134: Broski Nation Pawn Stars

Direct from the Broski Nation headquarters in Los Angeles, California. This is the Broski Report with your host, Brittany Broski. Yeah, man. I mean, I'm trying to think I can check in the back, but any wastecoats we would carry would be from an extra small to a medium. Yeah, brother, I'm sorry. What's up? Hmm, yeah, I, uh, excuse me. You know, I think those were a limited edition drop, so I don't know what to tell your brother. I mean, like I said, I can go check in the back, but Pickens are kind of slim. You missed the, the craze of it. So, uh, yeah, we might have those diamond encrested pocket watches, but I mean, that was a collaboration with the show, so yeah, dude, here, give me a second, I'll, I'll go check in the back. I'll be right back. Hey, man, not looking good. I checked in the back. Bad news, good news. What do you want? First, bad news, good news, all right, bad news, all of our wastecoats are in an extra small, extra, extra small, all right, not looking good. We don't, they don't really offer plus size in the wastecoats. Great news. I did find limited edition notes for our two Funko pop, all right. They were very, very rare around the time they were released. We also carry the notes for our two fragrance. So I could bundle those for you and get you 10% discount if you open a credit card with us today. You want to do that? All right. Great. All right, dude, I'll get you over here with this register. Hey guys, welcome back. I feel like last week, we talked a lot about Eggers because I watched the lighthouse. This week, I'm feeling inquisitive, all right. I'm feeling like I'm opening, you know, I opened my own Emporium, my own store full of, you know, archival fan based stuff. So this is a new character I'm working on. He runs the front of my Emporium, my fan Emporium that I'm opening soon. And he is aware that he can't grow facial hair, so it's a strap on beard. It's a, it's a mutton. It's not exactly like, it's, it's a chin strap. It's a chin strap that's grown a lot, but he is physically incapable of growing mustache due to malnourishment. So it's just kind of a lot and he tries to hide the hair loss with dyeing it blue, which ultimately kind of highlights it. So he's an interesting character. I can't wait for you guys to meet him, you know, later on when he's a bit more developed. But yeah, you know, we, because in the fan Emporium store, there's one section that's like clothing, right? If you need anything, steampunk, if you need anything, period piece, if you need corsets, if you need those high heels that men used to wear in Napoleon times with the buckle on it. We carry that, but unfortunately, all of it is from Team You, so it runs incredibly small, incredibly small. And it is going to run you up about, you know, anywhere from $250 to $300 per pair of shoes, per corset, et cetera, et cetera. So yeah, I mean, you know, we're running on a limited inventory over here, but ultimately, if you want it, you want it. So that's kind of what keeps the lights on here, you know, I, I do a good job of sorting everything and kind of, you know, I know I can tell you, quiz me. I can tell you where anything is in this store right now. If you were to ask me, where's the Mandalorian Funko Pop right there? Okay. We have a whole section for Star Wars Funko Pop's actually, but they've all been taken out of the box and I chew on them. They've been chewed on. You don't mind the chew marks. They are incredibly rare. They're rare finds. And honestly, the chew marks make it a bit more valuable because you can tell that it's been well-loved, well played with. So, you know, that's something they don't really talk about with Funko Pop's, it's like, if you can tell they've been played with a lot, you would also want to play with them too. So shiny and new is out, used and loved is in. And that's just kind of something for 2026, okay? This character needs to link up with the, you know, the girl who does the tour guide of the historic homes where she's like, don't touch that please. Thank you. Try not not guys come here. So, this railing, so hold your questions to the end. So, this railing was the original railing that the family would have used when they lived here. Please don't lean on the wall. Thank you. Before we go upstairs, I want you to put yourself in their mindset of going up and down, up and down the stairs every day. So, sir, please don't touch them. If everyone's ready, follow me upstairs. I love her. She does that. And she does the nonprofit boss, which makes me fucking laugh where they're like, can I get Christmas day off? And they're like, I appreciate you asking me, you know, because asking is an important part of what we do here, you know, you can't a closed mouth will never be fed. So, I appreciate that kind of dialogue, however, we do need Christmas to be asked off six to seven months ahead of time. So, unfortunately, it