Some More News - Way Less News: BookTok Smut, Love Is Blind, and Dylanology

Episode Date: January 3, 2025

Hi. We'll be back next week with all-new episodes of Some More News & Even More News, but to finish off our holiday break, here's a new episode of Way Less News where Katy, Cody, and Jonathan discuss their hyperfixations, trashy erotica, romantic leftist blindspots, and Timothée Chalamet. PATREON: https://patreon.com/somemorenews MERCH: https://shop.somemorenews.com

Hello, welcome back to Way Less News, the show where we do our best to avoid news. I'm Katie Stoll. I'm Cody Johnston. And this is the first and only podcast. Jonathan's also here. Hi. Hi. Hey, Jonathan, who's also extra here.

First and foremost, frickin' happy new year, y'all. Happy new year. Yes, we are recording this in advance. Hopefully we're all still having our little vacation break while you're hearing this or viewing this for the benefit of this show, for the purposes of the show.

Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Boy, my holidays happened. We experienced them and- Sure did. It's now after them. Holiday travel, you know, don't get me started.

Probably. I don't know. I haven't done it yet. Don't get me started because I'm done with it. I got into quite an adventure having to rescue a disappeared Santa Claus. If you want to hear if you want to hear that story. I would love to.

It's on Amazon Prime now and back then. Wow. But I haven't actually checked it out yet. Is this the new Lindsay Lohan movie? That's... Got him. Exactly right. Is it though?

No, it's Red One starring- Is it Red One? Wayne Johnson and Chris Evans as like a... Expert tracker is what they call him. But not the kind from CBS's hit show Tracker. No, no, no, no, no. A new magical kind of tracker that is an expert at finding Santa Claus. Real quick to anyone who is unfamiliar with what Wayless News is, it's the show that we do when we don't wanna talk

about the news. Perfect for recording in advance. Basically, we all bring something, we're all something to talk about, but none of us know what the other one wants to talk about. So it's just gonna be a little bit of a surprise, and it's a way for us to share different corners of the Internet of culture with each other and maybe surprise

each other. Now Cody, you had something to say about the holidays? Oh, I was just saying, speaking of the holidays and holiday films such as Red One and Lindsay Lohan's movie about Santa, which I'm not aware of. I don't know if it's about Santa. I think it is though. I recently, for the first time ever, watched the movie Elf. Oh, I haven't seen it either. I've never seen Elf. It's cute. Although I found it a bit off putting how instantly the romantic lead of the film, Zooey Deschanel's character, was so instantly enamored by and attracted to

this large, silly child. This childlike character who is very funny, but like he acts like a small child. And it's weird that she was so charmed by that. And like, oh, what a perfect weird date with this odd character. Give me a kiss. It's a Christmas miracle.

It was a Christmas miracle that she was really attracted to this, again, large child-like character. Cody, women love a funny man. You can be funny, but not the same way. He was raised at the North Pole around other elves, but the other elves do not act like silly children. It is curious that he is like that since he presumably knows why Christmas exists and what Santa does, and yet he is so befuddled by the world, which I get is the premise of the movie.

It's the premise of the movie? There's no reason for him to be so childlike. There is no reason. You two are a couple of scrooges. Perhaps, perhaps the holidays need a scrooge every now and then to keep them grounded. I saw someone on Blue Sky, the alternate app, talk about, he was like,

whoever's calling the Michigan State game or whatever, sounds exactly like Papa Elf from Elf. And then everyone was like, Bob Newhart. The comedian Bob Newhart. Sounds like Bob Newhart. Are you not familiar? Is your only reference point for legendary late comedian Bob Newhart, Papa Elf from Elf?

Because I think that's probably the case for a generation. That is the case for, yeah. Absolutely it is. It's either Papa Elf from Elf, because I think that's probably the case for a generation. That is the case for, yeah. Absolutely it is. It's either Papa Elf from Elf or his character from The Librarian and The Librarians on epic TV and Energy Now. Something silly. Electric Now, I think. It doesn't matter.

He's in The Librarian and The Librarians. Six consecutive episodes of bringing up energy now. The perfect weekend. Just pop on Electric Now for only that show all the time. All right, well, those were some thoughts that were shared. Just some random thoughts about Elf. I just, you know, where else am I going to talk about that? Eagle-eyed listeners of the show might

remember me mentioning during COVID that I loved making microwave mug cakes and I'm over that. I'm so over that. Oh my gosh, I know. Because they turn out a little gummy. It's weird. I'd rather make a cake. But when you don't want to make a cake, but you really want a sweet treat, might I recommend just keep some frozen waffles in your freezer, folks. And then you pop it in, right? Sure, we all understand the frozen waffle. But what if while that thing's toasting,

defrosting, getting crispy, you melt a little bit of chocolate in the microwave. Uh-huh, oh yeah. And then you drizzle it on the toasted waffle. And then you take some powdered sugar, you sprinkle it on the toasted waffle. And then you take some powdered sugar, you sprinkle it on top. I'm honestly salivating thinking about it. It's like so freaking delicious.

And you don't have to put it, you don't have to go wild with the toppings. I just put a delicate amount. It is so freaking good. And ready in less than three minutes and it really really satiated that sweet tooth and now I've gone through an entire box doing that you gotta get more not in one night you fools I well now that you've said not in one night now I think maybe it was in one night no one night a rough

night hey the best of us in the box but well then that's a rough night, hey, the best of us. We all have rough nights. There's only like six in the box, but. Well then that's a full night. I'm not a whole box in one night. What kind of chocolate do you use? Well, I use what I had on hand, which, so for my other hyper fixation, which I do believe I've shared before, is yogurt and I put frozen berries

and frozen chocolate chips in, and pomegranate seeds sometimes. Our inaugural episode was like 20 minutes on the yogurt and pomegranate seeds sometimes. Our inaugural episode was like 20 minutes on the yogurt and pomegranate seed. But whatever you wanna put in there, but you freeze some of your toppings is the key because it makes it nice and cold. And so I always have chocolate chips in my house.

