time zones are fickle
Collin did conferencing. Brandon has a clipboard.
Time zones are fickle
Brandon’s Summer Sci-Fi top 5 list
Runner-up! 2011 Ready Player One
5- A Canticle for Leibowitz - 1959
4- We - 1924
3- Neuromancer - 1984
2- Roadside Picnic - 1972
1- The Invincible - 1964
Haiku
Pages sound alarm
Showing visions of ourselves
Can lessons be learned?
Links
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
PROVIDED BY OTTER.AI
Collin Funkhouser 0:05
Welcome to Oh Brother, a podcast where we try to figure it all out with your hosts Brandon and Collin. On this week's show, time zones are fickle. Ahoy! Ahoy! What's going on? Oh, not a lot. How are you? I am oh all the things.
Brandon 0:26
Wow, what a trouble though there! Holy cow, that was
Collin Funkhouser 0:32
no. I I so I I am recording remotely from the our first. I think this was this one of our first cities where we did an overview of the skyline, where we raided the skyline of Winston Salem. Oh, I
Brandon 0:50
don't know. Did we do Winston Salem? I know. I remember we did.
Collin Funkhouser 0:53
We did
Brandon 0:54
Charlotte, right? Like
Collin Funkhouser 0:59
anyway, yes. So I am podcasting from the windy city of Winston Salem presently. Yes, and I it has been a lot so far. So I am I am traveling on behalf of being an MC for this conference.
Brandon 1:19
Oh, so
Collin Funkhouser 1:21
that means that Collin doesn't get to like rest.
Brandon 1:26
No,
Collin Funkhouser 1:28
like
Brandon 1:28
high energy. How many espressos have you had today?
Collin Funkhouser 1:31
Someone actually asked me. They were like that because I came out and I was like getting some water and I was getting like a cup of coffee. And I will be really like I I did not over caffeinate because I know what happens. Like I, my, I just a new energy level in these events where I don't actually need the extra caffeine. Oh yeah, but I did want something like hot so that could sip because my throat was getting a little like yeah yeah. So I came out and they were basically they were like, when do we need to cut you off? And I'm like, I'm fine, okay. Like I'm like guys,
Brandon 2:04
I'm just like this, okay. Like
Collin Funkhouser 2:06
literally, how I leave me be. Yeah,
Brandon 2:10
it's just how it is. It's okay. Don't worry. It is.
Collin Funkhouser 2:15
It is. And and everyone, you know, they're like, oh, you know, great energy. You know, really keeping us awake and blah blah. I'm like, I know someone has to. Like, yeah,
Brandon 2:24
that's kind of the job of the master of ceremonies. Ceremonies, you know, is to master the ceremony. Like,
Collin Funkhouser 2:33
I don't know what you want to say, people. Like, okay, no, it's
Brandon 2:39
Ben Stein being that ah yes, and now
Collin Funkhouser 2:44
you learn, you learn. Oh my gosh! So no, like, and it's been. I will say, okay, so not not too much fun in the event of travel to get out here, except so I'm traveling. I mean,
Brandon 3:02
I mean that's good compared to like the last time you traveled. Yes. Yes. Like yeah. That's what we want. We want like uneventful. Everything's fine. It was boring. Okay. Like yeah. Based on last time you did this, like boring is exactly the recipe, right? Like that's what.
Collin Funkhouser 3:18
And so I. It's a it's a one hour and 40 minute flight from Springfield into Charlotte, and then it's like like a 41 minute flight from Charlotte into Greensboro. Yes, yes, yeah, great. And I'm flying from Charlotte into Greensboro, and there's like it's really corporatey on around me, and I'm like, "Ew, what is this? What is going on? And there's like people. Obviously, they know everybody. They're all traveling in like, you know, like business casual kind of thing, you know. And I'm like, "Okay. And somebody, and I'm traveling, and I'm not traveling business casual, and for some reason I had two. What the someone came up to me and they were like,
Brandon 4:05
"Formal evening? Is that what you're traveling? Yeah, I was in formal evening. I was
Collin Funkhouser 4:10
in. I was in a white. It was a white tuxedo event. Oh, okay, yeah, white. Okay, nice. White
Brandon 4:16
evening jacket. Yeah, white evening
Collin Funkhouser 4:17
jacket. And I was somebody that came up to me and they're like, "Are you in Brad's group? And I was like, "No, I don't know what you're talking about.
Brandon 4:25
Like, I don't know a Brad. And
Collin Funkhouser 4:26
then, while we're boarding the plate, somebody said, "Are you in Brad's group? And so I just looked at them and went, "Yeah, yeah. And they were like, "Okay, cool, because you know we're gonna meet up later. And I was like, "Okay, awesome, great, I appreciate that.
Brandon 4:43
I think after that, I think you should have gone on a bit of a side quest to find Brad. Like, where is Brad? Brad probably was wearing a name tag. Okay, like I bet he had his badge on. Okay, like. I feel like that's. I feel like you could have found him. I should have. I should have put in a little
Collin Funkhouser 5:05
bit of extra effort here and gone on a side quest to be like ready to meet Brad. Unfortunately, I did not, which is totally fine with me. I just sat on the plane and the lady behind me going from Charlotte to Greensboro, and and Greensboro, Winston Salem, it's pretty small, but like Charlotte's really big, and there's a lot of people on there. The lady behind me, as people are boarding the plane, she recognized seven people. Okay, dang, and she's-they were all in Brad's
Brandon 5:37
group. No, no, no, no, no.
Collin Funkhouser 5:39
None of them were traveling for this conference thing, which I later learned about. She was she's from Winston Sam. These were all these people coming back to Winston Sam home, and
Brandon 5:50
that's very weird. Everybody coming back on a random same time, like week end, like it was so bizarre, like it was,
Collin Funkhouser 6:02
and it got to the point where I like made a joke where I was like, "I feel like I should get an autograph here, and she was like, "Yeah, I'm basically the mayor. Sounds like it, and I said, and I went, "I went, I would vote for you. It was amazing. It's just so bizarre, like, and she kept on being like, "Oh my gosh, that's crazy! I haven't seen her in forever. It was like, "Oh my gosh, I haven't seen you. What the
Brandon 6:31
heck, man?
Collin Funkhouser 6:32
I know, I know. So, but unfortunately, I did. Okay, so I, I, I did miscalculate my travel. So my goal was to stay with with family for like as long as possible, and then just have like a longer day. However, I did forget about the time change coming. Ah, oh, because yeah, that is my my flight left at 5o'clock, like 530, and yeah, okay, okay, okay, yeah, and then I like land in Charlotte, and I'm like, I I'm turns out it's not
Brandon 7:04
630. Um, it's actually it's actually
Collin Funkhouser 7:07
like it's yeah. So we left it no, so plane left like eight. Yeah, yeah, it was eight, and then I you know we had I had a one hour layover, and so I'm leaving Charlotte at nine, and then I'm like landing at 10, and then I'm driving, and I was like, "Oh my gosh, this was this was a bit longer than I had. Could have done better.
