Speaker 1: Guess what will? What's that? Man? Go? So? I know
Speaker 1: you and I were both huge Lakers fans when we
Speaker 1: were kids, and my third grade basketball team was named
Speaker 1: the Lakers, and I had this Magic Johnson basketball and
Speaker 1: even though I'm really a Sixers fan at heart, it
Speaker 1: was nice to root for a team that actually had
Speaker 1: a chance of winning. But as much as I loved
Speaker 1: Magic Johnson, I really loved Kareem Abdul Jabbar. You mean
Speaker 1: even more than a C. Green or Byron Scott or
Speaker 1: Michael Thompson or Michael Cooper. Do you do? We just
Speaker 1: keep going. Look, they're all clearly great, but Kareem's hook
Speaker 1: shot you couldn't defend against it. When I learned he
Speaker 1: was a history nerd and a Bruce Lee fan, and
Speaker 1: he seemed kind of quiet and introverted, like I liked
Speaker 1: all of that. But the thing I loved the most
Speaker 1: about him, he's a massive Sherlock Holmes fan. Wait, weren't
Speaker 1: you Sherlock Holmes for like two or three Halloween's in
Speaker 1: a row? Because I was. And this is where all
Speaker 1: my third grade interests sort of come together. But but
Speaker 1: apparently Kareem started reading homes when he was a rookie
Speaker 1: with the Bucks and he got obsessed. He was inspired
Speaker 1: to use his powers of deduction to figure out players weaknesses.
Speaker 1: And just like Holmes had those Street Urchin spies, the
Speaker 1: Baker Street of regulars, Kaem used a team of ball
Speaker 1: boys to get him dirt like. He peppered them for
Speaker 1: info and injuries, or asked them for details on opponents.
Speaker 1: And if he knew a player was smoking, like he'd
Speaker 1: exploit that by running him up and down the court,
Speaker 1: just tiring him out. But his love for Sherlock Holmes
Speaker 1: goes so much further. He's also been the keynote speaker
Speaker 1: at a Sherlock Holmes enthusiast club, and he's published not one,
Speaker 1: but two novels about microft homes. Who you know if
Speaker 1: you don't know, is holmes older brother. I mean, Kareem's
Speaker 1: basically published his Sherlock Holmes fan fiction, but reading up
Speaker 1: about him again made me wonder about the world of
Speaker 1: fandom and what are the most rapid fan bases out
Speaker 1: there and why is identifying as a fan so important
Speaker 1: to us as humans? And that's what today's show is
Speaker 1: all about. Hey, their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time
Speaker 1: Genius I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by
Speaker 1: my good friend man Guesh Ticketer and on the other
Speaker 1: side of that soundproof class arranging an extraordinary cheese plates
Speaker 1: our producer Tristan McNeil, so Mango. As you mentioned at
Speaker 1: the top of the show, this episode, we're on the
Speaker 1: hunt for the most devoted fan basis in the world
Speaker 1: and to understand a little more about them along the way.
Speaker 1: You know, thanks to the Internet and social media platforms
Speaker 1: like Twitter and Tumbler, it's now easier than ever for
Speaker 1: fans to find each other and geek out over their
Speaker 1: shared passion for you know, well just about anything. So
Speaker 1: today we'll talk about how these fanatical fan bases got
Speaker 1: their start in the pre digital age, as well as
Speaker 1: why humans form these fan communities in the first place,
Speaker 1: and because no subject is too niche to have its
Speaker 1: own fandom. Will also spotlight a few of our favorites
Speaker 1: that fall well outside the typical realm of sports teams
Speaker 1: or boy bands and movie stars. Again, and don't forget,
Speaker 1: we'll also be talking to a couple of super fans
Speaker 1: to get their insiders perspective on some of the world's
Speaker 1: most popular fandoms. All right, So we should start by
Speaker 1: noting an important distinction between fans and fandoms. You know,
Speaker 1: most of us are casual fans of a lot of
Speaker 1: things we like or appreciate, specific movies or TV shows, songs,
Speaker 1: or books, and you know, we might even become fans
Speaker 1: of the people behind those works if we happen to
Speaker 1: watch enough of their catalog or maybe develop some personal
Speaker 1: connection to the work. The capital f fandom is a
Speaker 1: completely different beast. You know, there's this passion and enthusiasm
Speaker 1: there that most of us would find hard to even
Speaker 1: muster even for the things we enjoy or consider ourselves
Speaker 1: fans of. Oh absolutely so. For example, if you're a
Speaker 1: casual Tom Hanks fan, you might check out as latest
Speaker 1: movie in theaters if you get the chance, and hopefully
Speaker 1: you'll enjoy watching it in the moment. But a card
Speaker 1: carrying member of the Tom Hanks fandom, they're gonna engage
Speaker 1: with the same movie a lot earlier and a much
Speaker 1: deeper and more sustained way. Like a Tom Hanks super
Speaker 1: fan will comb through pop culture news sites daily for
Speaker 1: any sort of crumbs about the upcoming film, and when
Speaker 1: a new trailer drops, they might do a ten minute
Speaker 1: YouTube video dissecting every second, and they'll pop over to
Speaker 1: the Tom Hanks reddit threads to take in a little
Speaker 1: fan fiction and maybe get some tips on how to
Speaker 1: pull off the perfect Tom Hanks cosplay. All right, I
Speaker 1: think we get the point on this. By the way,
Speaker 1: kudos on choosing the most plain, vanilla example of something
Speaker 1: people might get fanatical about. I mean, I know everybody
Speaker 1: loves Tom Hanks, but is anybody that into Tom Hanks. Definitely,
Speaker 1: Hanks is a fans fan. I mean, he's obsessed with
Speaker 1: old typewriters, so he knows the drill. He's got two
Speaker 1: under fifty of his own in his personal collections. But
Speaker 1: but he's super nice to fans. He has his special
Speaker 1: Quote Hanks stationary that that he uses to type out
Speaker 1: thank you notes. Um, that's whenever people's ending letters. Do
Speaker 1: you do? You know this from experience? You know? All right? Well,
Speaker 1: back to the idea of fandom. So while your example
Speaker 1: was suspect that the kind of behavior you outlined was
Speaker 1: spot on, I mean you could swap out Hanks for
Speaker 1: Justin Bieber or Marvel Superhero movies or Lord of the
Speaker 1: Rings and still have a pretty good overview of how
Speaker 1: a fandom works, because regardless of what the content is,
Speaker 1: the true mark of fandom is, you know, this intense
Speaker 1: degree to which members engage with and and that's never
Speaker 1: been more true than today. You already mentioned cosplay and
Speaker 1: fan fiction, but there are lots of other ways that
Speaker 1: fans stretch out content to better suit their interest levels.