I have the mini ones, either the Toll House ones or the Enjoy Life ones. Stoll House. Stoll House. But I did have my eye on just straight up chocolate syrup, but I like that I don't go wild with it. So, and I think chocolate syrup is gonna be a lot sweeter than my mini chocolate chips is my theory.

And I like the dusting of the powdered sugar because that makes it classy. Anyway, that is my hyper fixation and I hope you all enjoy it. That sounds delightful. It is. It really is. Okay, Jonathan, what's yours? Well, I am, and I think you guys know this, I am a very big fan of the recording artist Bob Dylan. Do you both know this? I didn't know that, but it doesn't surprise me.

I actually didn't know you were a huge fan. I kind of assumed, like, oh yeah, you like Bob Dylan. But I didn't know he was like a big, like... Yes, I own all the bootleg series, all the crazy things. How long has this been going on for? Like how long have you been like... College. I was, you know, before that strictly a Wallflowers man.

Sure, sure. Can I ask you before we get into, because I just didn't know this, what is it about him that like really attracted you to him? Like is it like the lyrical, I mean, vocally, like he's very unique and interesting. One of the best American vocalists ever, which I know people don't get, but it's true. I don't disagree with you. I'm mostly attracted to musicians of that kind of thing. But yes, song writing, lyrics, vocals, the whole package, Really. Very few, very few songs as great as the thousand plus

he's written. Anyway, we don't need to... Yeah, yeah, I'll just go. By the time this comes out, I will hopefully have seen the long gestating biopic A Complete Unknown starring Timothy Chalamet. It's one of those things where like everyone's gonna be commenting on my thing, like my things where like everyone's gonna be commenting on my Thing like my little thing everyone's gonna have their opinions about this thing that like I don't know I've used their whole life poured myself into this. Yeah, I don't need to hear people's opinions about Bob Dylan. I get it But I'm very much looking forward to seeing this movie. In fact, like there's a whole plan

I've been I brought it up up several times a week with my wife. I'm like, when we go up to visit your family, we're leaving our son with your mom for a couple hours so that we can go see this stupid movie, which I probably won't like because musical biopics kind of suck. Yeah, but that Timothy Chamolais. If they're straightforward,

like it seems like this one is going to be. I feel like, like have you seen, you've seen like, I'm not there, I assume. And like some of the more, um, the more like odd, like the more artistic, I guess approaches to him and his career and his art and his life, which I think are more emblematic of like who he is,

as opposed to like, well, and then this happened and then here's the scene where this happened, which seems like uninteresting. Well, right. Some of the reviews so far have indicated that it's odd that they do such a straightforward by the book biopic for someone who has always subverted expectations every step of the way and think when you think they will zag or vice versa. Apparently the most exciting, I'm talking about a movie that's been out for weeks now

that people you have either seen cause they want to or have it, doesn't matter, but like apparently the musical sequences are the most impressive part cause you learn to play the harmonica and the guitar and learn to play all these songs and like it's apparently very compelling those moments and then the rest of the time is him going like eeeh eeeh eeeh like impression

and i'm like i don't know because i like dimitri shalome that's nothing against him it's fine i don't i don't think i need to see that but i'm compelled to so you're gonna have to as an icebreaker it's kind of interesting to think about the things that you kind of don't even want to do and think you won't like but feel compelled to do. Do you have anything like that? That's the long-winded interesting way. It's the weave that I did. I'm looking forward to. The big weave. You feel, don't really want to, but you feel compelled to.

Not exactly the same way, but just sort of generally I'm kind of that way with like a lot of like Star Wars stuff where it's like, I'll do it. Like I'm not looking for it, but even differently, where it's like, I'm not even looking forward to it. And like, it's not like, but I kind of have to. Um, I actually just started watching finally and or, which I know is, uh, good. And I know people, like even people who hate Star Wars now are like, no, this is good. Um, and I've great. Even people who hate Star Wars now are like, no, this is good. And I've been sort of resisting it just in the sense of like,

who has the time? And Star Wars, I'm sure it's fine, it's good. But that's pretty amazing so far. Is that your hyperfixation? No, I don't think I have a new hyperfixation. Not so much other than my hobbies that already exist. Like I can talk about like a new guitar guy that I'm like I'm learning from or like whatever or like a new toy like that. But he doesn't like things.

I'm playing this video game right now, which I do. I do get like hyper focused on that one. Like, oh, this is a good game I'm getting into. I started the new Dune show. It's fine. I did find it weird that they changed the name of the thing that happens. Wait, there's a new Dune show. So like thousands of years before the yeah, it's about, so you know, the Ben

and Jezret that like, or like the, the, the witch, the witches that like do the, it's about sort of the start of their like infiltration. I guess I'll add that. It's fine. So far, I've only seen the one. But like they changed, do you know the but Larry and Jihad in like the lore of Dune? It's basically like there was a war with like, like learned machines, like like AI kind of and like that, the world of machines. And they basically banned all like thinking technology. And it's called the Butlerian Jihad. But in the show, they refer to it as the machine wars.

