfect writer/creator of things. I wish everyone with ideas had the same mindset about other people being inspired by their ideas and developping ones of their own based on them.
Aside from the fact that you and Hank always make good videos on copyright-type (
I just. I just love how the nerdfighter community is spread across the globe okay I love it and everything.
I'm from singapore and I started out by making friends in the dutch and belgium nerdfighter community and then I had an american friend whom I've met in 5 different cities (we've never met in the same city twice) and now I'm back in singapore and I made a local fb page, which has a small 20 members. it's just amazing.
Thank you, John. As someone who is studying to go into the music industry, I try understand the tangle-y web of copyright. Your point is very valid. I hope copyright can find its perfect balance soon.
Being Swedish, John's pronunciation of the translated title is just about one of my favourite things ever. However, and I'm saying this with as much love and adoration as I can muster, if I didn't know he was trying to speak Swedish, I wouldn't have been able to tell.
I have read Looking for Alaska and am currently reading The Fault in Our Stars and I watch all of your TH-cam videos. Due to this I have decided that I have summed up enough evidence to make the assumption that I am completely in awe of you. I wish there were more people with your brilliance in this world because if there were, I would probably like people a lot more. I relative this is wonderfully random but as I have been reading your fantastic book into the early hours of this morning I dec
I'm doing my senior capstone project on fandom and Doctor Who. A portion of it is on fan art and this video relates very well to what I'm talking about with copyright issues and transformative works (though the case example I have has to do with a knitter who created an Adipose knitting pattern and received a cease and desist letter from the BBC). So thank you for summing it all up.
Every time you mentioned the Philippines (and/or Filipino) in this video, I smiled! So so happy that you recognized one of my fellow Filipino nerdfighters!!!! (PS I think it's time you think of visiting the Philippines someday. Told you at the latfob before that you've gained a large following here!!) :)
My speech/debate/forensics teacher just emailed us a link to this video to practice for our debate meets! I of course have been a nerdfighter for a while, but knowing he is too made me happy!
I didn't know that you went through all of this just to make a poster; wow! Thank you so much for doing all of that; it's the best poster I've ever had on my wall
It's amazing and great that you've found the creators and adapters of the picture an the poster and agreed on the revenue share. I like that approach. Cheers from Moscow, Russia.
I love that poster! I just read TFIOS and I have to say that it was quite possibly the best book I have ever read. I love it. And looking at that poster made me so happy and made me want to cry all at the same time.
First time John tried to pronunce "Förr eller senare exploderar jag" is a moment of vlogbrother history I hold as a very precious memory, but never did I think this wonderful event would be repeated. Thank you John! xD
I like your model of trying to find the original creators and giving them a royalty. seems fair and it recognizes the people who did the work, as well as the people who realized the potential and have the means to make it a reality :)
John, while I remember... I was in my local bookshop yesterday and I seem the fault in our stars at number 3 on the wee chart for children/young adults. I was so happy I like audibly gasped and everyone looked lol... But I remember having to hunt for your books when I started reading them and now they're displayed in the best places in the whole shop :') made my day
im a 3rd year media student sat here writing an essay on fanzines and fan based creation Vs copyright. I came to watch this video for a work break. didnt work out as much of a break, but spurred me on with the essay writing and passion for fan creation. cheers.
Dear John,
I just read The Fault In Our Stars and it reminded me a lot of my mother struggling with lung cancer and dying from it 4 years back. She had a lot of "cancer side-effects" which were actually side effects from dying. She was not like Augustus, in that she put the killing thing in her mouth and actually smoked it, collapsed lung and all, but that was one of her cancer-perks. You can't really get angry at her.
Anyway, I'd like to thank you for the book, it was a good, emotional read
This is one of the most interesting video the vlogbrothers have ever done. It is not just talking about the theoretical but something that each and every one of us has a direct effect on.
NORWEGIAN NERDFIGHTER! I love the way you pronounce för eller senare exploderar jag so much that i've started pronouncing it the same way. It's also amazing how it's almost impossible to be farther away from the correct way of pronouncing it.
