CHAPTER IX THE PEOPLE Beyond everything else, Egypt is an agricultural country, and the Felaen, or soil-cutters, as the word means, its dominant type, and in order to form any idea of their character or mode of life, we must leave the towns behind and wander through the farmlands of the Delta. Trains are few, and hotels do not exist, and anyone wishing to see the people as they are must travel on horseback and be content with such accommodations as the villages afford. The roads are the canal banks, or little paths which wind among the fields, but as we have already seen the country has many beauties, and the people are so genuine in their simple hospitality that the traveler has many compensations for the incidental hardships he may undergo. What will perhaps first strike the traveler is the industry of the people. The luxuriant crops give evidence of their labor, and the fields are everywhere alive. From dawn to dusk everyone is busily employed, from the youngest child who watches the tethered cattle or brings water from the well, to the old man so soon to find his last resting place in the picture-esque gabbana, or cemetery, without the village. Seed-time and harvest go side by side in Egypt, and one may often witness every operation of the farm from plowing to threshing going on simultaneously. The people seem contented as they work, for whereas formerly the fellow heen were cruelly oppressed by their rulers, today under British guidance they have become independent and prosperous, and secure in the enjoyment of the fruits of their labor. Another impression which the visitor will receive is the curiously biblical character of their life, which constantly suggests the Old Testament stories, the shepherds watching their flocks, rings streaked and speckled, the cattle plowing in the fields, the women grinding at the handmill, or grouped about the village well, all recall incidents in the lives of Isaac and Rebecca, and episodes of patriarchal times. Their salutations and modes of speech are also biblical, and lend a touch of poetry to their lives. Turn in, my lord, turn into me, was Jail's greeting to flying Cicera, and straightway she prepared for him better in a lordly dish. So today hospitality is one of their cardinal virtues, and I have myself been chased by a horseman who rebuked me for having passed his home without refreshment. In pumps, cotton mills, and railways may have slightly altered the aspect of the country, but to all intents and purposes, in habit of thought and speech, in costume and custom, the people remain today much as they were in those remote times pictured in the book of Genesis. Fresh fruit or coffee is frequently proffered to the traveler on his way, while his welcome at a village or the house of some landed proprietor is always sure. When approaching a village which is often surrounded by dense groves of date-palms, the traveler will be met by the head man, who, with many salams, conduct him to the village mandara or rest-house, and it is only as such a guest resident in a village that one can form any idea of the home life of the people. From the outside the village often has the appearance of some rubed fortification, the houses practically joining each other and their mud-walls having few openings. Within narrow and torturous lanes form the only thoroughfares which terminate in massive wooden doors which are closed at night and guarded by the village watchmen. The huts, for they are nothing else, which compose the village are seldom of more than one story, while in many cases their small doorway forms their only means of ventilation. Their roofs are covered with a pile of cotton stalks and other litter, through which the pungent smoke of their dung-fires slowly percolates, while fowls and goats and the inevitable pariah-dog roam about them at will. Windows when they do occur are merely slits in the mud-wall, without glass or shutter, but often ornamented by a lattice of split palm leaves. Light and ventilation practically do not exist, while a few mats, water-pots, and cooking utensils comprise the only furniture. Yet the people are well conditioned and content, for their life is in the fields, and their poor dwellings are little used except at mealtimes or at night. The guest-house is a little better than the huts, except that one side is entirely open to the air. Here at least the visitor may breathe, even though his slumbers may be disturbed by the sheep and cattle which wander in the lanes. At night a fire of corn cobs is lit, and while its smoke serves to drive away the swarms of mosquitoes and flies, with which the village is usually infested, its warmth is grateful, for the nights are cold. And by its light, aided by a few dim lanterns, the simple evening meal is shared with the headmen, who count it an honor to entertain a guest. I have described one of the poorest of the fella villages, but the traveler is often more luxuriously housed. Many of the native landowners occupy roomy and well-appointed dwellings, often surrounded by pretty and well-stocked gardens, where one may rest beneath the vines and fig-trees and enjoy the pomegranates, apricots, and other fruits which it supplies. These houses are generally clean and comfortably furnished after the Turkish manor. The host, prosperous-looking and well-clothed, meets his guest at the doorstep or assists him to dismount, when, with many compliments and expressions of delight at his visit, he is conducted to the guest chamber. Coffee and sweet-meats are then presented, a foretaste of the generous meal to follow, for in the homes of the well-to-do a feast is usually provided for an honored guest. The food is served on the low saniya, or tray, which forms the table, on which several flat loaves surrounded by little dishes of salad and other condiments mark the places of the diners. But before eating each person ceremoniously washes his hands and mouth, a servant bringing in the copper tisht wa-abrik, or jug and basin, kept for that purpose. The meal always begins with soup, which, greasy to begin with, is rendered more so by the addition of a bowl of melted butter. This is eaten with a spoon, the only utensil provided, each person dipping into the bowl which is placed in the center of the table. The rest of the meal, which consists of fish, pigeons, and various kinds of stews and salads, is eaten with the hands, the diners often presenting each other with choice morsels from their portion, a baked turkey stuffed with nuts, or on important occasions a whole sheep forms the principal dish, which is cleverly divided by the host or principal guest without the aid of a knife or fork. Water in porous jars, often flavored with rose leaves or verbena, is presented by servants as the meal proceeds. The final dish always consists of boiled rice and milk sweetened with honey, a delicious dish which is eaten with the same spoon by which the soup was partaken of. Such fare, as I have described, is only for the wealthy. In general, the fellow heen live on rice and wheat and bread, sugar cane, and vegetables, with the occasional addition of a little meat, or such fish as may be caught in the canals. Their beverage is water, coffee being a luxury only occasionally indulged in, and their use of tobacco is infrequent. There's is a simple life whose daily round of labor is only broken by the occasional marriage feasts, or village fair, or in the more populous centers by the periodic mullet or religious festival. In Cairo and other large cities these mullets are very elaborate, and often last for days together. Often business is suspended, and, as at our Christmas time, everyone gives himself up to enjoyment and the effort to make others happy. Gay booths are erected in the open spaces, in which is singing in the performance of strange European dances. Mummers and conjurers perform in the streets, and merry-go-rounds and swing-boats amuse the youngsters, whose pleasure is further enhanced by the many stalls and barrows displaying toy balloons, dolls, and sweet-meats. All where their gayest clothing and at night illuminations delight the hearts of these simple people. The principal feasts are the mullet and nebi, or birth of Muhammad, and el-hasanan, in memory of the martyred grandson of the Prophet, and, although they are Muhammadans, the eid el-amam, or birth of Christ, takes a high place among their religious celebrations. But they have their fasts also, and Ramadan, which lasts for four weeks, is far more strictly observed than Lent among ourselves. For throughout the period, from sunrise to sunset, the Muslim abstains from food or drink, except in the case of the aged or infirm, or of any one engaged upon work so arduous as to render food necessary, for the Muhammadan does not allow his religion to interfere with his other duties in life. On the last day of Ramadan occurs a pretty observance similar to that of all souls' day in France. When everyone visits the tombs of their relatives, laying garlands upon the graves, and often passing the night in the cemeteries in little booths made for the purpose, you will have noticed how large a place religion takes in the life of the people, and in their idle hours no subject of conversation is more common. To the average Muhammadan his religion is a very real manner in which he fervently believes, and Allah is to him a very personal God, whom he may at all times approach in praise or prayer in the certain belief of his fatherly care. Nothing impresses a traveler more than this tremendous belief of the Muhammadans in their deity and their religion, and though many people, probably from lack of knowledge, hold the view that the Muslim faith is a debased one, it is in reality a fine religion, teaching many wise and beautiful doctrines, and ennobling the lives of all who live up to the best that is in it. Unfortunately the teaching of Muhammadanism is so largely fatalistic that it tends to deprive the individual a personal initiative. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord, is a general attitude of mind, and this, combined with their long centuries of servitude, has had so much effect upon the national character of the Egyptian that they almost entirely lack those qualities of alertness, confidence, and sense of personal responsibility, without which no race can become great or indeed even be self-respecting. The higher education now general in Egypt has already had its effect upon the present generation, among which a feeling of ambition and independence is growing, while the Egyptian army has shown what wonders may be wrought, even with the poorest material by sustained and honest effort in the right direction. And if the just and sympathetic guidance which it has enjoyed for now a quarter of a century is not too soon withdrawn, Egypt may once again become a nation. As it is, today the great mass of the people remain much as they have been for ages, a simple, kindly people, ignorant and often fanatical, but broadly good-humored and keenly alive to a joke. Fond of their children, and showing great consideration for age, they have many traits which endear them to those who have lived among them, while their faults are largely on the surface and due in some measure to the centuries of ignorance and slavery which has been their lot. The greatest blot upon the Egyptian character is the position accorded to their women, who, as in all Muhammedan countries, are considered to be soulless. From infancy employed in the most menial occupations, they are not even permitted to enter the mosques at prayer time, and until recently the scanty education which the boys enjoyed was denied to their sisters.  CHAPTER X. OF PEAPS AT MANY LANDS, EGYPT. