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Bank of America and a member FDIC. Treat,

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cure, or prevent any disease. Greetings

1:04

and salutations. You've

1:06

successfully arrived at the bloody

1:09

disgusting network. The

1:11

passage of time will now bring you to

1:13

something strange, unique, and

1:16

idiosyncratic. Have

1:18

a good time. Greetings,

1:21

constant listeners. It's Michael

1:23

Munroville-Mall-Roffman. Today we

1:25

are unlocking our most

1:27

recent installment of Firestarters,

1:29

our always controversial series

1:32

in which the losers sift through hot

1:34

takes submitted by their patrons.

1:37

Each one is classified as mild,

1:39

medium, or hot. And let's just

1:41

say you're going to need some milk

1:44

as this episode rolls on. But maybe you're Charlie

1:46

McGee and you can handle it. You'll

1:49

find out. If you've got a

1:51

hot take you'd like to submit, well,

1:53

join us in the barons at patreon.com/the

1:55

barons where you'll get a chance to

1:57

melt our minds with your Stephen King.

2:00

opinions. We also have thousands

2:02

of hours of content just waiting for

2:04

you. Something like four years worth if

2:06

we're, you know, who's counting. Not

2:09

to mention a whole discord community of constant

2:11

readers just like you and

2:13

our latest book episode on You Like

2:15

It Darker, which I'm sure you just

2:18

finished because you have to start reading

2:20

Revival if you haven't read that one

2:22

already because our book episode lands next

2:24

week. Lots of reading, lots of

2:26

Stephen King, but we wouldn't like it any other

2:28

way. Enjoy this episode and

2:30

we'll see you next week over in

2:33

the fair or should I say the church or should

2:35

I, won't spoil too much of it, but let's just

2:37

say read Revival and we'll see you next

2:39

week. Until then, long

2:42

days, pleasant nights. Greetings

3:11

constant listeners and welcome to another

3:13

episode of The Losers Club, a

3:16

Stephen King podcast. I

3:18

am your host, Jen Tooth, the

3:20

Rage Adams, and I have a

3:22

hot, hot, hot episode for you

3:24

today. I am practicing my pyrokinesis,

3:26

pissing people off and lighting the

3:28

pod on fire with a brand

3:30

new episode of Hot Takes, Fire

3:32

Starter 3, The Fire Startening, but

3:37

I'm not alone, thank goodness, because I

3:39

might not emerge from this episode

3:42

unscathed. Ashley, say hello

3:44

and tell us your favorite non-king

3:46

hot take. Hi, hello. This

3:48

is Ashley, flaming hot

3:51

Cheetos, Cassidy, and my,

3:53

so I don't know if it's a favorite,

3:55

but it's definitely a hot take I have.

3:57

I think that you should...

4:00

have to be over 18 to have

4:02

a social media account. Oh,

4:04

you know, I have an

4:06

11 year old who we just got a phone

4:08

for safety reasons and I agree with

4:11

you. It is poison for

4:13

our brains. Yeah, and

4:15

I just managed to survive my

4:17

teens without one and can you

4:19

God. Oh my God.

4:21

Yeah, I would. Can you imagine? Yeah, I

4:23

would never recover. No, shit. I

4:26

did. Nobody knows about so

4:28

it didn't happen. Well, not to like I

4:30

was thinking more like a social like point

4:32

of view like seeing all your friends partying

4:34

without you. Oh, yeah, that would have been the

4:36

mean or like your two best friends become best

4:38

friends. You have to watch it. But

4:40

also no one needs to know what

4:43

I thought at 13. No,

4:45

no, no, no one. No,

4:47

my early foray into my space and that was

4:49

in my 20s was

4:51

bad enough. Well,

4:54

Dan, say hello and tell us your

4:57

favorite non-king hot take. Hi, this

4:59

is Dan the bomb beyond insanity flea.

5:03

Shout out to Sean Evans. Yes, love

5:05

that show. Great, great interview

5:07

show. We can only hope to live in his shadow.

5:09

We can. I guess my hot

5:11

take is that Batman should have killed the Joker. Oh,

5:14

it's I understand the dichotomy between the good and

5:17

evil. But think of how many innocent people would

5:19

have still been alive and he just killed the

5:21

Joker at the very start. But

5:23

he can't kill people, Dan. I

5:25

know because he's mentally a 12 year old boy

5:27

who also should not be on social media. Exactly.

5:31

Think of all the heartache if we just put up one bullet in

5:33

the Joker's head. Exactly. Yeah.

5:37

Did y'all see at the Oscars though that

5:39

Mr. Freeze penguin reunion? Oh, did I? I

5:43

was like tearing up elated. Oh, my

5:45

God. It was. I love

5:47

seeing Arnold give the prize for a gazula. I

5:49

know. Like a

5:51

good neighbor. I could not love

5:53

two older men more. I

5:55

love them. That was really funny. Aren't

5:57

we getting a twin sequel? So

6:00

I was going to get triplets with Eddie Murphy

6:02

was the original proposition back in the day, but

6:05

I think it kind of fell through. But who

6:07

knows? Well, hey, I'll watch it.

6:09

You know, I'll be there. Will

6:11

you just heard her voice? Julia, say hello

6:13

and tell us your favorite non-king hot take.

6:16

Hello, this is Julia. There's a

6:19

motorcycle ready going by my window

6:21

Marquesi. This is my sexy. Hello.

6:25

My hot take is the

6:27

best pizza is actually Korean

6:29

pizza. So there is a

6:31

pizza parlor in L.A. It

6:34

was called Mr. Pizza Factory. They're

6:36

starting Korea and it was a feminist

6:38

pizza parlor. Love for Women was their

6:40

slogan. And they have

6:42

these pizza combinations that sound insane.

6:45

And I'm going to read them to you because this is

6:47

what you have. You have this is the golden potato pizza.

6:50

Ground beef, corn, onion, potato

6:52

wedges, bacon, sour cream, tomato

6:54

sauce, mozzarella cheese, mushrooms and

6:56

gold crust. And the gold

6:59

crust has like cheese caramelized

7:01

on the outside and then their sweet

7:03

potato mousse on the inside of

7:05

the crust. It's outstanding.

7:08

I don't

7:10

know why it's not enormous. And

7:12

there's also they have one that has

7:14

like broccoli mousse inside. They have a

7:16

hash bound crust. They just go ham

7:18

and it's delicious. You had me at

7:20

hash browns. Yeah, you

7:23

had me at potato wedges and corn on the

7:25

pizza. I was like, what? I did

7:27

think you said porn at first though. Porn

7:29

on pizza. Porn on pizza. I mean, that's

7:31

what the world wants. Let's be honest. Exactly.

7:35

That's what the liberals want. Put them together.

7:37

I used to do bingo and porn where they would

7:39

have pizza at this bar in Wicker Park. They would

7:41

just play porn in the background. You played bingo and

7:43

have pizza. It was fun. Very

7:45

cool. Well,

7:49

I have a ton of dumb hot

7:51

takes. But since Julia, since you

7:53

brought up a food related one, my

7:55

food related hot take is that chili

7:58

dogs are so disgusting. I

10:00

also want to say as we go in,

10:02

we're doing this in the spirit of fun.

10:04

We may get a little singed. We may

10:06

have some fiery words, but we love each

10:08

and every one of our patrons and

10:11

respect your opinions. See, I can't even

10:13

say it. And respect your opinions even

10:15

if they are completely wrong. Except

10:17

for that one patron. And you know

10:20

who you are. Nope, we're kidding.

10:22

We love you. All right, so without further, oh, I'm

10:24

sorry. I forgot to say, you

10:26

know what? It's hot takes. We're doing whatever we want.

10:29

So I've gone through our list and I've

10:31

sorted these into four different levels of hotness.

10:34

We can rate them on a scale of

10:36

one to five Charlie McGee's if we're feeling

10:38

it. But my overall podcasting hot take is

10:40

that like Burt Simpson, we do whatever we

10:42

feel. And we also

10:44

will have a few Mike Hanlon style

10:47

interludes in which we unleash our own

10:49

hot takes on the unsuspecting world. So

10:52

without further ado, our first

10:54

category is Lisa Frankenstein's pink

10:56

tanning bed. These are our

10:58

hot takes, not the hottest, but you know,

11:00

cold girls is pretty hard. Yeah, they're just

11:02

a little warm. They warm your heart, you

11:04

know? And Julia,

11:07

you have our first hot take. Okay,

11:10

hello, this is coming from Steve

11:12

Ringman. He writes, Steven King

11:14

should write period pieces set in the 1950s through

11:16

the 1980s, rather

11:19

than setting stories in the present day. While

11:21

Holly proves he hasn't lost his fastball when

11:24

it comes to characters and emotion, the way

11:26

he writes about technology and social media is

11:28

awkward. And when he writes

11:30

present day kids and teenagers, the dialogue

11:32

and especially the slang reads like a

11:34

septuagenarian trying to capture how kids talk

11:36

now and largely falling short. I

11:38

think he'll always be able to accurately capture the

11:41

emotional experience of young people, but he noticeably struggles

11:43

with things that are specific to the 2020s. I

11:46

kind of agree. I mean, I

11:48

know that there's a bit of a nostalgia for like

11:50

that that's the version of King that I want in

11:53

my brain, but if somebody else wants it too, I'm

11:55

not alone, I kind

11:57

of agree. I don't

11:59

disagree. give

38:00

us a little maybe it just just say it's part

38:02

of the you know

38:04

I'm just I just want to give

38:06

us something you know I've been waiting

38:08

more dark

38:11

tower please when

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everyone fuel restriction supply well dark tower