The most amazing thing ever is, that I live in Estonia, which is a very small country across the world and yet I have had the chance to buy and read two books of yours: Looking for Alaska and the Fault In Our Stars. Thank you for that.
Yea, you are totally right. The copyright laws are a mess. I just had a semester on it and it worries me.
We should find a solution that would allow the author to "mark" the work (maybe in metadata or something) and allow other to make an agreement with him/her.
But yea, let's hope that people who write laws look for advice to the experts and try to make it easy and fair for everyone.
Thanks John!
You ARE excellent at pronouncing "Förr eller senare exploderar jag"! And it will never stop being funny so thank you for continuing to say it in videos
I am so glad there are John and Hank Greens in the world, they make me optimistic for our future as a planet and as humanity.
That is the best pronounciation of the Swedish title of TFIOS you have ever done John! Well done!!
I'm a swedish guy watching my 2nd vlogbrothers video ever and as soon as you said "förr eller senare exploderar jag" i subcribed :)
So I was reading Lawrence Lessig's "Free Culture" all day, and your analysis made me supremely happy, John. Thank you.
Okay so I've never seen a vlogbrothers video but I just did a little research and OHMYGOD you wrote looking for Alaska!! One of my fave books ever, I have yet to read the fault in our stars but I'm looking forward to it
There is something everyone is good at. For now just do what makes you happy and you'll figure it out as you go along. Don't compare yourself to others; you are your own person and just because you can't do something your friends can do in no way makes you a failure. You're only 17; you've still got the rest of your life to live and figure out what you want to do. People are allowed to change their minds about what they want out of life, whether they're 17 or 80.
You sir, deserve another subscriber just because of your way of thinking!
Looking forward to reading now, c ya when I finish reading
I've had similar problems to you for a long time: I'm around a decade older than you and I have just started to find stuff that I can create. It took me over a decade and a half of trying different things before I found something I can actually do that may, in the future, be worth sharing. The key that I was missing? Keep at it, there is always a steep learning curve to start, but getting over that hump is when it finally gets fun.
Yay great news. I missed the other signed posters pre-orders. Thanks John.
Right when you said it was available to purchase I didn't even finish the vid and went straight to the website and bought it. I saw it on tumblr last week and loved it so I had to have it!
its my birthday today... this made it 100000X better :)
thank you John Green.
dftba. x
I'm definitely going to get that poster. I found the painting online earlier this year and printed it out so it's on my binder. But the poster will be so much better :)
So glad that this is now a poster!! I've had that picture as my wallpaper for quite a while :D
Also I think I have more posters (or posters I really want) than potential wall space
I just finished your book "Fault In Our Stars" and it is the best book i have ever read. DFTBA
I'm so happy! Getting my first nerdfighter memorabilia (is that the right word) in the form of this poster! I'm So happy I could just sing...Elmo had four *quack quack quack quack* four birds of a feather...That song is amazing
A friend of mine just lent me The Fault in our Stars and I thought it was amazing, nice job, John!
Oh my god, I'm seeing you on Sunday. I'm so HAPPYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
Considering me and my S.O. fell in love over a discussion of tfios, this poster is a great valentine's day gift. Thanks for the idea!
i walk into this video thinking
"ugh opinions of copy-write laws I'm probably going to completely disagree with like everything"
but as you did with the economy, you found a wonderful way to present an facts and opinions while still being awesome. John Green i like your brain.
That comes to one of the core things I dislike about current copyright. The other thing isn't copyright per-se but the methods taken to to protect it (which in turn amplify and create deterrent to creators (writers, artists, etc.)...as well as keeping people who simply CANNOT purchase from having access to copies in which literally nobody is losing anything because no money would be exchanged either way and the original is not deminished, destroyed, or otherwise removed in the process).
I'm 17, and I got my first manuscript I cowrote with a friend published today. We both love your novels. Thank you for providing the inspiration to become a writer, and one day I hope you can read my book. :)
=D So I'm proud to finally say, I am reading "Looking for Alaska". I got it from my school library a few days ago. If I didn't have so much homework, I'd read it as much as I could to say more about it! But so far, I really like it, and hope to read more of your books from my school in the future! As they say in your home town, "Don't forget to be awesome."
