Reading On the Doorstep - First Time Reading The Hobbit

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[00:04:03]>> Welcome. Welcome.

[00:04:06]>> Hello everyone. Hello. Hello. Hello. Um, I started a little early. Well, I was supposed to do the stream at 1, then it moved back to 1:15, but then I started early because we have to go watch the World Cup at three. So, this is your preWorld Cup watch.

[00:04:24]Um, Ailla, you want both of them to lose?

[00:04:29]See, I was hoping both of them would get through cuz I don't I'm good with either of the teams winning. I don't like France and I don't like England. And I'm happy for a Spain or Argentina win.

[00:04:48]Bugs football talk will finally stop. Uh you probably got a week till everyone's going to talk about the final game for another week. Depends on how good it is.

[00:04:58]And it's going to be hard to beat the last World Cup final. That was maybe the greatest game of all time.

[00:05:08]Infantino's ideal finalists were Spain and Argentina. That's hilarious. He uh the president of FIFA should not be making statements like that. That's a little insane.

[00:05:20]You're not even going to watch the final. Come on.

[00:05:24]No way. Last the last World Cup final I still think is the greatest game of soccer that I've ever seen in my life.

[00:05:28]It was just the most dramatic thing I've ever watched. It was so good. And to for that to happen in a final, it was so insane.

[00:05:37]But anyway, we're here talking about The Hobbit, even though it's the World Cup final in two hours. We got to talk about that a little bit.

[00:05:45]Um, I'm doing a lot of really good reading, man. I am I just finished some Dune.

[00:05:51]Not finished. I'm like five chapters in, so I'm only like 50 pages in. Man, it is so good. I really, really love it.

[00:06:00]And not that we're almost done with The Hobbit, but we're probably twothirds of the way done with The Hobbit, which is crazy.

[00:06:10]It's going fast.

[00:06:15]Um, happy to see things even though you're not watching.

[00:06:25]Um, tell me about your guys reading. Anybody read anything good. What do you guys What else besides The Hobbit are you reading? And someone tell me about I saw this in the bookstore the other day and I know people talk about this all the time. Larry Mc Merry's Lonesome Dove.

[00:06:47]How good is that? People People swear by that book. Some people say that it's incredible. I've never read it.

[00:06:55]That'll that'll be added to the list definitely.

[00:07:02]Yeah, like the stream everyone. Come on.

[00:07:04]Totally forgot. Oh, Baron and Luian right now. Is Baron and Lu Baron and Lutheian is the same as the lay of lethian. Correct.

[00:07:15]Fire and blood. H.

[00:07:18]The murder at the World's End for book club. Pretty good. Nice. I'm glad. We're reading a lot for all these different channels I got going on. Anybody reading the Count of Monte Crystal with us?

[00:07:29]Dang, that book is good.

[00:07:32]The Outlander series. How is that?

[00:07:36]Oh, King Arthur series by Steven Lawhead. Never even heard of that.

[00:07:41]Lethan is the unfinished poem version of the story. Okay, gotcha. Yeah, I know that.

[00:07:47]The Old Man in the Sea. How do you like it? How are you liking it so far?

[00:07:52]Slowerhoff poems. A poet. I love reading some poetry. Well done.

[00:07:58]Baros's Ocean Sea wasn't really your thing. It's It's annoying when sometimes you just read a book and it's not that good. Jamie Lanning's Turner's No Dark Valley, My Lady Lelo, and a book about Ecclesiastes.

[00:08:13]Interesting. Interesting. Good reading list.

[00:08:18]Ocean Sea wasn't really your thing.

[00:08:21]Okay. Hm.

[00:08:22]What was the last What was the last 10 out of 10 book that you guys read?

[00:08:30]What's the last What's the last really really good book that you guys read that is a 10 out of 10?

[00:08:39]Pen Dragon Cycle. Okay.

[00:08:44][laughter] You stopped all the baseball talk.

[00:08:50]There's a there's a good amount of baseball talk in there. The Sylmerelion, you only ever rated one book a 10 out of 10. Wow. Is that the Is that the Lord of the Rings or that's a Sylmerelion? I'm guessing the Sylmerelion for you.

[00:09:06]Starship Troopers. Interesting. A lot of people find it lacking. The Hobbit was the last 10 out of 10. The Sylmerelion.

[00:09:12]Yeah, The Hobbit and the I cannot wait for the Sylmerelion. And we're going to hit the Sylmerelion. Perfect. Not that we should mention the Ro series, but that series is coming out this fall.

[00:09:23]When is it coming out? Oh, Return of the King is the only 10 out of 10. I love that.

[00:09:30]Yeah, that is a 10 out of 10 book. Man, this is so good.

[00:09:34]Um, we're going to be hitting the Sylmerelion November 11th. Okay, so we're going to be hitting the Sylmerelion around that time. We'll be a chapter or two into the Sylmerelion by then. It's gonna be pretty sweet.

[00:09:52]Jumper by Steven Gold. Never even heard.

[00:09:56]There are so many books out there.

[00:09:59]The new Sauron. Look, I haven't even seen it.

[00:10:03][laughter] I don't think it's a bad thing to have an elitist rating system. I think too many people rank books 10 out of tens that really aren't 10 out of tens. I think it's good to have like two or three 10 out of 10 books.

[00:10:16]I would probably say I might have four, but I have a bunch of different lists for different things. That's a hard thing because I have 10 out of 10 as far as the writing is concerned, but I don't like some of those books are boring books. They're like a five out of 10 plot-wise or even like a two out of 10 plot-wise, but the writing is so good that it's a 10 out of 10 writing. So, I have really well-written books that are 10 out of tens. I have really good stories that are 10 out of 10. And then a combination of both, which is like the peak of all things, which is the 10 out of 10. And then I have the books that impacted me the most, which are like 10 out of 10. Like to kill a b to kill a mockingb bird probably was the most impactful book. That was the book that got me into reading or like slowly got me into reading.

[00:11:14]They're releasing a new Hobbit edition in October. An illustrated Hobbit. I love that. I'm gonna get it.

[00:11:21]I've been reading a lot lately, too. And it feels great, I gotta say.

[00:11:25]Struggsky brothers. Haven't heard heard of them. Everyone liked the stream.

[00:11:33]See, I didn't lot like of Men.

[00:11:37]Excuse me. Well, I didn't mind it. It was like It's like a classic. It's a sad ending. Um, Discord. Uh, oh, what's happening in Discord?

[00:11:49]Oh, the new Sauron. Dang, that's actually intense.

[00:11:55]Wow.

[00:11:57][laughter] That's an intense look.

[00:12:03]Um, weirdly I feel like um Neim, I don't know if you're going to like to kill a mockingb bird. I think it suits a high school audience really well.

[00:12:20]And I think you're going to see the plot coming a mile away. But as a high schooler, when I read that, I was like, "Wait, books can be this good. This story is so entertaining.

[00:12:35]Lots of good little tidbits in there.

[00:12:40]Good writing.

