An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

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>> If you have enough of a following, you can shit on a platter and people will give it five stars. Maybe what's actually coming through is maybe guys don't like sci-fi. >> No, that is not. >> Don't know. >> No, no, no, no, no, no. >> I don't know. >> I have no idea. >> I have no idea. >> I felt zero. >> Like I felt, yeah, devoid of any feelings at all reading some tire book. She's dying. She's in a life or death situation and she's Facebook live streaming. [MUSIC]

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>> Hello, everyone and welcome to me in book club. This week we read an absolutely remarkable thing by Hank Green. >> It's true. >> Yes, it's true. >> It's true. >> It's true. >> Sarah, do you know you sound a little tiny bit like a robot every time? It's the way you say it's so perfectly the same every time. >> Whoa. >> It's a different book title. >> I know everyone and welcome to mean book club. >> This week we read. >> Hello everyone and welcome to me in book club.

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>> Like the robot aliens of this book, you mean? >> Yes. >> When she ties it back and she doesn't let us touch it. >> Just. >> [LAUGH] >> We're a mean book club. We read books that are New York Times best sellers. We think shouldn't be. We are all your hosts. I'm as always there, Burton. >> What's up? I'm Clara Morris. I'm Johnna Scrabis. And I am Sabrina. Be Jordan. >> All right. >> All right. >> Hey, Clara. >> Why are we seeing this? >> Why are we doing this?

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>> We are reading this book because it was recommended to us by a reader. As all our books are these days. >> On Twitter. >> No, I can't read it. >> For example, also a reader. >> She reads books. She reads books. >> We've actually spoken with her before. We got to via Twitter. It's @Froudstine on Twitter. Her real name is Kathy. Last season she recommended. She's got our wires crossed.

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She was like, here's a good refreshing book called Clara and the Sun. And we were like, yeah, let's do that to roast that. >> Kathy. >> I mean, I didn't really like it. So it worked out well for me. >> Yeah, what's the good book I think for the cast? >> Yeah. >> I believe like a poll that surprised what a book by like a Nobel Laureate author. So that's your tricky. >> Yeah. >> But this time, she recommend we got all our wires connected.

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And we have recommended a to quote for us down slash Kathy of rather bad one. >> And quote. Wait, that's all it took. >> First, she did say anything else? >> That's it. She said if you're still looking for recommendations, this is what the-- >> It's not really. >> Even planned out myself. >> I know. >> I knew this book was about like some like YouTube sensation. That's all I knew about this book. So that must have been a selling point for us, I think.

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>> Yeah, I mean we then looked it up and we're like, this is what's about. And then we were like, that sounds really like-- >> I got excited. >> I didn't remember the alien stuff if that was-- >> I don't think that was necessarily-- and I think that's supposed to be a reveal. So I don't know that it was in that-- >> That's right. >> Well, she didn't know spoilers already. >> She's just like-- >> There's no way you could spoil this book.

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It's like looking at a garbage dump and being like, oh, it's about to go bad. It's like it's been a great bad all Stakes. >> There's gonna be some difference of opinion on this cat. >> Oh, yeah. >> No. >> I'm so drained. >> I actually can't believe it. Even though it's coming from Sabrina, I actually cannot believe it. >> I actually had to find-- >> That like somebody liking this book means I can't like them as a person. >> I have to see the thought there.

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I was like, I think if you like this book, there's something fundamentally wrong with you. And I don't know how we could even ever have a conversation. >> Wow, what if you loved it? >> Oh, I'm going to agree with you. >> Just like asking for a friend. >> Just asking-- >> Like I have a spike of rage. Just sort of when I get something really quick, like it floods me. I guess it's adrenaline floods me when you say that. >> I am so grateful for you, Sabrina. I'm really excited for this cast now.

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>> Me too. >> I thought we were all going to do what I want to be loved it. >> No, you did not. >> I did. >> I did until I got a text message earlier today that said, this book makes me want to die. There was a hundred emoji to that. And I think also I thumbs up. >> Okay. >> I didn't notice that you didn't add on to that. >> This book makes me want to kill. It doesn't make me want to die. It makes me want to like punch myself. >> My child for your background check.

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>> Yeah, I think I am going to come right up. >> So how did you guys read this book? >> Audio book library. Very simple. >> Yeah, this wasn't at my Glendale library. So I had to pretend I was a LA resident so I could get into that library. >> So I did. And that's why I got it. Audio book, baby. >> Wow. >> Nice. >> Would you think of the audio speaker, reader? >> I thought she was doing her best. >> I get it. >> But her voice wasn't knowing. Her voice was not.

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>> Her voice was very knowing but I thought it was appropriate for the text. >> I got it from the live. I didn't have to misrepresent myself. >> I did. >> It was very available in Brooklyn. >> Well, here's the thing. If you requested it a little too early as I did, as John has said it was initially very available. So I got it. And that came and went and you can't renew online materials. I had the online audio book. So then I had to request it again.

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I requested it in every format that I could to see what would ever become available first. And the hardback became available first. Just three days ago, two days ago. And so I read a real fast. Hardback version though. So if we want to dive into judge a book by it. >> Yeah. >> How far is the test? >> I think that. >> I actually think this is a good one for this segment because the book, the book, the cover of the book, I think makes it look very appealing. >> I think it looks cool.

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>> It looks cool. It's blue. It's the back splash is like a lighter blue. And then there's what you think is just a geometric pattern. But until you get into the book, you realize it's dark blue imprints of little robots all over it. And then in lime green, very big font. It says an absolutely remarkable thing, Hank Green. And the word a novel is also in there. >> Yes, you've never seen a book before and you want to. >> It kind of looks like a box.

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>> The album, like what you'd imagine, the album cover of Monster Mash to look like. >> Yeah. >> A little bit. >> That's why it made me feel fun. >> I think you know that boring and intriguing at the same time. >> No good texture going on. It's just like a boring, no raise. But there is. If you look down in the right hand corner above the end in green, one of the robots has eyes lit up that you can see. But none of the rest do. >> I think that does not happen in the book. >> It's a cloud.

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>> I didn't realize those robots are very plain looking, like very boxy. >> Oh yeah. >> Artistic. >> It just looks like a geometric pattern. >> Yes, flash. >> Now, we're in a one question for you. You said that the book doesn't have any texture. Are you getting the library's plastic cover? >> I squinched my fingers under. >> You got under. >> I got under. >> And it's not like a real. >> Okay. >> John, did you not have a hard copy? >> No, I had that exact same card bag.

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>> Yeah. >> I wanted it out of my house as obviously soon as you were like possible. I didn't trust myself not to hurt it. >> Inside covers kind of interesting you open it up and it's a great skill. >> That's not a segment. >> No, no, no, no. >> It's a great skill. >> It's a skill that spells out words like. >> I think the words are maybe dead bodies. >> Or always. >> I think it spells words. >> Bad ideas always. >> Maybe it's a more sharp task and it's just what you want to see.

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>> Bad ideas always decrease you. It does not say dead bodies in case that's what you thought. >> Okay. >> We're not doing the inside of the books. >> It's too much. >> Judge a book by the inside of it. >> Bad idea. >> Clara. >> Wait no, no. Clara, Clarkson. >> I don't have it. I didn't have it. >> Clara culminates. >> Clara. >> Clara. >> Clara. >> Clara. >> Clara. >> Clara. >> Clara. >> Clara. >> I'm going to go ahead and do the summary. >> No. >> It's now time for the summary. >> Clara.

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>> It has to be cast and I think both Sabrina and John and New what parts they want. Can you say it at the same time on the count of three, one, two, three. >> Carl. >> Yep. >> Who said which? >> I said April. >> And I said Carl. >> Okay great. Sabrina, you are April, Johnny, you are Carl. >> I say on the other opposite. >> I know I would never. Sarah, you're going to have two parts because they're not very meaty. >> Sure. >> That's just the best I can do.

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You're going to be the president and you're going to be Peter. >> I'm going to sit back and enjoy it. >> Enjoy your meal. >> That's the kind of genre so you never got from a Sabrina sums it up. >> Thank you for noticing. >> That's really wild. >> Clara. >> I don't need that negative energy going into this though. We're all friends. We're working to bring material to life in the best of our abilities. >> Okay. >> Here you go. >> Hi, I'm April.

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All of New York thinks that they're too important to notice street art. Not me, I can see street art. I made a video standing next to a weird statue. It went viral even though I brought no value to the table. But I did talk. Cute, quirky. Like the 20 something who lives in New York City that I am my dooters. >> I am the statue. I am not art. I am an alien. >> I am bad at adulthood. Is that a deer egg? >> WTF. >> LOL. >> PRP. >> I talk in puzzles in your dreams and also Wikipedia.

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But for summary purposes, I'll say it clearly here. I'd like some elements that include your anium. I'm here to observe humanity. Baby, that's all. Maybe it's for something sinister. This book doesn't say because it needs to leave room for a sequel. >> CRINGE. I gave the alium elements they wanted. >> DIY much? >> I'm the president. >> I'm guessing for sure the alium are here in peace. And I'm getting more famous for videos saying as much. And people believe me. PS. The name is so weird.

