Onscreen Offscreen
Josh Dietrich and Konlin Gappmayer discuss their media consumption, new and old. They discuss the good, the bad, and the impact it has on their lives
Onscreen Offscreen
The Grey
The Grey
F1, Tiny Tina’s Wonderland, Helldivers II, Die in the Dungeon, Stolen Innocence, Fellowship of the Ring, Cities of Smoke and Starlight
00:00 - F1
15:24 - Tiny Tina’s Wonderland
21:15 - Helldivers II
27:21 - Die in the Dungeon
29:20 - Stolen Innocence
45:46 - Fellowship of the Ring
58:26 - Cities of Smoke and Starlight
01:06:55 - The Grey
Hey everybody. Welcome to Onscreen Offscreen with Josh Collin and myself. Uh, we talk about stuff that affects our lives and why we watch it and stuff that we watch and how it affects our lives. this episode we have a lot to talk about apparently. Um, let's start with Josh and one of your topics.
joshua-dietrich_5_08-27-2025_153812:Okay. Um, I watched the F1 movie. Conlan, remind me, what did you rate the F1 movie?
konlin-gappmayer_5_08-27-2025_193810:I think I gave it an eight. I had a
joshua-dietrich_5_08-27-2025_153812:Okay.
konlin-gappmayer_5_08-27-2025_193810:good time with this movie.
joshua-dietrich_5_08-27-2025_153812:Okay. I absolutely hated the mismatching socks thing. I am OCD and I match my socks. I have a left sock and a iri right sock. Uh, it bothered me that this kind of thing kept coming up in the movie and it didn't really mean anything. It was just like. This is his quirky thing. He mismatches his socks.
konlin-gappmayer_5_08-27-2025_193810:Okay.
joshua-dietrich_5_08-27-2025_153812:Uh, okay. Um, I love the camera angle in the beginning where it shows where he's looking and not necessarily just the front of the car pans from corner to corner, how he's looking into the corner, out of the corner into the next corner.
konlin-gappmayer_5_08-27-2025_193810:Super.
joshua-dietrich_5_08-27-2025_153812:I don't like him doing the threading the needle thing in the Porsche at the beginning because he would've had a full tank, so heavy car and cold tires versus a light car with high hot tires. He wouldn't have been able to do it that fast. That is a small racing fan nitpick that nobody would've noticed except racing fans. But I was sitting there like, no way that would've happened. He would've dropped behind him for a couple laps, then been able to pass.
konlin-gappmayer_5_08-27-2025_193810:Hmm.
joshua-dietrich_5_08-27-2025_153812:Not a big deal, but was something that I noticed. I also don't like that they don't even say what the opening race is. They say it's at Daytona, but they don't say it's the 24 hours of Daytona. And something I only noticed because I'm a racing fan. And even on top of that, they only mentioned that it was in Daytona afterwards, they didn't say what it was during, so we don't know why he's woken up in the middle of his sleep, why he's. Being dragged out onto the track, et cetera. Like unless you're a racing fan, you just dunno like whatever. Um, I love the opening with the music and the credits. And very eighties, very top gun was very, very good. Um. I love that you can very obviously see that the outside of Formula One tires turn more than the inside tire. Um, that's a real thing. It's very cool technology. Very cool that people have discovered that and do it, and they made it known visible to see, um, which is very, very cool. Um, Rosco in it, Lauren, which is Louis Hamilton's dog. So.
lauren_5_08-27-2025_193810:Yay.
joshua-dietrich_5_08-27-2025_153812:a reason for you to watch it? Um, I don't like the sound of the announcers because it sounds like there, it's coming out of speakers and we're an audience member at the track. I don't think that the TV announcers are. Shown on the track, but like, either way, we're following along like we're a TV viewer. So having that audio effect kind of bothered me. Um, there are some funny things for me as a Formula One fan. Um, so they're racing. Brad Pitt, uh, is racing in at Silverstone and. We see our heroes go up the inside while his partner takes a very wide angle to that turn. Um, in real life, a very similar thing happened between Louis Hamilton and Max Tappin, but Max Tappin didn't go wide, didn't give any room, so he crashed. Louis Hamilton got penalized, uh, because of that incident, which me being a Louis Hamilton fan, looking back at it, it's like, no, max is at fault there. There should have been no penalty. But there are multiple scenes like that in this. Movie calling back to that 2021 season between Max and Lewis and it was basically like, max, this is how you should have handled this situation. That's basically all the scene was.
konlin-gappmayer_5_08-27-2025_193810:Really.
joshua-dietrich_5_08-27-2025_153812:for me I was like, ha. And for Formula One fans, they would've noticed it otherwise other, it didn't take away like it was still a cool racing scene for other people at the same time. Um. I love how they're like, Hey, we have to make Brad Pitt look young in this scene. Let's put a wig on him and call it good like that genuinely is all it feels like. They just gave him a shag wig. They're like, now you're young to play out this scene.