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. PEAPS AT MANY LANDS, EGYPT. By R. Talbot Kelly. CHAPTER X. THE DESERT. When so much of geographical Egypt consists of desert, it would be interesting if I were to tell you something about it before closing this little book. Probably the first question my readers would ask would be, What use is it? Why does nature create such vast wastes of land and rock which can be of little or no use to anybody? We cannot always follow the intentions of nature or see what may ultimately result, but so far as the desert is concerned we know of at least one useful purpose it serves, and that is the making of climate. Edinburgh and Moscow are in precisely the same latitudes, yet the one is equitable in temperature while the other endures the rigors of an arctic winter. The south of Iceland also suffers less from cold than do the great central plains of Europe. And why? Simply because their different climates are the result of special conditions or influences of nature, and what the Gulf Stream does for the British Isles, the deserts of Africa affect not only for Egypt, but for the whole of southern Europe, whose genial climate is mainly caused by the warm air generated on these sun-baked barren lands. Now let us see what the desert is like in appearance. It is a very common impression that the desert is simply a flat expanse of sand, colorless and unbroken. In reality it is quite different, being full of variations which give it much the same diversity of interest as the ocean. The color of the sand varies infinitely according to its situation. Thus the desert which surrounds Aswan, which is composed of decimated granite and nile silt, is generally gray. In Nubia the sand is formed of powdered sandstone of a curiously golden tint, while the desert of Suez, which abuts on Cairo, and the Delta provinces, is generally white in tone due to the admixture of limestone dust of which it is largely composed. The great Sahara is also no monotonous stretch of sand, but is to a great extent covered by wild herbs of many kinds, which often entirely screen the sand from view and give it the appearance of a prairie. Nor is the desert always flat, for its huge and indecent suggest ocean billows petrified into stillness, while rocky hills and earthquake-riven valleys give it a fantastic variety which is wildly picturesque. Though generally barren the desert supports growths of many kinds, wild hyssop, thorns, the succulent ice plant, and a great variety of other shrubs. Deserts also abound, and though they are usually small, I have counted as many as twenty varieties in an area of as many feet. And in some of the deep waddies, as the mountain valleys are called, wild plants grow in such perfusion as to give them the appearance of rock gardens. In aspect the desert varies very much, according to the time of day or changing effect of light. At dawn a curious mauve tint suffuses it, and the sun rises sharp and clear above the horizon, which also stands out crisply against the sky, so pure is the air. Presently as the sun slowly rises higher in the sky, every shrub or stone or little inequality of surface is tipped with gold and throws long blue shadows across the sand. At midday a fierce glare envelops it, obliterating detail and color, while by moonlight it is a fairyland of silver, solemn, still, and mysterious. Each phase has its special beauty, which interests the traveler and robs his journey of monotony. Scattered over the surface of the sand are innumerable pebbles of all sizes and colors, onyx, cornelian, agate, and many more, as well as sea fossils and other petrifications which boys would love to collect. And it is also curious to notice that the rocks which crop up in all directions become sunburnt, and limestone naturally of a dazzling white often assumes a variety of tints under the influence of the powerful sun, as may be seen in the foreground of my picture of the pyramids. Animal life also exists in perfusion. Every tuft of scrub supports a variety of insects upon which the hunting spider and desert lizard feed. The tracks of giant beetles or timid gerboa scour the sand in all directions, and many wild birds make these waste their homes. Green wolves and foxes hunt the tiny gazelle, while the rocky hills in which the wild goats make their home also give shelter to the hyenas and jackals, which haunt the caravan routes to feast upon the dying animals which fall abandoned to their fate. The life of the desert is not confined to beasts, however, for many Bedouin tribes roam about them in search of water or fodder for their animals, and of all the eastern races I have met none are more interesting than these desert nomads. The wandering life of the Bedouin makes it difficult for anyone to become acquainted with them, while their reputation for lawlessness is such that travelers on desert routes usually endeavor to avoid them. In several parts of the desert near Egypt, however, important families of them has settled so as to be near the farm lambs granted to them by Ishmael Pasha many years ago, nominally in return for military services, but in reality to keep them quiet, and I have often visited their camps at Benny Ayyub and Tel Bedouin to find them courteous, hospitable, and in the best sense of the word gentleman. These camps are large, and the long lines of tents, pitched with military precision, shelter probably more than one thousand people, for, though the head shake may build a lodge of stone in which to entertain his guests, the Arab is a gypsy who loves his tent. The tents, which are often very large, are formed of heavy cloths of goat's hair woven in stripes of different colors, and supported by a large number of poles, long tassels hanging from the seams, and other cloths are often attached to them so as to divide the tent into different apartments. Clean sand forms the floor, on which at nightfall a rug or carpet is spread to form a bed. Round the walls are the gay saddlebags and trappings of the camels and horses, as well as many boxes ornamented with tinsel and painting, which contain the wardrobes and other possessions of the inmates. At the tent door, stuck upright in the ground, is the long spear of its occupant, and the large earthen pot which serves as a fireplace, while in some shady corner a row of zeers contain their supply of drinking water. Turkeys and fowl give a homely look to the premises, where perhaps a gentle-eyed gazelle is playmate to the rough-haired dogs few Bedouin are without. Round about the tents children are playing, while their mothers are working at the hand flume or preparing the simple evening meal. In character the Bedouin are dignified and reserved, and have a great contempt for the noisiness so characteristic of the Egyptians, but like them are passionately fond of their wives and children, and so highly prized the various articles of saddle-ree or apparel made by their hands that no money would buy them. The men are tall, with strong, aquiline features and keen eyes, which look very piercing beneath the kufia, a square shawl of white or colored silk, which is wrapped around their heads. Their clothing is loose and flowing, a black arbia being worn over the kaftan or inner robe, of white of colored stripes, and their boots are of soft leather. Though the traditional spear is still retained, all are armed with some firearm, ancient flintlocks of great length, or more commonly nowadays with a modern rifle, and many of the shakes where a long, curved sword of beautiful workmanship which is slung across their shoulders by a silken cord. All have strong, deep voices, and impress you with the idea that these are manly and courageous fellows, and upright according to their lights. The women are also clothed in loose draperies, the outer one of some rough material, which conceals others of daintier fabric and color. Handsome in feature, with glossy blue-black hair, their dark gypsy faces also wear that look of sturdy independence which so becomes the men. It may naturally be asked, how do these people occupy their time? First of all, they have large flocks which must be fed and watered, and they are thus compelled to wander from well to well, from one oasis to another, and they are also great breeders of horses, which must be carefully looked after, and from time to time taken to some far away fair for sale. Food and water also have to be brought long distances to their camps by the camelmen, while the women are occupied with their domestic duties and their weaving. Naturally the Bedouin are expert horsemen, and are very fond of equestrian sports. Some of their fancy riding is very clever, and great rivalry exists among them, particularly in their jared or javelin play, when frequently several hundreds of mounted men are engaged in a melee, which, though only intended to be a friendly contest, often results in serious injury or death to many. The Arab is very fond of his horse, which he himself has bred and trained from a colt, and his affection is amply returned by his steed. They are beautiful animals, strong and fleet-footed, but often savage with anyone but their master. Sport enters largely into the life of the Bedouin, and many tribes train falcons, with which they hunt gazelles, and in the Libyan desert the cheetah, or hunting leopard, is tamed and used for the same purpose, and in this way the monotony of many a long desert march is relieved. When on a journey smaller tents than those which I have described are used, all the heavy baggage being loaded onto camels, upon which the women and children also ride. Camels have often been called the ships of the desert, and they are certainly the most useful of all animals for such traveling, for their broad pads prevent their feet from sinking into the soft sand, and not only do they carry enormous loads, but are able for days together to go without food or water. When Abraham sent his servant to seek a wife for Isaac, it was on camels that he traveled, and shaded, no doubt, by her canopy of shawls it was on camel-back that Rebekah returned with him to the tent of his master. So today we may often meet a similar party on their journey. The women seated beneath the mamal, as the canopy is called, while the food and water for the journey is slung from the saddles of the camels ridden by the armed men who form their escort. Camels are of two kinds, the heavily built beast, such as we see in Egypt, and which is also used for baggage purposes, and the haguine, or dromedary, used solely for riding. Lest any of my readers should fall into the common error of supposing that the dromedary has two humps, let me say that the only difference between it and the ordinary camel is that it is smaller and better bred, just as our race-horses differ from the dropped animals, and must not be confounded with the bactrian or two-humped camel of Asia. These haguine are very fleet, and often cover great distances, and I have known one to travel as much as one hundred miles between sunset and sunrise. On a journey the pace of a caravan is that of its slowest beast, and very arduous such journeys often are, for there is no shade, and the dust raised by the caravan envelopes the slowly moving travelers, while the fierce sun is reflected from the rocks, which often become too hot to touch. On the other hand the nights are often bitterly cold, for sand is too loose to retain any of its heat, while the salt with which the desert is strongly impregnated has a chilling effect on the air. Most trying of all, however, are the hot desert winds, which often last for days together, drying up the water in the skins, while the distressed travelers are half suffocated by the dust and flying sand, which cut the skin like knives. Little wonder, therefore, if these hardy desert tribes are taciturn and reserved, for they see nature in its stern moods, and know little of that ease of life which may be experienced among the green crops and pastures of the delta. It must not be supposed that the Bedouin are morose, for beneath their outward severity lies a great power for sympathy and affection.  Like the Egyptian family affection holds him strongly, and he has a keen appreciation of poetry and music. Hospitality is to him a law, and the guest is always treated with honor. It is pleasant also to see the respect with which the Bedouin regard their women, and the harmony which exists between the members of a tribe. The government is patriarchal, each tribe being ruled by its shake, the father of his children, who administers their code of honor or justice, and whose decision is always implicitly obeyed. Here again we have another biblical parallel, for like his brother Muhammad in Egypt, the life of the desert Arab, no less than the dwellers on the black soil, still preserves many of those poetical customs and characteristics which render the history of Abraham so attractive. And although these pages have only been able to give a partial picture of Egypt and its people, perhaps enough has been said to induce my readers to learn more about them, as well as to enable them a little more fully to realize how very real and how very human are the romantic stories of the Old Testament. The End of Chapter 10 END OF PEAPS AT MANY LANDS, EGYPT. Read by Cibbella Denton, in Carrollton, GA, OCTOBER 2007.