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And I like it. There's different levels and I'll describe those like their profiles. >> Fathletes are not as famous as Jesus. >> For example. >> I'm Alex Jones, Jordan Peterson type. And I think the alians are probably evil and apoles are more on. And I'd be the one to side within this book, except I also think apoles bad for being by. >> My hand detached and saved apoles life. Then later when she dies, I bring her back to life because I'm an idiot. I guess. >> I don't know how that did land.

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>> It's good. >> I'm an idiot. I guess you did great. >> I love that. >> It's really good. >> I am glad that we did casting in a way that matched me with my sexuality. >> That's true. >> I was your choice. >> I didn't type cast. >> Is that why you like book? >> Is that why you like the book? >> I didn't know for a little bit of the book that she was bisexual, but. >> You got to have a lesbian? >> No, I honestly, well I liked it from the get. >> And I did think she was lesbian.

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>> And then I found out she was bi-elected. >> And the book. >> A big part of it is that her publicist is like, we've got to erase your biness and just make you a lesbian. >> This is going to be important in significant. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian.

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>> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian.

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>> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> I'm not sure if she's a lesbian. >> It is the orange and black bottle that is at every single liquor store. When you go to look for champagne, there it sits. It is the first one that you will pick up. The reason that is our paired alcohol is because when the main character, Saki April, gets famous. Her publicist is like, whoa, this was a great day.

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The president of the United States College, so I'm sending you champagne. And April is like, I'm more of a sparkly vodka lemonade gal. >> I'm annoying. >> Just shut up. >> You're 23 years old. >> No, you don't want champagne. >> Just take it. >> You don't want a bottle of champagne. >> I'm sure it's good enough. >> I used to bottle of champagne. >> It's from a rich lady. >> And then the publicist is like, well, maybe this bottle of champagne will change your mind.

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So I got my version of a nice bottle of champagne, which is a $14 and 17 cent per seco. And I encourage all of you to do the same. >> Nice. >> Enjoy. >> Clink. >> Clink. >> She's loving it. >> McDonald's. >> No, McDonald's. >> No. >> Don't judge. >> John has juggs. >> It just, if it sounds like anything else, it's purely quits. >> Great. >> Same idea. >> Same time. >> All right. >> All right. >> Guys, we have a lot more to talk about this book. We're going to take a quick commercial break.

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We'll be right back. [MUSIC] >> And we're back. >> All right, Claire, you're going to tell us about this book. >> It's going to be an author in everybody. >> Yeah, let's start with Hank Green, our author. >> Okay. >> Back in the weekend, it was seven. >> Yeah. >> His brother. >> And also he started doing this YouTube series, that was kind of like a little bit reality TV between the two of them. A little bit vlog. They call themselves a vlog brothers.

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And they were like, can two brothers keep in touch just through YouTube video conversations, video taping our video calls. And it was a huge hit on the internet. A lot of people really liked it. My conclusion from that. And with the background knowledge of reading this book is that there were not enough internet videos in 2007. So anyway, he was a big YouTube guy. He now has like 16 channels. They do human is brothers do a lot of education. They have a lot of education.

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They have a lot of education. They have a lot of education. They have three and a half million subscribers on their channel. His brother, who I've mentioned a few times, is named John Green. And he is also an author. He was an author first in 2012, five years after their vlogs took off so much. He wrote the Folten Our Stars, which he may not hear. Oh, my God. And I thought I couldn't dislike this man more. They look so much alike. Holy shit. So first of all, he's a nepo brother.

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Secondly, his brother wrote the one book that I refused to do on this channel. Let us do it. He's written a lot of you are looking for a lasco, which was made in the book. This is the brother. This is the brother. This is the brother. We're sure. Yeah. He has done a lot. He has certainly a brand of book that he writes. Our guy is pretty big on TikTok. He has 17.3 million followers on TikTok. Where he does a lot of science stuff. So I just some of the titles were like,

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"Do we share DNA with mushrooms? Why don't we use waves for energy? Little things like that? There was one that was our short people at less of a risk for cancer. Did you watch the match? I was interested in. Absolutely not. I'm not giving him a view. I'm not giving him one view. And I'm just going to assume that the answer is yes also. He as a science guy by education. So he's a undergrad. He studied biochemistry and then he has an MS in environmental studies. From the University of Montana.

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He lives in Montana now with his wife, son and cat. I'm pretty sure he's never lived in New York based on the book where he tries to describe living in New York. And also my research grew up in Orlando with their Montana. Don't see one in New York in there. I'm sure he visited for his special video stuff. Video conferences. Do we know where I'm college? Yeah, it's also in Florida. Some small school but I looked up where it was. So it's also in Florida. Nice try those. Let's see.

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I felt this was interesting to motivate himself to write this book. He set up a Patreon and had patrons pay him a dollar for every chapter. So they paid him a dollar. They got to read a chapter and offer feedback. So I'm actually interested. Yeah, he had a. I mean it seems like it didn't work as what I'll say as a system. But I do like the idea of just trying to like gamify making myself right because it is hard to make yourself right. It is hard. Yeah, that's true.

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I guess I feel bad for the people he conned into paying their dollars. No, fuck them because they're the one insurance is loyal to people following and like they need to get a freaking life. They're probably listening and hate this but. But he had I'm worried it was. You follow me. You don't get me. I'm sure it's still here. Did you mention that they have a podcast? The brother's have a podcast. That's very podcast. No, I didn't find it really.

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Okay. I'm afraid that that's going to be where we're going to get some hate from there. They're podcast following. Oh, shoot. Well, I did. I was talking to some of our better podcasts recently and they were like maybe you could sort of lovingly hate on the books and that'll sort of make it more palatable. And I was like. No, I like we should. We should. We should. We should. A lot of people. I don't know. Any appetizer we've ever tried to court. I love it. Yeah, I was like, no, it's not loving.

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It's not like we're not they're not in on the joke. A lot of times we're really mad and I'll tell you what from my end. This is going to be one or I'm legitimately mad. But we do have Sabrina. So there is some loving going. Yeah. And help that to the advertisers. Let's see. I just had one other little quote from him that I thought was interesting. You know, we're kind of jumping topics here. But as he's written this book from the point of view of a by woman.

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And he does he does a dress that he says. The balance between recognizing that I'm a fairly straight dude and wanting to still story starring a by woman is something I think about a lot. So I mean he thought about it a lot. I think he thought about it a lot. I think he was aware it was potentially problematic. So good. Yeah. I think it's okay for him to write about that demographic because at least the demographic. That's what we're talking about.

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Sure. Yeah. And you can tell he's couching it because he didn't just write about. He wrote from the point of view. It's a lot of it. Yeah. And you can tell he did a lot of research because he included little details like. You'd think someone that made first contact with an alien would be smarter than closing her own boob and a door. Oh my stuff. I don't like to. What the fuck? Totally possible for you to close your breast inside a door. That's not like it's not. And that's it.

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It's just an extra. It's just an extra problem here. The problem here. The problem here is. And we don't hear the story. We don't hear the story. No. You think you could close your breast in a door Sabrina with my breast size. Absolutely. You could not. I would cry right now. Go. We're watching. Go do it. There's no room. You're out. Do it. Do it. A door. It wasn't a door. It was a thing. It was a thing. You were supposed to be so close to that door. Close it into the door.

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Yeah. You could hit your boob on walking into something. That would make sense. But to literally have it. So it's pressed up on the door. You're just one. You're still closing the door. You have to be like, you're going to a room that's You're going into a room that's extremely crowded. You're carrying your laundry basket. It's heavy. So that takes half the body out. That's why only one boob got caught in. Because it was not a second. I can't imagine. I can't understand.

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So what would have to be holding onto your breast? And they're pulling it in a different direction. They're pulling you into the closet. Different party. It's trying to slam a door close. No. Okay. Here's an across fire. Your standing. Your flush with your closet. You're leaning in. Okay. To grab something. Okay. Okay. This works. You're leaning with your right hand. Right breath. And then in the closet. Okay. You're getting to our exactly. I'm going to continue. And then you grab it.

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And you go to close it. And you just don't move yourself out of the way. Breast in door. No. Okay. But I'll allow it. I want to allow it. I want to allow it. Busty. Podcast. All of a while. But I think that he needed to give me those details in the book. I shouldn't have to do all this work to figure out how she did it. But I think as someone who tweeted just like this in 2012. Give yourself more credit. I'm mad now.

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I think she's just like as the tweeter, she's just giving the funniest account of it. To her audience. I think he in Greens didn't think about it as much as we did just now. I think he doesn't understandly aware of what a breast is. Although I did just. I was able to close one of mine in a drawer. So it could have been a drawer. But it was a door. But he said. And I still don't understand. If you're the one closing it. How are you? I can't imagine it. I can't imagine it.