[00:12:42]I gota I got to revisit Kill Mockingbird. I haven't read it since like college. I got to revisit it."

[00:12:49]Actually, I think I read it right when I was out of college because I reread it real quick before Ghost Set a Watchman came out.

[00:12:56]which that book was awful. Sad.

[00:13:00]Yeah. Mock Kill Mockingberg is one of the greatest books of all time. One of the greatest written books of all time.

[00:13:12]You're doing mocking bird setup [gasps] outside your bedroom window. Howard's in. Haven't read it.

[00:13:19]Yeah. To kill a mocking bird is pretty rereadable. Okay, that's good. I'll give it a shot.

[00:13:25]I didn't like uh of my cinnamon that much. I did one for one of my uh independent studies in uh grad school. I had a read east of Eden and I liked that Steinbeck a lot more than I liked um of Mmen because right I think I read of Men right after I read East of Eden because I was interested in his writing. East of Eden was good. I remember I got I got to revisit East of Eden. We'll read it for one of the classics in the next few years.

[00:13:56]Yeah, it was a rough draft. First of all, her lawyer kind of bullied her into it. Shouldn't have happened. Sad sad day.

[00:14:09]No. 10 out of 10 for everyone in my family has killed someone. Is that the title of a book?

[00:14:18]Um, weird sci-fi philosophy books.

[00:14:21]Interesting. Okay, I'll have to add that until I actually thought the same thing.

[00:14:27]I cuz I abandoned the Iliad and I was like watching the Odyssey yesterday made me want to watch made me want to read pick it up again, which I will in a in a bit.

[00:14:38]I thought it was a good movie, but it it it's a movie that may is going to make me sit and think for a while. Like I don't know what to think of that movie obviously because I haven't seen the book. I have nothing to like really compare it to. It was It felt like um it felt a little bit like when I finished seeing Dune 2, I remember after the theater, I watched it with my brothers and we left and we're like that was a weird movie.

[00:15:08]We didn't know whether we liked it or hated it. We didn't know whether we liked or hated the main character, which probably exactly what uh Denu was trying to do. And I feel like that's what the Odyssey was. I feel like I left the Odyssey going, I don't know how I feel about that.

[00:15:25]So many disturbing elements.

[00:15:30]The Cersei scene. I had to look away because that was just brutal.

[00:15:35]But a great movie, a great story. It made me really want to pick up the Odyssey.

[00:15:42]Um, hey Michael, you haven't missed much.

[00:15:45]We're just chatting. We're going to start reading soon because we got the World Cup to watch. So, we're going to start reading probably like five minutes. Maybe we'll start at 1:30 because I think this reading is going to be short. I used to read a lot of non-fiction. I don't really read non-fiction that much anymore. Unless it's unless it's a good story non-fiction.

[00:16:04]Yeah, this reading I think is going to take like Well, knowing me, it's going to take longer. This reading is four pages.

[00:16:13]So, I think this reading is going to take about a half an hour, maybe less.

[00:16:18]Um, every once in a while I I read non-fiction. I I went through a big memoir phase a few years ago and I read a lot of memoirs and I really still do love memoirs.

[00:16:28]Um, I would probably put uh I would probably put Glass Castle in my top 10 books of all time. I really love that book. I thought it was a better version of Educated.

[00:16:41]Um, educated was good. Yeah, I went through a big memoir phase.

[00:16:53]Um, you're not sure if it's a movie you ought to see. [laughter] Well played. Well played.

[00:17:02]Um, but non-fiction, I don't know. I don't remember the last non-fiction that I've read. Actually, no. I do because it's on my desk right here. Me and my friend are doing like a little back and forth. And this book is How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Dor.

[00:17:19]And it's a classic of like how, you know, reading. And it was crap. It was so bad. [laughter] It was awful. It's like people trying to categorize things that just don't understand. I mean, they understand literature, but o did not like that book.

[00:17:38]You find yourself gravitating toward more non-fiction as you run out of older. What kind of non-fiction? I find myself actually doing the [clears throat] opposite. I used to read a lot of non-fiction. Now I really only care about writing fiction.

[00:17:49]Yeah, I love non-fiction. Memoirs about writing like Stephen King's on writing is great. And the Mott wrote a good book on writing. Um Shrunken White, great book. [laughter] Elements of writing at Ashley is a great book.

[00:18:05]Um, I love little books on writing.

[00:18:10]Um, but I read uh another there's like every once in a while there's a really good story that comes out. Some non-fiction really is starting to make me pique my interest, but it has to be story oriented non-fiction. I don't want like I can't read certain things in non-fiction. Maybe I'll get to that at some point in my life. But um like one of my favorites, I was just talking to someone about this is Shoe Dog, the story of Nike. And even though you know Nike is a big conglomerate and organization and we shouldn't like you know be thinking a company like that is all cool there. That was a crazy book. That was such a good book. It was so well written which is shocking because it was Phil Knight who wrote it and he's not a writer. But just goes to show you some people just know how to tell a story. I mean the wr the writing was just so well story oriented. It was just so fascinating. It's not like the writing is absolutely captivating but it was good.

[00:19:04]not ridden I've not read Stephen King yet to especially one person sugaring in chat right now but I will eventually get to some Stephen King busy with non-fiction and it's actually so good but you struggle to get back to it every time yeah honestly there is like a a struggle uh with it being real people actually did these things the sun is a compass cool book Cool.

[00:19:31]That title [laughter] four season of Shan Shan Redemption the Didn't the Nike guy live out by the crazy cult in the 80s? I don't know.

[00:19:48]Maybe that was part of it. I don't remember that.

[00:19:53]Haven't read Dean Coons. Nope.

[00:19:59]Thank you. Thank you, Gordy. Like the stream, everyone. Yeah, only 25 people have liked it and there's 70 they have 73 people here. So, get liking the stream, guys.

[00:20:11]We're going to start reading in a few.

[00:20:13]Again, this reading is going to be very short because it's four pages, but um Okay, so just planning out what we're going to do. This reading is short.

[00:20:22]We're going to finish [clears throat] this. This is like a nice little pre-World Cup read. Get to hang out with the Hobbit while we before we watch the World Cup. And then inside information is going to be next week.

[00:20:33]After that, I might do two chapters because it's not at home.

[00:20:39]Actually, not at home is average.

[00:20:44]We'll see. We'll figure that out. But I am going to be gone for a week in August. So, probably no stream either before or after that day on that Sunday.

[00:20:53]Maybe before. Um, so we got a we got a plan. No, two chapters is not now unfortunately. It's we got to watch a World Cup even though you're not watching because you wanted England and France and your World Cup was yesterday.

[00:21:08]That was your final.

[00:21:14]Um, Leaf by Niggle is great. Even though Tolken doesn't do allegory, it seems like he's talking about himself. Yeah, we'll definitely read that maybe in between the Hobbit and the Sylmerelion or something. Some people are giving me recommendations of things to read in between.

