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frodo-with-glasses · 9 months

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25 Questions with Phil Dragash: YES, SERIOUSLY!

So y'all know how I was reviewing Phil Dragash's audiobook of LotR last year, but kinda fell off somewhere in the middle of Rohan?? Well, guess what! A couple weeks ago, I received a tumblr message from the man himself, saying he'd read through all my reviews, had really enjoyed the little blast from the past, and was open to answering questions if I had any!

So of course, I had LOTS of questions.

The first one being: "Are you actually the real Phil Dragash??"

But I'm delighted to say that after exchanging emails with the work email listed on his website, I can confidently say that it is the real dude, and I've had a blast chatting with him! So for those of you who urged I listen to this audiobook—especially @laurelindorenan for her glowing recommendation—and for everyone else who likes the audiobook and/or enjoyed my reviews: I am delighted to present, ladies and gentlehobbits, this peek behind the curtain!

But of course I'm putting it all below the cut, because this man rambles like I do 🤣

Obligatory disclaimer: All opinions presented by Mr. Dragash are his own, I am not necessarily condoning any of them; please do not come after me for his opinions regarding pineapple on pizza.

25 QUESTIONS, LET'S GO!

1. Tell me how you got into Lord of the Rings!

I was ten years old when my dad took me to the library, and found a VHS copy of Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 animated Lord of the Rings film. I was already a fan of the “Chronicles of Narnia” and my dad just handed the tape to me and said “Look, C.S. Lewis’s friend made this”. I watched it, and had no idea what was going on. It was so hard to understand.

Fast forward to the year 2002 when “Fellowship” was out on DVD, and we had a movie night at my older cousin’s place, and watched the film for the first time. My 13 year old self was enraptured by it. Dad bought the DVD first thing the next day, and I’ve been a fan ever since! I, my brother, and our dad watched “Return of the King” in theaters four times, which was saying something, considering we only ever saw a movie once in cinemas. Between “The Return of the King” opening in December ‘03, I picked up the books and read (as well as I could) through them. A lot of friends kept joking “tell us how the damn story ends!”, good times.

2. When and how did you decide to make this audiobook? What’s the story behind the entire project?

I was a very ambitious lad, and my first and biggest interest was filmmaking. I used to direct short films with my friends ever since my 11th birthday, and was the youngest in class at the filmschool I attended a few years later. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that I had massive ambitions to direct “the Hobbit”, which is silly in retrospect considering I was 16 years old at the time. I even sent my portfolio and DVDs of my films to Peter Jackson’s manager (who actually got back to me with a wonderful response, despite not being able to accept my ‘completely reasonable’ offer) When I was heartbroken and torn to pieces knowing I wouldn’t be directing the movie, a few more years went by, and I decided to reread some chapters of the “Lord of the Rings” books. I remember really well that this was late at night, laying in bed, and going through “King of the Golden Hall” and seeing how close to the movies it was, but also far more expanded. I thought “my extensive home-made short movies experience with sound design and sound mixing could work here, and I could just read a few chapters and try to make the soundscape as realistic as possible. Why not try it?”

So, the next day I tried. The first two chapters I tried were “King of the Golden Hall” and “A Journey in the Dark” (which partly answers your other question about that chapter). I was so absolutely surprised by how well it was going, that I decided to upload them onto YouTube in March 2010 I think. I got a fairly good response, and I was planning on doing a few more random chapters. I never intended to do the whole thing. But this one comment on YouTube I’ll always remember, it said: “I think you should go from start to finish, because you’ll probably get used to the characters and sounds and people can also follow along in the story gradually”.

Taking that suggestion to heart, in August 2010 I went from Chapter 1 onward.

3. Were you inspired by any other audiobook versions of LotR (such as the BBC radio drama)?

I was not, I actually haven’t listened to the BBC Radio drama until far ahead into the project I was doing. I did some research on what other audio productions anyone did with LOTR, from The Mind’s Eye edition, to the ‘60s Hobbit Radio Play; so I felt pretty confident. I just fell in love with the way the films brought Middle-Earth to life and seeing their incredible dedication for authenticity (from the props department, to the music), you really couldn’t do any better than that visually or audibly - at least in my opinion. I just wanted to hear Tolkien’s text but with the realisation of the films.

However, if you listen to Chapter 1 of TTT, and hear how Legolas laments their absence from not being there to help Boromir at Amon Hen, you can clearly hear the inflection from the BBC Radio play’s version. I just lifted that because I thought it was a fantastic way to deliver the line.

4. Did you have any rituals for “getting into character” before recording?

If I were to show you the raw unedited recording sessions, you’d probably be surprised at how underdeveloped it is! I had no real rituals or warmups, I just went for it. Usually went in cold, and tried reading the entire chapter and doing all the voices at once. Then I’d be exhausted, and afterwards start cutting all the mistakes, and separating each character into different tracks – and then re-recording 50%-70% of it, as I was laying in the sounds.

I think any character just needs a few words for me to say in their voice, and that helps for the rest of their dialogue. For Aragorn it was usually: “You cannot wield it! None of us can.” for Pippin it was: “Sometimes”, just random things that make things ‘click’ in my head. If I got lost or didn’t feel like the performances were working, I’d simply just watch scenes from the films to hear the real actors again!

5. Who was your favorite character to voice? Who was your least favorite? And why?

People who know me, know I love doing the villains. Sauron, the orcs, the Nazgûl, etc. I just love the idea of personifying things that scare you. Something completely the opposite of who you are. Always a fun time! Any character I can nail extremely accurately always makes me happy, but I’m always very critical of my own work, so it’s a rare thing.

My least favorite characters to voice are: Imrahil, Denethor, Arwen, Celeborn, Galadriel, Erestor, Lindir, Haldir, Goldberry, Gildor… I think the pattern is pretty obvious if you realize that I am incapable of providing a satisfactory voice that feels unique enough. They just sound to me like “I wish I had a broader range. They weren’t done justice.” I have feelings for most of the characters in this situation, but I’m a mere mortal. I can’t do all of them as well as I wish I could. I wish Aragorn was more like Viggo Mortensen’s voice (I tried with the nasally yells you mentioned!), I wish Gandalf had a richer tone, I wish Saruman sounded more majestic, and I wish Frodo was - in retrospect- more older sounding, too. There’s so much I wish I could do better, but to hell with it, I tried.

Fun fact: my least-favorite to voice are also Orcs because they destroy my throat after a while. Which is ironic, because of my first statement.

6. I noticed that you gave the men of Rohan and Gondor slightly different dialects! Are you pulling from any real-world accents to make that happen?

I did try to listen to Anglo-Saxon, and ancient norse but I just tried to make Rohan and Gondor slightly distinct in any way I could. I never really tried to make things too obvious, but admittedly, I think I just used my intuition (smoothing the R’s for the Rohirrim, making the Gondorians more ‘proper’, etc.). I do want to emphasize that this was a one-person project and keeping things together or consistent is definitely an extraneous exercise when you’re just trying to get something finished by yourself!

7. Some characters (like Beregond and Quickbeam, to name a couple of my favorites) aren’t in the movies, so they don’t have an actor for you to imitate. How did you decide what they would sound like?