is not approved, but we will be having some fun. Christmas cookies later in the office if everyone will pitch in $35. I love her. Also does the antique store owner like she nails the baddie old out of touch, low key passive aggressive, but like presents as kind person so good. I don't know how she does it and the wigs fantastic. All right. They take shifts at my Emporium. So this guy works there and he's kind of the brains behind the operation. You know, you can talk to him for hours and hours about arcane. You can talk to him about Kpop demon hunters, but at the same time, he has a deep appreciation for things like Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and Star Wars and he did have kind of a period where he was into the three big monsters of like Dracula, werewolf, Frank's not like he was doing all that, but that's kind of more, you know, he's got to stay up with what the kids are liking. So, yeah, this, you know, I'm developing this character and you'll be seeing him soon. Maybe next time you'll see him, he won't, he'll have shaved the beard, but you know, ultimately I'm experiencing gender euphoria right now with, with this kind of, this duo. Okay. So, we have a lot to get to today, guys. I'm feeling very inquisitive today. I'm also feeling very fan forward. You know, I'm feeling very fan forward. I have been, I've been just, um, feasting for or fiending, fiending, fiend, fiend, fiend, fiend, fiend, fiend, fiend, fiend. You remember that take the whole, like, Elvis spotted had to play my guardian hunter, fiend, fiend. Oh, mama, fiend. All right. We're going to look up. All those fucking things, uh, mama, mama, the tournament don't play boy Cardi's song, mama. Um, what the fuck was I just about to look up, dude? Don't piss me off. Oh, is it fiend or fiending, fiend, fiending or fiending, it's both refers to an intense urgent and often desperate craving or desire for something, most commonly drugs, alcohol or nicotine. Well, it applies and what I'm about to describe as Peter Klafi, but not, okay. There's something to be said about, I'm pushing 30, okay, I turned 29 and I turned 29 a month. Oh, my God. Taurus season's coming. I have to shave my beard for the occasion. Taurus season is coming. You bitches. It's been everybody else's turn. I'm about sick of hearing about everybody's turn. Oh, cap corn season. Oh, airy's this. Everything. It is Taurus time. Everybody come at Taurus time. It's Taurus time. Guys, TT. Love. Comment. TT. Love. I can't wait for Taurus season. I'm going to feel so connected with my power. So many things have happened this year, and it's all good things, but at the same time, the world is crumbling, right? The world is kind of crumbling in front of us. So how do you kind of be a force for good and also keep your wits about you? And is that an impossible task, right? Right. Stay with me. So I feel like 2026 is, I've never been more in tune with like, all right, universe. I am asking you for the best that you have to offer and I'm open to it. And I am patient, and I am waiting to receive it. Like I really do bleed. And I got my, I got, I went to this woohoo shop in Pasadena. She actually shout out to this woman. I really don't, I don't know her name, but we've connected in a very spiritual way. Here is a-- Pasadena antique mall. And it's very huge, very large. It's like the antique mall in Annex. And in this little complex, there's a tarot woo-woo spirit shop. Well, you know, I have to pop in there every time I'm in Pasadena and I popped in there. I went there probably about like a year and a half, maybe two years ago, and I got some crystals for meditating. And then this time, I was like, now I'm into tarot and I'm familiar with tarot, it doesn't scare me. And so I went to go get my own tarot cards and I found these two really cool decks. One, I just got the original art, the recognizable tarot deck art. Then I got, what is it called? It's like Hollywood monsters. That's kind of the theme of it. All the universal, universal monsters. It was Dracula of Frankenstein, where, well, often like some other ones, like creature from the Black Lagoon, stuff like that. Bitch, it is so cool. All the cards are themed like it. So I got those too. I had to go in and pay my woman a visit. She is a character, the woman who owns and runs that shop. She is very, very woo-woo. She does tarot readings. She can help you find whatever you need in terms of like, you know, has someone put a spell on you. Oh, the last time I went, I was with, I think I was with Tato and we went in because we were convinced that someone had put a spell. Someone put a curse on Tato. She was fully convinced. So we went in there and we were like, what you got, girl. And the lady was like, I got some stuff. And so we got her all sorted out. But it was one of those like, no problem is too strange for this woman. And I deeply appreciate that, you know, because life