Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas | Episode 15

WARNING: THIS PODCAST HAS SPOILERS

Join us for our version of book club as we dive into different books and tasty libations every Thursday!

This week we dive into Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a semi-autobiographical novel by Hunter S. Thompson, published in 1971, that chronicles a drug-fueled road trip to Las Vegas by journalist Raoul Duke and his attorney, Dr. Gonzo, exploring the death of the 1960s counterculture through a surreal, hallucinatory lens.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hey Boo.

unknown 0:02

Hey.

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Oh. Um you ready to get this episode started? Okay, cool. Well, um before we jump into this episode. I like your glasses, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

They're huge. Like I can't even see out of them. They're so dark.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Um I guess we'll jump into what we're drinking this week.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

So, in honor of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I think that they talked about two different liquors a lot. It was tequila and rum. When I asked you earlier, I see one eye looking right at me through your glasses. That's funny. Uh when I asked you earlier, you're like, a lot of drugs. And I was like, well, what else do they talk about? And they were like, a lot of alcohol. I was like, what type? And you're like, uh. So I stopped by the store and got us Florida's finest craft spirits, though they weren't drinking a Florida rum. Yeah. We figured it was fitting. Um, we are not gonna be. This is also toasted coconut rum, so go that. Um, made with real coconuts, Sarasota, Florida. Kind of don't really want to read the back. Do you want to read the back?

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Well, I can, but I might not be able to see it with these glasses. Yep, hold on. Finally, a coconut rum that doesn't taste like suntan lotion. We infuse real toasted coconut to handcraft siesta key toasted coconut rum. Then we bottle it at a high enough proof to know you are drinking rum. We never use artificial or liquid flavorings, and you can taste the difference. You may see natural coconut and coconut oils in your bottle. We like to call it flavor. Smooth and delicious, straight or on ice, perfect for your favorite tropical cocktails.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

Sweet. Well, we did make a tropical cocktail tonight because we didn't want to drink it straight. So did a little I forgot, coconut mule, I think it was called, or a light and stormy. It's a light and stormy. Light and stormy.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

But we mixed it up because we can't, I can't drink it straight like that.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Well, you asked earlier when I brought it home. You're like, are we gonna drink it straight? I was like, no, I got lime, dude. Or lime juice. Um okay, well, cheers to this, and then will you give us the word of the week?

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Cheers. Just as good as the last time you made it. It also has ginger beer in it.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

The last one I did was a dark and stormy, remember? Because it was a dark rum.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

Oh. Well you did that, but without rum.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Yeah. Yeah. That's why it was a dark and stormy.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

You can taste the coconut. That's good. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:01

What's the word that we're gonna put my notes up while you say this?

SPEAKER_00 3:04

So the word is Utony, and basically it is away from the literature wor world. It is a practice based on sensory awareness developed by Goethe Alexander as a means to balance ch tensions in the body. But uh it is an uncommon word for literature, but it can be used as a noun. It is the pleasantness of the sound of a word. It relates to how soothing and uh harmonious or melodice a word is to the ear, independent of its meaning. So it doesn't matter what the definition is, as long as it sounds pleasant to your ear, that would be eutiny.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

How do you spell the word of the week?

SPEAKER_00 3:57

E U T O N Y. So my examples that I like are limeric, resonance, and descent, effervescence, stuff like that. Those sound pretty to my ear.

unknown 4:14

So cool.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

So it's like the word moist. Moist.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

That's not that's not a unless you really like that word.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

A lot of people like the word moist.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

You're definitely rage baiting me right now. But you don't like the word moist? No, it's like chewing with your mouth open.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

So that would not be uh Utony? You Utony?

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Not to me, Utony. Maybe to other people, just like smacking your lips when you're eating. Sorry. I I'm really triggered by that. I'm sorry. I I went really far with that. Okay. Don't be sorry.

SPEAKER_01 4:57

I'm sorry. I I'm the one that's sorry. Okay, well, um we got our rum. Are you ready? Sure. What do you got?

