Hank Green
Encyclopedia
William Henry "Hank" Green II (born May 5, 1980, in Birmingham
, Alabama
) is a professional vlog
ger and entrepreneur. He is the founder of VidCon and EcoGeek.org and the co-founder of DFTBA Records. He is also a singer/songwriter and has released three studio albums. Hank Green achieved Internet fame through his YouTube-based video blogs (or vlogs), known as Brotherhood 2.0, along with his brother, author John Green. Their channel, Vlogbrothers, has more than 900 videos which, together, have been watched more than 180 million times.
; he graduated in 1998. He earned a Bachelor's Degree in biochemistry from Eckerd College
and a Master's Degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana. He currently resides in Missoula, Montana
, with his wife Katherine Green (whom he refers to as "The Katherine"), his greyhound Lemon and his cat Cameo.Hank Green, The Huffington Post
and the prospect of human colonization
. This led to his first publication, a piece for the Marswest Project, titled "Let's go to Mars" which was re-published as lead editorial in Space Times Magazine. According to his vlog on April 2, he was also one of the "founding members" of the Mars Society
. This fascination also led him onto the internet, where he created a top-ranked website on Mars Exploration.
The success of this site led Hank to create more websites. After high school, Hank created ihatei4.com, a community for people in the Orlando area who were tired of their commutes. The site was featured on radio, television and in the Orlando Sentinel.
Hank continued as a web developer after moving to Montana for graduate school, focusing on developing websites for educational institutions (including the University of Montana) and environmental non-profit organization
s.
In graduate school, he created EcoGeek, the Web's first environmental technology website. Starting out as a class project, EcoGeek evolved into a major environmental blog, the largest blog on environmental technology.
EcoGeek is well respected among environmentalists and even caught the attention of Time
, where it was described as "porn for hardcore science, tech and enviro freaks". Writing about environmental issues, Green has been published on numerous environmental blogs, including Treehugger.com, Yahoo! Green
, The National Geographic Green Guide
, and Scientific American
.
His expertise is often requested across the media, ranging from appearing on The Weather Channel
and Planet Green to occasional work for the New York Times to providing news commentary for NPR. His blog posts are often quoted in various publications. Green has written several articles for Mental Floss
, and was one of three authors of the book Mental Floss: Scatterbrained.
During Hank Green's original year-long run in the Brotherhood 2.0 project, he accepted the challenge to perform an original song biweekly (known as "Song Wednesdays") and he continued, though less frequently, to write songs during 2008. By the spring of 2009, he was once again writing and performing songs on a biweekly basis. The songs he writes, sings, and records are often humorous ditties, such as "I'm Gonna Kill You," "Baby, I Sold Your Dog on eBay," and "People Who Love Giraffes Who Love Giraffes". Hank's most successful song during Brotherhood 2.0 was "Accio Deathly Hallows," which was featured on YouTube preceding the release of the final Harry Potter book., and has been viewed over one million times. The front-page feature gave the Vlogbrothers YouTube channel a boost in their viewers and subscribers, leading to the beginning of the fanbase that they have now: Nerdfighteria.
The vast popularity of Green's songs prompted the introduction of his first album, So Jokes, which was released whilst Green was on tour with his brother, promoting the book Paper Towns
. The album reached number 22 on the Billboard top 25 revenue generating albums online. He has since released 3 other albums- I'm So Bad at This: Live! (2009), This Machine Pwns n00bs (2009) and most recently Ellen Hardcastle (2011) which was named after a Vlogbrothers fan who won his raffle to raise money for The Project For Awesome in 2010.
Green's latest business move has been the creation and marketing of "2-D" glasses, glasses allowing one to watch 3-D movies
in 2-D, originally created for those who experience discomfort watching 3-D, such as Green's wife, and consisting of either two right or two left lenses from a pair of regular 3-D glasses
.
channel Vlogbrothers and on their website. The initial idea for the project was created by John, because, during an instant messaging conversation between the two, he pointed out they had not gone past the realms of communication via phone conversations, e-mail
s, and instant messaging
for nearly a year.
Recurring themes included "Nerdfighters", adding the phrase "in your pants" to book titles, "Song Wednesdays", "Question Tuesdays" (This normally did not take place on a Tuesday, which lead to video titles such as "Question Tuesday on Friday"), punishments for breaking the rules, clips of Hank humping various items, and featuring giraffe sex as the thumbnail for videos. First intended as a joke, it soon became apparent that said thumbnail substantially increased the number of views. With over 27 million combined views, equalling about 15% of their total video views, their two most viewed videos use the giraffe sex thumbnail.
In their December 31, 2007 video, it was revealed that the brothers had decided not to stop vlogging even though the project had ended.