Is it because they didn't want to use? They didn't want to say. They didn't want to say or they didn't want to say the word butler. But like, it's just a very weird like, just say the thing it's called, it's fine. You don't wanna insult butlers by the, like, out down. I mean, I did immediately think of a specific, jihad does evoke a specific. Yeah, but like it's got so many different meanings

and different contexts and like, it's just the weird, like, you can just say it. Maybe I'll take it off my list too much. Yeah, I'm sorry, my answer is I don't really have a hyperfixation, although I do have something that I've been thinking about a lot, which we'll talk about, that's my my well. I think that we should do it I think it's a presentation time folks so I will so I want to talk about

This thing and I want to preface this by saying like there will be elements of this conversation that will seem like I'm being very judgmental Sure, but I'm not I understand the appeal and we're gonna explore this but I haven't I've been thinking about like book talk and you not, I understand the appeal and we're gonna explore this. But I've been thinking about like book talk and you know, I recently like Target or whatever and they've got a book talk section. And it is like rows and rows of all the same book. They all have the same cover, it's the same kind of book and it's all have the same cover. It's the same kind of book and it's all basically

like smut. Like really like childlike, very simple like smut kind of. And then again- Very fuck Cody. Well wait- I know. Is it, and maybe you're getting into this, maybe I'm jumping the gun. Are these like all the dead wives type books or are these a separate kind of book? These are more like- Fantasy smut more like fantasy smart kind of stuff.

Not like the love like it's taking, you know, bigger like world building. Like talking about Akotar. Sure. The Court of Thorns and Roses. Okay, if you don't know that series is a book talk series. I don't know if that that's not necessarily a book talk series? I don't know if that, that's not necessarily in the exact category that I'm talking about, I don't think, because that is still a little more,

I haven't read it, but like it seems a little more, a little more well written, I guess. It's definitely a little bit more well written, and I haven't finished the series, but I enjoyed what I read until I got bored of it. But it is, it does feel like young adult. I got bored of it partly because I was just plowing through. I was going book after book and then I was like,

I just can't anymore with the fairies and the fighting and the fucking and the graphic fucking. Yes, and that's part of it too, because it's also framed as like, oh, these young adult things. It's like, well, no, this is not for young adults. This is for a specific type of adult that loves to read. And that's great. But like it's this other genre. And this is sort of I've, I've, you know,

I've been aware of this and these trends for a while. And I saw somebody share a page or the back of a book recently. And I want to read that and sort of explore some of this because I love it so much. Okay. And we'll get into some details on why in a moment but I'm just going to read the big text on the back of the book is I'm just a girl and as it turns out I'm Hercules. So this is sort of something that I think we've we might have talked about this before This is sort of something that I think we've, we might've talked about this before, whether in a meeting or on this show,

but there is this problem, I think, in a lot of fantasy fiction for young adults and a lot of the dystopian genre of like, oh, I'm just a poor schmo and I'm like an orphan, but actually, if you look into my blood, I'm extremely special. I'm the most special person in the world, actually. Surprise.

And it's very, obviously, eugenicsy, weird. And it's just kind of like, we don't need stories like that that much. And it's just a very silly, sort of childlike approach to the world. I'm actually the most special person in the world. And I always think that's kind of a funny story element, but.

That's the thing you wanted to talk about? Well, that and this specific book, I think, is a good avenue to talk about other stuff. But this is just a small element of this. I just didn't want to interrupt before you were done setting it up. Oh yeah, there's more, but that's fine. I just want to ask if you are done with it.

You don't like that kind of thing because you've seen so many Star Wars and the Matrix and so many heroes journey type stories that have this exact same formula or if this is somehow even cheaper. Good question. So it's so part of it is that it's just like all it's all everything is, you know. And so I've seen a lot of it for sure. And I think we've maybe moved on from that. But also just generally, I just think it's like kind of a boring, like approach to

like literature and stories and also kind of like it's it's a little lazy. And I just don't like it. I think it's a bad worldview, honestly. I think it's like one, we're not gonna talk about the last Jedi. But it's also a classic story. Yes, it is a classic story. That's time tested. Some of these books are geared more towards

not to be gendered but towards young women. Uh oh, Jonathan died. Oh no, no, totally. And that's again, I understand the appeal and I'm not, you know, like young kids of all genders are like attracted to this kind of idea, right? Like, oh, I'm so normal or I'm so like timid or whatever, but what if I was secretly the most powerful person

in the world? And for adults have them too, there are power fantasies everywhere. So I'm not like, oh, I don't understand where it's coming from or like it's a usually problematic. You're not telling Joseph Campbell to go eat some dirt. No, but like there are elements where I'm like, all right, let's like move on.

And it gives people this sort of like hyper-individualist sense of self that maybe, again, not going to talk about The Last Jedi a lot, but that movie did try to push back on that idea. Actually everybody can do this. We're all capable and it's not like this person isn't the most important person in the universe and that's not why they're doing this. You know, you're capable of, of fighting the good fight to and all this kind of stuff. But that's sort of like just a lay, a small part of this,

because that is everywhere. And it's certainly a big part of these types of books. But I want to, I just want to read, I just want to read a little bit more of this and get into some of it. So the book description on the back continues. I'm struggling to survive in a Titan infested world where Spartans, immortals from 12 royal families who have godlike powers and obscene wealth rule over all a shy stammering foster

child with nothing. I keep my head down, cover my scars and focus on excelling in school. At least I try to. Then it happens. My blood test reveals I'm part of the powerful elite. I'm one of them, a Spartan. And then it gets into like getting into the Spartan War Academy and like challenging. Oh, wait, here's sorry here. You're really selling me on this book. Academy and like challenging oh wait here's sorry here you're really selling me on this book I bet

so here's so forced to attend the Spartan War Academy I undergo the most harrowing test of all time to see if I have what it takes to be an immortal there's just a few problems Achilles and Petro are my scary mentors Karen the fairy man of death and Augustus, the son of war, are my terrifying professors. Also, I'm pretty sure either someone's stalking me everywhere I go or my sanity slipping. I have a bad feeling. This is very well written. That's so here's the other part. And again, I don't want to. It's so poorly written in so many ways. I read this last night and I couldn't stop laughing to myself about their scary mentors and their terrifying professors.