SPEAKER_00 5:11

You're supposed to be leading this one.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

I know, and I am. So what do you what you got? That's how I'm starting this off. What what do you have? What did you think? I want to hear what I want to hear your thoughts, and then we can jump into like a deep dive.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

I think that I probably would have liked this a lot better if I just watched the movie.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

That's understandable.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Because I knew he was going through a lot of hallucinations, which could be entertaining at times, but also it's like half the time I didn't know what was going on. Even though I know there were literate people, then this was happening, and that was happening, they were going to LA and then back, and I knew that. But also it's just like I didn't like the characters.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

I didn't uh it wasn't as entertaining to me as I bet the movie would be.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

I agree with you now. I think that when I used like last episode I said when we re-read, when I re-reread it, I still see more of it. When I reread it, I'm curious to see if it stands up to how I thought about it back in the day, and I don't think it does. I think that as an edgy teenager, I was like, ooh, cool, neat. And now that I'm reading them, like I understand what's going on, but it still wasn't. I don't know. It just wasn't like I even I don't know. We've read we've had better books on the Epps.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 6:47

We've done better, we've done better books.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Um better books that speak to us. Some people, this may be their favorite book. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

So I'm not saying anything against that, but it just like for me, it did not hit the feeling or the narration during a lot of the moments, like you said, the lizard bar or like the uh was it the reptile zoo or something, lizard zoo.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

I actually found that part entertaining.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Yeah. Um, but it's just a lot of it is in his mind. So kind of the like when in the beginning, when he's in the car and they pick up the hitchhiker, it's they're all just blasted, him and his attorney. So the poor hitchhiker. Yeah. So, you know, he's just thinking things in his head, and that's what he's narrating in the book, are his thoughts while he's on those hallucinogens. So it makes sense if you know what's going on, I guess is the way to say it. Um, and I don't know, about halfway through the book, when he leaves Vegas, you're like, all right, cool, it's almost over. And then he comes back and you're like, all right, cool.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

Or not even leaving.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

I mean, like gets a little bit further. But uh yeah, yeah. So I I agree with you that maybe the movie, when we watch it, you'll enjoy it better. Um, I'm glad that I reread it and I'm glad that we have it. And then a quick side note, I did see that when we started this, literally the day that I started this, I sent you a picture because it popped up in Facebook. It was like 14 years ago, I think, that I was reading it in the park, and Emma took a picture of me. So I was actually reading this book, and uh it was 14 years to the day that I restarted it. And I was like, that's kind of wild.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

It is, and it's kind of funny because before this whole podcast thing, you did not read books. If you did, you listened once in like a blue moon to a book. You didn't read it real re read religiously like I do. No. So the fact that 14 years ago when we first started dating, you read this book because we hung out in the park and I read and you read. And I think we brought Tinkerbell with us. She was my old family dog. Yeah, that was a good, that was a good time.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

For several years I went through not listening to audiobooks either, but it was just a couple years ago that I picked it up. And then I got, I don't know, probably the max in a year was probably like five or six. Which is great. Yep, which I was you know, I was happy with. Like every every couple of months I'd have a book down, and uh they were books that I enjoyed. They were the Let Than Theory and things like that. Um, so now it's fun to do different things and like listen to things like this that I have read before. U571 was the last book that I yeah read read, I think. We discussed that already.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

But I think you got that when we were on Ireland.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

Yeah, I did. I got that for the plane ride from Ireland Ireland back. So okay, cool. Well, um, do you have any other notes? Do you have anything about the writing? You said you didn't like the characters. Why didn't you like the characters? Well or writing, sorry, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

Well, I just didn't connect with the characters. Okay. It's just like going on binge after binge after binge just to keep that high. I'm like, oh, I couldn't even, I I want to be able to even imagine doing something like that.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

Yeah. Especially what they were doing.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

Like they were doing some intense things, which is which brings up the fact that I have no idea what half of the stuff they're taking is or are. Like what's a blot? Oh, can I say these?

SPEAKER_01 10:25

Yeah, we're not monetized.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

So what's a blotter, what's an ether, what's oh, well, what's all I I didn't know half of what they were talking about, so that didn't help. And then all the main character was doing was imagining scenarios, scenarios in his head, and then the manic notion, which is a quote, would pass quickly, and then he'd go right back into another manic notion.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Yep. And if you've That's all it was, excuse me. If you've ever done, you know, stuff like that, it is in the state of paranoia that his, you know, his thoughts are coming to him.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

So, you know, he's there and it's like, why would they do this to me? Why? Blah, blah, blah. Like everybody's going about their normal day around him. It's in his mind that everything is happening. And yeah, some people just want to put themselves through that, you know. Well, apparently, ether is very flammable, colorless, and it's highly volatile. So it's like a drink or it's a liquid. Um, and that's why they were talking about putting ether on like a rag, putting it down by the floorboard so it would like heat up and he could smell it the whole time. Says, excuse me. It says that if it's inhaled or ingested, leading to addiction, mental health issues, and if ingested, risk of fatal gastrointestinal rupture. Okay, so that's not what I was looking for. Let me see.