Brandon 7:28
Yeah, yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 7:28
could have planned. You know, just work on this. That's fair.
Brandon 7:32
Time zones are tricky things. Time zones are tricky. They're fickle. Yeah, they are fickle. I mean, they are because like they don't fall. Like they should just follow a line, but they're all zigzaggy because they're like, "Oh no! But then this one is, and then blah. Like I can't, guys.
Collin Funkhouser 7:48
Yes. So we
Brandon 7:49
just,
Collin Funkhouser 7:50
yep. And then we got to the conference center, and it turns out that this weekend is like Wake Forest, like bring your parents to school day. This weekend, it is also like a big football game. It is that true. You
Brandon 8:05
are now in football season travel. That's true too. Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 8:09
it is also in the Society of Oh, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna get this wrong. Society of something engineers was their structure. Oh, was a society of structural engineers. Structural engineers. I wonder how
Brandon 8:24
they feel about your rating of the Winston-Salem skyline.
Collin Funkhouser 8:27
Probably not good. And then there's also flank the foreign language something something something is happening this week. Wow. Okay. Okay. All all in the same conference center. I
Brandon 8:44
wonder which group Brad was going to. That's what I really. Brad,
Collin Funkhouser 8:49
given reflecting on, so the flank people started a day later. Yeah, all these were the structural engineers. I was gonna say
Brandon 8:59
Brad feels like construction engineering. Brad is going to structural engineering. I'm envisioning Collin. On did you see a man with like short brown hair and a short beard in a polo? Because that feels like Brad. That's very Brad energy, right? What
Collin Funkhouser 9:15
what were also was the khaki and then the oh sleeve checkered shirt tucked in.
Brandon 9:22
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Collin Funkhouser 9:23
With pencils and the oh, obviously. Yeah, I mean engineer. Yeah, I walked past something. I because I had to go. A lot of Statler
Brandon 9:34
pencils, probably. Yes, absolutely. It was
Collin Funkhouser 9:37
it was adorned. There was a gravitational pull right there. Statler pencils came together. I feel like engineers
Brandon 9:42
would have a German pencil that just feels right.
Collin Funkhouser 9:45
It's if you don't, the lines don't look right. On all the calculations, you're off.
Brandon 9:53
Yeah.
Collin Funkhouser 9:53
No, I I walked past something and it was something like a. I I think this was the slide a. T point six nine sheer wall, and that was the title of the slide.
Brandon 10:06
Oh boy! What
Collin Funkhouser 10:10
what a presentation! Like oh my
Brandon 10:14
days.
Collin Funkhouser 10:14
There we go. Well, I'm gonna go. Now we're
Brandon 10:20
cooking.
Collin Funkhouser 10:21
Now, now here's the thing. I'm glad somebody knows what a 2.69 shear wall does because it sounds like it keeps buildings up. And sounds
Brandon 10:28
important,
Collin Funkhouser 10:29
like buildings. However, my goodness, yeah, I could not want to know more about that. Like you could not pay me to know to learn most steak of
Brandon 10:41
all time. I know. I guess
Collin Funkhouser 10:42
it was phenomenal, and there was like, it was there was a lot of people in that room. So again, whatever. I my conference. We're here. I'm at the conference to talk about like dog walking. So whatever. I mean, fair. You know,
Brandon 10:56
everybody has their knee strength. That's fine. Like
Brandon 10:59
dang,
Collin Funkhouser 10:59
dang, for sure. So yeah, I got to so yeah. It's have been the master of ceremonies, and it's been it's been good. I it was 85 yesterday, yeah, which was yuck. Yes, it was absolutely gross, and I I had intentionally last year. I remember being hot in the conference center, even though everybody always talks about it being cold in the conference centers. And I went
Brandon 11:28
when you're emceeing, and you know,
Collin Funkhouser 11:31
yeah. And I almost like I was like, I'm gonna double down. And like, so my first night, it's a like a workshop. It's a four hour workshop that they invite somebody to come in to like go through workshopy things, and I was like, I'm just gonna wear some like nice shorts and a button up shirt and a button up short sleeve. That's I'm just gonna and I'm gonna wear my five fingers. It's gonna be a bit more cash, you know.
Brandon 11:55
That's the that's the Collin business cash. Yeah, five fingers. The five fingers are out, you know. You know,
Collin Funkhouser 12:03
absolutely, and I'm Brandon. I'm glad I did because I was I met up with the AV crew and I was you know high fiving them from last year and saying hi to Daniel and Sean and Mike and whatever, and they're like, hey, last year during this the it was the same speaker. He they were like he had to run around the room with a microphone so that questions could be heard on the live stream, and that's not the best because you know he gets a little tired. But also the camera was having to keep up with him as he was like like it made for a bad viewing experience. So we don't want him to run around with the mic, but we also don't want a central podium for people to come up and talk about. So we want
Brandon 12:44
you to run around. Collin,
Collin Funkhouser 12:45
could you run around with the microphone? And I was like, fine, fine, fine. I will. You
Brandon 12:54
have coffee this time. Yes. Okay. Mic running complete. Let's go. So for
Collin Funkhouser 13:00
four hours, I was zigzagging this kind of large room.
Brandon 13:04
Okay, I think four hours is too a little too much for Q and A. Holy schmoly, everything needs to be like the 20 minutes at the end, right? Like,
Collin Funkhouser 13:11
no, it was just a lot of like, and why do you think we do this with our clients? And they're just like, I think we do it for this way, and I want to talk about this thing, and this is more of a statement than a question. And that question is rhetorical. You're supposed to answer it on your next slide. Yeah, okay, stop. And so that's what I was doing for four hours was going back and forth so people could be heard giving their opinions and such. And okay, fair. Was it good? Oh my gosh! So today with the big conference was supposed to be a little bit nicer, but one speaker like I'm I'm attending, I'm I'm taking notes and stuff, so I'm kind of in this zone where I'm I know how much time we have left and what I need to do, and I'm keeping track, take up shows, and all of a sudden I hear like, could Collin get that? And I'm like what? Okay, and the speaker had randomly decided he wanted a lot more active attendee participation, and I'm like, oh no, because we're in the full conference center now, and there are 300 people in this room. Oh,
Brandon 14:18
gross! And
Collin Funkhouser 14:19
I Like you know, I'm like on it, and I just run up and I run back to the AV boat booth and I grab it from Sean and I'm like like okay, what are we doing? It's just like Steve. Oh, you're killing me, buddy. No, I don't want this in my life. No, you can't just
Brandon 14:40
randomly decide mid thought. Be like, "Hey, I need audience members to answer because I'm getting bored of talking. So, like, no, no, no, no, no. Stop what we do.