konlin-gappmayer_5_08-27-2025_193810:That
joshua-dietrich_5_08-27-2025_153812:And to me was funny. I absolutely love that they did it. Um. I wish that they had showed qualifying at all. Uh, basically they keep saying, this team Apex keeps starting at the back, but there's no like fight for qualifying. There's no, we have to build for, we're not building for qualifying, so we're doing our setup for the race, et cetera. That kind of stuff. I wish they would've shown it. They didn't. Not the worst thing, but I think it would've added to people knowing what Formula One is as well as built some tension as to why. They're starting where they are on track. Um, I love Gunter Steiner. He is, if you watch Drive to Survive, he's one of the, um, team principles of the Haas F1 team. He was at the time, he's not anymore, but he's known for his language and being a funny guy. And he's the guy that leans back and says, what the fuck? To our Apex team, um. Again, just like all the F1 call outs, the fact that I can see F1 drivers, the fact that I can know these scenes and be like, oh, that was an actual race thing that happened. I can see what they did there. Um, I love the race tampering that Brad Pitt does to get the first points for the team. Um, there's the scene in the rain where. Uh, Brad Pitt goes out on track and he has to let Max pass, but doesn't have to let his teammate pass, which is dumb because he would've also gotten the blue flag for his teammate, and his teammate would've had to pass. So.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Was the Brad Pitt hitting stuff, uh, so that he could help, help his, help his teammate win. Was that legit at all, hitting the driver's cause of the safety car, just knocking off the fin, barely what he did over and over again. Okay. Okay. I, okay. Hmm, hmm. With the, with the part where he crashes the, the kid crashes and he goes through the simulator over and over again. Did that feel realistic to you? Like if he would've listened, he not have crashed? Like, did that feel Okay. That's fair. That that is crazy. Oh, wow. He is proven that he can drive before. That's cool, man. I'm glad you liked it. I didn't. I honestly had no idea what you would think'cause I just didn't know how well they did. As far as the racing fan. Dumb goes, that's cool, man. I like Top Gun better than this one, but I did really, really enjoy this movie. I really enjoyed this movie. That's cool.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:All right, then let's go on to one of your topics, Conlin.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Alright. Tiny Tina's Wonderland. I've been playing this for months and I finally finished it. This is a very fun but extremely underwhelming game. Um, borderlands is just better. All of them, all of'em are better than this one, but they did. the idea of you playing through like a d and d campaign. I think it's cool and they do some cool stuff with that. Um, they have your DM doesn't really know what she's doing, so there's times where she's just like, yeah, there, there totally was a castle right there for, for sure. And then all of a suddenly the game, just like a castle, just plops out of the sky. And I thought it was very DM and I liked that a lot. They do a lot of fun stuff. If you've ever played d and d that. That you just see, um, that was really entertaining. I liked the way they incorporated magic into the game. I wish it was a little bit more pushed.'cause it feels like you're playing borderlands. And they were like, oh yeah, we, we are supposed to add magic stuff, so let's do that. Here's a couple things. Now we're playing magic Borderlands. Yay. And I wish it was more like, this feels like magic and then it has a little bit of borderlands flavor. It was not very even that way. Um, some of the side quests felt pretty, uh, to me, where by the end of it I was like, okay, I just wanna get to the end of this game, kind of be done. good. Which I've never felt with a borderlands game before. Usually I get to the end of it and I'm like, that was good. Solid time. But I was getting like, okay, this we're good. Um, the bosses were a little bullet spongy. Some of'em were really good, some of'em weren't. it's just, I, I have hope for tiny Tina's Wonderland too there is some good stuff here. There really is, but it's not great. And it should be, and it should be better and I hope they figure it out.'cause the formula needs a little bit of a, of a boost. Um, borderlands three i, I did have a lot of fun with, but it is kind of just the same thing over and over again. Borderlands four kind of looks like the same thing over and over again, it's, it's just getting kind of still, I was hoping that this would be better than it was.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Hmm. So with Tiny Tina and Borderlands, they're kind of set up like, uh, DD where like you have a DM and then characters.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Borderlands isn't like that. And this one you are playing a d and d campaign and you, it'll view the table that you're looking at and what the story is and you'll have the interactions with the people playing. And then you are one of the players and it goes down into your character and then you're playing the borderlands type shoot'em up thing.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Hmm.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:had magic spell books where you're casting spells, but they also just kind of shoot. So it feels very just borderlands
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Hmm.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:cool if like you had a skull and you were shooting skulls or so something more magical instead of just, oh, I have a gun and I'm shooting, but area seems magical.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Hmm.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:if that makes sense.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:it depends. So, so you have parts of it that are really interesting'cause you have, like, there's a jack in the bean sock that I really, really like from this game. It's the best part of the game. And you're literally just crying, trying to climb the bean stock to be able to beat the final boss and get what, get his item to go to the next area. And it was really cool how they incorporate all that fairytale lore into the game that felt more magical. And when it feels more magical, this game works. When it just feels like borderlands. You're like, the gimmick seems stupid because I'm just shooting guns anyway, so why am I doing this? Does that make sense?
