Aaron is a farmer. Collin is an explorer. Brandon is a partier. We travel to King Arthur’s Court.

Aaron, tending to his fields
What IS a carry on item?
Volleyball roulette
Farmer to the max
Collin explored
Aaron’s grass guy
Baseball movies…
Brandon’s party experience
DId not partake in the dancing
Mark Twain: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
Founding person of American Literature Genre
Mark Twain quote: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog”
Collin’s haiku:

Electric blue light
Glowing in the stormy night
Nature's silent glow.

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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE

PROVIDED BY OTTER.AI

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

mark twain, story, read, remember, twain, kayak, people, book, king arthur, good, big, write, put, bit, fields, baseball, weird, feel, trombones, talking

SPEAKERS

Collin, Brandon, Aaron

Collin 00:04

Welcome to oh brother a podcast where we try to figure it all out with your hosts Brandon, Colin and Aaron on this week's show farmer to the max oh boy what's

00:26

doable whale boy

00:29

indeed all of the boys it's going how's

00:34

it going in your area what's going on?

00:38

Nothing I just got home not too long ago getting doing summer workouts and stuff taking care of all my fields and you know just enjoying the short time I have for summer because once July hits we got

Aaron 00:53

softball so I am Oh no. Yeah, I am running back and forth like a mad person so

Collin 01:02

I love how when Aaron says he is attending to his fields he sounds very much like a farmer. Does his farming away right like if you

Aaron 01:10

if you know anything about my area, not that anyone comes to visit me or anything. I am literally surrounded by ranchers like that is there's nothing put let's just ranchers galore. I have tractors everywhere I have people coming over here and be like well we're gonna move cattle i so i Not across my field you're not I feel a part of the community. So acts of said community. I want to say oh you know it's also really fun especially going to sporting events or seeing parents just out about and having that classic conversation of Spectre new rain this week. That that kind of you know, juking Jive conversation that we have it's ironic I believe we you know, there's one other Oh check the forecast for next week. So that plays a huge part of how I interact with locals of my area so yeah, no, I I spent two or three hours three Oh, trying to fix my one and only big sprinkler that I have. It took me it took me longer to move the sucker because I didn't move it clear across campus from the storage said from the wintertime get it hooked up try to find the pressure line. And I was just I got home and I was just covered covered in mud. Just any any like you cuz I also mode as well. So I mean, I'm just I'm a little son. The height I'm dehydrated. I'm probably got some sickness or some shape or variety. I'm just just very tired.

Collin 02:58

You have pharma approved like hat?

Aaron 03:03

Yes. So I have I have a big booni S hat that I wear? Yeah, I do wear the long sleeve and I have a little hoodie thing that I put them also the hood. Yeah. Yeah, I will say I always forget about my legs. And so my knees are completely shot. No, no. When it comes to just being out the sun. Last Saturday I was I was mowing for

Collin 03:28

six hours. Because again,

Aaron 03:33

I have I have three I have three separate fields, I have to take care of two softball fields and one baseball field. My baseball field is annoyingly giant Nunes, like it's just massive. And so that takes forever my softball fields, no big deal, but I had to take a zero turn, mow everything. I have to go put that up. And then I have to go get the we call it the real mower, which is the kind of lawn mowers that they use to mow like golf courses. So then I gotta go

Collin 04:05

I gotta come back and then hit

Aaron 04:09

the same fields but I remember how I bought them because they got a moment for can different directions for each one because the grass grows stronger. So I gotta go you

Brandon 04:19

have to do that pattern thing. Yes.

Aaron 04:23

I can't drive a straight line to save my life because on a baseball field that's curved, like I'll go straight and then I'll just felt like just naturally follow the the infield curve or the downfield wall curves. They'll just be like, Alright, I'm gonna go to this pole to that pole. And then just slowly but I go turn because I got to move those differently directions and then I had to take the WHO out and get all the crap from my dirt. And then I just had to drag the the sprinklers out which if you don't really think about gardening, there are I have what's called a water real. And the sucker weighs like 500 pounds. And so I gotta roll it out there, stick it, I got to pull out the hose itself that has wheels on it in the sprinkler head, pull that out clear across the field, set it to all the way back, plug it into the water line, and then just hope it runs. Yeah, so that's what I spent a good good chunk of my time doing today. So but that's I mean, you know, baseball season over I got a little little respite from things and then it was just bam. Alright. And summer workouts, summer stuff. Getting fields ready. Shelby's about to go to Mexico on Friday. So just getting ready for that. Yeah. And so getting ready for that. So it's just

Collin 05:52

just never ends. There's always something did you tell her that

Brandon 05:55

what you really need is a just a super six sombrero are milling and taking.

Aaron 06:03

Well, so I have one of those. Not as not as fancy. But yeah, you need the workingman? sombrero. Right, yeah. But I said I wouldn't mind getting a cool souvenir because she's gonna go to she's first gonna go to Mexico City, and then she's gonna go to Veracruz. Oh, wow. Yeah. And so her some of her friends are from Mexico. And so they're going to, you know, show her, you know, take her down there. Now, but she is she is going to visit. With all the Aztec pyramids and stuff down there. It's gonna be kind of visit close to the Yucatan, I think made by so. Yeah. I think I think I think she's gonna have a blast. Oh, yeah. As long as she brings me a cool historical souvenir will be good.

Collin 06:46

True? Probably not. Because that's hard to get on the plane.

Aaron 06:52

Yeah. And she's already having trouble trying to limit the size of the travel bag. Because there's a especially going from different flights, especially cross country. There's now there's different stipulations. I know, it's annoying, or Yeah, so she she's trying to combat that right now. So she's over there packing and not to go on a walk. And

Collin 07:12

so she's, she's not having fun right now. Yeah, it's kind

Brandon 07:19

of annoying when they do that right at the airlines have standard regulations for literally everything except for carry on luggage size, which is real, really useful. Thanks, guys. Really appreciate that. Right.

Collin 07:39

Well, and I have I have something to add to this. i We just booked some flights. And there's a there's a certain level of seat seating, you know, they get you wherever they can, right. But there was one that was reading. And if you bought the ticket, they didn't allow full size carry on. Oh, and I don't know what that means. I guess that means, I guess what the only thing I can think of is like the maximum size, they will if you have one of those, you know hard case rolly things that's technically a carry on. If you buy this level of ticket, you cannot bring that but you could bring something smaller. And I'm still confused on the whole, like, the personal item plus a carry on, you know, like you could come in with a backpack and one of those things and not have to pay it. But I don't even understand where

Brandon 08:31

the rules are these days. Well, that's a definitely airline dependent situation. Right? Like, some of them are like no, no personal item. But other ones. I don't think they care because of personal items usually like a purse or like a small bag. Yeah. And so they're just like, whatever. Like they don't care. But the carry on thing is really annoying, especially because I started traveling only with a carry on because I hate checking the bag. And it's really annoying to like, deal with it after you get there. Right. So the last trip that we took, they only took a carry on. But it's like a soft one with like, it's like it's basically a big backpack. Yeah, Ceriani, right, that can fit under your seat, right? Yes, we're in the overhead bin. It's like not very big. But like,

Collin 09:22

that was great. Because

Brandon 09:25

that just didn't have to deal with the suitcase afterwards. It makes it makes sense. Like it's much more like your mobility is increased

Collin 09:33

many fold. And so it's yeah, yes,

Aaron 09:37

I definitely remember like when when we were younger going on, like those family vacations. And although being small, I didn't necessarily have a whole lot, but then traveling more. It's just like, I don't want to, like I gotta have the essentials. But like we went so I think when we went to Alabama and I packed this huge suitcase and we got on a plane. And it was I was just hired. And although mobiel airport was not big, I just kind of didn't want to carry this anymore. And I think the next year when I went to Arizona, I was like I as tiny as possible. You know, we went down there for weddings, I packed as little as possible. I wasn't in the wedding. So I didn't really matter. So I just I got my stuff that was nice. But like, I am not, not packing big ever again. But I will say, whenever we went from Alabama, I think it was going to there, because I think we're like an orb or something. It was like, Dallas Fort Worth airport. It was the one only time that it ever been like, hey, you've been randomly selected, that if any more people show up, you have to get off the plane.