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You're also the phone rings. You swing. Yeah. Swing your shoulders at the same time. You keep closing it. The breast is magnet. The person. It has a package. Do a hanger in the closet. All right. Guys. What's this? Tell us more. Oh, yes. So let's go into the book a bit. It was published in September 2018. Okay. So this is the gets interesting. He has a tweet about it debuting as number one on the best Seller Hardback fiction.

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And the tweet is like a portion zoomed in a photo of a screen shot or whatever of the list. And it is number one on there. But when I go to that date on New York Times.com and all the dates around it, his book is not on the list anymore. So I don't know what the fuck I'm looking at. Or what he's talking about this. I don't know. I check that every day you did number one. Yeah. I've seen a case. But the first of all, I don't know how you find the list.

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So that's really cool that you found it Clara. Because every time I try to, I'm really in a dark closet. My breast is caught in a door. I cannot find. I don't know. John and that got me good. There was a recent call back. But it was so recent. Got me. Got me girl. So anyway, maybe I'm just dumb. I'm not looking. I don't know. I checked the years. I checked all the dates around it. I checked paperback fiction. Trade. I think he's hard back. Yeah. Yeah. He checked hard back. It's definite.

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I don't know. So I don't know what list he's got. We've done all the research that we could do. What, what, what, um, when did this debut? When did the book debut? Uh, September 20th. It's, it's, the published date. September 25th, 2018. So I don't, I don't know what to tell you guys. Okay. But I think there might be some fraud at play. It definitely is all. He's obviously very good at marketing. Hank New York Times books tweeted works its way onto our latest hardcover fiction, but seller list.

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So they, they also, well, that doesn't sound like debut. Oh, that's a sense. Maybe it's much later. That's a sense. Worked its way on is not dating. Oh, that was a second book. That was a sense. Sorry. I apologize. So I can still forget that. Yeah. It says number one though. I'm, I'm sorry. In his weird, weird screenshot, no link. It says number one. But on the actual list, it's not anywhere. So I'm just pointing out that discrepancy. You know what, I said there might be fraud.

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I'm going to take it back. I'm just going to put the facts out there. You guys do what you can with it. Listeners at home, do what you can with it. Take away your one from it. I'm, I'm trying to do the work myself. Hmm. I'm coming up. I understand, but the New York Times article from 2018 was talking about it says that it debuted at number one. And I feel like the New York Times itself wouldn't say it. It debuted at number one. If it didn't debut.

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But what has been, The reporters are people and people are lazy. And if he's going around saying, All right. All right. Then they're going around saying that both of them were all going around. Say I, you know, let's move on. Okay. This part is, I, sci-fi that, I mean, we've got in a bit, but it's a sci-fi book that follows a YouTube success, girl. And it uses, Yeah, Hank Green uses the book to talk about his own feelings about success and fame. It comes, it's a quick quote in a lot of ways.

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It comes from a lot of my personal experience with how success feels. There's the very weird feeling of being bigger in people's heads than you feel you are. Don't worry, Hank. That's not happening here. Yeah. I feel just the same if not worse about you. Um, and if there were any characters you particularly didn't like or any characters you particularly did like Sabrina. Another quote from him about this book. Every character in the book is a different version. Oh, really doesn't make me like.

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Yeah. Um, I think I would like Hank Green. I, wow. Cut it out. I know I would. I want to, I want to add on to this. Uh, Clara because I was driving me insane that I was like, how did this book come out in 2018 when like the references and everything make it feel so much older. It was driving me crazy. I looked it up and apparently it originally wrote out the concept or whatever in 2013 as a graphic novel before eventually I guess.

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I don't know not finding anybody who could draw well enough for he couldn't draw. I don't know. And he was like, I'm going to wait for my brother to get successful. And then. But yeah. So that to me was like, okay, that tracks a little bit more with me because just like all of the social media stuff felt so incredibly dated like beyond just something five years ago. So I just, that's why I'm bringing that up. But I will be just the premise.

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Even just the premise of like everything was done via YouTube, which has actually kind of in many ways swung background. I know a lot is happening on YouTube and take a talk. But like, I mean, take talk. Okay, talk a lot. A lot's happening for Jonah on YouTube because she watches live streams. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That are set up around the world. Some favorite sloppy Jo and Key West live stream. Beach bar St. John's live stream. Great. Tini Martinez bar. I did. Shall we move into the character?

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No, no. Yeah. We can do. No, go ahead, sir. No, I just was saying. You're going to say something. You do two live streams, which yeah, she does not YouTube live stream. She face book live streams in the big exciting moment, which I'm sure we'll talk about. Oh, yeah. That's a very specific time period. Yeah, that's what it felt very funny. That's like, well, a couple months in. Yeah. Very funny. All right. Okay. Go ahead. Let's, I mean, let's get our characters.

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We have our main characters name is First Name April. Last name May. Like the guy. Why? Because this never court. I just have a question. He doesn't mention it. Because I don't remember. He mentioned, but I was like, how is this not being like a, you gave a Jokey name. And then you didn't, you don't talk about how it's a Jokey name. I love that. I do stupid and silly. Is it a real estate? It's like, she's introduced to people for the first time and they're never like a calendar or anything.

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Also, there's the face that I like. That's a really funny thing. Wasn't even like a funny insult, the guy who's evil uses like come on. April May. I guess. Also, the secondary like female character in the book is named Maya. So we have April May Maya. And then they make a big deal in the book about my insinuation. So that is whole paragraphs that are just the word May over and over again. Don't I just pick a different name for Maya. It doesn't make sense.

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Maybe it's like his kids birthday month or it's like wife and kids. All right. I think it's a fetish for the month of May. And actually I thought it was cute and isn't it? I think it's extremely cute. I'm going to hold your head under. I can't. I can't. I'm going to be hard. This is going to be hard. Oh. Okay. A little bit about April May. She's 23 years old and one of the things she struggles with is that quote, I am aware that I'm an attractive person.

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But having that have power over other people is hard for me. So it's like sometimes it's just a struggle because she's so powerful. She makes her so powerful. She's like does anyone even like me. I hate it. She does she do we even get a description of it. No other than she must have tried it. We don't. I actually think she was. I'm sure I'm sure. I think she's just started. Yeah, but you have to guess who. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But she's five two.

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Actually, I remember she because she's obsessed with her short. She isn't she's five two. Oh, she's like the robots are so much fair. I'm so pity and like also these other women stand around me and they tower over me. It's like, I mean, the robots make some looks small but not the way I. Is this why you like, okay, good. Okay. So I'm five two.

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She's all April May is also like kind of has some of that manic pixie dream girl where she's like, Oh, just so messy and like, just can't doesn't ever do things right. It's just like a little selfish. That in a door. Yeah, so bad at it. And the worst is 23. But the worst is proud of me. Think about yourself finding your own free to bring as you're putting yourself through school. You were the you. Yeah, true. But but I listen, I was not great in adulting at 23. We proud of it.

35:52

We can ask the fine you could. Did you define yourself by it old carolian? Oh, my god. Did you think it was cute? I did. I absolutely did. You know, you get into a cab and say things like driver take us to some place that sells cameras. And then no one around you including the person where the driver says like April, that's not how. Catwork. That's not how life works. How cabs work. I also just like does that mean my cab driver can't even find the Brooklyn bridge when I'm in a cab.

36:26

If I say taking the Brooklyn bridge. He's like, how. Yeah. I'll open. You want to take a toll tunnel. Yeah. Do you want to go along way? No cab drivers like, Oh, of course. Do you want to go to like be an ear? Do you want to go to, yeah, which radio shack should I hit? No. No. That happened in the book. Anyway, the girl who lives in New York got in a cab and said take me somewhere that those cameras kill me or her born and raised here. What's that? She wasn't born and raised here.

37:03

She went to college there. So she was there for at least four years. Yeah, that's true. You have to ride the cab exactly one time to understand that that's not how it works. Wait, we're first. You stay silent and just hope you get where you're trying to get. True. But it could be in her first time. I'm going to give her that. Don't get stopped. It doesn't even look. The first thing to look at. Okay, our next character is the alien statue, which is named Carl. That's so amazing.

37:36

Oh, my God. I love it. Funny. Because what happens is April sees it and then she does a video in the middle of the night interview it. And she calls it Carl. There's my friend Carl. She's so random. And so anyway, they're called Carl. Did she make Carl? She made it. She made it. She made it. And the way that I just described it. Exactly what she said is. Maybe if you're not understanding April may sense a humor Sabrina.

38:10

It's kind of like if you say something that makes no sense out of context, that is actually humor. I agree. It's like, it's non-sequenter humor. It works. It does. Okay. Non-sequenter humor does work. It's not what this is. Wow. A cool thing about it. Okay. So she described Carl as kind of looking like a transformer kind of robotish. He's made of shiny metal, but there's also matte metal. I couldn't get a handle on his size.

