– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

...

Here's some answers to some questions that you asked.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

...

It being a holiday week here in America,

we thought we would do something a little bit different

and make a Q&A video, which we haven't made in about a year.

So I took to social media and asked you for your questions.

And you sent them via Twitter and Facebook

and Tumblr and Reddit.

So yeah, we're going to answer as many of them

as is reasonable to answer.

But before we do that, I just want to say,

since it's Thanksgiving, thanks to everybody who

watches the show, who has great conversations,

asks awesome questions.

Idea Channel would not exist and would not be the thing

that it is without you.

So in the spirit of giving thanks, hey, thanks.

OK, so now that that is done, let's answer some questions.

To aqissiaq, for breakfast, I'm a yogurt and granola guy.

I also drink a lot of coffee.

There was a joke a while back when Brady was on the set

that I smelled strongly of coffee.

You all watching this on YouTube,

you probably don't realize this.

Mike really smells of coffee.

I'm just saying.

That was not a joke.

I actually do just smell like coffee.

My blood is mostly coffee.

StringEpsilon wants to know my least favorite book that I have

read for at least 30 pages.

And I have two answers to this question.

The first is I have read-- there have been two books written

by this man called Andrew Keen.

And I have read both of them.

And I hated every single page of every single one of them.

And for anybody who knows Andrew Keen,

you will probably know why.

For anybody who doesn't know Andrew Keen.

I recommend you keep it that way.

The other is, and I'm going to make some enemies

for this, "The Hunger Games."

But I have read every single "Hunger Games" book

from beginning to end.

And it's-- the reason I read them is because I think that

the books are better screenplays than they are books.

And I think that the movies are so good

and such a great adaptation of the ideas in the books.

But the book itself is just-- god, it's awful.

But the experience of reading it and then-- and I

always read them right before-- or re-read them right

before the movies come out.

And it's just ah, it's such a strange experience

to read something and be like, oh, god this is so bad,

and then go and watch the movie, and it's so much better

than the book was.

I know that's weird.

Cryptobum wants to know the books which

have influenced my worldview.

And this is a little bit of a difficult question

to answer because for Idea Channel,

every week I'm reading something that is influencing

and changing my worldview.

It's one of the things that is great about making

this show that I am always expanding my understanding

of the world and culture.

Specifically, there are two things, though,

that come right to mind.

Most books by Edward Tufte.

But specifically "Envisioning Information"

and "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information"

are two books that, when I first read them, really

changed the way that I viewed the world,

I think because they show how the proper display

of information that exists in the world

can so readily and easily and powerfully impact

our understanding of it.

And I think that it was when I first read those books that I

started to become interested in the way ideas

and information is communicated to an audience.

So those two books, yeah, huge impact.

And as far as fiction is concerned,

"Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

No question about it.

...

It made me who I am.

Stormygeddon, do you not know that a man is not dead

while his name is still being spoken,

I think is what Terry Pratchett said.

Piwikiwi, yes, I do really want to make more episodes that

are in a playlist format or like a lean back where

we introduce ideas between each of the videos.

There are a couple in the works.

I don't want to spoil any surprises.

But yeah.

I also in general really want to figure out

ways for Idea Channel to use more of YouTube's technology

in weird ways.

Tower07, favorite board games.

I really love Space Alert.

I also really like Pandemic, Mansions of Madness, Eclipse,

and Cosmic Encounter.

AveyReynolds, what have I been listening to?

So I'm always listening to a ton of things.

And if you want to keep up-to-date on what

I'm interested in and listening to,

Twitter is the best way to do that.

But today, the things I listened to

were the new Eli Kessler record, which is great.

It's a collaboration with Oren Ambarchi.

The new Deerhoof record, which I really, really like.

And I have been slowly working my way

through the Pauline Oliveros 12-CD set

from Important Records, which is just consistently blowing

my mind.

Oh, it's so good.

HighlyAnalytical, each of these questions

deserves its own 10-minute-long video as a response.

But to just give you a semblance of an answer for each.

One, one of my favorite things to think about

is what would happen in the world

if all borders were to disappear and passports

were to become something of a relic

of a past and unsophisticated age.

As far as capitalism, I think that when

you become reflexively uncritical

of any system of any kind, it starts

to do more harm than good.

And I wonder whether or not we have

lapsed into that reflex with capitalism.

And as far as urbanization goes, I

think there are benefits and detriments clearly.

I also wonder whether or not it is

a thing that is essentially unavoidable for weird economic

and just subconscious reasons.

I do, however, despair to think of a point in the future

where the East Coast becomes like the mega cities from Judge

Dredd.

...

No.

Max Sommerfeld, Hogwarts house, Ravenclaw,

though I am probably the least competitive person

that you have ever met.

So not academically competitive in the same way

Ravenclaws might stereotypically be.

Linda Peterson, I'm assuming that you are asking what

my actual, in-real-life superpower

is and not if I could choose any fantastic superpower, which

would I choose.

So my actual, real-life superpower

is that I can recognize actors when

they are doing voiceover for commercials or in animated

films.

I can tell you who is speaking even though you

can't see their face.

It's a very strange superpower.

It comes in handy more than you'd guess.

Nicolas, it has been about 15 years since I have seriously

played Magic the Gathering, but black and red

were the colors that I always played with, I think,

because I thought those were the cool colors.

