155: The Cat Who Listened to Podcasts
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the incomparable number 185 artists 2013
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welcome back to being comfortable i'm
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your host Jason L we're here in this
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installment to talk about neil gaiman
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most specifically his latest novel the
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ocean at the end of the lane we might
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also talk a little bit about other neil
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gaiman that we have read and thought of
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but basically we're gonna focus on the
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ocean at the end of the lane and joining
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me in this edition of our book club to
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talk about it i have two lovely guest
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dan morgan is here as he always is and i
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do think that i like is i do i know i'm
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playing his part tonight
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ok thank you think i will not speak much
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you can tell me what to read later and
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uh and also david lawrence here
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hi again hi back I have have I been here
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before I let me sit next to this pond
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and think about them
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Oh whoo that's a book reference that you
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did there was I don't know I don't get
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so the ocean at the end of the lane a
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hundred ninety-two page
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I don't know the backstory here I don't
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know if who actually did read that he
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intended this originally to be a short
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story and then it kind of got out of
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hand through each other going and
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telling a little bit and if you're a
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famous short the successful writer like
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neil gaiman and you write something of
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any length that you might consider a
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novella from somewhere else your agent
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and your publisher say we wait that the
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novel but it's it's kinda short at it's
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a novel will it sell it so it's it's um
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it's 290 pages line along in my addition
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I according to wikipedia 292 page don't
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know you know what hardcover in my hand
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in 278 even shorter wow look at that so
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their wikipedia is overselling it
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well are you suggesting wikipedia is
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wrong about something my god we've
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broken the well I don't know tonight up
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the world is not as it appears dan oh
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yeah all right there are oceans that are
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pawns it's very strange
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so um I actually kind of like before we
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get into talking about it i really liked
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reading something that was
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self-contained and wasn't a
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thousand-page book that's one in a
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series it was really nice to read
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something short and sweet and I liked it
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a lot but also i like i like the words a
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lot and i liked the name
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for of words even more but there weren't
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that many of them it was kinda nice
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yeah it's a story that it's very
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efficiently told some ways which is not
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to suggest that it's not without its art
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obviously but can be efficient i think i
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mean i read this i read this on vacation
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the week before we're recording this and
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I read it in a day
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I mean like I finished a book the
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previous book I was reading and I was
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like all right I'm certain your game
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because I brought it specifically
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because i want to read on vacation and
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ended up you know i read in a couple
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like you know a couple settings settings
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like when i finished it before bed and
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yeah i mean that is that's where it's
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been a long time since i read a book in
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the day rather than couple settings
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rather than a tree that you like a
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forever by a lake
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I read by the lake i read it on a chick
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in a chair all right I like a comfy
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chair and a porch in a bed two sittings
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and two settings in a box with a fox fox
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yeah with my studies in my socks and
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planning I did not read it in the rain I
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would not could not read it in the rain
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it's true anyways yeah I wouldn't it was
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funny because I just talked to sit down
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have a vacation with my family and my
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cousin is a couple years older than me
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is also a bit of you know fantasy
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science fiction fan and so he's like if
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you read over the ocean at the
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underlying yet i was like no no I have
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it on this trip I'm gonna read it and
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he's he you know tried very hard not to
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spoil i actually knew very little about
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this book going in despite the fact that
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i follow him on twitter and read his
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blog like I I sort of got bits and
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pieces but not I did not read the book
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jacket or anything like that I kind of
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went in unprepared and I think you know
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what i think i like that you know i
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think that's something I don't do very
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often and it's refreshing it's like
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going to a movie that you don't know
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anything about right and then you're
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surprised and delighted by it like oh
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wow this is pretty cool i dont even into
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a trailer or commercial for anything and
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they're required backstory don't want to
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know what universe it's set in or what
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series it's a part of or anything like
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that it's just
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hey Neil Gaiman road new book i'm going
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to read it anyway yeah and i have a
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further point about that but I wait wait
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until we get to the book discussion so
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noted yet I mean I i read it in two
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sittings to just over two nights but any
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settings only only one only one to enter
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next Settings icon
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yeah yeah next time I'll build a set
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there you go there you do that
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and yeah i mean i originally I got it
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just because my older son is in to neil
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gaiman thanks to Coraline and the
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graveyard book and without alright you
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know we'll get this and yeah if if i get
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around to reading it
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so when you through this and there's no
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yeah alright i can do that and you
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mentioned it to an actor friend of mine
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and he said oh my god you're going to
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love it said okay you know whatever
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any-any didn't spoil and he wanted to
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you know it was the same kind of thing
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and so last night after i finished it i
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sent him a message
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I said oh my god and he said yep there
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you go and i'll tell you what else he
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said later but that's part of the book
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discussion one of the things I really
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liked about this book is ok first off
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Neil Gaiman is a really good writer
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let's just say yeah well he's either
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that's a given let's just put that you
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enter that into evidence
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well there are a lot of successful
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people were big fan followings I'm not
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naming names who are even even something
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like george RR martin who has got a lot
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of things going for people whose books I
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like we don't need to talk about like
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feed and things like that people whose
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books i like but I read them i think
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well I like the idea is more than I like
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the actual writing right real game is a
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good writer yeah and sometimes the words
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are to the you know to the service of
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the book we you don't stop and reread
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that particular turn of phrase for
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example and there's nothing wrong with
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that either plenty of books i read where
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it's like I've died like the story like
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the characters not really paying a lot
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of attention the writing but like that
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that that is sort of that's like gravy
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for me like if you know and sometimes it
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gets in the way like there are there
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definitely writers who try too hard to
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be like good like lyrical writers and