38:43

is gonna come up in a little

38:45

bit Ashley will you we've got one

38:47

more Tommy knockers related take

38:50

would you mind absolutely Ari Finkel

38:53

wrote in and said Kings

38:55

writing about aliens Tommy

38:57

knockers dreamcatcher I am the door way

38:59

is some of his most

39:02

interesting writing these books are

39:04

largely disliked by many King readers

39:06

but I feel like when he

39:08

addresses issues like addiction isolation and

39:10

obsession in the context of aliens

39:12

he's able to cut to the

39:14

heart of some heavy and painful

39:16

issues with human nature I

39:18

also like how truly angry King allowed

39:20

those books to be I think

39:23

it helped him avoid some of

39:25

the sappiness that would otherwise maybe

39:27

soften the blow when it comes

39:29

to the disturbing revelations experienced by

39:31

the characters that's

39:34

deep interesting that's deep I like it I

39:37

don't think I am the doorway is one that most

39:39

people don't like though like I think that's a fairly

39:42

liked story you

39:45

know I feel like the hand and the eyeballs

39:47

you know yeah Tommy knockers is a far better

39:49

book of dreamcatcher we can all agree there I

39:51

would agree well the thing is I read dreamcatcher

39:53

when I was 14 and that

39:55

was my favorite fucking thing that's ever

39:57

happened and I haven't reread it So

39:59

like I don't understand, like I'm too

40:01

scared to reread it because everyone's like

40:03

it's so bad. And I'm like, what?

40:05

Because I'm out of your team. What

40:07

did you love about it? Fucking

40:10

aliens, butt slugs. Uh.

40:13

You can't have shimmy boobs. Military. You can't say

40:16

that. You can't be the name of the monster.

40:18

I love that. I'm sorry. No,

40:20

I was so in. I was in eighth

40:22

grade. I was in. No. Oh,

40:25

I'm just not really scared by aliens. So

40:27

like those books don't always

40:30

grab me. You know, that's fair. But

40:32

I don't disagree. I'm

40:34

a big sci-fi fan, but I like the alien

40:37

worlds like fully fleshed out. So just like random

40:39

encounters don't really scare me either. Like

40:41

I loved X-Files growing up, but I always

40:43

got frustrated because they weren't answering enough questions

40:46

about aliens. And

40:49

I would also say, yeah, Tommy Knockers Dreamcatcher, not

40:51

the top of my list for King novels. He's

40:54

great at fantasy and everything and some sci-fi. But

40:56

I aliens, he doesn't quite

40:58

capture for me more so monsters. Yeah,

41:01

I feel like it's not aliens. That's

41:03

the problem for me for these books.

41:05

It's the characters besides Jim Gardner and

41:07

Tommy Knockers, you know, and

41:09

Jack Sawyer's little cameo. There really isn't

41:12

any of those characters that I really like in any

41:14

of those books. And I'm like, I said, it's more

41:16

of that where if it was if

41:18

it doesn't really matter what the plot is, you're

41:20

just not giving me the characters I want because

41:22

the friend group in Dreamcatcher, I never feel gels

41:24

like it's supposed to. It never feels like a

41:26

losers club or anything. And you're like, I don't

41:28

get it. I don't feel it. Counterpoint,

41:31

they're all smoking hot. Smoking hot. That's

41:33

what I'm supposed to do. That's a

41:35

Julia counterpoint is what that is. Yeah,

41:38

we got Thomas Jane, we got Timothy Oliphant,

41:41

we got Damien Lewis and we have... Jason

41:43

Lee. Jason Lee. Wow, we're doing

41:45

a throw. Oh, yeah, I would spend a

41:47

weekend with them. It's

41:49

no weekend. I'm sorry, yeah.

41:51

Hey, this is a hot taste. I'll be there, butt

41:53

slug. It's pretty hot. I

41:56

mean, I wasn't gonna say it, but thank you,

41:58

Ashley. You're welcome. Me too. All

42:01

right. Well, let's see. Julia, speaking of books

42:03

at the top of lists, will you take

42:05

our next one? David Baker

42:07

says, under the dome and from a

42:09

Buick eight are top five Stephen King

42:12

novels under the dome being number one.

42:14

Okay. So I don't know. I don't

42:16

know if there's a way to say

42:18

any Stephen King book being number one

42:20

is necessarily a hot take because everybody

42:22

has their preference on what they like.

42:24

And I think it's fascinating because for

42:27

instance, mine, my lowest

42:29

number, bottom, bottom one for me is the

42:31

regulators, but I've met people who love the regulators. And

42:33

I'm like, or dream catcher, right? That's real on the bottom

42:35

for me. And I'm like, I love that I meet people

42:38

who love it from a Buick eight

42:40

for me. I would like to reread, but it, I

42:42

was very frustrated because it kept giving me

42:44

glimpses into a world that I never got

42:46

to see that I might just show me

42:48

that I would prefer to see that than

42:50

to have the storytelling element, although I enjoy

42:53

it. So reading that one again,

42:55

I do like there. It's like slightly dark tower

42:57

adjacent adjacent under the domes, undeniably brilliant.

42:59

It's just not a number one for me personally,

43:01

but I think it's a great book. Yeah. I

43:03

would have no problem with someone telling me that

43:06

their favorite Stephen King novel was under the dome.

43:09

Yeah. I'd be like, I get it. Yeah.

43:12

And the only reason that I had this in

43:14

our kind of second hotness

43:16

tier is just that top

43:19

and number one. Because when I think about my

43:21

favorite books are they are not those,

43:24

you know, and I do love under the dome.

43:26

I didn't like it that much the first time I read it,

43:29

but from a Buick eight is down near

43:31

the bottom for me. And I feel like

43:34

I was not in a place to, for

43:36

it to be what it was. I wanted

43:38

a sentient car that kills people and that's

43:41

not what it is. And I haven't reread

43:43

it since then. So I, and

43:45

I keep meaning to, I keep meaning to reread

43:47

that in the dead zone because I know they're

43:50

so beloved. I know Mike specifically loves both of

43:52

them and I haven't got a chance to. I

43:54

read like a fourth of, uh, from

43:57

a Buick eight when you guys were

43:59

doing the coverage because I wanted to listen to

44:01

the episode. I was like, I've never read that one. I

44:03

didn't. That's as far as I got. It

44:06

was sort of like you were saying Julia where it was like every

44:11

time they got close to it, I

44:13

got excited and then something would happen

44:15

in the gas station or whatever. They

44:18

would go back to talking about that. I'm like, no, no, no, no.

44:20

Go back to the lightning in the garage, in the car. You

44:23

know what I mean? That's not

44:25

one of my favorites, but I can't say that. I

44:27

haven't finished it. When you know

44:29

that's what I thought about the Colorado kid the first time I read it.

44:32

Then the second time I was like, oh, it's not

44:34

about that guy. It's about a lot of

44:36

other things. I just need to read it again. Yeah.

44:39

I think doing so much of the coverage for Under the Dome, I

44:41

think I said in that episode, but I think that

44:43

book marks the beginning of King's modern era. He's

44:48

going from that into like 1122 and

44:50

it's almost like he's revitalized. It would

44:52

almost be like the fourth whatever,

44:55

eon, epic, epoch of King's writing.

44:57

I do actually think Under the

44:59

Dome is a very good book.

45:02

Buick 8, I actually enjoy because I do

45:04

like the creatures a lot

45:07

in that book. It's

45:09

weird. It almost feels unfinished to me

45:11

at times from a Buick 8, but

45:13

I did really like seeing the

45:16

weird pterodactyl creatures and whatnot. I

45:19

almost feel like I could smell them just by reading that book. That's

45:22

part of what I like about regulators

45:24

is those weird creatures like the crayon

45:26

coyote guys. You can't. You

45:29

can't. I can't. I can't. Hey,

45:32

the heart wants what it wants. Well

45:35

Dan, will you read our next one? Sure.

45:38

This is from Brandon Moore. He says, Susan

45:40

Delgado is an underwritten character, too defined

45:42

by the men in her life. Even

45:45

her relationships with her aunt Cordelia largely focus

45:47

on the friction resulting from Susan's agreement with

45:50

Thorin. We're giving no sense

45:52

of her other relationships or functions within

45:54

Meiji. I'm never sure how to say that

45:56

out loud. death

46:00

really only serves to flesh out Roland's character.

46:03

I agree with elements of this question. I

46:06

do think, I mean, the very first person

46:08

she interacts with is Rhea the Coos, a

46:11

female character who kind of puts her in a...