can throw curveballs at you and sometimes you have to turn to the woo-woo. So she went in there, she helped us out. I got my little monster tarot cards. I'm very excited about that. And then yeah, I brought those home and I'm very excited. What the fuck was I talking about? Let's go back. Oh, it's tar season. I am approaching 30. And honest to God, honest to God, I could not be more ready. Like I feel, I felt 30 for a while physically. But mentally, I finally no longer feel like a 16 year old. I feel more like like 18, 19, you know? Like I feel like an adult. I feel like I look at the world through an adult's eyes. I no longer am like, oh, I'm a kid just trying to figure it out. Fucking, there's shit up my back and my diaper. Like I really am like, I can do this. I appreciate this a slow way of living. I don't really drink anymore at all. And honestly, Edibles also kind of freaked me out at this point. I do love an edible. Don't get me wrong, I love an edible. But I am convinced that it's giving me memory loss. And maybe I've talked about that before. So you got to a point where I talked to my doctor about it. And I was like, am I going to have dementia at 29? And he was like, no. But also sometimes THC does that to people. Like it's just how your body interacts with it. And if you feel like it gives you memory loss, then stop. And I was like, um, great point, doc, consider this. I would watch Studio Ghibli off the end. So what now? Gommass. (laughs) Dumbass fucking doctor. He's even, no, he's even fucking, get it. So sometimes I want to watch TOTORO. TOTORO. Sometimes I need to watch my neighbor TOTORO off the 30 milligram edible. And I need to like, have a bib on my chest and drool. (laughs) Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever, I bet you as a doctor have never considered that I need to sit in front of my TV with the big screen about a foot from my face, my phone about three inches from my face, and I need to be drooling into my chest, eating a jalapeno flavored something. And I actually need to have a salt snack, a sweet snack, and a spicy snack. And I have a sugary drink, an electrolyte, and then a water. Okay? 'Cause doctors don't think about that. You're like, oh, eat a vegetable, drink some water, have a normal stool. You don't know what I'm doing in my home, okay? So mind your business, doctors need to mind their fucking business. Anyway, I was like, yeah, I think edibles give me a memory loss, and he was like, then maybe stop, or maybe at least just calm down on it. And I was like, yeah, you have a good point. So I'm gonna stop. I'm gonna stop because I don't even need that. Like I'll cry to my neighbor TOTORO without an edible. You know what I mean? I don't even need a stimulant or a depressant. Is a THC is a depressant? Yes? Jury? The jury's out on that one. Okay, here's what I was gonna say. I'm pushing 30. Very excited to be 30. Yes, I am still a fan girl, okay? Yes to my core. I love things the way I love them. I love them so intensely, and I go fucking crazy for it. I mean, I'm wearing a fucking nose for our two sweatshirt, okay? I ride for the things I love. However, this job has gotten too serious, and I am too close to these people now, to be talking about these famous men, the way that I used to, okay? So I need you guys to know that I'm, we're moving into a new era of broskination fandom, where I'm keeping it confined, lock and chain to the TikTok edits folder, okay? Anything I love? I'll talk about it as a show or a product or a book on here, however, can't go in on the actress anymore. I can't do it. I need to preserve some semblance of dignity, and right now it's, we're running on empty. The dignity chamber is completely empty almost, okay? Running on fumes there. So there are a few actors that, yeah, they're the subject of the munch, munch, that I'm a munch for, okay? There are a few actors that I would munch, and I don't feel empowered to say their names here. They're staying in the TikTok edits folder on TikTok, okay? So just please leave me in this time, leave me alone right now. That's kind of all I can say at this moment is that there are better things we could be talking about on here that don't degrade my dignity and, you know, that preserve something for me. So that's, that's a new era that we're entering into now. So I just wanted to kind of give everyone that update, but at the same time, it's time, okay? I'm almost 30. There are so many different things we could be talking about on here, things that I enjoy. I do enjoy talking about, you know, my celebrity crushes, but let's kill it. Let's kill it, dude. I would much rather talk about all the old media that I'm working through, and speaking of that, let's have a little mini book club right now because I talked about it a bit last week, and I haven't read anymore since last week, to be honest, because I've been, we had a crazy royal court shoot week. I