WEBVTT - Listener Mail: And The Gunslinger followed 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:05.360 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of My 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:11.000 Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:14.920 Listener mail My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:16.520 and it's Monday, of the day of the week. We 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:19.720 read back some messages from the mail bags applied to 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:28.560 us by our loyal mail bot Carney. Here right at 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.600 the top of today's episode, I wanted to feature a 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:35.279 correction by our listener Dorry, and usually if a correction 0:00:35.360 --> 0:00:38.080 comes in, we try to put that near the top. Uh. 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:42.280 Dorian's response was in reference to the Odometer episode where 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:46.199 I did, indeed do do a major geometrical screw up. 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:48.600 So Dorian pointed out that it's in the part of 0:00:49.000 --> 0:00:53.880 the episode where I'm discussing the odometer described by Vitruvius, 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:57.160 and I, for some reason, I said that the formula 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:00.520 for the circumference of a circle is pie our squared. 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:03.400 That is not correct. That is actually for the area 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:07.520 of a circle. UH circumferences to pie r. Though as 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:10.160 a weird coincidence, since we were talking about a wheel 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:13.920 specifically with the radius of two of two ft, UH, 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:16.840 the different formulas gave the exact same answer. In this 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:20.160 one case, which is twelve point five six. So thank 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:23.120 you Dorian for pointing that out. Always appreciate people letting 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:26.120 us know if a mistake like that gets through. Uh, 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:28.080 and I did. I did listen back. There was a 0:01:28.120 --> 0:01:31.080 way to to snip that little reference out of the episode, 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:38.720 so so the episode should be corrected. Now. Alright, this 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.640 next one comes to us from Ben. Hey, guys, someone 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:43.920 else may have already mentioned this, but it occurred to 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:47.160 me that one factor in the accuracy of the Benitists 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:50.120 who measured distances by counting pacers would have been the 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:53.560 inclines in a route to be measured, as one's pace 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:56.920 length would naturally shorten when walking up or down a 0:01:56.960 --> 0:02:00.400 steep incline. Perhaps they took this into account and counted 0:02:00.440 --> 0:02:05.559 uphill or downhill paces separately. Anyways, a fascinating episode. Thanks. 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:09.360 I did not think about that at all, but yeah, 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:12.000 that's a very good point. Now. This is referencing the 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:15.360 the idea of Alexander the greats Bematists and other bimatists 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:18.080 from the ancient world, people who were said to measure 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:22.480 distances by pacing. Uh. There was some suggestion that because 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:26.480 they came they came up with distance measurements between milestones 0:02:26.919 --> 0:02:32.000 or cities that are actually quite accurate, even as measured today. 0:02:32.280 --> 0:02:34.560 There was some suggestion that maybe some of these people 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:37.960 actually used an odometer or some type of machine that 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:41.760 we don't know about, and that's possible. It's possible they 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:44.400 just were able to keep an accurate kind of paces 0:02:44.440 --> 0:02:48.000 for some reason. I guess we don't really know. But yeah, 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:50.880 this is one thing that would certainly affect pacing. That 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:54.120 would I think not affect a mechanical odometer. Is the 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:57.680 incline that you're walking up or down, I guess, and 0:02:57.760 --> 0:02:59.600 that would be a problem even if they were to 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:02.560 say this is ridiculous. Of course, if they were to, uh, 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:06.040 do some twine to tie their ankles together and always 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:09.600 do maximum stride. Oh well, now that's a good point. 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:11.240 But I guess when you're going up or down a 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:15.200 lot of times, the distance between your feet is not 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:18.040 that's true. Well, the twine thing is a good idea. 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.160 I didn't think about that. If you want to regularize 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:22.280 your pace, Yeah, but then what do you do with 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:26.040 wild animal attacks or um or the enemy shows up 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:29.400 to assault the caravan? It's like, oh, sorry, measurement dudes, 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:32.760 your best defense is just to fall over at this point. 