46:13

I think it's more the adults define her less

46:15

so than the men, but I

46:17

also think that when you're a 16 year old in

46:19

a farming community who's like betrothed, I think

46:22

that's sort of the whole thing is you don't

46:24

have a lot of agency and it's actually not

46:26

until she interacts with Roland who's two years

46:28

younger that she kind of

46:30

becomes the mature person and she becomes

46:32

a little more sophisticated and suddenly this

46:34

gunslinger becomes kind of a fumbling, bumbling,

46:37

you know, horny boy. I

46:41

think she is sort of a plot device

46:43

but I really do like her and I

46:45

just don't know how much we could have

46:47

gotten into her with all that

46:49

else is happening. I would love to find out

46:51

more and the comics actually I think flesh out

46:53

a little bit more but I

46:56

think it's more so just like her being a child not

46:58

necessarily the men defining her but just the adults in her

47:00

life and the customs and traditions of

47:02

the society. Julia

47:04

you're a big towerhead too. I

47:07

am. I've never really

47:09

thought about it before but I think so. I feel

47:11

like there is I do want more from her character

47:13

and it doesn't need to I think you know just

47:15

give me kind of one big

47:17

scene by herself I think would be

47:20

enough. I like the little moments

47:22

because we really get any moments with her alone

47:24

and I think really only when she's going up

47:26

to meet the witch in the very beginning and

47:28

she's singing and I'm like that's such a nice

47:30

moment that you have this time alone

47:33

with it that she's the kind of girl when she's

47:35

walking to the woods and she's gonna make her feel

47:37

so feel better by singing and I feel like you

47:39

get those little tiny character moments like that that I

47:41

really enjoy but I feel like we don't get enough

47:43

of them but I feel this

47:46

is also Roland's version of her

47:48

story so it is going to be focused on

47:50

the way he's seen it and I feel like

47:52

I understand that but I would do that I

47:54

could use a little more Susan I think she's

47:56

a cool character. Ashley

47:58

have you read this one? Oh.

48:02

I haven't read the Dark Tower series because

48:04

I don't like fantasy and I feel awful

48:06

about it every time we talk about the

48:09

Dark Tower that I can't say

48:11

anything. I haven't even seen the bad movie

48:13

that I hear is bad. Oh, I haven't

48:15

seen that movie either. It does have Frank

48:17

Kranz in it, which is a plus.

48:19

And I keep... I swear

48:21

to you, I am going to... Oh, wait,

48:24

no. There is no Dark

48:26

Tower television show, right? There's

48:29

a pilot. Yes, Mike Flanagan is working on it. And

48:31

yes, there is a pilot. And there's a pilot. Mike

48:33

Flanagan's doing it now. Okay, so you know what? Hypothetically.

48:37

Maybe I'll watch that. Listen. Yeah.

48:40

I'm going to repeat. I mean, book four, the one

48:42

that the question kind of addresses my favorite in the

48:44

series and it opens with a witch sticking her finger

48:46

up a girl's butt. So it's like women helping women.

48:48

I mean, that's amazing. It's a feminist story. That's

48:50

exactly what it is, you know? It's kind of

48:52

a feminist text if you really think. It is

48:54

a feminist text. I mean, Ashley, if you want

48:56

to know how much I love it, I wear

48:58

the symbol from it. The cross symbol around my

49:00

neck every single day. I love that. All the

49:02

time. I live with it. Like it's I am

49:05

obsessed. So that's how I feel. I would be there beside

49:07

you. Hold your hand. Like everyone that has read

49:09

it, I feel that way. So

49:11

I'm like what something in my life is

49:14

missing. Oh, except for Jen. Okay.

49:17

Well, then I don't feel that bad. No,

49:19

no, I yeah, I appreciate it as a

49:21

great work of fiction. It's just not my

49:23

personal jam because I am

49:25

not a big fantasy head. Although I will

49:27

say I said the same thing about Dune

49:29

and I'm now reading the book and really,

49:31

really digging it. Hell yeah. I think I

49:33

just. You're digging the book? Yes, I'm loving

49:35

it. I think I need a visual connection. It's hard.

49:38

It was really hard for me to follow the story. That

49:40

actually makes a lot of sense. I'm the same

49:43

way. Like fantasy to me. I

49:48

think I get so lost when

49:51

there's so when there's a

49:54

made up language, when there's a language

49:56

that you've created for a world and

49:58

like a language like. words

50:01

that you've made up for some reason,

50:04

I just get lost and I can't enjoy it.

50:06

I need like, I need like my notes to

50:08

be like, this is who these people are. There's

50:10

an appendix at the back of doom that will

50:12

tell you every single word. I

50:15

disagree with Ashley's take that you need to

50:17

speak English in America. I don't, I think

50:19

foreign language has had something. Speak American

50:22

in America. Yeah, but I would say, obviously

50:24

like I'm pretty biased. I hope it's a

50:26

spin off just on Dark Tower, but it's

50:29

not just fantasy. It's like Western, there's like

50:32

historical context. There's a lot of sci-fi. It

50:34

goes off into these. It's my second

50:36

least favorite shot. Okay, hear me out

50:38

here, Ashley. I

50:40

didn't really like Westerns before I read the

50:43

Dark Tower because I didn't understand them. I

50:45

didn't understand the stoic dark man who's coming

50:47

to town and he's silent and hates everybody

50:49

kills me, but I don't get it. After

50:51

reading this, I'm like, oh, I understand that

50:53

archetype now. And now I can look

50:56

at the Westerns through the Dark Tower lens. I read

50:58

the Dark Tower. I can watch movies

51:00

with my dad. Well, that's

51:02

okay. I can watch Westerns now with my

51:04

dad. Go have a catch with him after too. So

51:06

most Westerns I think are boring because they're formulaic, but

51:09

there's really good ones. Like Once Upon a Time in

51:11

the West, which is like one of my all time

51:13

favorite movies. So it's amongst the

51:15

crap heaps, certain ones emerge. Like I wouldn't just

51:17

put on like a John Wayne movie, but

51:20

like Sergio Leone, like, you know, the

51:22

Fistful of Dollars, like Good to

51:24

Bad and the Ugly. These are like works of art. And

51:27

I feel like leans more toward those than

51:29

just the, you know, shoot them

51:31

at the okay corral kind of thing. And

51:34

I feel like I wouldn't have watched it. I haven't seen

51:36

those movies that I'm looking forward to watching them through that

51:38

lens, through the Roland lens, because I know where they come

51:40

from. And then I go, that makes sense to me now

51:42

if I pretend he's Roland. So the Stephen King has opened

51:44

the Western door for me. Thank you, Stephen. Thanks, Stephen. Well,

51:47

Ashley, since you have not read this book, I'm

51:50

going to assume that you agree with my take

51:52

on this take, which is that I kind of

51:54

agree. I don't remember a whole lot about Susan,

51:56

but she reminds me a lot of Susan Norton

51:59

in. in Salem's

52:02

Lot, which yeah, she just kind of feels

52:04

like, I don't know if I

52:06

would call her a plot device, but I do

52:08

think that she could do a lot more, you

52:10

know? Yeah, just give us one meaty scene of

52:12

like, more them, right? And then we're good to

52:14

go. Exactly, yeah. Hey, maybe

52:16

there's a short story where they meet

52:18

up, you know, it's how, hey. The

52:21

Susans. It's happened before with those books,

52:23

so. It's true. Well, not necessarily those

52:25

books, but those worlds. All right, let's

52:27

do our next hot take, loser interlude.

52:30

Anyone care to venture a hot take? I'll

52:33

do one. Go for it, Dan. I

52:36

think more Stephen King books need to take

52:38

place in California. What? Yeah.

52:41

Which, why? I like

52:44

getting outside of Maine. I love Maine,

52:46

but I think I was trying to

52:48

make a list of like what actually happens in

52:50

California. I think Abt Pupil, there's a scene in

52:52

the Talisman. I think the Dead Zone. The

52:54

stand has some scenes there. In

52:57

It, I think Richie is there. Lives

52:59

in the place. Yeah, I just, I

53:01

think California is such a good, rich

53:03

source for storytelling. And with

53:06

King's involvement in Hollywood, I know he's an

53:08

East Coast guy, especially like a Northeastern guy.

53:11

But he's, you know, I'm sure King partied hard

53:13

in the 70s in California. You know what I

53:15

mean? Like he was probably at Hollywood parties, you

53:18

know, behind the curtain, doing all sorts

53:20

of stuff. The parties I dream of. Yeah, those are

53:22

the coolest ones. Yeah, if he did

53:24

like a once upon a time

53:27

in Hollywood type, like alternate reality,

53:29

alternate history, sort of story.

53:32

It would just be, I just think it would be something

53:34

different and it's something that I would love to hear. Again,

53:36

I don't mind that most of the characters are writers or

53:38

that takes place in Maine, but

53:40

I would love to see him do as an actor

53:42

in California or something else, just something showbiz. I

53:45

just think that would be a really fun exploration for him. Yeah.

53:49

I would like to see it once, but not more

53:51

than once, I feel like because I, what

53:53

I love about him, because everything's set in LA,

53:55

right? And then this is coming from someone who

53:58

lives here for that reason, but you, The

54:00

thing that always made Stephen King unique to me was

54:02

that he was in Maine and growing up

54:04

Maine sounded magical to me. All of these

54:07

places in Pownell and Bangor and Lewis and

54:09

so they were like this other world and

54:11

going to Maine, it is another world of

54:13

loveliness. It's gorgeous. The people are

54:16

delightful. It's like so incredibly wonderful. I

54:18

think setting it in that world because people

54:20

go to Maine specifically for Stephen King. So

54:23

he's actually kind of made the state a

54:26

place in his novels amazing.

