Absolute madness.

Our old friend Dominic joined us once more at the WG Grace by JD Wetherspoon(s). But this time to recap a Lord of the Rings watching marathon. Things went off the rails immediately. Although I'm not sure if they were ever on the rails, really. More of an off-roading ATV experience, metaphorically speaking.

Here are some notes of what transpired.

2:00 - We finally finish the fucking introduction.

3:30 - Dom has some hiccups.

6:00 - Our friends abandoned us. And then we started giving the "If I take one more step" line repeatedly.

10:00 - Dominic enlightens us on some LOTR trivia.

13:30 - We played the wizard staff game and I won and Dominic lost. And I beat Dominic. He lost to me.

19:30 - Here's a hot dog pancake recipe for you.

23:30 - ?

26:00 - We try and fail to recite Sam's speech from the end of The Two Towers.

31:30 - I guess we end it. Am I moving to Denmark?

Bonus - Here's Sam's speech from the end of The Two Towers.

FRODO: I can’t do this, Sam.

SAM: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy. How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened. But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.

FRODO: What are we holding on to, Sam?

SAM: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it's worth fighting for.

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Bonus Bonus - "I can't carry the ring but I can carry you" reaction video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzeu6VPkRQ4

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Mastering & Outro - Josh Priebe follow him on spotify -> https://open.spotify.com/artist/5PbGTn6qzgQMsCKmiMXgU9

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Artwork ("art" is a bit of a stretch) - Dominic Wilton

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Intro - Spoonful, Howlin' Wolf [Geffen Records]

Running back the Pub & Order format. A quick recap of the latest pubbing and punting news.

Recorded this one in a Burger King in Trondheim, Norway. The fries were oddly good. And they don't have chicken fries, which is a shame.

4:10 -Tim Martin, the Wetherspoons man, has no intention of retiring. He's taking this job to the grave, it would seem. Or at least until he loses his hair.

5:28 - Sir Ian McKellen's pub is gross. But he wears a lot of scarves. Some quite fashionable.

8:40 - A Greene King is opening in Oxford and people are gonna piss all over everything.

12:25 - A Chorley woman broke a sign at a Slug & Lettuce. More importantly this dumb news site wanted me to create an account to read the rest of the article. No way.

14:20 - Ariana Grande is performing at a Wetherspoons next week. This is definitely actually happening. Yes. https://twitter.com/dewberg/status/1620084052962451456?s=20

15:40 - I burped a bit.

Bonus: Burger King chicken fries commercial throwback https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbQEnkxPLUk

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Mastering & Outro - Josh Priebe follow him on spotify -> https://open.spotify.com/artist/5PbGTn6qzgQMsCKmiMXgU9

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Artwork - Amanda Gravelle

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Intro - Spoonful, Howlin' Wolf [Geffen Records]

Somthing a bit different this week. Solo episode. Riffing. Yours truly will recap the latest and greatest of pubbing and punting.

Recorded back in Bristol @ the WG Grace & Berkeley spoons.

And it's even Law & Order themed.

4:50 - Tim Martin is back at it again. Wetherspoons price cut - pints are now properly cheap.

7:00 - Time warped to the Berkeley. Had to throw out the original recording because the trash-cam recorder device is ... trash. Josh is on the case though, bless his heart.

8:45 - Pubs will be open even later during the king-elect's coronation in May.

10:50 - Greene King labor strikes continue. Sad!

13:40 - Patrons at the Bath Slug & Lettuce found themselves coated in more feces than usual.

14:55 - Greggs clothing line collab with Primark and it's fucking electric.

16:55 - Greene King is giving people free beer because they're clearly desperate.

18:05 - Leave a five star B2S review and we'll write a Greek mythical tragedy in your honor. I guess it could be a Greek comedy but the tragedies are critically the best.

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Mastering & Outro - Josh Priebe follow him on spotify -> https://open.spotify.com/artist/5PbGTn6qzgQMsCKmiMXgU9

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Artwork - Amanda Gravelle

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Intro - Spoonful, Howlin' Wolf [Geffen Records]

In this installment of B2S, we art. We got two hours of it. Strap in.

