WEBVTT - Rainfurrest 2015: Send In the Furries! 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:03.320 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:05.800 Elizabeth Saron Burnette. 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:07.680 How the heck are you? 0:00:07.880 --> 0:00:11.399 I am? Sunshine in a cloudy bottle? 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:13.000 I like that smile you're wearing. 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:14.000 Thank you so much. 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:17.920 It's very convincing. It's good. That's why it's so convincing. 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:23.079 It looks fresh. So you I got a question for you. 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:23.759 Yeah, I'm here. 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:26.800 Did you have a second. Do you know what's ridiculous? 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:31.040 I do funny? You should mention ridiculous, spread the wealth, 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:32.920 Mcroth the crime dog. 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:34.720 Yes, right, take a. 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:38.120 Bite out of crime. I remember totally Hamm Smoky the Bear, 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:40.280 totally authority figures. 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:46.760 I like, are you also a fan of Bisquick pancake mix? 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:50.000 My god, I thought we were going to talk about something. 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:52.760 Are you a fan of Yes? 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:55.840 I am? Well, No, actually I'm not. I'm a fan 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:59.520 of Crusty's over biscally dense pancakes. 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:01.080 I'm glad you not because we're not going to talk 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:03.480 about this wick. We're just talking about mcgraff. 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:08.479 There's no crossover, no mashup, no disgusting foods. 0:01:08.680 --> 0:01:10.280 Producer Dave take a photo of me. I want to 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:12.360 see what I look like when I'm just so pleased. 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.200 I got something ridiculous about mcgrafth the crime dog, or 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:19.000 rather the gentleman who played McGruff the crime dog. 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:22.720 Like voice at okay, yes, walked around. 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:24.479 Eight or maybe he was the one who played the voice. 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:26.119 Anyway, imagine the voice. 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:28.240 His name was John R. Morales. 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:33.880 And he got arrested in twenty eleven, arrested McGruff the 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:36.880 crime Dog in Galveston, Texas. Good play to be arrested 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:44.080 because a drug sniffing dog smelled pot, smelled the old 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:45.319 sticky icky in his car. 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:46.280 He was speeding. 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:50.280 He got pulled over, okay, and so they looked through 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:54.000 the car and they found diagrams of two indoor pot 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:57.560 growing operations and then a bunch of seeds. Because he 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:00.200 was just like he was a big operation, a parent. 0:02:00.760 --> 0:02:03.760 Okay. So he wasn't breaking into these places. He was 0:02:03.800 --> 0:02:05.160 going into seeding these places. 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:07.400 They were his places. So he had like he had 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.120 his blueprints, he had his seat. It's like, how I 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:12.600 have like that little notebook that has the layout of 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:14.519 my garden beds that's planted. 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:15.880 Well he had that. 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:18.839 Wait, this is the naughty two thousand naughties, right, Yeah, 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:21.600 twenty eleven twenty eleven after that. 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:24.600 But yeah, and so they so the police, they're like, 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.160 let's go to his house. I bet she was so 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:28.960 fun there scorated, And. 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:31.480 So they they take the dog, they go to the house. 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:37.400 They seized one thousand marijuana plants okay, nine thousand rounds 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:43.079 of ammunitions, and twenty seven weapons, which included a grenade launcher. 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:46.520 Wow. Yeah, and he really is about that life. I'm 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:48.519 going to protect my business. 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:52.520 I guess since three years after his arrest he pleaded 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:56.320 guilty and he was sentenced to sixteen years in jail, 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:59.760 sixteen and it was he was a non violent I mean, 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:00.639 he had weapons. 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:02.320 I'm sure he had not used them. 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:03.080 He hadn't used them. 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:06.519 In the commission, the judge said, quote, everything I read 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:08.920 about you makes you seem like a scary person. 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:11.680 Well, don't be to a judgmental judge. 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:13.200 Yeah, judge you much. 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:13.799 So. 