Blacktop Wasteland – S.A. Cosby – Episode 33

The Buddies speed their way through S.A. Cosby’s Blacktop Wasteland, a heist-thriller, with a southern noir twang. The buddies jump all over the map on this episode, one second talking about tattoos and chop shops, the next second chatting about family humor and math skills. Hop in your Duster, turn up the Elvis, and flip the nitrous as we burn through this gritty page-turner.

Intro: (0:00-0:58)
Stock Up/Down (0:59-22:53)
Love/Hate (22:54-34:32)
Favorite Scene/Character (34:33-39:46)
Casting the Movie (39:47-42:00)
Listener Emails (42:01-45:21)
Conclusion (45:22-46:34)

Next Book: THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO by TAYLOR JENKINS REID

Transcript for SEO Purposes 🙂

All right. Welcome to the book club. I’m Dylan here with the wheelman to my heart. Keith. What’s up, buddy? Thank you. It’s been too long. It’s been way too long. Indeed it has. We’re flipping the screen ripped this week. I think we told people last time we were going to be reading the Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which we are reading and we will be doing shortly. But we kind of work in two books at once. And we buzzed through this one, which is essay cosby’s blacktop wasteland. So we’re going to go through this one first. And as always on the Buddy Book Club, we’re bringing down the best sellers. And this week we’ll be discussing that book, Blacktop Wasteland. If you like to recommend a book for us to read or reach out to us at past episodes, you can visit our website, buddybucal.com, or sign to our DMs on Twitter or Instagram Buddy Gov podcast. You can listen to us on itunes and Spotify. So please download and subscribe. Let’s just run into it quickly with some stock up. Stock down. We’ll start there and we’ll continue with a few other categories. But Keith, what do you have for stock up? First thing? Stock up. Analogies and similes. Oh, there’s a ton of similes in this book, and this stock is way up. After this book, I like to talk in analogies and simile. I can never think of good ones, but I like doing them and thinking of good ones. There’s nothing that feels better than someone says like, Dang. That’s a good analogy. That’s one of the best phones you can get. But this book was chocked full of them and a lot of them were super funny. Do you have them for us? Oh, yeah, I got a bunch of the thing is, too, I go on a hike and I do like the notes app, and I will tell Siri what I wanted to say. And she butchers at 99% of the time. So some of these I lost in the shuffle because I’m like, what the fuck was I saying there? Yeah, but here’s the ones I got. Guns are like good friends that are always down to do bad things. Love it. This is a great one. SweetTalk her until she has type two diabetes. He wasn’t robbing Peter to pay Paul. They were both mugging him. Good, solid. You don’t call a fish dumb because it can’t climb a tree. And these are my two favorite, which I’m both familiar with. His hairline was retreating like lee at Gettysburg. Yeah, that one was good. I remember seeing that. I was like, wasn’t it more like General Ticket? Are we getting too? I don’t think people know that you can’t get too into the weeds on that and then listen to your gut. The day you don’t, it’s going to be a shitty situation. I like that. I feel like there is there’s probably ten more I missed, but there are so many good ones, and they’re all funny, which is good. I really appreciated it. The one that I had, and I don’t even know if it’s an analogy or assimilate whatever. I don’t know if I’m using those words right either, by the way. Sorry. But he says, Let me see how I can put this. You fucked up so bad, you might want to find your mama crawl up in her snatch and try again.

 

Shawn. A-K-S-A. Some phenomenal one. Do you think they were too much? Was it too much, or was it just the right amount for you? Because sometimes they’re a bit overbearing. Yeah, there are times when I wouldn’t want them is when you’re in the midst of an action sequence, and I thought he was actually really good at writing action, but you almost don’t want to be taken out of it with, like, some analogy to think about when it was kind of explaining families and doing some of that more storyline stuff. I liked them. I liked them a lot. That’s fair. I enjoyed them to the fullest. I thought they were really good. It didn’t take away from the story at all. And it sometimes is one of those things where I didn’t even realize that there were so many analogies or similarities, whatever going on, until I pause it and would reread and say, oh, that was great. Because I was like, I think that’s what I heard. But is that actually what I heard? I want to say my first stock up is having a car that you love, because no one loves a car more than our boy Beauregard loves his Duster. And it’s a bit confusing to me whether it’s a stock up or not, because he was willing to sacrifice anything to keep the car over and over again. He’d have conversations with his wife, and she’d be like, oh, I’ve got to go do some crazy shit. And she’d be like, well, we could just sell the car. And he’d be like, not an option.