filmed every single day this week, sometimes multiple times a day, and on top of that, we were filming other stuff. So I wrote new YouTube videos coming, by the way, that's what we were filming. And yeah, I haven't had much time to read, but I did want to talk about Lord of the Flies a bit more because, oh, and that's what I wanted to Google. I wanted to Google high school assigned reading, because this is what, this is my goal for the rest of this year. I have a huge, massive TBR on Goodreads, meaning to be read, of course. And I want to power through classics before I'm like, you know, obviously I'll throw some in. A night, the night and the moth, a night and a moth, you know, that book, a night and a moth. The night and the moth. By Rachel Gillig, she wrote the arm, the arm, one dark window. Didn't she? I love that book. Rachel Gillig, I'll look that up in a second, a Gothic Romantic novel and the first book in the Stonewater Kingdom series. It follows a young prophetess named Sybil, known as Six, who must team up with the heretical night, Rodric, to find her fellow prophetesses after they mysteriously disappear, venturing into a dangerous world outside her cathedral home. See, hold on, like fuck all the bullshit I just said, I need to tap into this. The story features a unique magic system, a slow burn romance, and a dark atmospheric world with creatures, folklore, blending fantasy, mystery and romance. Now, hold on a damn minute. Hold on a damn minute, Gothic Romantic, if you haven't read, I'm pretty sure Rachel Gillig did, oh my god, there's a sequel, The Nave and the Moon. Yeah, let me lock into that. She did, yep, one dark window and two twisted crowns, which is a duology which I fucking loved. I loved. I gave one dark window, I think like 4.5 and then two twisted crowns was good. I think I gave it a 3.5, it just wasn't as exhilarating as the first one, but I really like her writing. And she is very unique and original in her concepts and her storytelling and her magic systems. Oh my god, the magic system was so fucking cool in those books. So I honestly just convinced myself to read, oh my god, wait, the night and the moth talking, talking gargoyle figurine, what the hell is that? The night and the moth came out last year, The Nave and The Moon came out this year. Or is it about to come out? Whoa! September 1st, 2026 is when it's supposed to come out, T. Okay, so like I was saying, it's been my mission to kind of power through the high school curriculum. that I missed or honestly just rereading a bunch of this shit from the high school curriculum because we had to read things like "Great Gatsby" in 1984 and "The Raven" and what else do we read? We read "Hard of Darkness." We read "Brave New World." We read, uh, honestly the assigned reading in my high school was out of this world. It was stellar because I went to two different high schools and the first one I was freshman sophomore and so we did the basic things like uh Shakespeare and which I you know at the time I really did not enjoy but I feel like if I went back and read Shakespeare now where I am in my life I would love it for what it is right like I would be a Shakespeare head. I just need to like give my head out of my ass and honestly like that takes such a long time to get into and you need the historical context and I would want to study guide like I would fully throw myself at it like an assignment in school but I just don't have that in me right now and um what to be honest what's the one that I did like that recently? Well I annotated the fuck out of the monk but I'm more so interested in these ones like you know picture Dorian Gray and Dr. Jacqueline Mr. Hyde and these uh gothic madness adjacent kind of surrealist kind of dystopian kind of not books that deal with things like the ego and goodness versus evil and people and um vanity and where is the line between human and monster you know I really love all that shit it is my mission for this year to power through a classic high school curriculum things like catch 22 and uh catcher and the rye I I have never read those books and I I would like to be in on the club and I would like to be aware of them however it's been a while since I read a romancy it's been a while since I've jerked it all right since I've literally jerked it literally logically speaking so I might be talking to you know kind of time back into that also if if this book I don't know if this is supposed to be like an adult fiction versus like if one dark window was kind of YA I don't know it's been a long time since I've read a romancy I'll be completely honest probably the last one I read was uh what's that one but the sequel just came out the brim brimstone quicksilver I think quicksilver was the last romancy I read and me and Drew were talking about it and that was probably like almost two years ago so I just convinced myself to read this the night in the moth because