[00:21:32]Um, someone said to read, what was it? It came from last chapter something in the unfinished tales.

[00:21:45]I forgot what.

[00:21:48]Maybe we'll read that in between.

[00:21:50]I think it was controversial.

[00:21:53]Hey Trigg, what's up? Welcome. Welcome.

[00:21:55]Glad you're here on time.

[00:21:58]Oh, being gone for 10 days. Camping, hiking, and fishing. Where'd you go?

[00:22:01]That sounds lovely.

[00:22:04]I have not read The Chronicles of Amber.

[00:22:06]Sounds sounds good, though.

[00:22:09]Yeah, Leaf by Nickel is definitely in my plans. I don't know when it's going to be in there, but it's in there. I think when we read when I'm reading the Sylmerelion, I might do the Sylmerelion again. It's gonna be just a flat reading of the Sylmerelion. I think will take us two years knowing everything that I've knowing how slow I am at some of this stuff. I probably will do some other Tolken stuff in like as I'm reading the Sylmerelion. So maybe we'll do like Leaf by Niggle. We'll take like you know a month or two break from some of the Sylmerelion stuff in between like some chapters and then we'll do some Leaf by Niggle. um some adventures to Tom Bombadil, some other random stuff that he's written. Um and then we'll dive into the deeper lore on Unfinished or History of Middle Earth and all that kind of stuff.

[00:22:57]But we'll plan it. You guys will help me plan that. We'll figure it out.

[00:23:02]Yeah, on fairy stories for sure.

[00:23:05]Might be good on fairy stories before the Sylmeran.

[00:23:08]Honestly, that's not a bad option. I feel like I'm gonna have a lot to to write and say about the about on fairy stories.

[00:23:16]Yeah, the Sland is shorter than Lord of the Rings, but if if the appendices are any indication of how much I'm going to want to talk about the Lord of the Rings or the the Sylmerland, it's going to be insane.

[00:23:29]Like I we've split up like we had one the appendix A took me like four straight reads. So, a simmeran chapter is going to take me like a month just to get through through that there. It's just too much. I think I feel like it's going to be too dense of information.

[00:23:47]I'm gonna have so many Yeah, I'm going to have so many notes and essays. It's going to be wild. But I'm I'm I'm I'm Yeah, I got to figure out what to do with essays for that because a it'll be a lot of reaction content probably and a lot like just interacting with the text like I'm normally doing, but it's going to be different. It's gonna be a little bit different of a flavor, I think.

[00:24:13]Um, I do read books simultaneously.

[00:24:15]Unfortunately, I have gotten into a bad habit of starting YouTube channels on books that I'm reading [laughter] and doing a lot of essays on [gasps] on books that I'm reading. So, I'm doing a lot of other books right now. And it's a little tiring, but I mean, my life right now is reading and writing essays, which is incredible.

[00:24:36]Um, but it's gonna have to slow down a little bit because I'm I'm gonna have to pick up like a client um in the next few weeks probably.

[00:24:46]But I am doing Yeah, I think I'm doing seven books around. So, I'm doing The Hobbit. Let's rank them right now. I am doing The Count of Monte Cristo.

[00:25:02]I don't know. I don't know. I actually don't know if I can rank these. Let's rank the bottom one first. The worst that I'm still really enjoying. I'm not reading I'm not reading a bad book right now. I am in a very very rare rare spot in my life.

[00:25:18]I feel like this is like a once in a lifetime opportunity. Probably the worst one that I'm reading right now is Brandon Sanderson's Way of Kings. Although I am enjoying it immensely, but it's crazy that that is the worst that I'm reading because it just shows the quality of what I'm reading.

[00:25:35]So, it's I'm enjoying it. It's not the best written book in the world, but it's a fun story.

[00:25:44]Yes, Trigg. Oh, you got to catch up with us because it is just a marvel. I'm also reading the Count of Monter Cristo. Look at this behemoth. I have all these on my desk right next to me. Look at this behemoth.

[00:25:59]So far, this book is a 10 out of 10.

[00:26:01]This book is unbelievable.

[00:26:04]It's so good. Oh [laughter] my gosh, that book is unbelievable.

[00:26:09]I'm so into that book right now. One of the best books I've ever read.

[00:26:13]Um, so fantastic. So, I'm reading that Dune.

[00:26:21]Shocked how good and interested I am in this book right now. I'm doing I have a lot of things that I can write about this. I feel like every chapter has something in it that I can write about.

[00:26:31]I'm really enjoying this book and I want to compare it a lot to Game of Thrones because I'm reading both of these at the same time. Both of these books are excellent. To me, I don't know. I don't know which one I would place higher than the other. I think both of these books are just very different in how they're written. This game of A Game of Thrones, A Song of Ice and Fire, feels a little bit more subtle and subliminal than Dune. Dune feels a little like if you read a chapter after I read one chapter I'm like oh I know exactly what I want want to write about this chapter. When I finish a Game of Thrones I know that a little bit less.

[00:27:09]Maybe that's because I'm getting more into the story. It's a really interesting story and I just find myself kind of like getting lost in the story a bit more rather than thinking critically about what I want to write about.

[00:27:20]But both are incredible. I'm loving both of them. There is not a bad book that I'm reading right now, which I don't know if people can say that a lot of times in their life.

[00:27:32]All right, it's 1:30. You guys ready?

[00:27:38]We got We got the World Cup to to to catch up to.

[00:27:43]Yeah, I'm I'm very excited to keep finishing or keep going through the Kammonic Crystal. It's ah it's so fun right now. like I find myself excited to read that book. Crack on. All right, let's crack on.

[00:27:57]All right, guys. This read's gonna be short. I think I don't know. We'll see how many essays come out of a short chapter like this. I'm sure I'll probably have like 20 things I want to write about the short chapter. It's going to take me like three weeks to get through it all. I doubt it, but we'll see. But this is chapter 11. This is on the doorstep in two days.

[00:28:19]Uh, in two days going, they rode right up the long lake and passed out into the river running.

[00:28:29]And now they could all see the lonely mountain towering grim and tall before them.

[00:28:35]The stream was strong, and they're going slow.

[00:28:40]At the end of the third day, some miles up the river, they drew into the left of the western bank and disembarked.

[00:28:47]Here they were joined by the horses with other provisions and and necessaries and the ponies for their own use that had been sent to meet them. They packed what they could on the ponies and the rest is made into a store under a tent.

[00:29:07]But none of the men of the town would stay with them even for the night so near the shadow of the mountain. Ah, interesting. A little fear. The shadow of the mountain puts them in fear.

[00:29:16]Smog's doing his job real well.

[00:29:19]Chapter 11 called bankruptcy. Oh, chapter 11. [laughter] That took me a second.

[00:29:27][clears throat] Not at any rate until the songs have come true, said they. It was easier to believe in the dragon and less easy to believe in Thorin in these wild parts.

[00:29:40]That's a good line. It was easier to believe in the dragon and less easy to believe in Thorin in these wild parts. I mean, I'd concur with that.