Speaker 1: Sure so, pop culture enthusiasts especially seemed to turn out
Speaker 1: a never ending stream of reviews and recaps and think pieces,
Speaker 1: not to mention, like live tweeted commentaries during shows, right,
Speaker 1: and you know there are tumbler pages cataloging these giffable
Speaker 1: moments or video series dedicated to philosophical undertones of cartoons,
Speaker 1: and this ever growing number of fan sites and podcasts
Speaker 1: that approach they preferred subjects from every conceivable angle. I mean,
Speaker 1: the Internet has opened the floodgates for this kind of
Speaker 1: fan produced reactionary content. Yeah, and all those products of fandom,
Speaker 1: like the memes and essays and videos have really become
Speaker 1: their own kind of entertainment. And the funny thing is,
Speaker 1: in most cases, these fan produced reactions far outweigh the
Speaker 1: run times of the content they're reacting to. Like it
Speaker 1: would take you a little over seven hours to binge
Speaker 1: the latest season a Game of Thrones, but a die
Speaker 1: hard fan could easily spend three or four times that
Speaker 1: just listening to a single fan run podcast, you know,
Speaker 1: something that dives deep into each episode. And these days,
Speaker 1: if you're part of a devout enough fandom, there should
Speaker 1: be plenty of ancillary stuff to keep you busy when
Speaker 1: the show isn't on, which is crazy to think about
Speaker 1: how much content is out there. But I mean, look
Speaker 1: back on the media reactions to big shakeups and popular
Speaker 1: old TV shows like you know who shot Jr? On
Speaker 1: Dallas or whether the gang would end up in prison
Speaker 1: on the Seinfeld finale. But you know, lots of people
Speaker 1: make sure to watch so they'd be prepared for the
Speaker 1: inevitable water cooler discussion at work the next day. But
Speaker 1: now that feels really kind of like a quaint notion,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, like like, why wait until Monday
Speaker 1: to hear someone else's opinion. You can hop online and
Speaker 1: find a million hot takes on your favorite show immediately
Speaker 1: after it airs. I know, for me, that's part of
Speaker 1: what stopped allowing me to identify as a fan. Like
Speaker 1: this is so weird to say, but I knew about
Speaker 1: Harry Potter well before other people did. A kid cousin
Speaker 1: who'd been abroad had gotten in on the craze early,
Speaker 1: and before J. K. Rowling had sold the rights to
Speaker 1: the film. I was telling my boss at the time
Speaker 1: that he should try to option it because it could
Speaker 1: make a great animated feature. But as much as I
Speaker 1: love those books, I'm not like Hank Green, who you know,
Speaker 1: has a band that writes Harry Potter songs and he
Speaker 1: writes fan fiction about Wizards dealing with teen issues like
Speaker 1: being sixteen and getting pregnant at Hogwarts, Like like, how
Speaker 1: can I call myself a fan if that's what the
Speaker 1: measure of fan is? Yeah, I mean I know what
Speaker 1: you mean. So what single thing do you think you're
Speaker 1: the biggest fan of? Yeah, I don't know. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: kind of inconsistent. Like at one point in my life
Speaker 1: it might have been like Calvin and Hobbs or Rushmore
Speaker 1: or P. G. Woodhouse. I I don't know, I'm just
Speaker 1: not that committed. I mean, I love Duke basketball all,
Speaker 1: but I'm not the you know, I'm in my thirties
Speaker 1: and still face paying every game level of enthusiasm, and
Speaker 1: I don't even think I own a T shirt anymore.
Speaker 1: What are you passionate about? Well, you know, I've always
Speaker 1: had a love affair with chicken biscuits, right. I once
Speaker 1: tried to start a breakfast club devoted to them in
Speaker 1: high school. It was called the Chicken Biscuit Club, and
Speaker 1: and I tried to petition for it, had like three
Speaker 1: hundred people sign this petition to start this club. And
Speaker 1: the principle pulled me aside, is like, is this a
Speaker 1: service club? I was like, no, was this? Ah? You know?
Speaker 1: Is this an academic club? Will know? And well, what
Speaker 1: are you going to do in this club? And I said, well,
Speaker 1: We're gonna sit around and eat chicken biscuits. And he
Speaker 1: promptly threw me out of his office unfortunately, So I
Speaker 1: mean I joined that. But I guess part of the
Speaker 1: question we're asking today is why do capital letter f
Speaker 1: fans spend so much time on this stuff and what
Speaker 1: do they get out of it? Well, you know, if
Speaker 1: you look at what psychologists say, most of them would
Speaker 1: tell you that fan mentality is tied up with with
Speaker 1: two things. The first is self presentation. So think about
Speaker 1: how we hadentify fire ourselves through our clothes and our appearance.
Speaker 1: I mean that that conscious choice sends a message about
Speaker 1: the kind of people we are, or at least about
Speaker 1: the kind of people we see ourselves as or want
Speaker 1: to be. And in the same way, some people build
Speaker 1: parts of their identity around the media they consume or
Speaker 1: the hobbies they take part in, and that sends a
Speaker 1: message about the social groups that they belong to. Sure. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, so someone who paints their face for a
Speaker 1: game is sending a very clear signal that he or
Speaker 1: she is a sports fan. And whatever qualities that people
Speaker 1: associate with sports fan, like loyalty or enthusiasm, that's all
Speaker 1: tied up in that message as well. Right, But you
Speaker 1: know who is that signal for? And and that's the
Speaker 1: second part of it. It's it's it's all about connectedness,
Speaker 1: And so the paint tells others fans or non fans alike,
Speaker 1: where you stand, you know. But the really interesting thing
Speaker 1: is is how much of the signaling is for the
Speaker 1: fans themselves, you mean, sort of letting themselves know that
Speaker 1: they're a fan. Yeah, that's true. I mean I found
Speaker 1: this study from a few years back where a psychotherapist
Speaker 1: and clinical social worker named Teresa Stern. She was either
Speaker 1: determine how being part of a fandom affects people on
Speaker 1: a personal level, and she concluded that communities of fans
Speaker 1: with shared interests provide, you know, this comfortable space for
Speaker 1: people to explore and come to grips with their own identities,
Speaker 1: so they can figure out what they like and why
Speaker 1: they like it without feeling judged or embarrassed for doing so.