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:34.960 I mean, even then, I think if you're like stepping 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:38.120 up or down on on an incline, that might make 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:40.200 a difference. Though if it's like, I don't know, if 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:42.160 you're talking about trying to like, I don't know, scramble 0:03:42.240 --> 0:03:44.200 up or down over rocks or something, that would also 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:48.520 be something that a wheeled odometer couldn't really go over, right, right, 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:56.560 all right, I think maybe we should mention some responses 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:00.160 to the episodes on paragraphs. Now. One of the things 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:03.040 we talked about in that episode was we asked listeners 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:06.600 to send in their favorite examples of paragraphs or favorite 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:10.680 opening paragraphs from literature. I guess with an eye towards 0:04:10.720 --> 0:04:13.640 selections that are not just a chunk of text that 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:17.240 you like, but one where the paragraph boundaries, like the 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:21.599 actual placement of the line breaks, feel like especially strong 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:25.400 or significant choices. And I thought one great submission came 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:29.560 from our listener Anna. Anna begins by selecting the book 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:33.240 Jane Eyre great choice and giving some background on its 0:04:33.279 --> 0:04:36.160 themes and composition. I'm going to pick up a couple 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:40.320 of paragraphs in here. Anna writes the book was very popular, 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:42.440 but there was also a fair bit of criticism from 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:44.400 people who did not like the fact that there was 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:46.799 a story about a girl who had her own mind 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:50.320 and spoke up for herself. Charlotte Bronte, who was writing 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:53.520 under the name kerrr Bell, hit back at critics in 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.719 the preface to our second edition quote, I mean the 0:04:56.800 --> 0:05:00.240 timorous or carping few who doubt the tendency of such 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:03.640 books as Jane Eyre, in whose eyes, whatever is unusual 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:07.640 is wrong. She goes on to say that conventionality is 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:12.000 not morality, self righteousness is not religion. Those are pretty 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:14.960 strong words, especially considering it was hard to get a 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:17.680 book published in those days. The fact that the book 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:20.640 had a second edition within a year of its first 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:24.360 publishing is a testament to its popularity. Anyway, I could 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:26.440 go on and on about how much I like this book, 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:30.120 but instead I will reproduce my favorite paragraph, uh and 0:05:30.160 --> 0:05:31.799 note that this is going to be a scene between 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:36.200 the protagonist, Jane, and her her brooding forbidden love interest, 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:40.279 her employer Mr Rochester. Now onto the quote, which begins 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:42.760 first with a line of dialogue and then a separate 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:47.599 second paragraph. This is Mr Rochester speaking, you examine me, 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:51.359 Miss Eyre said he do you think me handsome? And 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:54.599 then line break, I should, if I had deliberated, have 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:58.440 replied to this question by something conventionally vague and polite, 0:05:58.760 --> 0:06:01.200 but the answer somehow slipped from my tongue before I 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:06.960 was aware. No, sir, uh Anna goes on, This is 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:09.039 so relatable, and I really think you could put a 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:11.200 scene like this in a modern movie and people would 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:13.160 think it was great. I think this would be a 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:14.880 good quote to put on the back of the book 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:17.200 to give readers a feeling for what the book is like. 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:19.919 One of the things about Jane is that she speaks 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:22.599 the truth even when it gets her in trouble, something 0:06:22.640 --> 0:06:25.560 we now call speaking truth to power. It's also an 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:28.920 indication of the relationship between Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester. 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:32.480 She never knows where she sits with Mr Rochester? Is 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:35.359 he trying to be funny? Is he rude and vain? 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:38.599 Does she reply no, sir, because she actually thinks he 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:41.119 is not handsome? Or because it is such a rude 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:44.000 question to ask You have to keep reading to find out. 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:46.240 It's the sort of paragraph that you read and you 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:50.680 immediately have to know what happens next. Thanks anna, uh, 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:53.120 and I agree. I really like that as a paragraph. 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:56.360 It is a wonderful little compact unit. I have never 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:58.480 I don't think I've ever read Jane Eyre, or or 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:00.440 if I did, I did it for school and forgot 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:02.840 all of it. Um, I don't think I've seen any 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:04.600 of the movies, so I'm having to like glance real 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:07.160 quick and see, like, okay, well, who played Mr Rochester 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:10.160 in a movie adaptation? Looks like William Hurd played him once. 0:07:10.600 --> 0:07:14.400 Mr Rochester is one of the famous so called byronic heroes. 