38:42

Can we go around and say how big we thought he was without looking what I wrote down in the outline and wasn't too lazy. I'm not saying described the hand as like 10 feet. Three. Oh fuck. The hand was three times the size of a human hand. The hand was as big as a garbage can lid. Yeah. There are so many deferring accounts. So I got three times the big as a human hand, which is not which to me is much smaller than that.

39:08

I think my own hand is three times the size of the floor if you were human hand. That's enough. For the listeners at home, I am short. Okay. Well, it's described as 10 feet tall, which is not that tall. No, it's not that tall. It's not that tall. Also described as like towering. Oh, for everyone. He could reach into the atmosphere. So it's like, "Danker, you're just fucking pick or high-quality." I could get a good visual of what these creatures look like.

39:41

I really, I don't pick the descriptions. We're very good. I will say I struggle with that a bit, my soul. So we're all in many. Here we go. Okay, great. Okay. So anyway, he is there. So there's one statue that she finds in New York and then basically every major city in the entire world has a statue. This same kind of statue. And they just pop up. Oh, yeah. Nothing that makes it seem like it's not 10 feet. Was it sure there's no way the artist could have brought it here.

40:10

It would have had to be airlifted on a crane. But they literally give the measurement of 10 feet. Well, that's partially because of how devs the material saw her. She lifted it, did she? Oh, she could. No her Berkeley scientist friend Miranda. Well, she says the crane thing before she talks to Miranda who I'm getting to her care. So Carl, I'm so excited. I was just like actually the name for all of these transporters statues robots. And honestly, a really boring character.

40:43

Yeah. We're calling him second most important character of the book. I think the book could have existed without Carl and I agree. It wasn't about Carl and I don't think. Well, that's the point. Yeah. Okay. Next is Andy. Andy is her friend from art school. He has a father who's an entertainment player. Thank God. Oh, like, he's a father. You're right. Oh, my God. Yeah. He also holds the camera for her videos. It does things like this unnecessary back and forth.

41:13

He's like, I think you should be the one on camera. And she's like, me, I couldn't. I could never. And you could. Is Andy also bisexual? I don't remember. I don't think so. All I remember is he has a question. He liked her. And then he had a crush on Miranda. So he just, he's not bisexual. He's bisexual. He's bisexual. He's bisexual. He's bisexual. He's bisexual. Maybe Sabrina thinks bi means like, in more than one person. No. He's advancing too much. Later.

41:45

He like moves in with his guy that he does a podcast with. No, that's already. Really. Really. I think it was like, no. I didn't have to stay. They just moved rosewood. First that. I think it was. And then just to show that he was nice to his roommate and friends and continued having a really trip where she just like didn't. In some ways. I thought maybe he was in his roommate and she just assumed that he was into her. Yeah. I think you're reading. She is more than this book is giving.

42:21

Yeah. I read it. I think the book is giving a lot. I definitely did not. I don't think there's any between lines in this book. I think it's all very. Yeah. I think it's all very. Yeah. I think it's all very. Yeah. Many times. So we think he's gay. Sure. I thought it was straight. No. They were giving examples of two girls. Yeah. The next character is Robin. This is after she gets famous in an agent. She gets an assistant. Whose name is Robin. But he acts like that.

42:51

Man. He does everything for her. He has no problems. I would say he acts more like Alfred. Yeah. That's good. That's better. Yeah. Can we edit it so that I said that? Thank you. Well, you're editing. That's so great. Okay. So that should that would be great. I'll do it. I'll figure it out. Okay. The next character I'd like to talk about is Maya. Maya is what's her name. April May's girlfriend from college. Best friends. The roommates she wouldn't call it a girlfriend. Guess what?

43:23

She's afraid of labels. Maya would call it girlfriend. But not even. But not even. But not even. But not even. But not even. Maya would call it that either. Maya is getting walked all over. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. April's days without calling Maya. And then she's like, I really should text her or something. Maybe tomorrow. Yeah. And all you've got to text. You got that like Maya was into her. But it took forever for April to realize she. Yeah. It's just like, this isn't a good relationship.

43:58

It was just like, and I don't really understand the point of it in the book. If we were supposed to feel an emotion for any character. Either of them. Like, oh, I wish they would work out or like, oh, Maya needs to get out of there. I felt zero. Like, I felt, yeah, devoid of any feelings at all reading this entire book. Wow. I didn't like. The only thing I felt was after the book ended. I felt relief. When the relationship was working. Sorry, cut off the last. It was good.

44:30

When the relationship was working, I didn't like it. It was like Maya was like her. Yes. You're right. She's so having eaten. The way you need water. That's the point. That's the point, you guys. The relationship was never working. The relationship was to illustrate to us. Like, how unprepared April may was for everything life was about to throw in her. She did she did she did she spoke more like a parent. She didn't speak like someone who was in their early 20s. It was weird. It was weird.

45:04

Well, she explained why that was true. And then she black because. Yes. That's what they explained. Oh, I don't know that. That's not that. She does the black thing was just because she doesn't want to speak for everyone else. Right, but she was explaining like why she was so eloquent because even when she didn't want to be speaking on behalf of everybody of her race, she inadvertently had to be. So she became very eloquent and thinking out all of her thoughts.

45:37

Okay, that was a good moment of the book. I don't know. They justified why she is a much more sage. I think it felt like to me like he wrote, wrote it shiddly. And then was like, well, how can I justify this? And then like went back and was like, well, she's black and she feels like she has to be eloquent because people judge black people. It just felt like there's no black building come back ever again. Like it just felt like a very weird one.

46:03

Yeah, do you think she was just April May's mom at first? Yeah, that's a very weird. She just controlled all the way. Like definitely which takes a very different tone since they were fucking. Right, and I think that I would at least I would have been a little bit curious about this character. Maybe it would have stirred and I'm feeling in me of loving or disgusted. It didn't feel like when he was talking about how like the black person feels like they have to speak for all black people.

46:34

Like when he was talking about that, it did not feel like a character actually saying it. If it like Hank Green. Look at me. Look at me. And that was good. And every single time it was like a total like show me don't tell me everything was like, yeah, it wasn't like, oh, we saw something happening to this character. We like then understood this about her. It was just like our main character April May like thinking back and explaining something.

47:01

And it was that happened throughout the book where it was just like her. Basically blog posts. It was just Hank Green blog posts that we had to read through the mouth. Right. But you know, actual woman for some reason. I know. Yeah, the only way this would have been mildly entertaining or interesting was if this had been a real story. Are we reading a real biography or autobiography of someone who'd gone through it?

47:32

I was like, wow, these were things she was feeling. But as it was, it was basically here's three steps to what to do if you become famous and how to get. I felt like that too. I was like, this is a book about people who are interested in PR and business. And that's the only thing I ever record this book to because it is. I was taking notes. Yeah. It's definitely a key. But also maybe maybe what's actually coming through is maybe you guys don't like sci-fi. No, that is not.

48:02

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't like sci-fi. I haven't even been there. We want to talk about the goddamn sci-fi. We can talk about the goddamn sci-fi. I just think this had really good elements of a sci-fi book. I thought it was funny. I thought it was quirky. And I was like, "Here's the characters." Some of the, well, they're taken too long. And so I'm taking my liberties. I think that some of the complaints are essentially like this wasn't a good rom. It was a good rom.

48:30

And it just wasn't a rom. If you think I want to read a rom, and it seems like it. And say it. You want to hear about the love story? What part of the sci-fi did you like the best was it the dream sequences that we got to listen to? Oh my god. It's really fun. It's like that there was a trillion that just knew Carly Ray Jebson. Yes, I loved that. It was so stupid. I was stupid. Why is it like, why is that? It's just like, it takes me out completely.

49:05

Am I supposed to actually believe any of this is happening? I honestly thought, well, the ending has to be that these aren't aliens because the way they're described is so goddamn dumb. That that's has to be the twist because I can't, I just like, don't buy this. And I didn't buy this. Let's go to the make sense. It makes sense in a way, right? Like it's an alien race that doesn't really know much about us. But they don't know is that like Carly Ray Jebson is like, why do they know that?

49:36

And so why not help it or the Beatles? Because it's 2015. It's just 18. What is inside? No one's listening to Elvis on repeat. Either aliens. He's not the most streamed artist on Spotify. What I want you to be talking about is the monster alien statue has given humanity these puzzles and often the top songs. The puzzles first of all appear to you in your dream and everyone has the same.

50:07

That was the dream thing was like, okay, because I'm like, okay, you would think they would have a different way to communicate. But like, the wick like job jumping into wick appeared. Why would any the first puzzle is a wick appeared and she tries to edit it. First of all, who? Okay, she notices a typo and tries to edit it and it doesn't work and that's aliens. Aliens. Aliens. And they're into like queen and every also everybody like reacted to being like who's queen. It was like so.

50:36

Oh, I forgot Sarah. I forgot that moment. Everyone at the book is like queen never heard of them. No. Oh, oh, oh, I hated them all. I hated them all the whole time. Unfortunately, that's a reality. That's okay. Also in case you heard like, oh, dream puzzles. That's like kind of cool sounds like, okay, yes. Do you like puzzles? Awesome. You do not get to hear about what the puzzle is or solve it in any way. The way the dream puzzles work is she explains that she has a dream.

