Added: 4 years ago
From: ransriggs
Views: 34,675
Sort by time | Sort by thread (beta)

Link to this comment:

Share to:
see all

All Comments (351)

Sign In or Sign Up now to post a comment!
  • What a great storyteller. He should be an author - *sarcasm*

  • LOOK at that ANCIENT computer...*shock*

  • I should add that the Smashing Pumpkins bit is relevant because they were SP chatrooms and message boards. This was a heyday of blaming music (and the Internet) for things like this and so that was in the media as well.

  • I realized halfway through that he was talking about XSpaceboy1. When this happened, I was a 13 year old Smashing Pumpkins superfan on AOL that frequented the same chatrooms and message boards as Sam Manzie. What a weird world.

  • I did some more research on this because I thought it was really interesting and the genuine story is so, so horrible.Sam Manzie had/has lots of psychological problems ever since he was in kindy and the boy he killed was just selling candy door-to-door. At 17, Sam testified for the older man he had had a relationship with. It really struck me how much John had changed when I found all this out and it's kind of reassuring, although incredibly disturbing at the same time.

  • He's ridiculously hot. 

  • John tells this story much better as a young adult then he does while playing FIFA.

  • "talking sex or talking dirty" sweet mother of all that is good and pure. i feel like damien from mean girls. SAY IT AGAIN

  • Do you know how long it took me to realize that America Online was AOL? Five minutes.

  • @margaretdcollopy I didn't realize until I read your comment.

  • The sincerity is...great. And perhaps the greatest dangers of the internet are just like real life - finding someone who will take advantage of you and then doing it in return to someone else who does not deserve it.

  • It probably makes me too happy that John and Dean made fun of Sam...

  • oh my god! so much puff!

  • some of the people on lesser known online games that are really really old (with poor communities) remind me of this 'sam masey'

  • The puff!

  • Comment removed

  • I kinda feel the opposite of many people after watching these videos.. I think he kinda sensors himself nowadays, which is sad. Remember that old vlogbrothers video when someone pointed out that they misspelled "communication" and he said "because there's no I in 'shut the fuck up'"? It's not the cursing necessarily, but I feel like this young John Green is a lot more genuine (which is not to say that this is the _real_ actual John Green, I bet he changed a lot in the last 10 years)

  • @pete275 Keeping in mind on the 'genuine' note that present John Green has said he basically made stuff up at this point in his life. Case in point: the prank.

  • @wolfsoda Wait, he made the prank up? o.O

  • @Gvf77x It actually happened but he 'embellished' it :P He addressed it on his Tumblr. An excerpt:

    "The story as I tell it in the video above is true only in the broadest outlines: In real life, the prank was planned by my friends and I had a tiny role in the whole affair. It was a great prank, although not quite as great as I make it out to be in this story, and the true heroes of the prank’s legendary success were the men and women who planned it (not me) and of course the performer herself."

  • @pete275 well, most people do change a lot in ten years. if you take into account that he's gotten married and has had a child since then, you'll probably find it easier to understand. xd

  • @pete275 Yeah, I wish the vlogbrothers didn't feel the need to censor themselves. But they do... And I guess I understand why.

  • So young. Oh god. Yes. Look at the volume in that puff. And the pitch of that voice. Aww.

  • Back then not only were the computers bigger but so were the puff levels.

  • It's not molestation if they're willing...

  • @Ygdrasel yes it is if they're under age.

  • @TheSweetDream

    No, it isn't. Bullshit laws aside, consent is consent.

  • @Ygdrasel so do you think that 12 year olds should be allowed to vote, run for office, serve in the military, get married, get mortgages etc?

  • @TheSweetDream

    Where did I say all that? Nowhere. Pay attention.

  • @Ygdrasel so you don't think a 12 year old is mature enough to vote or start a family but he/she is mature enough to consent to having sex?

  • @TheSweetDream

    You don't need to be mature to consent to things. Plenty of childish assholes give their consent to all sorts of shit daily.

  • @Ygdrasel Yes you do when it comes to things like this. If you're an immature 20 year old that is on you and any decisions you make are your own. If you're 12, you're a child that can be easily manipulated.

  • @TheSweetDream

    Twelve is hardly a child.

  • @Ygdrasel it's not an adult. and if you are not an adult then you are a child.

  • @TheSweetDream

    Brilliant, Except for the whole "teenage" phase there, and the fact that there are far more distinct phases than 'child' and 'adult'. Plus the fact that 'adult' is just an imagined concept of the human mind with no real meaning. If they changed the laws to say so, six-year-olds could be adults.