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:18.000 You know, he's like a Jane is obviously drawn to him, 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:21.600 but he's also you know, he's not just like straightforwardly 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:25.560 uh handsome and lovely in every way. He's like brooding 0:07:25.640 --> 0:07:28.800 and dark, and he has terrible secrets and in fact, 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:31.720 in many ways could be considered quite a bad person. 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.240 But also he's in some way irresistible. It looks like 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:38.360 Fastbender played him in an adaptation. Yeah. I don't know 0:07:38.400 --> 0:07:40.320 if the idea of a spoiler for a book as 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:44.560 old as Jane Eyre really comes into play, but spoiler alert, 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:47.280 he I mean, you do find out that he essentially 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:51.280 uh has he he already has a wife, and she 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:53.920 has gone mad and he is keeping her trapped in 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:58.080 the attic of his house. Uh, well, he's he's pursuing 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:01.120 this relationship with Jane. You know. Looks like Kieran Hines 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:03.280 played him in a in an adaptation, which also makes 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:06.280 sense another kind of like uh got you know, British 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:08.880 actor with intense eyes. It's really good at playing dark 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:17.040 characters anyway, But I digress. Let's see. Now, we got 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:21.280 notes from a number at least two, maybe three listeners, 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:26.160 all suggesting the same opening paragraph as a favorite of theirs. Rob, 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:29.120 do you want to pick one of these to read? Sure? Sure, 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:33.239 let's see. Um, let's see. Yeah, we heard from anders 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:39.120 on this, We heard from Jeff on this. Um, those 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:41.880 are at least two of them. Let's say, yeah, they 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.800 both had good points to make. Um. Le'll start with Andrews. Here. Hi, 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:48.599 longtime listener, first time writer. I just listened to the 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:52.040 paragraph part one episode, and my all time favorite opener 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:54.200 came to mind. I'm sure it's a favorite for many 0:08:54.280 --> 0:08:57.960 since it's quite famous. It's from Stephen King's The Gun Slinger, 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:00.240 the first book in his Seven Books series, and I 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:02.600 still distinctly remember reading it for the first time some 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:05.360 twenty years ago. For me, it both set the tone 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:08.199 and in a way captures exactly the plot of the book. 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:11.280 And also it's just a really cool line. Here goes 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:15.600 quote the man in Black fled across the desert and 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:19.360 the gun Slinger followed. My guess is you'll get other 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:21.880 emails for the same entry either way. I always enjoy 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:24.960 your stuff. Keep up the good work. Greetings from Denmark. Uh. 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:27.080 And then Jeff also wrote in, and I'm just going 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:30.240 to read part of what Jeff said about this. He says, uh, 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:35.000 we learned the protagonist, antagonist, and setting all in one line. 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:39.200 Um and uh. He also has this to say, thanks 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:42.160 for the podcast. My new favorite Friday tradition is watching 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.480 that week's weird how cinema movie if I can find 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:47.920 it streaming anywhere. Oh well, that's that's sweet. And yes, 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:50.920 we we heard from I think more even more than 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:54.000 than these two about that opening line from The Gun Slinger, 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:57.240 which is, indeed, yeah, a great line. I definitely remember 0:09:57.360 --> 0:09:59.800 this being a line that captivated me as a young reader, 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:02.920 and I've been I've been meaning to reread at least 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:06.040 just The Gun Slinger at some point because I think 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:09.160 King went back and and um, and did an edit 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:11.000 pass through it and sort of brought it up to 0:10:11.040 --> 0:10:13.000 speed with the later books at some point. And I 0:10:13.080 --> 0:10:15.120 don't think i've read that version of it. I think 0:10:15.120 --> 0:10:17.600 I've only read the older version of it. So I'm 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:20.559 kind of interesting to see how how things are stitched together. 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:23.000 Not that I remember all the details from the first time, 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:26.000 but I remember really loving that book again as a 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:28.640 young reader and like junior high and then of course 0:10:28.679 --> 0:10:30.160 I read all the other ones as they came out 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:32.800 over the years. So my my, my reading of the 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:35.640 Dark Tower series. Like I guess most people or a 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:39.080 lot of people, it's yeah, it's spread across the decades. 