Collin Funkhouser 14:50
Stop it. No, sometimes words. But it was it was fine, and I will say then, and I know I'm keeping track of time, and we're we're doing well. And then one person. Ends like really or like abruptly, and I could tell the speaker did not practice this conversation at all, this presentation because she's going and she's a little nervous. It was fine, and then she gets to a slide that I realize is her second to last slide, and I see her eyes kind of like go, and she actually said, "Oh, I thought oh, and then she goes into the vamp mode. Oh no, not vamping, where where we are now in the
Brandon 15:42
what year?
Collin Funkhouser 15:43
Like, how do we make this actually work? Like, how do I how do I remember what happened before? And like, it's like pulling words from the my brain that are supposed to relate to this. And I've obviously talked past the point of this slide, which was about like downloading my PDFs and getting access to my things. And we're just now really trying to draw this. Who knew? Who knew? Who knew? And I'm just mad. And I look at the clock, and like she ended with she. It was supposed to be an hour long. She ended at 30 minutes, and I'm just like, "There's nothing I can do to save you. Like, there's nothing I can do to save you. And all I can do is a hope that there's a lot of questions, or b she's going to have to suffer through me asking her some questions because I, I always listen. Again, this is why I want to listen to the speakers because I want to be able to like have good outros for them, or an application, or a thought, and turn it to the people. Or like in this instance, I'm like I have five questions locked and loaded. That in case nobody asks questions, I don't like. We're gonna have some back and forth here, so I'm just like we're gonna see what happens, and fortunately, some people came up and had some questions, and it, and then I asked a question, and we got to 15 extra minutes, so we got to 45 minutes, and then it was okay. It was like we're done. We just have to be done, like me. Can't milk
Brandon 17:16
this anymore. Like let
Collin Funkhouser 17:18
her run away. Oh, and and we ended, and so we're like, now I'm I'm like, I think at that point I was like 20 minutes ahead of schedule, and I'm like, awesome, and I go intermission. Yeah, we're going to a break, and I had that decision of like, do we go to an extra long break or do we come back early and come back early and keep going? And so I'm just like, nope, we're sticking to the 15 minute break. I'm not giving an extra long one. So I'm like, we're gonna get out of this early, and I go back and I tell the the AV crew, I'm like, I'm just gonna cut everything as short as we can, and and the AV crew were like, music to our ears. Oh
Brandon 18:00
yeah, I'm sure they were like, "Heck yeah, let's go!
Collin Funkhouser 18:02
I just wanted to make sure that they knew because they have different timing and different cues and things like that. I'm like, "We're just moving everything up by 15 minutes. Warp speed, boys! We're getting
Brandon 18:11
out of here early today. We are, and
Collin Funkhouser 18:13
we're wrapping it. You know, like I'm not scratching nothing. And then, and then the this the the we went to a break, and then the next speaker came back, and he finished about 20 minutes early with only like a couple questions. And I was like, "I'm not asking any questions. We're just going to get out here early so people can get out because we've been in here all day. And yeah, like, like I know, I know some people are like, "Well, the time is the time, and this is the time that we have scheduled, so we have to, you know, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Yeah,
Brandon 18:42
but like then you're just gonna sit there, and also like if you get a little bit ahead, like sometimes then you like you might. What if your speaker later goes a little bit long? Yeah. Then like now you have cushion. You don't have to worry about like oh now now you don't have to rush anymore, you know, you just like let it ride, keep going. Then, if somebody does go long, or you got something that comes up, now you have a cushion, and so you don't have to rush and cut people short.
Collin Funkhouser 19:12
Why? Why would you not try and get as far ahead as possible? Like, it just doesn't make any sense. Of we just need to we need to keep pressing our advantage here because there may come a time where AV fails, or you're right, yeah, somebody goes way long. Like, so we just need to keep the pressure on. The pressure is always to be at or early on time, and that's fine. That's fine. So we got out, and everyone was like, "Okay, because it's it's a lot. It's you know it's it's big heavy topics, and most people don't. I don't know. Just I'm up running around, so I'm like burning calories, and it helps me to stay engaged. But yeah, most people are just like sitting there from nine a.m. to five, and it's like
Brandon 19:59
that's a lot of. Conferencing-that's that's a little too much conferencing.
Collin Funkhouser 20:02
Long, long day.
Brandon 20:04
Yeah,
Collin Funkhouser 20:05
yeah.
Brandon 20:06
That's a, oh, that's that's painful. Like I know,
Collin Funkhouser 20:11
you know, and it's you know, there's a lunch in there, but it is. I know, but
Brandon 20:16
I feel like you could do some breakout sessions. You
Collin Funkhouser 20:19
could, you know what? You could like
Brandon 20:20
you could like okay, which one of these people do you want to hear? Go to one of these. If you're if you're in like a convention center though, you only have the one room most likely, so like you can't really do that. But like I feel like you're itching for some breakouts because like that's rough just sitting in the same auditorium for
Collin Funkhouser 20:38
yep like a workday
Brandon 20:40
like yeah, and that
Collin Funkhouser 20:41
is something that this conference has not that that the pet industry has not done is there is not a single conference that does breakout sessions at all, and I I understand most of the time they're kind of small, right? It's hard to
Brandon 20:56
schedule them. It's hard to
Collin Funkhouser 20:57
schedule, but it's like man, you because this is the other thing that I always think of of going, you have amazing speakers here, and you're only getting one thing out of them. What if you had they were able to do like 230 minute presentations in morning and afternoon? Like what? Like yeah, you can. You don't. It's not. I think everybody thinks. Oh, I have to get then I have to get double the amount of presenters.
Brandon 21:21
No, because you have the yeah you have two sessions, and then you can still have a couple people slotted for like
Collin Funkhouser 21:27
yeah the
Brandon 21:28
big auditorium right, and then you can have the small ones
Collin Funkhouser 21:33
have the keynotes, and you'll have you know maybe there's just a big like a
Brandon 21:36
closing person or like you know industry
Collin Funkhouser 21:38
conversation that maybe you want to have where everybody's there, but you don't anyway. So this is these are my thoughts as I'm as I'm running around doing things. I did ask I did ask Sean the audio guy because I'm it's a we're in a much bigger room this year and trying to like talk loudly so that people can hear me in the lobby, so they can start coming in, and then like this morning I was having to kind of walk through the lobby, being like, "We've got five minutes, and everybody come over. We got starting five minutes. Like, no, I don't need to be doing this. So, Sean,
Brandon 22:17
like, buddy, do you have a bullhorn by chance? Sorry.
Collin Funkhouser 22:21
Yeah. So Sean, Sean was like, "Hey, there is a speaker out in the lobby that I can pipe only your audio to, and so we're going to use that so that you can just stand on the stage and start talking and give a countdown so that people out in the lobby can hear you, and they'll come in. And I was like, "I love you so much. Thank you.