 

Participant #1:

The cars were 25 grand, so it would get him out of the hole. It’s not like this was one of those cars. It’s like one in ten. You can never buy it back. He could probably have figured out a way to pay the people off, all right, put himself in a better position and then buy the car back, potentially. Right? Yeah. He could have pond it or given it to his uncle as collateral, like, hey, I need a loan, but here’s my car in case I can never pay back. At least it stays in the family. But we knew it was his uncle, right? I don’t know if it was his uncle or his dad’s best friend. Yeah. I want to say the fact that he has something in his life that’s worth more to him than his son’s life, which is really what it came down to. I just have a deep level of respect for anyone. I go on walks with a dog early in the morning, and there’s this guy who’s out there every day just waxing his car every morning. 07:00 A.m.. Waxing the car. Like, wow, that is some serious commitment. I would rather be doing 10,000 other things than waxing a car. Beauregard was also willing to do 10,000 things, including risk his entire family’s life. He didn’t know that it was mob owned, but yeah, agreed. Oh, I understand that. But at the same time, it’s like, we’re going to the jewelry store and shit might go down. It’s like okay, cool. Whatever. And then some guy gets shot, and it’s like, yeah, stuff like that. He’s like, all right, don’t worry about it. Hey, stock up. Having a car you love. What else you got? Good fellows. Stock up. Obviously very high stock already well known, although the SGF does not like good. I was one of the only movies I’ve shown her that she does not care for. Really? What’s her gripe? Just too over the top violent, which we love. We’re having troubles with the SGF here with Sopranos on that front. Well, me and her on the same page there. Sopranos sucks, but hot tanks. Too much. Too hot. Too hot. Too hot. Yes. The one thing in Goodfells, when anytime I re watch it, I always feel bad is like when they start just killing off everyone. I’m always like, do we need to do that? Especially Samuel. L didn’t love that. Didn’t love him getting killed off. There’s a couple of other guys there that I felt like would have kept their mouth shut. This book the opposite, though, right? When the heist is over, I’m like, he’s got a good fellow. These people get rid of Kwan. That dude’s not Truth. Get rid of Ronnie, get these dudes out of the picture. We need to kill them off. And because he didn’t, good fellows. He ends up getting his family and caught up in this. He ends up almost getting killed himself multiple times. So, good fellows, stock up. I was wrong. Hand up there. This is Beauregard Montage. Great name, by the way. Really? Phenomenal name. Yeah, that might be my next stock. Great main character names, beauregard Montage. This might be his version of the list. Hanza heist he knows Ronnie is holding back on him. And you also know that Ronnie is not trustworthy Reggie. I kind of feel bad for Reggie. In truth. Reggie kind of got rolled up in this, and it’s not necessarily his fault, but Quan useless. Ronnie useless. They’re not good people anyways, especially once it goes bad and you know that. Okay. These guys were seen. Whatever. Shots are fired. Boregard plans for everything. Why don’t you have a plan B where everyone goes into the water and you’re the only one that comes out once they drop the truck off or whatever? You don’t go into business with people that have nothing to lose. Bargain has everything to lose. His wife, his kids. Yes. They’re like, whatever. We don’t go fuck. We kill people. It’s like nothing to them because they have nothing to lose. You don’t want to go in and business them. And then obviously the other comparison with goodfellas is ronnie buys that brand new or somewhat newish Mustang. Just like the pink Cadillac. Yeah, the pink Cadillac. Exactly. But yes, I agree. I think we got to kill him off. And he didn’t have an issue. He didn’t have no issue telling people off. It’s going to tie into my stock down, so I might as well just say it right now, which is getting involved in illegal activities with dimwitz and or drug addicts. I mean, this stock is already down. But for some reason in film and movies, it happens all the time. And I know Beauregard is backed up into a wall here. I get it. He has no other option but to get into business with Ronnie. But everyone around him, all the people he trusts, are saying, don’t do this. Ronnie’s an idiot. Whatever. And then he continues to do it even though there’s so many issues. He hands in the burners, like, hey, use this burner phone. Ronnie doesn’t use the burner. He’s sending text to the jewelry store. Check. Like, yeah, after this high school, we’re going to go and I’m going to blow cocaine at your butt. It’s like, what, dude? And then the second that Quan was like, this is my favorite gun. And he’s like, I’m taking it. It’s my favorite gun. And it’s a nickel plated Desert Eagle, like the most conspicuous gun to ever exist. I feel like Beauregard, hey, I can just sell the shop. I can do anything else. Yes. I’m stuck in this trailer. Life isn’t going well. You’re just sitting there the whole time being like, there has to be a different way because these guys are absolute buffoons. And then, like you said, when Ronnie pulls up with the Mustang, you’re like, okay, this is all going to shit. This is terrible. Well, I mean, I think in the criminal enterprise, you’re not going to typically get the smartest people out there other than Boregard. Boregard is really just a good con man. All the stuff he plans and stuff is like really great con men’s job. So he’s actually pretty smart. But everyone else sucks. Yeah, that’s the thing. I understand he’s in a tight spot, but aren’t there other groups, like other criminal groups who need a wheelman? Baby driver