And I guess what I'm really talking about is just how paint by numbers so many of these things are. We're like, okay, you got this orphan child and actually they're very special and then they go to this school and actually their professors are very, very, very terrifying and their mentors are also very scary. But then they like, it's just so, it's so simplistic. Yeah, there are fairies and there's fighting. Might there be a some third thing in this

book? Maybe. Maybe we'll find, sorry. Well what is this? Does this book have any information about who this is geared for? Or is it, say, as a young adult? Right, so this is the other thing. Is the reaction to this online,

I'd like to push back on a little bit too. Because there's like, you know, I don't want to dismiss this as like, I know why people read it. It's fun, it's whatever. It's simple. You're reading it and like it's horny. It's a horny book. Right. And like, you know, I saw one post reply to this like these are the books ratings.

We need military tribunals against TikTok. And it's like I think it's from Goodreads. And it's like, oh, yeah, it's a four point two two on Goodreads. Well, yeah, nobody who isn't into this shit is going to review this book. Like, it's got this amazing rating compared to other like wonderful pieces of literature because that's who this is for.

It's for people who want their like simplistic smut and they're gonna move on from there. Do you think this is a harbinger, a sign of our changing attention spans and people, because not everybody, I'm sure there's people out there that are young adults or kids reading advanced literature, but they're on TikTok, they see other friends. And it keeps it attention for where our attention spans are so much more fragmented, myself included.

It's simple, you can read it really quick. It just sort of like triggers these like elements. And also like, there's an element. So a lot of people also responded to this with like, oh, this sounds actually like because the original post is like insulting this very poorly written description of this book. Also, there's just a few problems. No, I'm sorry, there are just a few problems. Like just little stuff like that where I'm like, you're, you gotta get an editor.

Like somebody- Never would have got past me. I would have scribbled all over. I know, it's like, what are you doing? But so many people responded to this like, oh, this seems like a standard story for like a 12 to 14 year old. They're like, oh, my 12 year old would love this. And then a reply to that being like, no, no, no, no, no.

This is hardcore pornography in a lot of ways. Like this is inappropriate for 12 year olds. Like you read this and you read about the premise, you're like, well, that's very childlike. It's for children, clearly. No, no, no, it is childlike, but it's not for children. It's for adults who wanna read about hardcore fucking. I'm gonna read a review of this book.

This is a review on, I think like barnsandnoble.com or whatever. So the book is called Blood of Hercules, by the way. And it's like it's just a like when you boil it down, it's like it's a gender swapped like retelling of Hercules. OK, that's fine. Whatever. I'm going to read this. The title of the review is currently on 10th reread. This book came out this year.

Jasmine Moss has struck again, leading the plot this time with a gender bent Hercules, sassy snake bestie and a crap ton of morally gray enticing men What more could I ask for? Except for the next book immediately if you're debating an action-packed read then this is your chance to read one of my personal favorite authors Personally going to get started on my tenth read, but if you're judging me Then you should be judging as to why you haven't already bought this book yet. I'm not judging anybody I need to continue to make that clear. It's judging everyone.

Another review. Okay, here's another one. I've read this book four times by now. I am obsessed with the main character. I'm excited to see what happens with Nix and see if she tortures her husbands. The morally gray men, the adventure, and all of the elements of this book were so entertaining. So this is sort of... Wait. You have a question. Multiple people used the phrase morally gray men? the adventure and all of the elements of his book were so entertaining. So this is sort of. Wait. You have a question. Multiple people use the phrase morally gray men.

Yes. So this is the other thing that I just love about this. So this is what I sort of was alluding to by like the paint by numbers aspect of this. It's very simplistic, like, oh, this and then the orphan, this and this. There are categories sort of discussed on TikTok, Book Talk or whatever. And in the context of these kinds of books, where they just have these tropes that they want to experience.

And one of the main tropes is morally gray men. Listen to our show. Knowing none, nothing about this story, but of that world, I think there is some sort of fantasy with women or some women to be like, this is a handsome, tough guy that uses people, but this girl charmed him. Oh, totally. Beauty and the Beast, perfect example.

And wanting to reform, it's all over the place there. And I think it's interesting's all over the place there. And I think it it's it's interesting. It's an interesting thing. It's interesting. And I'm not knocking like the trope generally or tropes generally. Like you watch any movie or read any books like, oh, that's like kind of like this or like that's a theme that comes like the first day one of storytelling or like an English class like, well, there's man versus man. There's man versus nature. Like there are like basic stories and tropes that are used throughout time.

But I you mentioned, oh, morally gray men is just a phrase. And it's this sort of like way of consuming stuff or reading something that isn't necessarily like, oh, I really enjoyed that, and I really like this character for this reason, or I really liked this part, or it explored this theme, interestingly, or I was so, it was so compelling or engrossing. It's just sort of like,

did it have the checklist of categories that I want to see? It's the check of things, yeah. Did it have morally gray men? Did it have these tropes that I'm looking for? And the authors of a lot of these books have their checklist too. Knowing like, oh, you got this, you got this. If I put this in there, they'll love it.

And it's just this sort of like child-like algorithms kind of stuff that is ultimately there for smut reasons. In a lot of cases, this one in particular, as you read and maybe caught in one of these reviews, we have to wait and see if she tortures her husbands because a lot of these tropes are like, oh, there's like a love triangle and they're both morally gray and they're abusive, but like then she's going to be abusive back. And then like they're going to like learn that like it's all these sort of categories.

I'm going to read this other part of this description of this book. This is the one I think the official description first of all It's apparently a instant New York Times bestseller After all the description of it like I got a bad feeling about this and my my scary mentors. I love it so much I'm surrounded by villains and they're smothering me with their hate obsession and dark possessiveness, which I secretly love by the way That's not included, but that's the implication. Too bad for them, they have no clue just who they're messing with.