SPEAKER_02 11:59

That's scary.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Hallucinogens. Hallucinogens. Uh either's volatile, highly okay, it keeps telling me euphoria, sedation, or and visual and auditory hallucinations due to the mDNA. MDNA. MDA. NMDA. It's a lot of words. Um anti antigonism. Antig anti-gan antagonism. Okay. We might cut this part out.

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Um well that reminds me, they kept saying they had bad hearts. Was that from all the drug usage?

SPEAKER_01 12:43

No, I think that was just a reason to get more drugs. Oh, okay. Um, like he got the things at the very end of the book from the pharmacy, and he cracked one right in front of her and it hit it, and it was like, okay, here we go. Um, just knowing that he'll continue on the same path. Right here, it says that you can have mental confusion, lack of motor control, and dreamlike states. So that's why people do ether. Uh blotter. What it was. Yeah. Blotter is acid.

SPEAKER_00 13:11

Oh, okay. I know what that is.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

Um, I guess different names for a different time period because this was set in like what 1971?

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Something like that. I think it was really. That's when it was written. Yeah, yeah. It was set back then too, because I didn't catch on to this either time back in the day that I read it, and then this time that I listened to it, that it's about the restructuring of you and your society between the 60s and like how Nixon came in and did stuff. Yep, you talked about that. So, what do you what did you find on that?

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Well, I looked it up. So there are a few things this book is famous for the search of the American dream, only to find that is rep replaced by greed, materialism, and a sense of fear and loathing. So in my head, that means like when he's seeing all the people in the bar in Vegas, and they're all turning into lizard people. Yeah, yeah, he's he's having a hallucination, but also it's kind of like symbolism for like the people of America changing with the time. That's how I read that. And they're all just there for the greed of Las Vegas and materialistic side of things. Yeah. You know what I mean? And kind of.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

I didn't I didn't pick up on that.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Well, and then there's it's also famous for the death of the 1960s, Gonzo Journalism, and extreme substance abuse.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

Extreme.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:47

Well, I don't know. I didn't I think I take more, I take everything more at a uh face value. Face value.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Um I like to dig in stuff.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Yeah, but I don't know. I just laughed. I was like, ah, okay, cool. They're doing this and this happened. Um for you. Yeah, I'd rather take real life at more than face value. But like books, I'm just like, all right, I'm gonna take what you said. Um, well, I don't know. I don't really know where to start. I mean, we could start on just like chapter one.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

I guess we first start wherever you want.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Okay, so chapter one, they're just rocking over to go to Vegas. Uh, the biggest thing that I got out of it. Oh, I actually wanted to find this part, so I might look it up. So let's find the part where he thinks to himself and talks to the hitchhiker. So that's what we were just describing about how like the whole in his mind thing. So that should have been chapter one somewhere.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Page five to sixish. Because that's when the hitchhiker appeared.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Can you hear me? Can you hear me?

SPEAKER_00 15:59

Oh, it's page six. Do you want me to read it?

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Uh yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

Also. Oh, you like the art note of the art if you can see that. Okay. Maybe I'd better have a chat with this boy. I thought, perhaps if I explain things, he'll rest easy. Of course, I leaned around in the seat and gave him a fine big smile, admiring the shape of his skull.

SPEAKER_01 16:27

See, and in his mind right now, he's like, okay, just like act normal, smile.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

But it was a fine big and then he was admiring the shape of his skull. So he was probably just like staring at him like and it goes on to say, by the way, I said, there's one thing you should probably understand. He stared at me, not blinking. Was he gritting his teeth? Can you hear me? I yelled. He nodded. That's good. Because I want you to know that we're on our way to Las Vegas to find the American dream. I smiled. That's why we rented this car. It was the only way to do it. Can you grasp grasp that? He nodded again, but his eyes were nervous. I want you to have all the background, I said, because this is a very ominous assignment with overtones of extreme personal danger. Hell, I forgot all about this beer. You want one? He shook his head. How about some ether? I said, What? Never mind. Let's get right to the heart of this thing and then goes on. Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

So you see, like just like the back and forth, like he's like talking to him.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

He's like, Oh I start it too early because it's like um before he was like on the previous page, Jesus, did I say that or did I just think it? Was I talking? Did they hear me?