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:16.000 Anyway, a couple of people sent this to us, And 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:18.080 I don't know if it's maybe he got a prison 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:21.840 or whatever, but so McGruff the crime dog. 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:24.000 Ridiculous, is ridiculous, iron having the. 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:27.880 Human inside or voicing it, being like. 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.679 A busted by a crime dog, by a crime. 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:34.160 Dog, also being a crime, like, you know, crimer basically. 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:39.800 Uh yeah, so that is, as we say in the business, ridiculous, ridiculous. 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:42.360 So, Lizabeth, I got one for you. Yeah, it does 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:47.320 not involve uh it does. It actually involves the law 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:51.480 and animals and people in furs suits. Oh yeah, so 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:56.840 conventions and airport hotels. Okay, right, that's ridiculous, especially though 0:03:56.840 --> 0:03:58.720 if everyone's dressed as a cartoon animal. 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:00.560 Oh my god, are you okay? 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:25.279 Yeah, this is ridiculous crime A podcast about absurd and 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:29.560 outrageous capers. He and cons It's always ninety nine percent 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:32.480 order of free and one hundred percent ridiculous. 0:04:32.680 --> 0:04:35.320 Yay, Elizabeth ar furries? 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:37.960 Yeah you never heard of thought? You were going to 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:38.280 go there? 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:41.080 Yes, you know what they are? Right, hold that thought. 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:44.360 Bronie's what about Bronie? Have you ever heard of them? 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:45.240 I've heard of them? 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:47.719 Okay. Do you know the difference between a bronie and 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:48.280 a furry? 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:52.200 Well, Bronie is it's just my little pony. Correct, and 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:56.800 furries could be any kind of very good Woodland animated creature. 0:04:56.880 --> 0:04:59.680 A Bronie may be a furry, but a furry need 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:02.200 not be Yeah, Bronie, Yeah, there it is okay, So 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:04.200 we'll start with the Bronie because I have a little 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:06.919 more experience with them. I'm sorry, what, Yeah, I have 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:08.520 a little more experience that this is going to be 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:12.040 our gateweight drug to the wonderful wide world of Furris 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:17.159 Elizabethe no, but I wish I could be like, Okay, 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:20.560 I'm going to share with you today, here's the big reveal. 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:22.360 And you turn around and you have one of them. 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:24.120 Let me get my sparkle shot pats. 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:25.599 Yeah, yeah, you got one of them. 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:29.440 Tails exactly like bushy tail that comes up with an arch. 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:31.640 Yeah, like those shoes that look like hoofs. 0:05:31.640 --> 0:05:34.680 If I was I would have the dopest tail. I'm 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:37.920 telling you, I believe it. Forget a man, I want 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:40.920 a tail. All right, Well, Bronie's they can essentially be 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:42.360 summed up in one sentence. 0:05:42.600 --> 0:05:43.479 Okay, let's hear it. 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.320 They're full on adults who love a little kids cartoon 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:48.760 show about the adventures of a group of magical ponies. 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:54.520 Yeah right, scientific scientific. I like the scientific term of 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:55.840 full on adults. 0:05:55.640 --> 0:05:59.000 It's very scientific in my world. Basically, they love the 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:02.440 reboot of My My Little Pony franchise. There's a reboot 0:06:02.440 --> 0:06:04.040 of it. Yeah, that's what they love. They don't love 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:07.480 the originally, They love the reboots primarily. Now, did I 0:06:07.480 --> 0:06:09.440 ever tell you about I once went to a Broni convention. 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:10.479 No, you did not. 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:12.640 It still doesn't make me a Bronie. I was at 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:14.560 the convention, but it does not make me a Bernie. 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:17.520 Wearing an outfit doesn't. That doesn't make I. 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:21.279 They have been wearing hooves. But but I was there 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:27.719 working at the time. The time I was writing for Playboy. 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:30.080 They would send me on the road for like reporting trips. Right, 0:06:30.080 --> 0:06:33.080 it was a great job. I loved it, right, gigs 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:34.760 with that totally it. I got sent north to the 0:06:34.760 --> 0:06:38.520 San Francisco Airport Hyatt Regency for a Brony convention. 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:39.560 And there, you know the. 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:45.400 Hotel boom, so that hotel filled that that lobby and everything, 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:49.760 and then the convention floor that's just filled with songs 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:52.799 of my little pony people singing them on like acoustic 0:06:52.839 --> 0:07:00.480 guitars like that. Yeah, so this is a Brone convention. 