Well, in the case of Beregond, I realized he was just “your ordinary guy”, and seeing Minas Tirith through his eyes (and Pippin’s) is such an amazing and interesting opportunity. It made the city feel so real, and I wanted to take advantage of that. I think I started with a ‘generic’ voice, but when I re-recorded him knowing more and more of the context and what he was saying to Pippin, and as a result who he is, made me adjust what I felt were more his personality. But still that ‘ordinary guy’ idea was the bedrock, and it’s been years since I heard that chapter, but I hope it holds up! (I just remembered Bergil is in that too, another voice I wish I could have done better)

Another fun fact: when Pippin scares the kids in Minas Tirith, the audio was from something I videotaped when I was 10 years old with my friends, it had the perfect “kids-going-aaah!” sound.

If I had it my way, I’d have a cast of dozens in this Audiobook, so a lot of times I never felt like my voice was enough to truly capture the “We’re in Middle-Earth, we just have microphones to record it” idea. So I have to make compromises since I was the only one doing the voices. That being said, Quickbeam was a fun surprise because he felt like, as you said “young treebeard”, and these things just worked out through experimentation! I think Quickbeam turned out pretty nice. I like Quickbeam.

8. HOW—I ask with great enthusiasm—DID YOU DO TREEBEARD’S VOICE? How did you get that resonance and woody sound? Did you send your voice through a wooden box and re-record it on the other side like they did in the movies?

It’s really great that you know all the behind the scenes stories from the films! Especially what Ethan Van der Ryn, David Farmer, and the late Michael Hopkins have done with their incredible creativity. I had no such resources to produce Treebeard’s sound. What I did was a digital facsimile: a special ‘room’ reverb, with some other equalizing effects to boost the bass and (maybe, I can’t remember) another higher pitched track of the same voice faintly in there.

You won’t believe this, but I was not going to do The Two Towers audiobook unless I could do a good Treebeard voice. In 2011 after finishing “Fellowship”, I was on the fence about continuing, and only committed once I knew I could do Treebeard right. Treebeard was the key to all this. This should come to no surprise to the ones who played the game, but I used a lot of sound effects from ‘Battle for Middle-Earth’ which contained a lot of clean sounds for ents, trolls, the balrog, the ringwraiths, and other monsters from the films. I used the ent’s footsteps from the games, and recorded my own foley for some of the trees snapping and leaves rustling as well. The “fart” sounds were the low creaking of tree branches, and - as they stated in the making-of for the films - very pitched down cow moos.

9. Tell me about the foley work! Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been that nerd who watched the Behind The Scenes featurettes for fun, so I’m very interested to hear how you made the sound effects for footsteps and whistling arrows and jangling horse harnesses and such.

I’m glad you are! I’ve collected sound libraries (ripped from video games, and finding and buying sound packs) for a literal decade, because I always needed sounds for the short films I made when I was younger. I just kept learning about how to mix sounds together, and it’s very creative and very enjoyable! That being said, the foley work itself is mostly recorded by me. If I can’t find a sound in the library I have, I will record it. Clothing rustles, and touch are all recorded while I listen to the audiobook playback and ‘perform’ each character. It’s a really arduous process, but I think it adds so much life into the sound.

I went out into the woods (or backyard) with my mic to record footsteps, sometimes I would listen to the audiobook with headphones while performing the footsteps. When I would have traveled somewhere with different terrain I would be sure to record more foley (rocks being moved, or pebbles being stepped on) knowing I’ll use it for certain chapters. I do not want to reveal a huge secret about the predominant foley for the character's clothes, but an old backpack I used were 90% of the characters’ ‘movements’. Some wingflaps of the fell beasts were just my jeans. It’s a really creative process trying to find things that ‘sound’ right for an environment or action. The magic is putting them all together and hearing the result. Also, yes Sam’s pan is my grandma’s frying pan, and I know it’s sometimes annoying, but - look - Sam has a lot of stuff to carry.

I start with the background sounds (wind, tree rustles, water if there is any, etc.) lots of layers of them just to make them sound unique and not the same. Then I move to selective and nearer environmental background sounds. Then, the ‘hero’ sounds, the effects that are integral to the story (if it’s sword clashes, or an explosion, or who knows what), and finally the foley (footsteps, clothing rustles, breaths, etc.) - I had a friend record her own horses breathing and moving for a lot of closeups of the horses in the audiobooks. I think even if you can’t really hear some of their low breaths, their presence is still ‘there’. I personally think I got a lot better by the end of LOTR than when I started!

I wanted to add, the sounds for little Elanor in the very last scene of “The Return of the King” (the baby sounds), I was not happy with the stock baby sounds I had, and asked my older cousin (an audio person too!) to send me recordings he made of his then-1-year-old daughter in a studio. So, my first-cousin-once-removed is Elanor! She’s 22 now. I feel old.

10. Do you have a favorite sound effect from this project? Mine is the “pat-pat” against cloth that’s used to denote a hug.

Absolutely, do you remember the two “watchers” before the tower of Cirith Ungol? The vulture-like statues that block the hobbit’s path out? The alarm sound is a wholly original sound design I did, and I’m really happy with it. It’s just ugly sounding, and that’s the point. I always wished I had more Nazgul, and I think the worst moments I had with mixing were the battle scenes. There’s just too much to handle and make it sound good. But I really tried.

I’m very glad you heard the ‘pat-pat’s. I try my best to perform every character when recording foley, and want even some of the sounds to convey something in the telling of the story.

11. What's the thought process behind your use of the various musical motifs from Howard Shore's score? (Read: Why do you use the Shire theme so often, and why does it get me in the heart every single time?)

I want everyone to know that this is a really important and valuable question, and one I never really get to talk about: To me, Howard Shore’s music is one of the very best things to come out of the films. He truly made an opera out of the story, and all his leitmotifs and orchestrations are a stroke of genius. They work on their own, and when reading the books as well, and as a nerd for films and all that stuff, I wanted to put a lot of care into how I’m placing the score, and for what scene, emotionally and leitmotivically, if that’s a word.

The Audiobook I did is obviously a ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’ situation, so I can’t credit myself for the majority of the Audiobook I did, but I wanted to use all my filmmaking intuition to properly use the music to enhance the telling of the story. So, just like the filmmakers had to change and mix lines from the book, or make changes to make it work as a film, I felt like a lot of instances happened with the music for the audiobook. Obviously, I used the score when applicable to the intended scenes, but there are very often cases where they won’t work. I read as much as I could in the past about what the motifs were and where Shore used them in the movies, so I followed that trajectory for the most part. Gondor is Gondor, Rohan is Rohan, Mordor is Mordor, etc.

Changes happen when I feel the emotions for a scene in the books do not match up to the ones in the films, and then there are brand new scenes and characters not in the movies at all, that I have to figure out! Take the pause from music between Gandalf falling into the chasm with the Balrog, and the fellowship successfully escaping. It’s perfect in the film, but I knew I couldn’t put the lamenting heartbreaking music in there yet, since the descriptions all drive the idea that escape is paramount. So I treated it as a ‘shock’ moment. No music until they’re completely out of the mountain, then the grief comes in. Things like that, a lot of fun creative thinking to get those emotions working!