First of all, I thought they were messing with a timid nobody. No, she's got the blood of a Spartan. It seems that she probably, or yeah, she probably passed her test and is immortal now. And on this description after that is perfect for readers who love who did this to you Extreme enemies to lovers morally gray alpha heroes stories where the villain gets the gets the girl or sorry stories where the villains

Get the girl because there's more than one Greek myths and war academies so it is it's just Just like oh you got you check it off check it off check it's just like, oh, you got, check it off, check it off, check it off, check it off. Verticalizing everything, like Netflix categories of things. If you like mind bending thrillers, you'll like this other thing that's actually not that thing. Right.

But it's like, it's gotten so specific for these kinds of books where it's like, well, does it have morally gray men? Does it have extreme enemies to lovers? Does it have like all these things that I need in my like little fantasy smut? And it just tickles me. And again, like, and I understand everybody has this. I know you have to read it. It's amazing.

It's called Blood of Hercules. Also like they shared another page. I'm just gonna read the first paragraph of this page. There was a blur as a second Spartan suddenly came into frame. The Spartan grabbed Achilles's shoulder and pulled him away from the Titan. Now, I just instantly have a thought. Stop using the word suddenly. You don't need to use that word. If something happens, it just happens.

It doesn't suddenly happen. Everything suddenly happens. I just suddenly snapped. I also snapped. That's like another one of those like, like one, like rule number one is like, just don't use that word so much. There are other options. It's just very, it's a very, I guess suddenly suggests to me that they were surprised by it. Sure. And there's other ways to sort of convey that. And I'm not going to get in the nitty gritty and this is very,

like this is judgmental. It's just a very poorly written book. sort of convey that. And I'm not gonna get in the nitty gritty. And this is very, like, this is judgmental. It's just a very poorly written book, it seems like that. But- Well, you did preface this with that. You weren't gonna be judgmental. Yes, and I wanted to make it clear, like, I get why people are attracted to these kinds of books and I get, like, the categories.

And I, you know, everybody has their, like, fluff that they read or, like, they're excited about this. And I do see how it can come off as like, well, you're just hating on the things that these young women read, or you're an elitist or whatever. And I get it, I just think it's funny. And I just love the, I love the categorization.

I love the little paint by numbers aspect of it. This would be such an easy grift to do. And there already are like AI books like this that do that. Like check this, check this, check this, check this. Fantasy world element. Perfect, I did it. You could definitely get a fantasy AI book. Like you could do that.

Like, okay, boring, very plain orphan. Actually, they're very special. They're blood and skull. They are the perfect type and shape. And they've got this like person in their life and they're just evil and we hate them. But what if we could make them not evil? And so, I don't know. I don't have much more to say.

I just, it tickles me. I love all the reviews. And I also think, I also wanted to bring this up to push back on this like, oh, we got to like burn down book talk and like, oh, my God, look at these reviews. Yeah, people like all kinds of sorry garbage. But they also like, yeah, like the other side of it is if a bunch of people that don't normally pick up a book are enjoying a book, that's great, you know? Maybe then they'll want to read some Greek mythology or something. Hopefully it gets them to expand their horizons a bit.

And also like when you see this, I do wanna push back on the idea that it's young adult stuff. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. It's smut. Well, young adult. It is hardcore erotica. Young adult is pretty smutty. Sure.

And it's been pushing the envelope, but I think young adult now is skewing towards 16 to 20 demographic, or 24, as opposed to, let's say, 10 to 20. And grownups. Your 12 year old probably shouldn't read it. And grownups, well exactly. And grownups, but that's why 10 to 20. And grownups. Your 12 year old probably shouldn't read it. And grownups, well exactly. And grownups, but that's why, but yeah.

It's funny, like I don't remember, did young adult exist when we were 12? Cause I just remember reading kids novels and then moving right to Michael Crichton and John Grisham books that I started reading. I was reading grownups books at like third grade. Yeah, there's a bridge. And there's sex in those so you can.

There's sex in them. Yeah. Yeah. You know, there is different element. You know, I was talking a bit a minute the other day about having read Toni Morrison when I was in like third grade. There's so much I didn't understand. Other stuff I did. And there's a bridge there, I think, because like, yeah, there's like kids books and like what, like Anna Morrison stuff. Like, yeah, these are like kids books. There what? Like Animorphs and stuff like, yeah, these are like kids books. There's a bridge, I think. If you're familiar with Christopher Pike is a young adult author

that was like it's like R.L. Stein, but like more mature, more mature themes, more interesting concepts that did have some sex and stuff in them. But even that I've been decades since I've I've read them. So I don't remember Hunger Games. But like, but, I feel like. Those were not out when we were. Yeah, but I think when we were younger,

it didn't really have these categories. It was just like, oh yeah, I read kids books, and then I like reading, so I'm gonna start reading, like you're saying, like Michael Crichton or Stephen King or something. The Harry Potters. I think that was kind of like the start of this other sort of thing. They started out as kids novels and then as the readers got older, she, I mean,

she's a bad writer in my opinion. And those books are interminable by the time you get to like five and six, because I have read all of them. And the books. I love them all. The last hundred pages of each of those books is just like explaining what happened. And it's like horrendous exposition for it doesn't matter. We're not here for me to talk about.

And there are themes that there are a lot of themes that she sort of left on the table where it's like you can explore this. But like you just didn't do it like Like this idea of like this special boy, the prophecy I think in Harry Potter is like, well, it could have been Harry, it could have been Neville, right? But like that's just a piece of information you get. It's not like she hasn't explored in an interesting way

or like talk about the implications of that or like there's nothing there. It's just like, yeah, it's information. I know, I wouldn't call it high literature, but I certainly enjoyed the books. And I read them as an adult before I realized. Before it was this sweet spot of, yeah, you don't need. But I remember I remember reading them.