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Can you go with like what he was saying or like thinking?

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Yeah. So they leave, they pick him up, and they start driving away. And the attorney, before we knew it was Dr. Gonzo, said, We're your friends, we're not like the others. Okay. Oh Christ, I thought. He's gone around the bend. No more of that talk, I said sharply, or I'll put the leeches on you. He grinned, seeming to understand. Luckily, the noise in the car was so awful between the wind and the radio and the tape machine that the kid in the back seat couldn't hear a word we were saying. Or could he? How long can we maintain, I wondered, how long before one of us starts raving and jabbering at this boy? What will he think then? The same lonely desert was the last known home of the Manson family. Will he make that grim connection when my attorney starts screaming about the bats and huge manta rays coming down on the car? If so, well we'll just have to cut his head off and bury him somewhere. Because it goes without bury him? Yeah, and bury him somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

Bury.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Because it goes without saying that we can't turn him loose. He'll report us at once to some kind of outback Nazi law enforcement agency, and they'll run us out run us down like dogs. Jesus, did I just say that? Or did it or just think it? Was I talking? Did they hear me? I glanced over at my attorney, but he seemed oblivious, watching the road, driving our great red shar shark along at 110 or so. There was no sound from the back seat. And then it goes on to say, Maybe I'd better have a chat with this boy.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

Yeah, and then he turns around. Can you hear me?

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

See, that's just the uh the paranoid state of his mind where he was having all those thoughts, and he was just like, Wait, can they hear me?

SPEAKER_02 19:44

Yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

That just stuck out to me. I like that part. Um, I think that's actually like one of the most classic parts of the book.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Uh there's a lot of classic parts, but that's a pretty big one. Um, so then chapter two kind of goes over all the stuff they have. I put drugs, am I right? They let's see, they go find their drugs and they're looking for the voice recorder. Uh, they were delayed in route when they when a stingray killed a pedestrian in front of them. I thought that part was pretty funny because he was like, We're on our way out to here. And then we called and the guy said he'd stay open late for us. But we were we even showed up late after that because uh a stingray killed a person, killed a pedestrian in front of us, and that's just starting the drug rage. Like it's just in the mind, the hallucining hallucinogens, the hallucinations. Um, I love how they just blast how they're just blasted going about life. They go to get the rental car and they almost wreck bracket it up. The rep asks if uh they could do it. I said, Love it. Then the next chapter three. Uh this man has a bad heart. So that's where that started.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

That's where I said, Did they really have bad hearts?

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Yep, that's where it started. Nope. They say anything they needed, but he said, like, ain't good name, but pinkurious. Um, I don't know if you wrote the word down, but that's how I standed it out.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Nope, I did not write it down.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

He did bring it up at the very end of the book as well, but I just think that it's just something he used, just like everything. He they're con people, you know. Like he was using his badge and like, oh, look, I'm a doctor of ministry or whatever his card set at the end.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

So I just wrote down that they were trying to act normal at check-in or at the registration.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

Yep, that's chapter four. So they go to the check in for the race. Or no. Sorry, chapter three.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Yep. So they go, uh, they eat acid and start tripping when they try to check in in Vegas. And that's when, yep.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

No, chapter four, that's where I put what's mescaline. I don't I just don't. I was just like, I Feel like this is my pride and prejudice. Your yeah, this is where I'm like, I'm like, what?

SPEAKER_01 22:08

It's another hallucinogen.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

I know you said that earlier, but it's just like this is definitely I loved pride and prejudice. You had no idea what was going on. You loved this in the past, and now I'm like, what the heck?

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Like I said, I think it was like back in my edgy days when I was like, Yeah, that's cool. And then I'm like, all right. Um, so that leads us to chapter you said four, they go check in for the race, or you said check in for Vegas, and then they check in for the race, and that's what you said. Mescaline. Um, after that, the race starts, and then they pretty much don't really even cover any of it.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

Yeah, because chapter five, they said you could see like the what was it, first 30 seconds of the race.

SPEAKER_01 22:50

Yeah, and then all the dust. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

It's like, what's the point of viewing the race if you can't see it?

SPEAKER_01 22:56

What do you think about his writing style and the way that he made you think of things? So he was able to make you think about a big dust cloud, but what about the whole overall of the book?