seen it. They hire some child. There has to be someone else who needs a good wheel man who the plan is set. There’s a bunch of smart guys. All they need is a smart keep your lips shut wheelman, right? Yeah. Why isn’t he working for Shade? Why doesn’t he go straight to who’s the other guy’s name? Lazy I thought Lazy Too is going to be like, oh, this guy is the best driver. I’m going to kill these other guys out there. Useless. Now you work for me. It would have made more sense. Also, my last stock up was having a friend with a junkyard. It just seems like the best if you need anything done. He’s like, okay, so many times. They’re just like, all right. I drove the car to his yard and they crushed it. They just make it seem like that’s it. After that, this guy’s working like some sort of side hustle criminal enterprise out of his junkyard. But the cops never come asking around. He’s like, all right, I put two bodies in the trunk and we crushed it. Like, game over. Done. That’s all it takes. GTA. When you just get the star ratings gone, it’s like, oh, you went to the junkyard. It’s over. The stars are gone. Yeah, exactly like that. And if I could have a last stock up, it would be Grand Theft Auto. Because I felt like this book was one of those quests because everything happens in a row. It’s like, okay, we have in GTA. It’s like, we have to go and rob this jewelry store. Like, you’re going to drive it’s like, all right, cool kids behind the car. It’s like chapter two is shit went wrong. Now you have to do this. Bring the car to the junkyard. It made me actually want to play GTA again, which I haven’t played since I was like 13 years old. And I enjoyed it very much then, so why wouldn’t I enjoy it now? Sorry, I had like a lightning storm of stock ups there. But what do you got for stock down? First one is daddy issues. This could be either a low or a high, depending on who you ask. Like some people like playing girls or things like that. With daddy issues, I’m not going to hear to say one way or the other. I’m just saying the stock is going down because typically daddy issues are assumed on the daughters, right? Women, sure. Beauregard is the biggest daddy issues I’ve ever seen from a person. He just won’t stop making his dad out to be this hero. And every person around him, his wife, his dad’s best friend, or maybe it was his cousin or his aunt or whatever, everyone around him was like, your dad sucked. Your dad was the worst. And then we get and I was waiting for the flashback where you’re like, oh, I understand why he likes them. Because his dad did something for him that was so loyal or something that built that trust that everyone doesn’t realize. And this is why the dust is so important. No, there’s nothing there. It’s just his dad picked him up, junk, drove them over to an ice cream place, and then he ran three people over. And then his dad blamed it on him. You’re forgetting the most important part where his dad ordered him the wrong ice cream. He was like, yeah, you like strawberry? He’s like, I’ve always liked chocolate. No, he’s like, you’re really changing. He’s like, never changed. Literally always like chocolate. I never got that. Why was he so defending his dad? I mean, spoiler alert to the book we’re reading with Evelyn Hugo when she eventually has that sex scene with Don in the movie. The French director is like, there has to be a reason why this woman loves this terrible person. And it’s because he wasn’t terrible. He’s a drug addict. But okay, I get it. Yeah. Wow. Thanks, Keith. Have you not got to that part? Yeah, no, I have. In the movie, he’s a drug addict. I get it. But whatever. My point is, basically the reason why is because he’s great in bed and she loves to have sex, whatever the case is. But with Beauregard’s dad, there’s nothing. There’s, like, no redeeming quality to him. He was not around a lot and then left them completely. Doesn’t even know his kids very well. And I understand it’s part of the book itself. Like, you’re waiting for Beauregard to realize that this man that you look up to, that you want to be, you can’t be him because that’s not a successful life. He was not a good person. He was not a good father. And that’s what you’re trying to be. A man can’t be two types of beasts. That’s what he says, and that’s something that he says throughout the book. But it’s not about being two types of beasts. It’s just being one type of beast, which is just a good father. So which is funny because my stock down was being a bad father. Can you buy that stock? Yeah. Oh, it’s purchasable. It’s on the penny stocks. It’s a pink slip. It’d be like if you’d buy it if your daughter or your son was a Hitler. Right? You’d be like, I’m buying being a bad father. Yeah. You wouldn’t want a good father for that person because they’re terrible people, is what you’re saying. Exactly. I talked my way into that stock, all right? My stock down is law enforcement. I mean, I talked about it a little bit before about how they’re just, like, not around because we crushed the garage, okay? It’s over. And it really did feel like a GTA thing where it’s like, you just keep driving around and eventually they’ll go away. They’re not around. For one, this jewelry thing, they basically put on Jenny, the store clerk, because she’s like, oh, she left her and her manager had a love affair and stole the diamonds. Like, what? That’s not very good detective work at all. No one is knocking on doors. Beauregard’s kid shoots a guy on his front doorstep. Beauregard has been shot himself. And they’re like, in and out of the hospital, and he’s doing this job. There’s no cops in there being like, what the heck is going on in this very small town? It’s not a lot of people. That’s the thing is when it comes to the end and Beauregards like, all right, I got to take off. I thought it was going to be like, I got to take off because the