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Mm-hmm.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Yeah. And it, it's, it's there. It could be good. It really could. But this one was just underwhelming. It's not bad. It's just underwhelming.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Okay. When does the tiny Tina's Wonderland two come out?
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:I don't know if they've even announced it. Do you know Josh? I don't, I don't know if it's actually gonna be a thing, but
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Oh, okay.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:they do make it a thing. It currently uncertain. There's conflicting reports. Uh, so yeah, we don't know. I think if they do do it, there is a possibility that it could be really good
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Okay.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:possibility. They just, it needs some work. It needs some work.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Okay. And then have you rated it
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:No, I would give it a 6.5 is what I would give it. Um, it should be a 7.5, it's just, it's just not, last boss fight so lame. It's so lame.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:okay?
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:I, I got an overpowered weapon right before it, and I was just like, B dead, just, it was not, it was not very good. Um, I just need, it just left me with kind of a math feeling.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Hmm.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:There's nothing about it that's super great, other than climbing jack in the beat sucks tower, and then sliding down it and shooting stuff while you're sliding down the tower. That was really cool. That's about it.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:All right, well, uh, I'll segue into another, uh, video game. Um, I've talked about hell divers too before. I think on here I have to change my rating on it'cause my brother spammed me with, it was over a hundred invites, um, to play Hell Divers one night. Um, I don't know.'cause he was bored and I was like, uh. I just went to bed and I was like, nevermind, I don't need to be on the computer. So I went to bed. Next day my brother starts spamming me with invites again, and I can't even do anything on my computer because it's just popping up with invites. So I was like, okay, fine, fine. I'll play with you for like a minute. I have to download the update. Um, it was, it was kind of fun playing now that I realized they put me into a super, like the worst, um, the hardest rating of a mission first when I first played it. So I was just dying immediately and they were just always calling me down and I didn't know how to do anything because there was too much chaos. This time they actually put the settings down a little bit lower so I could figure out how to play the game. And not, uh, die every two seconds. So it was, uh, fun.'cause we got, it was two of my brothers, my brother's wife, uh, we were playing and we were like defending this fort from these robots and stuff. And at one point, uh, they're like, how you doing? Somebody was like, I'm making my way down, uh, to you. And so of course I started singing Make My Way Downtown. And they're like, how you doing Lauren? And I'm like, I just start screaming as I'm just like, my accuracy was horrible. And like I, at the end, I had like 2000 shots and I only like landed 500 of them and I'd only killed like 73. And then my brothers are like in the hundreds and stuff. Uh, but it was fun playing with them. And then like, we got a whole bunch of like inside jokes with it. So. I'm gonna, I'm gonna rate hell divers a seven.'cause I'm probably gonna play with my brothers again when they invite me. Which, okay. I finally understand that. I was like, I was like, why is everybody so patriotic about this game? And as we're just sitting there, like, your characters are screaming these things out. They're like, for our freedoms for democracy. And there's this one part where they left me and there was like all these bugs swarming, and I had this jet pack and I jumped up on top of this hill. So now the bugs could get me. And they forgot about me. And like 10 minutes later they're like, Lauren, you're still alive. And I was like, yeah. And I was like, I'm outta bullets, but like, I'm alive. But I like definitely use the whole, uh, I've got the high ground. I'm doing this for democracy. So it was, it, it's, it gets funny once, um. You're all kind of freaking out because you're getting overwhelmed with stuff and then you like make it out. Like there was one part, my brothers think it's funny to set like a bomb down as you're jumping into the hella carrier so that a bomb explodes as you're going off. I didn't understand what was going on going on and I was just standing outside of the hell carrier and they're like, Lauren, get on. Get on. I was like, what? And it exploded, but I had this armor on that gave me a 50% chance that I wouldn't die. And so they're like, how did you live? I was like, my armor's just too beautiful.'cause they were making fun of my armor earlier. And then I got on and my brother looked at my stats and he is like, no, literally it's because of your arm. So it's, I don't have as many cool things as they do because they're level, one of'em is like 160 something and I'm like a level four. So, yeah. Uh, I will be playing more with my brothers. Um, they play every night. I don't think I'm gonna play every night, but I'll give it a seven.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Cool.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:But yeah,
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Cool. It's a
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:uh, yeah. Have you guys both played?