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they that it just gets obfuscating in
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terms of like the story but but his
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stuff is subtle and not something you I
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you know occasionally find myself
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re-reading sentences and I'm realizing
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that sir it's really really well-crafted
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sentence did not show we necessarily no
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no they're not just weren't but they're
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there to the point and yet I think about
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your laurita sensitive man if I wrote
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that sounds that sounds would be like
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super way boring way more boring
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yeah if you wrote that particular
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sentence you like punch the air and get
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up and go with you I'll be like oh my
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god i'm neil gaiman that's amazing but
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yeah yeah he's a good writer and um and
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then I like the tone of this book and
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and I've seen their similar tones and
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some of the other books that he's
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written a lot of his books have this
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kind of tone but I like that it's you
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know it starts off as a memoir it turns
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into sort of a fairy tale it never it
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never seems even when it's sort of at
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its most scary or at least has the most
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plot complication by the antagonist of
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the story
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it never I don't know it always seems
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kind of gentle I'll take issue with that
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one particular scene but overall I think
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I fair enough i think i'll see where I
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see where you're going a reminder there
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yes that's right the core there's a some
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ugliness but around especially the first
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part of it i mean yeah you really
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essentially are reading his memoir and
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until suddenly it becomes something
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that's different but it's just it's i
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don't know it was very pleasant to read
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the whole experience was pleasant in in
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all the settings and settings that it
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took three did make me think that like
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other you mention the memoir part like I
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and knowing as much about neil gaiman as
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i did because i have followed him for
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many years and like personally like a
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foam around now I because I because I've
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read a lot of this stuff because i read
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his blog i know a little bit about you
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know his life whatever shares in the
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internet and so knowing that stuff it
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was very interesting to read and try to
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figure out how much of this is
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influenced by you know his own life
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because it's not hard to read into that
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at least in the beginning you know that
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there's they're certainly elements of
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sure but yeah I thought that was I
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thought that was interesting one and the
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gentleness is what makes those horrific
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moments stand out and makes them that
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much more effective to because it's
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almost like he's load you into this
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just beautiful storytelling in this
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beautiful setting and even when I mean
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the characters are doing that too right
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yeah the the family whose name now the
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hem stocks right they
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great they keep reassuring him to in his
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flashbacks that it's gonna be okay just
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hold my hand everything's going to be
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fine and so not only is the writer and
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the tone of the book reassuring you the
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characters are reassuring the the
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protagonist it's gonna be okay don't
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worry about it just hold on it's gonna
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be fine
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well I'm not that worried it's not gonna
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be a problem
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it's fine and then enforce it it's not
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entirely five break when it's a way of
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getting him through it and even at the
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end when he gets through in a different
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trying not to spoil anything but again
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it comes back to the reassurance and the
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yes of course that's exactly how it went
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yes it's okay the the writer reminded me
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the most of the book that reminded me
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the most up was actually ray bradbury
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something wicked this way cause like
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yeah there's a very similar tone to that
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book which is also sort of about dealing
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with that childhood not quite the cusp
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of childhood but like there's an element
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of being a kid and being exposed to
[TS]
00:10:13
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these fantastical elements and you know
[TS]
00:10:17
◼
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I think we all it's always interesting
[TS]
00:10:19
◼
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to read a book from the perspective of a
[TS]
00:10:21
◼
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child especially like fancy books like
[TS]
00:10:23
◼
►
this because i don't know about you guys
[TS]
00:10:26
◼
►
but I kind of really putting myself back
[TS]
00:10:27
◼
►
in the you know in the mindset of
[TS]
00:10:29
◼
►
feeling like a kid again and thinking
[TS]
00:10:31
◼
►
about how when you're a kid how real all
[TS]
00:10:33
◼
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those things are to you and so there's a
[TS]
00:10:35
◼
►
lot of the book which for me at least
[TS]
00:10:38
◼
►
the first half or so I reading through
[TS]
00:10:39
◼
►
like well there's a lot in here that you
[TS]
00:10:41
◼
►
can kind of you could almost rationalize
[TS]
00:10:45
◼
►
in a very logical like real world kind
[TS]
00:10:47
◼
►
of way like there are real-world events
[TS]
00:10:49
◼
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that might cause a child to you know
[TS]
00:10:53
◼
►
imagine these types of things compounded
[TS]
00:10:56
◼
►
with you know something bad happening
[TS]
00:10:58
◼
►
right like their traumatic events for
[TS]
00:11:01
◼
►
example that could happen and how that
[TS]
00:11:03
◼
►
might turn into a different sort of
[TS]
00:11:05
◼
►
story in your head as a child thinking
[TS]
00:11:07
◼
►
about it that are very different from
[TS]
00:11:09
◼
►
the perspective of being an adult which
[TS]
00:11:11
◼
►
is why you know when we sort of lead
[TS]
00:11:12
◼
►
into the book it starts with the adult
[TS]
00:11:14
◼
►
and then regreses back to the kid for it
[TS]
00:11:17
◼
►
so I I thought that was very interesting
[TS]
00:11:19
◼
►
all done because it when you are kid all
[TS]
00:11:22
◼
►
that stuff is so real to you like I mean
[TS]
00:11:25
◼
►
being a kid you know if the idea of like
[TS]
00:11:27
◼
►
a monster under your bed or something
[TS]
00:11:28
◼
►
like that right like that is that is
[TS]
00:11:29
◼
►
real tangible thing to you as a child in
[TS]
00:11:32
◼
►
a way that doesn't really make sense
[TS]
00:11:33
◼
►
into even looking back from an adult
[TS]
00:11:35
◼
►
like oh how could I have even believe
[TS]
00:11:37
◼
►
that but at the time it doesn't matter
[TS]
00:11:38
◼
►
right like it's true as far as you're
[TS]
00:11:39
◼
►
concerned because it has an effect on
[TS]
00:11:41
◼
►
you so I think he's great at capturing
[TS]
00:11:43
◼
►
that element of you know how real and
[TS]
00:11:47
◼
►
visceral these things feel as a child
[TS]
00:11:49
◼
►
and just the idea of the unexplained
[TS]
00:11:51
◼
►
should we fire off the spoiler horn and
[TS]
00:11:54
◼
►
talk about this a little more detail
[TS]
00:11:55
◼
►
go for it
[TS]
00:12:00
◼
►
right now I had so let me let me visit I
[TS]
00:12:03
◼
►
was just saying it but in like concrete
[TS]
00:12:05
◼
►
terms okay yeah i'm laying on me so you
[TS]
00:12:07
◼
►
know we have to deal with the the fact
[TS]
00:12:09
◼
►
that this this this kid basically she's
[TS]
00:12:11
◼
►
like a dead body right like that's the
[TS]
00:12:12
◼
►
first sort of major thing that happens
[TS]
00:12:14
◼
►
in the book I feel like I mean and else
[TS]
00:12:17
◼
►
is a really horrific i mean like the
[TS]
00:12:18
◼
►
thing before before there's before
[TS]
00:12:21
◼
►
there's real magic right there is he
[TS]
00:12:24
◼
►
sees the well
[TS]
00:12:26
◼
►
oh yeah you're right though damn i mean
[TS]
00:12:27
◼
►
first off they may kill his kitten
[TS]
00:12:29
◼
►
yeah that God man attacks the cab driver
[TS]
00:12:32
◼
►
comes up and kills his kitten the new
[TS]
00:12:34
◼
►
larger it's like what got you a new cat
[TS]
00:12:37
◼
►
had like a million evil cat right now
[TS]
00:12:39
◼
►
cat and his little black kitten honest
[TS]
00:12:41
◼
►
with you mind that that's so sad because
[TS]
00:12:43
◼
►
as I grew I grew up with cats and we
[TS]
00:12:46
◼
►
were right on the highway and the cats
[TS]
00:12:48
◼
►
didn't last very long i have I I cannot
[TS]
00:12:50
◼
►
tell you how many kind of forward of
[TS]
00:12:52
◼
►
things in my childhood I can mark by the
[TS]
00:12:54
◼
►
death of an animal like that that might
[TS]
00:12:57
◼
►
you know my cats that when they were hit
[TS]
00:12:59
◼
►
by a car on the highway just awful and
[TS]
00:13:03
◼
►
so that really hit home and that's
[TS]
00:13:05
◼
►
before even the larger and kills himself
[TS]
00:13:07
◼
►
out by the end of the lane right well
[TS]
00:13:10
◼
►
and that to me that element i mean i
[TS]
00:13:11
◼
►
didn't i did not have pets going up and
[TS]
00:13:13
◼
►
the closest I got was like a friend of
[TS]
00:13:15
◼
►
mine got a cat like a kitten and his mom
[TS]
00:13:18
◼
►
was like oh well you know like you don't
[TS]
00:13:19
◼
►
get to have a cat like a parent watching
[TS]
00:13:21
◼
►
very carefully you can like have like
[TS]
00:13:22
◼
►
part-owner so you can like come over and
[TS]
00:13:24
◼
►
visit the cat and like and then they had
[TS]
00:13:26
◼
►
to put the cat to sleep like two weeks
[TS]
00:13:27
◼
►
later because I always and I was like
[TS]
00:13:29
◼
►
three probably a really good thing that
[TS]
00:13:31
◼
►
I didn't have a cat because that would
[TS]
00:13:33
◼
►
just like broken me as a child but like
[TS]
00:13:35
◼
►
but your he writes about it so so
[TS]
00:13:39
◼
►
pointedly that you can't help that
[TS]
00:13:40
◼
►
something was like I couldn't help but
[TS]
00:13:42
◼
►
feel like this happened like it out real
[TS]
00:13:44
◼
►
but it's almost rolled dollars yeah wait
[TS]
00:13:47
◼
►
for me to where it's like you start the
[TS]
00:13:48
◼
►
story and it's like here's a boy and he
[TS]
00:13:51
◼
►
had a perfectly ordinary childhood and
[TS]
00:13:53
◼
►
he had a cat and the cat was crushed by
[TS]
00:13:55
◼
►
a cab driver because their parents had
[TS]
00:13:57
◼
►
to rent out rooms because they're you
[TS]
00:13:59
◼
►
know they they didn't have the money
[TS]
00:14:00
◼
►
like wow whoa nobody came to his
[TS]
00:14:04
◼
►
birthday party and nobody comes to a
[TS]
00:14:05
◼
►
birthday party just him
[TS]
00:14:07
◼
►
yeah very rolled all right i mean i
[TS]
00:14:10
◼
►
always go back to change the gigantic
[TS]
00:14:11
◼
►
that's it that's it that's it
[TS]
00:14:12
◼
►
informative book for me
[TS]
00:14:14
◼
►
and.and I read some of these books and
[TS]
00:14:16
◼
►
every time i get there i get a little
[TS]
00:14:17
◼
►
sensitive and sponge and spiker and I
[TS]
00:14:20
◼
►
gah it's doing that and then their
[TS]
00:14:22
◼
►
parents were eating at the zoo and admit
[TS]
00:14:24
◼
►
I got some of that from the ocean at the
[TS]
00:14:26
◼
►
end of the line and you know he has to
[TS]
00:14:28
◼
►
give up his bedroom
[TS]
00:14:29
◼
►