[00:29:54]Indeed, their stories had no need of any guard, for all the land was desolate and empty.

[00:30:01]So, their escort left them, making off swiftly down the river and the shoreward paths.

[00:30:07]Although the night was already drawing on, they spent a cold and lonely night and their spirits fell. The next day they set out again. Balan and Bilbo rode behind, each leading other pony heavily laden beside him. The others were some way ahead, picking out a slow road for the for there were no paths.

[00:30:30]Interesting.

[00:30:33]That's ominous that there's actually no paths that are leading there anymore.

[00:30:36]So, it's been years since anybody's really gone there.

[00:30:40]It's like that's a hard thing to do.

[00:30:54]For all those trails to grow back again, that's got to take years and years. I guess no one's really been there.

[00:31:00]Um, second dinner. New channel, second diners. [laughter] Um, they made northwest, slanting away from the river running, and drawing ever nearer and nearer to a a great spur of the mountain that was flung out southward toward them. It was a weary journey, and a quiet and stealthy one.

[00:31:30]There was no lo There was no laughter or song or sound of harps. And the pride and hope and the pride and hopes which had stirred in their hearts of the singing of old songs by the lake died away to a plotting gloom. That's hilarious. So I used to do I used to do this trip little story time right now. I used to do this trip where I used to take uh I like led a group of guys on a hiking trip every year. And this trip started off so gloriously. We started off at a waterfall. It's a waterfall in Canada or Connecticut. It's beautiful. It's like this stunning waterfall, huge. You could do cliff jumping. And the hike to get to this is like 01 miles. It is such easy hiking to get there. And everyone So everyone you get out of the cars, everyone gets their backpacks on and it's all heavy and everyone's like, "Oh, these this is going to be tough hiking."

[00:32:25]And then you start hiking and then 0.1 miles in you throw your backpacks off and you go swimming and everyone's thrilled and happy and oh the the vibes are just immaculate. It's so nice and then all of a sudden the very start of the hike is one of the peaks that we have to climb. So you get to this waterfall and then all of a sudden for about an hour you're just climbing up this mountain and everyone as soon as they start climbing the mood changes immediately and it would this would happen year after year because I led the same expedition trip a few different times and this would happen year after year after year. I did it with like four or five groups and we would go swimming and it was so fun and then all of a sudden we'd be climbing this mountain and it wasn't even that much of elevation gain. Um I think the elevation I I I don't know what the elevation gain was.

[00:33:20]Um I got to look into that actually. But it wasn't significant for like an for like someone who's hiked or backpacked.

[00:33:27]It would it should take you probably like a half an hour. But it was long and it was like the first thing that we did.

[00:33:31]So we just kind of always took it slow.

[00:33:33]So we did it slow and I guys were cursing. They were fuming.

[00:33:41]People were so mad. They were sweating.

[00:33:43]They hated it. By the time we got to the top, I had to quell everyone from quitting because they just didn't want to do it anymore. There was a few times where actually that was like the big thing. You had to quell people from quitting in the big beginning.

[00:33:54]Yeah. East Coast hiking is just brutal because we don't have we don't believe in switchbacks on the East Coast.

[00:33:59]There's a few mountains that have switchbacks, but not really. Um, like that's the difference. And if you uh if anybody's from the states, you know that the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, they curtail the both coasts. And the Pacific Crest Trail is longer, arguably a little harder because water depletion is difficult.

[00:34:20]Like there's not a lot of water on that trail when you're in the desert. And you're in the desert for a third of the the trip before you get to the Sierras.

[00:34:27]And um the Appalachian Trail or the the easy part about the Pacific Crest Trail though is everything is graded. You're never going up a crazy crazy steep part.

[00:34:37]But when you are doing East Coast hiking, if anybody does East Co coast hiking, if anybody has done hiking in the uh the Aderondex, you know this and that the people who are making the Aderondex were like, "There's a mountain. We need to get that up that as fast as possible. We're just going to make one straight trail that goes straight up the mountain and that's all we're going to do. And so when you're reading or when you're hiking, you're just exhausted because you're going up like 80 degree. Oh, not 80 degree. That'd be insane. [laughter] But it feels like you're going up 80° like uh um angles. It's brutal. Yeah.

[00:35:15]You're not that late. Welcome. Welcome.

[00:35:18]Oh, you're cooking. What are you cooking?

[00:35:21]Desolation Wilderness. H interesting. I didn't know that was called that. It's mostly downhill for the first part. [laughter] I used to I used to trick guys into that. Uh on that trip, it was a weekend trip and we would do three peaks. And the first one that we did was the easiest one out of all three of them.

[00:35:38]And then the second day, we have to cover three of them. And we didn't do that much mileage. The second day you do like 12 miles.

[00:35:45]Hiking the Arctic Circle would be insane. I would love that. There's so many trails that I want to do in my life, but I just don't have enough time.

[00:35:52]Camping in Zealand. New Zealand or Zealand. What's Zealand? Never even heard of Zealand. I guess that's why they call it New Zealand. [laughter] Splat. Mixed stuff in a pot. I love Splat.

[00:36:11]Straddles the Sierra Crest and Jason to Tahoe. That's a beautiful stretch though.

[00:36:17]Zeland is in the Netherlands. Okay, interesting.

[00:36:20]Love that. Enjoy.

[00:36:22]Well, that was I love backpacking stories.

[00:36:26]Let's [clears throat] keep reading. Plot and gloom. I like that it dies away because of the plot and gloom. That is like Tolken understood backpacking and hiking. anybody who backpacks or hikes or anybody who was like in the military who had to just march like Tolken just understood that obviously because he was doing that and I think he backpacked a fair amount too but you know he like understands the rhythms of backpacking everyone's in such good mood and then you go for two days and then all of a sudden you start walking with heavy packs and all your all the people go can we be done can we get lunch this stinks they knew they were drawing near to the end of their journey and that it might be very it might be a very horrible end.

[00:37:09]Wow. Interesting.

[00:37:20]The land about them grew bleak and barren, though once, as Thorne told them, it had been green and fair. There was little grass and before long there was neither bush nor tree and only broken and blackened stumps to speak of ones long vanished.

[00:37:41]There were come to the desolation they were come to the desolation of the dragon and they were come at the waning of the year. Now this is really fascinating. Wait, someone tell me how many years ago did smog take over Arabore?

[00:37:57]How many years have we been waiting?

[00:38:01]Because this is to me this is an interesting point. This is an important point that we're going to talk about.

[00:38:06]How many years has it been? Like 100 173. Okay, so this is significant because this means dragonfire does not nourish the ground in any way.

[00:38:22]There's something in Dragonfire that it makes things completely and utterly desolate. No, because think about it. If there's a fire that Smog has, I mean, maybe he goes out there every once in a while and just re reburns everything, but if there's a fire, like fire is technically like a nourishing element for forests.