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Yeah.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Yeah. You not into it? It is. I guess it's my brother's. Yeah. I don't understand.'cause like at first, when it first came out, I understood why my brothers were like so obsessed, but they were like, still, every night, that's the thing they wanna play. That's the only thing they wanna play. And I'm like. Okay. And then I finally understood the, um, the TikTok you sent me, where it's like the, the just dance hitting the things to kill the, but yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:that's my one thing I don't like about the game'cause I'm slight like very slightly dyslexic. Some things like that bug me. So there's so many times where I'm like left arrow and my brain goes left arrow, but it's the right, I do
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Mm-hmm.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:the time in that game.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Yeah,
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:and it's, well other than that, it's very, very fun game.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:yeah, yeah. I understand it a lot better this go, so that's why I didn't hate on it as much before it was just chaos and I was like, I don't understand anything and I hate it and I'm dead, but, all right. Let's go on to Josh, your next topic.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:That's, Hmm. That's solid. It's a very fun game. Very fun game.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:All well short and sweet. Let's go to Conlin, your second topic.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:My second topic is depressing and sad. Nah, it's called Stolen Innocence. Um, so we all grew up in an LDS culture. Um, I didn't know that much about FLDS polygamous type people and I learned a lot from this book. This is a book from the point of view of somebody who was FLDS who got married off to a guy who was 21 when she was 14, and she gets pregnant three different times, loses the baby multiple times. She thinks that she isn't, like she's brainwashed into believing that. If she was following her commandments and loving her priesthood head is what they call it, then this wouldn't happen because God is punishing her and not giving her a family because she's not being loving enough to her priesthood head. But she hates her priesthood head. He rapes her, he makes her like watch him do extremely lewd acts. It's disgusting and he does it over and over again the first time they have any kind of sex. Um, she doesn't know what's going on. She doesn't know why he's doing the things that he's doing. Like she's never heard of it before. She's heard marital relations and she doesn't even know what that means. Her mom didn't explain it to her in the at the time where it is more Um. She is told that her priesthood head, which is the person that she's given away to, to get married to, is the person that's supposed to explain what sexual relations are. he doesn't explain anything. He just forces himself on her over and over and over again. And, uh, goes to the prophet of the church at the time, the one who's in jail, Warren, Jeffs, and like, I don't want to be in this relationship. I hate this relationship. He is doing all of these things to me, and I don't know what to do. I need, I, I want to get out. And she's like, he, he said, just pray. Pray it'll be okay. Um, and what I found Stark is how they were saying a lot of the same things that I've heard in the church. A lot of the same phrases, a lot of the same terminology, but it was just slightly twisted and how dark it got from being slightly twisted. always had a problem with Brigham Young. I still have a problem with Brigham Young, even though I am involved in the church, and a lot of it is similar stuff to what I was seeing in this book that I don't really like about Brigham Young and I don't, and I've never known how to really reconcile. and it was interesting seeing my religion almost, almost with a camera on it from a different angle is, is kind of how I looked at this. And it made the, it made the whole point of view. Interesting. Along with that, you're following this girl and you feel for her the entire time. She's trying to explain her thoughts. She's trying to explain why she is the way that she is, and she's like, I, I believed the religion. I cared about the religion. I tried to be in the religion. I tried to have somebody care about me, but nobody would listen. was supposed to just go to my priesthood head and every single time I would try to talk, somebody would just tell me to shut up. So. She explains that she's been married for years and there's this other guy who's trying to be a religious person. He's trying to be part of the religion, he's trying to be faithful, he's trying to be a great priesthood leader, and he gets abandoned and pushed aside over and over again too. And they end up getting married, but their marriage isn't supposed to happen. She's supposed to be with her appointed head because that's how she gets to heaven. how she gets loved. That's how God accepts her. All of these different things. And I thought about religion and like it takes for God to accept you. It's an interesting, idea. Um, and it's an idea that causes a lot of pain and a lot of strife with a lot of different people because whether you're Catholic, Protestant, whatever it is, you have this own idea of like what it takes to. Deserve God's love, what it takes to be part of the kingdom, be part back into heaven, and what does that actually take? What is God's real love for you? And she has to deal with all of these different questions, and they're deep hard questions. Um, going along with this journey with her is heartbreaking. It's really, really sad. She gets to the point where she leaves the church and then year, years pass. And, um, the Warren, Jeffs, their prophet at the time is getting, is having cases pulled up against him for things like what she's going through. The rape of a 14-year-old girl, the forced marriage of 14-year-old girls, 16, 15, 13. And one of their key witnesses, one of the FBI's key witnesses, falls through know about her story. So they're constantly pushing her. You need to testify, otherwise we can't stop this guy. And this is gonna happen to your little sisters too. What do you want to do? And the religion has such a hold on, on her own mom that the mom calls her and is like, this was all just a misunderstanding. really need to push this hard. You can just let it go. And the mom knows that she's come crying to her multiple times because she's getting raped, but she still defends this religion. And I, I, I see religions doing wrong things all the time. I see my own religion do wrong things. Um, and people just defend it and they just go along with it. wrong is wrong. And how do you deal with that? Warren Jeffs eventually goes to jail. And this really had me thinking about like Joseph Smith going to jail and getting killed. Because if you look at Joseph Smith's story, and you look at it from the point of view of the people that were not of the religion that were in