54:29

But he could do the same thing for Bakersfield the

54:31

way New Mexico did. You

54:33

know what we could do is Stephen

54:35

should do a new short

54:37

story collection called the 50 States.

54:41

Oh, it's 50

54:43

stories. Oh, I shudder to see what he

54:45

would write about Tennessee. I would love that.

54:47

I got to know what he feels about

54:49

Illinois. It's

54:52

pronounced Illinois. But

54:55

I think also because I'm from the Northeast originally, but

54:57

I also lived in Florida a lot. So

54:59

he covers that. He covers most of

55:01

the Eastern seaboard. It's just for

55:03

me, it's like the it's the I have family on the

55:05

West Coast. But even like, you know, San Francisco, there's a

55:08

lot of other parts of just California such a rich, diverse

55:11

environment. It's great for cults too. Yeah.

55:15

And we got some Nevada action going on, right?

55:17

We got the sand desperation. Yeah. Dictorsville.

55:21

We got all kinds of stuff. I think I

55:23

do also love the main thing because

55:26

I think my favorite King is folksy

55:28

King, you know, other than like super

55:30

terrifying and making me cry King. And

55:33

like I remember I was listening to y'all's ups

55:35

all tangents, what kind of words have made our

55:37

its way into our vocabulary. And it's all those

55:40

folksy things that he says like when Hector was

55:42

a pup. I've actually put that in an email

55:44

before. And it's straight out

55:46

of one of his short stories. So that that

55:48

would be my only I worry that his characters

55:50

would say like, bro, do you much

55:53

in like, hang 10 like if he wrote

55:55

about people really do say that. Sorry, guys. Do

55:58

they? Yeah. But, um,

56:02

all right, let's move on to our next

56:04

hot take category. We're getting

56:06

close to the hottest of the hot. So

56:08

of course this category is called Alexander Skarsgard

56:10

in any role because that is

56:12

the hottest of the hot. Um,

56:15

all right, Dan Skarsgard in

56:17

all the roles in all the,

56:19

Hey, you know what? I would not kick Stellan Skarsgard

56:21

out of bed. Hart Conan. Oh

56:24

yeah. The amount of times I have

56:26

watched Chernobyl just like in the last

56:28

two weeks. Like I, you have to

56:30

stop watching Chernobyl. Jen, this is

56:32

a problem. Yeah. That's what I'm talking about. You've

56:34

watched Chernobyl so many times. Oh, like probably

56:36

six or seven times. I love it so

56:38

much. It's the most devastating TV show like

56:40

of all time. And you're like, it's my

56:42

comfort show. But they're working together to

56:45

solve a problem. It's

56:48

so good. I, it's got one of those final

56:50

destination moments where they're like, this crazy thing is

56:52

about to happen. And then it happens or it's

56:54

about to happen. And then they stop it. Yeah.

56:57

It's, I love it so much. And it's

56:59

got a Skarsgard in it, you know, Anna Jared. It is.

57:01

So Dan

57:04

kick us off with this one. I specifically chose this

57:06

one for you. I'm curious to hear what you think.

57:09

Despite me. Cole Meyer says

57:11

the Gunslinger is King's most boring book

57:13

and would be nothing but an afterthought,

57:15

if not a part of a larger

57:17

series. I

57:19

would say within the Dark Tower series,

57:22

Gunslinger is not my favorite, but I almost

57:24

think of it as like a prelude or

57:26

something. It's there. It's like 200 pages. There's

57:29

not a whole lot. It really just kind

57:31

of sets the world a little bit. But

57:34

then book two within 10 pages, there's something

57:36

that happens that I won't spoil here that

57:38

just blew my mind. So I

57:40

wasn't hooked when I read the Gunslinger originally. Caffrey

57:42

got it for me for Christmas back way in

57:44

the day. But then once I

57:47

read book two, it kind of recontextualized the

57:49

first book for me. So I can see like someone reading it and being

57:52

like, oh, I'm not into this world. But it

57:54

is. It's very different writing style and subject matter,

57:56

I think, than the rest of the series. It

57:58

really is just kind of. setting the pieces.

58:01

But it doesn't really get good. And then book two,

58:03

three, four, five, I think is like one of his

58:05

strongest runs ever. Book two is

58:07

my favorite of the series. I was could not

58:10

believe how much I loved that book. But I

58:12

kind of agree with this one. But it's very

58:14

lyrical. It's almost like poetry in a lot of

58:16

ways from what I remember, I had to listen

58:18

to it twice to know what was happening. So

58:21

you get the Beatles on the jukebox

58:23

and the old time. That's true. We can't be

58:25

mad about that. But no, I think I

58:28

agree with Dan. I think that you know, it's

58:30

it's very different

58:32

from and I and I the first time

58:34

I read it, I was like, Oh, okay, this is kind of not what

58:36

I was expecting. And then drawing of the

58:38

three like blew my mind in a way that I

58:40

had not had my mind blown by book in a

58:43

very, very long time. And so I

58:45

feel like then on the second reading

58:47

it again, on the second go round, and

58:49

then I loved it. And I was like,

58:51

ah, okay, cause a wheel, everything comes back

58:53

together. And it then it becomes

58:57

once you read the series and you start to read the guns

58:59

again, it becomes a completely different book and it's magical. Yeah.

59:02

And I will I did just kind of give

59:04

the dark tower a hard time. Because there are

59:06

long stretches that I don't enjoy. But there are

59:09

some really, really great moments. And I love the

59:11

ending. I love book to had a really fun

59:13

time with Wolves of the Kala too. Well, okay,

59:15

so both of where would you rank this? Would

59:17

you rank it on the top half or the

59:19

bottom half of the dark tower? Bottom

59:23

half? I would put bottom half middle toward

59:25

bottom. How many dark tower are there? There's

59:27

seven total. There's seven plus

59:29

the wind through the keyhole, which is

59:31

yes. Yeah.

59:34

Which speaking of Julia, will you take our

59:36

next hot take please? Yes. From Michael Luftenberger

59:38

says women through the keyhole is one of

59:40

the top three dark tower books. The world

59:43

building and storytelling is so good, you don't

59:45

even miss the cotet when they're not around.

59:48

I don't agree with this. I

59:51

would prefer that there was much more cotet. You

59:53

know, it's one of those things that we're talking

59:55

about. Like when you say, okay, there's there's seven

59:57

dark tower books, and now we've written a new

59:59

one. And what my brain comes up with and

1:00:01

what the book is are not the

1:00:04

same thing. And this is my fault. This is

1:00:06

my expectations, not his. And I like the book,

1:00:08

but is it, if you could ask me like,

1:00:10

if you get anything to have an adjacent Dark

1:00:12

Tower novel come back in, this would not be

1:00:15

it. Dan,

1:00:17

what do you think? Dan Scharf-Walden So I just did

1:00:19

this episode with Caffery and Randall last week. I

1:00:22

think I gave it four and a half bright

1:00:24

red Pennywise cloud noses, and I'm a very harsh

1:00:26

raider. I really

1:00:29

like this story. It's kind of a story within a

1:00:31

story within a story, almost like those

1:00:33

Russian, you know, like nesting dolls. And

1:00:35

I was just so happy, I think, to go back

1:00:37

to the Dark Tower universe. And I,

1:00:40

I think it was mentioned earlier, like,

1:00:42

I don't think that's the end of it. I think

1:00:44

he's going to keep going back because we know that

1:00:46

he's so prolific. But I think I would

1:00:48

rank this not as my top three, but maybe

1:00:50

like fifth out

1:00:52

of eight. It's about

1:00:54

middle. Dan Scharf-Walden Yeah, and it's about the same

1:00:57

page length as the Gunslinger too. So it's like

1:00:59

a very quick read. And it,

1:01:01

it kind of reminds me of like some of the comics I've read

1:01:03

where yeah, it doesn't have a whole lot to do with the cotet,

1:01:05

but you get to see a lot of Roland's, you

1:01:08

know, like childhood adventures with a

1:01:11

different member of the cotet Jamie, which is fun.

1:01:13

Caffery Stump I have

1:01:15

read this, I swear I have read this, but

1:01:18

if you put, if you put a Gunslinger to my head,

1:01:20

I don't know if I can tell you what the story

1:01:22

is. Like, I don't remember. I looked at

1:01:24

every page. I read every word with my eyes, but

1:01:26

I think my brain was drifting. I should have a

1:01:28

hard time locking into these stories. So I don't know

1:01:31

if I can be a fair judge of this. I

1:01:33

will say I was not excited to go back to

1:01:35

this world. I was like, well, it's next on my

1:01:37

list. Dan Scharf-Walden Forgot in the face of your father. Caffery

1:01:39

Stump I have. Dan Scharf-Walden Yeah, I know. Dan

1:01:41

Scharf-Walden Just fall into Farson. Caffery Stump

1:01:44

We have more than enough enthusiasm to make

1:01:46

up for it. Dan Scharf-Walden Yeah, Julie's writing that

1:01:48

pendant and I'm constantly walking around spinning six shooters

1:01:50

on my hands. Caffery Stump Just

1:01:52

loading them in the air. Dan Scharf-Walden

1:01:55

I assumed it's not loaded. Caffery Stump Did

1:01:57

you pick Idris Elba style? Caffery Stump I do think

1:01:59

like... Like that trailer was really cool.