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:41.679 I actually do not know the Dark Tower series. I 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:45.880 think I started reading the first book one time a 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:48.120 long time ago, and I liked it, but I didn't 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:51.280 finish it. That's all. It's Internet, you know. I saw 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:55.920 a meme to this effect recently about people bouncing on 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:59.240 the first book and sort of like, um, I think 0:10:59.240 --> 0:11:01.360 that it's like the illestration is somebody digging a tunnel 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:04.600 and they're almost to the gold or the diamonds or something, uh, 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:07.520 implying that the first book is kind of a slog. 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.160 But then the rest of the series is the is 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:14.280 the reward, and uh, I don't know, I I you know, 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:17.400 there are all there are many reasons to bounce off 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:19.800 of a particular book, to stop reading it, to set 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:21.960 it down, or to give up on it, etcetera. So 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:24.559 you know, you can't really find one rule for anything 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:28.040 like this. But I remember, at least as a younger reader, 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:31.360 really digging the first one, maybe finding the second one 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:33.120 a bit more of a slog, just because a lot 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.559 of it's in the real world and it is a 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:39.680 little more less set in the fantasy, but then returns 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:42.920 to the fantasy and so forth. Uh, and then being 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:45.640 like all in on three. I don't know, I'm not 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:47.800 going to go a book by book, but I feel 0:11:47.800 --> 0:11:50.719 like it my my engagement level goes up or down 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:52.600 depending on which book it is in the series, But 0:11:52.760 --> 0:11:54.680 in general I was I was always on board for 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:57.480 the saga, and once you've spent enough time with it 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:00.320 in your head, you're kind of locked in. I see, 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:02.079 I feel like it's one of those things I'll get 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:14.040 around to one day. Oh yeah, it's not going anywhere, okay. Uh. 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:17.920 Next message about favorite paragraphs from books is from d 0:12:18.320 --> 0:12:21.280 D says, hey, there, just listen to this episode. Lots 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:23.880 of fun, especially considering how I fell down the pill 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:28.000 crow research rabbit hole about a month ago. On the 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:31.760 topic of memorable paragraphs, your discussion made me think immediately 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:36.800 of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse five, in which this happened. And 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:41.840 to provide some context, I um, I didn't look this up, 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:44.480 and I'm pretty sure this comes in the scene where 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:47.960 the newly arrived Allied POWs they get to the new 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:51.520 camp and they eat a bunch of rich soup. After 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:54.960 having eaten I think nothing for a long time. Uh, 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:59.520 and it makes them sick. And so the book goes 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:03.200 and note where the paragraph breaks are. An American near 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:07.360 Billy wailed that he had excreted everything but his brains. 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:11.840 Moments later, he said, there they go, There they go, 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:17.679 he meant his brains. Paragraph break. That was I, that 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:22.080 was me, that was the author of this book. Break. 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:26.480 Billy reeled away from his vision of hell. He passed 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:30.720 three Englishmen who were watching the excrement festival from a distance. 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:35.440 They were catatonic with disgust. And then D goes on, 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:38.800 I see this as one paragraph, but the middle sentence 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:41.240 rips you so hard out of the narrative that it 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:44.480 is deserving of a single line paragraph all its own. 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:47.400 Thanks for the great podcast. I'm off to listen to 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:51.200 part two now. Cheers, d D. I agree. Ever since 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:53.120 I read that book for the first time, that moment 0:13:53.160 --> 0:13:56.920 has stuck in my brain. I think of it often. Yeah, 0:13:57.520 --> 0:14:00.560 I hadn't really thought about this. This it from it 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:03.760 as much, um, I guess I tend to come back 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:05.719 to some of the other moment. There's a lot to 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:10.880 stick in a young reader's head. And Slaughterhouse five it's uh, 0:14:11.240 --> 0:14:13.679 there's a there's a lot of of interesting and kind 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:17.239 of at times I guess, provocative content in there. Um, 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:19.200 But of course it's a it's a great novel, and 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:21.520 it does I can't remember if this is actually the 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:23.720 opening line of the book or it's just the opening 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:26.600 line of one of the early chapters, but of course 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.120 it has that line. Listen, Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:33.560 in time, um or or Billy Pilgrim has become unstuck 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:37.000 in time, something to that effect. But um, that's a great, 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.160 great line as well. I mean that instantly tells you 0:14:39.280 --> 0:14:42.680 whoa something has happened here? What's what's happened to Billy Pilgrim? 