I recall you mentioning the ‘Gimli / Legolas drinking game’ statement and how I used the hell out of it throughout the Audiobook, which is a good example. I pitched it up and down, for different moments, and it just has that hobbit mundane and jolly quality to it. So, in it goes to fill moments from the books.

I also edited and modified existing motifs for completely different scenes and ideas. One of my favorites is when Treebeard talks about the Entwives. I needed this melancholy yearning sound that was really essential, and found it by reversing Eowyn’s theme, and pitching it down so the violin sounds like a cello/bass. To me it just felt extremely appropriate for the sound of a long-lost relationship while portraying a larger-than-life creature.

Let’s also say Bombadil. I made up the idea that the last statement in the credits for “Return of the King”, was Bombadil’s theme. It’s actually just a reference to Der Ring des Nibelungen by Wagner, a very verbose beautiful crescendo, but I thought “I’ll pretend like it’s Bombadil, he’s last in the score even though he’s the first in Arda”. So I used that musical progression in his songs, that’s his leitmotif now (to me, anyway) He sings in that wavy up-and-down melody. Which is why you hear a lot of that in those chapters.

I also try to use recordings not from the original score: I looked far and wide for alternative recordings, predominantly the album by the Royal Prague Philharmonic, and the “LOTR Symphony”, just to make the Audiobooks feel different. I pitched down and moved and reassembled a lot of different cues for different scenes as well.

There are not a lot of instances of music from other movies, however, they do exist! I used music from “Battle for Middle-Earth”, the game “War in the North”, and for the last few chapters, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” since it just came out at the time. I used a lot of music from Howard Shore’s “Seven” and “The Game” during Shelob (I think), and for the Barrow-Downs. I used a tiny bit of underscore from the brilliant Don Davis’s “The Matrix Reloaded”, it had a really eerie choir which made me feel like it would be perfect for the fatigue and dizzying unreality of Mordor when Sam and Frodo were on their last leg, trying to get to Mt. Doom. Lastly, I used a little bit of music from Howard Shore’s “Twilight: Eclipse” for some dialogue scenes during Return of the King! And music from the independent film “Mongol” by Tuomas Kantelinen for the Woses when Theoden has to get help from Ghan-Buri-Ghan. Also the ending of ROTK has a few cues from “The Lord of the Rings musical”, lovely stuff.

It may surprise you that there is a small amount of score I actually ‘wrote’ with help from my brother (he’s a musician). It’s in the coronation of Elessar. It’s not very good but I needed something. There is also a cello version of “to the edge of night”, which I kindly asked permission to use by YouTube celloist, but I sadly don't think that video is up anymore.

Lastly, I use the Shire music so much because - just like Howard Shore said - it becomes a ‘hymn’ or an ‘anthem’ for the hobbits as they leave their comforts behind and are in a wide and unfamiliar world. Every little bit that reminds them of home, or relates to each of them, usually deserves a little ‘shire’ statement here and there. I feel if it’s in the characters’ hearts and minds, it has to be expressed in the music!

12. Out of all the chapters I’ve listened to so far on the Internet Archive, “A Journey in the Dark” is the one most plagued with editing issues; Sam’s temper tantrum over leaving Bill the Pony is cut out entirely. Which is a shame, because I was really looking forward to hearing your take on that. (Is it strange to say that I wanted to hear you break down into blubbering tears? Probably. Let’s ignore that and move on.) Is there any chance that you have a cleaner edit of that chapter somewhere?

I think you’ll be very unsurprised to know that “A Journey in the Dark” is the first chapter I ever recorded. I think you’ll also need to know that I did FOTR when I was 21 years old, and my grasp on doing better sound mixing or even getting the characters right was still a work in progress. I learned so much going chapter-by-chapter and felt that each succeeding one improves from the former. As a demo-run, I did “King of the Golden Hall '' and “Journey in the Dark” in early 2010 (in fact, I did only the first half of “JITD” back then. Stopping right after they are barred inside the mines, as the Watcher destroys the gate. I did the second half once I caught up with the story going chapter-by-chapter.)

There are so many issues with it, and I haven’t listened to it since. If you have headphones you’ll also notice that none of the voices really pan from left to right, or feel like they’re ever anywhere else except the dead-center. I was lazy back then.

When I read the chapters, at the time, I was sharing an ‘office room’ with my younger brother, and as a teenaged younger brother does - continues strumming his guitar no matter what the other brother is doing. It was really fun, and funny and I was extremely sloppy with editing things out, and taking it too seriously. So, for sure you can hear ‘someone’ in the background during the early parts of FOTR, and I was too lazy to re-record or edit out the noises that weren’t supposed to be there.

Forgive me if this part is a lot longer, but now that you mention it, I want to get on my soap-box and rant about how many things I agree with about the Audiobook’s shortcomings and how many things have changed since the wee days of 2010:

I didn’t really get a grasp on the characters, and I had no idea I was going to do the entire book. I did not take enough care with sound mixing (it’s a highly technical and rigorous practice, I’ve discovered. Even now, ten plus years later - it’s too technical for me to fully understand yet), and I did not thoroughly re-listen to the chapter when I was done with an edit or a sound-effects pass. Therefore there’s always been mistakes still in there, and just unpleasantly careless placement of sounds and music. I have often thought about re-recording it to get it up to scratch, but it’s been over a decade and I haven’t properly preserved all the sound stems without having to re-sound-mix the whole chapter again, and there is that little thing called ‘burnout’ which is hard to ignore. So, I apologize to everyone who has to suffer through that huge drop in quality with “A Journey in the Dark”. It quite literally was my first attempt, and it definitely shows.

The good news is that a fan asked me the same thing about the missing piece in that chapter (the one you mentioned! With Sam and Bill!), and I’ve heard the same comments about it throughout the years. Why is it missing? I don’t know why! I recorded it, but in my loose run-and-gun past when I was a wee lad, I was careless, and just had the mp3 with that part missing. A rendering error, perhaps! Stupid 21 year old Phil just hodgepoging everything.

A Few months ago, I did get another email about that missing piece. I thought “okay, once and for all, I’m going to find that missing part.” - and I searched my old harddrives for some kind of archival copy with that part in it. Amazingly, it was a lot harder to find than I thought. Every rendered version of JITD either stopped right before that scene, or had it omitted. I actually found one half of it as a ‘demo’ piece I rendered years ago for a ‘sound trailer’, and then I finally found the original YouTube video I made - which had it intact! Now the hardest part was stitching it together with the rest. Took longer than I thought, but I finally amended this horrible incompetence. And yes, I will share the link to you! And be prepared to be disappointed at the 2010-era quality!