SPEAKER_00 23:10

It was definitely different. Um it was good because it was he's right, I mean, he's writing. It's more than I can say right now for me. Um I just didn't connect with it. Okay. But I didn't like it. Okay. But he's a good writer, but he's a good writer because he he's known.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Is that why you're saying that?

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Um let's just pick a random chapter or random page.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

I'm just curious if you even though you didn't like him, if maybe not the writing style, but like the descriptions and everything kind of like got you to see what was going on.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Um yeah, it did. Like for the instance, I stepped on the mirror to go round and hurried around the bar, approaching my attorney on his blind side. And when we came to the right spot, I pushed him off. He staggered into the aisle and uttered a hellish scream as he lost his balance and went down, thrashing into the crowd, rolling like a log, then up again in a flash, fists clenched, looking for somebody to hit. So, like he's very good at like setting the scene, and then he has a good what we talked about off camera, a good way to do a stream of conscience, but conscience. Yeah, I just didn't like these characters. I just didn't like conscience.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Consciousness.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

Consciousness. Yeah, there thank you. Um, but like I just didn't like the characters, I didn't like what was going on, I didn't like the the story because it didn't hold my attention. But there were some funny parts, like I said. And yeah, there's parts where he like you can describe things while he's setting a really good scene and it's entertaining, but also at the same time, it's just like it just didn't hit me. Yeah, yeah. That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 25:20

I understand that. Just curious about the actual like descriptions that you're like, and that's why you that's why thank you for answering that.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

I understand that you didn't like it, but like it got his point across.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

Can you find the part where uh in chapter six? It's kind of towards the end, I believe. No, yeah, towards the end. He says that uh no, wait, that part's in the beginning. Sorry. Vegas loves loves a drunk, so they let him inside, but they're blasted on like ether.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

We approached the grand ballroom full of confidence, but they refused to let us in. We were too late, said the man in wine in a wine-colored tuxedo. The house was already full, no seats left at any price. We're old friends of Debbie's. We drove all the way from LA for this show and we're goddamn well going in. The tux man began jambering jabbering about fire regulations, but my attorney refused to listen. Finally, after a lot of bad noise, he let us in for nothing, provided we would stand quietly in the back and not smoke. We promised, but the moment we got inside we lost control. The tension had been too great. Debbie Reynolds was yuck yucking across the stage in a silver silver afro wig to the tune of Sergeant Pepper from the Golden Trumpet of Harry James. Jesus creeping shit, said my attorney. We've wandered into a time capsule. Okay. That's what you wanted me to read, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:59

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

Um Well then you look next time.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

Do do do do chapter six. Oh, oops. It was in chapter six.

unknown 27:16

My bad.

SPEAKER_01 27:17

Uh chapter seven, the American Dream. They're trying to find that the attorney, Dr. Gonzo, eats the whole sheet of acid.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

And then he gets very paranoid.

SPEAKER_01 27:29

Yep. Um find the part about getting the hire without drugs, then with them. That's number eight. Gobbling LSD is in that. So, yeah, I mean, the whole thing is just filled with drugs. Um, let's just try jump to part two. Uh, I would like to well, actually, the last part of part one, he has a brush with CHP, California Highway Patrol. And I thought that was pretty funny, but I don't want to bore everybody. There's gonna be a lot to edit because there's a lot of dead time. Yeah, I don't know. The book just didn't, yeah. I mean, like I said before, it didn't really hold up to what I thought it would be back in the day. I was like, woo, but now I'm like, eh. It was fun to listen to, but I just don't know.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Okay, so again, I personally think the movie would be better than reading this.

SPEAKER_01 28:23

Yeah, because it will give you the it will give you the visuals, it will give you the audio that you need to hear instead of trying to figure it out by yourself.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

I'm usually great with my imagination too. So like when I'm reading books, so it kind of sucked.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

I couldn't few people understand the psychology of dealing with a highway traffic cop. Your normal speeder will panic and immediately pull over to the side when he sees a big red behind him, and then he'll start apologizing, begging for mercy. This is wrong. It's R Arius, Are you?

unknown 29:10

Okay, no.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

Alright. Um, okay, then part two. This app's gonna suck. I mean, I hate it because I like the book so much back in the day.

SPEAKER_00 29:25

What let's talk about how Dr. Gonzo basically abandoned what's his name, main character guy. Raoul. Or did I read that wrong?