In 2008, John and Hank met up with their fans, known as "Nerdfighters". The first gathering was a last minute decision, but despite the short three day notice, nearly a hundred people attended. In August, John and Hank were invited to the Google office in Chicago to talk about the project. That same day, they filled the Harold Washington Library
with some four hundred enthusiastic young adults. Following John's tour, promoting his third novel, Paper Towns
, the brothers went on a national tour in November. With events in 17 different cities, they met thousands of Nerdfighters at local libraries and community centers. During this tour, Hank released his first album of Nerdfighter-themed songs, entitled So Jokes.
The Green brothers have been interviewed on PotterCast
and were keynote speakers at the Harry Potter
fan convention LeakyCon 2009.
In addition to spawning a large online fan community and creating a large amount of YouTube popularity, the Brotherhood 2.0 project has also succeeded in its original mission. The two brothers have come to communicate more thoroughly with each other, and have a larger influence in each others' lives than before the project was initiated. The brothers talked on the phone once or twice a year before Brotherhood 2.0, but, according to Hank Green's wife Katherine, they now "talk almost every day."
John and Hank continue to post vlogs several times a week on their YouTube account, Vlogbrothers. With over 600,000 subscribers, they are the 35st most subscribed directors of all time on the website. Their videos have been watched over 180 million times.
, Chameleon Circuit
, Molly Lewis
, Mike Lombardo
, Rhett and Link
, VenetianPrincess, and several others. Distribution of records by DFTBA Records is largely independent; Lastufka himself generally oversees most of the distribution.
The goal of the record label, as Lastufka stated in a video on the subject, is to provide a distribution network for talented artists of YouTube and to make sure their music reaches out to the "largest audience possible." The record label claims to aid a bigger audience in connecting with the artists, and make the "YouTube experience" more lucrative, more exciting, and more fun. The offices of DFTBA Records are in Manhattan, Illinois
.
conference which was held at the Century Plaza Hotel
in Los Angeles in July 2010. The event sold out, as did the second year of the conference. The event has already been scheduled for 2012.
Also appears on:
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
) is a professional vlog
Vlog
Video blogging, sometimes shortened to vlogging or vidding or vidblogging is a form of blogging for which the medium is video, and is a form of Web television. Entries often combine embedded video or a video link with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one take...
ger and entrepreneur. He is the founder of VidCon and EcoGeek.org and the co-founder of DFTBA Records. He is also a singer/songwriter and has released three studio albums. Hank Green achieved Internet fame through his YouTube-based video blogs (or vlogs), known as Brotherhood 2.0, along with his brother, author John Green. Their channel, Vlogbrothers, has more than 900 videos which, together, have been watched more than 180 million times.
Personal life
Soon after his birth, Hank Green and his family moved to Orlando, Florida. There he attended Winter Park High SchoolWinter Park High School
Winter Park High School located in Winter Park, Florida is one of seventeen public high schools in Orange County. Winter Park High School is a magnet school for the International Baccalaureate program.-History:...
; he graduated in 1998. He earned a Bachelor's Degree in biochemistry from Eckerd College
Eckerd College
Eckerd College is a private 4-year coeducational liberal arts college at the southernmost tip of St. Petersburg, Florida, in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area. The college is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.- Campus :...
and a Master's Degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana. He currently resides in Missoula, Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, with his wife Katherine Green (whom he refers to as "The Katherine"), his greyhound Lemon and his cat Cameo.Hank Green, The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
Career
In high school, Green was fascinated by MarsMars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
and the prospect of human colonization
Colonization of Mars
The colonization of Mars by humans is the focus of speculation and serious study because the surface conditions and availability of water on Mars make it arguably the most hospitable planet in the solar system other than Earth...
. This led to his first publication, a piece for the Marswest Project, titled "Let's go to Mars" which was re-published as lead editorial in Space Times Magazine. According to his vlog on April 2, he was also one of the "founding members" of the Mars Society
Mars Society
The Mars Society is an international space advocacy non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the human exploration and settlement of the planet Mars. It was founded by Robert Zubrin and others in 1998 and attracted the support of notable science fiction writers and filmmakers, including Kim...
. This fascination also led him onto the internet, where he created a top-ranked website on Mars Exploration.
The success of this site led Hank to create more websites. After high school, Hank created ihatei4.com, a community for people in the Orlando area who were tired of their commutes. The site was featured on radio, television and in the Orlando Sentinel.
Hank continued as a web developer after moving to Montana for graduate school, focusing on developing websites for educational institutions (including the University of Montana) and environmental non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
s.
In graduate school, he created EcoGeek, the Web's first environmental technology website. Starting out as a class project, EcoGeek evolved into a major environmental blog, the largest blog on environmental technology.
EcoGeek is well respected among environmentalists and even caught the attention of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, where it was described as "porn for hardcore science, tech and enviro freaks". Writing about environmental issues, Green has been published on numerous environmental blogs, including Treehugger.com, Yahoo! Green
Yahoo! Green
Yahoo! Green is a website created by Yahoo! that gathers news, ideas, and discussion about ways to promote an environmentally conscious lifestyle...
