Podcast Extra

 

I already knew the end of DUNE before I read it because I saw the movie first. But LOTR was ruined by a close friend who was a nut for LOTRs and we watched that two part cartoon a hundred times but I would never let him tell me what happened in Return of the King because I could barely get to Helm's Deep without wanting to kill myself. Tolkien was a slog to read. My brain just couldn't slow down long enough to absorb all that education in linguistics that came with the story. I didn't need to know the origins of character names. WHO GIVES A SHIT? But with such a compelling story you push through until you can't anymore and you get distracted by the Hitchhikers Guild To The Galaxy. But one night when I was very high I let someone tell me how LOTR ended and he told me everything especially the part where Golum bites off Frodo's finger and falls into the fires of Mount Doom. I was upset with myself for years for letting him do that. Even when I saw the movie I hated that I was not totally unaware of how everything ended. No surprises. Very cool but the magic was diminished.

But to tell someone the point or end of Moby Dick is a mitzvah. An act of great kindness that is not asked for but offered for free. It's a Jewish thing but telling all humans to avoid Moby Dick is the way I try to do some good in this world.

Tossed the book and found out there was a movie which was so much of a letdown. I thought people who studied this kind of lit would put some insight or symbolism or lessons  into the tale but it's still the same big pile of NOTHING. I wasted even more time with this stupid film. Oh I hate it so much.

Then came free choice book and he had a dozen racks in his room but I went right to the PX and bought THE GODFATHER by Mario Puzo just because it was a paperback re-release after the movie hit it big and I knew he would turn it down. My Mother forbade  me to see The Godfather because of the horses head in the bed. The edict particularly offended me. I was a smart kid and one who would not go off decapitating horses once the idea hit my brain. I defied them both by first telling that teacher in no uncertain terms that this was my book and that I knew there would be a movie on TV next month. But I promised to read the book so I could do a good report about how one version compared to the other. He agreed because he knew he owed me for MOBY DICK.