the area, he is this person that's coming in, claiming land, he's doing squatter rights, he's taking over an entire county. He wants to get governorship because he has more people than the rest of the county now. So he literally can just take it over legally and they hate him. And I understand why they would hate him. And then you have the religion, the LDS people, he's the martyr. He got shot. He got killed. And I think about that with Warren. Jeffs, he's, he was our great prophet. He's the one who was leading us. He's the one who was helping us. He's the one who was guiding us to a better light. And it's weird to compare the two, but I'm, I'm thinking about it from that point of view because how hard would it be to be an F-L-D-S-P person and have your prophet go to jail and you've been told your entire life not to believe in authorities. Cops aren't here to help you. And all of a suddenly they throw him in jail. So he, now he's the martyr in their head. And how much of that was the same when Joseph Smith was around? I don't really know. And it's a weird dichotomy to think about. And she's like, I would've been so hurt and so sad if my prophet went to jail and I would've felt like the government was out to get me. I would've felt completely and utterly lost when I was still part of that religion. How do they deal with that? And she's like, I pray for this FLDS family, for the people that I have out there that I can't talk to anymore, they won't talk to me because I put their profit in jail and she has to carry all of this weight. Such a difficult thing. I thought this book was fascinating. I've talked to Josh about it a few times as I've read it because it just, I, I grew up in this culture and it was, it was eye-opening for me. It was. It was so interesting. I don't know if you're not part of the culture, if it'd be as fascinating to you, but for me, this was like a 8.59. I was, I I would literally start chapters over again and just think about it. Just analyze it and analyze it and analyze it. Um, I've always thought religion was interesting and this is a very, very fascinating read.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:So with like having seen like the perspective of this person and knowing that like that happens in other religions, not like just in this one specific thing and like unfortunately happens more than you think. As like a guy, is there any way that you think that, like you could do to help with that? Or like what would you do yourself to like help with that?
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:I don't know is to, to be completely honest.'cause I think there are benefits to getting married young. Like the LLDS culture very much pushes that. But you also have moments where people just jump into things because you're supposed to. And I see that a lot too. So I don't know how to, I don't know how to help people with it. Um, because should you get married at 20 after knowing some guy for two, three months? Like does happen in our culture? I don't think so. No. But it also do I think you should wait until you're 35 to get married. And you've been living with somebody for five years also. No. And how to find a balance with that or how I help with that balance. I don't really know. Um, it's a. It's a, it's a hard question. What do you think, Josh? I think Taylor Swift should make her wedding a concert best, biggest concert of all time.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:No, I hope she keeps it private. Um.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:hope so too. But I think it'd be funny if she made it a concert.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Um, yeah, I was more like in, not talking about like quickly getting married, but like how like there was like that oppression of like, her going to people and then just being like, oh, just pray about it. You know? And like as how would you, um,'cause you kept saying like, oh, this is something that I would like sit and think about. Um, I was just wondering like in your sit and think about, is it like, oh, I need to change this in my life to help promote this type of thing? Or if what those thinking sessions ended up with, I guess.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:a lot about blind faith. Um,'cause this, this talks a lot about blind faith and like they follow that prophet no matter what. All of these things don't make sense. Her own daughter is getting raped, but they just follow it. And there's things like, I avoid drinking green tea is an example, and I do it because of the religion. I don't really know if I'm gonna do that anymore because it literally is illogical in every sense. And I've contemplated this for a really long time. This is not where, nowhere near the subject matter that we're talking about, but it's a little, little example, um, because there are, more scientific evidence about green tea being healthy for you than anything else on planet Earth that I know of. there is so much, it is a mountain and it just doesn't logically make any sense at all. Um, and like, I don't like. We're getting, this is very religious. Um, I don't like that the current prophet of the, of the LDS church is so focused on Jesus Christ. And so pulling away from the family, we're supposed to just focus on Jesus. But the point of the plan of salvation is the family. So why, why are we pulling away from that aspect? It makes us feel more Protestant in nature rather than, and I, I thought about this while I was thinking about the book, we're supposed, we've always been told Follow the prophet. Follow the prophet. Follow the prophet. That is a pretty standard LDS song that you sing as, as children. Um, I have a friend who left the church because he was teaching primary and he hated the brainwashing is how it felt like to him. you, you do kind of get brainwashed. You get brainwashed everywhere in society. And where does that brainwashing take you? Um, I don't really like that the prophet is. Is shifting it to a more Protestant filling religion because we're not Protestants. That's one of the cool things about the religion. Um, this is getting deeper than I thought it was going to, but how, how I help a, a girl who's in that kind of a situation. I don't know there were, I, I have a friend who was in an abusive situation. It's a very different thing, not, not a religious context, but she just kept staying in that household and I had her stay with me for a little while, um, to get out of it because you just have to get out. And if I have the opportunity, anybody listening, if you ha if you are in a situation like that, if I can help you, I absolutely will. I mean that for real, but I just don't know how else to really do it. Um, my ponderings were a lot about like my own religious convictions and like, where, where do I want to go? What do I want to do? I was thinking about this, the church has changed a lot over the period of time that is ha has existed, and it could follow the same precepts of this FLDS religion because they're following a lot of the same teachings, they're following a lot of the same words and what are the words that are actually correct. Does that sort of answer your question, Lauren?