it's by a an author that I really enjoy and that's why I picked it up honestly there's I wish on good reads you could organize your tbr into like it's this kind of book here's this kind of book because I have a bunch of like political books I want to read too but it's just about organizing my thoughts and about like am I at a time in my life where I can give it the dedication it deserves where I can note I can take notes on it you know I can be an involved active reader if I'm not too busy and also if I'm in a strange mental state absorbing heavy literature sometimes for me is not the best because it can it can worsen my conditions so to speak um so I have to trade off and I created this two read lists like four months ago where I was like here's the order then it was going to be shit like great gatsby slaughterhouse five east of Eden stoner um uh grapes of wrath uh counter money crystal like it was all these books and they were just really heavy like like dark heavy books about the soul and the soul's journey and like corruption and darkness and like America you know a lot of Steinbeck books are about the American west and about what it means to have an American identity and um relationships between a father and a son and it's just it's it can be a lot if you're not ready for it and I'm not ready for it I guess I I kind of established probably I'm gonna read name uh night and the moth then I'm gonna do great gatsby well I have like 60 pages left in lord of the flies and lord of the flies I talked about it last week if you want to hear me talk about it go to the last episode because I don't really have anything new to say because it's it's mainly about you know what is a society without rules if you have to reestablish it and you know what comes to mind the samfender song called start again if we had to wipe everything start society over from the beginning would we make the same mistakes and my gut says yes because human nature is flawed and we are doomed to repeat repeat repeat repeat the sins of the past because we do not learn because we don't learn I think there is uh and this is a slippery slope of a conversation you know when you start talking about philosophy and politics and whatever free will and it's also such a source of inspiration for a lot of books of is free will and giving too much freedom and a catalyst for the downfall of you know that gives way to ego and it gives way to entitlement and it gives way to power dynamics right someone establishing themselves over another group of people and then that blows up and and continues and the ripples continue out but at the same time an oppressive society with very limited free will something like 1984 or like Fahrenheit 451 those books offer a different hell you know so if these are the two ends of the spectrum if we're talking about fictional examples of a society with no rules and a society with too many rules how do we exist somewhere within the grey where everyone is safe and happy and is that possible and is that the point of life is to struggle towards that impossibility because maybe it is possible all these things really really interest me and and honestly it disturbs me on a level when you see uh uh when you read a book like Fahrenheit 451 or you know any of these dystopian surrealist societies where information becomes a punishable offense when because right in this makes me sound like a conspiracy theorist however we're living in a fucking fascist police state so it's really not a conspiracy theory we're living through it right now the American government has a history of censoring things mind you but we're watching it happen in real time books like that fascinate me because who is the brave one who is the character what are the characteristics of the protagonist that they get pushed to their limit where they say whatever the punishment is it is worth it to have that knowledge and after I read for Fahrenheit 451 I genuinely was like I take reading for granted so much we take public libraries for granted we take things like access to the worldwide web for granted these things that connect us and inform us and misinform us okay at worth pointing that out that the quest for knowledge you know if you've been watching this podcast for long enough you know that that kind of is one of my major points of life to me truly I think that one of the points of life is to learn and never stop learning and to let that knowledge pave the way for an empathetic and lightened approach to how we interact with each other and the world and the natural world around us you know like knowledge is the point and so when you take that and you flip it on its head and you make it horror or you make it a point of you know imagine a world where that's criminalized which in a lot of areas of the world it is criminalized you know things are redacted every day from government documents and then made public and it's like