I get distracted sometimes when I look at your face. I get that a lot. You know why? Because I'm beautiful. No. Because of the little freaking white hairs you've got there. They're not gray. You've had them forever. That little birthmarky white hair thing is always, like, calling to me. It's like little fingers going, spare me. Please don't talk about my hair. Pfft. I'm Rick. And you can follow us on Instagram and Twitter! It's Tweeting! It's Tweeting! It's Tweeting! Tweeting! Everywhere I go. And we're Patreon and Polish official Twitter. Yes. Thank you, Patreons. We appreciate it. We don't. Thank you. Very much. We really mean it. Today, we are reacting to a Shredevi. It's not. It's a... I don't care. Biography. Awesome! So it's a little thing. Have you... It's a short video to help us get to know her career a little better. Have you watched anything about her yet, as far as her biography? I have. Way back when we first got introduced to her, somebody sent me a... It was something I didn't think we would react to. It was a long biography about Shredevi. I can't not watch everything that comes out of India. Yes. No. You can. No. Do you know what your channel is? Yes. Okay. It's reaction stuff. It's reaction stuff. I guarantee this isn't the same thing. It's like, okay, should I not read books on Satyajit Ray? Because we're going to watch his films and stuff about... You can read a book. Stop watching the videos. They're gonna be... I'm very mad at you. I haven't seen this. You don't know if you have. I guarantee I haven't seen this. But I'm excited because I know a little bit about her. Here we go. And she's freaking awesome. Yeah, my house is a little... Yeah. Oh, my love, save. I wanna see that. see that. Oh look at her. She's adorable. She's all beautiful. I think for me, she's all over the place. She's all over the place. So 60's. The parts of the family. But this is so small. But this is so small. She changed their lives completely. She gave a great role in Tamil film, Mundhru Mudhichu. And in this role, they had two great actors, Kamal Hassan. Hey, I don't know if they're... Talk to Tani. This is our village. We will do what comes to our lives. Who are you to ask us? She didn't just work in Tamil, Telugu films. She's also shown her skills in Kannada films. Wow. She's so beautiful. She's also shown her skills in the films. What are you doing? Don't ever forget my name. Kamal Hassan and his films. Who can forget Sadma? Okay, tell me one thing.  After working as a heroine in Tamil and Telugu cinema, they directed Hindi films. And they started with the Hindi film, Solva Sabhan. Really? Really? But you're not that beautiful. I'll go to the disco with you. Do one thing. There's a steel sheet in it. I'll put it on your face for 50 years. I'll go to the disco with your face. I'll go to the disco with you. After that, a film with Mr. Jitendra came. Himatwara had arranged a hangar at the box office. I'll go to the box office. I'll go to the box office. I'll go to the box office. Kamal Hassan or Rajnikant? Jitendra or Sanidya? With everyone, Shridevi was making records. And then there was a change in her life. Which comes in every woman's life. Shridevi got married. She got married to Boni Kapoor. Boni Kapoor is a well-known film producer. She was married before Boni Kapoor. And she had children. Her marriage with a married man was very difficult. What? What are you saying? And this happened. Boni Kapoor got separated from her family. And she settled down with Shridevi. Shridevi is Arjun Kapoor's mother in the film industry. Who told you that? After the marriage, some years went by. She had two daughters. Big daughter Janki and small one Khushi. After 6 years of being married to Silver screen. Shridevi started a small business again. And this time, she didn't watch this film in the hall. She watched it on the TV screen of the house. The name of the series was Marini Ayyar. The year 2004. I am extremely happy. She watched the reality show as well. But for a long time, she couldn't be separated from the films. After 2005, she was waited for a few years. But then she watched Shridevi again in this film called English-English. And she did the same. She is a actress. And I am sure you are going to love it. I proved it. Why? She was one of the best heroines in the industry. Absolutely, why not? She kept coming to the media with her whole family. She also answered the media questions. And she even said that when the shooting of English-English started. She felt that this film is new and Korean-English. Yes. Shridevi was awarded many awards. And this award is really long. Really long. No, no, no. She is one of the few actresses who worked as a black and white actor in Indian cinema. She started with tea. And she became a heroine in different languages. And she made her own place in every area. In the history of Indian cinema, Shridevi's name will be taken away from us. It gave us like her resume and stuff. But what it didn't give us was the whole orb of her artistic prowess. There was nothing in there about her capabilities in comedy, both physical and small. Nothing really in there in her prowess as a dancer. Because I remember what I saw, and I've heard from comments from stupid babies about her, is that she was the absolutely more than just what we call the triple threat. Which the triple threat connects and dance. That she could do everything. She could do comedy as well as she did drama. She could do dancing as well as she did physical comedy versus nuanced small high brow dry comedy. That she was a beauty. But she could also play someone who wasn't relying on physical appearance to be attractive. That she basically could do and be anything you needed her to be on screen and do it at the top of the level it could be done. For example, somebody who could do that was Lucille Ball. But most people know her just from her comedies and I Love Lucy. But Lucille Ball started off as a serious actress who could sing and who could dance. But Sri Devi was like the perfect female actor pretty much. And this really didn't capture that. Yeah, it was more resume. Yeah, it was more resume. And even then it didn't cover the resume. I mean it is a short biography. It took me about 30 minutes to kind of get into it. So I kind of just want to wear her highlights and then her family background. Yeah, which was I didn't know. That was nice, I didn't know that. Her husband was married. That I didn't know. Which I want to know what that means. Like was he really married and living with her and married her anyway? Or was he in the middle of a divorce and it takes like 8 months for the divorce to be finalized and he married her before the papers were done? That's totally different. I'm married and I'm going to go marry someone else while I'm still married. So what's up with that? I believe it's Arjun Kapoor. Arjun Kapoor's stepmother, I think. I believe that's the name. I believe that's the name I saw. Me too. We know him. We get really, there's a lot of Kapoor names in the industry. So we know who the stepmother is. We now know that's that stepmom. Boy, is that a powerhouse of acting. I went in and looked at the comments on that and virtually every comment was that. Immediately if we don't know somebody if we didn't talk about a person enough it's all the comments. We are lambasted. But I found out from you you sent me the text of the pictures on Patreon. I saw it on Patreon because everything's on Patreon before. Thank you so much, Patreon. If you contribute to Patreon, everything that goes on the channel goes on Patreon and sometimes stuff that never makes the channel goes on Patreon if it's blocked. But they can comment on stuff first and so I see their comments and so I was like, oh boy I can tell this is going to be one of those things and so we figured out in the Ramleela review that... He also was able to read, correct me if I'm wrong you can read some more detailed feedback about requests on Patreon. Yes. I want to know what... because we've only seen one film of hers we've seen some of her songs of her songs and highlights but what should the next film of hers be? I know Mom was one of our recent ones. That was her last film, wasn't it? Yes. Because I remember we were talking about English and English and I mistakenly thought it was her last film and I think people said no it was Mom. Yeah, Mom came out after... I believe it's in the was it in. Well, good gracious. Yeah, we've got to watch that if I forgot that. But I don't know if there's like... Should we go back to one of her classics? I'm sure there's 50 films of hers you'll tell us we need to see but what do we really need to see next? Yeah, what should be the... She wasn't in that India one, the Mother India, right? I don't think she's in Mother India. I'm trying to... I'm going down her... Mr. India, she's in... That's another thing I wonder In America, child actors typically do not translate well into adult acting for a number of reasons. They typically get screwed up growing up and then just crash and burn or they were cute little kids who actually weren't very good actors so they don't get roles later on in life or they just leave the industry. How many actors do what Sridevi did in India film? Do you get a lot of people that come because we haven't heard anybody that I can think of other than Sridevi who started as a kid who else has done that? Amatak Bhakchand He was really young but he wasn't a kid He wasn't a kid? No, he wasn't. Was he ever a kid? I think B was born saying No, he's like Michael Cain He's just actually old, his entire... It's true, his entire... But yes, we love Sridevi We love you and miss you Sridevi and let us know what we should watch at first. Thank you!