Brandon 22:44
Say less. Let's go. Yes.
Collin Funkhouser 22:46
So, so we got that. We got that taken care of, and it was it was good. So I am. We got one more day of conferencing, and I I think we're gonna survive it. But it's always it's always something. Well,
Brandon 23:01
that would be good news. Let's go ahead and survive it, please. That would be very useful.
Collin Funkhouser 23:21
Yeah, that's that's about all my new things I I have. What about what about you?
Brandon 23:29
Well, Collin, I have for you the culmination of my the my secret summer reading program.
Collin Funkhouser 23:40
Oh, Oh
Brandon 23:41
right, so so I have for you Brandon's summer sci-fi reading top five list.
Collin Funkhouser 23:52
Oh, let's go! Okay, so
Brandon 23:59
I decided this summer just to go all in, right? Because we did talk about how like we don't read science fiction. No, we don't at all. And so I was like, "Well, we're gonna read Ender's Game. And then after a while, I was like, "Yeah, I don't really like this one. So I'm gonna go for. We're gonna see if there's other sci-fi books or genres out there that I might like more, so I have for you the five. Well, there's six, so there's a runner-up. Other sci-fi books that I read this summer in secret, and then school started, and I wasn't done with the last one, so I had to, you know, it got pushed off till now. It's fine. So it's a little late, but it's fine. The culmination list here, so we'll run through here. I'll give you the rundown. I have many notes here about this. Oh my
Collin Funkhouser 24:48
goodness!
Brandon 24:49
Yeah, I got I got some notes. I now I did not take the notes sequentially as I was reading the books. I waited till I was done, so there might I might have missed some things here, but it's okay. It's like my general thoughts and feelings about the book. Okay, that's important here. Yeah, yeah. It's a little less like I only went over like the brief synopsis of the book again to remind myself. Oh yeah, that's wonderful. So and then have some just sort of thoughts and feelings about said book. Right. I even now officially officially have a clipboard. Oh man, it's such an official. Well, I know.
Collin Funkhouser 25:22
You know it's official when you hear it. Have a clipboard.
Brandon 25:24
Yeah, I got clipboard. Structural
Collin Funkhouser 25:25
engineers would be so happy.
Brandon 25:26
I know. I think they'd be proud, right? Of my, my. I wonder how they feel about point seven lead, but it's fine. That's a conversation for another time. So we'll start off with the runner-up, right? Because I bought this book at the same time as I bought Ender's Game because I bought them both used, and this book was $2. So like, nice. I felt like you know we'll go there. So the my runner-up list. Also, I think you'll notice a theme here, just with my general vibe and how my reading tastes tend to to go here. The runner up. I read Ready Player One. Okay. So I read 2011's Ready Player One.
Collin Funkhouser 26:20
Yeah,
Brandon 26:20
which is like a dystopian science fiction novel set in 2045, and the large part of it takes place in the barren wasteland of Oklahoma City. Well,
Brandon 26:35
and and it's like the the world sucks, and it's like all corporate and crazy. So like everybody lives online in like this like oasis virtual reality thing, right? That's the vibe. So like that's what people do. They live their lives on the internet because the real world sucks like really bad, And I was gonna come out and say I don't like this book. Oh, really at all? Why? Why? Well, the okay. So this book, like the premise is weird. Like the thing is, like the dude who like designed this internet world has died, and then there's like a contest, like, "Oh, hey, if you find this thing, then whoever wins gets to be in charge of Internet land. Amazing. So then it like becomes this big like treasure hunt thing, but like trying to follow along a treasure hunt story in a completely made-up world in which you have absolutely no basis for anything, it's like very not interesting because it's like, oh, and then I'm gonna go here, and then oh, I know about this because I know this, and so I'm gonna go here, and like as a reader, you cannot participate in like the drama of the hunt, you just have to like listen to this kid talk, and there's a lot of talk in here about like that and like leveling up and stuff, and it's just like I don't. So there's big long sections of this book that are boring, and then I'll be like, "Oh, we did this crazy like dungeon and fought some people, and like, "Oh, that's cool. And like the character interactions, like the the do we because like the main character guy is like a sworn it's you know classic, right? I'm sworn to go in on my own, right? But then like, then you know he's got like a friend, but like he trusts him, but like he doesn't want to team up with him because you know I swore to be alone. But then like the corporate baddies start like getting real close, and so they have to they have to like throw their misgivings aside and like, just they team up anyway, right? And so, so some of that drama is interesting, and some of that stuff. But like, there's a lot of talk about just like really random stuff. And this book, and also, also, here's the other thing that you need to know about this book and the online world that inhabits this book is that everything is just '80s pop culture references.
Collin Funkhouser 29:26
That's it.
Brandon 29:27
Like pop culture died in 1989, according to this book. There is absolutely nothing else except for like the most obscure '80s video game references of all time. So, like, I bet you can guess how old the author is.
Collin Funkhouser 29:47
Yeah. Oh no. So
Brandon 29:50
like, it's kind of like, for the most part, it doesn't matter, and sometimes it's just like a list of movies. Sure, neat. Like okay, like it only kind of relates to some of the treasure hunting. Sometimes everything else is just like quoting Terminator or like and like you know fine, but like all the time is kind of nuts.
Collin Funkhouser 30:21
Yeah,
Brandon 30:21
and so like. it just kind of meanders about for a while. And there's like several chapters in a row where you're like, "Oh my gosh, why? What is happening?
Collin Funkhouser 30:31
Hmm. Hmm. Interesting.
Brandon 30:34
Yeah. So, I mean, it's fine. It's like a. It's fine, I guess. But like, as far as like, is this a Good book, not really, in my opinion. I don't think I don't think so. Right? Is it better than Ender's Game? No, I don't think so. Also, don't think it is. Yeah, right. I don't think. I think with even though it has a lot of faults, I think Ender's Game is a better story than this one, right? And that might be the last time I say that on this list.
Collin Funkhouser 31:06
Fair enough. Okay. Well, you did set out to try and find a better book, right? Yeah. So that's good.
Brandon 31:12
Yeah. And so, like, I yeah. So, so number five. Okay. The real list starts now. Number five. They're kind of this one and number four kind of close tie, not because they're bad, but just because like I only read six books, so like I had to go somewhere. So I read this book is heavy though. So like when you talk about like science fiction, and it's like like philosophical messaging, and like how it can be a vehicle for like deep thought. Sure, it's this book.
Collin Funkhouser 31:52
Okay,
Brandon 31:52
and one other one on the list for 100% sure. Holy guacamole! All right, so I this number five I put I read a canticle for Leibowitz.
Collin Funkhouser 32:04
Okay.
Brandon 32:06
So this is this was written in 1959.