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:46.000 And even the name, I guess that's an interesting thing, 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:49.840 like sometimes just having a um an insightful name for 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.920 your character. Uh, that also adds to the flavor like 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:57.040 Billy Pilgrim. Uh, you know that's um kind of ties 0:14:57.080 --> 0:14:59.400 into the idea, you know, some of the flavor of 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:03.600 the children crusade and so forth. Yeah, I'm sure vonna 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:05.680 get junkies out there have a lot to say about it. 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:08.360 I am um, but it's been so long since I've 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:16.200 read it or really given it much thought. All right, uh, Rob, 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:20.120 I'm gonna read this very short message from Alvaro UM, 0:15:20.160 --> 0:15:22.440 and then maybe we'll move on to some weird house cinema. 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:29.160 So Alvaro right rights in with subject lines single paragraph novel. 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:33.840 We were talking about those, uh, and Alvaro says, greetings. 0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:36.560 I was listening to your paragraph episode and I remembered 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:40.640 a novella that consists of a single paragraph. It's called 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:45.120 Nocturno de Chile by Roberto Bologno. It's pretty good, though 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:47.800 not an easy read, as all of Bologno's books are. 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:50.720 Now that was the whole message, but I looked this up. 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:54.880 And to add to this, I think the idea of 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:57.480 this novella being a single paragraph makes a lot of 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:00.520 sense when you consider the contents of the book. This 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.960 is the first sentence in English translation, I am dying now, 0:16:05.120 --> 0:16:08.480 but I still have many things to say. The story 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:12.520 is actually presented as a kind of transcript of a 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:18.480 night long deathbed confession by a deeply morally compromised Jesuit 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:22.240 priest who ends up getting involved with like rich people 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:27.200 in political power players and somehow eventually serves as a 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:33.120 nighttime tutor for the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and uh 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:36.480 so so anyway, the form the book takes is like 0:16:36.560 --> 0:16:42.080 a meandering, rambling divulgence of everything this old man can 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:45.640 think of to say before he dies. So a single 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:47.880 paragraph somehow makes a lot of sense to me as 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:50.840 a stylistic choice. Like, I think the whole point is 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:54.600 that the story is not organized, but a stream of consciousness, 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:57.720 rambling as a man thinks back on through like the 0:16:58.040 --> 0:17:04.240 process of the moral corruption of his life. Interesting, yeah, yeah, 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:06.640 I can see where this, uh this style would fit 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:14.280 the su premise. All right, we also have some weird 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:18.320 house messages here, this one comes to us from L L. Right, So, 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.840 my goodness, you finally watch Return to Oz. Yeah, I'm 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:23.359 so jealous. I too would like to have the experience 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:25.760 of being rolled over by the film for the first time. 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:28.919 I first saw it as an unassuming child, so I 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:30.920 just sort of took the film and stride with all 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:33.800 the other weirdness of television and film produced for children, 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:36.919 though it be insane or dark or what have you. 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:39.679 As a child, I felt all the same emotions, the 0:17:39.720 --> 0:17:41.800 fear of the awe, et cetera. At the points you 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:44.680 described in your Weird House episode, I marveled at the 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:47.879 visual and creative beauty of the world imagined into being 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:50.200 by the artist, though I did not consider the creators 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:54.080 behind the scenes at all at the time. The only 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:57.040 difference in response would be my take on the Wheelers. 0:17:57.560 --> 0:17:59.920 Though I knew they were the bad guys and did 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:01.919 route for the good guys in the fight scene, I 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:05.080 absolutely loved them. I got a huge kick out of them, 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:07.840 and there wildly over the top acting. You know, it 0:18:07.960 --> 0:18:11.399 is wildly over the top. One of my favorite parts 0:18:11.440 --> 0:18:14.240 was when Dorothy and billina Are were trapped in the 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.760 locked room before discovering TikTok. Dorothy asserts that they have 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:20.840 done nothing wrong, and the lead wheeler says, in this 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:25.440 grand accusatory fashion, isn't that a stolen lunch pail? And 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:28.480 that is that a chicken in there with you? The 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:32.760 absurdity of the accusation always made me laugh. Oh yeah, yeah, 0:18:32.800 --> 0:18:35.959 because so Dorothy has a lunch pail that she picks 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:39.360 off of the lunch pail tree. So yeah, I guess 