[00:38:48]Like if you think about some of the wildfires that are happening. Also, perfect day for the World Cup. We've been having a lot of smoke here over the past week and today is like 70 degrees and beautiful. Oh my gosh, we got lucky with that.

[00:39:00]Um, yeah, it's possible that he burns it regularly.

[00:39:05]I couldn't imagine going I couldn't imagine him going out of Arabore all that much. Yeah, maybe he really is burning it and they're just getting closer to it. But part of me does think maybe the dragonfire has some element to it that it that it just doesn't let things grow back very well.

[00:39:24]Like I don't know of what Smog's hobbits would be. Smog's hobbits his habits [laughter] or his hobbits. Maybe he has some hobbits captive and he's going to eat some hobbits.

[00:39:38]Also, I feel like dragons can kind of go into hibernation for a really long time and not need to eat something.

[00:39:44]That feels weirdly like canon in my head, even though I haven't read that anywhere in the Lord of the Rings. And what animals would live there if they knew Smag is there? So, he is he going to go out further and further every single time? Like, I guess they're they're in they're a little far away from this place still.

[00:40:00]Like, after 173 years, it'd become animal habit that no animals would live there because of a dragon.

[00:40:10]I don't know. I don't know.

[00:40:11]Environmental studies like that. No one knows what dragon behavior is. Maybe they're really good at stealth hunting and it wouldn't get around from animal to animal.

[00:40:22]I don't know. Just random thoughts that go through my head. They reached the skirts of the mountain all the same without meeting any danger or any sign of the dragon other than the wilderness he had made about his lair. Okay.

[00:40:33]Interesting.

[00:40:36]The mountain lay dark and silent before them and ever higher above them. They made their first camp on the western side of the great southern spur, which ended in a height called Raven Hill. On this there had been an old watch post, but they dared not climb it yet. It was too exposed.

[00:40:53]Before setting out to search the western spurs of the mountain for the hidden door on which all their hopes rested, Thoren sent out a scouting expedition to spy out the land to the south where the front gate stood.

[00:41:07]For this purpose he chose Balin and Feelely and Keely, and with them went Bilbo. They marched under the gray and silent cliffs to the feet of Ravenh Hill. There the river, after winding a wide loop over the valley Dale, over the valley of Dale, turned from the mountain on its road to the lake, flowing swiftly and noisily.

[00:41:28]Its bank was bare and rocky, tall and steep above the stream, and gazing out from it over the narrow water, foaming and splashing among many boulders. They could see in the wide valley shadowed by the mountain's arms the gray ruins of an ancient house of ancient houses, towers and walls.

[00:41:50]Whoa. There lies all that is left of Dale. Oh my gosh.

[00:41:55]Dale has really been demolished.

[00:42:01]The mountain sides were green with woods and the sheltered valleys rich and pleasant. In the days when the bells rang in that town, he looked both sad and grim as he as he said this. He had been one of Thoren's companions on the day the dragon came.

[00:42:18]They did not dare to follow the river much further toward the gate. But they went on beyond the end of the southern spur until lying hidden behind a rock, they could not uh they could look out and see the dark cavernous opening of a great cliff wall between them or between the arm of the mountain between the arms of the mountain. Out of its water, out of it the waters of the running river sprang.

[00:42:46]And out of it too, there came a steam and a dark smoke.

[00:42:55]Huh? Nothing moved in its waste save the vapor and the water. And every now and again a black and ominous crow.

[00:43:06]The only sound was the sound of the stony water. And every now and again the harsh croak of a bird. Ballin shuddered.

[00:43:16]Interesting.

[00:43:21]Um, he has a toxic accelerate into his flame. He might.

[00:43:30]Smog is really into crypto. [laughter] [gasps] He's converting all that gold into Bitcoin in his spare time. This chapter has some of your favorite sentences in the whole book. Love that. Yeah, there's there are some good ones already.

[00:43:45]I love how he just he's just describing the landscape right here. It's good.

[00:43:50]Smog is memorizing pie. [laughter] Let us return. He said we can do no good here. And I don't like these dark birds.

[00:44:02]They look like evil. They they look like spies of evil.

[00:44:06]The dragon is still alive and in the holes under the mountain. or I imagine so from the smoke, said the hobbit. That does not prove it, said Balon. Though I don't doubt you are right. But he might he might be gone away sometime or he might be lying on the mountain side keeping watch. And still I expect smoke smokes and steam would come out of his gates.

[00:44:32]All the halls within must be filled with this foul reek.

[00:44:39]That's true. That place would probably stink a little bit.

[00:44:45]With such gloomy thoughts followed ever by croaking crows above above them, they made their weary way back to the camp.

[00:44:57]Only in June uh only in June they had been guests in the fair house of Eland. And though autumn was now crawling toward winter, that pleasant time now seemed years ago.

[00:45:10]They were alone in the perilous waste without hope of further help. They were at the end of their journey, but as far as ever it seemed from the end of their quest. Ooh man, none of them had much spirit left.

[00:45:24]Yikes. This is so bad. This is the This is the signal of their journey is not going well.

[00:45:35]None of them had much spirit left.

[00:45:38]Interesting.

[00:45:42]You'd think that when they would get closer to Arabore in the Lonely Mountain, they their spirits would rise.

[00:45:53]None of them actually want to do this.

[00:45:58]I think you're realizing what they truly want and what they don't. And I maybe maybe you don't realize what they truly want, but you you realize what they don't want.

[00:46:08]And they don't want to die and be fodder for smog.

[00:46:15]And so their spirit just kind of es away. Totally. It's this is this is when it's becoming real. This is when they're just kind of sitting there and they're going, "Crap, we signed up for this quest and we have to see it through, but it's not going to be good. Not going to be fun.

[00:46:37]Someone just cleaned up after reptiles.

[00:46:38]Probably more than a little bit. Yeah, probably a little stinky in there.

[00:46:45]Um, yeah, they do have zero plan.

[00:46:50]It's also the vision of destruction of their ancestral land. Yeah, it's true.

[00:46:53]And they're seeing a lot of Yeah, it's a great point.

[00:46:57]That'd be brutal to see that.

[00:47:02]Yeah, they really have no plan to recover it.

[00:47:05]They really have no plan to get in. It's like a mess.

[00:47:09]Now, it's strange to say Mr. Baggins had one more.

[00:47:13]Now, strange to say Mr. Baggins had more than the others.

[00:47:17]He would often borrow Thoren's map and gaze at it, pondering over the ruins and the message of the moon letters Elon had read.

[00:47:25]It was he that made the dwarves begin uh begin the dangerous search on the western slopes for the secret door. They moved their camp then to a long valley narrower than the great dale in the south in the south where the gates of the river stood.

[00:47:42]Um were the gates of Arabore uh caved in? I don't know why I forgotten this, but are they just trying to achieve the side door to be stealth?

[00:48:00]Like you don't want to go into the front door with a dragon in there, but are the front doors open?

[00:48:09]That's a read to find out. Okay.

[00:48:13]Huh.

[00:48:16]It's probably literally in the next sentence. Watch.

