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  • because they are fun!

  • And hence the headdesk was born!

  • Oh John. Welcome to Indiana. In more rural regions, they're drunk rednecks blowing stuff up. :D Gotta love Indiana.

  • MY college gives me money on Friday :) Yes Scottish colleges give me money to go there :)

    When I get paid, I am getting white tops and Pens so I can tell the World that I am a SCOTTISH NERDFIGHTER!

  • I dunno, seems to me that pretending to have a war is a very appropriate way to celebrate America's birthday. In fact I'm only surprised that they don't start a real one every year instead. So well done on not doing that. Usually. In your pants.

  • The Freedom Blast in my pants.

  • i'm a canadian nerdfighter!

  • Celebrate the birth of your nation by blowing up a small chunk of it.

  • *cringe* Really? 'A pretend war sponsored by a bank to the soundtrack of a mash-up of Neil Diamond and Martin Luther King Junior'? I'm not against mash-ups, even of highly sensitive material, but you have to know and respect your source. Example of an ok mash up with similar source material: Steve Reich's "It's Gonna Rain," which takes from a speech given by Pentecostal Preacher Brother Walters in 1964. He respected the content and attempted to capture its power and gravity. Not like this... >.<

  • I'm sorry, John, but I gotta say... I was kinda digging the mash-up. And I hate Neil Diamond. But I was like, "F yeah America!!!! Woo!" It made me wanna get drunk and set off some fireworks myself!

  • I think we should all campaign against Regions Bank. Because of this, but also because they are grade-A evil. My father is an expert-witness, which means he goes to court to explain how the big banks are defrauding their customers. He's been on the wrong side of Regions' "Morgan Keegan" branch for a few years. Two weeks ago they gave a federal judge in Texas false evidence to get him to overturn a $9.2 million case. My father was falsely cited for giving " fraudulent testimony." help.

  • Did they skip July 4th so Hank would have even days?

  • darling, come to texas, in specifically around the time time of fiesta in san antonio, they celebrate the loss of the alamo by having a pretend war with flowers. you might like that slightly more. but there are also a lot of drunk people who also probably have real fireworks.

  • best possible birthday video ever :-)

  • here in india u need not even be 18..

    i mean, a 10 year old goes to buy fireworks (yes, bombs included)

    explosives/firework are sold in flea market!!

    and stray animals.. (including cow and dog)

    are scared of the festival diwali

    :(

  • Go to boom land the amount of very illegal fireworks in other states than Indiana is kinda scary. also did you know that it is very easy to transport illegal fireworks into other states using ur grandparents car...

  • Mythbusters.

    That'sanother group who gets explosives

  • @BethTheBubblyGirl I agree. :)

  • As the original English nerdfighter, I think that John should have been punished for forgetting the apostrophe in "Region's"

  • @LydiaRoyal I think... thats... how they spell the name of the... bank?

  • @Wh4tdoay Indeed.

  • HEADDESK

  • Your anxiety is not unfounded. My neighbor's house burned down a couple years ago (fireworks were not to blame). The next day, rubble still smoking, they caught what was left of their yard on fire by lighting damaged fireworks they found in the remnants of their garage.

    Yeeeeaaaahhhhhh...

  • #headcoffeetable

  • The scariest fireworks experience was when I went to Guatemala City on Christmas Eve. They sell these huge unsafe looking fireworks on the street and then at midnight on Christmas eve it sounds like bombs going off everywhere in the city (the city already feels unsafe with out this added noise). Also they have these smaller fireworks that look like bottle rockets without the stick. They let children play with these, they light them and hold on till they make a certain sound and then let go.

  • My family from Indiana came to visit for the holiday...we had to explain to them that we couldn't shoot off some of the fireworks they brought with them because they're not legal here in Oklahoma.

  • Last night I went to watch the fireworks in Washington DC. We played Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner, which sounded nice when paired  with the pretty explosions.

  • the sick sing is, when I hear pretend wars, it makes me feel relaxed and comfortable because it reminds me of the large amounts of my youth I spent playing battlefield 2

  • *Less than excessive headdesk*

  • at the fish fry i was at tonight they let the kids set off the fireworks most of the night.. you thing drunk people are bad? try 6 year old boys hyped up on cake with m-80s

  • It's so good to see the old Brotherhood 2.0 intro. XD

  • I don't know much about Neil Diamond, but why is it awful that he's mashed up with MLK? Is he racist or something?