  • @Ygdrasel lol ok. well I guess if the adults around you are comparable to 6 year olds, your misguided beliefs are understandable :)

  • @TheSweetDream

    It's not misguided beliefs. It's fact. "Adult" is a false concept. The only thing that defines it is the law. So if the law changed, six-year-olds could be adults.

  • I'd like to see more videos of your friends explaining crazy stories, not just the ones who got famous. Thank you !

  • Everyone take a minute to appreciate that computer in the background.

  • Please write an autobiography so I can say I only read your biography and never any of your actual books. XD

  • Makes fun of nerdiness

    Proceeds to unite all nerds against worldsuck

  • MindFuck

  • john green's life is so interesting.

  • the thing that dates this video so much isn't young john green, but the computer behind him

  • Is it me is John Green like James Potter.

  • @Curriay Oh my gods, I knew there was a reason I was staring so intently at him like I was trying to remember something. I can not believe I didn't notice immediately... Thanks!

    He looks almost exactly like how I pictured Prongs (and that's a good thing). <3

  • I keep rediscovering this video. Everytime I find it again I am reminded that the John Green I call to mind is not the whole John Green that exists.

  • his puff!!

  • Weird puff levels...

  • i love his hair

  • Wow, America Online, "cybering" and that computer in the background! This is all so old. The story is pretty creepy too, doesn't help that it's in black and white.

  • It's so weird to think to think this would have been done at about the same time as the "High School Prank" video

    He seems like a much nicer guy in this one, maybe it's just because there isn't a girl there xD

  • OH MY GOD LOOK AT THAT PUFF!

  • "He killed a boy that he was having sex with, with an axe" the way you said that made is sound like he was having sex with the axe too.

  • We all have that mean and dark side to us and some times we've given it more power than meant to. we all have had our own Sam Manzie. That one kid even the out cast reject. people that are normally nice do this at times .I was a little mean to 1 or 2 kids and I was a nerd in school. I regret being mean or just looking the other when I saw some one being a jerk to other kids. I ignored my empathy. I think at some point we all have.

  • @ladynerdneedslove I totaly agree. I was made fun of alot in school, and i was stil mean to two kids. i consider myself to be a very nice person, but i was still mean those couple of times. any way im just a little annoyed that some people are saying THIS was the only reason he started nerdfighteria and stuff, im sure parly, but nice, intelligent people are still human and do less than awesome things just like everyone else

  • @bodaidan yes I think this was not the only reason why he helped make nerdfighteria.

  • Rewatching this, it strikes me again how weird and wrong the word "faggot" sounds coming out of John's mouth.

  • i felt like watching sombody else...not the john green i know..or better, i 'know' , or better..i dont know..AAAH

    its so weird...who is john green!?!? O_O

    has he ever been a nerd??

    i know that the most important thing is that hes now a superawesome man..but

    man...watchin this...CREEPY >.<

  • @dontBeSoSerious11 He's like Margo Roth Spiegelman. ;)

    He mentioned in an old video that there was only one time when he wasn't a nerd (he was more of a prankster at the time) and he said something along the lines of "AHHH! I'm so ashamed of having a non-nerdy past!".

    But yeah, this is kind of creepy.

  • Holy crap!!!! He is such a different person here. Ridiculous.

  • This is why we should all fear the ban hammer on the internet - Sometimes it's an axe, and, like, real.

  • This is why we should all fear the ban hammer on the internet - Sometimes it's an axe, and, like, real.

  • sam manzie didn't just kill that boy. He stuffed him into a suitcase and dropped him in a forest.

    The boy was out selling wrapping paper and sweets to raise money. Sam invited him into his house and molested him. John knew that guy.

    We could all be growing up with a murderer and never know it.

  • the puff! <3

  • Yep, that is some raw shit. Amazingly haunting story as well.

  • So I was just watching "Too Young To Kill" and Sam Manzie was mentioned. I thought I knew the name and the story sounded really familiar. This is where I know it from.

    You can tell that John feels quite guilty about this. It makes me feel guilty too.

  • for all those asking if this is real I did some googleing and found this " September 27, 1997: Sam Manzie, a 16-year-old, Jackson Township, New Jersey boy; Raped and strangled to death an 11-year-old boy who was selling door-to-door for the local Parent-Teacher Association. Manzie was under psychiatric care at the time and being "medicated" with Paxil. He reportedly told his mother, "I wasn't killing that little boy. I was killing (my doctor) because he didn't listen to me." "

  • Comment removed

  • He seems so chill

  • Was he shitting us or was that real?