51:08

She needs to solve something and then she's like, well, gang, we solved it. It turns out it was an accordion and the accordion was playing. Call me. Mary. So yeah, or the dream sequence. There you go. That's true. I do read her missing. Like I've been paying attention. And the dream. She never tells you the thing. There was driving me crazy about the dreams. It was like, it was also it was as if I was somebody was playing a video game. And then they were standing.

51:34

They were just like walking around. But they I wasn't watching the video game or playing it. It was just somebody telling me, yeah, I walked forward. And then I go, I went to the left and I'm going to walk up some stairs and I'm going to open this box. This is accurate. This is that engineer. So I'm going to get, I'm going to keep walking. I'm going to go outside. I gotta tell you that made speed reading so much easier. They gave us the puzzles to try to solve.

52:04

Are you kidding me or hinted at them, maybe? No. Well, the other thing that probably made speed reading easier for you was the cool thing the author did. I'm not sure what the name of this technique is. But he would show action happening. And then he would introduce a character that didn't see the action happening. And the main character would explain what just happened to that character that had entered. So for example, this is the kind of incredible writing you're going to see in the book.

52:31

We got to see the president of the United States calls April May. And we see the whole call during the call April May's parents call her and she puts them, you know, she puts them off. I'm talking to the president. And then a couple of pages later her parents call and she tells them the president called. And they say, what honey, that's amazing. After her speech before actually I was talking to her when you called. Well, usually we're frustrated when you don't pick up. But that's a good reason.

53:00

My mom said. And that's the kind of dialogue where you're like, wow, that's like it's so truthful. You know, it's like, as Hemingway said, right one true sentence, like, there it was, baby, that just sounds like real dialogue. The dialogue was parent and the dialogue was painful. The entire book, incredible. The fact that he made her parents always call together. And that was like a thing they did. It was like, you just don't have to make characters out of them.

53:28

Well, I think a lot of parents do that. For now. Sabrina and second of all, he does let you solve the puzzles. The Wikipedia puzzle you get in slow succession. You get I am you. You have the tools available to you to figure that out. That's not only one. You don't get the dream puzzles. You get the Wikipedia puzzle. You can't really try to solve that puzzle. Yeah. I know. But that's the right way. I can do. I was like, great. It's solved. It means I am you solved.

54:01

This brings me to my next character. That was not the thing. I have the puzzle everybody. And a Berkeley PhD student who's like, the missing letters in the typos are I am you. Those are elements. Iron, which April may have to ask is a dangerous and then marital. Iron is dangerous. Iron is dangerous. Iron is dangerous. No, it's actually a nutritional supplement that prevents goi. Everyone knows that. Yeah. Except. Okay. So that was a conversation. We need a PhD student to explain.

54:41

But anyway, she is also cute. No description. So you can picture anyone that you think is cute. That's why I get you. That's what I want. You guys, I think we should take a quick another quick commercial break. Okay, we did get all the. We did get to the characters. And I just, why do we have so much more to talk about. All right, we'll do you right back. [Music] And we're back. I mean, there's so many things to talk about guys. I mean, we could talk a little bit more about the plot.

55:23

But I want to talk more like aliens, bisexualities, social media, I mean, like there's so many topics in this book. Yeah. We're insane. Okay. I want to talk about social media. Or what were you going to say, drama? We were just talking about the PhD student in can I say one funny thing about her. It didn't email. She explains what. which if you don't know, it's basically that the simplest explanation is usually the easiest.

55:51

So when you have two possibilities, the ORCUMS RASER would suggest that the simpler explanation is probably true. And this PhD student explains that it's... A terrible measure of anything because if there's an objective measure of simplicity, I haven't found it. I was like, that's insane. If your cat is outside and the door is open, and you're like, "Hmm, I wonder what Occam's RASER what might have happened. Option one, I left the door open, and the cat wandered out.

56:24

Option two, and intruder broke into my home. Grabbed the cat. Took the cat out of my house, replaced it with a different cat. That's... there is an objective measure of simplicity. And it's... everyone knows what it is. I really like that you're taking a bone with this because it's so clear to be that from your example that you use Occam's RASER as like an exam. [laughter] She's attempting to rock your world.

56:56

So it's important that the worst thing that could happen to say you don't go to the aliens at the best first thing is what you're saying. I also didn't bot like a whole aliens thing. These are aliens. It happened so early in the book, and I thought I was just also weak. But I was like, "Oh, everyone's just going that's agreed. This is an alien. It just seemed like..." And again, I hate to bring up the ten-foot thing.

57:23

But it's like, if a ten-foot statue is there, and they're like, "Wow, what in the world are you talking about?" I was just making it amazing how crazy this is. They all appeared at the exact same time overnight. There's 60 across the country or a world. I don't know what it is. And there's no footage anywhere of any of them being installed. And all of the footage that could be there cuts out, there's this queen song humming in the world.

57:52

Yeah, which is the first time that it's not aliens because why aliens? Why would aliens? No queen. But they don't necessarily think it's aliens at this point. They think it's aliens once they solve the IMU riddle, and she gives him a little iodine flake. And his hand detaches from his body and scampers away. This is when they start to re-enlaug. In Los Angeles, nobody's going to be like, "Wow, that was some great special effect." Or like, that was cool robot thing.

58:22

Because the hand runs away and it runs into the space. And it's like, "Okay, so it's a magician." Nobody even brings up like, "Oh, this could be street art magician." Nobody's super sexy. Oh, my God. He's a really long section of the book where she's dragging on the magician. Yeah, it was just really funny because he talks. I knew immediately when she was started to describe it. I think that magic castle is so stupid. Oh, instantly. As soon as she was like, it was a mansion on a hill.

58:54

It's a magic castle. And it's not that hard to get. Yeah, she's like, "You can't get in unless you're on magician or you have members." I'm pretty sure Hank Green must have got turned down. I don't. I can't keep it. It seemed like he has a personal problem. I felt like he heard about it once. I thought it was so cool even though it's not that cool. No, it's actually really cool. I think it's like, "Hey, are you ever visit?" You should absolutely go to the magic castle.

59:19

It was like the coolest moment of my life. Wow. Being there. So do go. It is actually a little hard to get in. But I'm in twice. I'm in twice. You get it. That's a pretty hard. A lot of companies do parties there. You know, somebody, people up there. If you're an artist, visiting LA, you don't have a company. It can be a little hard. You have to email the magician and take your a big fan. Oh, really? Wow. Coming on his personal guest list. That's pretty cool. Wow. Did you have to put out?

59:51

I thought I would. Because he reserved special seats for us. And he did the whole show to me. And then afterwards he just appeared into the night. Like a real gentleman. Some of the magic's not that great. Is this real? Yeah, this is all real. Yeah. Who'd you go, where's Elf? Jessie. That was co-load. No, I got two tickets. Wow. To Jessie. Jessie is a friend of ours. In case we are forgetting that we're in the podcast and slipping in the Yeah. I just found that listeners would know him.

01:00:24

He's a priori. He was a guest in the weekend. He made us reading. You guys remember him from season two? Wow. That long ago. He's still our friend. I don't know. I'm sorry, Sabrina. You were one of the move on to a new. I did have a point. So sorry. Do I remember what it was? I do. I do remember what it was. I think that this book did a cool job of exploring a couple of different things. One thing being. The like the craze that is just listening to what the media says.

01:00:56

So you guys are all like everybody's just on board with it being aliens. Well, the media started saying it was aliens. And so yeah, everybody got on board with that. Like that is what happens. People believe what is fed to them. And they're all about all the fake news stuff. That's people like what we say. And that's why the. Yeah, that's what. So we're. There's the bad factions of people. There's the factions literally. It's just came out of the. Because so much of it was like.

01:01:24

Everyone buys it once the media says it and like we're, Well, the world will work together to do something. It was like the beginning and it's like, we've experienced COVID. We know that nobody believes anybody of any like no. We don't believe anything. Even science people can come out and say something to do something. And we will be there'll be a large thought to be like bullshit. There's no way this cooperation between these governments is. And that happened in this book too.

01:01:47

There's the large group of people that's believing the government believing the president was not a much that people in our life. What about P. B. What about P. B. How P. B. He's still believes there. Peter for chart. No. So, so we know your point was the media said it was aliens and everyone believes it's aliens. That's true. We're both sides. The Peter side and the April. We're all like aliens. We're just saying that that's not what would happen in real world.

01:02:13

At the point that it gets to like they're infiltrating all of your dreams. But also like we're hearing from the perspective of someone who does think that it's aliens. It's a first person narrative. So yes, it's a selfish person. She is going to think that most of the world agrees with her except for the people who are opposed to her. I don't do it. I don't do it. Just to explain these people that are opposed to her, they're sort of the antagonist of the book.