We were joined by lovely Hanna, a local art expert, at Bristol's Robert Fitzharding Wetherspoons. We settled in for a quite pleasant exploration of art - in pubs. On the internet. In our minds. We even made a bit of art. Not including this podcast. I mean it's a stretch to say any of this is art really.

Anyway.

2:00 - Hanna (our guest or artful taste) find that we've actually failed to record the first half hour of the pod. Gutted.

16:00 - We jump into current events. A pigeon held a Wetherspoons in Birmingham hostage. A Greene King took a cheap shot at Harry & Meghan. (I am honestly annoyed she spells her name that way I had to just look that up.) Greene King is still crippled by strikes. And we read a review of the Wetherspoons's holiday meal special.

51:00 - We do an art tour of the Robert Fitzhardly. We even did an art review of the carpet. Masterclass on our part really.

1:18:00 - Hanna paints me. Like one of her french girls. We talk about various art topics all the while. Pretty chill. Yep.

1:34:00 - I found some Wetherspoons tangential art topics. There's actually a Wetherspoons art museum. In North Carolina. And I tracked down the Art Picture House Wetherspoons in Bury. Read some review about it. Didn't get all the marks as it happens.

1:51:00 - Finally we try to answer the age-old question: WHAT IS ART? I have no idea if we even got close to settling it I blacked out to be honest. It wasn't even the pints. It was just that intense of a dialog.

Here's the article about the pigeon because it's just a classic underdog story. https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/new-birmingham-wetherspoon-pub-shut-25647307

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Mastering & Outro - Josh Priebe follow him on spotify -> https://open.spotify.com/artist/5PbGTn6qzgQMsCKmiMXgU9

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Intro cred - Spoonful, Howlin' Wolf [Geffen Records]

We go to Amsterdam, where there are no Wetherspoons and out of fear and desperation, we were forced to find a new tacky bar chain to occupy. After a haphazard Google Map search, I stumbled upon the Hard Rock Cafe Amsterdam and our fates were decided. I dragged Sam and Evan along and we made a day of it.

It just about immediately went off the rails. Be prepared for many Hard Rock puns. And frequently I'll make a completely unrelated tangential comment about the music videos being played at the cafe.

We then had a lovely meal sponsored by Lionel Messi: The Messi Burger. I assume the pun is intended. And no free ads. I would recommend a shower after eating one.

We then went back to our bread and butter: current events in the gastropub world. There's a dungeon in Somerset I plan on visiting. And a Wetherspoon banned showings of England and Wales world cup matches no fun at all.

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/whats-on/stunning-somerset-gastropub-complete-dungeon-7824879

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/wetherspoon-ban-england-world-cup-25620214

Then Evan found some potential festivals to attend in the Netherlands. One was for redheads? Yep, I found it. Sounds pretty cool. If you're a redhead.

https://redheaddays.nl/

And then Sam went totally off the rails with a magazine (or "zine") that talked about the Prometheus creation theory of life. Yes, it's a thing.

The magazine - http://www.awomanisacinema.com/

More context - https://classicalwisdom.com/mythology/gods/prometheus-the-creation-of-man/

Then we did a world cup preview. And actually stumbled into predicting Argentina as the World Cup Champions. I Totally forgot we even made this prediction and was amazed and our genius/stupidity when editing all this. So that's cool.

Finallly, we drafted our top four favorite American domestic beers. It was the American beer draught draft. Strap in.

The Results:

John - 1) Budwiser 2) Miller Light 3) Molson 4) Nattie Light

Evan - 1) Michelob Ultra 2) Pabst Blue Ribbon 3) Keystone Ice 4) Hamms

Sam - 1) Miller High Life 2) Busch Latte 3) Coors Light 4) Red Dog

Evan's picks are wilds.