cops are going to catch us eventually. Yeah, this all leads back to me. And I can’t have you guys involved, so I’m just going to hit the road. But instead it was like, I got to take off because I can’t lead this father life. And I’m meant to be a criminal. And his wife’s like, no, just be a dad. He’s like, you’re right. Let’s go back home and make supper. No cops are coming. So maybe they’re not good for them. Cops down. See it? What do you get for stock down? Family humor or inside jokes with the family docked down? I love a good dad joke. Love it. Like some inside jokes with the family, but boread’s family. And I already criticized his dad. But I think his mom is actually worse. His mom is just running wild at this nursing home. He’s had to pay off the nurses or the people that take care of her multiple times because she’s just such a nuisance there. And she’s just like the worst person ever. Apparently. Loved his mom. His mom is the worst. She don’t remember that her probably. But then after she gets done criticizing the nursing home people, she criticizes Beauregard like multiple times or shit on him. Just the worst. And I understand why now he does all these criminal acts. He’s like, oh, I got to keep her in this house. She can’t live with me. She’s just the worst. But back to the family member humor part. This is literally what stuck out to me. His mom is like, just chastising some nurse, being like, you shut up. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blahregard. Walks in and is like, oh, sounds like things aren’t going that well here. And she’s like, yeah, if I had it my way, I’d blow up this whole fucking place and kill everyone with it. And then Burger is like, mom so funny. And she’s like, it’s funny. But my mom, 1 second she could be like the worst, and the next second she’s just making me laugh. Wait, what? That’s not the funny part. She’s actually going to do that. It’d be funny if she was super nice to all the people and then said, I’m going to kill everyone in here. That’s funny, right? You see that big change. Or if she was like, really mean in the next second, she says, I really love everyone here. There’s like a real family to me because I’d be the difference. It would be the funny part. But I know. Funny part of being a huge bitch to everyone and then also saying, I want to kill everyone here. What’s the funny part of that? I don’t know. Sorry, I’m going to ran here, but what the hell? I found it funny you were telling it. That’s what happened. I’m not making this up, right? I’m not crazy. Well, I’m crazy murdering people. That could have been another stock up for me was being blase about murdering people or people being murdered because of your actions. Because although the three guys that he killed in his dad’s car, they weren’t good guys. It was like a very graphic scene when they’re talking about this guy’s leg hanging off sideways and shit like that. On top of that, they have the guy Quan shot at the jewelry store, and it’s just like a throwaway line where when he’s watching the TV, it’s like, oh, that was the guy that I helped on the side of the road. And then it’s like, Honey, come to bed. He’s like, all right, I’m going to bed. What you got? $8,000. And this guy’s like, straight up, it was $80,000, but that’s it. Yes. 80,000. Yeah. Okay, well, still 80,000. All right, I take it back. You know what? That guy was not worth $80,000. I don’t know if you know the stock, but I have one that ties into that. Okay, go on. Stock down math. And this ties us way back to the first episode ever when I did something on a rant around math as well. Okay. Holes we’re talking about. Yeah, holes. Back to holes. But stay in school. Kids already end up like Ronnie. So Ronnie gets 750K, right, for the diamonds? Yes. He pays everyone off. He roughly is left with 500K. He says he could start wiping his ass with $10 bills now because he’s gotten that money. Okay, but I did the math. Assuming he doesn’t spend any money here, mind you, if he’s taking a Roger Goddess, aka shit, once a day, which must be nice. Some of us can’t do that. And he’s wiping an average of two and a half times. Wait, two and a half sheets again? No. Yeah. Which I think would be must be nice as well. Yeah, let’s say four. Oh, you think? Four. Okay, four. All right. Well, the math changes. I have to do some different calculations, but it’s at 2.5. He’s spending, like, ten k a year on just toilet paper. That’s not a great investment, buddy. You’re going to run out of that in 50 years. Right? And now I’m not even taking into account that you have a food poisoning day or a week. That’s $1,000 a day, right. And wipes. Yeah. So what the hell is he talking about? He doesn’t have this type of money. This is why you stay in school at boys and girls out there. Well, you forget is that Ronnie is a big coke head, and I’ve heard that back you up. I’ve heard that binds you up the grapevine. I have heard through the coca leaf vine that. Yeah, that binds you up. So maybe he’s only once a week, but either way, your math is if someone’s wiping two and a half times, congratulations to them. No, that’s not me. I don’t know what normal people do. Were you like, at 100 and you’re like, most people probably do 2% of it. My last stock down is shitty tattoos, so I feel like we all have a friend. This is another one that’s going to be hard to buy in any scenario, but go on. I know some people are really stuck with their shitty tattoos. I feel like we all have a friend that has shitty tattoos, or at least one or two. And some people know they’re shitty, other people don’t. But Ronnie’s full Elvis body is hilarious to me and SA cosby he said that he got the idea because a friend of his, when he was 18, went and got the Wutang symbol on his back, like a full back. And years later they’re able to joke about it and be like, yeah, that was a terrible tattoo. Now