Collin 10:42

And I will,

Aaron 10:43

of course, the whole thing is like, well, you know, I bought the ticket kind of thing. And like the old lady was like, super nice about it. But I was like, If anyone else shows up, we have to get off. And so we were the last ones to board. Because they held us back. They let everybody else board we waited like 10 minutes. And then they're like, Nope, I guess no one's gonna show up. Go ahead. And so it was just super awkward. Because then we had like, walk through a plane, being the last people on there. And I was I was fuming Shelby was mad. I was mad. But it was just like, it was the strangest thing, feeling to experience that after watching, you know, so many things online and people having to, you know, be taken off the plane, they overbooked and bla bla bla bla bla, but I was like, I was kind of a little insulted. It's like you picked me? Of all people. Yeah. These people don't know who I am. They don't know. I have a CDL out there they.

11:40

Well, if you could drive a forklift, they wouldn't have told you. Oh, that's true, right? Definitely. Yeah.

Aaron 11:45

I could drive a forklift without a license. But you're never sure if I got it. If I got it. Yep, I got a license. So I probably wouldn't do it. But yeah, so she's getting ready to gear up. I have a sports meeting tomorrow. I have a mini fundraiser Monday. Coming up. I have a big fundraiser that I'm trying to play on. I'm trying to do a slow pitch softball tournament and flashing glow in the dark slash glow stick night where we play like glow in the dark cornhole and all this other stuff. You're not even like glow in the dark softball, are you so you say that? We're gonna have some we're gonna have some of the lights. And we're going to paint some of the softballs with the paint all the softballs, like not some of the softball No, that's what makes it interesting. And so maybe we're going to give the people who sign up glow sticks, and like, we're like, we have a bunch ordered, and they get to decorate themselves however they want. They decorate their bat and decorate their gloves. We kind of decorate all the safety measures, stairs, walls, yada, yada, yada. That's good, safe, safety, whatever. Yeah, then we're and then we're going to have on the side, we're going to have a cornhole tournament. And we're going to decorate the different cornhole boards, and we're going to paint the beanbags or whatever. And just pretty much do like a whole just night, because a few was a month ago, when my buddies did slowpitch tournament. And he's like, Yeah, you know, dude, we were there for like, six hours, and it was just a blast. And we raised like, you know, $20,000, I was like, hey, $20,000 us? Excuse me, he was there, don't say it. So that's kind of where the idea came from. But then, in my adolescence, last night, adolescent mind, I was like, what if we make it dark? So that is what is causing the mischief. And I'm very blessed to have a very good supportive administration, but it's probably not the best because I'm like, what did we do this? And they're like, Okay, like, we're sure. They said, Yes, can change your mind. So, that's what uh, that's what I got coming up for

Brandon 14:10

that years, and I tell them about that time that I was lightsaber, fighting with my friend in the basement and you just pay with a stick because you wanted to play too. And we didn't have any more lightsabers. Do they mean?

Aaron 14:19

It was a seminar that the dad hadn't made. And yeah, they don't call and remember that. Sorry.

14:33

I'm trying.

Aaron 14:36

So Brandon headlight, who was like Cody Colby who?

14:39

Oh, yeah, it was Cody, I think yeah, yeah.

Aaron 14:43

They were the basement and they said the lightsabers Of course. You know, there was this was I can't even remember like why or like which lightsabers they were but I know there was like a green one. They were green. They're

14:53

both the green ones. It was around.

14:56

This is I can't remember

Aaron 14:58

was one of the Star Wars movies like The sequel prequels first came out, maybe? Yeah. And somewhere. They were playing Star Wars in the basement. And I wanted to play too. So I just grabbed dad's cemetery that he like, made in like high school or something. That would have woodshop. Yes. So I just went down there and I went ham. It's not my fault that they couldn't blight

15:22

15:24

the shin, man.

Aaron 15:26

So, yeah, just play to win. You know, that's what I do. Yeah. Yeah. So no, we're not doing that. But no, I came up with all this a few options. And you know, what happens if the little kids get hurt? And like, well, I got options for that, too.

15:42

What are we doing in there?

Aaron 15:44

I got that, too. So yeah, I just been, I've just been going I haven't limited power right now. And I'm going to use it. So do you have a de rude Sandstorm queued up for the speakers? This is blast in my life below the dark rave like I do have one of my coaches make him playlist but I will add

Brandon 16:05

that make sure Sandstorm was on. I think that's the last thing it has to be on. There has to be Drew's answers but especially if it's gonna be glow in the dark sports. I think that's like, it has to be entertaining.

Aaron 16:17

So but yeah, that's what I'm that's what I got going on. That's what I've been doing lately. likes that after baseball season concluded which that was a

Collin 16:27

wild storm.

Aaron 16:28

I've just been relaxing very briefly. And then just literally,

16:33

you were so busy with your newspaper interviews. Right. And you're on tour. Yeah. A tour, right is the whole deal. So

Aaron 16:44

yeah. This thing lasted for like five minutes.

16:51

Pretty much has asked me like, you know, what it's been like for the season what what the kids been like, and the shout outs? What am I expecting for the future? And then like, I drove home, and the closest town is like, 10 minutes from my school. And then the interview was over. And I was like, Oh, I'm like really good at this.

Aaron 17:15

And then I tried to listen to it. And I heard myself talk and like up nope, nope. Turning off. So I'm assuming it sounded good. I just don't know if it was or not. Lot of my a lot of my parents and admin people, they really liked it. So I guess I did fine. Oh, no,

Brandon 17:32

you did. Except I was chuckling because you like you were when you were like full blown like Coach mode. And just like all the coach euphemisms, you were saying them and I was just like,

Collin 17:43

yeah, that

Aaron 17:46

I definitely had to learn how to talk, especially as a coach as especially as things like you know, you know, getting back to the team, giving back to the community. And like little things like that, because I was I was very blessed to have the kids that have the kids that I have. But I was just like, I need to say we a lot. I can't say I so the whole time I am just in panic mode. Like Did I say I know,

18:13

I met the team. Did I say the team know about the team? And they're like, No, dude, you did fine. Like hyperventilating? Because like did I say the right

Aaron 18:20

thing? Like yes, you did? You did fine, sweetie. Don't worry. So that was a big thing. Like the whole keep in mind, I drive an hour to work every single day. So from the 10 minutes that it concluded the next 15 minutes. I was just like, Should I call him back? Should I redo the interview? Should I talk? Like what should I do? I was just I just panicked the whole time. But then I guess it did sounded fine. So I was cool with it. But again, I never listened to the whole thing. Just because I can't stand my own voice. But yeah, so it's been it's been it's been pretty nice lately.

Collin 18:58

Pretty awesome.

Brandon 18:58

That's quite a lot of stuff. Busy my good yet you're farming the grass to start wearing your your overalls, right that's to make sure your needs

Collin 19:11

How are you supposed to kick the dirt and go Well, sure needed this rain, man.

Aaron 19:18

I feel so inadequate because I mean, you know me, I'm wearing like Lululemon shorts. First of all, I got like a long t shirt on I got this long Boonie hat on like with a hoodie. And I am just bathing myself in sunscreen. And then like I got some some people who just like drive around and like there's this old gentleman who stopped the other day. And he got out. I mean, he was just farmer to the max. And he came out spitting his dead. And he's like, okay, great. You got all those fields. And I was like, well, it's there. It's actually Bermuda grass. I'm just waiting for the water to get in because after the rain was like oil, your brain was gonna put blob and blob down on it. I feed my cattle I'm like, Alright, hold on like this. It's not using I'm not using this to cultivate for my livestock. Isn't nutrition a baseball field, sir? Well, then he just got back in his truck. And he just, we all have a good day. I was like, Yes, sir. And I turned around to like some of the kids I was like, whose parent was that? They're like, we don't know. You just some dude in the area that just like, was interested in fields that one day

Brandon 20:26

to ground booziest. Right. Yeah.

Collin 20:30

And then, yeah, it was just.

Aaron 20:34

And then people asked me, it's like, what kind of like different x amounts of preemergent that I put on there, and I got water.

Collin 20:44

And I think fertilizer, like, well, you should put the x 90

Aaron 20:50

P two on it. Like, I don't know what that is. And then you look it up and there's like, old tiny little bottle that's like 100 And like, $90 to like, 500 bucks. I'm like,

Collin 21:01

I don't think I need that. But thanks. So I think you're good.

