Even though I'm completely obnoxious about them, my Geo called me tonight to tell me the objects of my obsession, Old 97's, were the guests on the World Cafe. How lucky am I? :)
Monday, November 3, 2008
At the tone, please leave your message....
or What the Ef?!? how i became an accidental stalker of the Green brothers
Okay, so two years ago my buddy at work, K-Shnikes hipped me to this YA author, John Green, specifically his second book An Abundance of Katherines. LOVED IT!! Great little coming of age story about a very recent high school graduate named Colin who has dated nineteen girls named Katherine, the latest of whom has crushed his tender heart. His best friend, Hassan (who at one point starts referring to himself as "Daddy"), decides they need a summer road trip to pull Colin out of his obsessive funk. It's great fun. Trust me. Read it.
Anyway, Schnikey stumbled upon the Green Boys internet project, Brotherhood 2.0, which John proposed as a way for he and his brother Hank to reconnect and get to know each other as adults. They lived at opposite ends of the US--John in NYC, Hank in Missoula, MT and had lost touch, contacting each other mainly through emails, IMs and other text-related methods. Plus John had the hots for this dude, Ze Frank who posted a video every day for one year and wanted to do something similar, but different. The rules were they alternate days for their postings (i.e. Monday Hank; Tuesday John; Wednesday Hank, etc), all postings had to be up on their site by midnight or there would be a punishment and absolutely no textual communications for the entire year.. or there would be a punishment. The videos are funny (the punishments in particular), warm and charming. So charming they've developed a Gi-Normous following of self-dubbed Nerdfighters. Definitely worth a visit to Vlogbrothers which has some prime episodes listed to whet your appetite for more. All this internet fame has lead the boys to embark on a Tour De Nerd across America including yours truly's home town.
Which leads to my stalker issue.
Two months ago I emailed John to see if he'd be interested in being a guest on our little morning dog-and-pony show while they were in town. To my surprise (he's notoriously slow with emails), he responded the next day with a yes, but would have to work out the traveling issues before committing fully. He promised to get back to me after an October trip to Germany.
The trip came and went...no John. I penned another friendly email...no John. After a week, fired off yet another email...still no John. What the ef? October came and went and now the event is next Thursday, but still no confirmation to pass along to the producer. I send a message on every website I can find to which he is connected. STILL no John. Now I'm starting to turn into Ms. Cranky Pants. I realize he's busy with his fancy-ass book tour and his massive road trip with his brother, but COME ON. Doesn't he know it's all about me and my issues? I mean, really. WTF?
Suddenly.. an epiphany. WWASD? What-Would-A-Stalker-Do? Of course! Jump on the web and get phone numbers for his agent, publicist, event planner, dog groomer, Grandmother...whatever. It's surprising (and kinda creepy) how many numbers you can get off the internet. A couple hours leaving voice mail trails, and BINGO. Pay dirt. A lovely woman from the publisher contacts me, hears me out--doesn't think I'm a nut job, bonus--contacts John and gets me my answer. We're on, Baby! And all is forgiven.
This tracking down people for a living is crazy stressful. Who knew booking guests could be like shoving bamboo under your nails. I think this is another reason why we TV people drink. I definitely owe our producer some chocolate.
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