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Yeah, wait, what?

SPEAKER_00 29:39

Didn't Dr. Gonzo abandon him? I think it to like and he left him with like the car bill and the hotel bill, and I think it was the opposite.

SPEAKER_01 29:53

I mean, like he left him, but then like he got out of it, but then he came back. I don't know. I don't know. It was yeah, it was kind of I don't know. It was confusing. Okay. Um okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:05

What stuck out to you most about this book then? What is the one thing?

SPEAKER_01 30:09

Part two. He drinks Bloody Marys for nutrition value. That's probably the most thing that stood out the most.

SPEAKER_00 30:18

I'm sorry, but the hitchhiker scene is still my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

Yeah, the beginning. I think the beginning of the book is the best. Part two is weird because then you have Lucy, and then like I don't know. Uh, one part I did like number chapter three and part two, he says drug reasoning. Because like he comes up with a crazy reason that does not make sense. Yeah. And then he says, because drug reasoning. Neat. Um, don't judge a oh, I like this. Chapter eight. Don't judge a taco by its price.

unknown 30:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:52

Don't do that.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

I'm surprised you didn't write that down.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

Oh, I was trying to get through the book. I was about to DNF it again, but then I was like, I did that last week.

SPEAKER_01 31:02

You can't take two DNFs. I know. Um, okay. Well, he towards the end, he just goes on rants about LSD and politics. Yeah. Um, what do you give it?

SPEAKER_00 31:15

I wrote this down already. 1.5. And that's me being generous.

SPEAKER_02 31:21

What about you?

SPEAKER_01 31:24

Can you tell me what I gave?

SPEAKER_00 31:28

I can. Pride and Prejudice?

SPEAKER_01 31:33

No. Can you tell me what I gave like Hunger Games and the Maze Runner? Because they were pretty similar.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

Knocking J. Hunger Games, you gave it 3.7.

unknown 31:52

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 31:53

And then my rating scale back then was a little different.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

The Maze Runner 3.6.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

3.6, jeez.

SPEAKER_00 32:01

So you gave the Hunger Games 0.1 more.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

I'd give this a 3.5. Dang. But I think it's because back then, like, I was given a little bit higher of a rating. I think now those would have been like three threes, three fours. Because this was a little bit higher, but I don't want to give this a 3-8 because now my 3-8's are a little bit different than they were, you know, episode 4.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

So you want to know what the next book is?

SPEAKER_01 32:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 32:38

So it's from my birthday book haul. It was from a blind date with a book. Oh. Murder by Cheesecake. It's uh by Rachel Extreme Courage. It's a golden girl's cozy mystery.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

Could you imagine getting murdered by a cheesecake? Sorry, keep going.

SPEAKER_00 33:00

At least I would die happy, especially if it was one of my grandma's cheesecakes. Ooh. Because I freaking love cheesecake. Okay. And you've had my grandma's cheesecake. It's like not overly sweet, but it's delicious. I feel like you've had it like once. Every time I go up there, though, I get a piece of that cheesecake. Up there to visit her.

unknown 33:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 33:25

Do you want me to read the back or do you want to?

SPEAKER_01 33:32

That's a lot, you got it.

SPEAKER_00 33:34

Okay. So a qu er it's the golden girls, like you've never seen them before. I like Betty White. Excuse me.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

Try that again then?

SPEAKER_00 33:50

I like Betty White. The Golden Girls, like you've never seen them before. Things are heating up, and it's not just one of Blanche's hot flashes. With Rose hosting her cousin's wedding in Miami, if she can't pull off if she can't pull off the traditional St. Olaf wedding customs, her hometown may never accept her cousin back again. Wanting a witty cover wanting a witty conversationalist for the sure to be strange event, Dorothy tries the newfound uh newfangled. Oh my goodness. Try to start this over. It's up to you. The golden girls, like you've never seen them before. Things are heating up, and it's not just one of Blanche's hot flashes. With Rose hosting her cousin's wedding in Miami, if she can't pull off the traditional St. Olaf wedding customs, her hometown may never accept her cousin back again. Wanting a witty conversationalist for the sure-to-be strange event, Dorothy tries this newfingled VHS dating service she's heard all about. Unfortunately, what appears to be the ideal man on tape turns out to be a jerk in real life. Set to enjoy the wedding in the company of Sophia, Blanche, and whomever Blanche targets with her feminine wows, Dorothy pitches in to help with an increasingly frantic Rose planned the events. Despite tensions between the two wedding families and certain Saint Olafian's mistrust of the big city, the opening tea is going perfectly. Not a herring out of place. That is, until Dorothy's date is found dead, faceplanted in an otherwise scrumptious Dorothy did it.