you you fuckers and and I don't I it also ties back into this idea of like how much information is too much information it is a dark and depressed and twisted and corrupt and disturbed perverted world we live in with literal pedophiles running governments and how do you first of all make sense of that I don't know if you ever can and second of all how do you do something about it and third of all how do you how did it get to this point books that explore that of course for me in a kind of satirical fictional sense really peaks my interest it really peaks my interest of the the limits and the the spectrum of human nature we're very interesting creatures oh my god did you all see with that astronaut said from space where he was like it is so dark and empty up here anything worth having and anything and anyone you've ever cared about is like anything that's ever been worth doing or knowing or caring about or experiencing or loving is here it's here we're here and we take it for granted every single day "This is what we've chosen to do with the gift that is life. "This is what we've chosen to do." And this is how we treat each other. We chose cruelty, a coward's choice. Cruelty is such a coward's choice. And it's a stupid, that's the mark of a stupid person as well. You chose cruelty, that's so lazy, right? You pick the easy way out. Do you know how easy it is to be cruel and mean and lazy? Damn. Anyway, that video of the astronaut speaking from the spaceship made me cry, obviously, 'cause I was like, say that, King, preach that. People need to hear that. But at the same time, that message will not reach the people that it should reach. And honestly, it's a bunch of fucking pedophilic sociopaths running the planet. So don't even know if the message will reach them ever in a way that is connective. So yay, all that to say, I'm gonna read the night in the moth because it might be time to get back into Romantic a little bit. My meter, I guess, for Romantic is very high because now that I've been reading so many other books that I love, I mean, I read shit like the yellow wallpaper and all these kind of gothic horror is just my standard now. So it needs to be as impressive and entertaining and as hooky as gothic horror. That's why I'm excited about this 'cause I realized that's why I bought it. It was gothic. It's been on my shelf for since last year 'cause I saw it, it burns in open, and I was like, so yeah, I'm never gonna read that. Let's just some googling, guys. History of carousels. You know what time it is. ♪ Wake up in the hour ♪ ♪ It's wake up in the hour ♪ A carousel, Mary go round, or Gallopr. The British English is always so whimsical and fun and I do appreciate that. A Gallopr, I actually love that. Is a type of amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders. The seats are traditionally in the forms of rows of animal figures. Obviously horses usually mounted on posts, many of which move up and down to similarly galloping. Oh my God, if I, when did carousels drop? Devices like these became popular among commoners by the early 18th century and carousels are being built and operated at various fairs and gatherings in central Europe. If I would have been like when they made carousels actually, you know, electrical or whatever, if I would have been a Victorian kid and like mummy and daddy would have taken me to the carousel in the park. Oh my God, I would have been obsessed. My special interest would have been carousels. That shit would have been absolutely magical to me. Like if horses scary, also carousels are so pretty. They're always decorated really nice. They're painted really well. It was gold, it was, there were lights on it. It was huge and the animals are going up and down. Oh my God, as a kid, as a normal kid back in like what, 2004, I used to be like the carousels with all the different animals on them. I would always be lent to the dolphin. I would always go to the ones that kind of looked a little dangerous, you know, like the ones that were super high up 'cause I was like, I'm gonna be brave and then I'd be scared and I couldn't wait for the ride to be over because that's just, that's who I am. I really feel like I would have shit myself. If I would have been a Victorian child and I would have seen a beautiful carousel, I would have loaded my diaper and then sat up on the horse and been like, "Get it out, get me down, get me down, get me down." And they would have to stop the ride. 'Cause I would have been scared. You know what else scared me as a kid? Kind of in that vein is, you know those rides at amusement parks that are the big ships and they go, they go up all the way to the point where you're almost fucking upside down and all you have is a latbar. Oh yeah, I was a latbar, I peed. I'm gonna pee. And the horror stories from like six flags of shit where they have that ride and then someone vomits. Then it goes on the other side of the Viking ship. Whatever. Six flags is something that I think every European or any non-American person should experience because that is America. Six flags is America. Anyone who's like, "Oh what is, what's American culture?" They don't have culture. Go to six flags. 