Aaron 21:05

It's still learning. Yeah, I don't think I need it. So I it's a learning experience and having fun. And it's I'm just blessed to be here

21:17

with that should have told him that said some of that old high powered Kentucky blue hemp super turf. I

21:23

tell you what, as

21:26

well as I was like, I want

21:27

to I want to put it I want to put Kentucky Bluegrass on this oil. You see mower, there's why you can't do

Collin 21:31

that. They're like, well, what if I put, you know, fescue or

Aaron 21:36

creeping fescue on it like, well, here's what you can't do, boy. And so like I, where we go get our seat at is is up north in another Uber super farming area. And of course, I go in there like the kid in the candy store, and like, I want to order this and there's the old farmer guy that owns this farm and seed shop

21:56

and see like, No, you don't, you don't want that. You

Aaron 21:58

don't want that. And I'm like, but it it says on Google that it looks cool, right? You don't want that you want this like, oh, okay,

22:07

which one is it? Which one makes the ball roll?

Collin 22:11

Better? Or worse? Do

Brandon 22:12

you want to better or for worse? Do you want to stop or keep going?

Aaron 22:15

Depends if I'm if I'm playing a really good team. I want it as tall as possible. Down. Yeah, but if I'm playing it, we're just playing normally off. I'll cut it pretty short. He would, he would. He would. He would sit there and tell me and I'm like, I want this and I want this and I want this. He's like you're gonna get this and here's why. Like, Oh, okay. And then yeah, I got like parents asking me it's I feel looks good. What do you put on it? Like, whatever the old guy told me?

Collin 22:45

No. Yeah, it's

Aaron 22:48

it. I'm having fun. Trust me, but I'm just like, I don't I don't know what half these words mean. This old guy says this is good for my fields. I'm gonna do it. Just so I don't get yelled at by an old guy. I mean,

Brandon 23:02

all dudes at the farm center know these things. date right? And you need to you need to take their sage wisdom and apply it somewhere. So I feel like that's good. You did a good there by just being like Okay, sure. Got it.

23:18

Yeah, so that's that's what I've been up to

Collin 23:28

colin has your groundhog or prairie dog? Hero is doing well. No, we we can go. Yeah, I want to call has been petsitting a prairie dog. Named Yeah. Named hero that likes to curl

23:47

our arm. Yeah,

23:48

baby.

Collin 23:50

Yeah, yes, we but we went kayaking and canoeing.

23:57

You were you were doing a research on pirate anything. Right?

Collin 24:03

So Noah was at the pirates and mermaids summer camp at wonders wildlife. And so we got to do cap that off by going seaboard and ah, going down the river. Couple things.

24:18

baseflow for the river is fine. It is four feet. We went at five feet. The next day it was 20 feet

24:29

holy cow, holy. That's

Collin 24:30

a lot. That's yeah, yeah. The storm that dropped five and a half inches just only went over the watershed upstream of where it was a lot. The the little by the point of entry there was like 10 feet underwater. The entire bridge was underwater. That bridge was underwater and that entire lowland was flooded. You couldn't cross it for one time.

Brandon 24:55

I don't remember why. Aaron I don't remember what we were doing. I think maybe we met I don't know if it was me, me or somebody at IHOP or something. And you were like, Yeah, I'll drive you home to dad's house. And then we went that way. And you we got down there. And we're like, yeah, no,

25:09

no kidding. That was a few years ago, because I had been home and that was a long time ago.

25:15

I want to go the back way home. No back way. This way. Yeah.

25:23

Just kidding.

Collin 25:26

It's fine. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. You know, it's early in the season. So it's kind of cool. But there's with five feet of bait at just a little bit above base flow. The water pushed us most of the time. You have to work you did. Do you guys remember? How long has this been there? Was there a complete log jam? When we were there one time? Yeah. Okay. Okay. Still, there's one? Well,

Brandon 25:57

there's one part where it does like a switch back. And there's like an old channel section. And there was like a big log jam there in the old part. And then there was yeah, there was some kind of like log thing. Kind of across the whole deal. Yeah, maybe?

Collin 26:15

Well, this one was completely like, totally blocked the water. It wasn't even like a strainer, the water just like ran into it, and then kind of ran through it slowly. So we had to get out and port over this, this gravel bar, and of course, you're down in the water, the gravel bar rises up on your left, like five seats, just like straight up. And it's just there to drag everything up and over and over to real adventure now.

Brandon 26:47

But is it close? Or is it close to that old place where all those old concrete blocks are?

Collin 26:51

Yeah, it's upstream of that a little bit. Yes. upstream?

26:55

Okay. Yes. Yep.

Collin 26:58

And so no, I was, it was a great time to be out took us. We were out on the water for about three hours. And yeah, no. And then we did of course, it was crazy. Because then that night, the rain started and then that morning, I like check the river gauge. And I was like, Guys, you'll never guess what is happening. Just in time. We made it just in time. We literally made it just in time. It was kind of cool. Because as you go underneath that bridge, right at the very beginning, I we looked up and there was all this woody debris lodged in under the trusses. And oh, right. And I said what that means? How did those get up there? And of course, they were like, I don't know. Water gets that high. And they looked at me and they're like, No way. And I was like, way and then the next day, I'm like, way, way guys went over that. And guess what? Yes. You have no idea. Surprise. Surprise. So no, it was it was great. It was their first time on a little river. Yeah, like that. So they had now wood they had experienced a little bit of canoeing. So we had when we had done an overnight at in the, in the tree house. There was a little pond near there. And we had gotten a little canoe and gone back and forth in that pond. But, you know, being on a pond and being on a river are very different. Yeah. And so it was just like, the whole thing was just like this crazy experience and they had a blast. Megan was in my kayak. And just like every single person who gets an A kayak, kayaks have a way especially the closed kayaks, if you haven't opened top kayak, this doesn't really happen to you. It's something about sitting down and being enclosed in a kayak that all of a sudden your brain starts to go. I

28:49

could do that. Oh, I could

Collin 28:53

turn into whitewater magazine, like you know, I've got the teacher in the canoe. And I'm like, Well, I'm not gonna risk it. I'm gonna pull over here I'll just walk the boat around and Megan's like, I think I got this and I'm like no, there's literally the river goes straight into a log and then hard left. No to not to in fact have it though. Did you? She did she did she did do one. And I was like I said, okay, very proud of you. Congratulations. Okay. Now please don't do that again. It was so funny because I within five minutes she was you know, all of a sudden she was doing the extreme which is taken to the extreme kayak whitewater people do and flips off waterfalls and stuff. Again, I don't sell maneuverable. That's what it is. Because it happens to me. It happens to me when I'm in a kayak. I'm just like, Oh, I am invincible, and I will go through everything. This is no problem. But it's kind of it's why kayaks are dangerous kids don't. Don't get a guy Ah, oh, come on. No, no, they're fun. So,

Brandon 30:04

yeah. Do they have the Do they still? Do they really they used to have those gates that were right there in that park that were like Kayak slalom, eight things. Probably too early in the season for this to be up yet. They probably do that summer because the wind is too high.

Collin 30:18

Yeah, they don't have anything and haven't had anything. They were like

Brandon 30:20

they were on a wire. So they probably have to come out and put them up. Okay. But there's a place where they do that they like, hang those things up in their little little slalom gates for I don't know, who does it. But I know that used to.

Collin 30:37

Yeah, no, I know what you're talking about. But no, they don't they don't have those here. They weren't up yet. So it was and then of course, the kids, the whole you're talking about? Could we go out on the water now? And I was like, Okay, well, here are two things. Remember all those things that we had to go around and carry the boat across and walk around? And they're like, Yeah, I said, those aren't real anymore. Those don't exist. Those are 10 and a half feet underwater. But we are also being exciting new things. Yes. Roll down the river in an uncontrolled way. Oh, and also remember those five foot wide logs that we saw on the banks. Those are now floating alongside you and you're running into the stumps. And you are bashing into tree tops so no yes. fun and exciting for a brand new dangerous everybody brand new.

Brandon 31:33

You were wondering how that erosion on that cut bank was so high earlier. Yeah, well, and that was how you know Yeah,

Collin 31:41

we have we have those cut banks and in so it's kind of cool to be going down and we would see one and I go okay, guys, like what's different about that bank? And they'd say, Well, there's a lot of dirt and I say okay, what do you see on top of it and I'd say I'd say what do you see on top of it and they go nothing and I go oh there are no trees and I was like exactly that what is why it looks like so got in some

Brandon 32:11

reforestation talks today if you have nice nice native grass. Right. They have really good roots that will hold at least the top part together. Absolutely. Yes. However, when it is not nice. The guy the guy at the place holding the wrong grass. What the heck, man? Yeah. Farm Center guy let those people down. So Oh, Aaron. You should talk to him any errands guy.