t think love. But I don't think he didn't care. I think he had a legitimate, like loving friendship and like brother kind of love for Viserys, but couldn't get out of his own ambitious like way. Yeah. I think more so that like he thinks Viserys is a decent guy, could even be a decent king. It's like he's like fine with Viserys. Like he likes the guy well enough. But it's like, but I need to use you for my ambitions. Yeah, I mean, that's definitely always there. But I think there was legitimate, if yeah, if not love, definitely like a deep care and concern for him. Leanna, I just for fun wanted to look at your rings of power videos and the top doing great five. Yeah, the top five videos on your channel for views are all rings of power.  Oh, and you know, I did it on not on accident because I obviously had to put on like record a video. But like I didn't plan to cover that show at all. And then like episode three is when I started for the algorithm. No, it was like I literally I didn't even do episodes one and two.  Maybe no one will watch it, but it's an easy video. I can just say this and then apparently people liked it. So I kept doing it. That's why it ends up being funny too, though, because like I think it was Kyle. Kyle, it was either I was talking about rings of power or empire of the vampire. Kyle was like, you're way funnier when you don't like something that you're reading or watching.  It's a shame we couldn't hate House of the Dragon. And I didn't have so many comments on like people that like found me through rings of power, and then I would post a House of the Dragon video like directly thereafter, because every week that was the cycle.  And then they would see my like 45 minute analysis of the dragon. And they'd be like, the tone shift is wild. So you're just like, deep analysis. Let's discuss in-depth like the show versus just like, this is dumb. Well, yeah, because it does get frustrating. It's a have to address inconsistencies, right? Like like like like a minor things. It could be very soul zapping and kind of take the spirit out of things, which I actually didn't like hate rings of power so much as I just felt apathetic towards it, which is not what I want to feel towards Middle Earth.  She didn't watch any of the show. She watched my videos when I started taking off. You're like, good job. And so then she watched just the season finale of rings of power. Only that. And she was like, that was so boring. I don't understand how you watched eight episodes of that. So boring. There's someone on YouTube. I don't know who it is. I saw my home page and it says I watched the finale of House of the Dragon and try to figure out how we got here. And I'm like, man, I bet that was a trip because like they never would have guessed that they had been 20 years that passed in season one. I just I mean, I think I said this to my brother and Hillary that, like, just having these shows simultaneously, that like how rings of power feels like the Bilbo quote about feeling like too little butter scraped over too much bread, where there's just like nothing there and they're just like spreading it to barely eight episodes because they might be able to stretch the story that far. And House of the Dragon is like a burrito that you can't actually like fold over, like it's too much stuffed in there. And they're trying to get as much plot into every single second as they possibly can. And like seeing those shows show simultaneously is just insane. Yeah. Yeah. It makes you just kind of wonder, like, what if they had given the young cast an entire season, you know, like, I think you could have done it. I think you really. I think if they had known how much of a hit this was, they would have. Yeah, I think one thing that is a little tough and people have disagreed with me on this because I've seen a lot of people say that they feel like the mid seasons harder. But I do believe that if you end the season one with like Millie, right? And all the young actresses and actors, and then you come back for season two and it's a whole new cast, you have a bigger chance because of the time between the seasons, like a year and a half to two years. And then it's a whole new cast. You could lose people. Yeah, it's almost more jarring. I yeah, that that's my belief. I kind of feel that way. Except for Christopher Cole, who's just chilling. Dude, Damon and Crispy. Fine. They're fine. Even if they're Damon's hair, they did cut his hair. He might have had a wrinkle put on his forehead in the makeup tent. But I think the I feel like Damon is supposed to be considerably older than Rainier to begin with, whereas like Kristen is like more around her age to begin with. And the fact that he didn't age up, but she did. You're just like, now he looks younger than her. Fuck. Yeah, that is true. Matt Smith does look a little younger than Rainier and the show towards the end. Or at least at the same age. Like they're way closer than it would appear that it should appear, I should say. I think the Band-Aid ripoff mid-season is a little rougher. But I think that the bridge like and you can see it in the ratings like in what people gave stars wise, like six was a dip. And then seven, eight, nine, 10. I just I also think like it's not even that we got a jump. It's that there was certain things about the characters that felt so like I needed we went from A to C and I needed B. Like we just needed one more episode or more scenes or make each episode an hour and a half.  But it was just that like going from Allison to being like, I just found out Rainier might have lied to me to like the Allison that we see in episode six, who's just like mouthing off to the king and is like Rainier is a con and I'm on team person calling. It's like, I need to see point B in between these two things. You're five, but we got a time jump. So that's what that was. Yeah. And in some ways, it's kind of cool because and it's one of the things that separates it from Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones is a very close, like, you know, almost third person perspective over the shoulder type deal, but with fire and blood, it's more of a historical epic, you know, and it kind of feels that way with the sweeping time jumps, which is a bit of a brave decision because I don't think the common media consumer in America is used to that type of thing. But I mean, everything about House of the Dime, the names are the same. It's all politics to massive time jumps. It's the whole thing like on paper, every executive would be like, no, zero percent. Jeff Bezos checklist would not have been met with the show. But we're going to have titties and dragons. OK, you can run it. Yeah. Tennis, tennis. Jeff Bezos checklist for Ring of the Power. I can pull it up if you want to see it. What would he used to give them to be? No, he used to literally make and then not anymore. They got rid of it. So that's why it failed. Twelve step guide to making an iconic TV show. I don't think they applied this to rings of power, but these are the twelve things that Jeff Bezos. This is back when Man in the High Castle was on, which was a good show. And then yeah, I like that show.  So here's number one. There's twelve of them. Number one, a heroic protagonist who experiences growth and change. Two, a compelling antagonist. Number three, wish fulfillment. Number four, moral choices. Number five, diverse world building. Number six, urgency to watch next episode. Cliffhangers. Number seven, civilizational high stakes, global threat to humanity. Eight, humor. Nine, betrayal. I just like the global threat to humanity precedes humor on the list. Like these last three are the best. Number 10, positive emotions such as love, joy and hope. Negative emotions such as loss and sorrow. Yes. Number 12. This is the final one, the most important violence. Yeah, I don't know. The that show missed a lot of those checklist points, got to say. Weirdly, I think House of the Dragon nailed all those episodes. Did you think there was enough humor? And how is the dragon? Yeah, I saw some people say they wish there was a little bit more like Tyrion-esque typing.  I think there was just enough.  It's not like people aren't going around telling jokes. Like it's not the MCU. And Game of Thrones also really wasn't Tyrion was kind of funny, but it was a pretty serious show. People, I think, forget that.  It was also still pretty much only Tyrion. Yeah.  Like that's it. Same thing. Yeah. And I think it's OK not to be a balanced show with humor. Like a lot of people, a lot of people talk about balance, but I think it's sometimes whenever you try for balance, you can ruin the intention of the story or the art. I think it's actually overstated a lot. And if you want a really good example is Marvel are very balanced movies. They're very balanced. Some of them are not. Well, good Marvel movies. I'm thinking like the big stuff from earlier on, right? Like most recently, they've gotten away. I'd say, yeah, yeah. They got to a certain formula where like Thor, Love and Thunder is a dumb, fun movie.  And you can't stop me. As far as I know, Tycho, why did he did not want to make another Thor movie? He didn't contractually obligated to.  I'm making this literally. That's what he did. And I was just like, I'm just telling jokes and doing the entire. But there's also, there seems to be a fear in a lot of Marvel stuff of like letting a serious moment just stay and serious. They have to like cut it with a joke. No, no, no. House of the Dragon doesn't ever do that. Um, funniest moment in House of the Dragon was either Pink Dread or whenever Allison is like, you guys want to go look at the tapestries. And they say this is like, what the fuck? The tapestries get a load of this now. I think it was on Twitter or Reddit earlier today. So it was just like the moment when the house, like when the Dancing Dragon started, it was that scene when she's like, he doesn't look at tapestries and they're all just like, what a loser. It was also such a, but like that moment, actually, like as always, the show was layered because, yes, that was kind of funny, but it also was developing how much Viserys cares about Damon and how much he's like, that's my brother and I want to be with my brother and he's back and I don't care that I banished him and he's back because like we're hanging out and it's like old times. And Allison's very annoyed in that scene. And you can see Damon acknowledge it.  