I love Nica's blog. She's gorgeous, too.
Thank you John.
John, if only creators around the world were as generous as you we would have a greater world - an increase of awesome and a decrease of suck.
I'd finish this with DFTBA but it doesn't look like you need the DFT part. Cheers!
I love the closing statement!!
Google Image search has a way for you to search for the same images elsewhere on the internet. It might come in handy when looking for original artists in the future. There are also plenty of independent bookmarklet type add-ons that let you do the same thing. Keep up the good work, John.
john, this is a fantastic video. i don't know specifically why, but i love it! thanks :)
AWESOME! I have been watching your vlogs for ages and they are so good! :D I can't wait for you to start making daily vlogs :) And congratulations on 25 subscribers already :D)
As a John Green fan and Canadian teacher living in South Korea, I'm really looking forward to this American/Norwegian/Filipino collaboration being a part of my life :)
This tale of international copyright law was actually really heartwarming. It's always nice when people treat each other like, well, people. John Green would have been well within his rights to just take the poster, but the fact that he actually took the time to look for all possible contributors to it and give them a fair deal makes me incredibly happy.
I must tell you, John, that upon your comment about not being meant for 42" HD televisions I then felt compelled to plug you in to my TV that fits that description. You held up well to the test. Congratulations. :-p
oh my goodness droit de suite laws, or lack of them. Thank you John for doing what currently makes sense!
I LOVE YOU JOHN! awesome stuff!
That poster is so amazing!
I've never understood why my mom doesn't like you and hank.
Whenever she sees me watching you she asks me why I watch you. I've moved out now (not because she doesn't like you, although that would be an interesting reason, I just got to that age) but whenever I'm home still get the looks when I'm watching vlogbrothers videos. my mother just doesn't understand why you're so awesome and the awesomeness of nerdfighters
Decided to spend the last few days of summer holidays watching Sherlock again. When you said "Sherlock", I remember Reichenbach, and it hurts and I fall on the ground and grieve and curse and fangirl. The moral of this story: fandoms are dangerous. In addition to this, I usually get close to breaking a bone everytime I see vlogbrothers has a new video and I jump up in excitement.
Watching this more than six years later and that hot slice of crazy that is copyright law has only gotten infinitely worse 🤦♀️
I have spent a lot of time thinking about how copyright law might change in a way that would allow, for instance, nerdfighters to make 'A Fault in our Stars' art or adaptations, while still preventing big corporations from making a TV show about it without your permission. I have come up with a few conclusions. The first is that copyright law is complicated and confusing and I'm lucky if I'm getting anything right. Next, it seems that whatever angle I come at the problem from, it comes down to one thing: creators must make their wishes known and understood! If those wishes are respected and enforced properly, then copyright law has succeeded. Therefore, I propose an addition to the traditional method of publishing art: normally, any artistic creation, from a painting or book to a video game or movie, when published, has some kind of copyright info pretty readily available. In a book, this is the copyright page, paintings can have stuff attached to the back or on a label, etc. and movies and video games have credits. Online creations, such as fanart or fanfics, often have author info pages, etc. I propose that we use the space on those pages/credits to state the wishes of the author with regards to the use of the images or ideas in other productions. So, John, in your case, you could write on the copyright page of your book that individuals may use the ideas from your book to create more art on a scale of individuals on a small scale, but larger ventures and productions must contact you for permission. You could base it on expected revenue, for example. The only problem I see with this is that creators must decide who is allowed to use their stuff and how they can use it. This comment is very long, and I am quite proud of myself. Anyone can use the ideas here for any purpose without crediting me.;)
Yep, that's the exact translation.
By the way, I've heard you mangle that title in about three separate videos now, but this is the first one in which "exploderar" had the right number of syllables. Your Swedish is improving, John! :D
I'd love to read that. SO love to. I think John would be interested also because of his 'the sequel' which was on a complicated road like yours. :) very interesting indeed.