But I'm not going to pretend retroactively that I didn't love them and I didn't cry multiple times or wasn't swept up. You get swept up. I enjoyed it. And by the end, I was I do. I do remember thinking that it was weird that they gave up on abolishing slavery. That was a big thing for me. No, they mock her for wanting to do that end of plot line. It's very odd.

Maybe it speaks to the author, maybe it doesn't. Maybe it's just there to show that the world kind of sucks. Anyway. Anyway, I just, I, again, like, it's just, I just was reading some of this stuff. It delighted you. It delighted me and it reminds, some of the writing in the description and like,

it reminded me of like a fake thing that I would write. Like, just these like weird, like like stilted sentences and like this sort of like basic like you know what the Son of Sex like all these sort of like this language they use. Frileus Bumble Pop and the and the magic thing of the place that you know like that kind of stuff and I was reading this and I was delighted by it and knowing that it's like so popular and the phrase instant New York Times bestseller was like, oh my God, this would be so easy to do.

And just to close it out, I want to read one more sentence from this page that was shared, quote, move so I can see someone shouted as they shoved another student out of their chair. You don't need so many words. Move so I can see. They shove them out of their chair. It's just like a lot of repetition that's unnecessary to like convey the information and the feelings going on. It's not important.

You gotta hit that word count though. You gotta hit that word count. I don't think that that's the whole written sentence, but I also, it's not the worst. Move so I can see is different from shoving someone out of your chair. Yeah, it's not like egregious,

it's just like I was reading, it's like, well you don't need to, move so I can see, and they shoved them out of the chair. Well, say like I can't see, and they shoved them out of the chair, so they needed them to move, so like, it's just like, stuff like that, it's like, you don't need that much.

Also, it is a- This is very nitpicky. I know like, you don't need that much. Also, it is. This is very nitpicky. I know. I don't disagree. It is. Is that the whole Blood of Hercules series behind you? No. Oh, me.

It's like what? Oh, I'm sorry. I need to say it is 432 pages long. Oh, wow. It is part one. It's book one. Yeah. And you know.

That's the best thing, is a series of books, then they can get one after the other after the other. I don't want this to come off as me being like mean to these people who read the book or wrote the book. I'm going to read the book. I know. I'm not gonna read this one, probably. It doesn't seem very good.

No, it doesn't seem very good. I'm sorry, but I just love the, I love the two reviews also just love the I love the two reviews also of like, I love the morally gray men in this and the next one. I love the morally gray men characters. This is like this like it hit my speaking of morally gray men characters. I am going to move on to the next topic now. Please do. You just kept saying morally gray men characters and I know it's set up for me me. Oh perfect. Unless we've got more to talk about this book. We do not. I'm sorry for talking about it for so long already. So I'm going to talk about

something you guys definitely have no interest in. I just talked about Blood of Hercules for a long time. Yeah but I have a little bit of interest in It's fair. It's also already pretty far in the past, made worse by the fact that we're recording this in advance. So this is months ago. And I wanna talk about some things that stood out to me in the latest season of Love is Blind. Shout out to Nick, our editor, who watches Love is Blind. Every beyond the show is terrible and that hasn't changed.

I don't know why I watch it except that I still like to participate in cultural conversation shows and there are kind of fewer of them. I would prefer it was at Breaking Bad. But if everyone's- Like The Penguin, The Penguin is great. Oh, The Penguin, I freaking loved it. Okay, so this might not take long,

so maybe I'll talk about The Penguin. Maybe we can just talk about The Penguin. But when I see people posting about it, I wanna, my opinion's on this. You wanna be involved, yeah. And Love is Blind is an easy thing, and it's fascinating. People are bizarre motivations for going on the show,

what have you, but there's this one couple, Marissa and Ramses. Oh my God. And Ramses did something interesting. There's a couple parts to this. They had a really, so Marissa used to be in the military. She grew up in a military family. She talks openly about her process of radicalization

and realizing more and more about the world that she hadn't seen before. And she's obviously really concerned about being inclusive. She talks about the wedding wanting to have a non-binary officiant or something like that. I'm missing this up, but I'm saying that she's obviously actively working

towards expanding her worldview. But she does have this history in the military and that's complicated for her, but he knew this coming into this relationship. They talked. They talked on screen for the game show, yeah. But it brought up a really interesting conversation about Israel and Palestine with Ramses.

And I was really impressed by that. And I think a lot of people were because this is a terrible show, but seeing somebody on screen talking really frankly about how they don't support the United States military, how our effect around the world. I felt at first, you know, it was a little cathartic and pretty cool. I didn't like the way he talked to her about her past involvement with the military. Like his tone or like how he like-

Pretty judgmental. And then there's other conversations where it's like, he was pretty disgusted by her and you could see her being like, I mean, that's her, her family was military. That was a path for her, you know, and she's obviously unpacking her own feelings about it, but it had also been a family.

And it's like, this is all part of who I am. Wait, what was he, what, sorry, what aspect was he disgusted by? He's like- Like her military history or her positions now? Her military history. Okay. And also like, if you were to ever want to, you know, I think she had mentioned maybe joining the National Guard or doing a beer reserve, something, I don't

know and he was like this relationship would be over. And I'm sorry. That's okay. I have to ask, did this conversation about that stuff happen while they were in? No. Before they had, okay. So they'd already seen each other. This is like out of the pods. They're engaged together they're engaged but they presumably did have these

conversations to a degree in the pod you know because it's you're not just getting engaged you've talked about what you've done shared you know and I it made me cringe a bit about the way he was talking to her. But then they were talking about kids and all of this stuff and he wants to wait. And you know, she's in her thirties. It's an average conversation. She doesn't want to be on birth control for various reasons

about her own physical state and he doesn't want to wear condoms. Why not? It doesn't feel good, Jonathan. And there was this whole conversation that made me feel super fucking angry about her body and it really enraged me. And I guess what I'm presenting to you guys

is that there is some disconnect within the leftist community of people that I very much agree with, but a lot of misogyny and how you talk to women and your expectations of women. And that also leads to another conversation about weaponization of therapy speak in some of these spaces that really enrages me. And I think there is, I think a lot of people can relate

to some of these things that I'm putting out there in their own experiences. I certainly see it online in conversations where you're like, the fuck did you just say? Some entitlement, like his entitlement to her body. Oh, another one was she had her period and she was a little emotional. There was a day and he wanted to have sex.