1:02:01

The first of the movie with Frank Kranz, the

1:02:04

one that stars him in that sweater. I

1:02:06

did really enjoy that trailer. I haven't seen the movie yet. All

1:02:09

right. Well, let's do our next

1:02:11

one. This is Jonathan Anger. He

1:02:14

says, I have read Horns, Nosferatu,

1:02:16

the Fireman, Sleeping Beauties, and approximately

1:02:18

40% of the Curator. And

1:02:21

while I genuinely feel awful for saying

1:02:24

this, I sincerely believe that neither Joe

1:02:26

Hill nor Owen King would have any

1:02:28

sort of literary career without being the

1:02:30

offspring of one of the greatest selling

1:02:32

authors of all time. Ouch.

1:02:35

Ouch. Yeah. Hey,

1:02:38

that's why it's in our Alexander's Cards category.

1:02:40

It's a hot take. I agree. To

1:02:45

a certain extent, I think Joe Hill's short

1:02:47

stories, 20th Century Ghosts is one

1:02:49

of the best collections. Pop art is one

1:02:52

of my favorite, it is my favorite non-King

1:02:54

short story of all time. It is so

1:02:56

good. So I think Joe Hill would have

1:02:58

a career. That said, I didn't love Heart

1:03:00

Shaped Box. There's a kind of edgelordy dude

1:03:03

vibe to it that I didn't enjoy. I

1:03:06

have not read, well, I

1:03:08

have read Sleeping Beauties and I did not like

1:03:10

it. So yeah,

1:03:12

I mean, I don't know if I've read enough to

1:03:14

say it, but I kind of agree. What

1:03:17

do you all think? I remember not

1:03:19

loving Heart Shaped Box, but it scared

1:03:21

the pants off me.

1:03:23

There were two scenes in Heart Shaped

1:03:25

Box that literally like I

1:03:28

put the book down because I was like, what?

1:03:31

I loved horns. It is a good story, I

1:03:33

think. Yeah, it is. I loved horns too. I

1:03:35

loved horns and I loved Nosferatu. I

1:03:39

thought they were super

1:03:41

original stories and it's

1:03:43

not something I've been able to find in too

1:03:46

many other horror authors. So

1:03:48

Joe Hill is

1:03:51

the one I disagree with. I actually haven't read any

1:03:54

Owen King, so I can't comment on

1:03:56

that, but I really like Joe Hill. That

1:03:58

being said, I haven't read anything. since Nosferatu. So

1:04:00

how much do I love him? Yeah,

1:04:04

true. Yeah. Is he drawing you back? Yeah. And I,

1:04:06

you know, Sleeping Beauty is the only one I've read

1:04:08

too, which is not a full Owen King book.

1:04:11

So have either of y'all read any

1:04:13

of this? I've read Locke and Key

1:04:15

and that's about it. Um,

1:04:17

but yeah, I just haven't read enough to really

1:04:20

weigh in intelligently. I mean, clearly there's an epo

1:04:22

baby element to it. Yeah. But

1:04:24

from what I've seen, it's like they do have

1:04:27

some talent. Um, but

1:04:29

yeah, I mean, it's a lot easier to get your foot

1:04:31

in the door when your dad's one of the most famous

1:04:33

authors. But again, I,

1:04:35

to be fair, when I read,

1:04:37

I read horns and, um, heart

1:04:41

shaped box. I didn't know Joe Hill was Stephen

1:04:43

King's son. Uh, really? I

1:04:45

worked at Barnes and Noble at the time and

1:04:47

I would just grab anything that was like horror

1:04:50

related, horror, adjacent, anything that like caught my eye.

1:04:52

If I read the, you know, the back or

1:04:54

someone was buying something and I thought it looked

1:04:56

cool. I would just take it home. I read

1:04:58

so much when I worked at Barnes and Noble

1:05:00

and I don't even remember half the stuff I

1:05:03

read. So I actually didn't know. I don't, nowadays

1:05:06

I'm a lot more, um, on the up and up

1:05:08

with like who's who, but back then I didn't give

1:05:10

a shit. And so I didn't know and

1:05:12

I was a huge fan. And then when I found out,

1:05:14

I was like, well, that makes sense. Yeah.

1:05:17

You can see the parallels. Totally.

1:05:20

Totally. Yeah. Julie, how

1:05:22

about you? Have you read any of them?

1:05:24

I've read Sleeping Beauties, uh, and I have

1:05:26

read, uh, Blackphone and I,

1:05:28

uh, liked them both

1:05:30

and would read more. Blackphone. Was

1:05:33

that Joe Hill or? That's Joe Hill. It's

1:05:36

a short story in 20th century ghosts. Oh,

1:05:38

okay. See, I've read 20th century ghosts so

1:05:40

long ago. I have to reread that because

1:05:42

I love short story collections. I

1:05:44

do too. I still haven't finished it because I

1:05:46

was, when I was doing my chronological reread, I

1:05:49

would finish a book and then read a story

1:05:51

from 20th century ghosts and then go back to

1:05:53

the next book. Smart. And so then, but then

1:05:55

I finished the books and I was only halfway

1:05:57

through the collection and I just haven't finished it

1:05:59

yet. But. But man, the first

1:06:01

couple in there, like, best

1:06:03

new fiction or best new horror is

1:06:05

like brutal. And then of course, there's

1:06:07

pop art, which just will rip your

1:06:09

heart out. And then what's the other

1:06:11

one? Oh, 20th Century Ghost is really,

1:06:13

really beautiful, too. So but

1:06:16

I also say I think like there's an element

1:06:18

of this where he says would

1:06:20

have any sort of literary career because there

1:06:22

are a lot of really great authors, a

1:06:25

lot of really great stories that we never

1:06:27

hear about, you know, or that don't become

1:06:29

popular. So I think there's an

1:06:31

element of it. And I know Joe Hill, like, didn't

1:06:34

use King's name, but

1:06:37

but he looks just fucking like him. He

1:06:40

looks exactly like him. Yeah. And I

1:06:42

mean, you can tell the story. It's

1:06:44

like Richard Bachman and King. It's like

1:06:46

there's something similar here, you know. Well,

1:06:49

Ashley, take our next hot take. OK.

1:06:53

Sean Garace. I

1:06:57

actually don't know if that's how you pronounce this last name.

1:06:59

I must put some real spice on it. Sean

1:07:01

Garace. King needs

1:07:04

to stop posting these enthusiastic reviews

1:07:06

of the movie adaptations of his

1:07:08

work after his love for It

1:07:10

Part 2 and the 2019 remake of Pet Sematary. Uncle

1:07:15

Stevie is coming off as a

1:07:17

polyester suit wearing used car salesman.

1:07:21

And if the trend remains true,

1:07:23

I think that it's fair to

1:07:25

say that the long delayed Salem's

1:07:28

lot adaptation has been long delayed

1:07:30

for a reason in spite of

1:07:32

King's fervent support of it. Hachi

1:07:35

machi. Hot,

1:07:38

hot, hot. I

1:07:40

guess. But I do think like there

1:07:43

are a lot of people who loved the 2019. Oh,

1:07:46

no, no, they liked bloodlines. Maybe that's the

1:07:49

one I liked. Just kidding. I didn't think

1:07:51

to the 2019 Pet Sematary was

1:07:53

bad. I personally didn't like it because I feel

1:07:55

like it it punched me in the face in

1:07:57

a way I did not like I didn't like.

1:08:00

ending of the flip-flop and there's a staple

1:08:02

thing in the back of her head that

1:08:04

still haunts my dreams. I didn't

1:08:06

necessarily think it was bad. I didn't think it was a

1:08:08

good remake of the story but

1:08:10

and I liked it part two. But

1:08:13

I do see

1:08:15

the point. Like I take all of

1:08:17

this with a grain of salt now I'm like when

1:08:19

I see him tweeting about something then I just know

1:08:21

it's gonna be released. That's I

1:08:23

also just feel like if I wrote

1:08:25

anything and someone made a movie out

1:08:28

of it it could be a

1:08:30

steaming pile of trash. I'd be like you guys gotta see

1:08:32

this. It's my stuff. Yeah

1:08:34

they made my thing. I think his brand

1:08:36

relevant. Yeah I agree. Just cause like

1:08:38

I'd be excited. I don't know. From

1:08:41

a promotional point of view I'm sure

1:08:43

he is probably contractually obligated to say

1:08:45

something and promote this work even

1:08:47

though he didn't like you do it's

1:08:50

out of his hands right he writes the book and then

1:08:52

that's all there is and so they're doing with whatever he

1:08:54

wants. Like he would what do you want him to do?

1:08:56

He can't be like you guys this movie sucks don't go

1:08:58

see it. Like of course he can't say that. You

1:09:01

know what is the middle ground? Is there a

1:09:03

neutral and even if he's trying to be neutral

1:09:05

people like oh he's being weirdly neutral about this.