Speaker 1: But actually that wasn't the only benefit. The study also
Speaker 1: found that fandoms offer a support system for members and
Speaker 1: can even help them build self esteem and confidence, which is,
Speaker 1: you know, where the desire for connectedness fits in. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and obviously that's such a universal desire. I mean, we
Speaker 1: all want that sense of belonging, and fandoms just seemed
Speaker 1: like one way of finding it, Yeah, you know, which
Speaker 1: is why it's a shame that being a fan is
Speaker 1: so often stigmatized. So you can keep painting your face
Speaker 1: magnet if you want to feel okay with that. But
Speaker 1: you know, even with so much of geek culture having
Speaker 1: gone mainstream, there's still a tendency to view die hard
Speaker 1: fans as crazy or unstable or maybe even kind of pitiable.
Speaker 1: I don't I don't know that there's there's this quote
Speaker 1: from a psychologist named Jolie Jensen, and it breaks down
Speaker 1: the discourse pretty nicely. So so she says, there's very
Speaker 1: little literature that explores fandom as a normal, everyday cultural
Speaker 1: or social phenomenon. Instead, the fan is characterized as an
Speaker 1: obsessed loaner suffering from a disease of isolation, or frenzied
Speaker 1: crowd member suffering from a disease of contagion. In either case,
Speaker 1: the fan is seen as being irrational, out of control,
Speaker 1: and pray to a number of external forces. I mean,
Speaker 1: we both witnessed Dragon Con in Atlanta a few weeks ago,
Speaker 1: and it's so fun seeing people who are just thrilled
Speaker 1: to be and just really comfortable walking around in giant costumes,
Speaker 1: and you really feel like we're past that sort of
Speaker 1: high school mentality. But I guess it never ends for
Speaker 1: some people. Although you know, at this point you would
Speaker 1: think the folks who belong to a fandom might outnumber
Speaker 1: those that don't. It's like, if I don't know, three
Speaker 1: quarters of the student body was in the A V Club,
Speaker 1: but they're a handful of jocks still trying to give
Speaker 1: them all released exactly. Speaking of which, actually I remember
Speaker 1: where you were talking about Dragon Con. I remember being
Speaker 1: at a hotel here in Atlanta a few years ago
Speaker 1: when Dragon Con was going on the same weekend that
Speaker 1: Alabama and Virginia Tech were playing a football game, and
Speaker 1: seeing these fan bases converge, and I remember seeing the
Speaker 1: elevator will open up in this lady with these giant
Speaker 1: wings and like beautifully dressed stepped off the elevator, and
Speaker 1: these two guys in these big Alabama sweatshirts saw this
Speaker 1: lady and I think they thought maybe they were dreaming
Speaker 1: or something. It was the most bizarre convergence of these worlds.
Speaker 1: But super fans in their own right. But you know, remember,
Speaker 1: being a dedicated fan is one of those rare points
Speaker 1: of overlap between different kinds of people. I mean, they
Speaker 1: might be watching very different things, but the level of
Speaker 1: excitement in each group is is bringing to the tables.
Speaker 1: You know, it's pretty evenly matched. Are you sure about that,
Speaker 1: because I mean I feel like a convention full of
Speaker 1: trek ees can get pretty unruly, but sports fans can
Speaker 1: get downright violent. Yeah, it's true. And for what a reason.
Speaker 1: Soccer fans seem to be among the worst offenders in
Speaker 1: that area, at least it used to be with, you know,
Speaker 1: like the old fashioned European hooliganism. Yeah. I read this
Speaker 1: book awhile back called Against the Thugs by Bill Beuford.
Speaker 1: It's about these extreme menu fans but the way they
Speaker 1: justify acts of like intense violence and racism. And it's
Speaker 1: an amazing book. And you know, I'm such a World
Speaker 1: Cup fan, but uh but you'll cringe at some of
Speaker 1: the things that happened in it and justifying these atrocious
Speaker 1: fist fights and riots and things for like people's noses
Speaker 1: are being smashed. I mean all because like you identify
Speaker 1: with one jersey and they identify with another. You know,
Speaker 1: Seinfeld has this bit about sports where he's talking about
Speaker 1: how players and coaches are constantly shifting, so your allegiance
Speaker 1: is really just to the random colors on a shirt
Speaker 1: assigned to a location. It's true, and and that can
Speaker 1: sound a little bit bleak, but I actually have a
Speaker 1: more positive story to tell you on this one. It
Speaker 1: before we get to that, why don't we take a
Speaker 1: quick break for a quiz. Okay, mango, So, as you know,
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, we put out a call
Speaker 1: for for many of our fans who've been writing in
Speaker 1: and wanting to be on the show to say, tell
Speaker 1: us why we should have you on the show to
Speaker 1: play one of our quizzes. And with today's episode being
Speaker 1: about super fans, we actually heard from someone who is
Speaker 1: a die hard Game of Thrones fan also, Sarah Petrozelli.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Part Time Genius. Thank you, thank you for
Speaker 1: having me on. Well, thanks for writing in. Now where
Speaker 1: are we? Where are we talking to you today? I
Speaker 1: am calling him from Connecticut. I asked, where are we
Speaker 1: calling you from? I guess I could have answered that.
Speaker 1: So we're actually recording in New York today. This is
Speaker 1: kind of a different one, but you're in Connecticut. We
Speaker 1: could almost throw a rock to you. So all right, Well,
Speaker 1: before we jump into this, you actually told us in
Speaker 1: your email that you practice several forms of martial arts.
Speaker 1: What do you mean by that? Correct? Um, I study
Speaker 1: at the Bethel Accronemy of Martial Arts. I practice kick practicing,
Speaker 1: also practiced chi kundo, which is is Bruce Lee's style
Speaker 1: martial arts, which is kind of a melting pot of
Speaker 1: Eastern Western martial arts. I'll see in a lot of
Speaker 1: these movies that he practices and it's a lot of
Speaker 1: minimal movement with Maximus. That's super cool. When I was
Speaker 1: a kid, I used to watch kung fu movies on
Speaker 1: Sundays with my mom and that's how I got into karate.
Speaker 1: Really alright, cool, very cool. Well, you are a big
Speaker 1: Game of Thrones fan. I'll tell us when you say
Speaker 1: you're a big Game of Thrones fan, what what do
Speaker 1: you do to express your fan and how do you
Speaker 1: dig in? Well, I'm sure my Facebook friends and my
Speaker 1: friends in real life are sick me hearing about it.
