Episode 35 - Uh... OK?
Added 2019-03-15 18:35:32 +0000 UTCSean Penn certainly has written a collective of words arranged into sentences! There's a lot to discuss in our first episode diving into Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff. There's the mysterious backstory Penn created for the book, the maddening alliteration, and the book's strange ability to make you dislike stuff you previously thought you enjoyed.
We'll also play a round of "Create your own Sean Penn" character, to show you how easy it is to make a character this eccentric. Plus, the roots of Penn's satire inspire a brand new movie trailer.
For next time read up Part 2!
Comments
So not mightier than the sword after all, is the impression I'm getting...I'll certainly avoid ever reading this one!
Luke Yates
2022-11-21 12:25:16 +0000 UTCPenn-splaining.
RotoLando
2019-03-19 13:37:07 +0000 UTCThis is the most thoroughly unpleasant reading experience I have ever had... I canโt believe you guys are making me do this.
Jesse Gillespie
2019-03-19 01:16:09 +0000 UTCThe only good thing I can say in its defense (excuse me, I just threw up in my mouth a little) is that, in the later chap--STATIONS--he does lay off the alliteration quite a bit. For me, the biggest initial hurdle was the weaponized alliteration. But I've also finished the book, and the ending is incoherent and doesn't at all make reading it worth it to get there, so you will probably be just fine listening to the podcast.
Christopher Dazey
2019-03-18 18:10:51 +0000 UTCI don't think I can do this one. I rage quit Ready Player One before this podcast existed, then rage quit the Armada audiobook. I finished chapter three and I see no reason to continue. It will be so much more enjoyable to just hear you guys dissect this dreck.
Jonathan Emerling
2019-03-18 02:05:58 +0000 UTCAlso, the books we've done so far... they sort of mis-calibrated me on what to expect. Page 34 and 35, as well as all of Station 5... well, I think I'm calibrated now. And also I think I had a stroke as I read it. "More Vietnam."
Erika Flowers
2019-03-17 00:28:25 +0000 UTCI feel like a hot dog. Anyone else want a hot dog?
Erika Flowers
2019-03-17 00:25:37 +0000 UTCIn general, seems to me worth leaving space for artists to create characters with shitty traits without being assumed to have those shitty traits themselves. Otherwise weโre stuck with the Hallmark Channel on every channel. (Individual situations and artistic works may vary)
M Williams
2019-03-16 23:45:10 +0000 UTCThe Onion: The purple lake of desolation Is where I am. Everywhere is purple The color of loneliness Who sent me here? Was it my parents? Was it my ex-best friend? Or was it you? The purple lake of desolation Goes on to infinity There is nothing but sadness To be had here The purple lake of desolation Is a terrible place But now the surprise - It is just my life.
Jacob Grudzina
2019-03-16 05:41:39 +0000 UTCConor's dice: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGb02Hi4k84" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGb02Hi4k84</a>
SabreMau
2019-03-16 04:16:33 +0000 UTCI have many, many comments, so here they are: When Penn refers to "branding," I think he's referring to brand loyalty? I genuinely don't know, but it seems like he got a C- in Punk Rock 101 and thinks he's got some insights to share with the world. Unless I'm misunderstanding the first half of page 14, Sean Penn is comparing 11-year-old Bob to Charles Manson, the Vietcong, and the Zodiac Killer. As if they're good role models. I really hope I'm misunderstanding. A brazier is indeed a charcoal grill, but billeting is housing soldiers in people's homes. To describe something as water-billeted is to suggest that we're in a Dungeons and Dragons-esque setting in which water elementals are found within the armed forces, or to suggest that we're dealing with a level of word misuse that makes Jim Thies seem reasonable. I have no idea what the deal is with Bob focusing his septic tank pumping business on Jehovah's Witnesses. Is it a joke about how Jehovah's Witnesses fill their septic tanks rapidly and thus need them pumped frequently? Is that a stereotype that I'm just not aware of? Is this further evidence that Sean Penn is some kind of crazy person? Never mind, I think I just answered my own question. I Googled the second line of that poem about the distant desert darkness and this book was the first result. I think it's just Penn trying to be a poet. He should stop. You mentioned not being sure why Bob is in Iraq. I think it's vaguely indicated that he intends to sell septic tanks there. This makes no sense whatsoever, so in this book it's the most likely reason. "And so began the peregrination of tribal ops to contract in Iraq with spear-ian flare, grass skirts, and bare feet." To peregrinate is to travel, especially on foot, which I only know because I'm writing a story involving a character who uses long and obscure words to tease his fiancรฉe. Penn is claiming that mercenaries from New Guinea walked to Iraq to fight for the United States. Let's be fair, would you want to fight guys who could make that hike? The leader New Guinean mercenaries, Loodstar, shares a name with an Indonesian convention center. In a better book, I would suspect some kind of symbolism, but honestly I think Sean Penn's just a racist. "The cynical lack of substance to their reciprocal unequivocals." Translation: "Sometimes I lie awake at night wishing I was Greg Graffin." And because Conor asked for it: <a href="https://imgur.com/60U0Zqr" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://imgur.com/60U0Zqr</a>
Theodore Lehman
2019-03-16 00:54:24 +0000 UTCWhat's perplexing is he crowbarred in that term and it wasn't even in the service of alliteration! - mjn
372 Pages We'll Never Get Back
2019-03-15 22:22:46 +0000 UTCFixed wing generally means airplanes (as opposed to rotary-wing, which refers to helicopters, or tilt-rotor- like the V-22 Osprey.) Never heard anyone refer to them that way outside of the aerospace business, though.
Al Taliaferro
2019-03-15 21:43:46 +0000 UTCThis might be the worst book done so far, but at least there is so much to work with. All the other authors weren't out to make literature but Penn was clearly trying to make something profound and deep and stumbles at every turn. Like you know he had this smug smile on his face at times thinking "this is genius".
Luke Bovard
2019-03-15 20:30:19 +0000 UTCFor a good example of the use of footnotes in fictional literature, read "The Mezzanine" by Nicholson Baker. Probably the only example ever of where I enjoyed footnotes as much as the main text.
JoshG
2019-03-15 19:56:24 +0000 UTCI certainly hope nobody is reading Bob Honey for the PLOT, but I guess just use good judgment? -C
372 Pages We'll Never Get Back
2019-03-15 19:45:17 +0000 UTCIs there a spoiler policy for these threads? Within the assignment of course.
Maji
2019-03-15 19:41:57 +0000 UTCIโM SO READY. ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ I desperately need the catharsis this episode will provide. ๐ญ๐
Carson Heschle
2019-03-15 18:54:22 +0000 UTCStill waiting for my book to arrive. Usps can be so.... Slow...
Brion K
2019-03-15 18:37:17 +0000 UTC