I think we really need to start by people being better at crediting when they use/post somebody elses work. I understand that for someone who's not a creator themselves it might be hard to understand how important it is, but it means the world to artists! And it is so so simple to do! Especially on tumblr!
I saw this on a few weeks ago and seeing it in the video was so exciting!
wooo this has got me even more excited for you and hank coming to glasgow next friday (the 8th)! prepare to be dazzled by our wit, charm and the fact that we sound nothing like that annoying girl from Brave :)
I really admire that everybody was honest in this situation. It would have been really easy for the first girl to be really excited over John contacting her that she claimed the whole design. This is why I'm proud to be a Nerdfighter :) DFTBA.
This video left me feeling inspired. Thanks for B'ing A!
I think the story of HeLa cells would be actually amazing for a vlogbrothers video. As in- the story behind Henrietta Lacks and her cells and the impact they've had on society and on her family it's just a cool story
Hello Nica! I feel very privileged that you've acknowledged my message and replied. I'm very glad that this awesome opportunity of working with DFTBA has opened your eyes to the reality of art theft. Not everyone is as fortunate as you are when they are the victim. Don't thank me, thank DFTBA and John Green for going through all the effort to find you. No matter how "unpopular" or "popular" you are, anyone that posts their work online is prone to art theft. Your case is pretty much (cont)...
thank you John for making me remember that Viacom was the other company trying to squeeze JoCo out of the picture. Thank you for that.
JOHN!!! PLEASE LET THE FAULT IN OUR STARS BECOME A MOVIE!! IT WOULD THOROUGHLY COMPLETE MY LIVE!! ...Sorry for the excessive capitals but i was exited...
FINALLY! The poster is being made into one where I can put it on my wall! Thanks Swedish Ashley, Nico (?) and John!
Its not all about where you get the ideas from, it's about where you take them to. I think we should be proud when people take elements of our ideas and turn them into something equally as brilliant. I think as long as someone gets a fair supplement of the profit then thats great, everyone wins! The creator gets a cut, the adaptation gets a cut and the end user gets to enjoy something beautiful. All winners.
I'm going to see John in the rds in dublin next week and I'm actually crying with excitement omgf
Cool literary term for all the inspired art surrounding the text: megatext. Usually used in reference to sci-fi but certainly applicable.
I had to pause the video to go preorder that poster, and then I came back and listened to the whole story about it AND NOW I WANT 6.
(...cont) If, on the other hand, Hank is risk neutral and you are risk averse, but you have the means to produce Tshirts and he doesn't, then you will both prefer a royalty-based model, since your costs for the design scale with sales (which you, being risk averse, want). Again, the trade produces gains. Since different designers of things to put on Tshirts will 'price risk' differently, by offering both options (fixed-price and royalties) you maximise surplus. So neither option is "unfair".
lol why does Bubbles the Nerdfighting Puppy sound like an old man? And given how complicated the process was, I think you and Ashild and Nico did a fantastic job of adhering to what could potentially be international copyright law. The poster looks beautiful...you guys clearly did not forget to be awesome.
Beauty of free markets. Voluntary cooperation between parties that contribute their own skills and ideas to make something and the fairly split the profit. Internet is a great example and we should keep it like that.
Nica?! This is the first time I've heard about this! She's one of my good friends on deviantART, and we both have discussed these problems of copyright and art manipulations. It angers us both immensely, and I am so very proud to see that her art has reached your eyes and NOW your wall. I really do hope that newer laws will be made regarding this situation, because art theft is one of the biggest issues in my life, and Nica's.
The story of this poster is so freaking awesome. I love everything right now.
This video makes me happy. Also, I want that poster. Right. Now.
Dear John Green,
I just finished Paper Towns. It made me cry. So did Looking for Alaska. So did An Abundance of Katherines.
-Emily
Ps: They were all happy tears, save for Looking for Alaska, which gave me sad tears.
Pss: I'm going to start Fault in Our Stars tomorrow. If it makes me cry you win a record for being the only author who's every book made me cry.
John, I love every single one of your videos!