[00:48:20]Um they moved their camp then to a long valley narrower narrower than the great dale in the south where the gate gates of the river stood and walled with the lower spurs of the mountain. Two of these here thrust forward west from the main mast and the long uh steep-sided ridges that fell ever downward toward the plane. On the western side, there were fewer signs of the dragon's marauding feet, and there was some grass for their ponies. From this western camp, shattered all day by cliff and wall until the sun began to sink toward the forest. Day by day they toiled in parties, searching for paths up the mountain side. If the map was true, somewhere high above the cliffs at the valley's head must stand the secret door. Day by day they came back to their camp without success.

[00:49:15]But at last, unexpectedly, they found what they were seeking. Fily and Keely and the Hobbit went back one day down the valley and and scrambled among the tumbled rocks at its southern corner.

[00:49:26]About midday, creeping behind a great stone that stood alone like a pillar.

[00:49:31]Bilbo came on what looked like a rough what looked like rough steps going upward. Following these excitedly, he and the dwarves found traces of a narrow track, often lost, often rediscovered, that wandered onto the top of the southern ridge, and brought them at last to a still narrower ledge, which turned north across the face of the mountain. Looking down, they saw that they were at the top of the cliff of the valley. They were at the top of the cliff of the valley's head, and were gazing down to their camp, to their own camp below. Silently clinging to the rocky wall on their right, they went in single file along the ledge, till the wall opened, and they turned into a steep into a little steepwalled bay, grassy floored, still and quiet. Its entrance, which they had found, could not be seen from below because of the overhang of the cliff. Not uh nor from further off because it was so small that it looked like a dark crack and no more.

[00:50:33]It was not a cave and was open to the sky above.

[00:50:37]But at its inner end, a flat wall rose up that in the lower part close to the ground was smooth and not bright as a mason's work, but without a joint or crevice to be seen. That's insane. No sign was there of the post or lintil or threshold, nor any sign of bar or bolt or keyhole.

[00:50:57]Yet they did not doubt they had found the door at last. They beat on it. They thrust and pushed at it. They implored it to move. They spoke fragments of broken spells of opening and nothing stirred.

[00:51:12]At last, tired out, they rested on the grass at its feet. And then at evening began their long climb down.

[00:51:19]Huh.

[00:51:24]There was excitement in the camp that night.

[00:51:27]In the morning, they prepared to move once more. Only Bofer and Bomber were left behind to guard the ponies and such stores as they had brought with them from the river. The others went down the valley and up the newly found path, and so the narrow ledge, and so to the narrow ledge. Along this they could carry no bundles or packs, so narrow and breathless was it with a fall of 15050 ft beside them onto sharp rocks below.

[00:51:56]But each of them took a good coil of rope wound tight about his waist, and so at last, without mishap, they reached the gr the little grassy bay.

[00:52:05]There they had made their third camp, hauling up what they needed from below with their ropes. Down the same way, they were able occasionally to lower one of the more active dwarves, such as Keeli, to exchange such news as there was, or to share in the guard below, while Bofer was hauled up to the higher camp. Bomb bomber would not come up either.

[00:52:27]Uh the rope or the path.

[00:52:30]I am too fat for such flyw walks. He said I should turn dizzy and tread on my beard and then you would be 13 again.

[00:52:38]And the knotted ropes are too slender for my weight. Luckily for him that was not true, as you will see. Huh.

[00:52:47]Okay.

[00:52:49]In the meanwhile, some of them explored the ledge beyond the opening and found a path that led higher and higher onto the mountain.

[00:52:58]H what does that path lead to? But they did not dare to venture very far that way, nor was there much use in it.

[00:53:12]Out up there, a silence rained, broken by no bird or sound except that of the wind.

[00:53:19]and the crannies of stone or in the crannies of stone.

[00:53:23]They spoke low and never called or sang for danger brooded in every rock. The others who were busy with the secret of the of the door had no more success.

[00:53:35]They were too eager to trouble about the runes or the moon letters, but tried without resting to discover where exactly in the smooth face of the rock the door was hidden.

[00:53:46]They had brought picks and tools of many sorts from Lake Town. And at first they tried to use these, but when they had struck the stone, the handle splintered and jarred their arms cruy, [clears throat] and the steel heads broke or bent like lead. Mining work they saw clearly, was no good against the magic that had shut this door. And they grew terrified, too, of the echoing noise. Which is a great point. That's a really really good point. I know they really have to yell melon. Melon.

[00:54:20]Blowbo found sitting on the doorstep lonesome and weariesome. There was not a doorstep of course really. But they used to call the little grassy space between the wall and the opening the doorstep for front. The doorstep in fun.

[00:54:33]Remembering Bilbo's words long ago at the unexpected party in his hobbit hole when he said they could sit on the doorstep till they thought of something and sit and think they did or wandered aimlessly about and glumber and glumber they became.

[00:54:50]Their spirits had risen a little at the discovery of the path, but now they sank into their boots, and they would not give it up and go away.

[00:55:04]Are the dwarves getting sick?

[00:55:17]This almost feels more than just a mental sickness.

[00:55:24]Like, is this mental sickness? I mean, this is like a real Is your mental sickness going to convert into physical sickness of some kind?

[00:55:34]like their glumness maybe is just I it's discouragement but weirdly I don't know it feels like the closer they've been getting here they're closer to their mission not that they should be happy and I know they see all the destruction around them but there's they have no joy it's almost like like the thing that I'm thinking is like a um is there any Is there any remnants of something like uh Menace Ethal where you go there and the very presence of that place seems to drag you down.

[00:56:12]Bilbo doesn't have that so I doubt it but I don't know.

[00:56:21]Huh. Like does Smog have an aura of depression about him?

[00:56:28]Yeah. Dragon atmosphere. That's exactly what I'm talking about. Thank you.

[00:56:31]That's a good word for it.

[00:56:38]Hey, thanks for the 10. Appreciate you.

[00:56:42]Thanks, Bard.

[00:56:45]Um, tummy aches and collapsing in a heap.

[00:56:52]Yeah. And generational trauma maybe. All rising up in one little bit, kind of beating them over the head.

[00:56:59]All right. Well, that was a little thought.

[00:57:02]Let's keep going. Their spirits had risen a little by the discovery of the path that now they sank in their boots.

[00:57:07]The hobbit was no longer much brighter than the dwarves.

[00:57:13]He would do nothing but sit with his back on the rock face and stairway west through the opening, over the cliff, over the wide lands, to the black wall of Mirkwood, into the distances beyond.

[00:57:24]Oh, he wants his home. In which he sometimes thought he can catch glimpses of the Misty Mountains, small and far.

[00:57:30]If the dwarves asked him what he was doing, he answered, "You said sitting on the doorstep and thinking would be my job, not to mention uh not to mention getting inside, so I am sitting and thinking, but I am afraid he was not much thinking. Uh, he was thinking, he was not thinking much of the job, but will lay beyond the blue distance, the quiet western land and the hill, and his hobbit hole under it. A large gray stone lay in the center of the grass, and he stared moodily at it, or watched the great snails. They seemed to love this little shut in bay with its walls of cool rock and they were many of them of huge size crawling slowly and sticky along its sides.