  • @thisisaraddish its real ):

  • haha look at the computer in the back.. hehe :)

  • John Green has been through a lot in his life...

  • He reminds me of Ashton Kutcher in that 70s show. It's the accent, and the hair, and the voice, and the look... hot damn JG is a hot twenty-something-year-old.

  • Holy crap I live half an hour away from Winter Park High School

  • Ugh. So I don't actually think that he's talking that slowly, but as compared to how he talks now in his vlogbrothers videos, this slow talking is driving me CRAZY. Other than that, this is excellent.

  • is this true??

  • Why can't a boy be like that and be for ME? That's creepy, tone down the creep.

  • John, PLEASE write an autobiography some day. I have a feeling it would be amazing.

  • @XpoopeyXRAWRX haha it would be a lot like Looking for Alaska, actually!

  • I wonder if that guy will ever see this.

  • he is gorgeous. inside and out. what i would do if i was in a room with him for an hour.

  • Wow look at that puff.

  • Wow. That made me really uncomfortable. It was an interesting story but jeez. Intense.

  • Comment removed

  • WOAHH LOOK AT THAT HUNK OF PLASTIC BEHIND HIM! what is that?

  • so he was with the dean?

  • @UmbrellaTreeFilms he's in college

  • @UmbrellaTreeFilms Even John Green is allowed to change. I'm guessing this video is around ten years old, since it looks like it was shot around the same time as the Legendary Prank story. Even if you go by the thinking that people never change, I'm fairly sure that at the time John was not the role model for thousands of nerdfighters and could be this honest and cynical and almost dark.

    Still, can't help but love and respect him a little more for this brief window into his past.

  • I have so much respect for this man, I can't even tell you.

  • every time i find another one of these videos im like "YAY!!! John Green STORY TIME!!!!!"

  • I admire John's honesty. Thanks so much for posting this.

  • great story man. very nice

  • John has a very interesting life. :)

  • If you speed this video up it just sounds like normal John.

  • oh wow. this def makes you think...the internet can be a scary place.

  • lol yahoo and america online? this video is so old :))

  • excuse me while i cry so much my room floods...

  • He blinked! finally

  • oh my god! There are 666 likes! D:

  • I swear no one makes me THINK like this man.

  • holy shit i thought this would be funny...

  • THE PUFF LEVELS. DEAR GOD.

  • John Green makes me think.

  • This kind of natural storytelling makes me understand and appreciate John Green's writing skills in his books.

  • It's amazing how John has not changed physically. Even his voice is the same.

  • Holy shit! I can't believe that happened!

  • HOLY SH*T.

    I looked up this story, and I lived in the town where Sam killed that boy.

    I moved there like 5 years after the event, but he lived about a mile away from my house (apparently) and my mom said everyone talked about this.

    That's just... bizarre. And slightly terrifying. And I guess it's good evidence for the 6 degrees theory.

  • In this video John blinks in a normal fashion.

    He also reminds me of a friend of mine.

  • You can see the writer/philosopher in him in these videos. The seeds of higher thinking. You can just see the questions turning in his brain as he trails off at the end, thinking the kind of thoughts that we've come to know him for. The incredibly poignant concepts that he loves to question us with. Did his behavior toward Sam lead him, even partially, to his later deeds? Was his obsession with finding "faggots" online a direct consequence of his own experience?

    A writer through and through.

  • John kinda seems like a jerk in this video. He seems a lot more positive in vlogbrothers. Intriguing story

  • @MikeyNewJin I think he was just young. He's more mature now, but he's, what, 10 years older?

  • :O

  • "Before there was all of the hullabaloo about Yahoo and America Online..."

    HA.

  • wtf

  • I was born in Orlando.

    I lived in Winter Park.

    Holy. Shit.

  • It's no surprise that he's now a fantastic author. There are so many astounding things that have happened to him in his lifetime; he has quite the life to pull inspiration from.

  • This is like a short story. If it wasn't for the title, I would've never guessed what was coming.

  • He sounds so different in this video.

  • At first this story was amusing, but then it turned really poignant and thought-provoking. An interesting piece.

  • PUFF!

  • Holy shit... insight to the inner mind of John Green....

  • This video is freaking great I wish john made more videos like this!

  • I think I know what makes him look so hot. He has great facial planes. :D

  • Haha, this would make a great novel. Get on this, John!