you’re stuck with that. He said his friend basically was like, well, at least it’s not like an Elvis tattoo or something. Which led to this idea of Ronnie having all different Elvis on him, from early Elvis to fat Elvis. And I just think that shitty tattoos are terrible and hence why I still don’t have any. Because my biggest fear is getting a tattoo and then regretting it immediately. Let’s get into love, hate. What do you got? Love. I think you mentioned the opening scene was like, Fast and Furious. I actually thought the opening scene was amazing. It was, like, set the stage for the grittiness of the whole novel. It also kind of set the stage that like, oh, this Beauregard dude is not some moral superhero. He was like, oh, I’ll murder you over disrespecting my driving skills, which I kind of liked. It was definitely a way different than we’re kind of used to reading of a person. So I actually really liked the beginning and just the overall grittiness of the book in general. Yes, I think I criticized it a little too early. When I texted you, I was legitimately ten minutes in and it just wasn’t really hitting for me because maybe because I’d watched Fast and Furious fairly recently and I was, like, waiting for Luda to come out or Vin Diesel to come out with the muscles. Family. Start pointing. Yeah. Which this book is a lot about family. Yeah, it is. But no, I agree with you. That first theme was good and it also showed it built the character of Beauregard up really quickly into his observance skills or something. His ability to be like, okay, they’re going to be at this local bar. Like, they have to be because it’s the only bar in town. This is where the guy goes. Those guys definitely were cops. But I will say, Talk about being observant. Beauregard knows when everyone has a gun on them, like he was seeing bulges left and right. I would be scared for him at a chippendale show or something like that because he would be so focused on all the bulges going on. He’s like, that guy’s got a gun on his hip. I just figured that out. He’s got a gun on his hip and a gun on his ankles. Like, how do you know that? The bulges. The bulges. Well done, sir. Well done. I was like, Why would they have guns? They got guns. Trust me. Yeah. Cannons, if you will. It kind of reminded me I don’t know if you’ve ever read any of the Jack Reachers, but that kind of reminded me of Jack Reacher. But what the book eventually ended up reminding me of was, have you ever seen Hell or High Water? Have you read into this at all? I kept on thinking, the whole book, man, this gives me such a Heller High Water feel. And plus, like, a drive feel. Have you ever seen that? But literally, the second answer at the audiobook at the end, he’s like, yeah, I watched Heller Highwater. Like, Holy shit. I got chills. I was like, oh, my God, this guy nailed it. Cool. Yeah. Well, I’m glad you picked up on that, because I didn’t. And I love Heller Eye Water, the end of the audiobook, which I love some of these audiobooks have, and they do a quick QA with the author, and he says he got a lot of inspiration from Hell or High Water. Speaking of which, my first love was a high story. It doesn’t even have to be good. And don’t get me wrong, I think Blacktop Wasteland was good. I enjoyed it thoroughly. But is there a bad heist movie? Like, is there such thing as a bad heist movie, or have you read a bad heist book? Well, I guess considering we both hated Artemis, that’s a bad heist book. Well, actually, come to think of it, we’ve read Missborn, which is a heist. Oh, yeah. So that was another one that we did. Granted, it’s, like, folded up into a much larger story, which I guess this is, too, because My Second Love, the way Cosby addresses race in here, it’s definitely a big part of the book. It’s something that we haven’t talked about yet, and I don’t think either of us is necessarily qualified to discuss it in any detail. But I just wanted to say that it’s important to have diversity in the books we read. And this coming from that area, it opened my eyes a little bit to like, hey, the books that we’re reading, they’re all kind of like one narrative. This is a completely different perspective that we hadn’t really looked at in any of the books we’ve read. And books are so much different than movies, which we also both love because. They really do give you the closest opportunity to walk in someone else’s shoes. Because you’re in their head. Right? You are in that person’s head. Granted, you’re not feeling the feelings that they’re feeling, but you’re seeing things through their eyes. So how many Confederate flags have both of us seen in our life? But when you kind of see it from his perspective, it was cringeier. It was, like, way worse. What was good is it like, in a movie, you typically just see one dude that has a competitive at flag and you’re like, oh, and here’s the racist guy. And it’s just like one quick scene where this is like it’s all around. And even though it’s not fun to see at any time, but it’s just like, oh, there’s different versions of it. There’s different characters. There are different versions of redness. Yeah, different that’s for trade, which is kind of interesting to see. And also putting the story like the setting of the story being in a very poverty stricken, Virginia like, rural town and both of us come from mostly affluent, middle class northeast. It’s like, oh, okay, that’s a different vibe. Whereas a lot of the books we read, which I love, don’t get me wrong, is kind of fantasy related or absurd, where it’s enough that we can get to get out of the world sometimes. That’s what I like. Do you have any other loves? I also thought, like I mentioned earlier, the action scenes were super well written in terms of, like yeah, agreed. I feel like car chase scene would be impossible to write, but I saw that car chasing in my mind. I was like, this