32:44

You gotta get sky. I got a guy. Yeah. Either as

32:48

grass guy. Oh, no. Okay. Aaron's grass guy.

32:54

Yeah.

Collin 32:57

So no, that's the been the most exciting thing we've done this week. Pretty, pretty fun. Pretty exciting, though. Yes. Be real here. Like yeah, it was it was great. It was really cool to get out and see everything. So then

33:14

yeah, we've been just business wise we've been onboarding like, literally insane. Like I've never done this this much new staff. So

Collin 33:27

here's to all goes well because we're trying to get ready for some trips this this season of the summer and get some some space in our lives. So yeah, that's what we've got going on. All that good stuff. Yeah. Not harder than that. Aaron's or Aaron I was we were thinking of you know, was wrapping up baseball. And so I'm I was just looking at his season ending photos

34:03

What can my kids love the stick on?

Brandon 34:08

Tattoos? And oh, yes, they do.

Collin 34:13

So much and we've stuck some on right before right before the so he's got a giant. I think it's an orange on his forearm. Nice. Couple other things. So he looks real. He's really looking real tough is to

Brandon 34:33

look like like every every 90s baseball movie, there was always the big giant guy that had like, way too much chew in his mouth. And he always had weird arm tattoos. Yes, like in Rookie of the Year. Right. And all those other ones like deal like that was a he's trying to be because inspiration. Like,

34:49

I think I can't

Collin 34:51

say for certain if he's actually seen that movie. The but I wouldn't be

Aaron 34:56

surprised. Has he watched Angels in the Outfield, yet? It is on his list. Okay, that's important.

35:02

We discovered that while we were searching for Robin Hood,

Collin 35:08

because I had been, I had been humming there whistling and singing Robin Hood and Little John walking through the forest. And the kids were like, what's at prom? So I told them, and then they're like, We need to see this. Now, my question to both of you. Does dad have a copy of that? In his house? Yeah. But it's, it's on?

Brandon 35:38

A it's not in the, it's not one that we bought. That's one that is recorded on a black tape. Discipline. Yeah.

Collin 35:46

Hey,

35:48

I believe I believe actually, it is on the same tape, as I mentioned, Milo, notice that before here, okay.

Collin 36:01

Yeah, so, we need to find that unlabeled or, or partially labeled black tape, okay, because I, because I

Brandon 36:11

also have a DVD if you need to borrow.

Collin 36:16

Okay, so this is, so I have a digital copy of it that I obtained off the back of a truck. And it is sitting on a server that I have, and so I had to lock it remotely. And then like use dad's Chromecast to go to his TV. From so we did we did in fact, watch this. But yeah, while while searching for it, we did see Angels in the Outfield and know what is this and I said a movie you would like very much. And he went okay.

Aaron 36:46

I remember when I interviewed that was a school a while back and it was known for baseball school. And it was probably one of the hardest interviews I ever had as far as coaching goes. But one of the questions they asked was, What is your favorite baseball movie? And I said, Angels in the Outfield? Which is the correct answer. Obviously, not the natural get out of here plan. My, one of my colleagues he picked like Bo Burnham, Boulder, and I'm sorry, Boulder and then yeah, and then he picked and then there's another guy that picked Oh, what's that other other other Kevin Costner movie?

Collin 37:32

Where he's a baseball pitcher. Oh, not feel the dreams. Now, okay. Oh, that's gonna be about corn. That's

Aaron 37:40

the other film I gave was the rookie. Yeah. which I absolutely love. But he was sitting there as like you give them Angels in the Outfield. And the rookie was like, Well, yeah, what did you give them and they like delisted like serious baseball movies. I was like,

Collin 37:58

that's no fun.

Aaron 38:00

Yeah, it was. Yeah. So it was I just remember that. Like, it was like the hardest interview and at the tail end, he's like, What is the best baseball movie? I'm like, Anjali, I feel like,

Collin 38:11

Texas. This guy.

Aaron 38:13

I got hired. So I'm assuming that was a right answer.

38:16

But yeah,

38:17

I think you would like Angels in the Outfield.

Collin 38:22

As far as a baseball movie, but

Aaron 38:23

bouldering might not be like that. That's really for him. Especially like right now. But he might be able to handle the rookie.

Collin 38:33

For sure. Oh, yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, that's

Brandon 38:36

pretty much you gotta wait for later for

Collin 38:40

what's the weird one with the

38:43

what's the one?

Collin 38:44

Charlie Sheen? Khloe

38:50

Kardashian you would?

38:52

Major League? Major League? Yeah.

Brandon 38:54

God definitely went on that one.

Collin 38:56

Don't do that one. Build start building my list here. Costner baseball movies?

39:03

Yes. Just feel the dreams, right? No.

39:05

So for the love of the game. That's the other one. Oh, I

Collin 39:09

forgot about that movie. Field of Dreams. build our own. I'm

Aaron 39:15

Kevin conservational. Please now not that.

Collin 39:20

He's going to like a bunch more fast pull things fastball.

Aaron 39:25

Yeah, well, yeah, for the love of the game. That was the other one that I could not think of. But every time I think of baseball movies,

Collin 39:32

I always think of Kevin Costner. Interesting.

Brandon 39:37

Yeah, I think of just mostly. I know there's a natural is like people's favorite movies, but I don't really like Robert Redford. All that much. So

Collin 39:43

yeah. I don't really think about that.

Brandon 39:48

But a lot of people really do like that one

39:49

day like, oh, the natural it's so great. Now, why not?

Aaron 39:58

I was bored one day and watch the YouTube video where he broke down almost all of the baseball movies and how realistic

Collin 40:06

they are.

Aaron 40:09

Yeah, like this amazing score. realize it's like a three hour long video that I watched in its entirety. Some of them never you've never even seen or heard of before.

Brandon 40:20

But this is what you do guys. Just

Aaron 40:23

can't say. I also want to know it's completely off topic. That's a guy there. That's the show. So it's yes, there's a guy that I've watched. And he has two videos out. Do you want to know what his topics are choice? Oh, boy. He has. He has many videos. Okay, to that I

Collin 40:41

watched in there a whole hour

Aaron 40:45

and a half entirety. Do you know what they were? I don't know. I watched some really weird YouTube videos. So his his first one.

Collin 40:51

Him and his buddy went to every single Rainforest Cafe in the United States and Canada.

Brandon 40:59

You know what's even weirder? I've seen this video.

Aaron 41:02

He is also the same guy that went to every Margaritaville and Margaritaville. Yes. And then and then he ranked all the Barbie movies, which surely will not let me finish because he used to watch those as her childhood. So I don't know how any of them rank because she's like, every she'd

41:24

go to Mexico. So I got time to finish watch.

Aaron 41:29

He's hating on the barbie movies. It's like well, no, he's just ranking them. It's different. Guy and I'm obsessed with like they because if you guys were going to craft, Illinois, I was like, I like to go see Barban all them. I always asked,

Collin 41:46

Can we go to the Rainforest Cafe? It was in Springfield, Illinois in the mall?

Brandon 41:51

No, it was in Chicago. Cago. Chicago? Yeah. Yeah. So at least twice.

Collin 41:58

Yeah, that was in Chicago.

42:00

When we rode the train, the train that

Brandon 42:03

is also a another time but one time we just drove with Barban

42:08

okay, it hasn't Springfield.

Brandon 42:11

Definitely. Yeah. Oh, yeah. So yeah, I just thought that was enjoying the giant animatronic alligators we're doing? Yeah, that's what you were so fascinated by, like crocodile, but whatever. Yeah, he was just so enthralled by the McAfee genius.

42:31

And then a

Aaron 42:32

giant terrifying. thunderstorm.

Collin 42:35

That was the best thing ever. Yes. Was really. Yeah,

42:41

it was just me speaking of movies in YouTube, and that's the one thing I was like, I

Collin 42:46

have to bring this up. So

Brandon 42:49

it's not weird at all that you've watched it? Because I have seen both of those. Don't even worry about it. Dr. Colin, it's a cross country road trip to every single Rainforest Cafe. Yeah. And then a year later or something they do every single Margaritaville is apparently they like Jimmy Buffett. I don't know why, but they do. Very, very interesting. Sure.