And she was like, I'm just not in the mood today. And it became this whole thing where he's like, well, is this gonna be a thing? Like I've got needs in our relationship. And then he's like, well, is this gonna be a thing? Like, I've got needs in our relationship. And then he's like, oh, I don't know. I don't know if your energy matches mine. And he broke her heart, like two days before the wedding, he kept saying, you know.

She broke her heart. Mm-hmm. She was really into it. And I think, and I'm gonna also acknowledge, cause if anybody has seen this season, they're gonna be mad at it a little bit because in the reunion episode, everyone was a big supporter of Marissa

until the reunion episode when she had, she got the back of one of her girls that had a bad conflict with somebody and she was defending this girl that's a little toxic. And now everybody on the internet threw Marissa under the bus. And I'm like, wait, wait, wait, you don't see everything on camera.

You don't know what her relationship is with this person and what information. You just threw her under the bus already. So now she's like a villain somehow. So I'm gonna acknowledge that for people. But this conversation, yeah, no, she thought that they were, they kept going back and forth, but she genuinely thought that they were gonna get married

and then he broke her heart like the day before or something. And it was an extremely triggering conversation to watch. I think anybody that has had the rug, and in hindsight, maybe the rug shouldn't, maybe the rug should have already been on its way out. Yeah, there were signs that the rug is not, yeah. But she's a romantic and really thought that this was, and it was devastating to watch.

It was absolutely devastating to watch and he just was like, I'm done and your energy is too much for me. And as somebody whose energy is too much sometimes, it's a gutting thing to see that represented. And also it's the type of person where, yeah, I'm politically aligned with you in certain ways. And if you're this evolved on your political issues

and trying to have compassion for people, but you actually aren't applying it to your day-to-day life in your own interpersonal relationships, that's what I call a hypocrite. That's, anyway, dating is bad for everybody everywhere, but I think that some people that have frustrating dating experiences within left circles might be running up against some of that.

Some of these elements, yeah. Some people are like, I'm a good person, actually, because I care about the world and Palestine, and yes, that is good that you care about those things But how are you treating people the people in your life? How do you are you expecting people to treat you a certain way because you're so good. Fuck you Ramses. I said it Yeah, she did she went there because it also sounds like this like oh her energy is too much Sounds like there was the other reasons

like, oh, her energy is too much. Sounds like there was the other reasons. Like her not wanting to have sex on her period for like whatever reason or for any reason on that day. It sounds like that kind of stuff bothered him more than like this vague, like your energy is too much. You like the idea of a person as long, because the idea of the person is serving your fantasy, is serving what they'll fit into your life instead of,

I genuinely care about this person and want to do what I can to make them feel good. And in return, they will do that for me, which is reciprocity, which is I love this person and you know what, they're not comfortable with birth control or, you know, okay, let's have this conversation. And that can be a healthy conversation where maybe you end up deciding,

actually our timelines for children are way different. And then you can have a mature conversation about that. That's not what I was, at least in the edit, right? That we were presented, but it was, there's a lot of pretty toxic things on display there. And again, the whole show is fairly toxic. So I'm focusing on this one example, because I do keep thinking, I have kept thinking about it.

This is somebody that I could have potentially fallen for if I'd gone on some dates with, and then not in a pressure cooker situation, eight months down the line, been completely devastated by. And I'm hyper aware of it. And yeah, I felt it was triggering. I think that people that watched it, I know that people that watched it felt the same way.

Yeah, you're gonna try to like, these little like flags are gonna pop up, but you might want to like brush them aside or, or not necessarily like focus on them. Um, and like, think like the two examples, again, I don't know the edit, I don't know these people, but the two examples you gave like, well, I don't, I want you to go on birth control because I don't want to wear condoms. That's a problem. Um, and the idea of like, well, is this going to be,

is this going to be an issue regularly? Like, I have my needs. Okay, but she has her needs, which is to not have sex with you right now. Like, where's the consideration there? Those are two very odd flags to see. And if your energies don't match, that's fine. But the way this is framed, cause that's true. It doesn't sound like the energies didn't match.

It sounds like other stuff. It sounds like other stuff. But you know, again, it's the edit that you see. She's a bubbly girl. I relate to her cause she's clearly somebody that's anxious and bubbly and positive. But the other side of that means that when we're stressed or we're feeling other stuff,

then it's a big change in demeanor and, or it can be, and you need someone to say it's okay instead of be mad at you because I'm feeling stressed and anxious right now or I'm worrying about this thing. But when your partner withdrawals because you are going through this, that makes it worse. That makes you want to overcompensate or fix it, or then you get angry.

I didn't see any of that. I'm inferring that when I talk, when I hear, I mean, I've seen glimpses of it because I relate it to her. I related to her emotional state. And yeah, so maybe that's not the right energy for somebody. Maybe you need a really perfect girl that's always in a good mood.

Always down to fuck. No one is one way. There are so many different complex emotions that everybody experiences. And it just does sound like this sort of like, oh, I saw a version of you and I only want that version. And you can't deviate from that version and you can't you can't feel sad. You can't feel anxious. You can't feel all the other things.