is sick. Especially backing out, like, reversing it to the thing and then dropping down and then flooring it. I was like, oh, shit. Yeah. And when he’s pulling the van into the van, like the van into the yeah, that was super. Have you ever seen the French Connection? No. Great movie. Gene Hackman, 1970. I want to say but it’s like the first crazy. Basically, the way they film it was very new because it made you feel like I’m in the car. Like, a lot of strapped on cameras. Like, cameras strapped on to the cars and stuff like that. So it gives you that vibe where it’s like, Holy shit, this is intense. It’s, like bullet or something like that. So I feel like Cosby, who says a huge car not he did a great job of that because all those car chase scenes, which I feel like often move too fast and you’re just like, okay, that was over. Like, what happened there? He did a great job of explaining. Yeah, the last name was just the Duster. He loves the Duster. I don’t even know what the Duster name. The Plymouth Duster. Okay. Plymouth Duster. Just the name. I mean, I kept on thinking too, it’s always sunny where they have the Duster, which is like the black long jacket there. Yeah. Okay. I see this Duster. It’s a thing. I’m just not a car person. If I had a car named the Duster, I’d be like, oh, bro, don’t touch the Duster. I’ve been using it so much. My first, and really only hate is I thought the Heist was lacking. I wanted more from it. The Heist really sets up the rest of the movie, so that’s why or the book. Excuse me? That’s how good I think it is. Because it’s not a movie, but the Heist sets it up, and there’s tons of other action scenes in there which are fulfilling. But the way that he sets up for the heist and he’s okay. I went by there a couple of times. Two days in a row, I got this, that, and the other thing. I just wanted, like, more shit to go down, I guess, or I wanted it to be more of a point of the story as opposed to setting up for this whole backlash that happens. It’s not really a huge gripe. I think it was enjoyable as it was, but I want something a little more point break. I hear you. That’s really all I had, though. It wasn’t a really big gripe. Yeah, mine were. So we mentioned this a little bit earlier, but Boregard not realizing that the businesses that’s right in front of him bogey has a junkyard. Has a junkyard, right? He sure does. We know that he can get cars from no, he can do anything. It’s magical. It’s a magical junkyard. But then the business is literally right in front of you. Beau guard. He’s sitting at his mechanic shop not doing anything. Go grab a couple of those cars. You’re obviously very talented at rebuilding cars. We start rebuilding them and then go resell them in the open market. He just said that Dusters were 25K. So start doing that with all these cars. It’s right in front of you, the business. Have you seen the used car market right now? It’s insane. I didn’t understand when he was souping up the car that he got so that he could do the Heist, I was like, yeah, why don’t you just sell it? I was like, you probably get 15K, right? He’s putting all this work into it, and then people look at it like, Holy shit, this car is amazing. And I’m like, yeah, that’s your talent right there. What do you do that you’ve created? Oh, the other thing is, just right after this first scene got over, I was locked in. I was like, let’s fucking go. You know he’s going to do the Heist, right? But there was, like, 2 hours worth of book being like, I don’t know. We need money. I’m like, bro this book. We know the book is going there. Just give me into the heights already. I was ready to lock in quicker. I also think he wanted to build like, hey, here’s the culture of the world he’s living in. Not just be like, this is a high school, so I understand why he did it. But I also wanted I need more. I was, like, ready to go. Yeah, that was a big point. I feel like with him trying to build up the idea of the relationship he has with his wife and his kids, how he is a better father, like, just embrace it. You’re there, you’re present. Like they say, whatever, 90% of the job is showing up and you’re doing that plus the other 10%. So you’re almost there. You just need to not be focused on doing conscious, but at the same time, it also shows the dichotomy of the character. When he gets behind the wheel for the heist, he’s like, Now I feel it. He’s always looking for that adrenaline pump, but he says he got legal drag racing, so just do the legal drag racing and get a little bit you know what I mean? Take your methadone, don’t take the heroin. Call it a day. Or if he’s like, I’m a driver. Like NASCAR. Because NASCAR, all the people start out being mechanics right before he can drive. And he’s already good at mechanics. A lot of the dudes are like car people, and then they get a chance. They’re all like rich little white boys from podunk towns that drive gokarts when they’re kids. Like, their parents buy them, like, $50,000. He had dust them kids. Of course you can dust them. Yeah. Imagine if you can get away from the police. Riding a circle is easier. Maybe he needs to create a new sport, which is like GTA but need for speed. Yeah, exactly. It’s like that. That’d be a six sport. Like, the tail cars have to come and swerve and knock them out of the road. Helicopter flying overhead. That chases the race, but they can’t communicate with the police. But there’s maybe one helicopter that can come in if you’ve lasted for longer than two minutes. And it’s like, okay, now you’re really tight. Like, how do you get past this? That’d be fun. I like it. It’s a good sport right there. All right, let’s jump into favorite scene. What do you have a favorite scene? I actually thought the second heist was the best. I already kind of touched on this a little bit, but I just think it was super creative how he went about stealing