  • "a pretend war sponsored by a bank"

    that does sound like America

  • Went to Hawaii in 95, had fireworks with such a blast it set car and building alarms off... sorry John, I find this great.

  • I dunno, I saw fireworks being fired like 10 yards away from me today, not very far away at all, and I really, really liked it. I mean, it was beautiful dude.

  • Ah, the *headdesk* before it was known as a *headdesk*

  • I can't believe John was sitting on a roof.

  • Speaking of bombs in Indiana, i hear and can feel them being set off now -_- It really feels like a war is going on!

  • I like older John much better.

  • well in Gettysburg we really do! Gotta love middle aged men playing dress up with toy guns....

  • 2:47 Does anyone else see a PokeBall?

  • Was that the first *headdesk*?

  • OMG THE ASPECT RATIO!

  • Headdesk indeed.

    The sad part is that you actually are having a war and it is sponsored by corporations, I didn´t mean to get all zeitgeist on you so... french the llama? Sorry, I´m new to all of this nerdfighteria thing.

  • Oh John. I feel like you're less cynical now. I bet Henry loves the explosions

  • and THAT is why everyone in michigan goes to indiana to buy fireworks- and bring them illegally back to michigan :P

  • I saw July 5th on this, and thought for a second before I hit play that you posted from the future, because I know we're in the same time zone.

  • I personally like fireworks because I like big booms. :3

    But I'm starting to see the celebration of Independence Day as less of a celebration of our independence, but an ignorance to our dependence. The US is so pitiful right now that we practically need a good spanking from a few other countries to get us back into shape.

  • Indiana is like Thunderdome around the 4th of July.

  • Wait, John was on a roof? Like, the top of a building?

  • Fireworks have always freaked me out. when i was little (and i could still get away with it) i used to sit in the floor in the back of my van in the fetal position until the fireworks were over and i could go back home

  • "Last night, we celebrated our independence by having a pretend war that was sponsored by a bank. Welcome to America." How profound.

  • when john hit his head against his the table, all I could think/see was the "BONK BONK BONK" from scott pilgrim. awesome.

  • Ahhhhhh! Head desk:)

  • First occurence of head desk? =P

  • Anyone else notice that his hair kind of shakes when he does headdesk?

  • When he was a kid, it made him feel patriotic, and now it just makes him scared. Shouldn't it have been the other way around?

  • Then move to the neighboring state of Illinois! Normal Illinois to be precise! DO IT FOR THE IRONY!

  • i swear, they play that neil diamond song in EVERY 4th of july fireworks show. every one ever.

  • Pokemon firework!!!!! 2:45

  • i was there, too!

    i remember listening to that. hahaha.

    oh, indiana. :DD

  • O.o

    Its a strange world after all

    MLK and Neil Diamond is like...John Green and Ke$ha singing together

  • He was talking about birthdays on my birthday :D

  • @Chocohall Me too :D!

  • Comment removed

  • The first *headdesk* !!!!!!

  • It's the first *headdeask* from John!!

  • Freedom Blast... in your pants

  • at 2:49 it looks like a POKEBALL!!!! :D

  • A radio station used to do that here in my town as well, every 4th we'd head down to the park watch the fireworks and listen to this station it was tradition and it was very beautiful. Mostly traditional patriotic songs like Whitney Houston singing the star spangled banner and Ray Charles singing America the Beautiful. Now they play Beyonce, Christina Aguilera and other crap songs like that, it's not the same feeling.

  • America wasn't founded on the fourth it was the day before, strangely enough two of the founding fathers bought lingerie. And gloves for their wives yay America!

  • Hate to burst your bubble, but that was MLK Jr. MLK was his father.

  • I still love this video. Happy Independence USA!

  • I like how "abject hopelessness" is included in the tags

  • This reminds me of the small town I live in. Drunk people have fireworks everywhere, and it doesn't matter what they're celebrating, as long as it's summer. AND fireworks aren't even legal in PA.

  • freedom blast in my pants.