1:09:07

Right there's no way to win. I feel like

1:09:09

yeah. Do you guys know Hideo

1:09:11

Kojima the video game designer? He did like

1:09:14

Metal Gear Solid like Death Rising.

1:09:16

He's seen as like one of the best video game

1:09:18

makers ever. He's a Japanese

1:09:20

guy but his Twitter account he will

1:09:22

say like I just watched Madam Web

1:09:25

and he won't comment and that means he didn't

1:09:27

like it but if he likes something he goes

1:09:29

and praises it forever and I almost like that

1:09:31

approach of like stay silent which we can kind

1:09:34

of read into because King going back to Dark

1:09:36

Tower film he said like

1:09:38

oh the directors filmmakers did not forget the face

1:09:40

of their fathers like I thought it was a

1:09:42

steaming pile of garbage. Except for Frank Ramsey and

1:09:45

a sweater. Yeah except for the

1:09:47

hotness. Jen again calm down she's

1:09:49

like fanning herself. It's

1:09:51

a hot take so I can't help it. It's a

1:09:53

hachi machi take from Jen. Ashley's

1:09:56

phrasing. I think maybe at

1:09:58

this point when he promotes his own stuff. it with

1:10:00

a grain of salt, but when he promotes something else.

1:10:02

So there's that movie coming out late night with the

1:10:04

devil. Yeah. That looks

1:10:06

really good. And he quote,

1:10:09

there's a Stephen King quote. It's funny. He's actually a

1:10:11

Twitter quote, which I've, you don't always see in movie

1:10:13

trailers, but it's like such and

1:10:15

such at Stephen King. Um, so maybe

1:10:17

when he's promoting other people's work, he's

1:10:19

a little more believable, but yeah, he might be a

1:10:22

little too tied to the PR

1:10:24

side, whether contractually or

1:10:26

because he chooses to do it that, yeah,

1:10:29

I'm not always him endorsing his own

1:10:31

work is not always a ringing

1:10:33

endorsement for me. Can you ever

1:10:35

trust anybody endorsing their own work? Of

1:10:37

course not. Right. It's, you're a totally

1:10:40

unreliable, not a narrator to your own

1:10:42

art. Of course. And I also think

1:10:44

it's like grody when people shit on

1:10:46

the movie version of their story that

1:10:48

they didn't like because it's like, Hey,

1:10:50

come on, you know how hard it

1:10:52

is to get a movie made. You

1:10:55

know how hard it is to get

1:10:57

this. Yeah. Well, and Stephen Stephen, I

1:10:59

feel like has lightened up a lot

1:11:01

on like his like distaste for the

1:11:03

Jack Nicholson, um, shining. Um,

1:11:05

he's even said like that movie was scary. I

1:11:07

just, it wasn't my story and that's fine. Um,

1:11:10

but yeah, I, it's,

1:11:12

it's a hard line to walk. I think

1:11:14

if you're in the entertainment industry in

1:11:17

any way, Mm

1:11:19

hmm. It's there. Do

1:11:21

y'all remember the posters for like the Naked Gun 33

1:11:23

and a third? Yeah. And like

1:11:25

the poll quotes were like plenty

1:11:27

of parking near the theater and like the

1:11:30

actors parents all loved it, you know,

1:11:32

stuff like that. I know

1:11:34

I man, cinema

1:11:36

was really alive back then. Not

1:11:40

at all problematic, but, um, I

1:11:42

do think it's really cool when he promotes

1:11:44

other people's stuff like that. Totally. That's

1:11:47

really awesome. And I think it's really important

1:11:49

for somebody of his like stature to kind

1:11:51

of do that, especially for authors. You know,

1:11:53

we just talked about how hard it is

1:11:55

to have a thriving career as an author.

1:11:57

And I think that's really cool. And I

1:12:00

don't know if it would feel weird for him not

1:12:02

to do the same thing with this stuff because there

1:12:04

are like I Know this is

1:12:07

something Trey Thurman says on Hara queers a lot

1:12:09

is like even when there's a movie with like

1:12:11

a canceled quote-unquote Star in it or something. There's

1:12:13

still hundreds of other people that worked on that

1:12:15

project You know and it's right like they're putting

1:12:18

their heart their money their time into it

1:12:20

So I it's hard for me to

1:12:22

be mad at it, but I also

1:12:24

don't really believe yeah But at the

1:12:26

same time I don't believe that Salem

1:12:28

slot is gonna be Or

1:12:35

I know or still still photo

1:12:39

Is this image? Yeah, I mean, I don't

1:12:41

know I I know what talked about it One of my very first

1:12:43

time I came on to talk about I know what you need But

1:12:45

you know, I know you need takes place my dollar baby takes place

1:12:47

in 1976 And there

1:12:49

was a television that we got from a prop house

1:12:51

in Maine that had a thing on the back of

1:12:53

it That said it was saved for Salem slot which

1:12:55

was filming the next month So I was like, oh

1:12:57

they're filming It's set in the 70s if they're using

1:12:59

this television set or there's a scene in the 70s

1:13:01

at least So that made me interested if

1:13:04

I was like, oh and this TV TV I

1:13:06

could watch it sometime in that movie But I could be like hey

1:13:08

that TV Okay

1:13:13

such a name-dropper Me

1:13:18

the TV go way back Well

1:13:20

before we move into our next losers interlude There are

1:13:22

two hot takes that I skipped because I wasn't sure

1:13:24

if we were gonna have time And

1:13:26

I want to circle back real quick and

1:13:29

we can maybe just kind of give a yay or nay on these

1:13:31

Cole Meyer said this one is a bit

1:13:34

mild But the Hodges trilogy is actually really

1:13:36

good and all the Holly books will age

1:13:38

fairly well I have

1:13:40

reread all of the Holly books all six

1:13:42

of them in the last year or so

1:13:44

and I Think

1:13:47

there's a lot of good in them

1:13:49

I there are some that are kind

1:13:51

of low points But I think they're

1:13:53

better than their reputation among like King

1:13:55

heads Also, I know a lot of

1:13:57

like non constant readers who really enjoy

1:14:00

those books. They are good books.

1:14:02

I just don't know if they're quite what all

1:14:04

of our constant readers are jonesing for. Agreed. That's

1:14:06

how I feel about it. They're good books. They're

1:14:09

not the kind of saving king that I want,

1:14:11

and that's my own personal preference. He gives me

1:14:13

a wide variety of the kind of king that

1:14:15

he will give me. Those are the ones that

1:14:17

I go, oh, I liked Holly. I like them

1:14:20

fine, but they don't like, creak my chain. Holly's

1:14:23

really grown on me a lot too. I

1:14:25

think, so I'll do a hot take. I

1:14:28

think the Mr. Mercedes trilogy is some of

1:14:30

his best audio books. I

1:14:32

forget the name of the person that

1:14:35

does it. Is it Will Patton? Yeah,

1:14:37

yeah. He captures Holly having this sort

1:14:39

of stutter, not stuttering, but this very

1:14:41

staccato choppy, like, yes, we will go

1:14:44

to the store. In my

1:14:46

head, that's how I hear Holly's voice because of the

1:14:48

audio books, and I enjoy it. I

1:14:50

think the first two Mr. Mercedes are very decent

1:14:55

books. The third one, I lost a little bit

1:14:57

of interest, but I've actually, I'm

1:14:59

one of the few, I've not read Holly yet. I'm

1:15:02

waiting to read Holly too, because I wanted to reread the,

1:15:06

the outsider is still pretty fresh in my brain, but

1:15:09

the Mr. Mercedes trilogy is so faded. I

1:15:11

want to reread it and then hop into

1:15:13

Holly. Well, it's

1:15:15

coming this year. That's on our schedule,

1:15:17

so I'm very excited to tackle those

1:15:19

again. And yeah, every time I read

1:15:22

them, I find more that I like.

1:15:24

So, all right. And then our other

1:15:26

one was Dave Messon. Love Dave. Yeah.

1:15:29

Hey, Dave. If King turned his storm of

1:15:31

the century screenplay into a full novel, it

1:15:34

will be his best book since 11, 22,

1:15:37

63. And among his top three post

1:15:39

accident works, I have this in our

1:15:42

hot talkies category just

1:15:45

because of the ranking here. Like I think

1:15:47

storm of the century is great. I don't

1:15:49

remember a ton of the details, but it's

1:15:51

got a wings star in it. So I

1:15:53

am obligated to love it and in Mr.