the car and then how they drove into that van. Like I mentioned earlier, Borgard, what he’s great at is the con man thing, where he’s kind of conning people into not realizing where the cars went or even the horse maneuver he pulled with Ronnie previously, which they only briefly touched on, but that was cool as well. This is his real town. It’s driving. And then the con aspect of being able to plan out something like he should be at the head of these heist planning or work for the Feds or something. And in training, they have to do defensive driving. Something like this happened. He could be the instructor, but I actually agreed with you. It’s funny, we both said the same thing, was that second heist, it was great. And also the human aspect of it. And we got to give a shout out to our boy Kelvin R iPad. Say that kelvin, the way that you feel the tension in that through Beauregard, because he’s like, all right, keep your cool, keep your cool. Don’t do anything crazy like say this, say that. He schools him up enough at the beginning, but there’s only so much you can do, especially it’s almost like a Mike Tyson. Everyone’s got a plan to take a punch in the mouth or whatever the quote is. But Kelvin’s then getting an assault rifle pointed at him. Kelvin is a sacrificial lamb. They’re like, yeah, you’re going to be the guy that goes out there. And they might shoot you instantly, but they might not. Oh, if anything goes wrong at all, you’re getting killed. His job wasn’t that easy. He had to convince them that he could go in the back and get a fire extinguisher and put this thing out. And that his girls the next town over, and she’s mad at him and he needs to get home. If Burger doesn’t do everything perfectly, let’s say the guy honks, then he gets killed. He’s just immediately the first person to get to die. Kelvin is put out. That big borough can get away. Like, if the other guy’s like, yeah, exactly. It’s going on in the face. Boom. I was like, that’s a tough thing to volunteer for. I also didn’t really understand why Reggie was put at that gas station to buy a 40. That didn’t make sense to me either. Why couldn’t they drop the car off way before that? Why didn’t it matter that you need to drop off right now? Yeah. And also just put Reggie there to make sure that those guys show up there. Do they need a license plate? Maybe they did a license plate swap or something. Yeah, but even then, still, where does the license plate matter? Yeah, just like they did. Not going to inspect that super. Once again, in terms of planning, you’re going to assume that those guys are going to touch base with Reggie. Hey, have you seen anything? And then I can understand trusting Kelvin because he’s a homie. He’s my boy. But you’re trusting Reggie? Reggie don’t got shit. By the way, this reminds me of Burgers. Like, when we do the robbery, you need to come straight. You can’t be on any drugs, any alcohol. All these dudes are like oxy cotton addicts. You can’t show up to a heist and then not have to just go cold turkey all of a sudden. You just want them to do whatever you usually do. So you can actually participate in that could not agree with you more. Like you see these old football players or whatever, or baseball players even, who needed to smoke a pack of cigarettes before a game or needed to take a quick bump before a game. You’re going to tell this guy, hey, I know you’re 750 slugging percentage and you’re on base is crazy, but this game coming straight because you need to be straight. It’s like, no, whatever. You need in the morning to get up, do your normal routine. We’re going into this with very normal vibes. You’ve heard that before, right? They had two coffee pots in baseball in the 80s. They had one that’s just coffee and the other one had meth in it. Jesus Christ. I did not I don’t know if it was meth. It was like some amphetamine in it. Yikes. No, I did not know that. I don’t know how you play baseball when you’re like Tweaking. Yeah, well, it works for Hitler’s. Arben. Jesus Christ. Well, it did, all right. Battle of Britain was all fueled by methamphetamines with the pilots of the Luftwaffe. That’s what I was like. I was going to say Louftanza, because I was thinking about the Lufthansa heights. That’s the thing that you wash yourself with in the shower, right? Yeah, close. That’s just half of it. When you take a half dose, it’s just a loofah. Okay, so I guess favorite character. I think we both like Kelvin, right? Yeah. When he died, I was like, wow, this kind of makes the book. But fuck yeah. I liked it, but I hated it. Oh, shit. And also now how do you explain it gets back to our previous point. Okay. We know that your kid killed these guys that are with I keep wanting to say lucky, but what’s this stupid name? Lazy. It’s like, was this Lucifer or Levitia or something? No, it’s Lazarus. Lazarus. So your kid killed those guys and then now your cousin is, like, dead in this field somewhere. How are you not involved with anything? And there’s got to be DNA evidence. Who knows? All right, I guess that kind of covers it, don’t it? Casting actors? I think this is going to be a movie, so I think we got to do it. It was John Legend’s Production Company. They got the rights to it. I don’t know whether they’re making it or not, but sure, you can cast it. Did you cast anyone or not? But I want to hear you. Okay, for Boregard, I went Jamie Foxx, who might be a little old, but he can play the gritty. Have you ever seen the one with him and Tom Cruise? Oh, collateral. Yeah. Are you kidding me? Of course I have. If it’s not Jamie Foxx, he’s too old. I think you just need a star guy for that. That can be gritty. I think Jamie foxx do that. But I did also like Corey hawkins, who’s the guy who played Doctor Dre and Straight out of Compton. I just liked him as an actor, so I think he could also play that gritty role there for Kelvin. This