, The National Geographic Green Guide
The Green Guide
The Green Guide was a bi-monthly publication produced by the National Geographic Society as an information resource on eco-conscious and healthy living. Founded in 1994, it ceased publication in 2009, and now exists as a website only....
, and Scientific American
Scientific American
Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
.
His expertise is often requested across the media, ranging from appearing on The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel is a US cable and satellite television network since May 2, 1982, that broadcasts weather forecasts and weather-related news, along with entertainment programming related to weather 24 hours a day...
and Planet Green to occasional work for the New York Times to providing news commentary for NPR. His blog posts are often quoted in various publications. Green has written several articles for Mental Floss
Mental floss
Mental Floss is a bi-monthly American magazine, launched in 2001 in Birmingham, Alabama, that presents facts and trivia in a humorous way...
, and was one of three authors of the book Mental Floss: Scatterbrained.
During Hank Green's original year-long run in the Brotherhood 2.0 project, he accepted the challenge to perform an original song biweekly (known as "Song Wednesdays") and he continued, though less frequently, to write songs during 2008. By the spring of 2009, he was once again writing and performing songs on a biweekly basis. The songs he writes, sings, and records are often humorous ditties, such as "I'm Gonna Kill You," "Baby, I Sold Your Dog on eBay," and "People Who Love Giraffes Who Love Giraffes". Hank's most successful song during Brotherhood 2.0 was "Accio Deathly Hallows," which was featured on YouTube preceding the release of the final Harry Potter book., and has been viewed over one million times. The front-page feature gave the Vlogbrothers YouTube channel a boost in their viewers and subscribers, leading to the beginning of the fanbase that they have now: Nerdfighteria.
The vast popularity of Green's songs prompted the introduction of his first album, So Jokes, which was released whilst Green was on tour with his brother, promoting the book Paper Towns
Paper Towns
Paper Towns is the third young adult novel by John Green, published in October 2008 by Dutton Books. It debuted at number 5 on the New York Times bestseller list for children's books and was awarded the 2009 Edgar Award for best Young Adult novel....
. The album reached number 22 on the Billboard top 25 revenue generating albums online. He has since released 3 other albums- I'm So Bad at This: Live! (2009), This Machine Pwns n00bs (2009) and most recently Ellen Hardcastle (2011) which was named after a Vlogbrothers fan who won his raffle to raise money for The Project For Awesome in 2010.
Green's latest business move has been the creation and marketing of "2-D" glasses, glasses allowing one to watch 3-D movies
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
in 2-D, originally created for those who experience discomfort watching 3-D, such as Green's wife, and consisting of either two right or two left lenses from a pair of regular 3-D glasses
Stereoscopy
Stereoscopy refers to a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by presenting two offset images separately to the left and right eye of the viewer. Both of these 2-D offset images are then combined in the brain to give the perception of 3-D depth...
.
Brotherhood 2.0
Hank and his brother John ran a video blog project called Brotherhood 2.0. The original project ran from January 1 to December 31, 2007, with the premise that the brothers would cease all text-based ("textual") communication for the year and instead converse by video blogs, made available to the public via their YouTubeYouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
channel Vlogbrothers and on their website. The initial idea for the project was created by John, because, during an instant messaging conversation between the two, he pointed out they had not gone past the realms of communication via phone conversations, e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
s, and instant messaging
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
for nearly a year.
Recurring themes included "Nerdfighters", adding the phrase "in your pants" to book titles, "Song Wednesdays", "Question Tuesdays" (This normally did not take place on a Tuesday, which lead to video titles such as "Question Tuesday on Friday"), punishments for breaking the rules, clips of Hank humping various items, and featuring giraffe sex as the thumbnail for videos. First intended as a joke, it soon became apparent that said thumbnail substantially increased the number of views. With over 27 million combined views, equalling about 15% of their total video views, their two most viewed videos use the giraffe sex thumbnail.
In their December 31, 2007 video, it was revealed that the brothers had decided not to stop vlogging even though the project had ended.
In 2008, John and Hank met up with their fans, known as "Nerdfighters". The first gathering was a last minute decision, but despite the short three day notice, nearly a hundred people attended. In August, John and Hank were invited to the Google office in Chicago to talk about the project. That same day, they filled the Harold Washington Library
Harold Washington Library
The Harold Washington Library Center is the central library for the Chicago Public Library System. It is named for former Mayor Harold Washington. It is located just south of the Loop 'L', at 400 S. State Street in Chicago. It is a full service library and ADA compliant. As with all libraries in...
with some four hundred enthusiastic young adults. Following John's tour, promoting his third novel, Paper Towns
Paper Towns
Paper Towns is the third young adult novel by John Green, published in October 2008 by Dutton Books. It debuted at number 5 on the New York Times bestseller list for children's books and was awarded the 2009 Edgar Award for best Young Adult novel....