Are those still the cool colors?

Are there cool colors?

Clearly, I'm out of touch.

Shelby [INAUDIBLE], I get recognized

on a street maybe once or twice a month,

so not very often, but definitely

more often than before I made Idea Channel.

And everybody who stops me on the street is very, very nice

and is super cool.

And this is a thing that my friends actually point out

that after I have an interaction with someone who stopped me

on the street, they're like, your fans

are so nice and interesting.

And then, I beam at them like an idiot.

And I say, I know, right?

Holly from Philosophy Tube asks if I have a favorite play.

And this is a little bit difficult

to answer because I've done a lot of work

in theater, but mostly in experimental theater,

so things that don't have scripts in a way

that you would normally think theater

would so they don't travel well, I guess.

But if I had to answer, I would say I have a couple answers.

"The Tempest" is my favorite Shakespeare play,

which I realize is a strange, maybe unpopular answer.

I really liked "Woyzeck."

Big "Einstein on the Beach" fan, Philip Glass and Robert Wilson.

And I think my favorite piece of performance that I've ever seen

is this show that this theater company Elevator Repair Service

theater did called "Gatz," G-A-T-Z.

And it's a six-hour long performance where one

of the performers reads "The Great Gatsby"

from beginning to end.

And as this character is reading "The Great Gatsby"

word-for-word, beginning to end, the characters

in the office, the players, are mirroring

or in some way responding to the things that are happening

in "The Great Gatsby."

And seeing this was a hugely formative experience for me

to see that theater could be this intense, durationally

extreme a thing that was built on the pre-existing culture

and could react to culture in that way.

And it was just-- man, yeah, I have nothing

but great memories of "Gatz."

Love the show.

That might be my favorite.

I don't know if that's a play.

Anonymous wonders if Idea Channel

is anything like what I expected I would

be doing when I was in college.

And the answer is no, not even a little.

I moved to New York and thought that I

would write music and work in theater

as technician, as a sound designer and composer, which

is what I was doing it before I started making Idea Channel.

I was also making performance art.

So I thought I would be involved in theater and performance,

but never, ever considered myself

on camera personality, which is a thing that I still

have a really hard time with, that when people call me--

when people refer to me as talent--

you're like, oh the talent-- that is so strange to me.

I'm just a guy who sometimes says things

to Morgan, who is standing behind the camera.

...

Yeah, so-- [LAUGHS] No, no, that being said,

I'm having a great time and love making Idea Channel.

So no problem.

That's OK.

OK.

So that is, I think, a sufficient number of questions

to have answered.

We will be back next week with a regular episode

and comment responses to the Too Many Cooks video.

If it is a holiday week for you, I hope it is a great one.

And if it isn't, I hope it's a great one anyways.

Why should you be only having great weeks

when it's a holiday?

Everybody have a great week.

We'll see you soon.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

...

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
holiday /ˈhɒlɪdeɪ/ B1	noun - a day of celebration or rest
reasonable /ˈriːzənəbl/ B1	adjective - fair, just, or sensible
conversations /ˌkɒnvərˈseɪʃənz/ B1	noun - a talk between two or more people
spirit /ˈspɪrɪt/ B1	noun - the non-physical part of a person
breakfast /ˈbrekfəst/ A2	noun - the first meal of the day
smelled /smɛld/ A2	verb - past tense of smell - to perceive odor
realize /ˈriːəlaɪz/ B1	verb - to become fully aware of something
enemies /ˈɛnɪmiz/ B1	noun - a person who is actively opposed or hostile
adaptation /ədæptˈeɪʃən/ B2	noun - the process of adjusting to new conditions
influenced /ˈɪnfluːənst/ B2	verb - to have an effect on
expanding /ɪkˈspændɪŋ/ B1	verb - to become or make larger
display /dɪˈspleɪ/ B1	noun - the way something is shown or presented
impact /ˈɪmpækt/ B2	noun - a strong effect
specifically /spəˈsɪfɪkli/ B2	adverb - in a precise or detailed way
durationally /djuːˈreɪʃənəli/ C1	adverb - relating to or characterized by length of time
experimental /ˌeksˌperɪˈmentəl/ B2	adjective - relating to scientific experiments
intensity /ɪnˈtensəti/ B2	noun - the quality of being intense

Key Grammar Structures

• It being a holiday week here in America, we thought we would do something a little bit different...

  ➔ Gerund as Subject, Conditional 'would'

  ➔ The sentence begins with a gerund phrase (“It being a holiday week…”) functioning as the subject. The 'would' indicates a conditional mood, expressing a planned or considered action. “**It being** a holiday week” sets the context.

• So I took to social media and asked you for your questions.

  ➔ Phrasal Verb ('took to'), Past Simple

  ➔ “**Took to**” is a phrasal verb meaning 'began to use or engage with'. The sentence is in the past simple tense, describing a completed action.

• And I think that the books are better screenplays than they are books.

  ➔ Comparative Structure ('better...than'), Subjunctive Mood (implied)

  ➔ This sentence uses a comparative structure to show a preference. “**Better** screenplays **than** books” compares the quality of the books as adaptations versus their original form. The 'than' introduces the element being compared. There's an implied subjunctive mood suggesting a hypothetical assessment.