Finally here are some music videos we got sidetracked with throughout the filming. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1FNkf3MLKY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEubrZV04b0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92wCPfqyVbg

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Mastering & Outro - Josh Priebe follow him on spotify -> https://open.spotify.com/artist/5PbGTn6qzgQMsCKmiMXgU9

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Intro cred - Spoonful, Howlin' Wolf [Geffen Records]

It's The Welsh Special. Wales. Cymru. Welsh-ness. Let it shower down upon you.

On this installment of B2S, we head to the Coliseum by JD Wetherspoon in Abergavenny, Wales. That's right, B2S has gone international. Robby, Julia, Maddie and Will (our resident Welshman) were all there too, if you were wondering.

We covered the latest and greatest in gastro-pub news. We might buy our own 'spoons. And the Greene King has stepped in poo, like they do. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11434011/You-Spoons-JD-Wetherspoon-pubs-market-450-000.html

https://amp.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/15/greene-king-pays-damages-after-irish-travellers-refused-service-at-pub

At some point we talked about free trees the Welsh government was giving out. How #adorbs! https://gov.wales/every-household-wales-can-collect-and-plant-tree-over-50-hubs-open-across-country

Turns out Roald Dahl is Welsh! So we had to talk about him. But he also had some issues. There was much to unpack. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20160912-the-dark-side-of-roald-dahl

Then the Welsh World Cop Preview. Timely, as always. And please watch the Joe Allen video - the shot of him juggling in his jnco trousers is amazing. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63663389

Also Catherine Zeta Jones is Welsh and here's a video of her entrapping Sean Connery (and you as you watch) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDW9OcPizgA

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Editing & outro cred - Josh Priebe follow him on spotify -> https://soundcloud.com/josh477152722?ref=clipboard&p=i&c=1&si=0A27426FCC9A4C5F837EF0A6A5B089D4

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Intro cred - Spoonful, Howlin' Wolf [Geffen Records]

This is a crypto podcast.

Join us as we unravel the mysteries of crypto currency with Alex & Hanna. I did my best to keep the conversation somewhat derailed.

Started with a bit of current events. If you’re feeling invested in social change, check out the go fund me so we can purchase our own Wetherspoons. https://www.gofundme.com/f/citizens-of-hanham-for-the-jolly-sailor?utm_medium=email&utm_source=product&utm_campaign=p_email%2B2300-co-team-welcome

Then bitcoin. Just loads of bitcoin. Hope you like bitcoin.

We rounded it out with our own coverage of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX meltdown. https://www.wsj.com/articles/sam-bankman-fried-wasnt-even-trying-to-manage-risk-at-ftx-he-says-11669930592

And finally a story about a millionaire in Miami who confused NFTs with actual art when he destroyed a priceless Frida Khalo. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-man-set-an-alleged-frida-kahlo-drawing-on-fire-then-he-started-selling-its-nft-180981110/

Bonus Bitconnect content - https://youtu.be/yIL9wLxG01M

Mastering & outro - Josh Priebe follow him on SoundCloud https://m.soundcloud.com/josh477152722?ref=clipboard&p=i&c=1&si=0A27426FCC9A4C5F837EF0A6A5B089D4

Intro - Spoonful, Howlin' Wolf [Geffen Records]

Photo - Alex’s wacky Samsung folder phone (no free ads)

Talked with Mel for a bit. She may be hijacking the entire show, lest we go to litigation.

Then Atzie and Scott came. Talked with them too. We had some soup.

Finally a lovely reading of the Wetherspoons magazine. https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/~/media/files/pdf-documents/wetherspoon-news/wetherspoon-news-autumn-2022.pdf

A bonus article about a man who's in crisis about his age. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-46425774

And of course. The Swindon Magic Roundabout. https://www.amusingplanet.com/2012/06/magic-roundabout-in-swindon-most.html?m=1

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Editing & outro cred - Josh Priebe follow him on spotify -> https://soundcloud.com/josh477152722?ref=clipboard&p=i&c=1&si=0A27426FCC9A4C5F837EF0A6A5B089D4

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Intro cred - Spoonful, Howlin' Wolf [Geffen Records]

I talked with Dom for a bit.