1:15:55

Tim Daly. And I think it's a

1:15:57

really great story. What do you all think about it? It's

1:26:00

listening instead of reading and I feel like you're

1:26:02

ingesting that information differently in a way I feel

1:26:04

like I miss a lot of these tales when

1:26:07

I listen to an audiobook too because I'll do

1:26:09

to sort of Fade

1:26:11

off in my own world, you know same

1:26:13

with I mean same with listening to anything

1:26:16

Or even just like having the TV on while you're

1:26:18

doing something else You know what I mean, like I

1:26:20

can feel my I can feel myself

1:26:24

Losing interest in parts that like maybe if

1:26:26

I was reading it, I wouldn't I Don't

1:26:29

know see and I kind of have the opposite Opinion

1:26:32

like I like that the book keeps going

1:26:34

and like my mind on the page I

1:26:36

think is more likely to wander but that

1:26:38

just might be the way my brain works,

1:26:40

you know Yeah, I think

1:26:42

for me I first read I try to

1:26:44

do actual book read but on our second

1:26:47

read I don't mind doing the audiobook Because

1:26:50

I'm so familiar with it and often, you know,

1:26:52

we're keying in on certain scenes, too So it's like

1:26:54

okay. I already know like what the fluff is and

1:26:56

what is the meat on the bone? So

1:26:59

I would definitely prefer to read and I could do

1:27:01

it a lot quicker I think

1:27:03

it takes like three times as long when you do an audiobook

1:27:06

I'm not if you listen at 1.5 speed. Yeah All

1:27:09

the way to three which is what I do and also

1:27:13

There's like a chip It

1:27:17

depends on who the the narrator

1:27:19

is to Absolutely But as

1:27:21

someone who lives near I use public transportation So i'm

1:27:24

on the train a lot So i'll read

1:27:26

a book and then sometimes on the train if it's too

1:27:28

crowded You actually can't hold the book in front of you.

1:27:30

So i'll just listen. So I sometimes chip away It

1:27:33

both ways. I think it's like whatever floats your boat Yeah

1:27:36

I definitely wouldn't ever like if some if I

1:27:38

said like hey, have you ever read 1122

1:27:42

63 and someone was like, oh, yeah, I listened to the audiobook.

1:27:44

I wouldn't be like well, then you haven't Read

1:27:47

Yeah, I I think that's that

1:27:50

I think that's where I disagree too Yeah, because

1:27:52

it is a very different experience But and like

1:27:54

when I was reading rose matter I listened to

1:27:56

it and I didn't see the italics, you know,

1:27:58

I don't see that I didn't,

1:28:00

I think, right, it actually helped me in one

1:28:03

of them because it was maybe

1:28:05

it was Dolores Claiborne or something, where there was

1:28:07

like a visual thing that kept driving everybody nuts

1:28:09

and I just didn't see it. Because we're like,

1:28:11

I wasn't even there. I

1:28:13

know, I was like, I was fine. But I also

1:28:16

do not have time to sit down with a book

1:28:18

in my hands nearly as much as I used to.

1:28:20

And I like listening while I'm driving. That's the best.

1:28:22

I like listening while I'm cleaning. Like, I

1:28:24

get so much more reading done because

1:28:26

of audiobooks. So, you know, Brett,

1:28:29

I can't agree with you. I respect

1:28:31

your choice. But but I will also

1:28:33

say if you all haven't tried listen,

1:28:35

if you haven't tried audiobooks and you

1:28:37

like podcasts, if you're listening to this,

1:28:39

give it a try. You might be

1:28:41

surprised. And give it more than short

1:28:43

stories are a great way to start.

1:28:45

More than one try because there's definitely

1:28:47

been audiobooks where the narrator has

1:28:50

been awesome. And then sometimes you get those

1:28:52

audiobooks where it's almost like an A.I. robot

1:28:55

voice. And it's like, why even

1:28:58

make this? But let's guess what?

1:29:01

Yeah. Blind people. I personally,

1:29:03

I consume Most Losers Club. I print out the text

1:29:05

and then I go through the fine

1:29:07

tooth comb and read it to myself. So I think that's

1:29:09

a lot better. Well,

1:29:12

and if you want to start with

1:29:14

an audio book, try Nightmares and Dreamscapes

1:29:16

audiobook. It's got a lot of celebrity

1:29:18

readers like Whoopi Goldberg, Rob

1:29:20

Lowrie, Stolen's Cadillac. Yurly

1:29:23

Smith reads Rainy Season, which is just

1:29:25

like. Is he, Dan? Is

1:29:28

he, Dan? The farm crew! I

1:29:30

can't do it. Oh, my God, it's great. OK,

1:29:33

and this one, this is

1:29:35

the the real scorcher. This is more

1:29:37

like the center of the sun. Dave

1:29:40

Mussohn again. Hey, and we love you, Dave. He's

1:29:42

got a great King trivia book. Check it out

1:29:44

if you have not already. Dan,

1:29:47

will you take this one? Oh, Dave, how

1:29:49

do we lose you? As much

1:29:52

as I like Molly, and I really do,

1:29:54

Corgis are low tier dogs with pathetic legs

1:29:56

and stupid butts. Come say it. Some

1:29:58

say it to our face, Dan. Dan? Well,

1:30:01

so I've owned three dogs

1:30:03

in my lifetime. I've had two Dachshunds

1:30:05

and a Corgi. I like weir, long

1:30:08

short dogs. I will say

1:30:10

I do like the legs. Corgis

1:30:13

are so easy to raise. He

1:30:15

was my Corgi Bentley, RIP. But he

1:30:17

was potty trained in the litter.

1:30:20

Like, that's how intelligent they are. And because they're farm

1:30:22

hands, they're eager to please. So

1:30:24

I could give him assignments. I could call people

1:30:26

by their names. And he would know. They're the

1:30:28

11th most intelligent dog. I

1:30:30

highly recommend farm dogs to people because they're just

1:30:33

so easy to train. The

1:30:35

only downside of Corgis for me is the

1:30:37

shedding. They shed a ton. But

1:30:39

as far as stupid butts go, it's actually in

1:30:41

Japan. They call it a Momo. I'm

1:30:44

doing a lot of Japanese influence on this episode. But they

1:30:46

shave it. And we used to do this. You shave it

1:30:48

down so it's like peach fuzz. And it's called a Momo.

1:30:51

So if you type in Corgi Momo. That's the Japanese

1:30:53

for peach. Yeah, you can see it. And there's like

1:30:55

these little Momo butts. I agree with the stupid legs.

1:30:58

But we would joke because he would be trying to

1:31:00

look out the window and be like, oh, you got

1:31:02

stupid legs. You can't do it. Yeah, you can't do

1:31:04

that. Kind of like Forrest Gump magic legs but stupid

1:31:06

legs. So I think also Dave,

1:31:08

and I'm going to analyze. Flip

1:31:10

it around on you, Dave. Oh, fight word.

1:31:13

So Dave lives in the UK, I'm pretty

1:31:15

sure. So he probably has

1:31:17

an association with the queen and the Corgis.

1:31:19

And I'm sure that they're all over tabloids.

1:31:21

So you see them all the time. Whereas

1:31:23

here in America, where we have vast fields.

1:31:25

And I would go play Frisbee with my

1:31:27

Corgi. So I don't know how

1:31:29

stupid that is. Sure, he catches it when it's like two

1:31:31

inches off the ground. Well,

1:31:34

and it's still so it's like really a

1:31:37

tense moment over there too because the Corgis

1:31:39

all ate Kate Middleton. Yeah. Oh,

1:31:41

is that what happened? Like the snow crabs

1:31:43

took apart. They fed the placenta to them.

1:31:46

Yeah. I

1:31:48

googled Corgi butts and they do look like peaches. They're

1:31:50

so stupid. The thing is, when you have a dog,

1:31:52

you're going to be walking behind that dog a lot.

1:31:54

They're going to be on a leash in front of

1:31:56

you a lot. So why not have a cute butt?

1:31:58

Yeah, why not have a sweet butt? Yeah, a little

1:32:01

butt back there. And just that

1:32:03

it's like bouncing like a little tiny thing

1:32:05

and they have the little stumpy legs, it's

1:32:07

adorable. And you have to also blame the

1:32:09

fucking humans who bred them that way. It's

1:32:11

their fault. Dave. It's not the

1:32:13

dog's fault. Watch your back, Dave. Yeah, and

1:32:15

also what about Oi? Corgi TV night. I

1:32:17

think of Oi as like a raccoon mixed with a

1:32:19

Corgi, right? And Shirley

1:32:22

King as a Corgi lover, you

1:32:25

know, that was on purpose. So I can't help but think of

1:32:27

Oi when I think of Corgis

1:32:29

and vice versa. And there's a

1:32:31

Corgi under the dome. It's

1:32:33

on the cover actually. That's right. And

1:32:36

he can see dead people. Yeah,

1:32:40

that's true. Corgis are the best. What more do you want, Dave?

1:32:42

It's all you need. Short legs, cute butt,

1:32:45

dead people sold. Although

1:32:47

I will say cats are better than

1:32:49

all dogs. Ooh, I agree. I

1:32:51

can't lie to you. I agree.

1:32:54

Now you're allergic to them like me. Better than

1:32:56

all of them, Billy Bumblers, they win.

1:32:58

That's true. I'm a pet that can

1:33:00

kind of quasi talk to me. I

1:33:03

will say, oh, go ahead. Oh, no, no. I

1:33:05

was gonna say, I'm not a cat person. Like I

1:33:07

like animals, but I remember in college, my roommates

1:33:09

were trying to get a cat. And I was like, I don't want one.

1:33:11

And I was like, if you get one, I'm gonna get a tarantula, just

1:33:14

so that there's a tarantula in the house. And that

1:33:16

was the compromise, no pets. Okay.