Collin Funkhouser 32:09
Interesting. All
Brandon 32:10
right. This book is crazy. So the premise of the book is that sometime in the 1960s there was a nuclear disaster that destroyed the world, right? Which, having been written in 1959, makes a lot of sense, right? Like this,
Collin Funkhouser 32:30
not not entirely. So now this
Brandon 32:33
book is actually set like several 100 years in the future now, okay? And like, I think the first part takes around like the first. The book has three sections, so it's like three kind of short stories, but that are all connected together loosely, right? But the first one takes place sometime around the year like 3174, right? So like very far future. Okay, so still wasteland. So like, what happened in in the 60s was there's this guy named Isaac Liebowitz, and he was like an engineer, right? And so like he survives part of this nuclear holocaust situation, and he takes refuge in an abbey in a church, right? And now, now the church is this church that he's in. It's like in the southwest, in the in like the desert somewhere. Its mission becomes holding on to texts and knowledge from pre-war, pre-bombs.
Collin Funkhouser 33:44
Oh, interesting, right?
Brandon 33:45
So they are either copying down these things or like memorizing them.
Collin Funkhouser 33:54
Yeah,
Brandon 33:55
right. And so they call it like booklegging because they're like finding these things because like the world is now in like a it's like dark ages times, right? So like it's very interestingly this part has like a lot of similarities with like post Roman Empire, sure, right? So it's like the fall of Rome, the dark ages ensue, like there's a lot of this stuff, and then like the church is the house of like certain knowledge, like that's the only place that it's kept, and so that's what they're doing. And so they have these things. By the time this book or this book starts, it's like in the far future. So they have these things. They don't know what they mean, but they have them, right? So they're just sort of holding on to them until such a time when people can understand how to use it again, right? And so they call it like the you know the I can't remember the word they use, but like the the you know artifacts or whatever they keep them in the basement. They copy them out and all this stuff, and like some of them are like important, like. Through like reading irony, like you, the reader know, like this is an engineering textbook. This one is a grocery list. Ah, one of those things is more important than the other. But the monks don't know that because they don't have the context of the thing; they just have the thing, right? And so they're just holding it, and then the second book, or the second like part two, is like a few 100 years later, and it's like right around the time the the United States is starting to like reorganize itself, and it's it's kind of like the beginning of the Renaissance era, right? Like they're starting to understand. They're doing some science, and they're like trying to use these things, and they've like made a light bulb. Like, oh my god, holy cow! Like what? And so, like, there's this conflict between like the church and like this other group of scientists and people like whatever, and like they come to visit the abbey. And there's like you know who should take possession of these documents, and he's the one guy's like we should have these. And the church is like, well, we've never said you couldn't have them, but I think they're just safer here, locked in our basement, and not wandering through the desert with all the warlords. I think that's not a good place for them to go. Which, to be fair, yes, it's not agreed. Agreed. And then, like, part three is like it's we're back to like a fully modern time, except for the threat of nuclear war is once again looming on the
Collin Funkhouser 36:40
horizon.
Brandon 36:40
So it's like this whole book is like an examination of like the cyclical nature of societal structures and their collapses, and it's a little depressing because you're like, wow, we really don't change or learn anything, do do we? Oh my days! So it's uh it's kind of crazy, and like they're the monks. Some of the monks at the end of the second one are they're like planning to like go to space to like escape the cycle and like start a colony like on the somewhere else. They're gonna go to like a colony somewhere. So it's it's pretty deep. There's also a lot of Latin in this book.
Collin Funkhouser 37:22
Oh no! Like a lot.
Brandon 37:25
It's like because it's like church structurally, and they're like some of the stuff that they have is like they've preserved it in Latin, and so this book just has like random Latin like all over the place, and so it's a little bit like I don't. What does that say? Oh dear! But like all the characters in each of the quote quote ages really sort of help define the different eras that the church and the people are in, and it's like it's very interesting, right? Like all the different problems in each like book are slightly different, but also they feel very familiar, even though they're set in like a very far distant weird time. Like they're still familiar problems, just with like a little different weird twist on them. So this book is very good. It is a little tough to read. It's very dense.
Collin Funkhouser 38:22
It sounds and there's
Brandon 38:23
Latin, and there's Latin, and then you'll stop reading and be like, "Wow, that hurts my brain. I got to think about that for a little bit. Like, like it's a little heavy, right? It's a little bit heavy, which is also kind of like book number four on the list. Oh boy, the two heavy ones are like back to back, right? Number four, I read. Okay, here's a fun fact. This book, Collin,
Collin Funkhouser 38:50
yeah,
Brandon 38:50
first book to be banned by the Soviet Union.
Collin Funkhouser 38:55
Ooh, okay, that means good. It
Brandon 38:58
is pretty good. So this book is called We, and it was written in 19, was published in 1924, and it's like a very our our character lives in a place called the One State, which is a city made entirely of glass, yeah, so that you can be observed at all times, and your life is ruled by the table of hours, and so you just follow the schedule set out by the state, and the leader, the benefactor, is looking out for you, right? The characters don't even have names. Like everybody is a number. So our main guy, he is number b5 103. He's like our guy, right? And this book is written as like journal entries. So like, it's also a bit weird sometimes because. He's writing, but he is not necessarily a not a reliable narrator guy. Sure, you know. So
Collin Funkhouser 40:08
interesting, right? Well, because is he supposed to be writing from this like while being observed, or like that's the that's the question here?
Brandon 40:15
Yes, and he is also like the lead engineer on their like spaceship project, which is called the Integral, just you know for interesting reasons, because this book has a lot of math symbolism in it, like a lot of math, because he's an engineer, and so like there's this part of like oh you know math is so comforting. It's very stereotypical, right? Math is comforting, and it's like analytical, and we can plan, and we can do this, but our character has nightmares-not nightmares necessarily, but things. There's some things in math that bother him, such as wait for it, the square root of negative one. Oh, and as we all know, I'm sure the square root of negative one is I, and this book is about discovering the I, right? Like he meets a woman whose name is I 330. Uh oh, and he like falls for this woman. That's not allowed, right? You're not allowed to pick your partners in the one state. Ah, and she's like so intriguing. She breaks all the rules and she like smokes, gasps, and like does all these things. And it turns out she's like leading a rebellion against the one state, and like part of him wants to join her because he's there's like this big internal struggle between like the desire to be safe in the state or be an individual, right? Are you we or are you I?
Collin Funkhouser 41:55
Yeah.