[00:58:17]Tomorrow begins the last week of autumn, said Thorne one day. And winter comes after autumn, said Biffer. And next year after that, said Dwallen. and our beards will grow till they hang down the cliff to the valley before anything happens here. What is our burglar doing for us since he has got an invisibility ring and ought to be a specifically excellent performer now. I'm beginning to think he might go through the front gate and spy things a bit spy things things out a bit. Oh, interesting. So, they're trying to put him up for a little uh volunteer to go through the front door, which is not a bad idea.

[00:59:00]Further you are from danger.

[00:59:02]The the closer you are to danger, the further you are from harm.

[00:59:07]Bilbo heard this.

[00:59:11]The dwarves were on the rocks just above the enclosure where he was sitting. And good gracious, he thought. So that is what they are beginning to think. Is it?

[00:59:20]It is always poor me that has to get them out of their difficulties. At least since the wizard left. He doesn't even call him Gandalf anymore. Freaking the wizard. Whatever am I going to do? I might have known that something dreadful would happen to me in the end. I don't think I could bear to see the unhappy valley of Dale again. Oh, interesting.

[00:59:37]Okay, so maybe it just was the valley that was kind of seeing the ruin of that. And as for that steaming gate that night, he was very miserable and hardly slept. Next day, the dwarves all went wandering off in various directions. Some were exercising the ponies down below. Some were roving above about the mountainside. All day, Bilbo sat gloomily in the grass bay, gazing at the stone or out west through the narrow opening. He had a queer feeling that he was waiting for something. Perhaps the wizard will suddenly come back today, he thought.

[01:00:13]It's interesting that he is calling him the wizard here and he's not calling him Gandalf. Like yes, that might be for kids, but also I think it shows a little bit how salty that Gandalf or salty that Bilbo might be at this moment, but still it's funny too. He's like a he's he does feel like an optimist in some sense.

[01:00:31]Even when everything is wrong and all the dwarves are grumpy and angry, he still does maintain a good semblance of himself. Like you see here the resistance that hobbits have to evil and to grumbling and complaining very well.

[01:00:44]I think they're very good at that.

[01:00:45]They're they're very resilient folk and maybe dwarves are very sensitive folk.

[01:00:55]Um if he lifted his head, he thought he can he could see a glimpse of the distant forest. As the sun turned west, there was a gleam of yellow upon its far roof. as if the light caught the last pale leaves.

[01:01:17]Soon he saw the orange ball of the sun sinking toward the level of his eyes. He went to the opening, and there, pale and faint, was a thin new moon above the rim of Earth.

[01:01:29]At that very moment he heard a sharp crack behind him. The air on the gray stone in the grass was an enormous thrush, nearly cold black.

[01:01:40]Its pale yellow breast freckled with dark spots. Crack. It had caught a snail and was knocking on its stone.

[01:01:49]Crack. Crack.

[01:01:51]Suddenly, Bilbo understood.

[01:01:55]Forgetting all danger. He understood.

[01:02:01]He stood on the ledge and hailed the door of shouting and waving. Those that were nearest came tumbling over the rocks and as fast as they could along the ledge to him, wondering what on earth was the matter. The others shouted and to be hauled up the ropes, except Bomber, of course, he was asleep.

[01:02:17]Quickly, Bilbo exclaimed, explained.

[01:02:20]They all fell silent.

[01:02:22]The hobbit standing by the gray stone and the dwarves with wagging beards watching it patiently.

[01:02:30]The sun sank lower and lower and their hopes fell. It sank into a belt of reened cloud and disappeared.

[01:02:41]The dwarves groaned, but still Bilbo stood almost without moving. The little moon was dipping to the horizon. Evening was coming on. Then suddenly, when their hope was lowest, a red ray of the sun escaped like a finger through a rent in the clouds. A rent in the cloud. A gleam of light came straight through the opening into the bay and fell on the smooth rock face. The old thrush, who had been watching from a high purse with his beady eyes and headcocked on one side, gave a sudden trill. There was a loud crack. A flake of rocks split from the wall and fell.

[01:03:20]A hole appeared suddenly about 3 feet from the ground.

[01:03:26]Quickly trembling lest the chance should fade, the dwarves rushed to the rock and pushed in and pushed in vain. The key, the key, cried Bilbo. Where is Thorin?

[01:03:36]Thorin hurried up. The key, shouted Bilbo. The key that went with the map.

[01:03:44]Try it now while there is still time.

[01:03:46]Then Thorne stepped up and drew the key on its chain from around his neck. He put it to the hole. It fitted. It turned.

[01:03:57]Snap.

[01:03:58]The gleam went out. The sun sank. The moon was gone. The evening sprang into the sky. How they all pushed together.

[01:04:08]And slowly a part of the rock wall gave way. Long straight cracks appeared and widened. A door 5t high and three rod was outlined. And slowly, without sounding, swung without a sound, swung inward. without a sound. Man, these dwarf doors, without their hinges, that's that's insane.

[01:04:30]Without creaky hinges, it seemed as if darkness flowed out like a vapor from the hole in the mountain side and deep darkness in which nothing could be seen lay before their eyes.

[01:04:46]A yawning mouth leading in and down. Oh, I love that how it's described as a yawning mouth.

[01:04:55]That is a great description.

[01:04:59]A terrifying description.

[01:05:07]They're going into the mouth.

[01:05:13]Yeah, the dwarves don't make them like they used to. [snorts] A little providential thrush for sure.

[01:05:19]This is a change. Yeah, this is a this is feels like a small ukatastrophe.

[01:05:25]Small little thing that changes the course of what they're doing.

[01:05:30]The D [laughter] in WD40 stands for dwarf [gasps] 100%.

[01:05:37]This was weirdly one of the most tense chapters.

[01:05:44]like you felt like uh a little bit getting I like I felt like I was getting rung out a little bit in this chapter.

[01:05:50]Oh, some illustrations on Discord.

[01:05:52]Excellent.

[01:05:54]Oh, very cool. There's a little grassy null. Cool.

[01:05:58]Wow, this is really cool. Did Tolken do that first one?

[01:06:03]Looks like an Ellen Lee.

[01:06:07]Come on, Bomber. You could have made it up that.

[01:06:11]There's this river running through it.

[01:06:13]Oh, he's got a map of this, too. I love that. I love that you could just kind of tell Tolkien's drawing and writing.

[01:06:23]Wow.

[01:06:27]Um, Duran's day, the first day of the dwarf year. Thought this part of the movie was well done. Interesting. I don't remember this part of the movie that much.

[01:06:38]I got to go revisit that scene. I'll probably rewatch it that section now just that I finish this chapter.

[01:06:47]H.