, the brothers went on a national tour in November. With events in 17 different cities, they met thousands of Nerdfighters at local libraries and community centers. During this tour, Hank released his first album of Nerdfighter-themed songs, entitled So Jokes.
The Green brothers have been interviewed on PotterCast
PotterCast
PotterCast is the official podcast of the Harry Potter fansite The Leaky Cauldron. Its episodes are posted once per month and are typically about an hour long. In every episode, the hosts discuss particular passages, themes, and questions from the Harry Potter books and films, and they go over the...
and were keynote speakers at the Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
fan convention LeakyCon 2009.
In addition to spawning a large online fan community and creating a large amount of YouTube popularity, the Brotherhood 2.0 project has also succeeded in its original mission. The two brothers have come to communicate more thoroughly with each other, and have a larger influence in each others' lives than before the project was initiated. The brothers talked on the phone once or twice a year before Brotherhood 2.0, but, according to Hank Green's wife Katherine, they now "talk almost every day."
John and Hank continue to post vlogs several times a week on their YouTube account, Vlogbrothers. With over 600,000 subscribers, they are the 35st most subscribed directors of all time on the website. Their videos have been watched over 180 million times.
DFTBA Records
DFTBA Records (an initialism for "Don't Forget to Be Awesome") is a record label co-founded by Green and Alan Lastufka in 2008. Its main focus is music generated by prominent YouTube stars, such as Green himself, Charlie McDonnellCharlie McDonnell
Charles Joseph "Charlie" McDonnell is a British vlogger and musician from Bath, Somerset, England. , his YouTube channel, charlieissocoollike, is the most subscribed in the UK...
, Chameleon Circuit
Chameleon Circuit (band)
Chameleon Circuit is a band known for creating music inspired by the British television series Doctor Who. Composed of popular UK YouTube vloggers and Doctor Who fans, the band released their self-titled debut album on 1 June 2009....
, Molly Lewis
Molly Lewis
Molly Lewis is an American Internet musician who is known for her ukulele playing. She plays both covers and original songs. Her original music consists of comedic songs about pop culture topics that trend towards the nerdy. She is currently signed with DFTBA Records through which she released her...
, Mike Lombardo
Mike Lombardo
Mike Lombardo is an American piano rock musician from Upstate New York. He is known for writing nerdy piano-driven rock songs and posting them on YouTube under the username "MikeLombardoMusic." He is currently signed to DFTBA Records through which he has released one LP, Songs for a New Day, and...
, Rhett and Link
Rhett and Link
Rhett and Link are the comedy, filmmaking, musical and advertising duo of Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal. They star in the television show Rhett & Link: Commercial Kings on the Independent Film Channel. They are known for their videos, songs and commercials and are one of the most subscribed...
, VenetianPrincess, and several others. Distribution of records by DFTBA Records is largely independent; Lastufka himself generally oversees most of the distribution.
The goal of the record label, as Lastufka stated in a video on the subject, is to provide a distribution network for talented artists of YouTube and to make sure their music reaches out to the "largest audience possible." The record label claims to aid a bigger audience in connecting with the artists, and make the "YouTube experience" more lucrative, more exciting, and more fun. The offices of DFTBA Records are in Manhattan, Illinois
Manhattan, Illinois
Manhattan is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,071 at the 2006 special census. The city is located in northeastern Illinois approximately 50 miles southwest of Chicago.- History :...
.
VidCon
In December 2009, Green and his brother John launched VidCon, a YouTubeYouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
conference which was held at the Century Plaza Hotel
Century Plaza Hotel
The Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles is a landmark 19-story luxury hotel forming a sweeping crescent design fronting the spectacular fountains on Avenue of the Stars adjacent to the twin Century Plaza Towers and the CAA building.- History :...
in Los Angeles in July 2010. The event sold out, as did the second year of the conference. The event has already been scheduled for 2012.
Discography
- So Jokes (2008)
- I'm So Bad at This: Live! (2009)
- This Machine Pwns n00bs (2009)
- Ellen Hardcastle (2011)
Also appears on:
- Wrock for Darfur (2008)
- DFTBA Records, Volume One (2009)
- C4N'7 R3M1X35 (2010)
- DFTBA Records, Volume Two (2010)
See also
- John Green (brother)
- EnvironmentalismEnvironmentalismEnvironmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
- VidConVidConVidCon is the world's first and largest Online Video Conference/Convention. Organized by Hank and John Green of the Vlogbrothers YouTube channel, VidCon is the largest gathering of the online video community that draws millions of subscribers and billions of views.-VidCon 2010:The first VidCon was...
- List of YouTube celebrities
- Video blogging