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:02.000 The idea was I would go there and see what 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:04.120 all the fuss was about Men's magazine. We're like, why 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:06.200 are these men so into these ponies? 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:06.560 Right? 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:08.760 Why do grown men want to dress up as pink ponies? 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:11.760 Essentially the question my editors wanted. That was the angle. Okay, 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:13.640 but I got to tell you, Elizabeth, I was surprised 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:16.240 by what I found. Really, I was surprised by what 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:17.720 I found. I swear to god. You ever been to 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:20.840 a fan convention anything like this, comic con, a trecky convention, 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:22.320 a chili concarne. 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:24.640 I can't say I have. I've been to a chili cookoff. 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:26.800 Well, chili con carney, that's for red Hot Chili Peppers. 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:27.840 Super fan conventions. 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:28.800 I'm kind of no. 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:32.480 I just made that up exactly. I threw that one 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:35.080 in there just for fun. Anyway, Bronie's they're a hardcore fandom, 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:37.840 right so they're more intense than Swifties. Don't send me 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:41.440 heat mail. They're more creative than trekkies, about the more 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:45.520 loyal than Rihanna's Navy and the Beehive combined. Yeah, I 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:48.680 know even possible. What I found was they were super friendly, 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:51.080 right now, some of them were as quick to smiles 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:53.320 about as like a used car salesman, like sizing up 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:56.280 your pocket. But it wasn't. They didn't make me uncomfortable. 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.640 They just had this like odd familiarity because they're like 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:02.680 super friendly. It's kind of like Tom Cruise where he's 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:04.840 just on he's trying to be really engaging. It's that 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:07.960 without the agenda of being. It's the same kind of 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:09.160 like you're just extra. 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:12.360 You know how Like care Bears from the same era, 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:16.680 they're all about loving, totally loving people and being that 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:18.080 were my Little Pony? 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:20.200 Was that the same kind and the new in the 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:22.840 reboot definitely they pushed that, right, So it's all about friendship. 0:08:22.840 --> 0:08:26.320 Friendship is magic is one of the crazy Okay, now 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:30.520 it is. It's magical. Elizabeth does stuff. So but they 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:33.080 really push this idea of positivity, but not like like, 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:35.160 oh it's plur man like you'll find like in Rave 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:40.000 community plur It doesn't matter. It's an acronym for positivity, love. 0:08:40.160 --> 0:08:43.960 I think unity and radiation radiation raving anyway, I forget 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:46.160 the R, but basically it's an acronym. Then in like 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:49.680 the Dance and EDM, community is like being. It's a 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:52.800 it's a way of saying, we're all community. Let's be 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:56.480 about love guys. Right, So imagine like if you totally 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:58.320 it's the same. People keep trying to come up with 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:01.319 different stuff the way to say it anyway, these people 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:03.040 really push it in a way that I was convinced 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:05.040 is what I'm saying. Right, There's this one guy spoke 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:07.840 with Elizabeth. The dude was wearing wings, right, two tone 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:12.320 lavender purple wig, super all purple outfit. Right, so yeah, 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:14.400 he was like he wasn't a Yeah he was a 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:16.520 pegasust I guess because the wings, but no horn, so 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:19.559 he was in a unicorn pegasus. Anyway, he passed while 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:22.040 I was waiting in line for a presentation called My 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:25.240 Little Pony and the Symbolism of the Tarot. Now, so 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:27.080 after that talk, I caught up with him. 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:28.920 I want to know who had to put in the 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:30.480 abstract to give that. 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:32.400 You should have seen all these like they had so 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:34.080 many of the like I could just sit here for 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:36.720 the next hour. Yeah, we would just be like, let's 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:40.480 talk about the lineup of speakers. It was amazing, right, 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:42.840 So there I am at My Little Pony and the 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:45.240 Symbolism the Tarot talk. Afterwards, I catch up to him. 