SPEAKER_01 35:45

Sorry, keep going.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

Found dead, face planted in an otherwise scrumptious looking cheesecake. Poor cheesecake. With every guest a suspect and a marriage on the line, it's up to the golden girls to sleuth out the real killer and ensure love, humor, and friendship win the day. This should be interesting.

SPEAKER_01 36:09

Yeah, I'm curious about it.

SPEAKER_00 36:11

I know. I've never heard of it. I've never heard of the author. Um I remember the Golden Girls from when I was a kid on TV, and that's it. But I do love Betty White. Well, poor Betty White, she's no longer with us. Um, but the text is very big, so I feel like it's gonna be a fast read.

SPEAKER_01 36:31

It's probably four older people, so that's probably why it's bigger text.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

Yeah, it is about 329 pages. Okay, not too bad.

SPEAKER_01 36:44

It's kinda long.

SPEAKER_00 36:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

Okay, I didn't realize they had books.

SPEAKER_00 36:50

I don't know. I think they that who the author just borrowed their likeness for this. I don't know. But it was my blind date with the book, so I didn't even know what it was. So hopefully it's good.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

I think there I could be wrong. That's why I said I think. Um I think there could be a whole series about that.

SPEAKER_00 37:12

Really?

SPEAKER_01 37:13

Yeah, the Golden Girls series.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

Why don't you look it up?

SPEAKER_01 37:20

Sorry to put my computer away. Okay. Um we'll come back next week with that info.

SPEAKER_00 37:25

Oh, this is um dedicated to the four actresses that were in the Golden Girls. So it said thank you, thank you for being a friend to so many. So I don't think this is in relation to it. I think she just took inspiration from their characters.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

Okay, well now I'm gonna look it up. You have to talk while I look it up though, so that way it's not uh dead.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

Okay. So the blurbs from other authors are nostalgic, hilarious, an absolute delight.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Yes, it's the first book in a Golden Girls Cozy Mystery series by Rachel Eckstorm. Courage. Courage. Didn't go down to the next line, sorry. So it's the first book in a series.

SPEAKER_00 38:19

So we don't need to worry about the next books, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:22

Unless we love it. Watch this be our favorite video.

SPEAKER_00 38:25

I feel like it's not gonna be based off the description, but I really hope it is because it's a murder mystery. It has a it's supposed to have humor in it, humor, and it has cheesecake in it, even though the man dies in the cheesecake. I I am very not happy about that because I would eat the cheesecake. Just saying.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

You're just sad for the cheesecake.

SPEAKER_00 38:46

Yep. But yeah, hopefully it's good. I I really hope it is. Because you liked the mystery of the Geneva Rose book. I love Geneva Rose's books. You like comedy. I can get behind some funny lines. So hopefully it's good.

unknown 39:06

We'll see.

SPEAKER_01 39:07

We'll see. Yeah. All right. Well, did you have anything else about Fear and Loathing or We'll have to watch the movie? All right. Well, subscribe, like, tell us whatever, tell us whatever else we should read.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

Please give recommendations. Spoilers.

SPEAKER_01 39:23

We yeah, we have a nice little oh, we didn't say that in the beginning. Oops.

SPEAKER_00 39:27

They should know by now. It's spoilers.

SPEAKER_01 39:29

But we have so many new people watching, so we just want to make sure.

SPEAKER_00 39:34

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 39:34

Yeah, I appreciate you guys watching.

SPEAKER_00 39:36

Sorry for this episode.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

Don't apologize.

SPEAKER_00 39:40

It wasn't that entertaining.

SPEAKER_01 39:42

Yeah, but we tried. So uh like I said, when I was young, I liked it. Now that I'm older, it's different. Um see ya.

unknown 39:54

Bye.

SPEAKER_01 39:55

Wait. We're just gonna end it how he ends it. A man on the move and just sick enough to be totally confident.

unknown 40:09

Bam.

SPEAKER_01 40:10

We already finished. I'm gonna cut it after I did that.

SPEAKER_00 40:13

You should you should end up with my bam. No, it's not more like a mic.