  • How many times does John say "weird"?

  • I need to think about what I say to people ,I'm sorry for all the bad things I've ever said.

  • Comment removed

  • holy shit, that is messed up. just goes to show, you never know whats going on in other people's heads

  • I'm confused...John Green typically gives us insight on life after such a good story.

  • I don't think that John does what he does solely because of this story, but more because he is a nerd himself (he was working as a mod at 14... Not so rare now, but very much more so in 1992). But I'm sure it's still in his memory when he encourages nerds to feel proud because of who they are.

  • John is really in no place to be calling anyone a nerd. (:

  • HOLY HUFFLEPUFF!!! John green was the sexiest beast I have ever seen!!!! Oh. My. God. Look at that puff!! THAT PUFF!!! Gahhhhh!!!!!! God. Oh my gushing god. WTF! HOLY HELL!!! He is so freaking HOTztG!!!!

  • @FangsUpCobraFans haha I was thinking the exact same thing.

  • OMG ok was not expecting that but im confused did the priciple AND the sam person both murder people or are they the same person??

  • What does the scouter say about his Puff Levels?

    THEY'RE OVER 9000!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • I think the last lines of this story are possibly the best. Just the reflection of how things could have been.

  • Jesus.

    John Green makes a whole lot more sense now.

  • holy shit, john green was HOT

  • @chocolateluver117 I was just thinking the exact same thing.

  • Now I can see why he gives "nerds" a place where they fit in. I don't think that he's ever really forgiven himself for making fun of that kid

  • @chocolateluver117 I'd like to think that guilt isn't the root of nerdfightaria

  • Wow. I think this may be one of the main reasons John stands up for nerds nowadays.

  • I'm kind of sad about the fact that John made fun of a nerd more than the story of the axe murder

    That's really bad...

  • this is not a good story :[

  • Wow. Ô.Ô

    I really liked this interview, because it showed a very emotional side of John.

    He seems closed, but it's very clear how hard the whole time in school must've been for him and how he had to struggle with the situation.

    John feels really guilty for having treated this guy so badly and it seems to me that he never completely forgave himself.

    (Think of it - why would he today try to encourage all these "outsiders/nerds" around the globe to become independent and positive thinking adults?)

  • Comment removed

  • That's... depressing... :/

  • What a difference a decade can make...from laughing at nerds to glorifying them.

  • What?! John made fun of someone for being a nerd?? I feel like my idol has been a smoke screen this whole time...

  • @muggle394 Everyone does and says regretful things.

  • Never would have guessed he was like that. Ah,well.

  • @mariafoo Everyone does and says regretful things.

  • @phoebexanne Of course. I think he wrote in one of his books that you should never think a person is more than just a person. So, guess this would be one of those instances.

  • There's a kid at my school who everyone bullies because he says stuff like "Im gonna shove a pickaxe up you but" (but putting it nicely) and i wonder if hell grow up to be like this

  • Woah, That would be torture for me....... The whole "did my taunting really affect him" thing.......... Be nice to outcasts!

  • That would be scary... someone you know murdering someone else...

  • to the guy who posted this video: was this what john was like all the time or was he more like he is in Vlogbrothers??

  • @phillyeagles0328

    This is what john was and still is like.

  • @ransriggs Well you know him personally so I'll definitely take your word for it. It's just weird to see him being so mellow in an internet video after watching Vlogbrothers haha

  • THIS IS TERRIFYING.

  • Holy poof.

  • look at his poof....

  • John called somebody a nerd.....Just ten years ago John was an ordinary college guy, but so much has changed. And even then he was amazing at storytelling. Time is a very queer thing

  • his hair is still wonderful. and this is extremely frightening. john is a lot more dynamic than i can even imagine. 

  • his hair is still wonderful

  • i love that john green made fun of someone for being a nerd.

  • John is so different now, he's like all over the place.

  • my god. That is so intense. the last line is haunting.

    It makes me wonder.... I was so mean to him.... and he was just a kid.

    John was meant to be an author

  • Wow. That's intense.

  • oh my, look at that puff level! its almost reaching out into space! its.. its... its amazing!

  • That is one hell of a story.

  • You can just tell he was meant to be a writer. The way he tells a story of such simplicity in a way that it captivates and enthralls the imagination. John Green has the potential, through out the span of his writing career, to become one of the greatest story tellers of all time.

  • Wow, look at those puff levals!

  • This is why he is an author. He has so many stories and he's just SO GOOD at telling them :D