I don’t know if anyone knows this, but with the mp3s circling around, I have taken the liberty of re-recording and re-working some chapters from their original versions. I try my best to preserve the originals, but I also wish people to listen to the re-records. I have actually re-recorded and re-mastered “A Long-Expected Party” three times. 2011, 2013, and 2014. I re-recorded “King of the Golden Hall” in 2013, and “Shadow of the Past” in 2014. I usually try labelling the dates on the mp3 files themselves. The one I’m most proud of re-recording bits of, is “The Pyre of Denethor” as the first time I had Denethor say his last words he was mildly raising his voice, but I listened to it again one day and went “this man should be at the edge of sanity.” - so he absolutely yells now, and it’s such a night-and-day comparison.

Another addendum: I completely understand the complaints about ‘the sound/music drowning out the dialogue’. It’s been the #1 complaint over the decade. I completely understand. I never had professional sound mixing gear, nor did I have proper mixing headphones or speakers or a proper studio (most of the audiobook was recorded at my grandmother’s house!). The balance of the audio making it sound immersive, (like you are there!) and having clear dialogue to hear is - like I said - an extremely technical and complex process that I’ve never had the ability or tech to master. Let alone for a book that’s 48 hours long, and has so much sound and music to it. Nothing would bring me more joy than to work with an experienced sound mixer, and find all my audio stems, and for us to work together to clear up any and all issues. But as this project was a simple fan-made work, and I haven’t distributed it myself for a decade, who knows?

This is also why I never went on to do “The Hobbit”. Burnout is real, and I’ve never recovered from LOTR. The burnout… “it’s never really healed, Sam.”

13. What was your favorite scene to record and mix?

Mount Doom. Can’t get better than trying to make the climax as horrible and eucatastrophic as that. It all led up to this, and it was such a rush to work on. I remember how I was at the edge of my seat watching ROTK in cinemas for the first time, and how amazingly they pulled it off, and I wanted to definitely imitate that, but using Tolkien’s own writing. Just so cool.

I have two favorite chapters: The first one is “The Scouring of the Shire”. I remember well, when I was working on it, I realized this has never been ‘dramatized’ before. At least not in full. I felt so special being the first one (probably) to do it. I could imagine the entire chapter in my head like a film, and I could bring it to life with very little outside influence. Such a poignant and shocking chapter.

I don’t think I would have done it as well without the experience I gained doing the rest of the Audiobook. Showing the strength of the four hobbits, portraying the dignity and resolve of their kind, giving that pathetic yet dangerous authenticity to Sharkey, and the ruffians, illustrating the battle of bywater with sound… this was done in 2013, so we all were able to listen to new music by Howard Shore (for The Hobbit), and I would be able to transpose motifs from that, into “Scouring”, and honestly I wouldn’t know how it would have worked out if the Hobbit films didn’t come out just at the right time. I think the score fits so well with the events of “Scouring”, there is a ‘mordor’ theme but it feels ‘unfinished’, like the remnant of an old defeated foe; there’s that wily progression for Radagast in the films, that I used for the hobbit’s rebellion and the conflict, and there’s a new ‘hobbit/shire’ motif that worked so perfectly for a ‘wounded, but recovering’ Shire. I feel so silly talking about decisions I made for this, but I always wanted to share some thoughts I had!

Fun fact: I had a wonderful person ask if she would be able to play Rosie Cotton back in 2013, and I asked her to perform her lines. She was great, but I realized a very strange thing: when I put her in the audio mix, it would actually break the immersion, because you can hear a voice that wasn’t mine, and as a result - I couldn’t help but keep thinking - my voice for Rosie’s mother sounded like a Monty Python skit in comparison! And thus her lines had to be unused. It kind of just opened the fourth wall, breaking the illusion. Which is a shame, because I always dream of having a fully-cast LOTR Audiobook, maybe someday officially.

The other favorite is “The Tower of Cirith Ungol” just because I listened to it one day in 2014, and heard no errors. I was so proud. I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to change substantially. No one dislikes all the errors more than I do!

14. What’s your best memory from this entire project?

My late dad drove me and my brother out into a clearing at midnight in the forest. The sky was so clear and starry. And we were here simply to just yell at the top of our lungs to record material for “Helm’s Deep”. All the clear yells: “Elendil!!!” “Gúthwinë! Gúthwinë For the Mark!”etc. Etc. - I lost my voice, it was a fun time. He held the microphone for me as I splashed around a stream (for Gollum), once again at midnight since there were fewer background sounds.

I also tell this story a lot: A friend of mine who was listening to the chapters as I finished them - she hated the sound of knuckles cracking. And hated spiders. So, obviously, Shelob would have to have knuckle-cracking sounds for her limbs. So I recorded my own knuckles cracking and tried using it as much as I could for Shelob’s legs moving about. My friend was soooo ecstatic to know this fact.

15. If you could do it all again today, what would you change?

I would consider doing a ground-up re-recording of everything. With a budget, with a cast, with a lot more understanding of the story and intentions behind them. With VR sound options. With extra original music. That’s the dream.

If we’re back to reality, I guess I’d just re-record a bunch of chapters since they could always be better, and tighten all the technical errors. But that would require a lot of assembling of the raw archived files, and re-building of sounds, and re-recording of lines. Also, as I stated before, I do not want to distribute my unofficial fan work just because I know that it’s a copyright nightmare. And burnout… “it’s never really healed, Sam.”

I like taking other people’s opinions to heart, such as the issues with Frodo’s youth or inflections and intonations for certain scenes that I didn’t quite fully grasp the first time. I would love to adjust things and make it closer to the book now.

- - - - -

And now! The Silly Questions Lightning Round!

(With thoughts from Lady Glasses in parentheses and italics!)

1. In Fellowship, long stretches of dialogue would often have someone randomly cough in the background. Tell me about the Cough. Why is the Cough there?

No one hates the coughs more than me. That’s either my brother minding his own business in the other end of our ‘office room’. I think you now know I was 21, I didn’t care, so these things are just left in because I was careless. However, sometimes there are intentional coughs to make it feel more realistic. It’s been years since I listened to it, so unless I somehow do a massive commentary stream someday (thinking about it), your guess will be as good as mine! The coughs heavily subsided once I did Two Towers, since I was by myself.

2. During the dinner scene with Farmer Cotton, someone burps. Who was that?

Mine. I have no regrets with that one. Or Pippin. I guess it could be Pippin.

(Darn! And here I thought it was Farmer Cotton, LOL)

3. How did you manage to make Bill Ferny’s voice so perfectly obnoxious?

I imagined Bill as an obnoxious guy. The image in my head gives me a good idea of what he’d sound like, and I’m so glad he’s so obnoxious that you had to mention it.

(He sounds perfectly punchable. Thanks, I hate it.)

4. Did you crack yourself up at any point in the recording?

Oh yes, in fact I have a whole outtake reel just for you!

(Warning to anyone who clicks the link: the April Fool's audio had me ON THE FLOOR)

5. Voice acting aside, who is your favorite character in LotR and why?

If you asked me in 2002 it would be the Balrog, if you asked me now it would be difficult because so many of them mean so much to me, and each of their aspects have something to aspire to. Gandalf, Aragorn, Sam, Frodo, Galadriel, the list goes on and on.

(That's beautiful, and so true. The story really grows with us, doesn't it?)

6. What’s your favorite color?

Blue. Always has been.