Brandon 41:55
Yeah. Yeah. You see, and there's like a a awful lot of like biblical symbolism here too, where it's like our two characters are very like Adam and Eve coded, and but instead of like like being punished and like escaping Eden into the wilds, they like want to leave the garden, right? They're trying to leave where these Eve is. Eve is trying to make him leave the garden. It's not like, oh, we want to stay here. It's like, no, no, no, we got to get out because they're even separated by nature, by something called like the green wall, and so like, there's no nature in this city, just the glass and the weirdness and the ah, right? So, like this com this conflict of like the search for the soul, like he discovers he has like a soul and individuality, and this troubles him at first, right? And it's very heady, and like there's like this like happiness does not equal freedom situation happening, right? Like, and quite obviously, George Orwell read this book, yeah, like like a lot. It turns out in the back of this edition, I have there's like an essay that he wrote about this, and he wrote he wrote this essay like four or five years before he wrote 1984, and he talks about comparing this book to A Brave New World, right? Yeah. And so you're like, okay, George, I see you did your homework. I understand. Like, yeah. I see what's up. But yeah. So this this is this is again this is a very like this is a very philosophical book, and so it's definitely not the easiest thing to digest, but it is like super interesting.
Collin Funkhouser 43:45
Yeah,
Brandon 43:46
but it's pretty good as well. So that was number three. No, that was number four, right?
Collin Funkhouser 43:52
Yeah, yeah, we're on to number three.
Brandon 43:53
Yeah, number three. Oh boy, hold on to your hats. Right, this book just sort of happens at you. So you know how sometimes we're like, man. Sometimes exposition annoys me, and I like it when books just start and they just take you and you go with it,
Speaker 1 44:12
right? Right.
Brandon 44:13
Well, William Gibson took that to like the extreme, right? So number three, I put I read Neuromancer.
Collin Funkhouser 44:22
I have heard none of these. Okay. Yo.
Brandon 44:24
Okay. This book is written in 1984, and it's like one of the pioneering like cyberpunk.
Collin Funkhouser 44:32
Oh, really?
Brandon 44:33
Genre books, right? And this book just goes. You just like hang on and go for a ride because, like, I read a thing where he was inspired. Like, some of his inspiration came from like listening to people like speak their work jargon. You know, like engineers or salespeople. Yeah, and like you can like you're listening to this conversation and you kind. I don't know what's happening. That's sometimes what reading this book is like. When they're talking about like the technical nature of what they're doing, you're like, I have no idea what's going on, but I'm here for it.
Collin Funkhouser 45:14
Mel, and that's a. I mean, that's an interesting literary device to be like. No, you don't know. This is so. This world is so alien to you, like, and we're not going to explain. Like, do you ever later realize what's going on, or is it always? Yeah, kind of.
Brandon 45:30
You like have to use a lot of context, and like, you can kind of figure out what's happening. But like, I think you'd have to read this book like three times to like really dive into like figure. It just sort of happens, and you just holding. It reminds me, though, like I read a lot of things online about people like didn't like this book because it is so just like aggressively alien, you know. But when you read it, it it's like a Dashiell Hammett noir novel, right? It's just like breakneck, and it just goes, and like when you read something like Red Harvest, like half the time because that work is so dated, there's a lot of times where you're reading that you're not entirely sure what the heck he's talking about either, you know. And but it just it's a ride, and it just rips, and you just that book the character doesn't even have a name, right? It just boom, it's just blitzing at you. That's how this book is. Yeah. So this is like secretly a noir novel, because like all the characters suck. Like there's not like a hero character. You're just following the characters. They're not good, right? They're not triumphant people. Sure. Like the basic outline of this story is that there's like a hacker guy who's like a net runner type of dude. This book also helped coin the word matrix, by the way. So there you go. And he had done a job before, and he got caught, got punished, and he was like injured or something. So like he can't use the net anymore, and so like he's hired for this job, and he's like given a procedure to like restore his ability to do it, whatever that means. And then there's like another mercenary girl and like this crazy guy, and they're all been hired by like they they discover later been hired by like this AI construct, and they're trying to like break in to this like super secure like thing and free this other AI construct because they're actually like two halves, and they he wants to merge with his other half to become like the super AI thing, right? And so it's like this really just insane, like ride through all these places, and we're going all over the place, and like, oh my god, right, and so like the neuromancer is like the other half, and they find out they're hired by like this guy, this like winter mute AI, has done all this thing, and it's just like a wild, insane ride, right? But I also read this book at a very funny time because there's this part in the middle, right, where he like it just like breaks, and he's kind of stuck in the net. He's like kind of dead, right? And he's like it's doing one of those things like you know Harry Potter at the train station, right? Oh yeah. And but he's on this beach, and he's just walking on this endless beach with gray skies, and and he meets he meets up with his his former girlfriend who's also dead, but she's trapped in here, and they're talking, and they're talking, and he's like, you know, there's this big conflict of do I just stay here in this unknown half dead state, or do I leave and break out and go on with the job? And I was like, this sounds really familiar. Where ever heard this? And then I watched Odyssey. Oh, and I was like, oh snap! Yes, of course. There
Collin Funkhouser 48:59
we go. Ta Ta-da! Ta-da!
Brandon 49:06
So I I was reading this. I read that like two weeks before I went to see that movie, and I was like, "Oh dang!
Collin Funkhouser 49:12
Yeah, look at that! Yeah, full circle.
Brandon 49:17
So just to just to give you kind of an idea of the vibe of this whole book. I'm going to read you the first sentence. All right, this is the opening line of this book. The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.
Collin Funkhouser 49:37
Okay, okay, yeah, there you go.
Brandon 49:40
That whole rest of the book is like that. That's
Collin Funkhouser 49:43
amazing. That's a great holy. I I really like that opening line. Right? Okay. It's
Brandon 49:50
so good. Like it grabs you and you don't get let go until the book is over. It just like races from there. Like. Wow, what a opener! Like that-that's as far as like opening lines of book goes. That is up there. Yeah, that's got to be up there with like the best other opening lines. Like that-that's wild to me.
Collin Funkhouser 50:19
No, that's really good.
Brandon 50:21
Ah, all right. So number number two. Okay, number two. Closing in. Ah, this was this book was I think the well the second one I read I guess because I think I read Ready Player One first, but I read this is 1972. This is roadside picnic. So this is more Soviet science fiction.
Collin Funkhouser 50:49
Okay.
Brandon 50:50
Censors didn't really have a problem with this one. Interesting. This book is like a first contact story, kinda, but like the basic premise of this book is that the alien there's aliens have landed on Earth,
Collin Funkhouser 51:06
okay,
Brandon 51:07
and they stayed here for like just a little bit, and then they left, and the area that they landed in is like super contaminated, and they just left stuff around, you know, and so they this area is quarantined, and it becomes known as the zone, right? And at first, like there's an institute of like science, and they're going in, and they're scouting around, and they're getting this alien technology, and they're trying to study it, and like they can't really figure out what it's originally for, but they figure out ways to use it for humanity, right? Like power cells for like cars and stuff, and like they do all kinds of like they invent all kinds of crazy stuff based on this technology that they don't even know what it is originally for, right? And so our main character is this guy called Red, and like he he starts off working for them, but then he like also makes money on the side. He's what's known as a stalker, right? A person who enters the zone illegally to get some of this stuff and sell it on the black market, right? This book invents the word stalker for people that sneak into places illegally. Right, so this is like a word that's kind of in some online circles in some lexiconal things, and this book is where that term comes from, which is wild. But read like this book is like also in like several parts that kind of takes place. It kind of some time skips, right? And red is like not doing good. Turns out being in the zone like really affects your like biology in ways that people don't really know, which is why your access is supposed to be limited. But he's just like screw it. I don't care, and he goes in there. But like it's messed with his daughter. Like his daughter, has like fur and is like golden, and they call her like the monkey because she looks like a monkey. And like, but also like the the contamination, like people leave the area and like the economy of the area goes down because like people don't want to be next to this zone because it's creepy and weird. And then like there's a lot of criminals that are trying to buy stuff to sneak in the zone, right? It's a whole, it's a whole deal. So like, it's really crazy, just kind of like how this one event affected all these people, and like the real main theme in the title come from like these aliens are so advanced that they stopped on Earth and did not even notice humanity was there.