Speaker 1: Talking right, we know every Sunday when it's done that
Speaker 1: between nine pm and ten thirty. Do not follow me,
Speaker 1: do not text me. Um. I watched the show. I
Speaker 1: read a little bit of the books. I read the
Speaker 1: fan theories online. I subscribed to YouTube channels and podcast
Speaker 1: to listen about this series and what might be coming
Speaker 1: up next. I also like to watch the I in
Speaker 1: the scene, which is really neat because you get to
Speaker 1: see how um scenarios can ride the dragon. It's she's
Speaker 1: literally writing like a mechanical bull looking. It's really it's
Speaker 1: really crazy looking, and they put a green screen behind her,
Speaker 1: so she's doing all this amazing acting like she's actually
Speaker 1: riding a dragon. It's just unbelievable. And the actors are fantastic.
Speaker 1: They're definitely born to play this role. Yeah, and how
Speaker 1: those whole worlds are put together, it's just amazing. At
Speaker 1: Metal Class, we did an interview with some of the
Speaker 1: the costume makers for this show, and it was just
Speaker 1: crazy to think, like how they were looking to like
Speaker 1: both modern and ancient fashions to pull together the styles.
Speaker 1: It's really awesome. Yeah, it's pretty remark it's like a
Speaker 1: whole of the world. And do I understand correctly that
Speaker 1: the next season, the eighth season, is supposed to be
Speaker 1: the last? Is that right? Yes, it's so sad. I
Speaker 1: don't even want to think about it. Well, we won't.
Speaker 1: We won't think about that today. Instead, we'll play a game.
Speaker 1: What do you say, man, go yeah, I'm for it.
Speaker 1: We're gonna play a game called doing It for the Fans. Alright,
Speaker 1: Doing It for the Fans? What a great name, manga. Alright, So,
Speaker 1: so what we're gonna do, Sarah. We're gonna ask you
Speaker 1: a question about a fan or fan bases and and
Speaker 1: you'll have to come up with the right answer. Simple
Speaker 1: as that. You ready, I'm ready alright? Question number one?
Speaker 1: What animated Disney character and uncle to triplets has a
Speaker 1: hardcore fan base in Germany, where they appreciate him for
Speaker 1: being a lovable loser but not a quitter? Is it? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're right, it's but Donald Duck is insanely popular in Germany,
Speaker 1: like way more popular than Mickey and in fact, he
Speaker 1: has a fan group called the Donaldus who liked to
Speaker 1: study Duckberg in a way that's akin to anthropologists. Wow,
Speaker 1: very cool. Alright, one for one, Okay, this was a
Speaker 1: good one, all right? What music streaming service did the
Speaker 1: funk band Wolf Peck used to release a ten song
Speaker 1: album of Complete Silence, so they recommended their fans played
Speaker 1: on loop as they went to sleep every night. What
Speaker 1: streaming music service did they use for this? Is this
Speaker 1: an allowed to ask questions? Or now I thought we
Speaker 1: were asking the questions, but I just I just guess
Speaker 1: a very popular streaming service, let's see modern day. I
Speaker 1: would say Spotify. Yeah, that's right. So the then actually
Speaker 1: collected twenty dollars in royalties from that and uh and
Speaker 1: they used it to fund this free tour for all
Speaker 1: their fans. So they made twenty dollars from this complete silence.
Speaker 1: Isn't amazing? Wow? Okay, Sarah's two for two. Question number three,
Speaker 1: Tetris fans at what science focused university outfitted the windows
Speaker 1: of a campus building into a screen for a giant
Speaker 1: Tetris game. What university are we talking about? Oh? My god,
Speaker 1: and I can't remember the science university cal Tech. Really
Speaker 1: good guests, but we're off on this one. What was it? Mango?
Speaker 1: It was m I t and and that's actually just
Speaker 1: the tip of the Tetris culture. There's everything from fan
Speaker 1: fiction written about Tetris like fifty Shades of Tetris, to
Speaker 1: U Tetris shaped tater tots on the market known as
Speaker 1: puzzle potatoes. Alright, Question number four, and I'm actually gonna
Speaker 1: completely forgive you if you don't know the answer to
Speaker 1: this one becassa alright, So, so what band, fronted by
Speaker 1: Scott Stapp was shocked when their fans sued them for
Speaker 1: two million dollars in a class action suit for playing
Speaker 1: a truly terrible shown that what's not? That's actually I
Speaker 1: think we should give her a point for that one. No, no,
Speaker 1: this is everyone needs to stand it's um. Yeah, the
Speaker 1: money was supposed to be used to recoup ticket and
Speaker 1: parking costs for the fifteen thousand people in attendance, but
Speaker 1: it was the case I actually thrown out in court. Alright, okay,
Speaker 1: let's do one more question. Let's see what Plucky Mexican
Speaker 1: Mouse was pulled from the rotation on Cartoon Network for
Speaker 1: pushing stereotypes until Hispanic fans banded together to bring him
Speaker 1: back on air. Yeah that's right. So, according to Hispanic online,
Speaker 1: many people grew up viewing Speedy as this positive character
Speaker 1: because he always outsmarts the quote gringo cat Sylvester, so
Speaker 1: they petitioned to bring him back. Wow, that's a good one.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, how has how is Sarah done? Today?
Speaker 1: A mango? So Sarah's got an amazing four for five
Speaker 1: and uh, in addition to earning our total admiration, we're
Speaker 1: going to send her the official uniform of any PTG
Speaker 1: fan Part Time Genius T shirt. All right, well, that's
Speaker 1: pretty awesome. We had so much fun with you today, Sarah,
Speaker 1: and for any of our other listeners, if you want
Speaker 1: to come on and play a game on the show,
Speaker 1: don't forget to email us at Part Time Genius at
Speaker 1: how Stuff Works dot Com or you can call us
Speaker 1: on our seven fact hotline that's one eight four four
Speaker 1: pt Genius, and you have to tell us why you
Speaker 1: should be on the show. So leave us a really
Speaker 1: interesting fact about yourself. But Sarah, this was great. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much for joining us on Part Time Genius.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. So welcome
Speaker 1: back to Part Time Genius where we're talking about fan
Speaker 1: bases today. All right, so, I know there are tons
Speaker 1: of bleak examples of how enthusiasm of sports fans can
Speaker 1: turn ugly, but you know, as I mentioned before the break,
Speaker 1: I came across the story from the English soccer history
Speaker 1: that that shows how all that energy can also have
Speaker 1: a positive effect on fan behavior. So this took place
Speaker 1: in nineteen seven, and at the time, soccer was it
Speaker 1: an all time low in the wake of these violent incidents,
Speaker 1: and in fact, the sport had fallen so far out
Speaker 1: of favor it had actually been completely banned in some
Speaker 1: parts of Europe, which is just on in Magina, and
Speaker 1: the fans that still clung tight to their favorite pastime
Speaker 1: had few reasons to smile at the time. But that
Speaker 1: changed when this guy named Frank Newton shows up at
Speaker 1: a local Manchester City stadium brandishing a five foot inflatable
Speaker 1: banana in his arms. Wait, like a big novelty banana.