01:02:42

And they call themselves the defenders. And their main talking point is that the carols are a threat. And I want to just come out and say, I would absolutely be a defender. The carols are threat. What of the arguments that April may make fun of is these like these crazy Pundits that the defenders say like, if a giant robot could suddenly appear in every city in America, what's to say a giant nuclear warhead couldn't just appear. Had your kids hide your wives.

01:03:12

There's a space daily in on 23rd Street. Let me tell you something. I would be out there with my fucking son. I would say hide your children. There is a space daily in on 23rd Street. And we need to kill it or figure out what it is. Why is we killing it? Well, maybe not. But we need to take a serious case. She has no evidence to assume that it comes in peace, but she does. And she uses her newly found viral platform to perpetuate the belief that's based in nothing that is safe.

01:03:44

And gives it your radio and iodine. And a merriest signal. It's serious thing. As is first contact with an alien, like you would think like the gut. We know that so much more would be happening, but all that happens is like the president keeps coming to be like, "Did you do something with the alien again? Don't do that." And then she just does it again again. Again. Again. It's like, what? Here's the thing. We think that there would be big plans in place and things happening.

01:04:11

Nobody knows what to do with first contact. And the government is seeing that no harm is coming to her when she's having this first contact. She's seeing that things are playing out. And they're sending her champagne talking to her. They're pretending like, "Yeah, this is normal. This is a part of the plan." Because they don't know what to do. What would happen if this was, it's like a game.

01:04:35

If the premise was real, the government would obviously like lie and say they did it or like they would give in a reason. So people don't have mass freak out. And while they're trying to figure it out, they would be like, "No, we know who it was or they would be like, "Oh, this was a big set up for the transfer." And the president is also, this is the aliens are just transformers. They wouldn't lie to that degree. They wouldn't lie to that degree.

01:05:00

You don't think the government would lie to that degree? I don't think they would say this is set up for it. No, I'm just saying that. That is so easily given. I'm saying that that's why this is stupid because it is just all transformers. The transformers are aliens. Because he was like, "Soul the movie." And was like, "Cool, I'll do that in my book." Oh, hey, that's how tell you something. I also want to say. You go to Shag Harbor, Canada, the site of Canada's largest UFO crash.

01:05:25

And you tell me what the government's capable of. I'm not kidding. I also want to point out in the quote, "Johnna Red, that the book does do the hydrochids hydra-wife." Thank you. "Shoke." Oh, my god. Data is just a data joke that is like, it's not a joke to just repeat things. That's not a writing. I don't know. You can do that in a way. You can do that in a way. You can do that in a way. So data, everything about this book was so big. But it's a book. It's painful. It's Korean about it.

01:05:58

For a book about aliens, I would, the so much of the book was about her social media rise. It was just about like, I didn't want the alien thing to do. It was just to arise about like two separate books. It was shoved together in a way that just did not work. It didn't work. It was very clear. Again, it takes it out of the book. It was very clear that Hank Green wanted to talk about fame and internet fame. And so he did it in the book. And so right now I guess. Just by sexuality.

01:06:31

Yeah, and how hard it is. Like, I mean, she really struggled. She there's one scene and, um, sorry. I mean, I get emotional. But she went to get a massage and she's there. You know, it'd been paid for by the publicist and Robin and it was all booked. She got there and there was a woman who was talking badly about her. When she was about to, you know, leave and pay. And I just like, that's a kind of thing. I'm a fan of your famous. You can't even get a massage in this town without this guy.

01:07:03

I remember that. And the woman was like, she's young. She's right out of college. She's saying she is being young. I'm sorry for the world. She was right. That woman was in the toilet. Um, I was character. And it's like, I just wish like, she spent maybe a little bit of time talking about the negative YouTube comments. But it's like, those could really get you.

01:07:24

That's good. Really, I think that that would be a fun experiment for a screen to really look at a real me and think about what a YouTube commenter would really say trying to hurt her. Yes. Well, I'm sure, he agreed has had. I know, which made it. It makes it more interesting that he didn't give us realistic. Yeah, he didn't. She didn't seem to like really struggle with herself a steam during it. It was it was weird. It didn't affect her in that way. Yeah, I was like, I just, I just, I found it.

01:08:07

It was cringy and it was like just hard because it's like, Uh, that's not, I definitely wouldn't go that way or like, it would be so unlikely for it to go that way. It's hard for me to get on board with this process. I have to point out that the dumbest thing was that they set up this character, it will be like, I don't have social media even though she's 23 and 2018.

01:08:28

And I don't do this and I'm really into a fine art and then like, within like a week, she's obsessed and trying to like figure out her to that. That's how it gets you. The thing is not how it's hard. You would not do it. That's ridiculous. Your brain is still developing your. No, it's done. It's done by 23. It's finished. No, no, it's not definitely. I believe hers is done. I don't think she has anywhere to go. I think she's tapped out. No, your brain is still developing at 23.

01:09:05

Um, yeah, we didn't get to see any of the struggles. Like, she would mention the people at left bed comments, but then she'd be like, But I just had Robin read me the good ones. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Can we even Robin for a second and how I definitely thought he was going to turn out to be evil at some point and connected to the carols and he was not. Because basically he's a car. It's as a perfect character. He does everything for her.

01:09:30

It's like having a computer program robot assistant to help you. What a great thing to say. So that we didn't have to see her struggle with anything that she immediately got. And this is who does all the hard things in her life. That was really nice. Yeah. Well, he betrayed her though. Not really. Not really. Well, I mean, a little bit holy crap. He knew the whole time that her agent was too timing her with PP.

01:09:54

Yeah, but if he did anything about it, the agent would forbid him from working with her. So what was he supposed to do? He weighed the bet pros and cons. Also, she came up with lying as the best thing. And it's not that big. She's so blog. Also, the character over me is so blogging about everything. She doesn't seem to. Everyone else warns her of danger. And she always is like selfish and does shit anyway. I don't think it would have changed a goddamn thing about how she went on about her life.

01:10:24

It had she had that information. She was still like going to be self obsessed. Fain hoary. And that was what our character was all time. Well, just because it wouldn't have necessarily changed her course of action. It doesn't mean it's not important to be honest with people you're close to. I think you're there with fine. He's doing such a good job in every other way. And she's so annoying. And he doesn't let on that he knows she's always like PP.

01:10:54

Basically, I mean not directly, but is the reason she was nearly killed twice. But that doesn't matter. Okay, so what we're talking about is what it is. Yeah, her her agent is the same. So her agent took her on and then also took on her adversary. This sort of Alex Jones Jordan Peterson type, who I can clearly agree with. Yeah, by the way, I just want to say. Yeah, fully behind. Except for when he brings up that she's not okay. Wait, let's talk about it. Let's talk about it. I agree.

01:11:31

This was the dog. Oh, she's in the world. I hated this. Oh, my God. Okay, so it starts out. She's by we know she's by. Then the publicist makes this huge deal like pick one straight or less be a pick one. And makes it about how like the world won't understand your bisexual. It was like, what is this argue? They won't. They won't. Wait, but to people. It's like, it's like the world exists. Yes, that's what I'm saying. Yes, but that's true thing. That's true. That's true. That is a literally true.

01:12:10

I understand that people have a hard time believing that people. I understand. I don't think that that means saying your buy would make people like not trust you or something. Like it. I think that's what they think that you're a liar. It's a very interesting point in this case. She was making a argument that like, it's just clear or narrative of we just say lesbian. Yes, it was. It was so spent so long on it. That's it. I didn't like that part. I was like, this is very real.

01:12:42

I thought it was really a few. I knew how much it hurts me to. I agree. I agree. I agree. I know not bisexual. It feels like the same people would have. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true.

01:13:09

I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true. I don't think that's true.

01:13:28

01:13:52

01:14:10

01:14:30

01:14:51

01:15:13

01:15:32

01:15:51

That was the only glimpse of humanity I saw in this entire book. Was that tiny moment that I agreed does not come back in any meaningful way. And then also you say, "Mith, we're two and up's under our life." I barely remember that because so much of the book is just like, "And then we decided to write a book. We outlined it in one hour." That's not an exaggeration. That's her big, like, then we went on book tour. It was actually really great. Yeah, I bet it fucking was.

01:16:17

You're on a book tour with a national bestseller making a billion dollars. I bet it was really great. So hard to think. Her care, I feel like her career was just so unrelatable. And I know, like, okay, she's first making first contact and is a media superstar. But you still have to make the character relatable in some way to the reader. Like, we have to care about her in some way. And I just did it. Anything. Do you want to love this? I just remember it really really relatable.

01:16:47

But you don't have to just remember that I think is weird now that we know more about the author. Is like a YouTube star her real book. Was how they went into the monetization of a book that she wrote. It was like, because I have this much of a big following. I get $7 for every copy. It was like, "Oh, gross. This is probably what's happening today." Exactly. It's a work contributing to. I don't know how many.