1:33:19

That's, you know what? That's a good idea. For

1:33:21

my kids, I would suggest getting a fish tank

1:33:23

because I hate fish tank. They

1:33:25

stink. They do. I

1:33:27

got electrocuted trying to clean one. I

1:33:30

had a boyfriend who like spent all his time with his

1:33:32

fish tank. So I've got Babbitt a boyfriend. Okay. Did

1:33:34

we have the same ex-boyfriend? Did he build a custom tank? Well,

1:33:36

there was a lot of... You date... Oh,

1:33:39

yeah. I had an ex-boyfriend who built

1:33:41

a custom fish tank too and would like travel

1:33:43

to get fish. Did he also smoke pot all

1:33:45

day and just watch it? Because that's what I'm

1:33:47

finding. No, but that's such a good idea. He,

1:33:51

yeah. I mean, he like had all

1:33:53

this lighting in it too, like built

1:33:55

a stand. Yeah. You had to go

1:33:57

to the specialty stores. Like, hmm. He

1:34:00

did look like Adam Driver though, so that's

1:34:02

why. I

1:34:05

also want to say about Dave Mustin's

1:34:07

take, although I strongly disagree. I do

1:34:10

really like the wording here. I'm

1:34:13

just going to read it again. Corgis

1:34:15

are low tier dogs with pathetic legs

1:34:17

and stupid butts. Like that's wrong on

1:34:19

every level, but very well written. Well,

1:34:21

they are low tier literally. They are.

1:34:23

They are. They are, but that's not

1:34:25

how he means it. I understand he means low on the list

1:34:27

of dogs. I want to see who's

1:34:30

number one on his fucking dog list. Exactly. When

1:34:32

they hot dog for you. Dave. British

1:34:34

bulldog. I

1:34:36

do think the way he worded the question is very funny, and I

1:34:38

know he knows he's stirring the pot. He

1:34:40

does, yeah. Hey, we asked for hot takes. Well,

1:34:44

all right. That was our last of the

1:34:47

hot takes. Let's do a

1:34:49

last interlude roundup. Do we have any

1:34:51

hot takes? We haven't said. I'm

1:34:53

going to repeat my claim that Malachi

1:34:56

is hot in Children of the Corn.

1:35:00

Rage deserves more love than it gets. Pet

1:35:04

Sematary 2 is a scarier movie than

1:35:06

Pet Sematary. Also

1:35:08

has ever for life. I did not say better. Boys for

1:35:10

life. That's scary. That's scary. Scary.

1:35:16

All right. Well, hey, we've got one

1:35:18

more hot take, and it's kind of

1:35:20

a part of our wrapping things up.

1:35:24

Jay Jasinski

1:35:26

says, Losers

1:35:28

Club should rerecord the episodes

1:35:30

on King's iconic 70s novels

1:35:33

featuring the newer losers. Well,

1:35:35

Jay, I have good news

1:35:37

for you. We are working

1:35:39

hard on our first Twinners episode. We

1:35:41

just started the email thread today. We're

1:35:44

still hashing out some of the details, but

1:35:46

these episodes will be covering King's early books

1:35:49

with some of the losers from the original

1:35:51

episode and some like me that weren't part

1:35:53

of the pod yet. So stay tuned for

1:35:56

those. I am so excited.

1:35:58

And we also have a notable book. turning

1:36:00

50 years old next month.

1:36:02

So that's going to be coming

1:36:05

to you soon. I'm very excited and it's

1:36:07

going to be part of a new series. I'm still, I'm

1:36:09

not totally sure how it's all going to work yet, which

1:36:11

is part of the reason we haven't made like a big

1:36:13

announcement, but that's coming because I

1:36:15

got some thoughts and more Bachman though.

1:36:17

Right. More Bachman. I mean, nobody's

1:36:19

on the Bachman tree, but me. And I'm not the

1:36:21

only one. Okay. Good. Well,

1:36:24

hey, maybe y'all can have

1:36:26

a little Bachman, Bachman bench or Bachman,

1:36:28

Bach mitzvah. We

1:36:31

did it. We did it. There we go.

1:36:33

We got to do it now, you know.

1:36:36

And on that note, let's wrap up with some

1:36:39

plugs. Ashley, where can listeners find

1:36:41

you online and what's coming up on Keep It

1:36:43

Weird? Season eight premieres on

1:36:46

my birthday, March 22nd. It

1:36:51

is so close. We've got some really

1:36:53

fun guests. It's going to be coming

1:36:56

on the show this year, including some

1:36:58

Losers Club members. We've

1:37:00

also got a hacker coming on the show.

1:37:03

We've got a Bigfoot Hunter, a

1:37:05

few standup comedians as usual. So it's

1:37:07

going to be a really fun season.

1:37:09

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter at

1:37:12

Keep It Weirdcast. And please

1:37:14

subscribe to our YouTube channel

1:37:16

at youtube.com/keep it weird

1:37:18

podcasts. Sweet.

1:37:20

So excited for that. And Julia, where

1:37:22

can listeners find you and what do

1:37:24

you have coming up? You have a

1:37:26

couple of pods. I do.

1:37:28

I have two other podcasts, one horror movie

1:37:30

survival guide, where you can learn how to

1:37:33

survive horror movies. We have over 350 episodes

1:37:35

now to choose from. So get in

1:37:38

there. We're currently in the midst of

1:37:40

our favorite sub genre round, which is

1:37:42

lesbian vampires. I mean,

1:37:44

we got some, some doozies for you this time. So

1:37:47

he didn't do

1:37:49

any lesbian vampires, but I would pay money to see that

1:37:52

very much. But yeah, it's a really a rabbit hole.

1:37:54

You could dive into of deliciousness. I

1:37:56

also have a podcast called Joe to

1:37:58

Wowski. That's all about Alejandro Dzodrowski. and

1:38:00

his works. We just covered The Techno

1:38:02

Priests, his eight comic series. And

1:38:05

then My Dollar Baby, I Know What You Need, is still

1:38:07

going to be playing through next year

1:38:09

in film festivals. So it will be

1:38:12

playing in Salem in April

1:38:14

and it will be playing at the

1:38:16

Salem Horror Fest. And then it'll be

1:38:20

playing at GASP in Manchester, England

1:38:22

in June. So cool. So and

1:38:24

more to come. And I've

1:38:26

seen it and it's fantastic. So you should check

1:38:29

it out if you can. And you

1:38:31

can just message me if you want to watch it

1:38:33

by the way. Oh, yes, yes, do so. Julia C

1:38:35

Marchese on All the Things. And

1:38:37

you can find me at Jim Farrat too on All the

1:38:39

Things, co-hosting the Lady

1:38:42

Killers podcast. And we are wrapping

1:38:45

up Hidden Horrors Month, our episode

1:38:47

on the brood just dropped today. And

1:38:49

then we just recorded Alice

1:38:51

Sweet Alice last night, which

1:38:53

was a first watch for all of us.

1:38:56

And then we are going to be, I

1:38:58

can't announce all of our April movies yet, but we're going

1:39:01

to be covering a king

1:39:03

title that is Celebrating a

1:39:05

50th Birthday coming up. Not

1:39:07

the movie, the book. You probably

1:39:09

know. I'm sorry. But anyways, follow me

1:39:11

there. And also you can catch me

1:39:13

and fellow loser, Rachel Reeves, and Matt

1:39:16

Gerber, who is Losers

1:39:18

Club adjacent fellow Halloweenies. We just

1:39:20

did our herogasm episode on the

1:39:22

girls on the boys, which was

1:39:24

a banger. And Dan,

1:39:27

where can listeners find you and tell

1:39:30

us about your Went Through the Keyhole

1:39:32

episode? Yeah, Stan Fleer on Loser Socials. It's

1:39:34

mostly just Dune memes at this point. I can't

1:39:36

get over the one that says use the voice.

1:39:38

And it's like Pee-wee Herman doing like, it's the

1:39:41

Herman at the front desk. That's

1:39:43

one of my favorites. And yeah, we just

1:39:45

did Went Through the Keyhole, which was

1:39:47

really fun to wrap up our journey through

1:39:50

the Dark Tower. And yeah, I'll probably be

1:39:52

on some of those throwback episodes as well,

1:39:54

where we do the twinners. And

1:39:57

Julie is going to take me as a VIP to the Salem

1:39:59

screening, I'm sure. Hey

1:40:01

man, I need to get into your dark tower circle.

1:40:03

So you know, you and me back and forth. Yeah.

1:40:07

Sit and tap. Man, Salem Horror Fest is a

1:40:09

jam too. I've never actually been there, but I've covered

1:40:11

that fest a couple of times. It's a great one.

1:40:15

And also coming up in the Barrens and

1:40:17

on the main feed, we've got a book

1:40:20

episode on Joyland on the horizon. You're going

1:40:22

to get that a week early and

1:40:24

a lot of exciting stuff ahead for April.

1:40:26

We are still working out the kinks of

1:40:28

that, so I can't totally announce everything yet,

1:40:31

but lots of fun stuff coming up. But

1:40:34

until then, let's sign off with

1:40:37

Long Days and

1:40:40

Pleasant Nights. This

1:40:42

is the end

1:40:45

of our show

1:40:47

for now. We

1:41:11

hope you enjoyed this production. If

1:41:14

you like our programming, consider

1:41:16

searching for other bloody disgusting

1:41:18

podcasts, such as Creepy,

1:41:21

Horror Queers, The Boo Crew,

1:41:24

SCP Archives, Nightlight,

1:41:27

Margaret's Garden, and more.