it's not just oh yeah he has to give up
[TS]
00:14:31
◼
►
the bedroom that was especially you know
[TS]
00:14:33
◼
►
to get the washbasin just his job for
[TS]
00:14:35
◼
►
him sleep and sleep in his sister's room
[TS]
00:14:38
◼
►
blue we see what I'm saying like in
[TS]
00:14:40
◼
►
terms of like the effects of something
[TS]
00:14:42
◼
►
that's real like so you know you feel
[TS]
00:14:43
◼
►
like with the dead body and then later
[TS]
00:14:45
◼
►
on there's in the other and i know this
[TS]
00:14:47
◼
►
is skipping around a little bit like the
[TS]
00:14:49
◼
►
the antagonist of the book Ursula
[TS]
00:14:53
◼
►
Monkton moncton like you know so she
[TS]
00:14:57
◼
►
basically like his father basically has
[TS]
00:15:00
◼
►
an affair with her right like you can
[TS]
00:15:02
◼
►
almost see that as like in a real world
[TS]
00:15:05
◼
►
event that was viewed through the life
[TS]
00:15:07
◼
►
of a child she must be a monster because
[TS]
00:15:08
◼
►
she came in and broke up my family right
[TS]
00:15:10
◼
►
like and and that's the the line that it
[TS]
00:15:13
◼
►
walks that makes this so powerful for me
[TS]
00:15:15
◼
►
is like you know obviously not
[TS]
00:15:18
◼
►
everything is something that can be
[TS]
00:15:19
◼
►
explained rationally in this in this
[TS]
00:15:21
◼
►
story but there are like little touch
[TS]
00:15:22
◼
►
points of that where that line is very
[TS]
00:15:25
◼
►
permeable for children right the line
[TS]
00:15:27
◼
►
between reality and fantasy and
[TS]
00:15:29
◼
►
imagination and and I think that's he
[TS]
00:15:32
◼
►
does such a great job of capturing what
[TS]
00:15:35
◼
►
it's like to be a small child who has
[TS]
00:15:37
◼
►
that imagination especially because I
[TS]
00:15:38
◼
►
don't you guys but like identified with
[TS]
00:15:40
◼
►
him in terms of like you talk about him
[TS]
00:15:42
◼
►
read books all the time write like that
[TS]
00:15:44
◼
►
was me like growing up like I read books
[TS]
00:15:45
◼
►
like all the time I had my nose in a
[TS]
00:15:48
◼
►
book all the time and that's and that's
[TS]
00:15:49
◼
►
definitely how I felt at that point
[TS]
00:15:50
◼
►
about like the imagining all these
[TS]
00:15:52
◼
►
adventures and stories and great things
[TS]
00:15:53
◼
►
that I could go off and be doing and and
[TS]
00:15:56
◼
►
that is why it's such a such a great
[TS]
00:15:59
◼
►
piece of work in in terms of bringing
[TS]
00:16:01
◼
►
this character to life and that was to
[TS]
00:16:04
◼
►
call back to an earlier point that I
[TS]
00:16:05
◼
►
said about my cousin mention this book
[TS]
00:16:07
◼
►
to me he said he he explained he was
[TS]
00:16:09
◼
►
telling a friend about the book is like
[TS]
00:16:10
◼
►
I really love this book about this boy
[TS]
00:16:12
◼
►
you know and he has this interesting
[TS]
00:16:13
◼
►
experience as a kid and he goes through
[TS]
00:16:15
◼
►
some of it and his friend estimate its
[TS]
00:16:18
◼
►
voice name and he suddenly stopped and
[TS]
00:16:20
◼
►
realizes right action
[TS]
00:16:23
◼
►
wait hold on you never told us they like
[TS]
00:16:25
◼
►
and that's like but I didn't realize it
[TS]
00:16:27
◼
►
until I was
[TS]
00:16:27
◼
►
really acts asked about it like it
[TS]
00:16:30
◼
►
didn't register in my in my mind that
[TS]
00:16:32
◼
►
were never told what his name is right I
[TS]
00:16:35
◼
►
that's amazing
[TS]
00:16:36
◼
►
the framing sequence of this book to is
[TS]
00:16:38
◼
►
that he's in town for a funeral
[TS]
00:16:41
◼
►
I kind of assumed it's a funeral of one
[TS]
00:16:43
◼
►
of his parents as well now although it's
[TS]
00:16:45
◼
►
never made clear who
[TS]
00:16:47
◼
►
yeah uh which i think i kinda like and
[TS]
00:16:51
◼
►
given what we see about his parents and
[TS]
00:16:53
◼
►
and how Ursula Monkton and you know
[TS]
00:16:55
◼
►
basically inserts herself in this family
[TS]
00:16:57
◼
►
and you know have sex with the father
[TS]
00:17:00
◼
►
and and the and the narrator sees that
[TS]
00:17:04
◼
►
there's something going on there and you
[TS]
00:17:06
◼
►
could on one level blade say well it was
[TS]
00:17:08
◼
►
magic it's not his fault but what is
[TS]
00:17:10
◼
►
Ursula Monkton story she she wants
[TS]
00:17:13
◼
►
everybody to be happy
[TS]
00:17:15
◼
►
these horrible things that she does are
[TS]
00:17:16
◼
►
all actually trying to give people kind
[TS]
00:17:19
◼
►
of what they want which is even more
[TS]
00:17:21
◼
►
horrible but then so this family that's
[TS]
00:17:24
◼
►
had all this stuff i mean when we see
[TS]
00:17:26
◼
►
the framing sequence we're seeing that
[TS]
00:17:28
◼
►
he's an adult now and so presumably one
[TS]
00:17:32
◼
►
of his parents has died and he's
[TS]
00:17:34
◼
►
avoiding going to the reception have to
[TS]
00:17:37
◼
►
the after the bear held by instead going
[TS]
00:17:39
◼
►
to this this house at the end of the
[TS]
00:17:40
◼
►
lane then and then we find out that he's
[TS]
00:17:43
◼
►
gone there will be several times really
[TS]
00:17:46
◼
►
his life but never remembers which is I
[TS]
00:17:49
◼
►
mean I literally I this never used to
[TS]
00:17:54
◼
►
happen to me I used to be you know stoic
[TS]
00:17:58
◼
►
all my life I mean I credits me come
[TS]
00:18:00
◼
►
home when I was seven I cried at the end
[TS]
00:18:03
◼
►
of Wrath of Khan and we're not even when
[TS]
00:18:05
◼
►
Spock dies it's when Kirk's voice goes
[TS]
00:18:08
◼
►
his was the most here right yeah it's
[TS]
00:18:12
◼
►
just okay i'm done right
[TS]
00:18:14
◼
►
yeah and and I cried when they did the
[TS]
00:18:16
◼
►
memorial special after Jim Henson passed
[TS]
00:18:19
◼
►
away and that you know they do the big
[TS]
00:18:21
◼
►
song at the end of just one person
[TS]
00:18:23
◼
►
believes in you long enough and strong
[TS]
00:18:25
◼
►
enough to call God you know you know but
[TS]
00:18:28
◼
►
aside from that nothing nothing got me
[TS]
00:18:31
◼
►
Bambi nothing Old Yeller dog bad i just
[TS]
00:18:35
◼
►
i right
[TS]
00:18:37
◼
►
but just I'm sorry thanks them any sense
[TS]
00:18:39
◼
►
more editing work for me them also use
[TS]
00:18:42
◼
►
it wasn't me
[TS]
00:18:43
◼
►
usually I'm worried about that but yeah
[TS]
00:18:47
◼
►
after I had children I think was we had
[TS]
00:18:52
◼
►
the first one for a couple months and I
[TS]
00:18:54
◼
►
just needed something to read because
[TS]
00:18:57
◼
►
you know I hadn't read books in awhile
[TS]
00:18:59
◼
►
this year it's just baby baby baby oh
[TS]
00:19:02
◼
►
baby and i read this Batman no man's
[TS]
00:19:05
◼
►
land by graça that's great I loved
[TS]
00:19:09
◼
►
oh yeah and there's the adaptation of
[TS]
00:19:11
◼
►
that arc in the graphic novels and it
[TS]
00:19:16
◼
►
gets to the subplot where the Joker's
[TS]
00:19:18
◼
►
kidnapped all the newborn baby boys in
[TS]
00:19:20
◼
►
Gotham and is going to kill them one by
[TS]
00:19:22
◼
►
one and I'm sitting there just tears
[TS]
00:19:24
◼
►
pouring down my face and going this is a
[TS]
00:19:27
◼
►
bad man novel what is wrong with me
[TS]
00:19:30
◼
►
and ever since then I much more
[TS]
00:19:33
◼
►
sensitive to things like that and the
[TS]
00:19:36
◼
►
end of this book i read the last two
[TS]
00:19:38
◼
►
chapters with tears just pouring down my
[TS]
00:19:40
◼
►
face not you know I'm not having
[TS]
00:19:42
◼
►
hysterics may be quiet but just I
[TS]
00:19:45
◼
►
couldn't stop and you know then it was
[TS]
00:19:48
◼
►
just sort of like I described last night
[TS]
00:19:50
◼
►
as the this sort of full chest feeling
[TS]
00:19:54
◼
►
of sorrow and joy and redemption and
[TS]
00:19:59
◼
►
sadness and you know just all-in-one and
[TS]
00:20:02
◼
►
you know the thought that you know it's
[TS]
00:20:07
◼
►
almost it's almost going back to wrinkle
[TS]
00:20:10
◼
►
in time it's as if Charles Wallace
[TS]
00:20:13
◼
►
didn't come back and saved the rest of
[TS]
00:20:17
◼
►
them if that makes sense
[TS]
00:20:19
◼
►
Yeah right right yes yeah it you're
[TS]
00:20:22
◼
►
right because it's that sacrifice of the
[TS]
00:20:25
◼
►
one who spoons special and has the most
[TS]
00:20:28
◼
►
special talent to save everybody else in
[TS]
00:20:31
◼
►
this case to save the unnamed narrator
[TS]
00:20:33
◼
►
and you know so so having that echoing
[TS]
00:20:38
◼
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for me was kinda weird to like oh my god
[TS]
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i was thinking of Florida rings during
[TS]
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when when they explain what's happening
[TS]
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with letty at the end of this book where
[TS]
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she's been attacked and
[TS]
00:20:50
◼
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is dying and I I think it's the you know
[TS]
00:20:52
◼
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it's so see metaphors there in the ocean
[TS]
00:20:54
◼
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they're going off and the seabed might
[TS]
00:20:57
◼
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be back but the the ocean is the
[TS]
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◼
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universe right it looks like you you
[TS]
00:21:02
◼
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don't recognize her when she comes back
[TS]
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◼
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if she comes back i just love the the
[TS]
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◼
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one line that i felt like i should have
[TS]
00:21:08
◼
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important i was reading this in
[TS]
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◼
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hardcover so it's harder to highlight
[TS]
00:21:11
◼
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things but the one that I remembered was
[TS]
00:21:13
◼
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that the the narrator asks her at one
[TS]
00:21:16
◼
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point he says but how old are you
[TS]
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she says 11 he says how long have you
[TS]
00:21:21
◼
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been 11
[TS]
00:21:22
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yeah what a great line the light falls
[TS]
00:21:25
◼
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yes that that's a sense for a long time
[TS]
00:21:28
◼
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yeah so i mean her little brother is
[TS]
00:21:29
◼
►
jeff t yeah well see that's I I felt
[TS]
00:21:35
◼
►
like Ray Bradbury but i also got a lot
[TS]
00:21:36
◼
►
of Harlan Ellison in this well Neil
[TS]
00:21:39
◼
►
Gaiman I mean this is his yeah right i
[TS]
00:21:41
◼
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mean it's that it's that it's magical
[TS]
00:21:44
◼
►
but it's it's it's not grounded
[TS]
00:21:47
◼
►
yeah exactly right it's grounded yeah in
[TS]
00:21:49
◼
►
a way that a lot of the the Harlan
[TS]
00:21:50
◼
►
Ellison stuff is and I mean that's why
[TS]
00:21:52
◼
►
Neil Gaiman Harlan also know i mean i
[TS]
00:21:54
◼
►
think you know know each other pretty
[TS]
00:21:56
◼
►
well and I mean but here they are very
[TS]
00:21:58
◼
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similar in in some ways and very
[TS]
00:22:00
◼
►
different mothers
[TS]
00:22:01
◼
►
even Neil Gaiman seems very gentle and
[TS]
00:22:04
◼
►
not but up although i will take as i
[TS]
00:22:08
◼
►
mentioned that one seal i was reading
[TS]
00:22:10
◼
►
this out on the docket our lake and uh I
[TS]
00:22:13
◼
►
got to the bathtub scene and so the
[TS]
00:22:17
◼
►
scene in which his father basically
[TS]
00:22:18
◼
►
tries to drown trying to drown him yeah
[TS]
00:22:19
◼
►
and I finished reading that and I close
[TS]
00:22:23
◼
►
the book and just sort of give a visit
[TS]
00:22:25
◼
►
like a audible like you know I had to
[TS]
00:22:29
◼
►
stop at that was like the end of my
[TS]
00:22:31
◼
►
first sort of you know sitting reading
[TS]
00:22:33
◼
►
it because it's just I could I needed to
[TS]
00:22:35
◼
►
breathe after that right like it was so
[TS]
00:22:37
◼
►
well done and so affecting of you know
[TS]
00:22:41
◼
►
why I can imagine it right but like you
[TS]
00:22:45
◼
►
know the idea of your father trying to
[TS]
00:22:46
◼
►
drown you like it is terrifying and but
[TS]
00:22:51
◼
►
you know that that element of being a
[TS]
00:22:53
◼
►
kid and being not having control right
[TS]
00:22:56
◼
►
and not having and something has entered
[TS]
00:22:58
◼
►
your world and it's change your world
[TS]
00:23:00
◼
►
and you don't like what's happened right
[TS]
00:23:02
◼
►
fundamentally that's what Ursula Monkton
[TS]
00:23:04
◼
►
is that she's invested their house but
[TS]
00:23:05
◼
►
she's she's causing change and it's
[TS]
00:23:08
◼
►
changed that the about this boy you know
[TS]
00:23:10
◼
►
for lots of good reasons doesn't like
[TS]
00:23:12
◼
►
but you can see the the metaphor there
[TS]
00:23:15
◼
►
yeah absolutely i just did but it's just
[TS]
00:23:18
◼
►
it was so affecting i had to put it on
[TS]
00:23:19
◼
►
ya and that almost never happens to me I
[TS]
00:23:22
◼
►
almost always you know so like yeah I've
[TS]
00:23:24
◼
►
more stoic probably the day it's park
[TS]
00:23:26
◼
►
yeah but like that but no idea that was
[TS]
00:23:28
◼
►
it was a visceral like I need to set
[TS]
00:23:30
◼
►
this aside for you know what our two
[TS]
00:23:32
◼
►
before I can go back to reading it
[TS]
00:23:33
◼
►
because that just that was that was
[TS]
00:23:35
◼
►
pretty brutal
[TS]
00:23:36
◼
►
so can I talk about cats
[TS]
00:23:39
◼
►
we'll just we'll just turn around and
[TS]
00:23:41
◼
►
you guys I'm not even about this book
[TS]
00:23:43
◼
►
looks just like cats you know if they're
[TS]
00:23:45
◼
►
so soft and no in there are some their
[TS]
00:23:48
◼
►
cats in this book and it and it's not
[TS]
00:23:50
◼
►
just the poor kitten and the mean cat
[TS]
00:23:52
◼
►
that's the replacement for his poor kid
[TS]
00:23:54
◼
►
2010 Fresh perplex the field but they've
[TS]
00:23:56
◼
►
got the they've got the the this kitten
[TS]
00:23:59
◼
►
that they find in the other you know
[TS]
00:24:02
◼
►
fairy world basically where they go and
[TS]
00:24:06
◼
►
it comes back with them and it's just
[TS]
00:24:09
◼
►
kind of flips around in between and in
[TS]
00:24:11
◼
►
and it looks a lot like this kid many
[TS]
00:24:14
◼
►
have the died it's another black kitten
[TS]
00:24:16
◼
►
and it appears at various points and out
[TS]
00:24:20
◼
►
at one point at the end I think there's
[TS]
00:24:22
◼
►
a statement about him
[TS]
00:24:23
◼
►
him bringing back a kitten at some point
[TS]
00:24:26
◼
►
is gonna get his childhood and I just I
[TS]
00:24:28
◼
►
I don't have a whole like deep meaning
[TS]
00:24:31
◼
►
of what the kitten is other than then I
[TS]
00:24:33
◼
►
really liked that there's this idea
[TS]
00:24:35
◼
►
first off that there was this cat that
[TS]
00:24:36
◼
►
was special to him and then the
[TS]
00:24:37
◼
►
replacement was not acceptable and then
[TS]
00:24:39
◼
►
also that cats are are these kind of
[TS]
00:24:41
◼
►
mysterious and semi magical creatures
[TS]
00:24:44
◼
►
and they there they don't even come from
[TS]
00:24:46
◼
►
where you think they come from they come
[TS]
00:24:48
◼
►
from this other land where they just
[TS]
00:24:50
◼
►
kind of appear and and i I just I
[TS]
00:24:53