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:42.520 she didn't know who that lunch pail tree belongs to. Um, 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:44.480 But yeah, the other thing is like, and you've got 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:48.080 contraband in there. That's a chicken. Yeah, oh yeah, And 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:53.080 of course the chickens and especially chicken eggs, are a 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:56.160 great threat to the Nome king, as we learned later 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:58.880 in the film. Yeah, yeah, we have no idea why 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:00.760 at this point it would be a problem for her 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:04.359 to have a chicken. L continues here to close, I 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:06.680 need all of the people responsible for making this film 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:10.080 to reunite and produce a slew of OZ films using 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:12.640 material from Bombs many other books like Confest. I haven't 0:19:12.720 --> 0:19:15.560 read more than two, but as a child I was 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:18.200 very much aware of the others because my brother loved 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:20.959 them and read them all. Thanks for the great content. 0:19:21.040 --> 0:19:23.400 Sorry for sending you mail twice in one week. All 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:27.760 topics are more interesting when hashed out and discussed by YouTube. 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:30.399 There is something about getting to experience a movie like 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:34.000 this as a child. Um. And and also I have 0:19:34.040 --> 0:19:38.200 found getting to re experience movies like this viewing them 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:41.880 with a child. UM, it's been great fun to re 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:45.320 explore older films that of this nature with my son. 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:48.520 And in the case of of Return to Oz see 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:51.560 something like this for the first time and gets get 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:54.320 to view it through his eyes. Though sometimes it backfires. 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:56.680 I mean he's not interested in movie. Like I keep saying, hey, 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:58.440 how about how about the black Hole? Is it time 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:01.040 to watch the black Hole? And he just he does 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:02.880 not care. I can't get him into him, Like, look, 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:07.080 it's got cute robots, it's got Anthony Perkins. What what 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:10.399 could What's what's possibly wrong with this? And he's like, no, 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:12.480 I'm not doing it. Well, you're trying to sell him 0:20:12.480 --> 0:20:15.520 on it based on Anthony Perkins. No, No, not really. 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:18.040 I I focus on the robots in the space and 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:20.600 I'm like look, and I'm like it's on Disney. Plus 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:23.720 you know, there's a good chance you're gonna like it, 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:28.640 but he's he's they can't can't get him interested for that. 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:31.720 This This is really funny images possessing my brain now, 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:33.679 Like the idea of somebody trying to get there, like 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:36.879 you know, their their child to watch a movie because 0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:40.720 it's got Dan Hedea in it. You know, like, well, 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:43.280 I think that kind of that does say something about 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:45.720 the film and maybe how miscalibrated it is. Like you 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:48.399 look at the actors in the black Hole, and he's 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:51.399 got a number of great actors in it, but I'm 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:53.000 not gonna list them all, and maybe we'll talk about 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:54.840 it someday. But it's got a great cast, but it's 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:58.120 not necessarily cast members that are gonna appeal to ten 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:00.600 year olds. They're not gonna look at this cast be like, yeah, 0:21:00.600 --> 0:21:04.480 who are these interesting middle aged people up to in space? 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:13.440 That that's to get the parents in? All? Right? Uh? 0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:16.080 Should I do this one from Richard? Yeah, let's hear 0:21:16.080 --> 0:21:20.360 from Richard. Okay, Richard says, I love your regular science 0:21:20.440 --> 0:21:23.200 history episodes. You're a great team. You've held my attention 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:25.600 with some subjects that that would have bored me in 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:29.720 lesser hands. Kudos. I love Obscure oddball films, So I 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:33.400 greatly enjoy weird how cinema. You frequently note that such 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:38.119 films are released with different cuts, different names, etcetera. Have 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:41.119 you ever considered devoting an episode to this phenomenon? You 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:43.640 could easily do ninety minutes on the how and why 0:21:43.760 --> 0:21:46.200 of that. It's got a pretty rich history, from indie 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:49.760 productions to blockbusters. Here's one I don't know if you're 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:52.440 aware of. I'm one of the very few people who 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:56.919 saw Hands of Steel in a theater years ago. Remember 0:21:57.000 --> 0:22:01.000 that's the the the Italian Terminator off that we that 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:05.119 we watched. Yeah yeah, John Saxon is in that one. Um. Also, 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:09.640 George Eastman has a has a small role Simonetti soundtrack. 0:22:11.880 --> 0:22:16.480 Yeah yeah, really fun. Richard goes on. So the movie 0:22:16.720 --> 0:22:20.520