That's the start of it all. That there is literally no subcontext. Like I've seen some people. I honestly don't know when they've been present in the same vicinity long enough to have like consummated anything. I saw some people say because of the timeline changes that Jace could technically be Crispy Cole's kid. I don't know that so much. I don't believe that personally. Now, his hair is straight unlike his younger brother who has curly hair. Therefore, per Westerosi paternity testing where the hair is what matches. We did a short about it on Ben the Needs. Like one of our most successful short has 300,000 views. People love that theory. I don't believe it. I don't buy it. I don't think so. Um, that would make more sense, though, than Allison fathering Damon's kids.  I just went to the house of the dragons. I read it and it's a picture of Damon sleeping. It's how I sleep knowing that I won't be forced to listen to my Sariah talk for two more years. Oh, Missaria. You know, they just need to have more negative emotions like loss and sorrow in the show. The tapestries of orgies. I was the one to watch. Yeah, I don't know if people caught that, but those tapestries were graphic.  Don't we're getting that? Oh, man. Great show. It was a great show. So we had mentioned it initially. Was there a cast in choice we didn't like? Like that was actually like, I'd say bad or like a character was not convincing. Because I feel like the closest for me would be like Luke and. Who's the older one? Jason, Luke were forgettable. I would say they were forgettable. But like when they age them up, they were just kind of like doofuses. It is almost hard. But they still made me cry. Yeah, Luke. Luke did that on the 15th.  And they were just like slap this bull cut on him. Dude, when they there's memes about his posture when he's trying to leave. Did you see that shit? It's honestly so hard to say that like they didn't do a good job or something because they're surrounded by Emmy level.  Whereas like Rainier's kids, they're just nice. They're just good. They just try to be good sons. Just learn Valerian. So like what do you I mean? What kind of acting is mean? It's not memorable when you're just a nice guy, which is what they are. Yeah, I'm going to be over in that last scene, though, like when he goes to Storm's End and he was like actually just trying to stand up for himself a little bit. And even I mean, Jayce, too, when when Rainier deputizes them to be like, I'm having a baby. You be my voice in the room right now.  I say so. She's the queen. I was like, yeah. There was a scene after that that I thought was a little odd. And it's the only thing I didn't like in the last episode was whenever Damon like takes him and threatens the two Kingsguard with the dragon with Cyrax. And it's like asking for their loyalty. It was weird. It was a little weird, like this is, you know, watch this. And I just thought it was a little odd. I don't know what about it I didn't like, but it just didn't feel like it fit the episode. Cyrax slowly crawling down there, though, was bad. Dude, Worm Boy is the best.  This is how it's going to go. And Damon's like, this is how it's going to go. Yeah. And it's like the which and it ultimately kind of doesn't matter who sides with them. Yeah. And is that Damon's way? Like him showing the guards.  I mean, it's just like all around is like showing the guards what's up while also showing the kids this is what takes to rule. This is what's up. This is. Check out new the boy. Dragon says.  They're about to make the joke. He's older now. Just put it in. Dude, I would mark out. I would lose my mind if everyone knows that he's going to die because he dies in everything. Or get that actor who played Benjian. I'd be down. But he's already on rings of power. So I would say he's already at our side. You can't do that. But but young Sean Bean is also on rings of power. Now he tends. I would absolutely love for them to cast somebody that is powerful in the role of Craig and Stark. And I have confidence because they cast that a Baratheon and I was a little nervous. Yeah. But my God, he delivered.  Hey, Maester, do this.  I loved it. I was hired to lead not read. So good. The Floyd Mayweather of Westeros can't read at all. Another challenge for season two is everyone works to war. What will non warriors be doing?  In a room with Otto. If I auto her and Laris. No, not Ben Barnes. Not to mention, like, you know, if anyone's watching the Sam Red Fire and Blood and you were kind of missing the scope of Game of Thrones with like the different settings and the different places in Westeros, we're going to be seeing the Vale. We're going to be seeing. I think the opening scene is most likely going to be J's flying into Winterfell. Yeah, that's what I imagine, even though he's supposed to go to the Vale first. The theme is going to come in. It's going to be so sick. But you will see the Riverlands. We'll see all these places. So I think it's going to be really nice to see that branch open. And that's why the show is going to feel, I think, a little bit more methodical. That's first, at least. But Alice, it's going to be the thing that you have seen. The theory of Damon singing to Vagar to kill Luke is the. Now, that's not Vagar. That is Vermithor. Vermithor is Viseris's dragon that he never wrote after Black Dread was down. Yeah. Yeah.  Oh, I see what he's saying. He's saying people think that, but obviously it's Vermithor. I'm sorry, I didn't read it all the way through, Chris. Singing to Vagar to kill Luke. That's some 3D chess. It's also like, OK, let's say. OK, let's say that is Luke's dragon. He was singing to which it is. But let's say it was.  Like, what possible advantage could that possibly be to Damon? That people are so dumb. To believe to believe that and in the way that it happened, that is some howl brand on a raft in the middle of the ocean.  Yes, like that would actually be that. I mean, it's amazing, right? The people are like, Rainey's coming to the floor makes no sense.  And Amund is his son. And that means the day is actually the father of the Night King. Dude, if they cast Ben Barnes as Craig Onstar, I'm going to be pissed. I'm going to be so pissed. Favorite dragon, Vagar. Vagar is just a behemoth. That shot of him just hanging out right there at Storm's Inn. That shot, the one of I like the one in the clouds.  But Sir AXE is probably is the coolest design.  Just that wormy ass, like lanky dragon. It's like unsettling. He's almost moving like a snake. Just always weird looking. Yeah, and Vagar has that like sea monster feel to her.  Yeah, the throat. Yeah.  Do you think we'll see Cannibal, the dragon that like eats other dragons? It's a wild dragon because they because remember Damien was like, there's other dragons we contain.  Where? Like they will. Where was Cannibal, though? I you know what? I can't say because I don't know. I actually am not sure we're at. Because I know it's it's in the story, but I don't know where. I mean, it wouldn't be unsurprising to show that. That would be sweet. Dude, Cannibal could be cool. Maybe Amon's going to come back and be like, look, it was Cannibal. Cannibal could have an order to eat Luke. It was never going to believe this. It wasn't me. I was chasing him and trying to dismount him from his dragon in midair.  And like, I've never had a friend or I'm so sorry. Don't listen to my brother. What? It's much like this. Like 95 percent of the audience just went, oh, like you're fighting over something.  So you like punch them and they're like, yeah.  Yeah. Yeah. Or oh, God. And you're like, oh, like, how did we get here? That's exactly what that was, because they're kids. They're kids on nuclear weapons, like my kids when they're fighting. And like normally this scene would be taking place between toddlers. And it's all fun and games. But one of them is what I was going to say.  My kids will fight over something until my daughter, who's four, will either push the two year old brother or get in his face.  He just bites.  That's all I guess. So that's what these dragons were. They were two toddlers fighting. And Fagar decided to eat the other one. The whole last son of Allison. We never. Yeah, it is a little odd that, like, they don't really mention their own at all. I mean, OK, but it's only like more memorable to smell talks. And I'll be like, I love the target or the dragons don't talk. Now got shot by a dude named Bard, who just lived in Lake Town. OK, he wasn't even relevant to the hop. And he killed the biggest, baddest MF in Dragon in that entire. I really like that the dragons don't talk in Westeros. Yo, shout out to the Hobbit. What a great book. So good. Such a good book. The book, though. The book, the first movie is not terrible. Also, like the fact that we got Sherlock and Watson as Malg and Bill, though, I will love it forever for giving us that. The first Hobbit movie is good. I'll stand by that. It's a pretty good adaptation. Yeah. And then the next to it is, you know, bananas. But it's what people don't want to admit is that it's still fun. It's probably still in the top 20 fantasy movies of all time. And it's also OK.  