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:47.400 Dude's name tells me his name is Frank. He's also 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:49.800 in the talk, right, so no, he tells me how 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:51.480 he's been into my little pony for like a year 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:53.680 and a half. Now he's dressed in full purple, the 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:56.040 wings everything, year and a half deep into it, he's 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:59.160 already boom, like full convert. Yeah, he has a friend 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:01.400 with him and Frank's friend. He's even more chatty than Frank, 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:03.560 thank god, because I'm a reporter and he's somebody give 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.040 me answers, right, So he's answering my questions about how 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:09.000 they've been into other fandoms, like oh yeah, like, hey, 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:11.880 you guys like like fandoms the guys and so Frank's 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:15.240 friend Dave, he's like this more resembles the anime fandom 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:19.240 and the furry fandom, but more combined in a new way. Okay, right, 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:21.400 and like thanks Dave, way to lay it out now, Dave, 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:23.920 he speaks like a shy metal head teen right, So 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:24.760 imagine like. 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:26.920 Parking lot total parking lot boom. 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:27.200 Right. 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:29.320 So Dave tells me how he was. As he put it, 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:31.079 I was kind of I was friendly, but I was 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:33.560 running the risk of becoming a social recluse. And then 0:10:33.600 --> 0:10:35.240 I found the fandom, and I tried to go into 0:10:35.280 --> 0:10:38.880 meetups and meeting people, and I became more friendly, right, 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.079 And I like that as a man. As a young man, 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:43.760 he felt he needed some social work. He didn't turn 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:46.480 to YouTube influencers. He didn't give his mind and soul 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:48.320 over to the men who promised to teach him how 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.480 to be a real man. Right, and it's good exactly. 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:54.600 He gets deep into unicorns and pink ponies. I'm bless 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:56.800 good on you, Dave, and so Dave. He says that 0:10:56.960 --> 0:10:59.199 with the sort of pride of someone who's like I 0:10:59.200 --> 0:11:02.440 don't solved his own problems. He's like, there's two main conventions. 0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:04.079 I go to this one in the Brony con that's 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:06.160 in Baltimore. I paid one thousand dollars for my ticket 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:06.720 to come out here. 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:07.120 WHOA. 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:09.840 I was like, WHOA, yeah, exactly, Elizabeth, whoa these dudes 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:12.439 they flew cross country for their Brony convention. And these 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:15.200 are active duty soldiers who were in the US Navy 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:18.600 station in Virginia, Top Yes, and you know me. So 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:20.000 I had to ask. I said, like, if you guys 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:21.600 are in the military, you're with a bunch of like 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:24.440 trained badass guys men and women who like to kick ass, 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:26.319 take names and all that. Right, So what do you 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:28.480 think about you guys? Being into my little pony. Like 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:30.680 the soldier next to him in the foxhole is like, 0:11:30.720 --> 0:11:32.360 I got my wings, you know, Like what do they 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:34.480 think of They make fun of Franken Dave for dressing 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:36.679 up like rebooted ponies when the Little Girls show from 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:39.439 the eighties, and Frank and Dave they know what I'm asking, right, 0:11:39.440 --> 0:11:41.079 They don't take too much of an insult. I'm trying 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:43.160 to be reporter kind about it. Yeah, And for a 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:44.960 moment they kind of fall silent. I'm like, God, did 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:47.000 I offend them? You guys know what I'm saying. 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:50.400 It's gonna be good for like the Navy Marines rivalries. 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:54.640 It's not gonna help the game, the big Navy Army game. Yeah, 0:11:54.679 --> 0:11:56.719 but they knew I got to ask, right. Sometimes you 0:11:56.760 --> 0:11:58.560 got to ask the questions that hurt. Right. So Dave 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:01.240 the friend says, Honestly, people do make fun of us 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:03.680 sometimes outside of here, and I was like, outside of 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:05.680 the convention, yeah, And so now I feel bad for 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:07.280 the dudes, right, they just want to be happy. So 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:09.679 I tell him, well, you know, I'm not even lying, right, 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:11.720 But I tell Frank and Dave, I'm super impressed by 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:14.040 you guys, Like I mean, you guys are genuine about 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:16.400 this and like Bronie's. You guys are kind of punk rock, 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:18.360 like with the pink ponies and stuff. I love this 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:20.520 and like they kind of smiled. They like that, right, 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:22.600 So then I spot this guy, right, I'm like, I 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:24.240 let them pass and go and do about their way. 