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be like go religious. Like, sorry. I was like more of just curious as to like what you were pondering when you were like, I was sitting like thinking about this and I was like, I don't know if this is like a, a change my life thinking things. So that's just what I was curious about.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Yeah.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Let's go.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:was a, there was a lot, there was a lot with this, with this book.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Yeah. It, it seems like a, a pretty, um, a heavy topic. A heavy read.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:It was, I would. It's one that I think would be good for you to read, considering some of the things you've gone through, I think would actually be kind of cathartic. the word? Cathartic.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:I, I already lived it. I don't need to read it.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:That's fair. That's fair.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Well. All right. Um, onto Josh.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:So I was gonna talk about this next week. I'm about halfway through Fellowship of the Ring.'cause I just started to start at two and I, I thought it was remarkable how different it was from the movies. And I, I've seen how they, like, how they constructed the movies, but I've never seen how they constructed the story. And they take little parts of it. Like, there's little, little, like they, they'll take a phrase here, they'll actually put it into the movie. They'll take a phrase here. They actually put it into the movie, but it's remarkably different. the Mary and Pippen don't even feel like the same characters, but I still like the characters. They kind of feel like. characters that they become at the end of the movies, not the characters that they were at the beginning, which is an interesting change, but it's not a bad change. Um, the black writers feel very, very different. They don't even feel like the same things. Um, yeah, I don't know. I, I really like this book. I was, it's unlike anything else I've quite read. Have you gotten to Tom Bombadil yet? Yeah. Yes. Did you,
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Which narrator?
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Yeah, that's what I was gonna ask. Okay. I'm, I'm listening to the Andy Circus version, which Andy Circus does a, he does a good job, but he's still not Gandalf like, it's the biggest area where I'm like, it it is just so much better in the movie. Gandalf is just better in the movie. Um, yeah, I'm, I'm ha I'm almost halfway through the book and they still haven't gotten to the end, which is crazy.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Okay. Yeah, it's, it's wild. Um, but it's so, it's so whimsical. Like, that's what I like about the book. I didn't have a problem with any of the descriptors. Like I've, I've heard how he talks about trees for three pages, but I really, uh, he, he brings them up and then something happens with the event. It's whimsical, it's magical. They go on to the next thing. I really like the inclusion of the songs. Um, can understand why people were upset that Tom Bombadil wasn't in it. I thought I would not like Tom Bombadil. Everything I've heard about him, he sounds like a freaking annoying character. I really liked Tom Bombadil. I like him a lot. I'm, I was very, very pleasantly surprised. Um, it's, it feels like a fairytale the entire thing in a way. I've never read anything else. This big that feels like a fairytale is so perfect. That would've been cool actually. Cool. That's
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Yeah, I, I've been impressed, like better than with how different it is. It's better than I would've guessed, and I like it more and more as I listen to it. Me too, me too. Historical context. Me too. With, um, I'm surprised that they didn't have Tom Bombadil for the extended cuts and cut'em out. There's a, the part where, is it Mary or Pippin that gets sucked into the tree in the extended edition, or is it both of'em? Okay. In the book, it's just Mary, I think, uh, Tom Bombadil basically comes and pulls him out of the tree, and it's a fantastic part of the book. surprised they didn't do that and then be like, ah, this doesn't really work. We're gonna cut it. What, what does he say? I don't, I actually don't know this. Okay. Okay, cool. That's fair enough. I'm excited for you to read more of it. I will probably finish it this week. I, it a lot. Have you read it,
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Yeah, I read it a while ago, so I'll have to re reread, but,'cause like I, I'm starting to remember the things that, like you guys are pointing out, but. Like, I read this, so when I was younger and my mom told me I couldn't watch something, I would see if it had a book and then I would read it. So I couldn't know what was going on. So I read Lord of the Rings because people wouldn't let me watch Lord of the Rings. Um, yeah, so it was, it's been a while.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:That's cool. still like the movies better, I think. I don't know. I'm, I was so surprised by how much I liked the way that this book is written. Very different, almost. They haven't even gotten to Strider yet. I, yeah, that moves. The beginning of the movie is way faster for the plot points than what we've gotten for the book, like way faster. But yeah, that faster pipe weed. Did you have a, did you have an open section that was, uh, Tolkien talking about his response to the, fans? Okay.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:It's important.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Mine had a talking about the fans' complaints and he is like, he went and addressed some of them, which I thought was kind of cool. But then he is like, the biggest complaint though is that everybody says it wasn't long enough. And I was like, I don't think that was everybody's complaint. I don't think so. But it's, it's very good. That's really cool. It's cool that you're reading it. I love that, man. I love that for you. All right, Lauren.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Uh, another book topic. So, uh, Josh has read Cities of Smoke and Starlight, and I just listened to it this last week, and I agree with what he says about they knock them out too much as a plot device. And I was like literally getting angry because there's like a lot of, um, like, oh, sitting around the campfire, getting to know everybody, and Oh, I'm gonna tease you, you're gonna tease them. I'm gonna be all angst and over here, and then like. They see a dragon in at night'cause they're looking for somebody.'cause they just weren't like in a crash. Which one of them passed out by the way? And they're, so you don't actually get a description of the crash. It's just like, we're crashing, knocked out. We crashed.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:crashing.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:So then it goes to, they're like trying to find somebody, they run into a dragon and like literally just as like the action is about to happen. She faints. There was not even really an explanation to her fainting. And then it was just like, she wakes up back at camp and they're like, yeah, we saw a dragon. And I, I chased, uh, you're safe now. You, you got knocked down. That's, I like, have a sneaky suspicion that the author does not know how to write, like, action scenes. And so she's like, oh, how did I say it? Oh yeah. Yeah. There's a coward. You can't do action scenes.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:So I have a serious question about this.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:put my loan into Libby on July 2nd for this book, and I started 67th in line, and now I'm 45th. So I will be able to read this book current pace in like January of next year. Is this worth keeping my hold?