(Blue is a good color! 💙)

7. Political question: Pineapples on pizza, yes or no?

Yes, I still don’t get what the fuss is about

(Oooh, controversial)

8. Is a hotdog a sandwich?

No, it’s a hotdog!

(Counterpoint: A hotdog is a taco.)

9. What’s your opinion on geese?

They’re racist

(Racist against the entire human race, apparently)

10. How much would I have to pay you to say “I love boats!” in Merry’s voice? (It’s an inside joke with my friends.)

Nothing, it’s on the house!

(HOLY CRAP I LOVE YOU)

- - - - -

Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us! What are you working on nowadays?

I’ve actually had a few people ask me if I’ll ever do more audiobooks like this, and I seem to have tapped something. Yes, in fact! I’m working with a few creative collaborators on a small company to do the exact same sonic experience with other books! Since we’re very small, we are starting with stories in the Public Domain, and have successfully kickstarted (and finished) “The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling. Which will be out (hopefully, officially) by early September! I’m really excited and hope this will lead to more projects, and - hopefully- back to Tolkien someday, in an official manner. Please follow my Instagram or Facebook for more info about it. (I also have a Twitter and Tumblr and more, but they’re all completely unrelated to LOTR and are just me drawing doodles and being a nerd, very unlike the Audiobooks I did, which is a bit confusing, I admit.)

- - - - -

And that concludes our interview! As I told Phil, it was so much fun to discuss a fellow fan's passion project like this. The more I read about it, the more I realized just how similar it was to my own experiences as a fan creator. We all start out as just a noob with a few unpolished skills, making something because we love it, and we learn and grow and hone our talents along the way. It's legitimately inspiring.

Needless to say, I am stoked to finish listening to the rest of this audiobook! Is it a bit weird knowing the creator of the thing might drop in and read my reviews?? Yes. Yes it is. But I'm gonna do it anyway. No holds barred! If I hear another cough, you're gonna know about it, Phil!

Also I may or may not do something with that audio of Merry because I'M STILL DYING OF LAUGHTER HELP

Anyway! If you made it to the end of this, you deserve a cookie! Everybody say thank you to Mr. Dragash, and go check out the other stuff he's doing nowadays! Namárië!

#phil dragash #audiobook #lotr audiobook #interview #CATCH ME SCREAMING ABOUT THIS FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS

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redheadgleek · 1 year

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4th Quarter reading (October through December)

October: Turtles All the Way Down by John Green - I really enjoyed this book. I liked the main character and her OCD was believable. Beguiled by Cyla Panin. This book didn't know what it wanted to be and it showed. Disappointing. Huntress by Malina Lo. I have no recollection for reading Ash, although I remember that I liked it, so I couldn't tell you how this was a prequel, but it was a good book. Hopefully I'll remember it in a few years. The Fox by Malinda Lo. Attached to Huntress. Should have just been deleted. A Darkness At The Door by Intisar Khanani. I really liked this series (which really was one book followed by a duology), well developed world and characters. Karamo: My Story of Embracing Purpose, Healing, and Hope by Karamo Brown. My favorite of the Fab Five. I found this to be meh. (The fact that there was entire chapters devoted to his fiance who he broke up with about 6 months after this was published was a little *wince* Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree. A truly fun, cozy fantasy book. Thoroughly enjoyed this one. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk. A book club book. Dragged a bit, but certainly made me think about nature and borders. The Nobleman's Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks by Mackenzie Lee. A good conclusion to the trilogy (the second book was the best). Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World by Anne Jamison. Started reading this in 2014 and never finished. It was already dated. I would have really liked taking a college class from her. Corinne by Rebecca Morrow. I read this because there was a rumor that it was written by Stephenie Meyer. I don't think it was (but I wouldn't be surprised if it was Rainbow Rowell). It was so terribly cheesy and entirely relatable. The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by K.J. Charles. I... did not realize when I first picked this book up that it was just a very smutty romance novel. I wanted more plot than what I was given. (Books need AO3 tags and ratings!) The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun. Truly charming.

November: Almost Like Being in Love by Steve Kluger. I think @constantcompanion told me that it was one of her favorites. Don't read this one as an ebook, the letters do not translate. The ending was unconventional. Tanqueray by Stephanie Johnson. The Humans of New York photo essay was better. The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky by Mackenzie Lee. Another one that I started reading years ago after reading Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue. It was just meh. Dracula Daily by Bram Stoker. I had never read Dracula. Tumblr made it a much more enjoyable experience than the novel itself. The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien (audiobook read by Andy Serkis). Andy Serkis's voice is so good (except as Galadriel) and really made this an immersive experience. The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain. Truly delightful about an older man facing retiring and reexamining his life in the closet. The cross-generational friendship were the best. Demon in the Wood by Leigh Bardago. The drawings were beautiful, the story was short. Stardust by Neil Gaiman. Needed to be longer. The Guncle by Steven Rowley. I loved this book - there are not enough books dedicated to childless adults and their relationships with the niblings. The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien (read aloud by Andy Serkis). Long car trip to Utah meant plenty of time for listening to books. Eowyn's voice wasn't much better than Galadriel's, but the rest was excellent. Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell. Too many republished stories. 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. Delightful correspondence. I can see why it's beloved. Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall. This book suffered because it was the third or fourth book that I read with a anxious/OCD protagonist and it's just becoming the trope of the month.

December: Brambles by Intisar Khanani. The prequel to Thorn. A nice introduction but you really didn't need it. Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx. Have never seen the movie. Didn't really like the characters. Writing was lovely, but I don't know that that Wyoming really ever existed. A Marvellous Light by Freye Marske. A reread. Just as delightful as the first time. A Restless Truth by Freye Marske. Not quite as good as AML and the romance wasn't as engaging. I'm excited for the concluding book though. Illuminations by T. Kingfisher. I just love every word she writes. Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman. Some truly excellent poetry in this collection. I'm going to buy the book. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens as part of a daily email. Not as much tumblr discussion. The Lightning Thief by Percy Jackson. My nephew's favorite books right now and I realized I've never read. A fun romp. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. Another book that I was cleaning out from my "started reading years ago but never finished." Enjoyable, but I don't really enjoy potty humor so I think I was the wrong audience.

Currently reading: Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present by Harriet Washington. It's a great book but it's so heavy that I can only read a chapter at a time. The White Allies Handbook: 4 Weeks to Join the Racial Justice Fight for Black Women by Lecia Michelle. I was really hoping for a Antiracism 202 kind of book and this isn't quite that. I might finish this one by tonight.

I gave up on Great Expectations, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, and Moby Dick as emails since nobody else on tumblr seems to be reading those.

#books #reading

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mesmeret · 4 years

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Huxloween Day 4: Ghosts Couch and Sword of Chateau Jakku

Rey and Finn were excited to hear there was an estate sale with rumored haunted items. The items inside the decrepit Arkanis Manor were in surprisingly great condition. Finn tried to be discreet with his EMF meter but only got an eye roll from the estate manager. Rey was naturally gifted and instantly went upstairs to the guest bedroom on the left.

"Ah! Fantastic!" Rey exclaimed.