Collin 43:19

I find people. Yeah, go crazy. Yeah, that's all right.

Brandon 43:27

I have one slight addendum from last week. Right? Oh, I have more proof. Proving that the Tartarian mud flood theory is

Collin 43:36

fake. Right. This is

Brandon 43:39

I've wrote it down and I forgot to bring it up last week. So in the wall here, I'm gonna throw it in here. According to this theory, right. Remember? They say that certain time periods are not real. Yes. But oh, yeah. According to them, according to them. Right? If this mud flood happened sometime between 1812 and 1850. That means the Republic of Texas never existed. Now I want you believers of the theory, I want you to go confront a Texan and tell them that the Republic of Texas is not real.

Collin 44:18

I could you just see what happens. Yeah, I would do that from a safe distance. Probably. inside a car is driving by. Yes. Not stopping. Just keep moving while you say this and quickly and then just move on. Yeah.

Brandon 44:41

I just had that thought. earlier. In the week. I was like, Oh, I forgot to say the Texas State. So I just want to bring that. Yeah, more proof was add that did little addendum asterisk at the end of last week's very long diatribe about things that are not real. So they go

45:08

Brandon 45:10

I haven't really been up to anything really this week. We did. Once you have a another birthday party, right? So more keen senior time, high, right? So pretty fun. It was really fun. This time, they had a lot. We stayed for like a really long time. We went with one of our other friends got invited, and they've never been to one before. So she was like, I'm going with you. I don't know what to do. I was like, mostly you sit and you just talk to the 800,000 people that you see, right.

Collin 45:43

That's the important part here.

Brandon 45:45

Very much the culture of like, you see somebody you know, from across the room, and you go over there and you'd like shake their hand and pat them on the back. That's

Collin 45:51

just like, the vibe. Right? It's just like,

Brandon 45:55

he's like all dads do in a restaurant. Right? It's just a roomful of like Mexican dads. That's what they do. They just like over

46:05

same thing, right? Exact same. I'm sure. You know, I'm just like, what they let you in here with that light. Oh.

Collin 46:15

Peak. Comedies

46:16

at that. Yeah. Right. If that

Aaron 46:18

also encompasses every coaching clinic I've ever been to a

46:25

bunch of old dudes who blew you in here. You're like, just shut

Aaron 46:30

up at 7am. Just don't wait. So I get I can. The moment he said that. I can definitely see what that atmosphere is like. Yeah, definitely.

Brandon 46:37

Definitely like that. But like, so it was really sweet, right? This is like a family that we've known for, like forever. So it was like really sweet. And they're like, really happy with everything. But the only bad part was they were like, Oh, we're gonna let you guys

Collin 46:49

come sit down in the front. Right, which normally is cool. Right?

Brandon 46:54

Because you're like, you can see the big table with all the Timberlands And the Domus, right and the big like, giant throne princessy chair that she's sitting in, right. We were also right in front of the opening band. Right. Which it was like, there were definitely four trombones.

Collin 47:15

Ah, and it wasn't so it wasn't even that big of a parade but still impressive. Yeah,

Brandon 47:20

though, it was it was a lot because when you're sitting right in front of figures for trombones two trumpet players, and like two drummers, and like a keyboard Do you want Yeah, yeah, they had the keyboard was doing all the bass stuff, right. But through like these gigantic

Collin 47:37

speakers, right, somebody,

Brandon 47:39

somebody needs to tell these bands that you don't need to play the trombone into a microphone.

Collin 47:45

When you're playing out loud,

Brandon 47:46

it's really not necessary experience

47:49

for anybody. So

Brandon 47:56

other than it was actually the loudest thing in the history of the universe, right? Like, the loudest sound ever made. Not Krakatoa. It's these dudes with the trombones running out here, move over Krakatoa because this Oh my heavens blisteringly loud, like no tenuous style of music, just like like a right in the ear. So other than not being able to talk for a long time that's also what you got to get up and go talk to people because you got to get away from the trombone that was my my Vega. Big excitement for this week. Usually cool. We stayed a little bit later for some of the dancing right? I did not partake in the dancing because

Collin 48:53

I have to wait for dancing but we saw

Brandon 49:02

some of it and see a bunch of people started really fun. That was my big excitement for this week, getting my ears blasted

Collin 49:11

by trombones, right. And then that's pretty much it.

Brandon 49:16

Take it easy. Susan's had to work some a little bit here and there doing her parents his teacher stuff.

Collin 49:22

So let's just like a little bit there a little bit here. So loosely hanging out.

Brandon 49:31

Definitely not going to the Salvadori bakery like all the time the 100% not doing that. Wait, trying

49:38

hard. Okay.

49:38

Oh,

49:39

wait a minute.

Brandon 49:40

We are going there a whole bunch. That's Other than that, I've been doing a lot of research for this week.

Collin 49:51

So you did a lot of research last week. So this research made me slightly less angry.

Brandon 49:57

Oh, that's fine. A little bit more a little bit. We're still, but I'll get to that a little bit. So that's

50:08

okay. So, yes, we

50:10

were tasked with

Collin 50:14

with reading a book by Mr. Mark Twain. Indeed, we're gonna be meditating Mark Twain ever.

Aaron 50:23

Surprisingly, even when I was in school, I never picked up a Mark Twain book. Like, I know the Cliff Notes of most of them. I think, maybe, but as far as like,

Collin 50:35

Oh, hey, Mark Twain. Yeah, never. Yeah, I didn't. So

Brandon 50:40

when I was in like high school, we didn't read any Twain unless we read like a short story that I don't remember. Yeah, I remember I remember in college, reading the celebrated jumping frog of Calaveras County. In like my literature class, I'd take college. And then I read

Collin 51:02

Tom Sawyer just on my own,

Brandon 51:05

like later. And then I read Huck Finn, because I was working as a paraprofessional and in high school, and they were reading Huck Finn for their literature class. So I was like, well, I should read this too. So I can know the heck's going on. So that's what I've read it for work kind of, but in like an English class environment, but that's really the only things

Collin 51:29

that I've read, read, write.

Brandon 51:31

I'm somewhat familiar with some other things, right? Just because now there's like such a big important cultural touchstone moment that I'm like, familiar with some Twain, but like, as far as I can remember, the only things I have read

Collin 51:46

are those ones.

Brandon 51:51

But we decided because of that, because we were deciding to find a book, we're like, well, maybe Twain, because, you know, we talked about Missouri things a lot. And you know, what's a Missouri thing? Mark Lane ban. So we settled on a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Right. One of his later, his later writings, but also a very popular thing. It's like, it shows up in culture, a lot like the kind of story ideas have been recycled a lot. It's kind of a big deal. Right? So that's what we decided to do there. You know, so, so, yeah, that's kind of what we're going to talk about here a little bit. But I've also been researching in my independent research. This week, I have, of course, been researching

Collin 52:35

King Arthur and Arthurian legend, because it's a little rusty. Right? It was like,

Brandon 52:42

I know, there's like some nights and there's a round table and rabbits and you have to run away but but um so I've been watching random videos about all the King Arthur Ennis. And I have also been reading a giant book about Gilded Age of America, right? to kind of get some background about when Mark Twain was writing, because a lot of Mark Twain writings are not so secret commentaries on the time in which he was living. Right. He's kind of known for being a humorist, and being very critical of everything in America during that time. Indeed. So I thought I should probably do some brushing up on that. So I have a proof. I've also just on the side, reading this monstrosity, that is the republic for which it stands the United States during Reconstruction in the Gilded Age 1865 to 1896. Oh, my Oh, wow. Yeah. So I've been reading through some of that. And that's the thing that's been making me really angry this week. Oh, cuz you like read about, like, a lot of the struggles of like, 1870. And

Collin 53:53

you're like, Ah, dang it.

Brandon 53:56

That's the same struggles we have now. When you read about things like certain political groups think that they're only speaking into echo chambers, and so that they think that their policies are much more popular than they really are. Oh, no, no, that's not 2020 for the gentleman that is in 1870. Oh. But it was newspapers and not Twitter, or x or blogs or whatever. Right. Like, like, that kind of stuff. I mean, it's like, oh, no, we didn't solve anything. Right. The rise of the rise of the corporation and how the Gilded Age became a fight between what's more important to America, corporate money, or the American citizen. I didn't want discussion at all. Oh, no. Oh yeah. Yeah, so, so yeah. Also the realization that you know, when certain very, very, very like conservative groups, right when they're talking about things, right when you hear them talk about things and like the way that it used to be like, Oh, no, there they are talking about 1880. Right. Oh, no. These are words that I'm reading in this book right now. Like, oh, no, that's good.