Collin Funkhouser 53:51
Oh wow! Oh wow! Okay, that so it's like
Brandon 53:54
it's a little cosmic horary, right?
Collin Funkhouser 53:56
Yeah.
Brandon 53:57
Because the term the the name roadside picnic, like they're talking, and like the guy mentions it like an analogy. He's like, if you stop, like imagine you're an ant, and some humans stop and have a picnic at the side of the road, and when they leave, they leave their trash, and you are dumbfounded by all this trash that you don't know what it is because you're such a small, insignificant ant that you can't fathom what it's for, and because you're so small and insignificant, the people that stopped for the picnic didn't even know you were there in the first place.
Collin Funkhouser 54:29
Yeah,
Brandon 54:30
and so that's kind of what the book is dealing with, and the the characters have the struggle, like what what were the aliens here? Why did they come here? And then somebody says like, maybe they just happened to stop for a minute, and then they just kept on going to where they were going.
Collin Funkhouser 54:45
They weren't even,
Brandon 54:46
and we're so insignificant that they didn't even notice us.
Collin Funkhouser 54:50
It wasn't worth, yeah,
Brandon 54:52
yeah, and so though, so then everyone's like, "Oh, jeez, Louise, man!
Collin Funkhouser 54:58
Kind of puts you in your place.
Brandon 55:00
Yeah, it's pretty. Yeah, it's a little heavy. So, so yeah, this book is pretty crazy, right? This book is good though. I like this one. It's also very short, so you know, it's a banger, bangs out real quick, boom done, run away, right? Like it's great.
Collin Funkhouser 55:18
Love it.
Brandon 55:20
And finally, number one,
Collin Funkhouser 55:22
number one, number one. Okay,
Brandon 55:25
written in 1964. So I think you're seeing a theme of all these books that I like.
Collin Funkhouser 55:32
Yes. Yeah,
Brandon 55:33
yeah. This is the Invincible. This is Stanislaw Lim. I forgot to mention all these authors' names too. By the way, that was a bad problem. My bad, bad list. Okay, blah. So, the Invincible is like another contact story, but this time in space, right? So, the Invincible is a space. It's the name of a spaceship. Okay, big spaceship, right? And they are on a rescue mission to look for their other ship, the Condor. It's like their sister ship. It landed on this planet. It's called Regis Three, and they lost contact with it. And so they're going to find out why. They land. on registry? It's like around like a dwarf star, so it's like all red and dusty and weird, right? And there's nothing alive on this planet except for in the water, and so they're like, that's weird because this is like the beginning of this book is like very interesting. They're like it's like scouting missions. Like they can't even they don't even know where the ship is, right? So it's like they land and they send out a scouting mission that way, and they go over there and they're slowly learning details about the planet and it's weird and very alien and very strange. And then they find the ship. Everyone's dead. and they cannot figure out how they died, and it's like this big mystery, this crazy thing. Turns out there are inhabitants of the planet, but they're like robots, and it's insane, right? Like, I won't go through like the whole thing, but like basically, it seems that these robots, like, there was they postulate, or there's a lot of postulating here about they find some stuff in a cave and they keep speculating about what happened, but they think there was like a war between robots, right? And these robots, what they had, what they did was they manufactured themselves to be small, and so they operate like an insect swarm. Oh, interesting. Yeah. Okay. And so, like, I realize
Collin Funkhouser 58:00
I've said that about like 100 times during. I mean, yeah, it's so wild. Like that's wild. Yeah.
Brandon 58:06
So it's kind of they're kind of described as like little hexagons. So they're like bolts or like nuts, right? With like little wings, and they like by themselves, whatever, no big deal, but they swarm and they can create these electromagnetic fields and electric currents, and that's what gets people right when they swarm around and when they group in these big flying swarms together. They can do more things than if they're just like individual by themselves.
Collin Funkhouser 58:39
Yeah,
Brandon 58:39
and that's how they're damaging these people, and like that's how they're killing stuff, and that's how they're breaking things, and that's how they think they destroy the other robots. Was they use this electric current to like incapacitate them, but the incapa that this electric current can also incapacitate the brains of humans. So like, it's this whole thing. So they like have to go in the search party, and they like they like keep the big struggle here is like they realize because they're thinking right like oh these things are fighting against us, but then they realize they're not fighting us. They think we're fighting them, and so they're just reacting to a threat, because that's all they do. Like they swarm and they react to a threat, because that's how they potentially won this ancient robot war that existed. Right? Yeah. They they didn't like. They're not attacking out of malice. They're attacking out of self defense, right? And then they realize that they finally decide, okay, we just got to grab everything. We got to get the heck out of here
Collin Funkhouser 59:42
because we're gonna do one.
Brandon 59:44
We're gonna do one final run to like make sure we have all the survivors, and then we're gonna bounce. And like the end is like this very like epic, like crazy thing, right? Like, but it's like super intense, and it's really good. Like it's like. It's again more questioning of like, what if out on other planets, like there is like quote unquote life, but it's like so bizarre that we can't comprehend it at all because it's like so you know pun intended. Alien, you know, like well,
Collin Funkhouser 1:00:23
and and what what motivations are right? Because that's that's a question that we have that people have of if we are being visited, if there is stuff out there, what does it want to do with us? And kind of like the roadside picnic of well, in this that instance, it's the roadside picnic. It's they want nothing to do with you. They don't even notice you. You're so insignificant to them. In this one, it's a purely survivalistic defense response to interaction. And there's, like you said, like there's no malice because so many people spin it into like, oh, they're these evil beings basically that are coming, yeah, and whatever, whatever. And this is like, yeah, bad stuff is happening, but it's a reaction. Like it's a it's a it's it's a literally an automatic response that you can't do anything about, and there's no reasoning, there's no logic, there's nothing that you can do. So you just have to run away.
Brandon 1:01:14
Yeah, and like watching them slowly realize that is like crazy, and it's also like terrifying because they're like, oh well, we can't.