So I'm saying it. But when when the new when Star Wars, like Episode seven, eight, nine, you know, Rise of Skywalker came out and everyone was like, you know, the Star Wars prequels, they weren't so bad. So like Rings of Power is making people go, you know, the Hobbit Reckoning. Oh, it's so bad. But also like you made an entire trilogy out of the Hobbit. Like you made the Battle of the Five Armies a movie when it was like a paragraph in a 300 page book. Yeah, I get making that a full battle scene scene. Yeah. Not a movie. Yeah. Yeah. They should have made it one movie. Dum-dums. They could have even made it two. I'll give it to you on a mini series. Oh, oh, I gotta tell you guys this. I don't know if you know this and this doesn't have a lot to do with House of the Dragons. So I apologize. But did you know that HBO lost to Bezos for the bid for this Tolkien show? But I mean, that's there. I've definitely seen theories from people saying that Bezos does not care about making Rings of Power good. He just bought the rights to it so no one else could do it. Did you know like HBO's plan, this is terrible. They were going to redo the trilogy as a TV show. Yeah. They weren't going to make rings. I thought that was the initial plan anyway, but they didn't have the rights to do that anyway. Well, I guess HBO was going to go through all the hoops. That was their that the reason why they wanted to win this bid is that they could go and remake the trilogy. And I think that is such a bad idea. That would have been really dumb. I know, but also there's fairness. We know about all these like As Long as I'm Fire shows that they wanted to make and then decided not to. It's very possible that they would have that. They initially thought they wanted to do that. But along the way, they'd be like, that idea. But we have the rights. Let's do something not that with it and come up with something like House of the Dragon, which is really good. Yeah, I think that trilogy will be relevant and still very watchable in like 50 years. It always is. It's so well done. You mean Lord of the Rings? Yeah, Lord of the Rings. Yeah. And yeah, the camera is talking about it. That battle scene was so dumb.  Do norms in the Orc army elves just leaping over a shield wall form of dwarves for no reason. It was dumb. They should do that. And then they should make it one movie for all 10 books. Yep. I'm just trying to hurt you. Why does it hurt so much? Glokta isn't crippled. He never even made stairs. Spoilers for my channel's future videos, but I was talking to a friend in this conversation just like my Rings of Power video was because I talked to friends. I'm planning to do a what if Amazon adapted first law video. Here's a hot taste. No one should adapt first law because you would have to make a lot of changes. I mean, I require if they whoever adapts first law, I require all the dialogue to be dubbed over by Stephen Pacey. Like, honestly, if you want to get the adaptation, just listen to Pacey and draw pictures. Like, it'd be better off that way because they would have to change a lot of the blade itself, I think. And I don't I don't really want them to. I just would rather it be its thing, you know? It's like far seer. It's like they could try, but I'd rather not. Like, I would say that it has the capacity to be an incredible adaptation.  So, like, it's not unadaptable. Like, people said Dune was unadaptable, but along came Dune and Villanue. So and Joe Abercrombie's young and he was a film editor before he was a writer. So, like, if he was involved with George R. Martin is if the right studio had it, like, I think it could be very good, but it also could be dog shit.    There you go. I like it solid.  Like Truth of the Seeker or whatever it's called is still, like, legendary because of how bad it was, right? Legend of the Seeker? Yeah, is that it? Legend of the Seeker. Like, people talk about it constantly because it was so poor. But, like, it was also, like, trying to be, like, legend. Or it was, like, Zena the Warrior Princess, like, Hercules, like, that's the kind of show that it was. And so I will say that, like, it is a lot more fun to watch Legend of the Seeker than Rings of Power because it was just, like, episodic episodes where there's some funny jokes and some wild action and some shenanigans. And, like, it's just, like, a good time, even though it's kind of dumb, whereas Rings of Power is not even a good time. Yeah, and I think about things like, like, his dark materials, I don't know if you watch on HBO. I watched the first season. It's really good. I started watching it, but I didn't. I feel like a lot of the changes they made from the books were just, like, stretch it out and make it a thing that it's not, because they're trying to make it, oh, it needs to be, like, epic and dramatic. And I'm like, OK, but the book really isn't that way. I haven't read them yet. I'm actually, that's one of my number one things I'm going to read next year. I'm really excited about it. Like, it just felt very dragged out. Like, I feel like it didn't need to be that dragged out.   I mean, I have watched, like, cumulatively, probably hundreds of hours of rings of power. I'm sorry, not rings of power. Rise of Skywalker, Rance. That's what I'm saying. Like, if it came out and it was just OK, you'd be like, yeah. Yeah.  Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, yeah, love or hate, and it's best not to be ignored. I think that that's pretty valid for adept patients, too. Like, if you're going to mess it up, you need to mess it up bad.  I would, like, a 10-minute uninterrupted one-take-of-glock-to-climbing stairs and saying every obscenity exists. I mean, I would be down with that. I mean, you know, like, the intro to the episode should be with a black screen and just the sound of a cane tapping on stone. And then you maybe hear, while it's still, while it's a black screen, you hear an internal monologue of, why do I do this? Why do I do this?  I feel like if they adapted the blade itself to screen, the way that it is portrayed in the book, it would get canceled after one season. Because of...  Policeness? Yeah, that mean you don't mind. But I'm talking about, we're not talking about us. We're talking about the general audience, the people who watch Mass Singer every Tuesday or whatever it's on. You know what I mean? If they have enough like sex and violence in it, people would watch it.  I mean, you've got Giselle. He's good for her. He's a looker. Henry Cavill.  There you go. There you go. Henry Cavill as Logan Ninefingers. Is it Cavill or Cavill? I don't know. I think it's Cavill. I think it's Cavill. I think you're right. I don't think HBO would ever pick up First Law. I think it's too close to Game of Thrones for them. I think whoever picked it up would be trying to rival, compete with. Which sucks, because let's be honest, like the only television company that I trust is HBO. I think Showtime would be okay. Showtime is a little underrated yet because they've had like Ray Donovan and some other stuff. And they also did like historical epics, you know, that are all based on this Philip Gregory books, which is like the same, you know, swords and like armies and like it's that type of thing. Yeah, it just makes you wonder like if something were on, let's say, you know, House of the Dragon had been on Showtime. Do you think as many people would have watched it? I don't think so, yeah. I don't think. HBO does have that cache.  HBO, ATT time, all of that has been growing. But at the same time, like Game of Thrones was a big risk when HBO did it the first time. And now we're like, well, obviously HBO would be the, I mean, before they did Game of Thrones, I would never have said HBO should do a fantasy show. Yeah, but I do think there's a competency that comes out of HBO for anything that they attempt. It's like, it's at least. I think in Showtime is also. Yeah, no, I agree. I mean, way more, I would rather like. I think Showtime did the Tudors, didn't they? Did they? I think they did. I think you might be right. I'm pretty sure. And the Tudors was a big hit. Was it? And it had Henry Cavill in it. That's the key. Yeah, yeah, it was on Showtime. Interesting. And I mean, I could trust Netflix to do it because they've done a decent job with this kind of stuff. I mean, I'll tell you this, I'd take Netflix over Amazon at this point. But also like, so weirdly, I would have said that I would also trust Amazon before now because like Good Omens and The Boys, like they have the Man in the High Castle, like they have done good stuff. But we're the only two people like Man in the High Castle. Oh really? My parents. My parents, absolutely. It was not well received, unfortunately. I loved it. I mean, there was stuff that I didn't like, but overall, what a great premise. I mean, obviously. It's also varied. I don't know if you've read the original by Philip K. Dick. I haven't. No, I actually haven't read any Philip K. Dick. In my opinion, the show is better. Damn. These comments are gonna be rough. But those big Philip K. Dick fans. At two hours and 44 minutes and 50 seconds. Everyone's balanced as soon as they're brought up for our slaw. They're like, ah, she's doing it. Here we go. She's doing her shtick. Yeah, but House of the Dragon. An absolute success. I'm, yeah. I mean, I tried to go in with temperate expectations being like, it'll be pretty good, I think. But, you know, whatever, it'll be fine.  Damn, y'all are really knocking out of the park. Yeah, it became, I think after episode like three or four, I was like, I was like, I no longer have to worry about this show nose diving. You know? And I think it's, We should like, I keep watching Andor and being like one of these episodes, it's gonna start sucking. It's gonna start sucking. It's gonna start sucking. And so far, I'm like, this is really good so far. Which is why when I saw that thing about Snoke, I was like, I knew it. I knew it was gonna start sucking. There is like a, almost a tendency, I guess you would call it of the online community. Carnival row, Amazon did carnival row and they're doing a season two. So yeah, I would have said Amazon could do it, but not in our mouth. For a watch, Carnival row is good.  