Speaker 1: So I mean, I feel like if Manchester has a
Speaker 1: banana mascot, I I feel like I should know that
Speaker 1: it's it's not the mascot. That the banana was totally random,
Speaker 1: but Frank just brought it as a laugh, which ended
Speaker 1: up being exactly what his fellow fans needed. It was
Speaker 1: itching to add a little fun back into the game
Speaker 1: they held so dear and other fans quickly followed Frank's example.
Speaker 1: They started bringing their own inflatable bananas, and vendors started
Speaker 1: selling them to those who were late to the trend.
Speaker 1: By the next season, it was common to see all
Speaker 1: kinds of inflatables in the stands, you know, not just bananas,
Speaker 1: of course, You've got your sharks and your penguins or airplanes.
Speaker 1: Even Frankenstein's Monster was getting it on the fun and
Speaker 1: some fans even totally inflatable waiting pools to the game
Speaker 1: and waved those. I wish. I'm sure the people went
Speaker 1: back them loved, But um, I mean, that's all great,
Speaker 1: but it's kind of a shame that Frank became just
Speaker 1: another banana in the crowd. Right, Well, he must have
Speaker 1: felt the same way, I guess, But by the N
Speaker 1: eight eight season, he'd upgraded from this five ft banana
Speaker 1: to a six foot crocodile. Nice. But um, did the
Speaker 1: inflatable craze have an effect on the team, Like, did
Speaker 1: they start playing better or going to winning streak? Well,
Speaker 1: I'm afraid they didn't really play much better. I mean,
Speaker 1: Manchester City was a notoriously bad team and the improved
Speaker 1: morale among their fans didn't change that. But but that's
Speaker 1: the thing. The fans were content to keep coming back
Speaker 1: to games even if their team was losing, so long
Speaker 1: as they could have fun together like they used to
Speaker 1: back before the violence among them had given the fandom
Speaker 1: a bad name. Yeah, and that makes sense. And obviously
Speaker 1: sports can be an insanely uplifting experience as well. I
Speaker 1: remember that sociologist Emila Dirk him talks about this overwhelming
Speaker 1: spirit and experience of being part of a crowd as
Speaker 1: they watched something miraculous, like I don't know, being there
Speaker 1: to watch that guy put a perfect eighteen on a
Speaker 1: pop up course, or to watch someone pitch and no
Speaker 1: hitter or whatever. I mean, it can be moving and amazing.
Speaker 1: But where was I? Oh? Yeah, So I read this
Speaker 1: article in the Atlantic about a study conducted by an
Speaker 1: e communist named Philip Porter, and he crunched the numbers
Speaker 1: on twenty five years of baseball attendance from nineteen sixty
Speaker 1: six to just to see what kind of an effect
Speaker 1: fan loyalty had on the amount of wins the team had,
Speaker 1: And amazingly, Porter found that the team's most likely to
Speaker 1: win weren't the ones with the extremely loyal fans. The
Speaker 1: winning teams were those with the most fickle fan bases.
Speaker 1: Oh really, wow, I mean, I guess it kind of
Speaker 1: makes sense if you look at it in more of
Speaker 1: a cynical way. You know, if they know the fans
Speaker 1: will turn up win, lose, or draw, then the actual
Speaker 1: outcome of the game becomes much less important. I suppose,
Speaker 1: after all, the tickets will be sold, the seats will
Speaker 1: be filled. Of course, the team wants to win, but
Speaker 1: if they don't, it isn't a big deal. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, I can remember when we used to go
Speaker 1: to Chicago a good bit back in our Mental Flaws days,
Speaker 1: and this was before Chicago became really good at these
Speaker 1: last couple of years at baseball, and you would see
Speaker 1: these people just so fueled by Opening Day and how
Speaker 1: excited they were to go and the Cubs were always
Speaker 1: horrible that they loved going to these games. So it
Speaker 1: is kind of a good example of that. I know,
Speaker 1: they treated like the beach there. Yeah, it's amazing, But
Speaker 1: it does seem like fans a getting the short end
Speaker 1: of the stick in that case, right, I mean, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I mean, remember what we were saying about
Speaker 1: fans getting personal validation and a stronger sense of identity
Speaker 1: from their experience in fandoms. And it's the same for
Speaker 1: sports fans as it is for pop culture fans. Are
Speaker 1: there these communal benefits that are often more important than
Speaker 1: the thing they're senter around? And how's that? Well, this
Speaker 1: blogger for Scientific American, let me just find this quote
Speaker 1: here this so this writer Eric Simons puts it this
Speaker 1: way and his piece about the long suffering sports fans
Speaker 1: why would anyone stick with a losing team? But one
Speaker 1: way of thinking about is that sports fandom is one
Speaker 1: of the more accessible, more obvious, us more fixed sources
Speaker 1: of identity out there. In the world win or lose.
Speaker 1: The existence of the relationship props you up a sports
Speaker 1: team and its fan base, or an anchor point in
Speaker 1: an inconstant universe, fulfilling a need for belonging that some
Speaker 1: researchers argue as his fundamental motivator to us, his hunger. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's interesting, and it makes the idea of
Speaker 1: fandoms seem decidedly less modern if they really are rooted
Speaker 1: in this basic sort of human need for fellowship. But well,
Speaker 1: I I know you were excited to talk about the
Speaker 1: origins of a fanatical fan basis so late on me.
Speaker 1: What what's the world's oldest fan base? All right, Well,
Speaker 1: I don't think I can definitively answer that. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you want to go way back, you know, passionate
Speaker 1: fans have cropped up around influential figures all throughout history.
Speaker 1: I mean, let's go back to Plato. He was such
Speaker 1: a rock star philosopher in ancient Greece that he set
Speaker 1: up his own academy where fans would come from all
Speaker 1: over just to pick his brain. And then there's this
Speaker 1: guy Jesus. They loved his carpenter loved and yeah, and
Speaker 1: he had his own private entourage of d votees, even
Speaker 1: if that particular fandom was only twelve deep at the time.
Speaker 1: You know, so we might be straying from fans into
Speaker 1: followers territory. But how about Lord Byron, Like we now
Speaker 1: know that he was one of the first public figures
Speaker 1: to be inundated with fan mail. Really Byron actually hadn't
Speaker 1: heard that. Yes, and not too long ago, historians uncovered
Speaker 1: hundreds of love letters sent to him by anonymous women
Speaker 1: who were utterly charmed by his poetry. And apparently the
Speaker 1: women asked Byron to toss the letters because they contained
Speaker 1: some really scandalous and silicious stuff that nineteenth century society
Speaker 1: wouldn't have approved of. But being a romantic, Byron couldn't
Speaker 1: do that, so he just filed them away for Radney
Speaker 1: day reading. Wow, it's kind of the equivalent of like
Speaker 1: delete that text. Alright. So, so Byron definitely had his byromaniacs.