Hux was startled realizing the young woman was looking straight at him. He pointed at himself and she nodded enthusiastically before calling for Finn. Her partner comes in with a slight frown, "What's up?"

Rey beamed, "We've got a true ghost! Now we have to figure out if he's attached to something."

Finn's brows went up, "Really? Awesome!"

Hux watched as Finn walked around the room with the meter. He didn't know if he was attached to something. He couldn't remember much at all to be honest.

Finn frowned as the meter barely registered anything from the decor in the room. Rey huffed in frustration, worried that Hux was attached to the building itself or was linked to something somewhere else. She closed her eyes and then looked at Hux in his eyes, "Where's your home?"

Suddenly he was downstairs on his favorite couch. He looked up at the loud stomping of Rey's feet as she ran around. He felt giddiness for the first time in over a century as she jumped down two stairs at a time. She saw him and cheered. Ignoring the shushing from other buyers, Rey sat down on the couch, "I'm taking you home!"

The Chateau Jakku was a tragic mishmash of Victorian Rococo. Hux lamented every time he saw Morris & Co mashed up with overly ornate gilded furniture amongst the dozen guest rooms. He tried to tell Rey about the inaccuracies but she seemed to not fully hear him. She said it was like he was talking underwater. Exasperated, they reached a middle ground of dream walking. They would move the vase on the dresser of Rey's and Finn's bedroom to signal they needed to commune.

Rey laughed when he revealed that her decor faux pas was all he had issue with. With a little digging, he admitted he was getting a little bored when the guests aren't around.

The next day Finn calls for him. Finn flusters, not quite sure if he had an audience or not, and explains audiobooks to the seemingly empty room. Hux is fascinated as Finn starts the Fellowship of the Ring on what he explained to be a CD player. He showed Hux how to play and pause the story. Finn startled as Hux pressed the button to pause. They both laughed as Hux pressed the button again to play. Hux ached a little that Finn couldn't hear his appreciation. He tentatively pats Finn's shoulder.

Finn yelps but then giggles with excitement, "Wow! I could see you kinda!"

Hux tilts his head and firmly presses his hand on Finn's shoulder. Finn gasps taking in the tall red head wearing a nearly unsettlingly sheer silk dressing gown with an ornate print that complemented the ice blue couch. Finn ducked his head, "Hello, neighbor."

Hux smiled and gave a nod in return.

---

Hux hadn't realized how accustomed he was to his new life until Finn brought home the longsword. The young couple were fretting where to hang the monstrous blade. They settled with the wall beside Hux's couch in the sitting room.

Rey was rambling to Hux about the new spectral resident. A knight in the late medieval era is believed to be haunting the sword. What Rey knew for certain was that the name Ben Solo was attached to the sword.

A hulking, angry man appeared when she said that name. He growled and only Hux was startled. He quickly deduced that he could only see him. A few minutes of blabber, Rey admitted that she can only sense his presence. She has yet to see him.

It may be a blessing. He had a terrifying gash nearly bisecting his skull. His black robes were singed and torn. Hux was deeply unsettled but his strict upbringing of etiquette kicked in.

"Hello, sir. This sword belongs to you?"

Eyes of rage took him in and softened. To Hux's relief and awe, the gash faded away. Before him was still a broad man, but with soft facial features. Nearly boyish. Hux blushed, "You probably don't know what I'm saying."

"Of course I do. Don't listen to her. I'm not from the past. I was killed five years ago!"

Hux startled, "Oh! Oh, dear. Do you want them to solve your murder? We could do that."

"No. I kinda like this. But call me Kylo. You are?" The ghost came closer to Hux with a hand extended.

Hux felt a flutter when their hands didn't pass each other. He replied softly, "I'm Hux. It's pretty decent here. When there are guests, I like to do a little show. A bit of levitation and what not."

Kylo seemed to perk up, "Really? Awesome."

Hux gave him a look, unsure where that rage is lurking. "I believe we have a couple on their honeymoon tomorrow. I tend to brush their hair to tickle their fancy."

Kylo laughed, "Here I thought you'd be boring and uptight!"

---

Hux learned that Kylo was a Renaissance Faire Re-enactor, thus the odd clothing. Kylo deeply enjoyed juggling amongst the guests of the Chateau. Hux found the raucous man charming. However he caught himself cleaning up after Kylo a bit. Hux deduced quickly that mentioning the name Ben was the key to unlocking Kylo's rage. Hux carefully hid the name placard and thought that was that.

"Where's the Ben Solo sword?" An obnoxious tourist stumbled into the sitting room due to their children rushing in.

As the family filled the room, Hux felt the oxygen leave. Kylo howled dropping the comic book of Finn's he was reading. The killing blow tore open his skull. Hux froze in terror but snapped into action when the children screamed. Realizing that Kylo was visible to the living, Hux darted to Finn outside of the Chateau. Rey was in town.

Finn cursed as Hux pushed himself into his body. Thinking as HARD as he could, Finn heard him and sprinted to the sitting room. All the furniture was twisting in a whirl. The family was in the hall terrified. Kylo was crackling in and out of their view with each heaving breath.

Finn clenched his fists and stomped straight up to Kylo, "Dude, chill."

Kylo's glowing eyes stared at him, "I will when they leave."

Finn sighed shaking his head, "Can't do. But you can calm down, right?"

Hux watched with jealousy that Kylo could easily communicate with Finn. But Hux did have importance. "Kylo, tell him that the name is your trigger!"

Finn gasps as Kylo reverts back to his whole self while staring off to the side. Kylo's head tilted as if listening. He then turned to Finn, "I-um- Hux says to get rid of the name of the sword. Say it belonged to Kylo Ren."

"Why?" Finn frowned at the odd name.

"Because I'm Kylo Ren."

"Oh. But Snoke-"

The lights broke as Kylo howled in pain at the name of his murderer. Finn winced at the sounds and yelled, "Kylo! Sorry! We'll change everything!"

Kylo was fading in and out even for Hux. Hux felt a deep ache and found himself floating over to behind Kylo. He let himself wrap his arms around Kylo and mutter soothing nonsense. Kylo stiffened but relaxed as Hux stroked the gash on his side. To Hux's relief, Finn seemed not to notice.

"Please do," Kylo sighs exhaustedly and the furniture floats back down to the floor. Only Hux's couch goes to where it should. Books fall off the bookshelves and the reading lamps are on their sides on the side tables. Hux rests his chin on Kylo's shoulder once Finn ushers the family to the gardens.

They swayed together for a few minutes before Kylo shuddered in silent sobs. Hux sighed and moved to face him, "It's going to be okay. We want you here."

Kylo gave him a shy, guilty look, "You want me here?"

Hux blushed, "Yes, I want you with me."

---

"Remember, we have a company retreat all week starting at four pm today. So please keep it down during their group exercises," Rey muttered while changing the discs of the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series. She pretended she did not see Kylo laying with his head on Hux's lap while Hux ran a hand through his hair. To her relief, she and the few other supernaturally gifted seemed to see the ghostly couple when they doted over each other. She did deal with the occasional complaint from guests but they were under the impression it was raucous guests, not the ghosts.

"Okay," Kylo speaks for Hux and himself.