◼
►
enjoyed that because it was just this
[TS]
00:24:54
◼
►
element that is that recurs that was fun
[TS]
00:24:56
◼
►
and and I as a as a boy you know when I
[TS]
00:25:01
◼
►
was a boy I really liked cats and we had
[TS]
00:25:03
◼
►
we had cats out you know because I grew
[TS]
00:25:05
◼
►
up in the country and we have less
[TS]
00:25:06
◼
►
outside cats and so that so that really
[TS]
00:25:09
◼
►
resonated with me that this is a boy
[TS]
00:25:11
◼
►
who's growing up and he has this cat and
[TS]
00:25:13
◼
►
then and then the cats kind of recur
[TS]
00:25:15
◼
►
which is just
[TS]
00:25:16
◼
►
it's such a funny little thing we didn't
[TS]
00:25:18
◼
►
have spawned the way accounts we had an
[TS]
00:25:21
◼
►
ocean ocean we had three cats at any
[TS]
00:25:25
◼
►
given time all through my childhood and
[TS]
00:25:28
◼
►
and we and we were kinda out in the
[TS]
00:25:30
◼
►
country in Florida but after after i
[TS]
00:25:34
◼
►
left Florida didn't have cats until I
[TS]
00:25:37
◼
►
got married and moved out here because
[TS]
00:25:40
◼
►
my wife was are always a dog person and
[TS]
00:25:43
◼
►
then we accidentally became cat owners
[TS]
00:25:45
◼
►
and she just fell lock stock and barrel
[TS]
00:25:47
◼
►
for cats and now we have three cats go
[TS]
00:25:50
◼
►
so it's sort of like it was the same
[TS]
00:25:52
◼
►
kind of thing for me was like they're
[TS]
00:25:53
◼
►
very comforting essence and I like me
[TS]
00:25:56
◼
►
back my childhood and I like the idea to
[TS]
00:25:58
◼
►
the cats are they are you know these
[TS]
00:26:00
◼
►
particular Creek particularly or unworld
[TS]
00:26:02
◼
►
otherworldly let's say creatures that's
[TS]
00:26:06
◼
►
that works in fact that we have some
[TS]
00:26:08
◼
►
magical kind of strange they come and go
[TS]
00:26:10
◼
►
where do they go we don't know
[TS]
00:26:12
◼
►
yeah you suddenly just reminded me in i
[TS]
00:26:15
◼
►
believe in terry pratchett swirled cats
[TS]
00:26:18
◼
►
can see the colour of magic like
[TS]
00:26:21
◼
►
naturally with humans can see which is
[TS]
00:26:23
◼
►
interesting interesting to me because of
[TS]
00:26:25
◼
►
course Terry Pratchett neil gaiman also
[TS]
00:26:26
◼
►
friends and collaborators
[TS]
00:26:27
◼
►
yeah but there is there is definitely
[TS]
00:26:29
◼
►
that you're totally right about that
[TS]
00:26:30
◼
►
there is something about the cats that
[TS]
00:26:32
◼
►
like like children is that that wine is
[TS]
00:26:35
◼
►
permeable for them what it's amazing to
[TS]
00:26:37
◼
►
watch them in and if you want the long
[TS]
00:26:41
◼
►
enough to see them looking at things and
[TS]
00:26:43
◼
►
you can't you have no idea what they're
[TS]
00:26:45
◼
►
looking at you are they looking at dust
[TS]
00:26:47
◼
►
motes floating in sunlight
[TS]
00:26:49
◼
►
I don't know but there's nothing there
[TS]
00:26:52
◼
►
there's nothing on the wall
[TS]
00:26:53
◼
►
what are you doing there reading your
[TS]
00:26:54
◼
►
soul there can't reaches up and slaps
[TS]
00:26:57
◼
►
the wall and you go okay magic if you're
[TS]
00:27:00
◼
►
just tuning in this is the cat fanciers
[TS]
00:27:02
◼
►
episode of and council podcast it's the
[TS]
00:27:05
◼
►
cast now it's a podcast about it's a pod
[TS]
00:27:08
◼
►
cat my cat cats for cats there cats
[TS]
00:27:12
◼
►
funny cats listen to podcasts
[TS]
00:27:16
◼
►
you'd be surprised and probably will
[TS]
00:27:18
◼
►
need to press well most cats don't but
[TS]
00:27:21
◼
►
those who have jobs and have to drive a
[TS]
00:27:23
◼
►
car to ease you into my award-winning
[TS]
00:27:25
◼
►
short story the cat who listen to
[TS]
00:27:27
◼
►
podcasts
[TS]
00:27:28
◼
►
no what award did that win that one cat
[TS]
00:27:31
◼
►
fancy podcast of the year award that
[TS]
00:27:34
◼
►
related word I knew it I knew it has
[TS]
00:27:37
◼
►
asked cats a script by name
[TS]
00:27:40
◼
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alright it's time for this week's
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I mean there's the there's there's a lot
[TS]
00:29:33
◼
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in this you know less than 200 pages i
[TS]
00:29:36
◼
►
like the scene where they wear Letty
[TS]
00:29:42
◼
►
the circle draws the circle which is a
[TS]
00:29:44
◼
►
no-good magic kind of thing to do and
[TS]
00:29:46
◼
►
tells the boy stay in here and you know
[TS]
00:29:49
◼
►
he learned his lesson right that when
[TS]
00:29:51
◼
►
she said always hold my hand and he lets
[TS]
00:29:53
◼
►
go for a minute and you know which worm
[TS]
00:29:55
◼
►
thing goes into his foot
[TS]
00:29:57
◼
►
i wiii i did you know that was great
[TS]
00:29:59
◼
►
about because i was reading through that
[TS]
00:30:00
◼
►
and I was thinking that that seems that
[TS]
00:30:02
◼
►
same scene i was thinking there's going
[TS]
00:30:03
◼
►
to be the point where the monsters show
[TS]
00:30:06
◼
►
up as Letty and try to convince him to
[TS]
00:30:08
◼
►
go out of the circle
[TS]
00:30:09
◼
►
I want him to be smart enough not to
[TS]
00:30:11
◼
►
fall for that and he doesn't and i was
[TS]
00:30:13
◼
►
so happy about that because I'm like if
[TS]
00:30:15
◼
►
i can think of it this boy can think of
[TS]
00:30:17
◼
►
it right like he's a smart kid we've
[TS]
00:30:18
◼
►
learned that like he's made mistakes but
[TS]
00:30:20
◼
►
like he's in you know he sort of has
[TS]
00:30:22
◼
►
bought into the world and understands
[TS]
00:30:24
◼
►
kind of how things are working now and
[TS]
00:30:26
◼
►
so I liked that he he didn't leave the
[TS]
00:30:28
◼
►
circle because that is like a lot of
[TS]
00:30:30
◼
►
books that would have been like all
[TS]
00:30:32
◼
►
right now we're off on another set of
[TS]
00:30:33
◼
►
adventures but in this one like he
[TS]
00:30:35
◼
►
learned his lesson
[TS]
00:30:35
◼
►
another good lesson you learned his
[TS]
00:30:37
◼
►
lesson i just read i was just reading
[TS]
00:30:39
◼
►
them send Sandman preludes nocturnes and
[TS]
00:30:42
◼
►
apparently key scene there were a circle
[TS]
00:30:44
◼
►
is accidentally don't break those
[TS]
00:30:45
◼
►
circles broken open and that it's bad
[TS]
00:30:48
◼
►
things for the people who broke breaker
[TS]
00:30:49
◼
►
the circle circle stream is on the
[TS]
00:30:51
◼
►
inside now we can get out but here this
[TS]
00:30:54
◼
►
is this is his he learned he he made the
[TS]
00:30:57
◼
►
mistake of letting go of her hand at the
[TS]
00:30:59
◼
►
beginning and here he knows that he
[TS]
00:31:01
◼
►
needs to sit there but what's tough
[TS]
00:31:02
◼
►
about that situation what's so
[TS]
00:31:04
◼
►
interesting about in the dark outside
[TS]
00:31:06
◼
►
the house is that he has to be alone and
[TS]
00:31:09
◼
►
he can't make them go away all he can do
[TS]
00:31:12
◼
►
is sit there and take it and so he's
[TS]
00:31:15
◼
►
visited and he has to sit there and take
[TS]
00:31:17
◼
►
it and he has to sit and take his
[TS]
00:31:19
◼
►
temptations and abuse and he end and the
[TS]
00:31:23
◼
►
sort of dashing of his hopes and he has
[TS]
00:31:25
◼
►
to just sit there he learned his lesson
[TS]
00:31:27
◼
►
and so he does and that's what saved his
[TS]
00:31:29
◼
►
life and and one of the things that
[TS]
00:31:31
◼
►
school is you know like when his father
[TS]
00:31:32
◼
►
comes out and his sister comes out you
[TS]
00:31:35
◼
►
don't know if those are really them but
[TS]
00:31:37
◼
►
it could be right because they could
[TS]
00:31:39
◼
►
come out and be like why are you out
[TS]
00:31:40
◼
►
here in the backyard
[TS]
00:31:42
◼
►
yeah yeah I was that was it or was it or
[TS]
00:31:48
◼
►
was it who knows because they could have
[TS]
00:31:50
◼
►
been under the under the spell of evil
[TS]
00:31:52
◼
►
Ursula Monkton to the house the whole
[TS]
00:31:54
◼
►
thing where the house
[TS]
00:31:55
◼
►
just in the house is a threat and you
[TS]
00:31:57
◼
►
know nobody believes the whole thing
[TS]
00:31:58
◼
►
where the mother doesn't believe him and
[TS]
00:32:00
◼
►
his sister doesn't believe him and and
[TS]
00:32:02
◼
►
that was again I was having those and
[TS]
00:32:03
◼
►
sponge and spyker kind of moments of
[TS]
00:32:05
◼
►
just like this poor oh this poor kid he
[TS]
00:32:08
◼
►
knows the truth but nobody will believe
[TS]
00:32:10
◼
►
him and it's just so you know it it it's
[TS]
00:32:14
◼
►
a classic thing but it's just it was so
[TS]
00:32:17
◼
►
well done i gotta say I really loved
[TS]
00:32:19
◼
►
there are some funny points too
[TS]
00:32:20
◼
►
surprisingly the cart they got me
[TS]
00:32:22
◼
►
actually made me laugh out loud was the
[TS]
00:32:25
◼
►
scene where his parents come to collect
[TS]
00:32:26
◼
►
them from the have stocks and this
[TS]
00:32:29
◼
►
imagine your toothbrush
[TS]
00:32:30
◼
►
he's like picturing and picturing it and
[TS]
00:32:32
◼
►
I'm like what does have to do and then
[TS]
00:32:33
◼
►
they kind of distract you and then like
[TS]
00:32:35
◼
►
they pull out the and you put thanks for
[TS]
00:32:37
◼
►
bringing his toothbrush and like the
[TS]
00:32:38
◼
►
father kind of puzzle bleep rope pulls
[TS]
00:32:40
◼
►
the truth project this pocket I was like
[TS]
00:32:41
◼
►
that's a mitt like you such a good job
[TS]
00:32:44
◼
►
of the misdirection in the Senate
[TS]
00:32:46
◼
►
everything there i laughed out loud at
[TS]
00:32:48
◼
►
the ohio i guess i have his toothbrush
[TS]
00:32:49
◼
►
in my pockets like is I see what you did
[TS]
00:32:51
◼
►
there and that's and that's interesting
[TS]
00:32:54
◼
►
magic because it doesn't play on are all
[TS]
00:32:56
◼
►
the things we know about magic instead
[TS]
00:32:57
◼
►
they're like stitching together like
[TS]
00:32:59
◼
►
reading reality it's so mundane is not
[TS]
00:33:01
◼
►
known which is hilarious
[TS]
00:33:03
◼
►
yeah they're just doing their work and I
[TS]
00:33:04
◼
►
ki think I can do this I can put this
[TS]
00:33:06
◼
►
together and they're reading the fabric
[TS]
00:33:08
◼
►
of reality but they're not casting
[TS]
00:33:09
◼
►
spells or anything at some point he says
[TS]
00:33:11
◼
►
are you
[TS]
00:33:12
◼
►
you know gonna do a spell or something
[TS]
00:33:13
◼
►
or like something else like that no we
[TS]
00:33:16
◼
►
don't do that but they they do succeed
[TS]
00:33:18
◼
►
in changing the parents memories and and
[TS]
00:33:21
◼
►
and making the toothbrush like appear or
[TS]
00:33:24
◼
►
retro actively be brought or whatever
[TS]
00:33:27
◼
►
this result like a doctor who moment
[TS]
00:33:28
◼
►
there yeah oh yeah one I love the moment
[TS]
00:33:31
◼
►
where he's being chased by the vultures
[TS]
00:33:35
◼
►
of the void and that you know they start
[TS]
00:33:38
◼
►
to attack and then it goes into
[TS]
00:33:40
◼
►
parentheses and italics where he feels
[TS]
00:33:44
◼
►
the sensation of dying he feels the
[TS]
00:33:46
◼
►
sensation of the culture ripping his
[TS]
00:33:48
◼
►
heart out
[TS]
00:33:48
◼
►
oh yeah and and then oh yeah and then
[TS]
00:33:50
◼
►
all of a sudden it's nip and
[TS]
00:33:52
◼
►
everything's the seams came together and
[TS]
00:33:54
◼
►
suddenly he's fine and let is on top of
[TS]
00:33:56
◼
►
him and he set that up so beautifully by
[TS]
00:33:59
◼
►
doing the earlier thing of talking about
[TS]
00:34:01
◼
►
how they stitched together things and
[TS]
00:34:04
◼
►
snip here and snip there and put it back
[TS]
00:34:06
◼
►
together almost like a film
[TS]
00:34:07
◼
►
and but he doesn't make a big deal of it
[TS]
00:34:10
◼
►
in that moment it's just you have to
[TS]
00:34:11
◼
►
remember that right but afterward they
[TS]
00:34:13
◼
►
make it clear that they basically went
[TS]
00:34:15
◼
►
back and fixed it so he didn't get torn
[TS]
00:34:17
◼
►
up into little pieces
[TS]
00:34:19
◼
►
yeah but it's so beautiful gasps oh I'm
[TS]
00:34:24
◼
►
and part of the reason i love this and
[TS]
00:34:26
◼
►
I'll say this is maybe my favorite thing
[TS]
00:34:30
◼
►
of his I've ever read
[TS]
00:34:31
◼
►
um because I I like bits and pieces of
[TS]
00:34:35
◼
►
american gods but I don't like american
[TS]
00:34:38
◼
►
it's just too long and and I like a
[TS]
00:34:41
◼
►
Nancy boys but and i love the graveyard
[TS]
00:34:45
◼
►
book um but this is just the right
[TS]
00:34:50
◼
►
length it it really couldn't be shorter
[TS]
00:34:52
◼
►
but it really couldn't be longer and I
[TS]
00:34:55
◼
►
mean there's no padding there's no fat
[TS]
00:34:58
◼
►
in this book it's just everything is
[TS]
00:35:00
◼
►
right there and it's done and it's just
[TS]
00:35:03
◼
►
beautiful
[TS]
00:35:04
◼
►
oh yeah I don't know I've read
[TS]
00:35:05
◼
►
everything I was looking through the
[TS]
00:35:08
◼
►
front of the book where has the also by
[TS]
00:35:09
◼
►
Neil Gaiman list I've read everything in
[TS]
00:35:11
◼
►
that list is the for adults and i have
[TS]
00:35:13
◼
►
read many of the things in the for all
[TS]
00:35:16
◼
►
ages they're not most of the illustrated
[TS]
00:35:17
◼
►
stuff honestly and I've red Sandman
[TS]
00:35:20
◼
►
which is salmon may still be my favorite
[TS]
00:35:24
◼
►
because i like those long epic things
[TS]
00:35:27
◼
►
and Sandman is is amazing in terms of
[TS]
00:35:29
◼
►
its ability to weave all these men you
[TS]
00:35:31
◼
►
know huge amounts of genres together and
[TS]
00:35:34
◼
►
it's so varied and so amazing and there
[TS]
00:35:36
◼
►
are there are episodes there are issues
[TS]
00:35:38
◼
►
of that than my mind are almost like
[TS]
00:35:40
◼
►
almost a perfect almost a perfect story
[TS]
00:35:44
◼
►
in my regards
[TS]
00:35:45
◼
►
so I will but I i love this as well and
[TS]
00:35:48
◼
►
I I like almost everything he's written
[TS]
00:35:50
◼
►
i have enjoyed almost everything that
[TS]
00:35:52
◼
►
he's written some of it I you know some
[TS]
00:35:53
◼
►
of it sticks better than others in my
[TS]
00:35:55
◼
►
head but I think he's amazing as an
[TS]
00:35:57
◼
►
author I can turn one of those gushing
[TS]
00:36:00
◼
►
podcast i know that's the people the
[TS]
00:36:02
◼
►
people who like us to love things will
[TS]
00:36:04
◼
►
love this episode the people who like us
[TS]
00:36:05
◼
►
to tear things apart will be very sad
[TS]
00:36:07
◼
►
I i did not like American my love I left
[TS]
00:36:11
◼
►
American Gods I like tonight is great i
[TS]
00:36:14
◼
►
I didn't think I like well it wasn't too
[TS]
00:36:16
◼
►
long there was two there were probably
[TS]
00:36:18
◼
►
some chapters in there that weren't
[TS]
00:36:20
◼
►
necessary that's problem
[TS]
00:36:21
◼
►
true but I liked it a lot i I really
[TS]
00:36:23
◼
►
enjoyed that I just read never where I
[TS]
00:36:26
◼
►
like never wear and I liked it is fun
[TS]
00:36:29
◼
►
IIF I read it I haven't seen the TV the
[TS]
00:36:32
◼
►
TV mini-series this we definitely has
[TS]
00:36:34
◼
►
aged poorly well so there's things that
[TS]
00:36:37
◼
►
are great about it and there are things
[TS]
00:36:38
◼
►
that are weird about it and it
[TS]
00:36:40
◼
►
definitely is low budget and what was
[TS]
00:36:42
◼
►
odd about never wears the stories that
[TS]
00:36:43
◼
►
started as the TV
[TS]
00:36:45
◼
►
yeah and then he injected into a novel
[TS]
00:36:47
◼
►
which is very odd but some of the
[TS]
00:36:49
◼
►
performances in there are fantastic the
[TS]
00:36:51
◼
►
guy who plays the Marquis is great and
[TS]
00:36:54
◼
►
that that will that I think that 10 so
[TS]
00:36:57
◼
►
Harrison Joseph was great in that he's
[TS]
00:36:59
◼
►
fantastic was rumored at one point to be
[TS]
00:37:01
◼
►
a doctor in the lander eleventh Doctor
[TS]
00:37:03
◼
►
contender and of course islington the
[TS]
00:37:05
◼
►
angel is Peter Capaldi yes in radio
[TS]
00:37:09
◼
►
adaptation they did this year
[TS]
00:37:11
◼
►
benedict cumberbatch andy him mrs.