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:25.720 And I spot this guy. He's wearing a suit and 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:27.280 a tie, and I'm like, what's up with homie? Right? 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:28.920 Is he like someone's dad? Is he like here? Like 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:30.640 I parked the minivan? You guys tell me when you 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:32.880 want me to pick you up for lunch? But no, bro, 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:34.960 I'm like, you're are you at the wrong spot? But 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:37.800 he was not. He was not at the wrong airport hotel. 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:39.560 He didn't check into the wrong line. It wasn't one 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:41.760 of those right. He's also a young cat. He's got 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:43.400 like rosy cheeks. He kind of looks like like a 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:45.400 like a Mormon comes door to door and he's like, hey, 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:46.520 wo'd you guys heard about this? 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:46.920 Yeah? 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:48.920 Or I think more fairly, he looks like he could 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:51.520 sell that like the hell out of a timeshare, you know. 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:51.880 What I mean. 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.640 Like he's just a little like you kind of trust him, 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:56.240 but you also kind of know, he's like trying to 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:57.200 get you over on something. 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:57.600 Anyway. 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:00.360 The guy turns out to be one of the head organizers, right, 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:02.040 and I'm like, okay, that's why you got that. I 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:04.920 can sell stagnized at the State Fair vibe wearing a suit. 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:06.480 He's wearing a suit exactly. 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:06.679 Now. 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:09.240 Bronis often find their way into the fandom because they 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:10.600 can be socially awkward. 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:12.120 Yeah, that kind of right. 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:13.920 So we have so this guy is holding it down right, 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:15.959 So he tells me how I still work a day job, 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:17.800 I bought a house, I got married. I actually got 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:20.800 engaged at a Bronie convention. I had a second wedding 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:22.800 for my pony friends at a pony convention. 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:24.280 Whoa yes. 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:26.240 And I asked him, like, dude, your wife are Bernie 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:28.520 and what's up with this? And he's like yeah, you know, 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:31.240 like do you have basically, can you have a happy 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:33.240 marriage as a Bronie and a non Bronie or do 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:35.040 you both have to be Bronie's. 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:37.480 Well, like, is Bronie just a man's thing or is 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:39.319 there's women too? There are women Bronie. 0:13:40.240 --> 0:13:44.600 Some women they're all Bronies. They No, there's not like 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:45.760 Cesoni's or something. 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:51.080 Well, yeah, I thought it was like bros. 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:51.800 Is that way, but it's I don't know, I don't 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:53.079 know have to tell you about that. I didn't get 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:53.719 a good answer on that. 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:55.800 Pony files his wife. 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:59.559 She tells me she wasn't there, but he tells me 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:03.080 that is why life was. As he put it, she's tolerant. 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:05.840 So I'm like, okay, so what does that mean, right? 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:07.559 And he's like, well, she's a Harry Potter person. 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:08.400 Geez. 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:10.840 I'm like she looked down on you as a Bronie 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:14.280 like you guys are a new fandom, Like you're new 0:14:14.320 --> 0:14:16.520 on the block as a fandom like that. How this goes? 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:18.440 I mean like this is like Catholics looking down on 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:20.960 like Mormons raving a new faith, Like what's going on here? 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:23.840 So anyway, he tells me she's very supportive of everything 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:25.920 I do, right, So I'm like, okay, that's good anyway, 0:14:26.000 --> 0:14:27.840 So it seems like that's a key to a happy marriage, 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:30.080 to be supportive. I don't know. I'm not married yet. 