So good. I do think that there's a want to be the first people to say, I told you so about House of the Dragon, which resulted in online communities pointing at things that weren't big deals to make. It's the same as like the guy got dumped by a girl once so now I hate all women. Yeah, they got fooled in season eight, right?  And they want to be the first people to say, I knew this was gonna work. You can't hurt me if I never love you. That it's that. And everyone's jumping the gun, right? Oh, Rainies, that's it. That's the D&D moment. And it's like, it's really not. There's nothing in this. You know, there are things that we can nitpick and there's real criticisms for sure that aren't nitpicks. But at the end of the day, it was more than I even expected, thinking it would be good. And as far as numbers go, it was a massive success for HBO. We're just thinking it's great. Cause like, I hate so often that like something good is produced, but then like, you know, with good books and stuff that like, oh, but it's not a best seller. Everyone's reading garbage. That's like Andor. I mean, Andor is apparently a great show and people aren't watching it. Which at the same time, like that's where I blame Disney for it because like, I don't blame people for being burned out on Star Wars content. They're like, like Andor is paying for the sins of previous bad shows. Well, I'm also going to say this. And this is probably not the popular opinion to say to Star Wars people. We all say we want something other than skywalkers. We all say this.  Uh-uh, because like one of the first Star Wars shows to come out was the Mandalorian and it was not a like canon character. It was just some guy walking around the desert and people loved it.  We don't want this anymore. I mean, I agree with you to an extent, but I think everyone lost their minds when a certain character showed up in Mandalorian season two though. But by the, I mean Mandalorian was already very successful before that happened. Well, that's true. I'm not saying that it's impossible. I guess what I'm saying is that you're a lot more likely to see the general population get behind something. Cause you have to remember like, you know. I mean, I said this about Andor that it's like the game of thrones of Star Wars. Like in terms of the tone and vibe of it is that it's highly political and complicated. It's not like, shoot the bad guy.  Yeah. It's a lot like the Targaryens. I saw people even like equate Targaryen sister eyewalkers, which makes me my head hurt. But, you know, of course they did the Targaryens cause the Targaryens are the most popular and they're going to give Craig and Stark a huge role like the Starks are gonna have a huge role because they're going to recognize that name brand potential. And you just have to remember. They are the ruling family. Like the crown was made about the ruling family in England, not about some. Yeah, the Targaryens shaped the world as we know it when you get to. Yes. A song of ice and fire, like. It's also surreal to see like Kings Landing with Targaryen banners everywhere. Like as someone who watched, you know what I mean?  But I guess we just overestimate. I think we overestimate the general viewers. I really do. Which is why I am so pleasantly surprised that like House of the Dog is popular cause it's dense. It's not like super, it's not a casual watch. So the fact that it's as popular as it is and like, so we can't have nice things. My in-laws watched it and they were very confused but they loved it. And I had to explain a couple of things to them. They were like, but Reneers Queen but Aegon already got Crown King. And I was like, yep, you got it. And they're like, but they can't both. And I'm like, yep, you're almost there. Like you're almost there. Sorry, just picturing your relatives. And being like, wait, they can't both wear the crown. I mean, it was- But I like that it's that and not like, but aren't they relatives and they're- Oh, they can't both. They're from West Virginia, yes. Isn't that her uncle? We like to keep it in the family. I love all the meming about like, Damon and Reneers kids when they get married about how like their like, father's mother, uncle aunt just died. So now their mother and uncle can now marry and they can, like that situation, that's a lot. Yeah, it's messy. I mean, a family tree is more of a family circle. Yes, a spiral. Oh, they canceled Westworld and Raised by Wolves. I watched the first season of Raised by Wolves and really loved it. Apparently the second thing about them canceling Westworld though is that like the latest season, I think was done and like filmed. And then they were just like, they were not making the final season now. And so I'm pretty sure the showrunner was just like going to release what they were going to end it on because it was like out of the blue. I was just like, yeah, we're done with this. They lost almost four, like, like their viewers got cut by a fourth. That's because the show's not good anymore. But still, I agree. I think season one is one of the best seasons that season one of Westworld is just one of the greatest shows I've ever seen.  And then season three was just like, we're just doing it every show now. Yeah, I couldn't get behind two and three. And Raised by Wolves, I watched season one really like that. And apparently season two, they went out in left field like crazy. Season one was also pretty wild. Apparently, season two is even more batshit. I'll shift X covered it. And I just remember tuning into one of his live streams was like, I don't care if I get spoiled for it.  Like he was like, what the fuck? I just love watching it for Travis Bimble's performance because he was he's getting cast in the Dune prequel. Yeah. The sisterhood. Nice. That's going to be dope. He's a good actor. He was always my favorite part of Vikings. Yeah, he is. It was Travis Bimble. Oh, yeah. That's speaking. That show sucked when he left, too. I haven't seen it. I thought it sucked at first and then kind of kind of like the office that like kind of sucked after Steve Carell left and then kind of found its way again before the end. I mean, it found its way and was watchable, but it never got to like peak Vikings for me. I know, but I did really like Ivar. I've heard. Yeah. He was fun to watch. I need to watch Vikings. I haven't watched it yet. Watch Vikings. I heard it's really good. Vikings is very good up until a certain thing happens and a character leaves the show. And then it's kind of like Ivar. Sure. Whatever. It's like the last people. All these people going to have jobs in the first lot adaptation. The last kingdom kind of did the same thing, too, though, where it was super good for like, like I I enjoyed it all the way through. But there's a point in the show where it starts to feel very different. And it's because they literally fired they either fired or the entire writing team like quit one way or another. Like the entire writing team changed. And then it like tonally started feeling different, like plot choices started getting like really convenient. Like the show started like characters were acting different. And it was because they literally changed the entire writing staff. I was like, oh, well, that makes sense.  They only they could have just handed it over. I don't know if you ever if you guys ever watch Fringe, which I love. I did not. But like they just suddenly found out they were getting canceled. So the last season is like half the number of episodes. And it just goes completely insane. And you're just like, was this the end game plot you had planned for the next five seasons? And you're like, we're doing it now. They just fit it in. So season two, we have to wait till 2024. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, a bit of a kick in the taint. Not great. I'm sorry. Oh, what? It's OK. We get Wheel of Time season two before them. Yeah. What if it's good? It's not going to be. But sure. Not going to be good. I bet it will be better than Rings of Power. I fully believe Rafe. Found the error in his ways and will actually adapt any of the material. Yes. Also, black sales is good. So stars could do first law. I would trust stars. Yeah, I've heard that that show is actually really great. I would say it's a bit of a slow start. Like it doesn't hook you right away. It took me a few episodes, but the Toby Stevens, the guy that plays like the main the main pirate. He's really, really good. He's Maggie Smith's son. But isn't Jorah on black sales? Is he? I think so. I think it'll Jorah the Explorer. But Toby Stevens is Maggie Smith's son. I don't know what that means. Maggie Smith. McGonagall. Oh, OK. No. Oh, great. So now I know you're super excited about my sales because of that information. Thank you. That was quite the sales pitch because McGonagall's son is on it. I mean, he's a pretty good looking man. He's a good actor. I just feel like usually people know who that is right away and are like, oh, that's crazy. Instead of like crickets. Not us. Dame Maggie Smith. Anyway, well, it is late. So we've been talking. OK, we have to talk for four more minutes, so it's a perfect three hours. Give us some deep cuts, Jimmy. I got I got absolutely nothing. Tell us about lemon trees in Dorn. Absolutely, I find favorite episode. Oh, eight for sure. Why the Saras's walk?  I saw some people hated it.   