01:17:15

Oh, my God. And there was the part where they were, there's a whole big deal that the president needed the footage after she was almost killed. Because even though there were tons of people with cell phones, they were like, "You're with the only woman that DSLR. That was so stupid." Oh, my God. Talk about DSLR so much. They're not like that great camera. Right, you look camera. Everyone who makes a little sketch comedy on the internet is using a DSLR.

01:17:43

Yeah, like you're 20. And remember that intro I've ever found it for her. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I can hate it. Also, I want to talk about that. Okay, so the first, or I guess, is the second attempt on our life. Anyway, somebody stabs her at a big rally. And the aliens save her. She still gets stabbed, but not deadly. And turns the guy into the guy. Yeah, oh, my God. Literally so fun. It's not fun. Oh, my God. It's a brain of so ear to be honest. Be honest about that being funny.

01:18:16

Do you really think that's funny? Yes. Explain the humor. Explain the humor. I, what isn't funny about it. It's so stupid. It's so stupid. It's so random. It doesn't. It doesn't. Yeah, I guess the randomness is what bothers me. It doesn't fit the tone of these like, Matt Black makes a steel. We, like, very horrible. They were not. We were not like queen and curly. Make something. Grape jelly doesn't fit it. It's because of what else. There's no consistency. Like it's just nonsense.

01:18:48

Yeah. It's like, what is it? You know what else does it make sense? So these people get smashed by the alien turned into grape jelly. And they later on. And I don't even care if I'm spoiling something. Aperma, dies in a fire in the most graphic desk. I have ever had. Explain how the burning beam falls and crushes her in detail. It's like, we go from grape jelly. Yeah. It's so funny. I've done it. It's so funny. Yeah. She's lured into the warehouse. She thinks she's going to meet the aliens.

01:19:26

It says, like, come alone. They brawl. And then when she gets there, won't be a fire. I have spilled a bunch of grape jelly and she's like, other people tried, but it's only for April. They killed everyone else who tried. And then it ends up that it was just that. Condent who hates her. He's his following. It's the defender again. The group I probably would have been part of. Which is also like. Yeah. I would have been trying her to be. They just spilled some grape jelly outside. They got her.

01:19:55

They got her. The best part about the world. The best part about this is that she's. There's a it's on fire and she's dying and she should be talking to a first responder, but she keeps. She keeps hanging up on him to call random people. And but also continue her Facebook live stream. She's she's dying. She's in a life or desiduation and she's. Facebook live stream. Like, she's trapped in a burning building. - It's... - Yes. She's trying to get to lower ground

01:20:26

- just to keep us close to the face. - Just what's a fan, she spends her. No, it's so stupid. Oh my God, I love that. And I'm glad she's livestreaming. - They need to see the- - I'm glad she did. - I'm glad she died too. - Wow. - Did she? - No, she did. - Yeah, I think there's a sequel. - Oh man, it's so irritating. It's like, okay, okay.

01:20:46

So the last scene in the book is, okay, so the last chapters are taken over by Andy because April's dead, but they never found her body and then the little very end of the book is like, "Someone knocked on my- Does Andy- "Someone knocked on my door. "So weird, I have a door man." And then I got a text from April. And all it says is, "Knock, knock." Like, just the idea that she was- - She- - She- - She's a little girl. - She got a little girl. - I'm back from the dead. - And I'm gonna-

01:21:17

- Okay, okay. - Of course, that's how she come back from the dead. - I think you did. - I did it. - I did it. - I did it. - It's how much, too. - Is that supposed to make her like a boy? - Oh, I guess we wanna- - Oh, show. - You can understand like the whole, like, okay, something bad's happening and I'm gonna try to film it, but like, if it's happening to you and you're about to die, you would not, like you just would not be, you would not continue.

01:21:41

- Oh my God, I just- - Yeah, it hasn't been good. - Just speaking of dying, we're three books in now, and I thought it might be fun to do a fuck Mary Kill with the protagonist for Mark Rebook. - Here, my lady, what are they? - Okay, okay, remind me. - Okay, so we have April May from this book. We have two weeks ago, we have the main character of the Silent Patient, which is the murderous therapist, psychotherapist, Theo, and then from divergent, we have our lead girl, Trist.

01:22:18

- Okay, does it have to be really good? - Yeah, I think it does. Or, I don't know, I guess whatever. - She said it has to be believed. I mean, it's John, as you might have a call, Donna. - Who would you put in their stead, Sabrina? - Specifically in divergent, I would put four in the stead. - Okay, so when you wanna fuck, I think it has to be the lead. Or you manipulate the game. - I can do this pretty quickly, I think. Great, I'm gonna do Theo for fuck.

01:23:00

Not just 'cause he's the only male, but because the other two are children, and I can't stand my feet yet. Let's just say they're 18. When they reach a wide range of the age of the age of the age, I should have written. Trist, I'll marry her because I don't know, at least she can fight. I don't know, something she can protect you in some sort of a fuck. - And yeah, I have to kill April, maybe, 'cause I hate her so much, and she deserves to die. - Yeah, I mean, exact same outcome.

01:23:39

The most important thing is that I kill April May. - Yeah, I'm killing April. I'm marrying Theo because, I mean, he's pretty. I mean, it doesn't even break up with those wife. - That's true, that's a good point. - I love it, I'm going. - So, until then, who are you fucking? - And then, oh fuck, so then I'm fucking trist. - Who is afraid of it? - Oh. (laughing) - What have I gotten myself into? - That's a thing that you guys are keeping alive. The stalker murderer I'm not gonna have.

01:24:20

- Absolutely. - No, I'm not gonna have. - No, I'm not gonna have. - He's dead. - Easily, yeah, obviously. Because I don't want to be dead if I marry him or keep him alive, then I'll kill him. - Yeah, you think my chance to grab him. - You're gonna fuck him. - And then he's not gonna come back around for you. I don't think so. - It's like, I don't even have the choice for me because after meeting April, I would have to. - I remember that. - Diet, Theo's hands, then spend five years.

01:24:49

- Yeah, I'm married. - I was birthed. - If I had sex with April, I wouldn't have. - I'd be in jail. - Also, I kind of think I could fix the hell. (laughing) - Did you get your makeup? - Yeah, yeah. - No, yeah. - I should've done it. - I should've done it. - What are the other people? - Trist and April, man. - We're looking at her. - We're looking at her. - We're looking at her. - I'm gonna marry April May. - Are you kidding me? - If we can get friends, we won't be friends. We won't be friends.

01:25:17

- We're gonna be so scared. - My house for game night. - My God, we're gonna be so much. - Imagine how much. - She's not, she's not good relationships. We know that from the book. - That's okay. She's also stupid, so she's not gonna make me sign a bad prena. - I'm getting done. - I'm getting done. - I'm getting done. - Oh my God. - No, it's an idiot. - Yeah, but that's it. - Yeah, but you know her. - You know her. - You know her. - I like that you admitted she's stupid at least.

01:25:44

- Yeah, she's like, many things. - That's something she's just time. - She's just trying to get her. - She's not. - She's not around. - And I guess when she's of age, Trist will be the F. And who knows who else will show up? - Great. - Do you guys like how April May, there was all that stuff about her being really into fine art and like caring about that stuff? How that was at the beginning and how it didn't come back ever. - After came by once at the age and stuff.

01:26:13

- I mean, after she became a social media. - Me neither. - That's fine. - Not being nothing. - It came back once, remember she was in the age of. - But that's what she became interested in. - So she'll meet you. - Like I mean, after she had her rise, she was like completely. - That's the intention. - Never mentioned. - Not going to. - You could, it could have worked like if you were a tank green, add dental little research or knew something about art.

01:26:39

Like I don't know, maybe like seeing some artists, stylings in those statues and things. - Yeah, I'm kidding. - And then the dreams. - And then literally just so she could be like, I think it's art. So that's why I'm filming it. - Yeah. - That was only reason. - Oh, it's my clothes. - Oh my god. - It's pretty pretty. - Sarah lost her mind. There's a huge, visible reaction that you've watched her face. - Yeah. - It's great. - It was really bad. And she doesn't even die at the end. - Sadly.

01:27:13

- And a warehouse in tow, broken, sorry. So stupid. (laughing) - Should we take a look at the commercial break and then we can do something. - Sure, that's not like you. - Not like me. - A little bit, I think. - You need a minute. - We need a minute. We'll be back. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - And we're back. I just have a quick alien question for you guys. 'Cause I'm confused about the carols. There was like the carol in LA who lost his hand. Who's hand ran away.

01:27:52

Like he was the only one who had a hand run away. But then it seemed like the carol in New York was special too. Which was, I felt like we'd keep for God that actually in real-worlds with the hand in LA. When I think he did, yeah. - Because it just ends up in April's apartment in New York. And so I don't think he meant for it to travel across country because I-- - And they saved mentioned. - They say that there was only one carol.