[TS]
00:37:13
◼
►
Lincoln yeah I mean listen I had not
[TS]
00:37:14
◼
►
listened to that but I i really i love
[TS]
00:37:16
◼
►
the book I thought he does it again that
[TS]
00:37:18
◼
►
is such an interesting because it that's
[TS]
00:37:19
◼
►
really about the permeation between the
[TS]
00:37:21
◼
►
lines of reality and fantasy right like
[TS]
00:37:23
◼
►
very very strongly delineating there and
[TS]
00:37:26
◼
►
that's kind of weird game and lives
[TS]
00:37:27
◼
►
right like that's his that's his wheel
[TS]
00:37:29
◼
►
her but that was also every having read
[TS]
00:37:32
◼
►
them in the reverse of how when they
[TS]
00:37:33
◼
►
were written i also have enjoyed the
[TS]
00:37:36
◼
►
city in the city
[TS]
00:37:38
◼
►
china mieville kind of feeling with a
[TS]
00:37:40
◼
►
with me everywhere because it's that and
[TS]
00:37:42
◼
►
I know that there are others navel
[TS]
00:37:44
◼
►
drawing a book called on London they're
[TS]
00:37:47
◼
►
a bunch of urban fantasy books that play
[TS]
00:37:49
◼
►
this trope now but it's almost like you
[TS]
00:37:51
◼
►
know game and got there a little while
[TS]
00:37:53
◼
►
before this latest wave with never wear
[TS]
00:37:55
◼
►
where it is the there's the London you
[TS]
00:37:57
◼
►
know and then there's the magical London
[TS]
00:37:59
◼
►
that's living you know underground
[TS]
00:38:01
◼
►
mostly but just you know in parallel
[TS]
00:38:04
◼
►
with what's happening on the what we
[TS]
00:38:06
◼
►
regular people think of us as London and
[TS]
00:38:09
◼
►
uh yeah i like i like it a lot is Nancy
[TS]
00:38:12
◼
►
boys is fine i always remember too well
[TS]
00:38:14
◼
►
that the story of Anansi the spider was
[TS]
00:38:15
◼
►
something that I really remember clearly
[TS]
00:38:17
◼
►
learning in childhood
[TS]
00:38:19
◼
►
yeah and so to see that and that's
[TS]
00:38:22
◼
►
essentially you know spin-off of
[TS]
00:38:23
◼
►
American Gods uh but and I liked it but
[TS]
00:38:27
◼
►
I loved american gods and the graveyard
[TS]
00:38:29
◼
►
book now that is a book that's just
[TS]
00:38:32
◼
►
amazing that is a that
[TS]
00:38:35
◼
►
is a great piece of work that might be
[TS]
00:38:36
◼
►
that might be my favorite of his uh and
[TS]
00:38:40
◼
►
and you know the fact that it's
[TS]
00:38:42
◼
►
essentially a young adult book but and
[TS]
00:38:45
◼
►
he front loads it with the worst part
[TS]
00:38:47
◼
►
the murder happens at the very beginning
[TS]
00:38:51
◼
►
and everything else after that it's not
[TS]
00:38:53
◼
►
so bad it's not that murder that
[TS]
00:38:55
◼
►
happened at the beginning where the kids
[TS]
00:38:57
◼
►
parents get killed get stabbed by the
[TS]
00:38:59
◼
►
guy with the big knife man after that
[TS]
00:39:01
◼
►
it's just ghosts and friendly ghosts and
[TS]
00:39:04
◼
►
yeah it's fine but that beginning you
[TS]
00:39:07
◼
►
know that's a yeah he's had an
[TS]
00:39:10
◼
►
interesting career has me he's got his
[TS]
00:39:12
◼
►
screenplays and he's got his comics and
[TS]
00:39:15
◼
►
he's got stories and he's got a young
[TS]
00:39:17
◼
►
adult and juvenile fiction and then he's
[TS]
00:39:19
◼
►
got adult fiction he is all over the
[TS]
00:39:24
◼
►
Miriam ask ya so imagine
[TS]
00:39:28
◼
►
yeah they're so there's a lot there
[TS]
00:39:29
◼
►
without i have good omens and I haven't
[TS]
00:39:31
◼
►
read it that I would only ask you that
[TS]
00:39:33
◼
►
that was the first real game and thing
[TS]
00:39:34
◼
►
i've ever read because i was huge terry
[TS]
00:39:36
◼
►
pratchett fans starting back in cheese I
[TS]
00:39:38
◼
►
must have been like 10 or something i
[TS]
00:39:40
◼
►
started reading terry pratchett and and
[TS]
00:39:43
◼
►
somehow i came across that when I was
[TS]
00:39:45
◼
►
like well there's this other guy right
[TS]
00:39:46
◼
►
to terry pratchett maybe this will be
[TS]
00:39:47
◼
►
good though and i actually have a my
[TS]
00:39:50
◼
►
copy of that is autographed by both of
[TS]
00:39:52
◼
►
them because i saw them in close
[TS]
00:39:53
◼
►
succession you notice my old like
[TS]
00:39:55
◼
►
dog-eared paperback of them but they it
[TS]
00:39:57
◼
►
was it still feels cool to me they have
[TS]
00:39:59
◼
►
like that I love that book it's just
[TS]
00:40:01
◼
►
it's it's such a fascinating melange of
[TS]
00:40:04
◼
►
the two writers out there but there's
[TS]
00:40:07
◼
►
parts of that book that stick with me to
[TS]
00:40:08
◼
►
this day even though i haven't read it
[TS]
00:40:10
◼
►
in like 15-20 years probably but yeah
[TS]
00:40:15
◼
►
and there's some line about like a guy
[TS]
00:40:17
◼
►
with a is his wound from Nam was acting
[TS]
00:40:19
◼
►
up and there's a footnote it's like he'd
[TS]
00:40:21
◼
►
gone to be at nam and slipped in the
[TS]
00:40:23
◼
►
shower or something like that but that's
[TS]
00:40:26
◼
►
a very terry pratchett but like it's
[TS]
00:40:27
◼
►
still like it was its just oh it's a
[TS]
00:40:29
◼
►
lovely book about the apocalypse
[TS]
00:40:31
◼
►
so yeah I again i'm a huge fan of of i
[TS]
00:40:36
◼
►
have I think devoured almost everything
[TS]
00:40:39
◼
►
that he's written at least four adults
[TS]
00:40:41
◼
►
mostly young adults i have to the
[TS]
00:40:45
◼
►
volumes of absolute sandman sitting on
[TS]
00:40:47
◼
►
my bottom shelf and some day will come
[TS]
00:40:48
◼
►
not a collection but those aren't cheap
[TS]
00:40:51
◼
►
no they're not like a hundred bucks a
[TS]
00:40:53
◼
►
shot well you feel you can figure out
[TS]
00:40:55
◼
►
how to do it right you can get a little
[TS]
00:40:56
◼
►
bit cheaper than that but still he asked
[TS]
00:40:57
◼
►
they're expensive
[TS]
00:40:58
◼
►
yeah but they're gorgeous it's the only
[TS]
00:41:01
◼
►
tough part with them is like it's hard
[TS]
00:41:02
◼
►
to read because it's like they're so big
[TS]
00:41:04
◼
►
it's like the giant heart like you know
[TS]
00:41:06
◼
►
10-pound hardcover books and you're like
[TS]
00:41:08
◼
►
all right it's not exactly something
[TS]
00:41:09
◼
►
like take on the train for like what
[TS]
00:41:11
◼
►
yeah I've got the absolute watch men and
[TS]
00:41:13
◼
►
it's the same thing is it's great but
[TS]
00:41:15
◼
►
it's it in Norma's the coffee table 10
[TS]
00:41:17
◼
►
ya light light on the caption balancing
[TS]
00:41:19
◼
►
on your chest and wake up just before it
[TS]
00:41:21
◼
►
kills you when you fall it falls on your
[TS]
00:41:23
◼
►
actually yes that's basically it so what
[TS]
00:41:27
◼
►
else what else to say about ocean at the
[TS]
00:41:29
◼
►
end of the lane before we move on you
[TS]
00:41:30
◼
►
have any any other the scene we didn't
[TS]
00:41:32
◼
►
touch upon which i really like to my
[TS]
00:41:33
◼
►
cousin actually was saying it was his
[TS]
00:41:35
◼
►
favorite teen was the scene where they
[TS]
00:41:37
◼
►
bring the ocean to him and he goes into
[TS]
00:41:40
◼
►
the illusion right yeah that's that's
[TS]
00:41:42
◼
►
that that's the premise of that I mean
[TS]
00:41:43
◼
►
the story it's the title and it's the
[TS]
00:41:45
◼
►
idea that she calls it upon our notion
[TS]
00:41:48
◼
►
even though it's just a pond and then we
[TS]
00:41:50
◼
►
you know we we finally see we get the
[TS]
00:41:53
◼
►
payoff of you know that had just how
[TS]
00:41:56
◼
►
this thing is an ocean when he's he's in
[TS]
00:41:58
◼
►
it and he has to go in there there are
[TS]
00:42:01
◼
►
they going to put a minute to protect
[TS]
00:42:04
◼
►
yeah yeah yeah yeah and he but he can
[TS]
00:42:07
◼
►
see and he knows everything in the
[TS]
00:42:10
◼
►
universe right yeah but if he was going
[TS]
00:42:12
◼
►
to stay there
[TS]
00:42:14
◼
►
the longer he would stay there the more
[TS]
00:42:16
◼
►
diffuse he would become until he was no
[TS]
00:42:18
◼
►
longer a person or being or a an
[TS]
00:42:21
◼
►
intelligence who just be spread out
[TS]
00:42:24
◼
►
yeah you can you can't know everything
[TS]
00:42:25
◼
►
in the universe without just being the
[TS]
00:42:27
◼
►
universe so you have to you'll you'll
[TS]
00:42:30
◼
►
you know you like a little alka-seltzer
[TS]
00:42:32
◼
►
pillage could get out of there is really
[TS]
00:42:34
◼
►
just dissolve away and that and then of
[TS]
00:42:38
◼
►
course that's what at what happens when
[TS]
00:42:39
◼
►
a lady is you know she has to go off i
[TS]
00:42:42
◼
►
like to that the the family came from
[TS]
00:42:44
◼
►
across the ocean to the old country
[TS]
00:42:48
◼
►
yeah so that that's that that that's a
[TS]
00:42:50
◼
►
nice bit of mythology that if the ocean
[TS]
00:42:53
◼
►
is essentially the universe that they
[TS]
00:42:56
◼
►
are from somewhere else and I you know I
[TS]
00:42:59
◼
►
without there's a lot of that just now
[TS]
00:43:01
◼
►
touches where it's not overbearing and
[TS]
00:43:03
◼
►
it's not full of detailed you know well
[TS]
00:43:07
◼
►
we came from this place and all that
[TS]
00:43:08
◼
►
it's just like they're from somewhere
[TS]
00:43:10
◼
►
else you get it but if anybody needs any
[TS]
00:43:13
◼
►
more than that
[TS]
00:43:14
◼
►
what's wrong what's funny to me is that
[TS]
00:43:15
◼
►
there's you know we're talking about
[TS]
00:43:17
◼
►
your practice i can go and there's the
[TS]
00:43:18
◼
►
old mrs. hemp stock character is very
[TS]
00:43:21
◼
►
reminiscent to me of so there's there's
[TS]
00:43:24
◼
►
a series of terry pratchett about these
[TS]
00:43:27
◼
►
witches including a Granny Weatherwax
[TS]
00:43:28
◼
►
was like the oldest of old witches and
[TS]
00:43:31
◼
►
like there's not there's some there's
[TS]
00:43:32
◼
►
something there with those two
[TS]
00:43:33
◼
►
characters in some ways they're very
[TS]
00:43:35
◼
►
similar very built from the same mold
[TS]
00:43:37
◼
►
these like the wise old women who are
[TS]
00:43:39
◼
►
kinda kinda Reverend at the same time
[TS]
00:43:42
◼
►
kinda catchy but like you know clearly
[TS]
00:43:44
◼
►
incredibly powerful and I think that's
[TS]
00:43:48
◼
►
that there's interesting something in
[TS]
00:43:49
◼
►
there and also the fact that you know so
[TS]
00:43:52
◼
►
many of the characters someone mentioned
[TS]
00:43:55
◼
►
so many it i think it's one of the
[TS]
00:43:56
◼
►
blurbs here I thought that was
[TS]
00:43:58
◼
►
interesting is someone comments and all
[TS]
00:44:00
◼
►
thinking all the women are brilliant and
[TS]
00:44:01
◼
►
I was like this is interesting that this
[TS]
00:44:02
◼
►
is this is a book that that very much
[TS]
00:44:04
◼
►
revolves around female characters
[TS]
00:44:06
◼
►
despite the the antagonist being a boy
[TS]
00:44:08
◼
►
but female characters certainly make up
[TS]
00:44:12
◼
►
the ball I mean the only other male
[TS]
00:44:14
◼
►
characters i can think of are the father
[TS]
00:44:15
◼
►
and the Minor Roger yeah and yeah he
[TS]
00:44:18
◼
►
doesn't last very long new but yeah and
[TS]
00:44:22
◼
►
even the father who spends most of the
[TS]
00:44:24
◼
►
book being sort of a pond of Ursula
[TS]
00:44:26
◼
►
Monkton right so that's you know that's
[TS]
00:44:28
◼
►
an element to he asks the narrator asks
[TS]
00:44:31
◼
►
them about the about the women are made
[TS]
00:44:34
◼
►
about the men are there are there men
[TS]
00:44:36
◼
►
around there like why would we yes yes
[TS]
00:44:38
◼
►
why we need them
[TS]
00:44:39
◼
►
Willingham sometimes but they go away
[TS]
00:44:41
◼
►
again we only need men to make more men
[TS]
00:44:44