Speaker 1: But you know, since we don't have any record of
Speaker 1: these ladies ever getting in touch with one another, I
Speaker 1: think it's safe to say he didn't have an organized fandom.
Speaker 1: So if we want the true starting point for what
Speaker 1: we recognized today as these and communities. Then we need
Speaker 1: to jump ahead, probably to the eighteen nineties or so,
Speaker 1: when you know the unparalleled popularity of Sherlock Holmes set
Speaker 1: the first known fandom in motion Silochians. Yeah, so finally,
Speaker 1: Kareem and I can feel like we belong. So I
Speaker 1: actually remember reading that Londoner has lost their minds when
Speaker 1: Conan Doyle killed his character off like he'd been publishing
Speaker 1: home stories in the Strand magazine for years, But the
Speaker 1: truth is he really only saw the character as the
Speaker 1: stepping stone from genre fiction to more ambitious works, you know, um,
Speaker 1: something that was more deserving of his literary talent or whatever.
Speaker 1: But uh, but Sherlock Holmes fans had different ideas, and
Speaker 1: when he sent Homes plunging to his death off Rankenbach Falls,
Speaker 1: the fictional detective took the bulk of the Strands readership
Speaker 1: with him, and so more than like twenty thousand people
Speaker 1: canceled their subscriptions and protests. Yeah, and in fact, lots
Speaker 1: of people also wrote angry letters to Conan Doyle demanding
Speaker 1: he brings Homes back from the dead, and supposedly tons
Speaker 1: of fans wore black armband to show they were in
Speaker 1: mourning you know, and across the pond, you look at
Speaker 1: the Americans. They started with these like let's keep Homes
Speaker 1: Alive clubs. They were organizing their own letter writing campaigns,
Speaker 1: intent on shaming the author and to resurrecting their favorite character.
Speaker 1: And so already you can see this kind of prototype
Speaker 1: fandom just forming there. Yeah, and I mean I knew
Speaker 1: Conan Doyle brought back homes, but I didn't realize it
Speaker 1: was because of public pressure. Yeah. He held strong for
Speaker 1: I think it was like eight years or so, but
Speaker 1: he finally caved in nineteen o one when he published
Speaker 1: a prequel story set before the Detective's fateful fall. That story,
Speaker 1: the Hound of the Basketballs, went on to become one
Speaker 1: of the most iconic in the series, and just two
Speaker 1: years after that, Conan Doyle followed it with another story,
Speaker 1: this time revealing that he'd never died in the first place,
Speaker 1: he had actually faked his own death. I know that
Speaker 1: that story line always struck me as so hokey, but
Speaker 1: I guess fans didn't mind, Oh not in the least.
Speaker 1: I mean, they've done the impossible. They brought a character
Speaker 1: back to life through sheer Will, and that's a heck
Speaker 1: an accomplishment for you know, a loosely associated group of
Speaker 1: people who really only have this shared fondness for pulp
Speaker 1: fiction and common I mean they weren't even fans yet technically,
Speaker 1: if you knew this. But the term had recently entered
Speaker 1: the public lexicon as a nickname for baseball enthusiast, but
Speaker 1: it hadn't really been applied to other groups. It was
Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty four, seven years after Conandle stopped writing
Speaker 1: Sherlock Holmes for good, this journalist named Christopher Morley came
Speaker 1: up with a different moniker for Holmes fans Sherlockians. Nope,
Speaker 1: I know, you keep trying that the Morley's actually responsible
Speaker 1: for the name that New York based Sherlock fan club
Speaker 1: that we were talking about earlier. You know, the one
Speaker 1: Kareem spoke at it to the Baker Street Irregulars, and
Speaker 1: the whole thing was largely an excuse for Morley and
Speaker 1: a fellow well to do mystery junkies to get together
Speaker 1: and talk about their hero over drinks. You know, but
Speaker 1: the b s I also had a hand in establishing
Speaker 1: some of the rituals and ceremonies that would later become
Speaker 1: staples of modern fandoms. They were talking about, you know,
Speaker 1: fan fiction, convince tions, even cosplay, and this is true
Speaker 1: because members of the group sometimes wore Sherlock's iconic beer
Speaker 1: stalker hats, you know, to their meetings and things. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's pretty cool that the first fandom is still going
Speaker 1: strong today, and I mean that kind of longevity is
Speaker 1: a testament not just to the character who has proven
Speaker 1: to be endlessly adaptable, but to the power of the
Speaker 1: fans themselves. Yeah. You know, I think prior to Sherlock,
Speaker 1: people generally accepted when stories ended and we're willing to
Speaker 1: move on whether the author said it was time to
Speaker 1: do so. But something about Holmes and his adventures resonated
Speaker 1: with readers in in a special way. Yeah. I mean
Speaker 1: the fact that they told the author to bring him
Speaker 1: back and it actually worked. That's insane. And that kind
Speaker 1: of open communication between fans and creators seems like a
Speaker 1: really important step in the evolution of fandoms, and it's
Speaker 1: something we see more and more of now that fandoms
Speaker 1: are online. Well, yeah, definitely. I mean you just just
Speaker 1: look at the cult favorite TV shows that have been
Speaker 1: given a second or even third chances. I mean, This
Speaker 1: is all thanks to devoted fans making their voices heard,
Speaker 1: and some really good ones in there too. There's Arrested
Speaker 1: Development or Twin Peaks or Futurama. I mean, these were
Speaker 1: all shows that were canceled, only to be revived down
Speaker 1: the line through these fan efforts. Yeah, the bigger and
Speaker 1: noiser of fandom is the more I can get accomplished.
Speaker 1: But you know, there's something to be said for the
Speaker 1: fringe fan groups as well. They don't often make the headlines,
Speaker 1: but it's nice to know they're out there doing their thing.
Speaker 1: I'm a little skeptical here because I don't know how
Speaker 1: fringe we're talking here. But before things get too weird,
Speaker 1: why don't we take a quick break, so then go.