Everybody feels you need to be like you're saying like you kind of like in service of me as opposed to your own person who can go through this range of emotions and experiences. And I still, you know, am okay with that. Because I imagine that they would also go through those things and want the same sort of grace and acceptance from her, right? Like, is he the exact same way every single day? Maybe he is, I don't know. Fake as hell, maybe. Anyway, that's the thing I was fired up about and brought to the table

because I didn't think you guys would ever watch Lo Is Blind. I saw the first Netflix season, I think, and the story that was most compelling to me, I don't remember their names, was the tall blonde woman and the little guy who, and I don't say that in a pejorative way because I'm a small person and I knew the second they walked out there that she was not gonna do it.

And he was very intense about it. Do you remember these people? Uh, Cady? Yeah, I mean, it's been probably like five seasons ago or something. But also, and this is not even to, because I don't even want to say they're like narcissists or anything, but like reality shows select for either a certain type of person or people in a certain phase of their lives.

Um, which is why when you get someone who's not like that on a reality show, like I can't think of her name in season three of Love Island, who is not like that at all. It becomes this like amazing thing. The with the normal woman who had she got rid of like landmines. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I didn't watch. She's amazing. She ended up with and spoiler alert, she ends up with a guy. But like and they're normal and they seem happy. Landmines. Yes. Right? Oh, yeah. I didn't watch it.

She's amazing. Normal. And spoiler alert, she ends up with a guy. And they're normal and they seem happy now. And I don't know why I can't think of this woman's name, but she is clearly not a reality show contestant and it freaks everyone out on the show. And she just like, she gets, she really falls. Camilla. Camilla, Camilla.

She falls for this guy like Johnny, who it turns out is just like this rich pretty boy misogynist. Obviously a piece of shit. Piece of shit. And then when he was, he's like, what? I think like women have equal rights these days. Women are equal to men these days.

And she's like, so taken aback. She's like, well, I just don't, I just don't believe that that's the case, Johnny. And like he totally shatters her, breaks her heart. And it's like, no, you're a normal person that got brought into this web of nonsense. Yes, it was island. And it sounds like maybe Marissa is even a little like that.

I don't know. That's always a fascinating thing to watch of like you're normal and you are on a show that is not designed for normal people. That is a not your world. Experiment to drive watching her pop into that show. I remember why I watched the first like five or six seasons of Love Island. Well, watch it watching

her show up, I was like, oh, no, they're going to eat you alive. Every every person on this show is going to lie to you. And then they did. But she found love on the show. She did. Yeah. And it seems like that worked out. He was like a mostly normal guy, too, and like appreciated her for all the reasons that one should.

And so that was nice to see. But also with that show, they know like and I assume love is blind is similar. Like they they do. Yeah. A beautiful woman doing like so many good things for the world. They brought her on there because she dated Prince Harry and so they thought that would be like a lot of gossip, but she did not belong on that show.

No, and that's the thing. It's great that she was there. What they also do, and I assume Love is Blind also does this, all these shows, they do have like a sense of who these people are. They have like, you know, like dossiers or whatever on these people. Like, oh, they're this type of person. Oh, they dated this person. Like, they know a lot of their history, too. So they they arrange a lot of who is going to go on the show at a certain time, knowing like, oh, they're going to have a conflict with this person or like, oh,

they're going to be attracted to this person. But we know that person is a piece of shit. And they're going to like they know that these dynamics are going to exist and they want them to happen. Like, like, that is an example of like, oh, they they're I forget the perfect example, but there was somebody was on the show, and they wasn't working out for them. And then eventually, this person came on and it's like, oh, that is who that person should be with. And they end up together and they're still together. They have kids or whatever. And it's something I was like, the producers of the show know that

they could have put these people together at the very beginning, but they need to withhold it so that you can have this like sense of drama. The producers of reality shows are like diabolical, probably bad. Master manipulators. I know a few of them. The producers of reality shows are diabolical, probably bad people. Master manipulators. I know a few of them. They're good. Nice enough people.

Yeah, I'm sure they're good people. But what they're doing is bad. But yeah, but I assume even Love is Blind, there are these examples of like, oh yeah, they got along in the pods because they knew, oh, there are these aspects that will attract them to each other. But we also know they have this strong opinion about this thing that we're going to not tell them yet so that when they get this strong opinion about this thing that we're gonna not tell them yet

so that when they get out of the pods, then it's gonna be a problem. It's just as weird. And I will say that there are a few couples throughout this that I feel really seem genuinely well suited to each other. So I guess that keeps the idea that maybe it's possible for it to work.

But so many of these people are just literally on the show to try to get famous too. So there is that. Anyway, we did it. We did it. We talked about things. We did less news than usual or ever. Way less news.

So much less news. Except for other episodes of Way Less News. How do you guys like Wayless News? I'm not asking you two. Oh. Out there. Okay, I guess. You folks out there, hey.

They can't answer, I can. I love it because it's a podcast I get to do where I don't do any prep whatsoever. It's great. Now I get why people do fuck around podcasts. Cause it is. I know, we should fuck around more. We do a podcast where we have to read stuff and understand things and learn about the

news and then we're still like, wait, what's this? Are we getting this right? It's a serious misstep in planning out our shows. We made a serious misstep starting a show that requires a 15 page script every week. What a poor hand move. That was also a misstep. Well. A lot of mistakes on this road, but we got there.

Oh, we're here. But we've had a restful holiday season, all of us. So we're back at it. Thank goodness for that. Okay guys, it's so good to see you after our vacations and all of you listeners at home, gosh, you know, it's so, I've missed you too. And we're gonna sign off now but before I do what what we love you very much okay oh we're doing that here not the way that Ramses and Mer... no no no

we love you very much and I will wear a condom on this show I do it much that's right much subverting expectations