◼
►
yeah yeah I was there why would we want
[TS]
00:44:47
◼
►
to do that and get point it know it
[TS]
00:44:54
◼
►
struck me reading the acknowledgments we
[TS]
00:44:56
◼
►
talked about how he wrote it and he goes
[TS]
00:45:00
◼
►
into how each night he would read it
[TS]
00:45:02
◼
►
aloud in bed to his wife and he he
[TS]
00:45:06
◼
►
learned and discovered more about the
[TS]
00:45:08
◼
►
words while he was reading them aloud
[TS]
00:45:10
◼
►
and that had never happened to him
[TS]
00:45:12
◼
►
and I think that really comes through
[TS]
00:45:14
◼
►
that's that's part of why it just sound
[TS]
00:45:17
◼
►
you know it's yeah and I mean I do that
[TS]
00:45:21
◼
►
all the time as a playwright because i'm
[TS]
00:45:23
◼
►
writing for things to be spoken aloud
[TS]
00:45:25
◼
►
and so it was really neat to see how
[TS]
00:45:30
◼
►
this kind of shifted because it does
[TS]
00:45:32
◼
►
feel different to me from some of his
[TS]
00:45:34
◼
►
other novels and I don't know if that's
[TS]
00:45:36
◼
►
it or if it's the just that the narrator
[TS]
00:45:38
◼
►
is supposed to be a child but he's
[TS]
00:45:41
◼
►
written from children's point of views
[TS]
00:45:42
◼
►
before so that area is not child though
[TS]
00:45:44
◼
►
the narrator is an adult for calling
[TS]
00:45:46
◼
►
being right right right not like the
[TS]
00:45:49
◼
►
same next write the same i don't know I
[TS]
00:45:51
◼
►
i read a few chapters of one of my
[TS]
00:45:53
◼
►
novels while we were my wife and I were
[TS]
00:45:56
◼
►
driving back from LA to San Francisco
[TS]
00:45:57
◼
►
and the car radio was broken and she had
[TS]
00:46:00
◼
►
been reading this novel written so I
[TS]
00:46:02
◼
►
just was reading chap the next chapters
[TS]
00:46:04
◼
►
boy was that and I mean honestly time
[TS]
00:46:09
◼
►
it's a humbling experience
[TS]
00:46:10
◼
►
what an incredible thing to do because
[TS]
00:46:13
◼
►
all of your weaknesses are laid bare
[TS]
00:46:16
◼
►
when you read 11 I I once tried to
[TS]
00:46:19
◼
►
record an audio book of one of my novels
[TS]
00:46:21
◼
►
and like could not record the first
[TS]
00:46:23
◼
►
chapter because i kept changing like no
[TS]
00:46:25
◼
►
got that sounds terrible have to change
[TS]
00:46:26
◼
►
that like and then you get to the point
[TS]
00:46:28
◼
►
where it's like all right
[TS]
00:46:29
◼
►
even this is gonna take a ton of editing
[TS]
00:46:31
◼
►
oh I've gotta like go through read it
[TS]
00:46:33
◼
►
all out change everything then go get
[TS]
00:46:35
◼
►
back and reread it and recorded but then
[TS]
00:46:37
◼
►
I'm probably just gonna find more stuff
[TS]
00:46:38
◼
►
that i need to change but it does your
[TS]
00:46:40
◼
►
words take on a totally different
[TS]
00:46:41
◼
►
character when they're spoken aloud like
[TS]
00:46:43
◼
►
the hay singh and that you mean you know
[TS]
00:46:46
◼
►
this but like you know the pacing in the
[TS]
00:46:47
◼
►
and where you take poz with them on the
[TS]
00:46:49
◼
►
rhythm yeah and all this the sound
[TS]
00:46:52
◼
►
yeah well one of the things I love i'll
[TS]
00:46:54
◼
►
find a link to this for the show notes
[TS]
00:46:56
◼
►
because it's it is a lot of fun to read
[TS]
00:46:58
◼
►
Elmore Leonard has these ten rules of
[TS]
00:47:00
◼
►
writing and I don't have them memorized
[TS]
00:47:03
◼
►
but they're fantastic and there he is
[TS]
00:47:06
◼
►
right i mean they work their one of them
[TS]
00:47:09
◼
►
is you know nobody expressed relates
[TS]
00:47:12
◼
►
they said just say I know I know he's
[TS]
00:47:14
◼
►
got the central I've heard that one you
[TS]
00:47:16
◼
►
know and they didn't say it explicitly
[TS]
00:47:19
◼
►
they just said it
[TS]
00:47:21
◼
►
you don't need your adverbs let the
[TS]
00:47:23
◼
►
adverbs go you know and then when you
[TS]
00:47:25
◼
►
need one
[TS]
00:47:26
◼
►
it's there and it's effective because he
[TS]
00:47:29
◼
►
does he use adverbs every now and then
[TS]
00:47:31
◼
►
just not very much and it really helps
[TS]
00:47:35
◼
►
with that rhythm and it really helps
[TS]
00:47:36
◼
►
with you know because a lot of the
[TS]
00:47:38
◼
►
things we add in to sound smart when
[TS]
00:47:41
◼
►
we're writing he would never say out
[TS]
00:47:43
◼
►
loud you know and and when you strip all
[TS]
00:47:46
◼
►
those things away suddenly have
[TS]
00:47:47
◼
►
something that just it sounds real one
[TS]
00:47:51
◼
►
of the things that bugs me in reading
[TS]
00:47:55
◼
►
dialog is when people address each other
[TS]
00:47:58
◼
►
by names a lot and then like that always
[TS]
00:48:02
◼
►
sounds fake to me yesterday and yes
[TS]
00:48:04
◼
►
exactly convenient
[TS]
00:48:05
◼
►
I know what yes Jason Jason I understand
[TS]
00:48:08
◼
►
what you're saying Jason but Jason's I
[TS]
00:48:09
◼
►
don't think you're fully thinking this
[TS]
00:48:10
◼
►
through Jason I don't think i am and it
[TS]
00:48:14
◼
►
feels weird for me just like I'm saying
[TS]
00:48:16
◼
►
guy but like which is interesting when
[TS]
00:48:18
◼
►
applied to this book where we have a
[TS]
00:48:20
◼
►
character who never gets named right
[TS]
00:48:22
◼
►
like that's kind of on the other end of
[TS]
00:48:23
◼
►
the spectrum but it works right like
[TS]
00:48:25
◼
►
it's at the hem stocks get named the ham
[TS]
00:48:28
◼
►
stock Sanderson to get named the opal
[TS]
00:48:30
◼
►
miner the father insisted the mother
[TS]
00:48:32
◼
►
nobody else is only half sister doesn't
[TS]
00:48:35
◼
►
have a name and it does she
[TS]
00:48:36
◼
►
yeah not that's not even occur to me
[TS]
00:48:38
◼
►
until writer that's amazing yeah like
[TS]
00:48:40
◼
►
that singular way it doesn't it's not it
[TS]
00:48:42
◼
►
doesn't bother me registers a lot of
[TS]
00:48:44
◼
►
books in which you would be like what
[TS]
00:48:46
◼
►
the heck is this guy's name already but
[TS]
00:48:47
◼
►
like you know I haven't seen that that
[TS]
00:48:50
◼
►
so effectively pulled off since fight
[TS]
00:48:52
◼
►
club so the ocean at the end of the lane
[TS]
00:48:55
◼
►
has already been optioned by Tom Hanks's
[TS]
00:48:58
◼
►
production company play tone and then
[TS]
00:49:00
◼
►
he'll make a great little boy
[TS]
00:49:02
◼
►
yeah that's right to be great now the v
[TS]
00:49:04
◼
►
well Tom Hanks's company which which
[TS]
00:49:06
◼
►
obviously was one of the co-producers of
[TS]
00:49:08
◼
►
like band of brothers and from the earth
[TS]
00:49:12
◼
►
to the moon and they're making they're
[TS]
00:49:14
◼
►
the ones who are making American Gods is
[TS]
00:49:16
◼
►
an HBO series
[TS]
00:49:17
◼
►
mhm and then they are also doing
[TS]
00:49:21
◼
►
apparently for a feature a option to
[TS]
00:49:24
◼
►
this so that's why i think a
[TS]
00:49:26
◼
►
pre-existing relationship there I the
[TS]
00:49:29
◼
►
the less the new story I've got on this
[TS]
00:49:31
◼
►
is from februari so obviously there you
[TS]
00:49:34
◼
►
know there's there's more purple an
[TS]
00:49:35
◼
►
introduction and the options it's
[TS]
00:49:37
◼
►
interesting options don't always mean
[TS]
00:49:39
◼
►
always filigree lights but that's
[TS]
00:49:41
◼
►
interesting that the dead but that's
[TS]
00:49:44
◼
►
where it is and yet you know again 200
[TS]
00:49:47
◼
►
less than 200 pages
[TS]
00:49:48
◼
►
this is the kind of story that you do
[TS]
00:49:50
◼
►
want to make a movie out of because you
[TS]
00:49:52
◼
►
don't have to drop you know seventy
[TS]
00:49:55
◼
►
percent of it in order to get online and
[TS]
00:49:57
◼
►
Game of Thrones or flipping through the
[TS]
00:49:59
◼
►
pages really fast like a harry potter
[TS]
00:50:01
◼
►
book where it's like now just supposed
[TS]
00:50:03
◼
►
to say then over here you know I've
[TS]
00:50:04
◼
►
argued for years the that a short story
[TS]
00:50:06
◼
►
makes a better movie than a novel right
[TS]
00:50:08
◼
►
because a novel is kind of it and short
[TS]
00:50:10
◼
►
story every word has to count movies are
[TS]
00:50:13
◼
►
short stories you're exactly stories TV
[TS]
00:50:15
◼
►
shows and movies TV shows novels example
[TS]
00:50:17
◼
►
comic books
[TS]
00:50:18
◼
►
yeah yeah movies are short stories and
[TS]
00:50:21
◼
►
so adapting short stories are in this
[TS]
00:50:23
◼
►
case it's a short novel makes a lot of
[TS]
00:50:25
◼
►
sense and he's got another let and knew
[TS]
00:50:28
◼
►
not the lie T and it's novel ish it's
[TS]
00:50:32
◼
►
establish a novel is it novel is it new
[TS]
00:50:36
◼
►
was their novelty little think there was
[TS]
00:50:38
◼
►
a novelty of it yeah course it's novel
[TS]
00:50:40
◼
►
ask its novel ask excellent well before
[TS]
00:50:44
◼
►
before we go I want to ask you gentlemen
[TS]
00:50:46
◼
►
the musical question that's not actually
[TS]
00:50:49
◼
►
musical but i like to ask and whenever
[TS]
00:50:51
◼
►
we talk about books which is what are
[TS]
00:50:53
◼
►
you reading i'm kind of curious what
[TS]
00:50:55
◼
►
other you look what are you reading
[TS]
00:50:59
◼
►
oh yeah we should get lex friedman to do
[TS]
00:51:00
◼
►
a jingle for what are you reading he
[TS]
00:51:02
◼
►
would totally do that then we could play
[TS]
00:51:04
◼
►
it because it would be we would want to
[TS]
00:51:06
◼
►
listen to it but he would do it for us
[TS]
00:51:08
◼
►
just imagine your head with nobody has
[TS]
00:51:10
◼
►
to do it because then we'll have to play
[TS]
00:51:12
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I personal various it's it's nice
[TS]
00:51:15
◼
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because we read lots of things we did
[TS]
00:51:16
◼
►
this was a short book i'm sure there Dan
[TS]
00:51:18
◼
►
even mentioned that he had been reading
[TS]
00:51:20
◼
►
another book before he started reading
[TS]
00:51:22
◼
►
the ocean available and i started
[TS]
00:51:23
◼
►
reading another book directly after
[TS]
00:51:25
◼
►
finishing the ocean and you just tearing
[TS]
00:51:27
◼
►
it up on vacation i tell you i'd like
[TS]
00:51:29
◼
►
that especially when there's no internet
[TS]
00:51:31
◼
►
i read like crazy
[TS]
00:51:32
◼
►
yeah that's book it's booked this my
[TS]
00:51:34
◼
►
family my family so we have this this my
[TS]
00:51:37
◼
►
uncle's got this place in the finger
[TS]
00:51:39
◼
►
lakes and there's no internet there in
[TS]
00:51:40
◼
►
the very little cell signal it makes up
[TS]
00:51:42
◼
►
made of it is haha my family which I
[TS]
00:51:46
◼
►
mean is primarily made up of of
[TS]
00:51:49
◼
►
librarians and a lot of teachers and we
[TS]
00:51:52
◼
►
sit around and
[TS]
00:51:53
◼
►
read a lot and my my cousin's husband
[TS]
00:51:55
◼
►
once commented after like walking into a
[TS]
00:51:57
◼
►
room with like six people reading books
[TS]
00:51:59
◼
►
like man you must really drive your
[TS]
00:52:00
◼
►
neighbors crazy with that sound of
[TS]
00:52:01
◼
►
flipping pages then you can I come with
[TS]
00:52:05
◼
►
you to finger like sometimes like the
[TS]
00:52:06
◼
►
pacification it's pretty awesome but I'm
[TS]
00:52:08
◼
►
not gonna lie it's great my god i love
[TS]
00:52:11
◼
►
it's very quiet and then yeah so I'm so
[TS]
00:52:14
◼
►
i finished you've been reading before
[TS]
00:52:16
◼
►
that I finish the second book in been
[TS]
00:52:18
◼
►
Aaron bitches rivers of London's here's
[TS]
00:52:22
◼
►
your urban fantasy 7 london i was gonna
[TS]
00:52:23
◼
►
drop his neighbor yes I read so I read