Speaker 2 1:01:23
Yeah,
Brandon 1:01:23
like no, none of the stuff that we have, like the best things that we have, are completely useless in this situation.
Speaker 3 1:01:31
Sure,
Brandon 1:01:31
and so flee the scene is the answer. Run away, like yeah, run away bravely, run away. Right, that is that's a plan to bravely run away. So there you go. That is the top five Brandon's secret sci-fi summer reading program. There you go.
Collin Funkhouser 1:01:56
I love that. Very. That is really cool. And so you you say all five of those, those top five, are better thaners game. Yeah, sorry. Yes,
Brandon 1:02:12
yes, I do. I think they. I think so. Yes, some of them try to do like because a couple of these like do the ender game thing, but like better, right? Well, like the alien contact stuff, it's just better, right? Like, so I think yes, I think those are all better. I don't know if it's just because I was straight comparing them. I don't really know, but like, they I thought they were good.
Collin Funkhouser 1:02:33
Yeah.
Brandon 1:02:34
So some of those are like heavy hitters. I think like no light sci-fi reading. Those are some of those are tough, like not tough, like just like reading it. You're like, oh my god, what the heck?
Collin Funkhouser 1:02:47
Yeah, those are those those are different, though. You know, like those those are big, meaty. Like it's it's so interesting because it's so how the spectrum here of their like yeah sci-fi can be these like light kind of throwaway, you know, adventure kind of things almost, and then like Time
Brandon 1:03:06
Gladiator,
Collin Funkhouser 1:03:06
yeah, like Time Gladiator, and then all the way up to like, no, we're talking, we're trying to use sci-fi as the the vehicle to get at some like deep seated philosophical questions about Humanity.
Brandon 1:03:22
Yes, I think that both. Yeah, all of those are sci-fi, but like the definitely levels and like some of the other like the light kind of some you know it's just like trashy like throwaway like whatever okay boom like time gladiators not revolutionary or interesting or good but like definitely worse than Andrew's game. Okay, that's just you know also like no. But yeah, that is the other part of sci-fi that I think maybe people don't think about as much, right? When we talk about like why like media literacy is important, right? Like because like sci-fi is like cool and like space and like blah blah blah, but also like there are you are able to talk about certain things in a different context, right? And like examine things like in Wii, right? You're examining a lot of stuff, and it like you read like just the first couple chapters of that book, and you're like, oh yeah, Soviet censors did not want anything to do with this at all. There's no way they're passing, because like he's describing the first part of that book, he's like describing it, and like he is like, oh, it's great, right? Because he hasn't met the girl yet, so he's like, "Oh, this is wonderful, and this is just beautiful. But you, the reader, are supposed to be reading this, going, "Oh my gosh, that's horrible. Yeah, right. There's definitely a dissonance in between the character and you. So, absolutely, you could definitely see why they were like, "No, no."
Collin Funkhouser 1:05:00
Sure.
Brandon 1:05:03
Yeah. There you go. That is the secret behind the scenes reading list.
Collin Funkhouser 1:05:09
Wow. Been busy. Yeah. Yeah. Wild.
Brandon 1:05:15
It was wild. Yes. That's there you go. Boom. Oh, that's good. On a slightly related related note, we should probably start thinking about winter reading.
Collin Funkhouser 1:05:31
Yes, we do need to do winter reading. Start
Brandon 1:05:32
scamming, thinking about what could that be. What are you? What? What's the vibe, Collin? That's what we gotta think about.
Collin Funkhouser 1:05:39
Yes, yes, we'll need to. I need to get some thoughts going. Yes.
Brandon 1:05:46
Yes. Just putting that out there. Okay. Boom. Love that. Very nice. Okay. Well, I don't have anything else except for
Collin Funkhouser 1:05:57
except for
Brandon 1:05:58
a bit of a haiku. A bit of a
Collin Funkhouser 1:06:00
haiku to end
Brandon 1:06:01
you on here today, so you can run in. Are you conferencing tomorrow? Are you hit? Yes, there's more conference part two. Conferencing
Collin Funkhouser 1:06:08
tomorrow, and then my flight leaves at six a.m. on Monday. Oh, you so cool. Yeah, so it's gonna be longer than one. But yes, so I've got all day conference tomorrow again, so and then we'll wrap it up.
Brandon 1:06:24
All right, so we'll let you out of here so you can get to bed, so you can okay get ready to go, get pumped up, right?
Collin Funkhouser 1:06:31
Yes.
Brandon 1:06:32
All right, here we go. So here's our haiku brought to you. I think you'll be able to figure what this is about. Pages sound alarm, showing visions of ourselves. Can lessons be learned?
Collin Funkhouser 1:06:47
Oh, I like that. Can they? Can they? Or will we? Yeah. Are we doomed? Yeah. Oh dear. Oh no. Oh, they are! Oh man, gosh, that's-I can tell you've read some philosophical deep sleeping books this week. Yeah, yeah, man. Yeah, yeah. Oh, rest from that. Oh, that's good. Yeah, I got to read some
Brandon 1:07:16
like. Yeah, I got to find something else to read that for. I need some. I gotta not like, yeah, because I the last two books I read were a Candle Go for Leibowitz and We. Yeah, I'm like, oh my god, those two back to back is some rough.
Collin Funkhouser 1:07:32
That's some rough times. I was gonna say that is definitely that's like that's a thing that happened. That is
Brandon 1:07:39
like a crisis, right? No, that would
Collin Funkhouser 1:07:42
make you question. That leaves you with a lot more questions than answers after this. It really does, right? Like, I mean, if you just sit here and ponder for a little bit longer. Yeah, I just need
Brandon 1:07:53
some. God, look for something a little lighter. Like,
Collin Funkhouser 1:07:57
yeah. Dang. Gosh. Oh. Oh man! Well, we'll we'll do that. We'll do the maybe that's what we'll go for the lightest possible reading we can for winter. Oh, I don't know.
Brandon 1:08:10
I just need I'll I need to read something on my own in between. Okay, okay. We can read. We don't have to do that. But like, maybe no Tolstoy. Okay, let's not do. Nice. Construction
Collin Funkhouser 1:08:21
list. Okay.
Brandon 1:08:22
Also, I think all of those books are 600 pages, so I think I'm not
Collin Funkhouser 1:08:25
doing that. Yeah, hard no, hard no. We'd still be
Brandon 1:08:29
reading in the summer, so
Collin Funkhouser 1:08:32
our annual reading list and plan. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Brandon 1:08:35
The years long reading. War and peace. Right, exactly.
Collin Funkhouser 1:08:39
Welcome to the never-ending book club.
Speaker 4 1:08:45
Well, we will play Mizora.
Collin Funkhouser 1:08:48
No, it's getting worse. We will plan to work on that and start putting it starting together. So, all right, good. Okay, we'll do this again soon. Okay. Love you. Love you too. Bye. Bye.