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Yeah. I, I like it. I liked it. I just have the complaints about complaints, the, the getting knocked out and getting scooted into the plot.'cause like, I kept thinking I was skipping on the, the book because she was doing that. But I do like the story.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Okay.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:little bit. Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Okay,
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:So if that, if that's a problem, then don't like, I guess release your hold or whatever. But, um, I think, like, I actually enjoyed the book and I would read the second one. I just like, I was getting a little bit angry that I was like, that would've been such a cool scene. Why did you skip over that? And I'm like, this girl's gotta have brain damage by this point. Um,
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:that sounds incredibly frustrating.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:but um, I was confused with Josh saying that like the romance was like, not there. I don't think that, like, I think the author was putting in little romance thingies hints and stuff, but I don't know that I really believe the relationship yet. Um, I'll have to see with the second book, but it kind of just seemed like, it was like, oh, well they're in the room with you, so that's the person you're gonna like, was what it felt like forced proximity. Um, but yeah, no, I won't go into too much than other than, I'm just mad that they kept knocking out the characters because I was like, that could have been so cool. Anyway, uh,
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:what were, what were, what was your rating, Lauren?
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:um, I would say that it's like a seven.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Okay. What was yours, Josh? I can't remember. Okay. Hmm.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Uh, yeah, no, it is literally Atlantis without the romance.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:What?
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:so funny. I was like, they're in the sky instead of the sea, but it's, it's Atlanta. The plot is, anyway,
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:your top romance? Brooke? Lauren?
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:my Top Romance book, uh, what do I have? Um, I really like one dark window and two twisted crowns. It's a a two twofer. Um, I mean, I don't think that, like, I don't rate say that's the top romance, meaning like, oh, this, everybody should, like, this is how you find love. I just enjoy, um, like enemies to lover, uh, books. And I feel like that one does it well in a way that it's not like she hates him, but it's, uh, he's part of a faction that's like supposed to, it's kind of like a Romeo Juliet situation. Um, no, it's like, no.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:has muscles and sometimes takes off his shirt.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:No. No. He loves to read.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:In in this book. This sounds like a terrible book. Why do you guys, why do you have it as a seven? Nothing about what you guys have said has been like this sounds like it's worth being the hype.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Yeah, you read it.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Okay, I'll keep it on my freaking cue.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:I thought you were like talking about the book. I was talking about the one dark window. That's why I was like, yeah, that's why I was like surprised. It was like not, that's not what this is. Yeah. That was so confused.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Rachel Gil Gilli Gillich.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Uh, probably, uh, let's see. I also really like the, um, magic system in one dark. Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Okay.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:I dunno.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Hey, I'll be able to read this one soon. It won't be forever.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Nice.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:That is fantastic. Okay, sweet. I have added it to my holds. We're gonna read some, some goodness.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:I was like, I don't think that I've read a lot of romance books
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Oh, nevermind. It's gonna be forever. There are 746 people waiting in line.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:for one dark window.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Yeah, I'll tell you about it in, in June.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:I was like, I could just give you my copy.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:I'll just do that'cause that was a fricking long wait.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Uh, all right, so let's move on to our shared, did I everybody say their topic? Okay. Yes. To our shared topic. Uh, the gray, um, Conlin. Let's hear your thoughts first.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:I like this a lot. Like a lot, a lot actually. Liam Nelson is fantastic in this, and I think it's a show that's not really, it's weird. The animals don't act like animals at all. And I can see that being a problem for a lot of people.'cause to me this is more like a weird creature feature, like a horror creature feature about the depth of human survival and like, what will you take to win? And they, there's, there's a, what, what happens when the world comes crashing down around you and you just have to survive? What kind of person do you become? And it's asking this deep question as they're getting hunted by this creature. And to me, this is like a slasher creature feature from the eighties, kind of a movie that I really, really like. I like that kind of movie. I like the alien, I like that kind of a thing. And the wolves are just counting as that creature. He's slowly coming or ripping people apart and they're trying to escape, but they can't escape'cause they just keep getting haunted and taken down step by step one by one. The plane crash scene I think is great in this, these, um, him trying to help the survivors, him picking up all of the wallets and at the very end he's going through the wallets and he is looking at people and he decides I'm going to live. And he straps his knuckles and he, he decide, like you can see in his face, I'm going to live, I'm gonna take out these wolves, I'm gonna take out my nightmares that are haunting me. And I thought it was bloody brilliant. I really, really enjoyed this movie. it was better than I thought it was gonna be. I recommend Liam Nielsen is the man. This is probably my second favorite of his movies. Yeah, I think this is my second favorite of his movies and I liked it like 8.5.