is how I would change the movie a little bit. I would make him more younger and also make him look up to Beauregard as like a father figure. And then I would make him a Southern kid. Donald Glover. Also, I think it would make it more impactful when he dies that he’s like a smart young kid that looks up to Boregard and then he gets killed because Boregard basically needs them on a mission. I think that would bring True a little bit more. But Donald Glover, I think is kind of fits that role. And then lastly, Ronnie James Franco so that he can play that Southern bag. He’s actually a good drama actor, so I think he’d actually fit well. I know he does a lot of comedy now, but I feel like for Lazy, I want like Leah Schrever. I feel you cast him all the time. I cast his brother, yeah. He’s supposed to be like a white trash. Yeah. So what? He’s big. He’s big. And Liam’s Driver is class. You can’t have a guy that played the president and mancherian candidate. Also. He’s got range. He’s got range. I feel like you need like a West Virginia accident. All right, well, then I’ll cast his half brother or maybe his full brother, the guy from the Daisy Jones. The six who I cast. Yeah. All right. And the Duster would be a character also, of course. Yeah, it might talk. Lightning McQueen. What do you get for listener mail? You’ve got mail. John from Richmond, Virginia, right outside where this book takes place. berGARD refuses to sell his Duster, which is valued at 25K because of sentimental value. What items do you have that are most sentimental and would you sell them for $25,000? The only thing I own that’s worth more than $25,000 is my house. But that doesn’t really count, right? Would you sell it for more than that? I would, yeah. And what I sacrificed I don’t have a child, but would I sacrifice my dog for my house? Damn right. Jesus Christ. I’m cutting that part. You don’t want that out there your way. We’ll get canceled second. Sorry. Bear. Bear, I love you. I don’t really have things of value. I guess the only thing I have is like, the stuffed animal I had when I was a child. I was going to say that. Holy shit. The whole thing. I have baby bear my boy. I still have that, which I’ve been holding onto for if I do have a kid, it’ll hopefully get passed on to them. But at the same time, if the kid drops it in the street or something and you can’t get it or throw it out of the car, I’m not going to like as they say, Toss the baby out with the bathwater. It’ll be like, all right, I’m moving on. So, yes, I would sell it for $25,000. It’s a lot of money. Do you have any more baby bears I can buy for $25,000? Yeah, I’m good. Thanks, John. Appreciate it. What do you have? I guess it does speak to how undramatic our lives have been that are, like, sentimental value. Things are teddy bears, because mine is also I brought my teddy to college, kid. No, you didn’t. I don’t give a fuck. People make fun of me. I like my teddy bear. I don’t know where it is now, though. Teddy, of course. I got it when I was, like, three. But it did survive. We had it on the top of a car in a suitcase, and it fell off on the highway. It survived that. It had a chipped eye. It was fine, though. That’s perseverance. But I was so upset when it’s like National Lampoon. We had it on a suitcase on the roof of a car. Is it a station wagon? Think it was, like, a van. Those big vans that don’t have any trunk. But I would sell Teddy, unfortunately, for 25 years. Of course, the only other thing I could think of was my N 64 Super Nintendo, which maybe you can’t buy now, but I know you can probably get them on the other Nintendo platforms. Because I’ll tell you what, I brought my Super Nintendo up to my mom’s place for the grandkids for my niece and nephew, and my nephew is obsessed with all about Super Nintendo. We played Super Mario World. Keeps going crazy for it. Crazy. Oh, sorry. N 64 is the best of all time. But, yes, we couldn’t play the other day, and he made me watch a YouTube of some guy doing walk through Super Mario Brothers. But, yeah, I wish his dad, Boris dad, was just like, this pair of die that I hang from my window mirror are sentimental to me. Here’s a license plate that means a lot. So he didn’t have to keep the duster in order to remember him or whatever. Is his dad still alive, or is he gone? Maybe the sequel. He’ll come back. I don’t know. What do you think? What do you think? Quick thought. No, I think he got killed, and they just don’t know. He’s buried in some odd mark grave somewhere. I think he’s banging some hussies in Vegas, but that’s me. All right, well, would you recommend Blacktop Wasteland to a friend? Yeah, I think it’s good if you like gritty. I was thinking of my buddy that really likes gritty, movies that’s like data center types. I think he would like this. I’m wondering I’m wondering if it should go to my top ten. Okay. I agree with you there, because I also enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend it if someone’s like, hey, I want a good book. That’s a quick read that’s, like, keeps you entertained. Yes, this hits all of them. You know what I mean? Is it a beach read? Maybe. I don’t know. It’s close. It’s a little darker beach read, but yeah, I can see because of the speed reading. But it will go on my top ten. I don’t think so. We’ve read 35 books. It’s definitely in close, but I think it just misses the cusp. I’m going to debate it. Yeah, we’ll see. You are a master debater. Thank you. I appreciate that. All right, well, next book, I guess, is the one we already said. I promise you. It’s like what I say to my niece and nephew, and I promise them things, then I don’t do it, and I tell them again tomorrow. I promise them. I promise you. The next book will be the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Yes. It should be a fun pod. So until next time. We’ll see you then. All right. Bye now. Bye now.