[01:06:49]Weirdly, yeah, I felt a lot of tension in that chapter. Oh, Mr. Donado, what terrible timing. We literally just finished the last word inside information. Is this uh is that when Gan uh Bilbo is going to talk with Smog? I hope so.

[01:07:18]I wonder. Or maybe they're just going to gain information. Maybe they're just going to get inside information from that.

[01:07:26]Yeah, I feel like you feel the presence of the dragon everywhere and you just don't see it. Like this is the typical um like you don't see the villain, but you just feel tense because of it kind of thing that Tolken is so excellent at.

[01:07:40]Maybe that's some of the things that the movies miss out on too, like you don't feel that impending sense of dread sometimes. Maybe you do a little bit. I don't know. I got to revisit that and see if they have some of the same elements as the as the book does.

[01:07:53]But yeah, this is so this is all building tension up for the next chapter. Okay, good.

[01:08:04]Um, yeah, crazy tense chapter.

[01:08:09]in such a short amount of time, too.

[01:08:12]Like, this felt um to me it felt slightly similar, but different in the same way to the bridge of Kaza Doom chapter where like they're running from an enemy. In this one, they're running to it.

[01:08:28]Maybe there's a comparison between those two chapters and maybe Tolken like modeled this chapter after the or the bridge of Kazadoom after this chapter, but it's like the opposite. They're running away from a monster in one and in this one they're running to it and the tension just keeps ramping up and up and up and you just kind of feel you feel tense.

[01:08:49][laughter] That's all I can say about that.

[01:09:02]Good chapter. Good ambiance. Like, yeah, lots of good description in that chapter. Not a ton happens in it, but it's still it's still a fun read.

[01:09:12]And I like that it's like a short one, too, before some of the real tension goes off. Because then if you're reading this to your kids, like, we'll wait tomorrow to hear the rest of the story and what's going to happen. And the kids just sitting there thinking, I wonder what's inside. I wonder what's inside. I wonder if Smog's still there. Even though you kind of know that smog's in there. There are so many context clues that like smog is still around.

[01:09:33]And maybe that actually is maybe. Okay, so I I I'll take that back because I actually agree with you guys. Now, the tone of the chapter, it wouldn't be that dragon's breath is poisonous and it causes things to not grow because that would that would take away some of the tension of this chapter. The tension of this chapter is that the closer you get to the Lonely Mountain, the more you actually know that Smog is alive still because the mountain has not caused things to grow back.

[01:10:05]And so it just works.

[01:10:09]Smile. You like there's desolation of Dale. They see that and they're depressed. There's the desolation around the mountain. They see that. What was that thing with the this the the pathway that was going up to the top of the mountain? It looked like it. And then there was like no birds that were singing there. What was I missing on that? What is that? That seems really bizarre. Are we gonna ever revisit that?

[01:10:34]Like I got to reread that paragraph because that was a weird one. I don't know what was going on.

[01:10:53]Anybody want anybody? Anybody that want to Yeah. If that was the top of the mountain, that the top of the mountain is a terrifying place. It felt like the path of the dead almost. Is that where the dwarves went to bury their dead? I feel like dwarves would bury their dead deeper in the mountain, not in the top of the mountain.

[01:11:11]Like, what is there?

[01:11:18]Check out Chaos Crags at Lassen Volcanic. It's volcanic landsite that happened 300 years ago. It's very likely the descriptions of the desolation here.

[01:11:27]Interesting. I got to check that out.

[01:11:32]Yeah, the Hobbit version of the winding stairs. Yeah.

[01:11:37]Yeah. Crazy. That's why it's like fate here. I like that your chances are one out of 356.25.

[01:11:45][laughter] Got to account for those leap years.

[01:11:53]Yeah. No birds due to no due to the dragon. But weren't didn't it say the birds were kind of hiding in the crannies of the rock?

[01:12:00]They just have learned to not make noise.

[01:12:04]Did I miss that? Maybe they thought that the birds were hiding in the crannies of the rocks, but there wasn't really any birds there.

[01:12:11]I got to re I got to reread that paragraph because there are. Yeah, there's thrushes there that are knocking on the the thing.

[01:12:28]This is like a Yeah, this is like a mini catastrophe chapter right here. They're in the right place at the right time.

[01:12:35]All of a sudden, Bilbo has this revelation.

[01:12:38]Everyone gets up and they come help out and then all of a sudden there's the key and everything works out perfectly. The Thresh really is MVP.

[01:12:47]Seems divinely sent. The Thresh is the goat. the goat.

[01:12:54]Brandon Lee Mulligan would agree on the birds. [laughter] What's his take? I know his take on owls. What's his takes? What's his take on birds?

[01:13:10]Birds aren't real. Does he believe birds aren't real?

[01:13:17]Yeah, it was a cold black thrush.

[01:13:25]Are thrushes usually that? What are the thrush of the tongue?

[01:13:34]That's the images that came up. Oral thrush. Don't look that up. I guess thrushes are cold black. The threshes that that are around me are are spotted.

[01:13:46]Is a robin a thrush? I did not know that a robin was a thrush.

[01:13:51]Is No, a robin's not a thrush. Just threw a picture of a robin there.

[01:13:56]Yeah, I guess there's coal black thrushes.

[01:13:59]That one's kind of cold black.

[01:14:02]A sy thrush.

[01:14:04]He's a cute cute little guy.

[01:14:07]American robins are a type of thrush.

[01:14:09]That's cool. I didn't know that.

[01:14:15]There's always birds in his campaigns. I love that. Described in detail and they mean something. Love that. I knew that he was a bird nerd, but I love that he puts birds in every one of his campaigns.

[01:14:27]Blackbird is a thrush. Interesting.

[01:14:29]Feels like everything's a thrush.

[01:14:38]H I feel like I want to reread that chapter. I might do that. Come up with some essays.

[01:14:47]because I have I don't know what I feel about that chapter. Like I have I have like tension, but I need to locate my feelings on this one because something is offputting in this one.

[01:14:59]But all right, guys.

[01:15:03]It's time for the World Cup. Go watch, go prep. I'm going to go hang out. Go watch the World Cup.

[01:15:11]And that's all I got for this chapter. the short ones. That was perfect. A little short read before we uh before we all go watch the World Cup.

[01:15:21]That's all I got for you guys today.

[01:15:22]Thanks for joining. Thanks for hanging out with me. We'll do the next chapter inside information next week on a Sunday probably. We'll see. I'll figure that out. Sometime next week, weekend, I mean. I don't know when, but sometime next weekend probably.

[01:15:37]Um Oh, kping an hour. Oh, it just got rained out. Or it just rained.

[01:15:42]Hopefully, it didn't get rained out.

[01:15:44]Ah, Dan, [laughter] what bad timing.

[01:15:48][gasps] Enjoy sport.

[01:15:51]Come on, guys. It's the World Cup. It happens once every four years. You got to watch it.

[01:15:56]Um, all right, everyone. Say goodbye to Gladel.

[01:16:00]Where is she? There she is.