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Honestly, you saying. That it be a creature feature. Boosted it up on my movie things.'cause I was very angry about the Wol.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:I can understand that. Like I was looking at it, I was like, if you just looked at this as wolfs, no, you're not gonna like this movie.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Yeah,
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:You won't. But if you take it as being something like that, I think it's a great movie.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:yeah. Switching that perspective and being like it's a creature feature, then yeah, I think it was a lot better. Um, Josh.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Hmm. No. That's interesting. It it's haunting. Okay. That's too bad. I think the depression thing is a cool angle. I, I like that angle. It actually makes me. Like it even more, not enough to change my rating, but I like it even better. I, nah, I thought this movie was fantastic. I think I am heavily in the minority though. Lauren get an even lower score than Josh.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:yeah, I do. Um, I do have to say like,'cause I agree with Josh. I was kind of bored while watching it.'cause one, the visuals were so dark, like they had like the light of the campfire. And most of the time I couldn't tell which character was which character because it was so dark. Um, but like, uh. That ending scene where he's like sitting in the den and like, that music starts. I was like, I was kind of doing something else while I was watching this because I was kind of bored, but like, I stopped and I like quit everything I was doing. And I watched that scene and like, I got like, the hair rose up on my arms and everything and I literally like rewound that part and re-watched it.'cause I was like, okay. I was like, I'm not mad that I watched this because of that scene. Um, but yeah, going up to it there was like, um, yeah, I, I was just kind of bored. There was, I got the, I think the other scene that I kind of stopped and looked at was when the one guy, um, was dying and his daughter like, came up and was like talking to him while he was like passing, um. But I kept thinking, I'm like, this is such a guy movie, because it's like, oh, I gotta survive. And, uh, Liam Neil Nielsen's being a fricking badass. So like, but yeah, I was so bothered with how I was seeing the wolves as wolves, and I was like, that's not, that's because I was thinking, I was like, the whole time I'm like, the, the wolves would only be there at night. Also, they're scared of like new things. So that's why like, uh, like shepherds will just switch something up in their lot to keep, um, wolves away from their sheep. And that's just changing something up is enough to keep wolves away. And so it was like, I'm like, these are just some really brazen wolves and that wouldn't happen. And then you have Liam Nielsen talking about the alpha's doing this and like explaining everything. But now Josh mentioning that like, no, that's depression. That makes so much more sense because he knows, he knows the wolves, the depression, and so is able to like, convey that to everybody else. Um, okay, so like I'm raising it a little bit higher'cause I was kind of like at a two before you guys told me your bits about this because I was like, this was not for me. I like that one scene at the end. Um, but now that you guys have shown me like your point of views, I'd probably raise it up to a four. Um, but I'm not mad actually. I would probably watch this before I'd watch Black Panther. I was gonna say a 5.1
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:Right above like Panther, like
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:because, because I would watch this before I'd watch Black Panther again. Um, but it's.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:It was so cool.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:I need to figure out what scene that is.'cause I don't think I saw that because
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:It's
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:That that does sound, I'll have to
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:It was so good. This was the movie that I was looking for when we watched that one with, um, that I Liked Better Than You. Yep. This is what I was
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:Mm,
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:this.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:yeah. This is like, I do agree that the music was really good and then when it wasn't night, it looked really the. Cinematography was good when it wasn't night otherwise. I'm like, it's yeah. Yeah. When they were walking past a scenic view, I liked it.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:You know when they had that, those words at the very end of the movie that were going up the screen,
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:It said the end.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:was excellent.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:My favorite part is when it said the end. I'm just kidding. No, I'm not mad. I watched it. Um, I didn't think that it was one that was gonna be tailored towards me anyway. Um, but yeah, uh, that was pretty good. Um. Well with that, I think that will be our third topic for this week. Uh, thanks everybody for listening and have a better week this week than you did last week.
konlin-gappmayer_6_08-27-2025_194542:So you guys.
lauren_6_08-27-2025_194541:I.