  • I know this vid is 2397 years old, but I'm watching through B2.0, and this is my current state. Note: here in Hungary, we also have government fireworks with soundtracks, actually it has been a tradition for a very long time. And it's usually pretty awesome. It's the celebration of declaration of state (King St. István, 1000) on the 20th of August.

  • you should have come down to bloomington. we have much better fireworks than that

  • Because it's fun to blow stuff up as long as it doesn't hurt anyone! Exploding Pumpkins on Halloween, Cakes on birthdays, plastic bottles which don't actually blow up but just fill with smoke...

    And it's Martin Luther Kin JR., but I'm sure someone has told you that already.

  • I think I might have to go to Indianapolis for the FREEDOM BLAST!

    Seriously who came up with that??

  • Just hearing Neil Diamond in a Vlog Brothers video was amazing.

  • Now, John, what about your high-school pre-prank? You kind of blew up a lot of crap!

  • Um...on your list of people who can own explosives you forgot Mythbusters.

  • *sighs* Only in America can they mash together Neil Diamond and Martin Luther King, Jr. and claim it's "patriotic". And you think fireworks are crazy THERE? Come to Chicago before 4th of July... people will be setting those things off a month before and end it 2 WEEKS after the 4th.... it's ridiculous! And they're not even DRUNK!

  • If you think that's scary you should travel to Louisville for Thunder! Its insanely Awesome!

  • *obtain

  • Canada's (ottawa) fireworks are SCAREY! People are not allowed to have home fireworks, but somehow, they botain some, and SHOOT THEM AT PEOPLE!

    DDD: that, to me, increases world suck.

    And when the real fireworks start, it radiates the ground, and you FEEL sound.

    Pretty fricken awesome.

  • #1 Who the fark is Hank?

    #2 Why would he even give a fark!?

    #3 Bombs let'm fire them off .. It's only and easy way to 'Thin the herd' You'll the the 'Fireworks Fail' by the missing finger accompanied by nicely dressed white bandages!

    #4 Go back to #1 and repeat as many times as necessary .. until it makes sense!

  • Oh .. wait the answer to #1 is his brother. Sorry! What I get for looking for things so late at night. But ... #2 - #4 still stand!

  • Indianapolis ftw!

  • freedom blast... in my pants

  • mashing neil dimond and martin luthor king, in my pants

  • There are many reasons for the use of high explosives that have nothing to do with demolition or military purposes. For example, dynamite is useful for removing (abandoned) beaver dams, tree stumps, mining, and clearing ice-covered lakes. What's more, to build hydroelectric dams, we need to blow some rubble out of the way. Explosives are useful for those kinds of things, John.

    So yeah, there are decent and legitimate reasons for having dynamite.

  • Isnt that all demolition (of sorts).....

  • WOO Q95!!!!!!

    I can totally see that station doing that...I have never gotten the chance to see the Indy fireworks, so I don't know if sitting through that awful mashup would have been worth it.

    ...Still, I'm sure it was better than watching a drunk guy shoot 200+ fireworks out of the back of his pickup truck one muggy July 4th a few years ago in Butler, Indiana - which was what I got to witness.

  • "Okay.

    Okay.

    Okay.

    Okay.

    I'm having some anxiety."

  • best 4th story was when i was about 8 or 9 was over at my friends house my brother hung out with her brother and just like half the neighborhood was there so i go what if one of those things comes down and hits some one ( cause gravity does happen) they laughed at me said NOOO never gonna happen bout five minutes later kyle the main taunter was screaming rolling arround bottle rocket hot came down smacked him in the head caught hair on fire. I reply with Thomas Eddision just got you back.

  • MLK is rolling over in his grave...

  • if you were in my LA class my teacher would have given you a 10 minute lecture for not adding Jr. to the end of Martin Luther King but you are so funny and awesome that i don't care

    I AM A NERDFIGHTER

  • Sometimes, two awesome things can't always be combined. 2:33

  • I died a little inside from the end of that video. :'(

    not because it was a bad video, but watch and see.

  • It's always fun when people bang their heads on tables.... ;)

  • I don't inherently have anything against July 4th fireworks, but I've experience some pretty crappy and unpatriotic fireworks in my time.

  • I hate fireworks too! It's ridiculous how little people pay attention to them as they're setting them off.

  • Woo hoo, blasting lights in the sky!! I think I'll applaud at blinking lights!