Rey gives them a nod and moves on to get ready for the guests. Hux tilts his head, "I think she can see us, not just you."

Kylo hummed, "Yeah. Though seeing me hover partially from the couch with my hair moving would be enough of a hint for her."

Hux gave a little huff, "So I should refrain when she's in the room?"

Kylo turns to nuzzle Hux's abdomen, "Don't ever refrain."

Hux sighs feeling a deep peace. This is where they were meant to be.

END

#kylux #finnrey #ghosts #huxloween

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averybritishsomething · 3 years

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Also, like, i’m so happy today, because.... i think i found a psychiatrist that works. and i have a diagnosis. and my pharmacy is currently filling a prescription. and i might. finally. be able to function. It’s adhd btw. and I cannot get enough stimulation. the last few screen free days have been absolute hell. i was literally laying on the couch with an eye shade on groaning that i’m bored while listening to radio shows or full cast audiobooks. And occasionally reading easy to read comics when my brain/eyes feel up to it (easy to read means the font is easy. not the subject matter). I’ve read 4 comics (921 pages total) and listened to two long audiobooks (15 total hours) in three days. and annoying kendra. sorry kendra. @mydarkdarling has been massively understanding while I complained. and helped me find more full cast shit! she literally was reading me news stories i had questions about because i couldn’t deal with the screens, but i had questions about things! I constantly consume news and scroll twitter and that was hard. and in a normal time, in my free time, i’m playing the sims, watching a youtube video, occasionally scrolling tumblr, and it’s still not enough stimulation. i’ve got a 40 lb weighted blanket. nope, not enough. bouncing my leg underneath. getting any work done is hard. i have a hard time focusing on my friend’s playing fellowship over the weekend, even though i desperately want to. you can guess how much effort i want to put into my boring data entry job. i’ve started to make mistakes. my supervisor is noticing. she brought several up during the twice a year review last week. and they were legit! I did make mistakes! They were very avoidable! They were mistakes i wouldn’t have made previously! I just wasn’t paying attention to details! and... maybe... after nearly a year to the date of going to 3 different psychiatrists …. i might finally get something that helps.

OH and my therapist has been a gem about recommending new people, and helping me figure out when i needed to switch after the second. The first was obviously a bad match, but the second one seemed to be working? till i realized it wasn’t? except i needed her to validate it... and just been fantastic about so many things. so she’s been massively helpful! and said it was adhd fucking months ago. but there’s only so much she can do when the problem is the chemicals or lack thereof in my brain

#Story of my Life

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dailyaudiobible · 7 years

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07/20/2017 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 1:1-3:17 ~ Romans 6:1-23 ~ Psalm 16:1-11 ~ Proverbs 19:20-21

Today is the 20th day of July. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today as we take the next step forward in this week in the scriptures and in our lives. In the Old Testament we're beginning the book of second Chronicles today and there isn't really an overview to give about second chronicles that isn't the same as when we talked about first Chronicles. We're just kind of moving forward. First and second Chronicles were all one text and they we're just broken apart for the ease of locating things at a time where we didn't have word processors and search engines and stuff like that when we needed to go to the right scroll to locate what we were looking for. But, generally speaking, first Chronicles ends with the end of David's reign and second Chronicles begins with the beginning of Solomon's reign. We saw this same kind of pattern in the books of the Kings and so we begin. Second Chronicles chapter 1 verse 1 through 3 verse 17 today.

Commentary:

Okay, so, Paul is laying out his argument and his argument is reframing their understanding of their faith as they’ve traditionally known it. Paul is bringing Jesus into the mix and saying, look, this revelation, what Jesus did, that God came here in the flesh and dwelt among us, this is a big deal. And, so, we have to reframe what we think we know because we know more now and here's how this works. And that's basically what Romans is doing. And it can get tedious. Paul is packing, like, every sentence with theological understandings and it’s like, wow, slow down a second. I need to process this. So, a few days ago, Paul begins with Abraham. He's like, let's go back to the beginning and work our way forward. And let's remember, because this was his first reframe, let’s remember that it was Abraham's belief that was counted as righteousness in God's eyes, not his following of a recipe, because there was no recipe. It was his belief. Let's start there. It was his belief in what God said that was counted as righteousness to him. All the other stuff that we've been kind of stuck in under this law came later.

And then, yesterday, he talks about the law and he talks about mercy. Right? He talks about Grace that overcomes the deficiencies that we find in the law because the law shows, it reveals, our hopelessness and powerlessness to achieve righteousness in our own strength. We cannot get there on our own but God is merciful. He is a Father. He has grace that He extends to us through Jesus and that changes everything.

And, so, what Paul is going into today, and you can sort of see this build. It's the entire faith that we ascribe to. What he is saying today is, so, now that we know this that we have a merciful kind graceful God that would come and, while we were still enemies, while we were still sinners, He would die to offer freedom to us. Now that we know that he's that kind and now that we know that that kind of Grace exists and is extended toward us, does that mean we can just do whatever we want? Because every time we do something wrong there is grace and it multiplies and multiplies. So, should we intentionally just do what we know isn’t right so that we can receive this grace even more and more? Absolutely not, he says. Because when you become a slave to something you are obeying it and you have died to who you were. The waters of baptism are a representation of this. You go into the water declaring that who you were without Christ is dead, is going to be left behind in those waters, and you will come back out a new creature.

But the whole thing that we've come to this far is beautifully summarized today at the end of our reading. And the very last verse that we read is one of the very famous verses in the Bible, right? For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Absolutely astounding, the truth in that verse. But it's even more powerful when we just go back a couple verses and understand the entire paragraph, the narrative that he was saying that led to that statement, because it applies to us all. So, what fruit was produced from the things that you are now ashamed of? Right? So, you can look back over your life and go like, man, college was not so good of a season for me, or man, you know, some of those things that I did to and against my spouse, or some of those things that I did to against my parents and my friends, or the way I betrayed, the way I did those things that I knew were wrong, I'm ashamed of those things. So, Paul’s just simply saying, where was the fruit in that, did you get what you were looking for, was there a bunch of fruit produced from the things that you are now ashamed of? Right! Because the end of those things leads to death. But that's not you anymore. You've been liberated from those things. You can let them go. That was an earlier version of you. That was the version of you separated from God. That's not your story anymore. You are intertwined with God now. You are a new creation. Those things that you were enslaved to before that we're leading you toward death. That's gone. You've now changed yourself. You are now slaves to God and as you obey your master that will only lead to fruit, which will result in your sanctification. And the end of that story is eternal life because the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Prayer:

So, Father, we thank You for the book of Romans. We thank You for your word. We thank You for this truth washing into our lives. We thank You for this opportunity to remember what it was like without You. It's nothing we really want to relish in but it's good to remember that that old person is gone now and it was leading nowhere and You intervened and came and rescued us. And now every day, we march forward deeper into sanctification. Every day we are being made set apart and holy. Every day we are being transformed into Your likeness. We are looking more and more like You, Jesus, every day. And the end of this story is the beginning of forever and ever and ever and ever with You, Eternal Life. So, we thank You, God, for the gift of mercy and grace and, like Abraham, we believe. That's what we bring to the table because that's all we have to bring to the table. And You supply us with everything we need. You indwell us and fill us. It's no longer us. The person that we were without You is gone. Now it's a new creature intertwined with You. It's a collaboration in life, moving us deeper into restoration and wholeness and sanctification and eternal life. What do we even say to that? Thank You…is…is…it’s flat…it's not enough. This is the point where our vocabulary fails us. This is too good to articulate. And, so, we just simply worship You, walk with You, enjoy this life with You, and share the light and good news of it everywhere we can in every way we know how. So, come Holy Spirit, show us what that looks like as we walk with You today. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the web site. It's home base. It’s where you find out what's going on around here.

