Good morning John. This week I flew in a tiny plane to New York City where there were many weird and fancy things. Here are some of them: White asparagus, which was fed to me at definitely the best restaurant I have ever been to. At least the most expensive. White asparagus is just asparagus that has never seen light, and thus has a milder flavor and is not at all green. This is weird for two reasons:
One: I feel like I have robbed the asparagus of reaching its full potential. And two: Because, who figured that out?!

My hotel room had a mirror lens that I had rather enjoyed... 

Ahhhhhhh. Errrweeeawagrrawahhherahhh.

Here's a tip, kids: when your umbrella breaks in New York City, just throw it on the ground! This urinal had ice in it. Why? I don't know. I don't know! Pretty cool of the City of New York to put this permanent installation of TFiOS clouds in Central Park. I mean that is just... that's just real nice. And finally here are some tiny chairs that cost MUCH MORE than normal sized chairs. And here is Time Square, and what is that? That's just an advertisement for the movie that they are making out of my brother's book. The real reason why I was in New York, and yes it was great; I wish I could have seen more weird stuff, but that is not why I was there. I was there to see the premiere of The Fault in Our Stars, the first time I had seen the movie, and also to walk down the red carpet. Which was cool, and lots of people took pictures of me, but maybe just 'cause I asked them to.

[Hank to photographers:] "Everybody take lots of pictures, I want lots of flashes." [Flashes increase.] "Yeah, yeah." 

I say that because none of them published any of the pictures of me and my wife, which is too bad. But, good news, my mom took a bunch too. And also did you see how pretty my wife is? So pretty. 

[Katherine:] "I feel like there is a bead of sweat rolling down my back headed for my butt crack."

And then I watched a movie, and I can't show that to you 'cause copyright. Also, that would be a really long YouTube video. And I am having a hard time figuring out what to say about it because it was super surreal. So here's -- we're just going to intellectualize... hyper-intellectualize 'cause that is what I am good at. This is the book that I finished while I was in New York. The Shades of Milk and Honey is like Jane Austen with magic in it. One of the big questions that books asks is are beautiful things more or less beautiful if you understand all of the hidden systems that go into the creation of the beautiful thing? And as I walked around New York, I kept seeing examples of hidden systems on display. Like the escalator at the Uniqlo had a window in the side so that you can see how the escalator worked on the inside. In the Museum of Modern Art Design store, which one can assume has pretty good tastes, was just full of examples of this. 

I think for a long time the trend has been to hide the complexity. To hide the systems in favor of this illusion of effortless perfection. Hide the technology inside of the beautiful box, right? So turn all entertainment into a magic show. Construct the celebrity as this perfect embodiment of cool. But since we started here on Vlogbrothers, we have kind of been doing the opposite. That is the whole point! This is my real office. I am not wearing makeup. We make T-shirts with a local printer; here is how the process works. John's book is being turned into a movie. Here's some videos of the cast and crew on set. Here's how John feels about it, and here's how I feel about it. Right now how I am feeling is, I'll be honest, overwhelmed. I'm afraid that we are missing opportunities. I'm afraid that every time that I talk to The New Yorker or The Wall Street Journal that I am just going to come off without the ability to say things that make any sense. And I'm worried about all of the external attention. But there is one thing that I am not worried about. I am not worried that people won't like the movie or that the movie is bad because it's not. It's great, and people are going to love it. And yeah, I cried. I cried a bunch of times, but not 'cause it subtracted from me. But, because it added to me. It opened up the mysteries of life, and love, and hurt for examination and for understanding, and I think that that's something that the world needs more of.
John, I'm proud of you! Everybody, go see the movie whenever it comes out in your country on the day that it comes out in your country! John, I'll see you on Tuesday.

An advertisement for the book-i-dabawheebakalawhooaha. Ahhhhhhhhhhh.