  • Fake war! Drunk people! Choreography! AMERICA!

  • That is why Martin Luther died 400 years before people could record his voice.

  • FREDOM BLAST WOO!

  • The Freedom Blast in my pants!

  • Those guys...missed the air? With fireworks?! x____x

    It went sideways...

  • I used to live in Terre Haute, IN and yup you got everything right. Especially the bombs and the radio station part. :)

  • John, why are you so surprised that they mashed up MLK Jr and Neil Diamond?

    This is the country that elected George W. Bush as it's president. For two sessions.

    You should have come to expect this kind of thing from certain people, specifically 'Decepticons'. There are a lot of stupid people in the world, specifically America, and us Nerdfighters and other smart people have to step it up.

    Wow, I need to stop ratting on America.

    They might be watching me!! I must be a terrorist!! :O Sorry..

  • "You're embarrassing us!!" lol :)

  • fireworks are bad for the environment :(

  • hahahahahahaahahahahaahah

    thats hilarious

    im so happy at least SOME americans can laugh at the ridiculous "patrioticness" of the US.

    its hilarious.

    martin luther king and neil diamond *snorts*

  • Gold Fish Nerdfighters funny!!!

  • This made me laugh

  • God Bless Indiana.

  • Comment 129:

    Look Hank! NerdFighters spelt out in goldfish!

  • yes. i live in indy and that is exactly what we do. hahaha.

  • John, you look quite shiny on this day. Perhaps you need some cover-up?

    Love you anyway. <3

  • Wild Coyete should own bombs at least though he is a cartoon lmao. Love the goldfish nerdfighters yeah. Freedom blast is cool. I love fireworks. Neil Diamond and Martin Luther King mashing whoa really.

  • Oh my god! I live like not to far from Indianapolis and it is so true. Us civilians aren't really allowed to shoot off the big fireworks here, but we're allowed to buy them (makes no sense). Yes, a bunch of drunks shoot off fireworks each year. Once someone I know had a firework shot up his leg, it was so terrible. Only in Indiana would we mix Neil Diamond and MLK.

  • For some reason, we aren't really allowed to shoot off the big fireworks, but we do anyway and NEVER GET IN TROUBLE FOR IT. The guy who had the firework shot up his leg, um firemen were actually shooting off those fireworks, he was just too close or something.

  • oh but they are smashing up neil diamond and martin luther king....

  • I'm in New Jersey too!

    We arent allowed to have them.... but everyone does haha.

  • I was laughing so hard. Wow. I've never thought of fireworks that way. I'm in New Jersey and all people here have to do to get fireworks is drive over to Pennsylvania. lol

  • Neil Diamond and Martin Luther King? Who knew of such a thing?

  • Gods, I can't believe that. I was laughing so hard I was crying. To quote Heinlein "They laugh because it hurts...because it is the only thing that'll make it stop hurting."

  • hahahahahahahahaha that was... hahahahaha wow. Go Old Glory!

  • omg neil diamond and mlk jr...

    that is terrible

  • now i believe

  • my towns so small everyone just congregates at the stadium and the city hires some hicks to play music on a tiny stage that no one can actually see very well... : )

    good god...that was quite a horrid soundtrack

  • I've been to Indianapolis for the 4th it is crazy how everyone lights off fireworks at the same time.

    My city also does the synchronized fireworks and music but not on the 4th

  • no complaining about fireworks/bombs unless you've actually been hit by one.

    Firework/bombs suck and if you get hit bye one the burn off your skin. Happy forth. Don't get hit.

  • "For God's sakes, there were bombs going off all around us and they were all being set off by drunk people!!"

    ROFL!!

  • it not weird

  • I'm just used to it I guess... That's not weird to me. I live in Indiana. We get fireworks at least twice a year.

  • in charlotte, nc i think they used the same soundtrack. wonder if it was just used in multiple places?

  • I never thought of it that way...then again is anyone really surprised that The U.S celebrates freedom with war???....noone?...didn't think so

  • Florida just bans everything, so we're pretty good with fireworks, as far as I (care to) know. That aside, this was really hilarious.

  • I am Wil E. Coyote....BOOM!!