Couple things are going on around here.

Tonight at 7 p.m. we’re going to do a Facebook Live inside the Sneezing Jesus discussion group and I'm just going to share some thoughts. And it's great forum for us to get together, like, to be together, all in one place at one time when we can kind of fellowship. Even though we are all over the place and maybe even spread out in all kinds of different time zones, we can be together in the same place at the same time, a little bit. So, that's going to happen at 7 p.m. tonight. That's Central Standard Time, which is the time zone for the rolling hills of Tennessee. And you'll just have to, maybe, look up wherever you are in the world, the difference. I know what it's like here in the United States. I know that that's 8 p.m. on the east coast and I know that's 5 p.m. on the west coast and I know that it's 6 p.m. mountain time. But I don't know where it is all over the world. So, you can just Google that. I hope to see you there. You'll need to be in the Sneezing Jesus group, discussion group, to see that. So, you can find a pretty easily facebook.com/groups/sneezingjesus. So, we'll see you there tonight.

Other thing that I've been telling you about this week is that all the formats of Sneezing Jesus have been released, including the audio addition, so, you can get it at Audible or iTunes or wherever else you get audiobooks. So, it's out there. It's out there in all kinds of formats. And if you haven't had a chance, be we sure to check that out.

We’ll be doing the Sneezing Jesus tour beginning this autumn and into the new year. If you would like to see that come to your area, there's a form you can fill out - small one, just a couple things, just a way to get in touch. Go to sneezingjesus.com, scroll to the bottom of the page and you'll find it. Boom! Piece of cake. You’ll find it in 1 minute. And we’ll see if that can happen.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, in the common mission that we share - to bring the spoken word of God fresh every day to anyone who will listen to it, anywhere on this planet, anytime of day or night and to continue to build community around that rhythm that we share each day - so that we know, that no matter what, we're not alone. There's somebody, no matter what, we’re not alone. If that has brought light and life and good news into your life, then thank you for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage of dailyaudiobible.com. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the More button in the lower right-hand corner or if you prefer the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And as always, if you have a prayer request for comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian, I love you, and I'll certainly be waiting for you here tomorrow. But I'll also be waiting for you here, tonight, at the Sneezing Jesus page. So, I'll see you there or I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayers and Praise Reports:

Hello. Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is Jay calling from New Jersey. It has been a little while since I’ve called in. Well, allot has happened this while that I haven’t called in. I am now married and I'm enjoying the honeymoon phase of life. So, let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much God for life. We thank you for health. We thank you for strength to call in to the DAB and listen to our brothers and sisters and to pray with them. God, we love You so much, there's no possible way that I could even begin to fathom. You're awesome. So, we praise You now. We lift You up. We glorify Your mighty name. In that God, thank You for the many blessings that we’ve been able to experience the last month, getting married. Many people have had children, others are getting engaged, some are even having birthdays, and celebrating anniversaries, so, God, we thank You for that. Father, we thank You for the new jobs, and we thank You for the new cars, and we thank You for our homes. God, we thank You for being able to satisfied with what we have, because I know it's so easy sometimes to get caught up in what others have and what we don't have and where we want to be and how we want to get there and then we can forget to be satisfied with what we have. So, thank You Father. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible. This is Lauralee and I have received my 10 Sneezing Jesus books and that was Saturday, and its Monday and oh boy…I had...anyway…I'm just going to lift up the names of the people to our heavenly Father with this community. Thank you, Brian and Jill and the Hardin family for your faithfulness. Lord Jesus, your word says draw near to you and you will draw near to us. So, I pray for pastor Dwayne, Joanne, Robert, Cheryl, and Matthew, that those small little books will draw their eyes to you, draw them by your spirit to you, and open new days and new ways to live your life out in and through you. We come to you in Jesus’s name Lord, God, our Father and mention His righteousness only to call on Your obedience and Your sufferings. You magnify the law in its construction and its cost and made it faithful. May we be secured by your blood, saved by your light, joined by your spirit. Let us pick up your cross and follow you. May your grace prepare us for your appointment and make us willing that we should choose your inheritance for us and a point that we will keep or loose, suffer or enjoy. If blessed by prosperity, let us be free from its snares and use, not abuse, its advantages. And may we cheerfully and patiently submit to those afflictions, which are necessary…

Hello DAB family this is Marsha from Colorado. I'm a member of the Sneezing Jesus Facebook group and I feel so compelled to share a post I made this morning, July 17th, for those of you who are not on Facebook. So, here's my post. Something very powerful is happening deep within me today. I have power read Brian Hardin's new book, Sneezing Jesus, and now I am going back through, slowly listening on audio and taking notes. It is obvious to me that God has placed a powerful anointing on this book and I feel God's presence as I listen and read. It's deep, it's wide and it's having the effect the author desired and prayed for. Thank you, Brian. All the sudden I find myself navigating through some very troubled waters that God brought to my attention just yesterday. If I handle this through the knowledge of good and evil without God's guidance, it has the potential for great destruction. Had I not received this book last week and devoured it, and made the decision to wake up and see what's it’s like to be fully human, intertwined with God, I know I would not be sharing this post today. God's timing is impeccable. I was literally on my knees in prayer last night about this and awake all night in turmoil, but today God specifically showed me how to proceed, which was opposite of how I was going to handle it. I am tremendously thankful for His intervention. I went from turmoil to peace in a short amount of time and I can't wait to see the restoration God has in mind for this. I am almost giddy in anticipation. Now that's powerful, and I think this is the stuff that sneezes are made of.

Hi, this is Nadene from Michigan and I want to say first of all, that I have never been much of a reader of the Bible or even very spiritual. And, so, I was trying to get rid of some fears that I have of death and a lot of…I have panic attacks. And I asked my dad and he suggested this. And on my breaks, at work, because I work at a factory, I've been listening to it. And now, for at least 2 weeks, they're letting us listen to music at the factory and I've just been listening to this on my own personal speakers. And I've become quite addicted to listening and it’s changed my life a lot, in the fact that I actually feel like I want to learn more and I'm asking questions. And I wanted a prayer request because my husband is not a believer because of a church we went to. And I want to be firm in my faith so he can see what Christianity is supposed to look like. And I'm not feeling like I'm doing a very good job. With two young kids, two full-time jobs, and college split between the both of us, it’s pretty hectic to even get out the door to go to church. But I wanted to thank you all for being such a wonderful community. Thank you very much. Bye.

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