55:27

I thought you were talking about 1950 This whole time? No, it was 18 at

55:32

18. Amy? Not a yen.

Brandon 55:36

Yeah, not again. Right. So the distressing realization that some of these problems are like 140 250 years old are like, Oh, no, boo. boo and hiss. Yeah. And also hiss. Right. So yeah. So that's, that's my other research project I've been doing. So I maybe have interjections here and there if they come up,

Collin 56:01

right. But as far as that goes, Yeah, I'm

Brandon 56:05

just talking about Twain a little bit, right. Very famous later in life, but his early life, right. He was basically just like a guy who, you know, kind of common for that time, he was just sort of like, wandering around, doing whatever, right? Famously, he was a typesetter. A riverboat pilot, his short stint as a gold miner in the, like, California and Nevada. I didn't really go super well. And then a journalist, he was like, Oh, no writing goldmining sucks. I

56:37

don't want to do that. That's what I need. Yeah.

Brandon 56:43

And then, you know, he became famous for his like, lecture tour. Right, because he was not just a writer, he was an orator. And like a humorist, so he would like go around, and just like do talks. And people would just come listen to him. And so he would, you know, talk about that kind of it was all based on, like, how he saw the world and things like that, but like a funny stint

Collin 57:08

on hold, do you know?

Brandon 57:13

And then, the last thing I have here for my Mark Twain notes are generally considered one of the founding people in like the American literature. Genre, right? Because you have people before him like Edgar Allan Poe and stuff like that. But a lot of a lot of the work of early American writers is mirroring and being the same as English writers of the time. Right. But Mark Twain is definitely American, right? Like 100%.

Collin 57:50

Wow. And like, he,

Brandon 57:54

his audience was, like, normal people, which was like the big kind of departure because like other people that were reading at the time were like, you know, higher society, more educated people, right. But the way the Twain wrote it was like for everybody, you know, that's kind of his, one of the hallmarks of his writing, which if you've read Huck Finn, you will know, by the way that he writes all the dialogue in colloquially, colloquially? Yes. And it's really, it's notoriously difficult to read because he's writing in the dialect. Right. And so it's a little bit like, what we're talking about here.

58:33

So, yeah,

Brandon 58:35

but he's being famous for that. So yeah, that's my I have a few small notes on that Mark Twain here.

Collin 58:43

Yeah, I my exposure to Mark Twain really was in Huck Finn, and pretty much only that going into this and just but knowing that culturally Touchstone on a lot of different pieces, and it's so much so that now you see references, like, I've probably encountered his more his works more through tertiary references then like directly just because of how definitely right out and I just, but I know it's a Mark Twain reference, just because it's been referenced so many times, but not because I have a connection directly back to his work.

Brandon 59:22

Yeah, and a lot of his like, he didn't write that many books, but like, he, the ones that he wrote are still culturally relevant enough that like, like, people know that Tommy hook, right, everyone's wild. There's just like a new movie about it like the 90s classic Tom and Huck. Shout and Taylor Thomas. not mistaken. Right. jtt right. The Whirlwind was mid 90s. To do no wrong. Like that and other prints in the popper is a real thing that was like there's a Mickey Mouse version of that. That I

59:56

like that one. Yeah,

Brandon 59:58

those are my favorites. I have a vase. memory of that. So like, like, I know the story of these things, but like not because I've read the primary source material, like you said, it's just like, absorbed

Collin 1:00:07

through the culture. Right?

Brandon 1:00:10

Which is somewhat ironic, because in this book, he's doing that same thing with like, the King Arthur stuff. Because I read that during the kind of early 1800s Like there was a big resurgence in like Arthurian literature, right, it became popular again in England, right, and you know, the Victorians they

Collin 1:00:32

just loved all that kind of stuff. So

Brandon 1:00:36

it was like really popular, and I think he's kind of annoyed with it. And so that's one of the reasons he wrote this.

Collin 1:00:43

It's like his response to that. Yes. You I definitely get the sense of that in reading of this there's a I don't know if I would go as far as a disdain but definitely a tired and weariness with these things of an almost like a really, this is what's impressive. This is these these dullards this kind of old retold rehashed things. This is what's intriguing to everybody. Kind of eyeroll moment. Yeah, already, even

Brandon 1:01:13

in the first like, the first little bit is just like introduction. Yes. Right. And it's like what you get already through the character. Now this book is weird.

Collin 1:01:22

And it appears to be

Brandon 1:01:25

right, like we got talking about point of view here. Like who? Who is talking about the story? What's going on? Right? So it appears so far,

Collin 1:01:36

is that

Brandon 1:01:39

the main character of the story here, this this guy, he is his name, I can't remember who just like, jumped on my brain here. He is like re he is dictating the story to

Collin 1:01:51

Mark Twain. Right. That's kind of what's

Brandon 1:01:56

happening. Oh, Hank, of course, Hank Morgan is like telling the story to Mark Twain. Kinda. That's what it kind of seems like so far. So that's kind of the weird part is that we have some like big reliability problems with the narrator number one,

Collin 1:02:13

Mark Twain. Number two,

Brandon 1:02:15

some random guy named Hank is dictating the story to Mark Twain who is of course the made up persona of Samuel Clemens so very

Collin 1:02:27

Yeah, yes. Again, a lot of complexity here a lot of lenses to read through them because yeah, I wasn't my first note for this I really liked the opening line it really such sets the stage stage for this of chapter one of Camelot once you read through the intro there where it says a Camelot Camelot said it myself I don't seem to remember hearing of it before name of the asylum likely. Yeah. really sets the tone for the point of view we're going to be getting on all this poppycock and hogwash. Hogwash. Yeah, right. I love this line so much. Again, because it's this commentary on these kind of tales, or, you know, this again, this this this, like you said, Brandon, like the the point of view of like, I don't believe this, I'm going to come in feel with a chip on my shoulder already, but just a shrug mentality. That's true, right? And like

Brandon 1:03:36

it's weird that this the reason that it starts off so weirdly, right is because this story is like a very, very, it's one of the first stories that I can find reference using like, time travel as a literary device. Yes. Right. So like the setup to the story is this guy gets in a fight and his work and he gets whacked on the head. And then he

Collin 1:03:56

wakes up in a field in England.

Brandon 1:04:00

Oh, right. That's the beginning. Right gets some dude Waksman head with a crowbar. And then it gets way he wakes up and is found by Sir Kay.

Collin 1:04:11

So what like is a very, very early science fiction time travel novel question.

Brandon 1:04:23

Right like one of the first people to do not buffers you know, HG Wells had a proto vivid story before time machine that story about time travel, kinda but like, this is the first like guy gets like blacks out wakes up in a different time, different place. That's the literary device that we're using.

Collin 1:04:42

And quite quite inventive for the late 1800s.

1:04:45

That's true. Yeah, that's true.

Collin 1:04:48

Yeah. So yeah, it's like a

Brandon 1:04:51

one of the first it was kind of it's good way to use it right? Because you don't really have to think too much about explaining the ins and outs of how Got here, right? You're not gonna worry about that too much. It's just like, Oh, yep.

Collin 1:05:04

I'm here now, though. Yes. Yeah.

Brandon 1:05:09

So, in 1889 is when this book was published 1889. Right. So, yeah, that's kind of the new thing going on here. So he's in Camelot. He's convinced the people are insane. And he being, you know, the Connecticut man that he is. He thinks that all this is like Colin said, this is some some shenanigans here and doesn't like this at all.

Collin 1:05:37

Yeah. I mean, and he's, he's, like, really not impressed with the people that he's seeing. Right? really feels like it's just this big dump of a place. Right. Like, he doesn't you tell he's very like, Oh, my goodness. What a what a horrible. I got that feeling of reading to this just can't he's looking around me like this is look at this rundown place about me.

Brandon 1:06:02

Yeah, he's not impressed. It's like, it's not very interesting to him. He's kind of over it already. And he just like showed up. Right. But I think that has to do with who? This Hank guy is right when we talk about his job. Right? His occupation, right? This is something that's like a very 18 ad, right? He is like a

Collin 1:06:34

he's What's it? What's it called here?