[TS]
00:52:26
◼
►
the rivers of London which i think is
[TS]
00:52:27
◼
►
marketed in the u.s. under a midnight
[TS]
00:52:29
◼
►
riot which is kind of a not as good
[TS]
00:52:31
◼
►
title in my opinion but I read the
[TS]
00:52:33
◼
►
second book which is called moon over
[TS]
00:52:34
◼
►
soho which I liked
[TS]
00:52:36
◼
►
I like those books they're they're not
[TS]
00:52:38
◼
►
they're not quite my favorite urban
[TS]
00:52:39
◼
►
fantasy book remains the guy carries
[TS]
00:52:41
◼
►
Felix caster series which is awesome and
[TS]
00:52:44
◼
►
this is this is fun but like doesn't
[TS]
00:52:46
◼
►
quite get up there for me i had been
[TS]
00:52:47
◼
►
part of the Felix caster what makes
[TS]
00:52:48
◼
►
those whose greatest they're basically
[TS]
00:52:50
◼
►
such a tone perfect noir set in London
[TS]
00:52:53
◼
►
acceptance imagine Philip Marlowe were
[TS]
00:52:55
◼
►
an exorcist in London look it's just
[TS]
00:52:57
◼
►
it's brilliant it's incredibly well done
[TS]
00:52:59
◼
►
but these are still fun and they're kind
[TS]
00:53:02
◼
►
of they deal with a young man who is a
[TS]
00:53:06
◼
►
police constable and in his first book
[TS]
00:53:08
◼
►
in the first book he encounters a ghost
[TS]
00:53:10
◼
►
and then somehow gets recruited to work
[TS]
00:53:13
◼
►
under the last sort of remaining wizard
[TS]
00:53:16
◼
►
who works for the Metropolitan Police
[TS]
00:53:18
◼
►
who is like a you know
[TS]
00:53:19
◼
►
Detective Chief Inspector and so he's an
[TS]
00:53:22
◼
►
apprentice wizard as everybody is also a
[TS]
00:53:24
◼
►
police constable that's fun and then I
[TS]
00:53:28
◼
►
picked up before i left about a
[TS]
00:53:30
◼
►
paperback which had been a while I
[TS]
00:53:31
◼
►
realized end up on a paperback book and
[TS]
00:53:33
◼
►
so long that my ebooks have become my
[TS]
00:53:34
◼
►
paperbacks I'll still buy occasionally
[TS]
00:53:37
◼
►
books in hardcover like I bought the
[TS]
00:53:38
◼
►
neil gaiman book hardcover but if I want
[TS]
00:53:40
◼
►
some this kinda like the quick disposal
[TS]
00:53:41
◼
►
read like i usually buy books but about
[TS]
00:53:43
◼
►
a the back of the latest book in the in
[TS]
00:53:46
◼
►
nyomi Novak's Temeraire series my book
[TS]
00:53:49
◼
►
one of that
[TS]
00:53:50
◼
►
yeah my simple the latest one is called
[TS]
00:53:52
◼
►
crucible of gold about a dragon's
[TS]
00:53:55
◼
►
halfway to two-thirds of the way through
[TS]
00:53:56
◼
►
it probably I I read everything else in
[TS]
00:53:59
◼
►
the series but it's been many years
[TS]
00:53:59
◼
►
since i read the last one so i kind of
[TS]
00:54:02
◼
►
like but it's it's it's pretty good in
[TS]
00:54:04
◼
►
terms of the ability to sort of pick
[TS]
00:54:06
◼
►
it up even years later and be like oh
[TS]
00:54:08
◼
►
yeah I kind of remember who the main
[TS]
00:54:10
◼
►
characters this are in she's quite a
[TS]
00:54:12
◼
►
good writer and she does a great job of
[TS]
00:54:13
◼
►
capturing that sort of the other CS
[TS]
00:54:15
◼
►
forester Patrick O'Brien like elements
[TS]
00:54:19
◼
►
of the the swashbuckling nautical tales
[TS]
00:54:21
◼
►
but like she goes interesting places
[TS]
00:54:23
◼
►
with those books which I didn't think
[TS]
00:54:24
◼
►
that she would both quote-unquote
[TS]
00:54:27
◼
►
literally in terms of like they spend a
[TS]
00:54:29
◼
►
lot of time sort of globe-trotting as
[TS]
00:54:31
◼
►
well as they could have been just sort
[TS]
00:54:34
◼
►
of adventure fun series but she actually
[TS]
00:54:35
◼
►
gets into some issues that i thought
[TS]
00:54:37
◼
►
were really interesting in terms of like
[TS]
00:54:38
◼
►
well these dragons are sentient em are
[TS]
00:54:41
◼
►
they basically slaves like what's the
[TS]
00:54:43
◼
►
deal with that so it gets a little more
[TS]
00:54:46
◼
►
little more depth than I thought it
[TS]
00:54:48
◼
►
would originally and so this is like the
[TS]
00:54:50
◼
►
sixth book in the series i think the
[TS]
00:54:51
◼
►
seventh one is coming out pretty soon so
[TS]
00:54:54
◼
►
those are fun enjoy them all right well
[TS]
00:54:56
◼
►
I've got the first one on my candle it's
[TS]
00:54:58
◼
►
ready to go i had enough people
[TS]
00:55:00
◼
►
recommended that i had to buy it
[TS]
00:55:01
◼
►
David what a what have you been reading
[TS]
00:55:03
◼
►
anything interesting
[TS]
00:55:04
◼
►
well I've been reading been doing
[TS]
00:55:07
◼
►
research for something that involves
[TS]
00:55:09
◼
►
magic and magicians
[TS]
00:55:11
◼
►
so what I'm not reading fiction reading
[TS]
00:55:14
◼
►
this book called slights of mind which I
[TS]
00:55:18
◼
►
know Lex Friedman has red actually
[TS]
00:55:19
◼
►
because we've talked about it and it's
[TS]
00:55:21
◼
►
about it's not just an optical illusion
[TS]
00:55:24
◼
►
but it's how illusions work and how our
[TS]
00:55:27
◼
►
minds try to rationalize them and
[TS]
00:55:30
◼
►
especially how we know that a magic
[TS]
00:55:35
◼
►
trick is a trick you know we know we're
[TS]
00:55:37
◼
►
being distracted and yet we still go for
[TS]
00:55:40
◼
►
we still accept it why and so it's
[TS]
00:55:42
◼
►
really interesting and it's it talks
[TS]
00:55:44
◼
►
with Penn & Teller a lot and a couple of
[TS]
00:55:46
◼
►
other magicians and pickpockets and so
[TS]
00:55:48
◼
►
it's really fascinating research then on
[TS]
00:55:52
◼
►
the fiction side I've got this book
[TS]
00:55:55
◼
►
called summer and bird by Catherine
[TS]
00:55:58
◼
►
Catmull which my friend who just read
[TS]
00:56:02
◼
►
ocean as well he said if you really like
[TS]
00:56:04
◼
►
the last two chapters of that
[TS]
00:56:06
◼
►
try reading a book that's all that right
[TS]
00:56:08
◼
►
oh my god you know it's a little more
[TS]
00:56:11
◼
►
poetic it's a little more fantasy
[TS]
00:56:13
◼
►
oriented than this necessarily but he
[TS]
00:56:18
◼
►
claims it's very much in line
[TS]
00:56:20
◼
►
that so I'm giving it a try and then
[TS]
00:56:22
◼
►
I've got the last policeman by Ben
[TS]
00:56:25
◼
►
winters sitting on my kindle which I i
[TS]
00:56:29
◼
►
think it one mystery award actually but
[TS]
00:56:33
◼
►
it's about a cop in it it's a
[TS]
00:56:36
◼
►
pre-apocalyptic story where they all
[TS]
00:56:39
◼
►
yeah there's like this this asteroid
[TS]
00:56:42
◼
►
coming that they know is going to hit
[TS]
00:56:44
◼
►
the earth and destroy it and so all
[TS]
00:56:46
◼
►
these people have you know quit their
[TS]
00:56:48
◼
►
jobs and they're going off to do
[TS]
00:56:50
◼
►
whatever they want in the last few
[TS]
00:56:51
◼
►
months before it hits and there's a
[TS]
00:56:54
◼
►
murder and this is his chance to step up
[TS]
00:56:57
◼
►
and be a policeman to be a real
[TS]
00:56:59
◼
►
detective instead of just a policeman so
[TS]
00:57:00
◼
►
he goes and tries to solve this murder
[TS]
00:57:02
◼
►
and it's the first of a trilogy and the
[TS]
00:57:05
◼
►
second one just came out apparently and
[TS]
00:57:08
◼
►
so again I've had you know like five or
[TS]
00:57:10
◼
►
six people including scott McNulty hated
[TS]
00:57:13
◼
►
the first one was very good and I was
[TS]
00:57:17
◼
►
like all right i'll give it a try i read
[TS]
00:57:19
◼
►
accelerometer by charles stross which I
[TS]
00:57:22
◼
►
really liked and charles stross is funny
[TS]
00:57:24
◼
►
because some of his stuff i really like
[TS]
00:57:26
◼
►
and some of the stuff leaves me kinda
[TS]
00:57:27
◼
►
cold his his halting state series that
[TS]
00:57:32
◼
►
set in the near future in Scotland an
[TS]
00:57:34
◼
►
independent Scotland as part of the EU
[TS]
00:57:36
◼
►
they're fine they don't really thrill me
[TS]
00:57:40
◼
►
I like Saturn's children which is his
[TS]
00:57:42
◼
►
wild sex pot takes a grand tour of the
[TS]
00:57:45
◼
►
solar system novel that was nominated
[TS]
00:57:47
◼
►
for Hugo accelerant oh I really liked it
[TS]
00:57:50
◼
►
so it's a little bit older
[TS]
00:57:51
◼
►
that's one of his more well-regarded
[TS]
00:57:54
◼
►
like that sort of one of his flagship
[TS]
00:57:55
◼
►
novel yeah it's really good i guess
[TS]
00:57:58
◼
►
published 2006 it does feel a little bit
[TS]
00:58:01
◼
►
the first few chapters he's doing a lot
[TS]
00:58:03
◼
►
of jargon that is recognizable uh that
[TS]
00:58:07
◼
►
that is cultural references and now
[TS]
00:58:09
◼
►
they're a little bit dated there seven
[TS]
00:58:11
◼
►
years dated uh but but as you might have
[TS]
00:58:14
◼
►
set it as you might guess from the title
[TS]
00:58:16
◼
►
things accelerate rapidly and you leave
[TS]
00:58:20
◼
►
the the weakest chapters that are set in
[TS]
00:58:23
◼
►
the near very near future behind and it
[TS]
00:58:26
◼
►
gets increasingly weird as it goes and
[TS]
00:58:29
◼
►
it tries to portray in a way that vernor
[TS]
00:58:31
◼
►
vinge e and a bunch of other writers
[TS]
00:58:32
◼
►
who've tried to
[TS]
00:58:33
◼
►
about the singularity when when
[TS]
00:58:35
◼
►
acceleration of human growth is a
[TS]
00:58:41
◼
►
exponential and it's like you could be
[TS]
00:58:43
◼
►
humans won't even be able to understand
[TS]
00:58:44
◼
►
it will be things will be advancing so
[TS]
00:58:46
◼
►
fast and and so if you can portray that
[TS]
00:58:48
◼
►
you're like all right i mean like one of
[TS]
00:58:50
◼
►
my favorite veggie novels he basically
[TS]
00:58:52
◼
►
just everybody ahead in time a hundred
[TS]
00:58:53
◼
►
years and there's nobody left in my cup
[TS]
00:58:55
◼
►
the singularity must happen to well and
[TS]
00:58:58
◼
►
then continue on right so in
[TS]
00:59:00
◼
►
acceleration dos tres actually like
[TS]
00:59:02
◼
►
shows you tries to show you what the
[TS]
00:59:04
◼
►
singularity would be like if you're a
[TS]
00:59:05
◼
►
person who was living through it and I
[TS]
00:59:08
◼
►
think he does a pretty good job it's not
[TS]
00:59:10
◼
►
I mean it's not perfect because it's a
[TS]
00:59:12
◼
►
very difficult concept he does have a
[TS]
00:59:14
◼
►
little bit of a plot to string you along
[TS]
00:59:15
◼
►
as well it does a lot of the same things
[TS]
00:59:18
◼
►
that I I sort of feel like Kim Stanley
[TS]
00:59:19
◼
►
Robinson was trying to do in his Hugo
[TS]
00:59:24
◼
►
nominated 2312 but what I really liked
[TS]
00:59:29
◼
►
about a XL Rondo and people i know who
[TS]
00:59:32
◼
►
listened to our Hugo cast know that I
[TS]
00:59:33
◼
►
didn't really like 2312 I don't like
[TS]
00:59:35
◼
►
accelerometer did all sorts of things
[TS]
00:59:37
◼
►
that that Kim Stanley Robinson just
[TS]
00:59:39
◼
►
failed to do with 2312 that for a guy
[TS]
00:59:41
◼
►
who gets tagged a lot of times as being
[TS]
00:59:43
◼
►
a strong as being a guy who's a you know
[TS]
00:59:46
◼
►
tech guy and he's more interested in a
[TS]
00:59:48
◼
►
lot of the technology stuff than the
[TS]
00:59:50
◼
►
than the people i think that's one of
[TS]
00:59:52
◼
►
the I i think that might be a knock on
[TS]
00:59:55
◼
►
him is that is that he doesn't always
[TS]
00:59:56
◼
►
have these his character healing Karen
[TS]
00:59:56
◼
►
have these his character healing Karen
[TS]
01:00:00
◼
►
that's right but and yet in Excel Rondo
[TS]
01:00:02
◼
►
like people are people in the future and
[TS]
01:00:06
◼
►
they have passions and they have loves
[TS]
01:00:08
◼
►
and there's there's even in these women
[TS]
01:00:11
◼
►
there is a scenic accelerometer where
[TS]
01:00:13
◼
►
there's an entire culture that is