01:28:24

Like it ultimately was just the one and every other carol was just affected by that carol. - Yeah. - So which one was the carol? - Oh, like, oh. - I think you guys are right that you've forgotten made it the LA. - Thank you for asking me. - What have many. I wanted to ask you guys what you're like, how did these aliens stack up against your favorite aliens from movies, TV, kind of like, can we just list some other aliens from having our time breathe some of mine?

01:28:51

- Okay, well there's like, - Bock? - Okay, hate to say it because, you know, it's controversial, but there is a movie called "Astronauts Wife". I believe we're Johnny Depp is an alien and he fucks his wife and it's some of the nature of a alien baby. And it was really impactful to me. - Okay. - Okay. There's the people from third rock from the sun. Star Wars is kind of all, invasion of the body, snatchers, close encounters with a third kind alien, - ET.

01:29:23

- Grute. - ET, I guess he's probably a top, yeah. - Grute. - I guess Grute's kind of galaxy quest. - Stitch or Stitch, I like. - I have to say of terms of like believable aliens. I stand, I think a rival has the best alien where it's like, they wouldn't, we wouldn't communicate the same way.

01:29:49

There wouldn't be like, it was just such a, so much better of a, to me a believable, 'cause like if we are accepting their aliens which I don't think is a weird thing to accept that you're like somewhere, there's intelligent life out there. Why is it, why is it just like, why are they so obsessed with us? Like, why are these, why are they just like us, but green, you know what I mean? Why are they just like us, but robots? I don't know.

01:30:18

I really like to rivals with my TAV, but you guys might like, "I'm rivals good." I mean, I hear what you're saying. It's just not that interesting to me if we can't communicate with them. Yeah, it's also much harder to write. You're right, it would be my memory. I guess I don't really like sci-fi that much. Oh, I don't. I'm just kidding. (laughs) But I don't have a favorite alien. It's all right, sorry. It's all right. What was that guy who writes a bunch of books?

01:30:49

Phil Kiddak. Phil Kiddak writes a lot of sci-fi. I like those. It's been a while since I read them, obviously, but I like to those. Yeah, yeah, I like you. And I'm sure they know the picture. The picture. All right, do you guys want to do good reads five star reviews? Let's do it. Yes. Oh my god, like give me some of your time about something from what's that guy that he defined where I put those. I did meet an alien once, I should say. So maybe I should say that alpha is my favorite alien.

01:31:21

He's like, "I got to get him in person." Cool. All right. He's a lot taller than you think. Oh, wow. He's like 10 feet. I'm just kidding. All right, here's good reads five star reviews. Which again, I'll say there were a ton of them. This book obviously Hank Green has a lot of followers that will not say a negative thing about him. But here's Ariel, she says, "Oh man, what a dang read, shoot, peeps. This one hit me really hard.

01:31:50

It was one of those books where the second I finished it, all I wanted to do was read it again. So I will soon and you should too, five stars." CC says, "I can't believe that a book I love this much, has a note from one of my idols in the front about my YouTube channel. Fuck, this was good." Oh, so she just got a signed copy. I think, I'm just giving it to her. And then she's like five stars like that. Thank you for the inscrub. Becky says, "Holy bananas, Hank. What an incredible book.

01:32:22

Relevant and insightful shades of gray social commentary blend seamlessly with a compelling sci-fi adventure." The narrator's voice was perfect, snark and honesty, and the fake it to you make it confidence, I know too well as a 20-something trying to find my way in the world like April. OK, the opening of that review, holy bananas. I think that that's the sort of thing that April may would say throughout this book. And honestly, I think that's why I hated this book.

01:32:49

And I can't say past and great else. Everything else that I say is a problem I have with it is just backfilling how much I hate the Holy Banana style. Holy crap balls. Yeah, oh, it's just crap balls. I messed up the first contact again. Yeah, it's just-- Yeah, it's not fun for me. So don't, I'll only other arguments or secondary to that. I also should say disgusting way of talking that's supposed to be cute and funny. It's not funny. If you want to be funny, you have to actually try.

01:33:18

OK, let's do our hate rate. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think we all know what's happening. Why don't we have some pretty good go first so that she doesn't inflate her's based on all the ideas. I think that's a real good go for it. I need my time to respond to you guys. No. OK, I mean, no, OK. Yeah, you know what I mean. See, I think I speak for all of us. This is zero. It was so bad. I hated every second of this book.

01:33:47

The only pleasure I got was knowing that it was created by a blood relative of the fall in our stars. And I, it just cemented my own taste. And that feels good. One put it up a start for the eyes. And I think I covered it with the holy crap balls. Holy bananas, not the zero. I don't like that. I don't like this book. I don't like that. Zero out of five. It was nonsense. And it makes me so scared. I'm actually writing stuff with aliens. And it just like, it strikes fear into my heart.

01:34:23

The like just the idea that I could accidentally write something this, it named this stupid, this cringy. It's, it's scared. The aliens were the best part of this. But what does that say? You can't see the bad. Don't worry. Thank you. It just feels like completely random that this got made. That anyone liked it. That it was a best seller. Like it. It just gets slipped through some sort of risk. It's like that.

01:34:47

That's the real like reveal about social media is just that if you have enough of a following, you can shit on a platter and people will give it five stars. Because that's what happened here. Yeah. Okay. So even for meta commentaries. That's all I got from this. So this, I'm going to give it a, a world of mean book club books. This is a 15 minute. Oh my god. It's 15 minute. Which averages out to a little less than a four when you divide by four. Okay. We're not doing that. We are.

01:35:26

No. You gave me the idea. So I had to do it. And yeah, I thought it was great. I enjoyed all three hours. I spent reading it. It was so fun. I laughed. You didn't know that. That's a person. You did that. I laughed. There was so many things that I laughed at. And like when, like when she's like talking to herself and she's like, Oh my god, Miranda's into me, right? And Andy's into me, right? I just really did. I just understood her. I liked that. I was so afraid.

01:36:03

This is why people think you're doing this. Yeah. I know. I liked it. There's like people think you're not real. Do you understand? I liked that. She was like, oh, flawed. But confident young woman. Of course I loved that she was bisexual. Is it time for us all of the cast? I think it might be clear. Oh wait. It's not ass-loining more. It's a little fucker. A little fucker. I mean, I don't want to take some reading just because she likes the book and I didn't like the book, but I have to.

01:36:39

I have to. I'm so mad. Listen, Sabrina, I hope I won't come on it down too hard on you. You're my good friend. I think you're good person. But you're. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. It's funny. It's like it feels like a personal insult. It does. It feels like a personal attack. It makes me think like, oh, so I'm not funny because Sabrina sometimes laughs when I do stuff. It's really funny. It's funny. It is sending me a spiral. Yeah, I have to agree.

01:37:16

It's just it makes me question my reality. Like, am I being gasslet right now? I don't like feeling like I'm being gasslet. I think that there's no way this could be real. I feel confused. And for that reason, you're a little fucker. But I don't really feel in my heart any little fucker. I actually feel really close to all of you this cast. So that's hard. Do you feel close to me this cast? Yeah. Well, here's what Sarah, did you also vote for me? Yeah, yeah. For me.

01:37:46

Okay. Well, you guys ought to be ashamed of yourself. For voting for me. You know, the only by member of the cast who we tried to erase today in the cast. I was afraid you might Sarah. And you know what? You may have some learning to do on the by existence. But Johnna, who seemed to already know, still said, P.P. was her favorite character. And that she agreed with everything he said. Even though he said being by was a weird lifestyle. So for that, I'm going to have to vote for Johnna.

01:38:29

But all of you need to reflect. I do want to disobey P. Here for everyone to hear. I hate to bring it up. But my wonderful summary in the beginning. I had him saying, I'm the most. I would be the most relatable character. But I hate by people. So I ruined. Yeah. So I just want to bring it all back. So you're, you're, I'm sorry that you reminded Johnna about that. Characteristic of his. Well, your vote doesn't matter. Not to reach your vote. But it doesn't matter at all because it's already you.

01:39:07

Oh, yeah. I'm glad. I'm glad. I could just because again, so many people did like this book. And I was like, I had no idea. Some books I feel like I can't at least say nice things about. But I really couldn't say one goddamn nice thing about this book. So I'm glad that you were there. Absolutely. Wow. I agree. And I've got a good book recommendation. I'm about to start reading down now and pair it on. You've started reading it. You haven't started it. Going to. And it's not for good things.

01:39:43

You're always so funny in this section. Remember that time when she was like, I have a good book recommendation. I've already called about 12 things. Okay. Okay. I mean book club on all the socials. Please become a patron a Patreon of the arts, the mean book arts. What are we? Fine arts. Reading next episode. We are. In chemistry. Oh, no. Lessons in chemistry. Yes. We tried to do a thing. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Claire, you were supposed to say chemistry. It was really hard. Why would you?

01:40:31

Why would you? Because you said what are we reading. Yeah. I don't think it's a big thing. But join us next time. For lessons in chemistry. You've seen it around. We've all seen the cover around. Great book stores. All right. Bye everyone. See you in the next episode. Bye. [ Music ]

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