Brandon 1:06:37

I can't remember the word that they use. Exactly. But he's a like a medic, a mechanic, an engineer, a machinist? Yeah. Right. That's what he does. And so he is kind of embodying that, like, free labor idea of the 1800s of like I am, I take life into my own hands, I, you know, invent things, right? This guy probably knows, like Thomas Edison, right? Like, he's that kind of dude. Right? He's like, he's an engineer. He worked in the army. He makes like cannons and guns and all that stuff. He talks about how I can make things. And if I can't make a thing to solve the problem, I sit there a little bit longer, I can invent an invent a new thing that can, right. That's the paraphrase here, Kevin, where that isn't the book, but that's the that's kind of his attitude. Like, he's like I am. You know, he's like, the most modern man of 1889. Right? Because that's kind of his thing on life. Right? And he thinks about that. And he thinks about oh, yes, I'm so much better than this. These guys are just, they don't have anything cool, right? Is this? Was this backwards? Like, shenanigans? Was it you got horse get out here with the horse and you dressed all goofy? Like, I don't like it. Right? So yeah, you can definitely it's the end of chapter two. He just comes out and says it right. They say, just logical bearing is not an outcome of a mental training, intellectual fortitude reasoning, it is a mere animal training. Right? He says he says they are white Indians. Oh, no. Oh, famously, famously, Mark Twain. Not really a big fan of Native Americans, right. Wow, that really huge, which is weird, because like, he changed his mind about racism and immigration during his life. He's, uh, he's famously quoted as saying, like, you know, I was racist when I was younger, because no one told me any differently to be, right. And then I grew up and was like, oh, wait a minute, actually. So he, he kind of changed his attitude on immigration, and, you know, racist racism towards like Africans, and African Americans but, but not Native Americans, famously, which is weird.

Collin 1:09:12

That he thinks that way, it's a bit of an odd thing to like, stop being racist

1:09:16

to everybody except

Brandon 1:09:22

a little bit awkward. But, yeah, so he kind of is, you know, that may be a little self insert moment there. Where he's like, he's like, What is this? This is just like, backwards, boring. Nonsense. I'm a modern man of the modern age. Get out of here with these shenanigans. Well,

Collin 1:09:37

and and chapter two of of actually titled King Arthur's Court. It starts out with just this presumption, again, this bias that he's bringing in, I love this interaction that he has right where he comes in and he says, I grabbed him and I said, friend, do me a kindness. Do you belong to the asylum? Or are you just visiting My response Mary facer me seemeth that'll do. I said, I reckon you are a patient. I love this because this is like, yep, you confirmed my bias. I already assumed this going in and I know now tut tuts along fine meet, you know, and he didn't he's like telling me that someone who knows is actually competent.

Brandon 1:10:22

Yeah. And then he has asked for after that, like, around that time he's asked for what year is it? Yeah, right. Which is a bit odd. He's like, according to you notion what here's the guy says something about like, you know, a year and he's like, maybe I didn't hear you. Can you repeat that again? And he says, Yeah. And he's like, okay, so by your recollection, what year is it? Now? He says that it's 500. Year 528. The

Collin 1:10:53

19th of June. Right? And so, after that,

Brandon 1:10:59

we get a bit of weirdness, because he's like, Oh, well, I happen to know that like, I'm, you know, oh, my god, two days in two days, hence, there shall be a complete solar eclipse. So I'll just have to wait until then to see what's actually going on. You're like what knows that?

Collin 1:11:17

Again, somebody somebody's haughty and full of themselves, and hire even prior to that whatever. He's having an interaction with this gentleman. He's, our friend here says, with a sense, says, You come with me and informed me that he was a page and he says, and I said up, informed me that he was a page. Go long, I said, you ain't more than a paragraph. And he says, it was pretty severe. However, it never fazed him. He didn't seem to appear that he was hurt that's, again, play on words, a beautiful play on words. I said, I'm a page, because he's not in the mindset of five hundreds write the word page. To me, he's trying to he thinks he's trying to anyway, it's

1:12:06

so it's so funny.

Brandon 1:12:09

That it's very weird, right. But we do have to, we do have to pretty much immediately here, just take a timeout. And we have to address we have to address the elephant in the room, which is the historical inaccuracy of placing this book in the sixth century.

Collin 1:12:28

Right. And like, I understand

Brandon 1:12:30

that, like modern history, has done a much better job of like defining this right. And Arthurian legend is very nebulous, you know, like, the popular version of Arthur that was going around at the time was the retelling from like,

Collin 1:12:48

the 14th century. Right. And so,

Brandon 1:12:52

bow It is likely that the legend began sometime in the sixth century, right. But like, the illustration, my book has illustrations, right. It has the original illustrations in it. And like, they the way that they're describing things, right, and the way they're talking about things and even how they're describing the people in the court. Like,

1:13:12

that's not that's not sixth century. I hate to be that guy made to be that guy here. But talking about dudes holding a halberd, which is definitely a century German thing. So

1:13:26

yes, hold on.

Brandon 1:13:30

Right. You have like knights and jousting and stuff like That's not. That's not sixth century, right, six centuries like Saxons? Right. Like migration era.

Collin 1:13:41

Saxons, you know, right after Rome left England. That's kind of

Brandon 1:13:49

where the Arthurian legends sort of begins. And so there's not, there's not knights in shining armor into chivalry and stuff like that. Right. But that is interesting. Because,

Collin 1:13:59

like, as an aside here,

Brandon 1:14:01

the story of King Arthur is so interesting, and it's lasted for so long, because, right, like every single person that's written it, it just adds something of their time to the story. Right? So King Arthur is like the world's oldest

Collin 1:14:17

fan fiction. Wow. Right. Because

Brandon 1:14:21

like, you know, every author that was like, oh, I want to tell a story about this. We're going to add a night to the roundtable. Right? Ah, Lancelot. Yeah. And they'll, like, put the stuff that was important to their tie onto that character, right, like glean or Lancelot or whoever, right.

Collin 1:14:43

And so, the

Brandon 1:14:44

story evolves and changes over time based on who is telling the story, right. So it's kind of like

Collin 1:14:52

Batman. Right? Like, all

Brandon 1:14:56

the different Batman comic books depending on who they are. author is, right, Batman is a little bit different. Right? He's got a different villain to go against based on how the story what story you need to tell, right? But it's a character that adapts to like, all kinds of situations and tells all kinds of different stories, but it's the same character.

Collin 1:15:17

I think Arthur kind of does the same thing. Right, which is why you can have

Brandon 1:15:23

a sword in the stone and an Excalibur, and a Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and it all just kind of it doesn't matter. It's, you know, it all just works for whatever it is because Arthur is like the vessel

Collin 1:15:33

for the story. Right?

Brandon 1:15:35

So we'll see. Eventually what story Twain is going to tell with this vessel of Arthur. But I think that's interesting, right? That it's like, the reason that it's so weird, is because like people's add to it over time. And it's kind of like a fanfic right, like? Yeah, there's like, basic, basic characteristics that you've got. And then you just go from there. He's winging it. Right. Which is how you can get a kid and King Arthur's Court

Collin 1:16:07

which I think is loosely based on this story. So we'll go. So yes, there are some unfortunate historical inaccuracies here. But an 1889. And I don't think they do that. So I don't think they really care. And that really was like medieval, whatever this medieval. It sounds old timey, which is funny to think about this in 1889. Thinking, we'll just make it sound old timey. Yeah, right. Like, because, yeah, because then our protagonist here, once he's like, again, this. And I'm very interested to see if there is a story arc where this protagonist at all, because as soon as it is revealed to him of what year it is, and he's starting to put these pieces of the puzzle together, but he's not quite believing it. He says, he says, I would presently boss that asylum or no, the reason why. And if on the other hand, it was really the sixth century, all right, I didn't want any software thing I would boss the whole country inside of three months. For I judged, I would have the start of the best educated man in the kingdom by a matter of 1300 years, basically, saying like, like, Well, either way, I'm going to be running this joint because I am better educated than all these folks. And I have a feeling that it's not going to go too well for them based off of how we're setting this guy

Brandon 1:17:25

up. Yeah, we'll see. Yeah, we'll see if he actually has a character arc or if he's just like a static guy that maintains through the whole thing. And it's just like a weird thing. So that will be interesting. To plot a log with and see what happens. Right? Like

Collin 1:17:42

that'd be for sure. Interesting.