[TS]
01:00:15
◼
►
running in a in a virtual reality
[TS]
01:00:16
◼
►
simulation on a little chip that's in a
[TS]
01:00:19
◼
►
spaceship the size of a soda can that's
[TS]
01:00:21
◼
►
half way to Alpha Centauri on a giant
[TS]
01:00:23
◼
►
solar sail and yet there is still petty
[TS]
01:00:26
◼
►
human jealousy and misunderstandings and
[TS]
01:00:29
◼
►
all sorts of things happening in the
[TS]
01:00:30
◼
►
virtual reality in the soda-can because
[TS]
01:00:33
◼
►
people are people and i like that that
[TS]
01:00:35
◼
►
he you can you can talk about the future
[TS]
01:00:37
◼
►
and completely indescribable social
[TS]
01:00:39
◼
►
change and technological change and
[TS]
01:00:42
◼
►
still have a novel with a real beating
[TS]
01:00:44
◼
►
human heart which accelerometer I think
[TS]
01:00:46
◼
►
house so I liked it and it's it is weird
[TS]
01:00:49
◼
►
but but I think good weird so I like
[TS]
01:00:52
◼
►
that and then the other one I would
[TS]
01:00:53
◼
►
mention is i'm reading roger ebert's
[TS]
01:00:56
◼
►
memoir life itself
[TS]
01:00:58
◼
►
he is a good he is a really good writer
[TS]
01:01:01
◼
►
speaking of people who are good writers
[TS]
01:01:02
◼
►
and a lot of that was in blog form and
[TS]
01:01:06
◼
►
various points on his site and but
[TS]
01:01:08
◼
►
there's also a lot of original material
[TS]
01:01:09
◼
►
and it's all put together it's not like
[TS]
01:01:12
◼
►
a collection of blog post is written in
[TS]
01:01:13
◼
►
chapters about his life and it's
[TS]
01:01:16
◼
►
fascinating because it even as just a
[TS]
01:01:18
◼
►
portrait of a an American from the
[TS]
01:01:22
◼
►
Midwest in the middle you know from the
[TS]
01:01:24
◼
►
middle of the 20th century and looking
[TS]
01:01:27
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at that and then looking at sort of the
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height of newspaper journalism and I
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01:01:33
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it's a fascinating read by a guy who is
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01:01:35
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really you know a really good writer and
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01:01:37
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you know it's funny we talk about a lot
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01:01:40
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of books on this podcast the thing that
[TS]
01:01:43
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strikes me more than anything else
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within the characters more than the
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01:01:45
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story more than the plots is if you get
[TS]
01:01:47
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somebody who can write who like has a
[TS]
01:01:50
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has a great style and tone I'll follow
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01:01:53
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them almost anywhere because those
[TS]
01:01:54
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people are not that easy to find
[TS]
01:01:57
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yeah we were saying sometimes you follow
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01:01:59
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along with a writer because it'll be
[TS]
01:02:01
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like you like two plots you like their
[TS]
01:02:03
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characters you like their sense of humor
[TS]
01:02:05
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and then there are those writers that
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01:02:06
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you think they just got it and I Roger
[TS]
01:02:09
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Ebert of all you know people we think of
[TS]
01:02:11
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him as the two thumbs up you know movie
[TS]
01:02:13
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he is such a great writer and in some
[TS]
01:02:16
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ways I think we didn't realize it until
[TS]
01:02:18
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or most people didn't realize it until
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01:02:20
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he started blogging after he lost his
[TS]
01:02:21
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voice anyway great fun and that's why
[TS]
01:02:25
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when we were in the Midwest we went to
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01:02:26
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steak and shake because inside it must
[TS]
01:02:28
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be right and I'm California I've never
[TS]
01:02:30
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been to a snake and check before but we
[TS]
01:02:31
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went because of roger ebert so there
[TS]
01:02:33
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don't ya
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01:02:35
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now we have a burger city that's sitting
[TS]
01:02:37
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on my kindle right now and drank it's
[TS]
01:02:39
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good it's good i mean i read it i was
[TS]
01:02:41
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reading bits because you can just sort
[TS]
01:02:42
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of read a few chapters and co-read novel
[TS]
01:02:44
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and then come back and read a few more
[TS]
01:02:45
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chapters and it's enjoyable
[TS]
01:02:48
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alright I think we got to the end at to
[TS]
01:02:51
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the ocean at the end of the lane at the
[TS]
01:02:52
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pot and the podcast have probably been
[TS]
01:02:56
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here before so many times do that I'm
[TS]
01:03:00
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not cast about but we don't remember it
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01:03:03
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yeah oh no it's good it's a book which
[TS]
01:03:06
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will find a book
[TS]
01:03:08
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yeah in the ocean at the end of the lane
[TS]
01:03:11
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at the end of the pot the Monster at the
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01:03:12
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End of the whole monster line the vast
[TS]
01:03:14
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ocean at the end of the lane at the end
[TS]
01:03:16
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of it I guess I'm very confused man
[TS]
01:03:19
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alright well this was fun and I guess I
[TS]
01:03:20
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guess we had to summarize that we would
[TS]
01:03:22
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say we let we really liked it perhaps
[TS]
01:03:24
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even loved neil gaiman the ocean at the
[TS]
01:03:26
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end of the lane got a lot of hype he's a
[TS]
01:03:28
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very well-known author guess what
[TS]
01:03:30
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it's good he's a good writer that's why
[TS]
01:03:32
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he's well known that because the hype
[TS]
01:03:34
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not because of marketing it's because
[TS]
01:03:35
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these are really good at it right
[TS]
01:03:38
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that's about right you yet in a nutshell
[TS]
01:03:40
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alright excellent well that's it for
[TS]
01:03:44
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this edition of the uncomfortable and I
[TS]
01:03:48
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want to thank my guests my my two guests
[TS]
01:03:50
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who excellently went through neil gaiman
[TS]
01:03:52
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and the ocean at the end of the lane Dan
[TS]
01:03:55
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Morgan thank you as always
[TS]
01:03:56
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always a pleasure to actually read
[TS]
01:03:59
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something beyond a podcast about it it's
[TS]
01:04:00
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nice it's nice to read books isn't it it
[TS]
01:04:02
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is great it is especially on vacation
[TS]
01:04:05
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where ya been through all over that
[TS]
01:04:07
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finger lakes I'm coming and going back
[TS]
01:04:09
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and going back on vacation next week and
[TS]
01:04:12
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is that I wish you have in your mind
[TS]
01:04:15
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David lower thank you for being him
[TS]
01:04:18
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thank you always a pleasure always a
[TS]
01:04:20
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pleasure very nice to have you here and
[TS]
01:04:22
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thank you everybody out there in podcast
[TS]
01:04:25
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land for listening to us talk about
[TS]
01:04:26
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books and be silly at the same time
[TS]
01:04:28
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that's pretty much the Charter the
[TS]
01:04:30
◼
►
uncomfortable so thank you for listening
[TS]
01:04:31
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and until next time I remain Jason sell
[TS]
01:04:35
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your post
[TS]
01:04:36
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goodbye
[TS]