Speaker 1: I know, a few weeks ago, you were reeling off
Speaker 1: a few of your favorite names for you know, various
Speaker 1: fan bases and things like. You know how Barry Manilow's
Speaker 1: fans are called fan alows and Crisp Pines fans are
Speaker 1: called you said pine nuts, right, That's right, And so
Speaker 1: I've got a couple more of my favorites written down
Speaker 1: I wanted to share. Katy Perry fans are called Katiecats
Speaker 1: fans of the who are the hooligans and any idea
Speaker 1: of what Ed Sheeran fans are called what serios? Actual
Speaker 1: already knew that one of them, but I just didn't
Speaker 1: want to admit it. Actually, when I'm remember thinking was funny,
Speaker 1: it was Clay Aikins fans are apparently called Clay Mates.
Speaker 1: So I love the world play ones. And of course
Speaker 1: there are fan bases for TV shows and sports and
Speaker 1: comic characters. Veronica mars has our Marshmallows. Arsenal has the
Speaker 1: Gooners because the team's the Gunners. I have to admit
Speaker 1: I'm disappointed. I thought you're gonna say our Cino Hall
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, I think he had the
Speaker 1: dog pound. Alright, I'm sorry interrupt, No, no, no, I
Speaker 1: don't know why this is funny to me, But fans
Speaker 1: of the show community called themselves human beings, right, So
Speaker 1: so we've listed off a few of them. But but
Speaker 1: I know you and I wanted to create kind of
Speaker 1: this kid's alphabet of these, like C is for cumber Babes,
Speaker 1: which Benedict Cumberbatches fan base is called, and G is
Speaker 1: for the goould Diggers, which are Ellie Goulding's fan base,
Speaker 1: and and we thought we turned this into a little contest.
Speaker 1: So to anyone who submits a fan based nickname that
Speaker 1: makes his smile and we included in our alphabet, will
Speaker 1: send you a small reward as thanks. Yeah, so just
Speaker 1: submit the name of the fan base that tickles you
Speaker 1: and your name and address. The ads part is important
Speaker 1: to part time genius at how stuff works dot com,
Speaker 1: and we'll try to pull these together in the next
Speaker 1: few weeks. All right, back to the show. All right, Mango,
Speaker 1: I'll admit I'm curious what kind of obscure fan bases
Speaker 1: did you come across in your research. Well, we mentioned
Speaker 1: Trekkys and Sherlockians, and of course you're familiar with the
Speaker 1: believers and the one direction ars, But have you ever
Speaker 1: heard of the a fols. I can't say I had
Speaker 1: a pleasure. So so what is an a FL It's
Speaker 1: actually an acronym for the adult fans of Lego. These
Speaker 1: are the older plastic brick enthusiasts who organized conventions, buying
Speaker 1: trade pieces online and you know, construct their own elaborate
Speaker 1: masterpieces to show off to other apls. According to Lego,
Speaker 1: the adult fans account for a roughly five percent of
Speaker 1: the total sales, and as much as half for more
Speaker 1: of the revenue at the companies dedicated Lego stores. At
Speaker 1: last count, there were more than forty self identifying Apple's worldwide.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's pretty cool, but I'm going to need
Speaker 1: you to stop saying Apples. It sounds like one of
Speaker 1: those things, just like hold your tongue and say aples. Yes,
Speaker 1: no problem, but there's much better Lego lingo anyway. So,
Speaker 1: for for instance, did you know that fans measure and
Speaker 1: ranks certain bills according to their swooshability? I did not.
Speaker 1: According to brick WICKI, swishable is a word that describes
Speaker 1: the playability of a particular space or aircraft model. A
Speaker 1: vehicle that can be held aloft, moved through a stimulated
Speaker 1: series of turns and loops, and elicit an audible swoosh
Speaker 1: sound from the person holding the model is deemed to
Speaker 1: be swoshable. All right, Well, actually I like that one
Speaker 1: you got any more? Well, a fairly Lego fans play
Speaker 1: a version of the White Elephant gift exchange game. It's
Speaker 1: called a dirty Brickster, which is just such a great
Speaker 1: slur for a Lego thief. Oh and and probably my
Speaker 1: favorite legos lean is this term one by five? One
Speaker 1: by five? I can't even imagine what that means? What
Speaker 1: is that? Yeah? So it's code? Actually? See uh, Lego
Speaker 1: fandom is still largely a man's world, though the female
Speaker 1: market share is definitely on the rise. But whenever a
Speaker 1: male April spots an attractive woman at a Lego convention
Speaker 1: or wherever, he might ask his buddies, did you see
Speaker 1: that beautiful one by five over that part? Spin? Are
Speaker 1: people really saying that? I don't want to get it? So?
Speaker 1: Is a one by five like a really nice kind
Speaker 1: of brick or something? Well, the name refers to a
Speaker 1: brick dimension, so one stud by five studs long. But
Speaker 1: here's the thing. Lego doesn't make a one by five brick.
Speaker 1: They make a one by four brick and a one
Speaker 1: by six brick, but one by five is are non existent.
Speaker 1: So I'm still trying to figure this out. Does this
Speaker 1: just mean that this is like it's a girl who
Speaker 1: shares their love of Lego is just as rare as
Speaker 1: a one by five or something? Okay, all right? Well
Speaker 1: I came across a few unusual fan base as well,
Speaker 1: and I think my favorite has to be roundabout Appreciate
Speaker 1: Society based in the UK. There's a group of people
Speaker 1: predominantly men again, who routinely get together to photograph and
Speaker 1: talk about traffic roundabouts. I love that, you know. Um
Speaker 1: in high school they made a tiny roundabout by my
Speaker 1: friend Pete's house and we sat lawn chairs in it
Speaker 1: for a day, just being ridiculous and protesting it. Um. So,
Speaker 1: I guess I'm the opposite of that. But what can
Speaker 1: you possibly say about roundabouts that would require multiple meetings?
Speaker 1: I don't know what you mean. Roundabouts their chock full
Speaker 1: of juicy talking points. I mean there's the architecture and
Speaker 1: the design of the roundabouts. They're they're very safety features.
Speaker 1: You know, the wildlife that call them home. You know,
Speaker 1: all the different approaches people take when entering or exiting
Speaker 1: around about. I'm just trying to come up with anything
Speaker 1: I can, but I'm probably still selling the topic short here.
Speaker 1: But but here's how the Society's founder, Kevin Beresford describes
Speaker 1: the objects of his appreciation. He says roads are often
Speaker 1: condemned as being scars on the landscape, but with the
Speaker 1: coming of the roundabout and all their glory, they counteract
Speaker 1: the roads on sightliness with infinite variety, color and creativeness.