Brandon 1:17:45

Oh, yeah. Chapter Three is like storytime. Right? Which is weird, because they're just like, little page frames. Like I'm taking a nap. I'm out. I've heard the same story. 800 baths. See you later. Yeah,

Collin 1:17:58

this was this was this was interesting, because yes, they were all the other prisoners of Sir Kay, asking the lady to either like let them go or have them killed. Yeah, this was this was kind of this was yet this part was kind of dark.

Brandon 1:18:13

Anyway, but yeah, it's good. Okay, so we're introducing some of the other characters in the story. Like this is all still like kind of background stuffs, right. We're touching on source material here and there was right yeah, Lancelot gal this whole time, right. Well, even sir Kay, right. Sir. K is famously if you recall, the sword in the stone. Yes. Right. Just for K is like the adopted brother of King Arthur. Yes. He grew up in the house right. Not knowing he was a king because Merlin hiding them away. And then he pulls out the sword the stone. He's actually trying to give a story to Sir Kay to fight in the tournament. And he's just like, Oh, here's a story. Yep.

Collin 1:18:54

What?

Brandon 1:18:57

Right so if you remember that Disney classic, that's a great add that to those lists, because that's a good one. I think I might watch that movie. Again. I have it on here somewhere. But that's the SIR Kay we're talking about. Right is who that is. And then yeah, we're starting to get we're getting some names here. Sir Lancelot. Right, we touch on. You know, it was touching to see the Queen blush and smile and look embarrassed and happy and fling fury of glances at Sir Lancelot. That would have had him shot in Arkansas. Right, touching on the source material like oh, yeah, it's good to be here. The whole point of your in Lancelot thing, right. It's a whole subplot to the actual theory of legend. Right. But, so that was I thought that was funny. That was That was a funny way to introduce that part. It was really shot in Arkansas. It's pretty. We're going a little bit about we see, Merlin right comes in and he starts telling the story and That's when the guy is like, Nope, I'm out. I'm not going to again.

Collin 1:20:03

This is this is where I got the idea of of Mark Twain's view on these tired old, boring stories.

1:20:18

rambling on and on. Yeah,

Collin 1:20:20

yeah. Right. Like it really comes through because like, yeah, because what's his name? Clarence. Is that the boy's name?

1:20:28

Oh, yeah. Rent guy.

Collin 1:20:29

Yeah the page. Yeah, cuz apparently, he like he Glau he's like actively Lauer's think the mighty liar in the magician perdition singe him for the weariness he worked with with one tail.

Brandon 1:20:42

Yeah, because he's like, I've heard this so much. I can't Yeah, it kind of feels like a Norse more self insert of Twain and like this story. Again, right. Like, yeah,

1:20:52

we know Excalibur lady Lake, whatever. Next, let's go like, come on. Yes.

Collin 1:20:57

It's a good move along. Yeah.

Brandon 1:21:03

Tell if it always in the third person making believe that he is too modest to glorify himself.

Collin 1:21:13

Do you read this and it man, again, Mark Twain's gift of writing in a way where you can just feel like this. And obviously with the page kind of setting up being like, Oh, this is a rambling, shambling tale. It reads like a rambling tale. And you can just hear that throughout this entire thing. Yes. Just kind of like, and so and so. And then and so and then and then in that what Daniels is that a slave like, and within the lake is a rock and roll. Okay, there's okay. There's a lot of it's more. It's so much more, and the arm and the hand went under the water. And so they came into the lake. Okay, yeah, but I'm just, I'm yatta yatta being in my head.

Brandon 1:22:07

But it's interesting, too, that like this is kind of just the chapter where Twain is like, he is retelling parts of African legend to just to kind of set the backdrop where he's using. Making fun of the tiredness of the Arthurian legend, set the backdrop for the Arthurian legend that he's put his character in. Right, which is kind of embedded to think about right

Collin 1:22:33

yes, yeah. Yeah,

1:22:35

he's like, he's like telling you but in case you don't know, he's like, telling you to the reader. Right Like, just in case the reader doesn't know. It's a great way to write a fantastic way to do it to get you caught up while also having some commentary on it along

Collin 1:22:54

the way. Yes, right. So

Brandon 1:22:56

that's kind of what we got here is kind of the backstory of Arthur right? Yes, Lady they pull the sword from the stone Yes, mighty king, fought pellet or the Black Knight all been lost his sword went to Lake gotten your sword Excalibur.

Collin 1:23:15

Now mighty warrior. scabbard is magical. That's important. But he

Brandon 1:23:19

does make sure to mention that part because that's the part that's big important in the legend, too, is like Excalibur is a great sword. scabbard is magical and it will keep you safe and will not let you take damage. Right? Yes.

Collin 1:23:33

Do not X snake the scabbard? A Yeah.

Brandon 1:23:36

Yeah. Check off scabbard here. We'll see how that. See if that's working for later.

Collin 1:23:43

It's been laying on the mantel. On the mantel, here we go. Yeah. Yeah. So the I Am. I Am. I'm really enjoying this book so far. These it seems to be a quick read.

Brandon 1:23:59

Yeah, it went really fast. Those Those read those three chapters like that felt like five seconds. Yes.

Collin 1:24:04

Yes, it is not laborious. And it looks to be I'm very, I'm interested to see what happens to this character. And again, I'm trying not to bring out I'm, I'm trying to just read the story and experience it as opposed to like, thinking ahead too much on this and just see where this takes us. So

Brandon 1:24:25

yeah, because we'll see how it goes. We're focused my thinking I'm thinking backwards

1:24:30

about all the

1:24:32

source material. But yeah, there we go. We'd like to

Brandon 1:24:37

take this time to interject my new weekly segment. Quotes from Mark Twain, right. Okay, he is known for being an orange or right and a great speaker and a critic of things, right. And so, we're going to start, we're gonna start start off with, with one that you might know but might not know it's Twain. Write the ever Classic is not the size of the dog in the fight is the size of the fight of the dog. Uh huh. That is classic Mark Twain the perennial fan of the underdog. Rooting for the common man. Right. So we're gonna that's gonna be our first air you can use that one coaching, right? Make sure you got that one in your repertoire. Right, you

Collin 1:25:25

like that. There you go. I just wanted to add that because there's lots of really hilarious Mark Twain quotes. So I'm gonna sprinkle some of those into here. Well, I look forward to that little extra bonus at the end of everything. Yeah. Okay. Nice. Nice. So yes, I am looking forward to this.

1:25:42

I think all the chapters are pretty much the same length. Do you want to Yeah, pretty much three, four ish chapters of time or? Yeah. What do you wanna do? Three or four? Yeah, cuz the next chapter, chapter four is three pages.

Collin 1:25:53

So let's read the next four chapters then. Alright, sounds good. So we're gonna finish on chapters that can do. Great, because I'm pretty short. So yes. Okay. Cool. Yeah. All right. Well, any other thoughts on the book?

Brandon 1:26:14

No, I think he's, uh, those first couple chapters just do a good job of like, it's a good way to do exposition. That's not just too horrible. Right? He just like comes out and says it because again, I'm a big exposition

Collin 1:26:26

havior. Right.

Brandon 1:26:31

Fact, I think the way the literary device of having somebody else telling him this story that happened is a way to like, speed it up. Right? It just like zips through because, you know, you're getting you're kind of getting Twain has no idea what's happening. So this other guy that had happened to it's just telling him what happened. So it's just kind of like,

1:26:52

you don't need any background. Really,

Brandon 1:26:53

like the background is like, yeah, I was in a machine shop and I got in the fight. I got whacked and hit done. Right. There we go. You just get the opening, inciting incident in the intro about like, he meets him in the museum or whatever. And he's like, what's this guy muttering about what the heck's going on? And then he goes back and he reads about Lancelot in his book. Right. That part was kind of interesting. He's reading about Lancelot. So that's Twain reading about King Arthur. And then this guy comes in is telling him a story about King Arthur, tying it all together. It's very interesting. So

Collin 1:27:30

using this using somewhat logical story points to to pull those those Pete needed and piece of information out. Yeah.

Brandon 1:27:38

Collin 1:27:43

looking forward to the next four chapters. Yeah, closing in closing here. I have an an haiku. All right. To wrap this up. All right. Electric blue light, glowing in the stormy night. Nature's silent glow.