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:32.680 So my whole point is, after spending the weekend with 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:35.680 the Bronies, it changed me. Elizabeth and I saw a firsthand. 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:38.600 It did about how support and community can make young men, 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:42.080 young men, men who feel lost, alone, confused whatever, into 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:44.080 better people. And I was stoked on that kid who 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:46.920 really are struggling with that at the time. Right, So 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:49.040 I'm like, okay, grown men who love to play with 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:51.880 their sparkly ponies and brush their manes and sing songs 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.240 together like the little girls. They seem to be some 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:56.360 of the happiest people I've seen on the planet in 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:56.960 my reporting. 0:14:57.040 --> 0:14:59.840 And they're not putting like anger and toxicity out there 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:03.720 exactly behind anyone who is in that mode. 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:06.600 I liked how the brownies were inspired by femininity, not 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:09.840 threatened by it. Yeah, and they influenced themselves with it. 0:15:09.880 --> 0:15:11.840 These are like good people, as I'm saying, folks just 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:13.400 trying to get by loving ponies. 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:15.240 I realized I have been to a convention. 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:16.440 Oh what's your convention? 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:20.760 The MLA modern language that accounts. 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:25.000 I guess that's more of like an academic convention, isn't it. 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:25.920 Yeah? 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:27.840 Anyway, So anyway, at the end of this convention, in 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:30.600 the grand ballroom, the attendees, they all gathered together and 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:35.680 in the crowd as one, they chanted in one voice, fun, fun, fun, fun, 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:37.320 And I was like, Okay, you guys are taking a 0:15:37.360 --> 0:15:39.840 little far, but I was excited for them, right, it 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:43.680 was wild, Elizabeth. Anyway, my skepticism had vanished for that moment, 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:45.320 and you know how much that means to me to 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:48.640 have my skepticism vanished for a moment. So anyway, speaking 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:51.440 of all that, did you hear about the army of 0:15:51.440 --> 0:15:55.160 self described and I quote anti US government gay furries. 0:15:55.520 --> 0:15:59.120 They've been hacking into state agencies in six different US states, wait, 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:03.320 and then releasing embarrassing data online. Yes, in news coverage 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:06.520 of the quote anti government gave furries the British paper, 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:09.240 The Guardian, they said, and they're trying to helpfully inform 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:12.080 any confused readers. And they said, and I quote furries 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:16.760 are a subculture united by passion for anthropomorphism. That's one 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:18.040 way to put it, right, but I'll put it in 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:20.560 a little different way. Yeah, furries are folks who like 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.200 to dress up like college mascots essentially, but rather than 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:25.720 the giant tree of the Stanford's mascot, they like to 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:27.760 dress up as cartoon and comic animals. 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:28.040 Yeah. 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:31.080 Yeah, they call those their first sona as in their 0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:35.200 persona with furs. Sou Let's take a little break, Elizabeth, 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:37.320 and then you get back. I'll tell you now about 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:38.080 the furries. 0:16:38.240 --> 0:17:01.400 Oh boy, and we're back all right, Elizabeth. 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:03.040 I got a pop quiz question for you. 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:04.399 Yeah, pop quiz hot shot. 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:06.320 When do you think furries became a thing? 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:13.600 I want to say in the nineties, earlier eighties? 0:17:13.680 --> 0:17:18.000 Yes, eighties, nineteen eighty three, some say, others say in 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:18.800 nineteen eighty four. 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:22.040 That's like the heyday of mascot costumes. 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:26.160 The eighties. I think maybe like changing materials, something happened 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:28.800 where it was like people were still doing it here, 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:30.920 like big On. The mascots had a lot of energy 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:32.359 they put into it, and then all of a sudden, 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:35.840 the materials got cheaper and the something you could universalize 0:17:35.840 --> 0:17:37.200 and everybody could have their own. 0:17:37.320 --> 0:17:37.560 Yeah. 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:38.600 Maybe I don't know what happened. 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:40.600 But anyway, high school, did you did you guys have 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:41.760 like a mascot costumes? 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:43.879 Oh my god, our mascot costume was ridiculous. It was 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:46.080