Speaker 1: These bit jamen babes lift our sagging spirits on long,
Speaker 1: tiresome trips. That all sounds ridiculous, and you're saying this
Speaker 1: is mostly a male fandom. Well, in its defense, the
Speaker 1: society has taken steps in recent years to try to
Speaker 1: attract more female members. See they released this calendar each
Speaker 1: year with a photo of a different roundabout for each month,
Speaker 1: and apparently they started featuring one with a windmill on
Speaker 1: the cover. And so the plan here is to poach
Speaker 1: some of these female windmill enthusiasts. I guess they skew
Speaker 1: more female and then they turn them into these humble
Speaker 1: charms of less flashy roundabout. It all makes perfect sense.
Speaker 1: I've already ordered my two thousand eighteen, so now that
Speaker 1: I think about it, this actually sounds similar to a
Speaker 1: group I've loved for a while now. It's called the
Speaker 1: Dull Men's Club, and so this is another British group,
Speaker 1: but it's a little less discriminating about its members interests,
Speaker 1: so long as they're dull. And so among the club's
Speaker 1: five thousand plus members are a guy who photographs different
Speaker 1: drain covers that he spots around town, the owner of
Speaker 1: the world's largest traffic cone collection, which is that more
Speaker 1: than five right now, and a husband who has sent
Speaker 1: his wife the same Valentine's Day card for almost forty years.
Speaker 1: That's pretty great. I kind of actually want to be
Speaker 1: friends with all of these guys. I know me too.
Speaker 1: And then I love how the group got started. So
Speaker 1: apparently a group of older men was sitting in a
Speaker 1: bar reading about all these different clubs that were open
Speaker 1: to them, so, you know, a sailing club, a judo club,
Speaker 1: a ski club, and it just sort of dawned on
Speaker 1: them that they don't really do any of those things.
Speaker 1: But rather than try to take up any new activities,
Speaker 1: they decided to start a club that catered to their
Speaker 1: own dull taste. You know, like we've been saying, we
Speaker 1: really are living in the golden age of fandoms. You
Speaker 1: know that there's a community out there for people of
Speaker 1: all interests, and if not, you can always start up
Speaker 1: your own one. And you know, actually, if you remember,
Speaker 1: back in our our mental Floss days, our two best
Speaker 1: researchers were a married couple and they met as members
Speaker 1: of a Queen Queen the band, Right, Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: pretty amazing. Yeah, I love that story. And did you
Speaker 1: know there's there's even one group that has this ritual
Speaker 1: where the members go back and forth sharing random bits
Speaker 1: of trivia with each other in rapid fire succession. That
Speaker 1: sounds suspiciously like the fact off Mango. So I guess
Speaker 1: it is time for that. Why why don't you go first?
Speaker 1: H Okay? So this one's about fans who share in
Speaker 1: the rational belief and so you know how people line
Speaker 1: up for limited release sneakers or before a new Apple
Speaker 1: product comes out. Apparently Star Wars fans started lining up
Speaker 1: seven weeks before Star Wars Episode three opened, and specifically
Speaker 1: they did it at Groundland's Chinese Theater, which is doubly
Speaker 1: strange because the employees kept tell on the line that
Speaker 1: the movie wasn't going to be playing there. I mean,
Speaker 1: the fans just assumed that because the first two Star
Speaker 1: Wars prequels had debuted there, they'd be showing the third
Speaker 1: one as well, despite what the employees were telling them.
Speaker 1: And it wasn't just the employees, like twentieth Century Fox
Speaker 1: released a statement about it, but the fans just thought
Speaker 1: they were trying to get rid of them for standing
Speaker 1: outside the building for two months in Star Wars costumes,
Speaker 1: so I have to know what happened on opening day.
Speaker 1: So a group of volunteers and Stormtrooper outfits finally just
Speaker 1: escorted them to a different theater where they got to
Speaker 1: watch it. That's pretty amazing, all right, Well, did you
Speaker 1: know that Elvis's manager used to sell I Hate Elvis
Speaker 1: badges and merchandise with the same slogan on it. He
Speaker 1: was just trying to make sure that Elvis was able
Speaker 1: to make money off of the people who didn't like him.
Speaker 1: I love that. Have you ever heard of gadget hack Wrench?
Speaker 1: Apparently she's this totally adorable pilot mechanic and inventor in
Speaker 1: Chippendale Rescue Rangers. And she's also a mouse, and and
Speaker 1: she is insanely popular with fan clubs in Russia. They
Speaker 1: composed songs to her and play sticks of her wherever
Speaker 1: they go, apparently. And when that great site English Russia
Speaker 1: asked members why Russians are obsessed with her, one member
Speaker 1: responded this way, quote, she is the divine being, the
Speaker 1: most untouched and perfect sibling of the great God on earth.
Speaker 1: Why I love her? It's stupid question? How I can't
Speaker 1: love the goddess. He is strict, cute, optimistic, and her
Speaker 1: level of technical knowledge is unachievable for immortal being. I
Speaker 1: think she needs to meet the roundabout dude. That's pretty great.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, speaking of fans, did you know that
Speaker 1: Richard Nixon loved rap music? According to the Washington Post,
Speaker 1: there's an audio tape at the Nixon Presidential Library where
Speaker 1: he said, I've often thought that if there had been
Speaker 1: a good rap group around in those days, I might
Speaker 1: have chosen a career in music of politics. I don't
Speaker 1: believe it's true. It's actually in a number of sources,
Speaker 1: and when it became common knowledge in Christopher Buckley and
Speaker 1: Paul Slansky started writing imaginary verses for raps Nixon could
Speaker 1: have written. So it's fan fiction about Nixon being a fan.
Speaker 1: Exactly amazing. So I think you've earned the championship felt today.
Speaker 1: All right, Thanks so much, and that's it for this
Speaker 1: week's episode. Thanks so much for listening, and in the
Speaker 1: immortal words of rapper Richard Nixon, he sweet out, thanks
Speaker 1: again for listening. Part Time Genius is a production of
Speaker 1: how stuff works and wouldn't be possible without several brilliant
Speaker 1: people who do the important things we couldn't even again
Speaker 1: to understand. Chris and McNeil does the editing thing. Noel
Speaker 1: Brown made the theme song and does the MIXI mixy
Speaker 1: sound thing. Jerry Rowland does the exact producer thing. Gave
Speaker 1: Bluesier is our lead researcher, with support from the research
Speaker 1: Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan Brown and Lucas Adams. And
Speaker 1: Eve Jeff Cook gets the show to your ears. Good job, Eves.
Speaker 1: If you like what you heard, we hope you'll subscribe,
Speaker 1: And if you really really like what you've heard, maybe
Speaker 1: you could leave a good review for us. Do we do?
Speaker 1: We forget Jason Jason who depicts depict the depict the
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