  • Im watching the brotherhood from the beginning and this one so far is my favorite. I laughed for almost 5 min. You should defiantly move to California, fireworks are illegal here.

  • Yeah, Indianapolis is pretty ridiculous when it comes to our "traditions". It's ok, I can say that, I live here.

  • I'm so late in this commenting game that it's not even funny.

    Anyway, down here in Texas you only have to be 12 to get fireworks, mmhmm. Yep.

    We Texans believe (apparently) that you can handle explosives once you enter middle school.

    Also, Martin Luther King and Neil Diamond. Are you serious?

    I have no words for that, so I leave this emote:

    D:

  • There was a firework show and soundtrack when I went to a band festival awards ceremony in Disneyland.

    It was way better than that though.

    lol.

  • I guess having lived in the UK all my life and constantly having them going off 3 times a year makes it not that scary anymore. They're actually pretty cool... and I never think about the fact they're bombs. Okay, maybe sometimes people get their faces blown off, or teenagers set them off in the street an ruin stuff, and you're constantly finding the empty husks in your garden... but I can tell you, after that, spending July 4 in a small town in Illinois is a letdown if there ever was one.

  • Embarassing radio gimmicks aside, Indiana is... well it's a pretty good state. Oh and as a lifetime resident, I can attest to the fact that drunk Hoosiers setting off fireworks are much safer than sober Kentuckians shooting off fireworks (good luck finding a sober Kentuckian to prove this fact).

  • the regions bank freedom blast...in my pants.

  • The Regions Bank Freedom Blast...in my pants!

    i couldn't stop myself

  • I feel wierd to live in Indiana after that.

  • I kind of have to agree with you. After watching that I felt very odd. Like, "hey he's ragging on my homestate--that's not cool."

  • hearding neild diamond and martin luther king mashed up kindof makes me lose faith in humanity

  • That fireworks display sounds exactly like Skyfire, (the fireworks display they have every year in the capital of Australia) except that Skyfire isn't an excuse to express your patriotism, it's an excuse to play a lot of rap and RnB and engage in some underage drinking. And to trash the front steps of the national library.

  • Freedom Blast.... In my pants. Hahaha...

  • lol. that sounds like it might be a little painful.

  • I love Fireworks but then again I almost got hit in the head with a bottle rocket....Yeah....normally that would make a person alittle afraid of thos things but not me.... -Kinda just had an appiphony about himself-

  • Fireworks scare me too ... unless I'm in Disney.

  • lol. that is funny ( though we do something similar in Canada, but i have so far yet to hear a sound track for it that mashes up Martian Luther king and willie neslson).

  • Martin dear, not Martian. A Martian is a creature from Mars, and while MLKJ was light years ahead of others and his work WAS out of this world, he IS a human. (Hope I didn't offend, just trying to be silly)

  • opps, i can't spell. and no offense taken

  • youtube thunder over louisville. it either is, or is one of, the biggest fireworks shows in the country... world... i should really know because i live in louisville. the point is: there's a soundtrack

  • Don't you just love Indiana?

  • I started feeling good about canada. Then I remembered the pretend war WE have on the first of July!

  • OOOO CANADA!!

    My Canadian friend has tried over and over to teach me all the words to that song, but I can't seem to get past the first line... She even tried to teach it to me in FRENCH!!

    What's on the first of July??

  • It's canada day.

    I can sign O canada in english AND french, being a native quebecois.

  • goldfish nerdfighters!

  • YUM!

  • *headdesk*

    *headdesk*

    ack!

  • i cant believe you didnt throw in your pants on to 'freedom blast'. i mean freedom blast in your pants sounds almost more uplifting and patriotic than martin luther king and neil diamond. oh i just had a thought...martin luther king and neil diamond, in your pants.

  • I live in Nashville, about two hours or so from Indianapolis. I listen to Q95 occasionally, and I'll probably be in Indy for the Freedom Blast this year. bwahahaha

  • MLK and Neil Diamond!? What the deuce? Now, King and Springsteen I can see, but Neil Diamond?

  • Bombs are great b/c they explode, and the only thing more exciting than explosions is explosions with beer?

  • I used to live in Indiana. I liked it, but I'm glad I'm back in Washington though.

  • fireworks ARE awesome when handled by responsible people. bombs suck.

  • ugh, I hate fireworks!