Like the king just gave past sentence and that is not what the king said to do. And you can't just chop people's heads off. I don't care what era this is. That's not a thing you can just do. But you can because this Damon and, you know, he has a soft spot for Damon and he was but he was basically like, here's the rope. Please hang yourself. And he was like, all right, I'm going to do it. Bastards. Like it didn't bother me as much as Kristen killing Joffrey because Damon is a prince and the brother of the king. But it was still like you can't. I know you say back in the day, but like, no, you can't just chop people's heads off and no one says or does anything.  And Damon was like, I'm done with you.  Oh, man. I mean, at the very least, I thought it was sick.  It was enjoyable as a moment because, like, as soon as that happened, my brother and I were both like, he didn't even get his tongue cut. And then Damon goes, he can keep his tongue. And we're like, OK, they directly answered. And we just said to chase her. So Damon hurt us. We felt seen. Yeah, it was pretty brutal. The Valerian Steel, huh? It was it was so cartoonish. It felt like something out of a Tarantino movie. I think that might be why I liked it. Yeah, it just like didn't fit the tone of the show. Why not? I don't know. I'm not saying the killing did.  It was a sharp sort, man. Comic book. So Valerian Steel, it's magical. Apparently, also really great scene that's really subtle is whenever Viseris air for a day and Viseris and Damon are arguing and Viseris like rips black fire and switches his grip on the sword. You guys remember that? It's like when Damon kind of steps forward, it's pretty sick. He's also just pissed. I was like one of the few times Viseris is just like legit angry. Yeah, any time those two interacted on screen, it was money. Yeah, I was going to say like, I feel like I was prepared to quote Patrick Rothfuss for something else, but like wise man's fear is that like there's two things that a wise man fears.  Yeah, and feet. The other one of the feet. But the actual quote that I thought I would quote much sooner is the one that I always quote. And I feel like at this point, Patrick Rothfuss owes me money. To love something because it's easy. That's like putting a penny in your pocket, but to love something despite to know the flaws and love them to that is rare and pure and perfect. And we know there's flaws in House of the Dragon. So Damon is rare and pure and perfect.  Yes, my perfect prinsling. He wasn't really children era. Slay, slay, so toxic queen. I love that that scene, though. He choked her and she still came out on top. She was like, he didn't tell you.  Yeah, yeah, I forgot about that, too. That's another reason why the prophecy, you know, is used just further than just being like, hey, guys, you get it. Because in that scene, yes, he choked her, but he didn't win that argument. No, we hit three hours. Yes. OK, bye. Well, thanks for coming on. And thanks for having us. I'll talk to you in two years when House of the Dragon season. Can't wait. Never before that. You're not allowed to speak now until House of the Dragon season two airs. Crashed. That is how these friendships work. Yeah, that's what my contract says. I'm just here so I don't get fined. OK, thanks for coming, everyone.


Three states' libertarian voters may decide, by Tho Bisham, an audio-mesis wire narrated by Million Quinteros. For a short period of time, America's libertarian moment was a go-to topic for political pundits in a variety of publications. Since 2016, the role of libertarians in political discourse has tended to devolve away from a relevant political demographic into a weird scapegoat for the left and right. On the left, pundits, assisted by a certain clique of Beltway-dwelling libertarians, have focused on an alleged libertarian-to-alt-right pipeline. Interestingly, a group that often mocked conspiracy theorists in the movement suddenly found Nazis behind every speech promoting political decentralization and social cooperation. Meanwhile, a new generation of right-thought leaders including Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon identified libertarians and Austrian economics as a major driver in what they saw as a corporate takeover of American government. While both Carlson and Bannon deserve credit for helping normalize a non-interventionist foreign policy in the mainstream of Republican party politics, their woefully misinformed attack on Austrians actively undermines many of their own objectives. While it's possible their choice of language was intended to target a certain group of billionaire libertarian benefactors, reading Mises, Rothbard and Hoppe, while it's possible their choice of language was intended to target a certain group of billionaire libertarian benefactors, reading Mises, Rothbard and Hoppe would assist both of them in properly identifying their actual enemy, fiat money and central banking. Still, while the libertarian electorate is not as popular a topic as it once was, it could actually be a very important demographic this year. In particular, there are three states where Gary Johnson voters could flip enough delegates to give one party an electoral college victory. Nevada The largest of these states is Nevada with six electoral votes. Home of Freedom Fest, a libertarian event and one of Donald Trump's first official campaign events as a candidate in 2015, the state is dominated by the population centers of Las Vegas and Reno. In 2016, Donald Trump lost the state to Hillary Clinton by around 2,700 votes. Gary Johnson surpassed the difference with 37,000 voters. As was the case for the libertarian party as a whole, Governor Johnson's 3% advantage was historically high for America's largest third party. Johnson came in with just shy of 11,000 votes in 2012. What makes Nevada interesting is the state's obvious reliance on the tourism industry. While much media attention has been paid to Joe Biden's comments about fracking and its impact on Pennsylvania workers dependent upon that industry, less attention has been paid to how tourist-dependent economies may view stark differences in COVID. Nevada's pro-lockdown Democratic governor has become increasingly unpopular with independence in the state. A recent poll showed 56% of independents disapproving of the response. Perhaps a sign of the political unpopularity of lockdowns is decreased turnout among Democratic voters. According to Target Smart, Democrats had 42% of the turnout the day before the election in 2016, in 2020 that's dropped by 2%. This is particularly telling given the Biden campaign's focus on VBM or vote by mail, which pushed dependable Democratic votes earlier into the election cycle. Meanwhile, Las Vegas' Clark County has seen a 2% increase in independent voters. The question is, are independent voters motivated more by an anti-Trump narrative or concerns about the potential of executive action on future COVID lockdowns? If so, this could be an unexpected Trump victory. One additional variable that could lead to an extra messy election? Nevada is a state that went to a universal vote by mail model, with ballots sent to every registered voter. We've already seen the state's turnout surpass 2016. This is assumed to be a major advantage for Democrats, but perhaps the true silent majority may be more complex than pundits assume. New Hampshire The most iconic libertarian state in the union continues to be New Hampshire, which has largely remained a beacon of sanity relative to its fellow New England states during the age of COVID. In 2016, some polls saw Hillary Clinton going into the election, with as much as an 11% advantage, though Trump ended up losing by just above 3,000 votes. This year, polls have shown a consistently large lead for Joe Biden since May. Without any in-person early voting, there is little voter data that would point to a surprise outcome. Should the results play out as prognosticated, it perhaps highlights missed opportunities by the Trump administration to deliver on some of 2016's more libertarian promises. If Donald Trump ends up losing by fewer than New Hampshire's four electoral votes, the defeat may be the direct result of the administration's inability to end any of the various wars unpopular with voters. While the president has promised to withdraw from Afghanistan and Iraq in the near future, and has paid lip service to a federal end to the war on marijuana, the lack of follow-through may have alienated many live, free, or die state voters. Kind tweets to Ron Paul will only go so far with proudly ideological voters. New Mexico One of the major narratives of the 2016 campaign has been President Trump's success with Hispanic voters. While the left often makes the mistake of seeing Hispanic voters as a homogeneous voting block, significant differences exist between Hispanic populations across the country. Miami's Cubans vote very differently from Mexicans living in Texas. That being said, organic Spanish-language content created by Trump supporters is the closest this election cycle has seen to the meme magic of 2016. If Trump is able to improve his performance with Hispanic voters, this is one state that could become interesting, and this has become reflected in the coinciding Senate race. In 2016, Donald Trump lost to Hillary Clinton by just over 8%. The same year, Gary Johnson earned over 9% of voters. If we acknowledge the possibility that Joe Jorgensen lacks the same relationship with New Mexico voters than its former governor did, where might these 74,000-plus voters land? Like Nevada, New Mexico has a Democrat governor who has taken a strong government hand in the face of the coronavirus. While business owners have pushed back against some of the enforcement, the public as a whole has seemed to be more supportive of Governor Grisham's actions. The only potential lifeline to the Trump campaign may be the concerns about what Democrats could do to the fracking industry, which is a major economic driver in the state. Still, this looks like the least likely of the three to be in play. For more content like this, visit Mises.org.