'Cause you could say, "Oh, go to Disney yet again." That's capitalist consumerist culture. Six flags is that, but on a degree, that is just like no regard for human safety, no regard for, you know, having food that's edible. They say there's enough microplastics in our bodies at this point to create a plastic fork. Hey, that's from one trip to six flags. The merchandise is all like, what is it, it's like loony tunes and Batman and whatever. It's like the shit you weren't allowed to watch as a kid, which makes it fun. The rides are borderline unrideable. They are so, COVID originated at six flags. Like the rides are so dirty that there is a charm to it and they're so thrilling that it's amazing. So yeah, if you're coming to America for the first time, go to six flags, go see what it's all about. That's what our country's built on. And honestly, six flags over America, or no, no, no, it's called six flags over Texas because six different flags have owned Texas at some point. That's where that comes from. Let's look it up. Let me see if I can name them actually. This is gonna be a, this is a test. Mexico, Spain, no, Spain never own Texas. Mexico, United States, Spain, France. Who would be by Louisiana purchase from? Was Texas part of the Louisiana purchase? I'm gonna say France. All right, that's four. Let's see. Tormenta Ram Paging Run, new in 2026. Yeah, I have to go. Whoa, there's a California's great America, Canada's Wonderland, Carol Winds in North Carolina, Dornie Park in Pennsylvania, Cedar Point, Ohio. I didn't know these were all connected to six flags. Cast away Bay in Ohio, Oklahoma City, Frontier City. I've been to Frontier City, it's fun. Hurricane Harbor in San Francisco. Damn, there's a lot of Hurricane Harbors. Not as very farm in California is owned by six flags. I didn't know Schlitterbong, Galveston, and New Broadfels is owned by six flags. Six flags, Darian Lake Hotel in New York. Damn, what are the six flags over Texas? Spain, France, Max. Oh, I always forget the Republic of Texas. Oh, that's a fucking, I never would have got that. Here are the six flags over Texas. Spain, France, Mexico, the Republic of Texas, the Confederate States of America. Boo, and the United States of America. These nations represent over 500 years of history with their flags serving as the basis for the theme park's name and original. I wonder if they take down the Confederate flag. That is insane if they're flying the Confederate flag. Okay, it's not the Confederate flag, but it is the flag of the Confederate States of America. That's crazy. Okay, wait, this is also kind of tea. They're using the flags from those periods. Very, very interesting to me. Okay, anyway, carousels, let's talk about carousels. The history, let's talk about it. So they used to be called carousels, which is the French, it's a French word for little battle. They were equestrian royal tournaments in 17th century Europe. The most famous carousel of this time was held by Louis VIV, XIV and June 1662. One of the skills tested performed during these events was a ring jousting, which is where there's a ring and you have a lance and you ride full gallop and you try to do that. Okay, many of the times if you've been your familiar. Oh my God, these early carousels had no platforms. The animals would hang from chains and fly out from the centrifugal force. Is it centrifugal? Centrifugal. Centrifugal. Centrifugal, moving or tending to move away from a center. So it would be like those other rides at the music parties where they're suspended, you're in the little like seats and then it takes off and it spins and then you're like literally out here. Like it's spinning. Those, I can't do those things. They actually scare me to fucking death. There is nothing to hold on to. It scares a shit out of me. I can't do it, it is me. They were often powered by animals walking in a circle or people pulling a rope or cranking. By the mid 19th century, the platform carousel was developed. Rideable animal figures and chariots were fixed to a circular floor that would rotate around a central pole. These carousels were called dubby's and were operated manually by the operator or by ponies. Carousels in the United Kingdom, where they are also known as gallopers, usually turned clockwise. While those in North America and mainland Europe typically turn counterclockwise. Why is Britain going to be different? Britain got to be different at everything. Why do you guys have to do that? In 1803, John Joseph Merlin had a carousel in his mechanical museum in London where gentry and nobility liked to gather on winter evenings. The horses floated free over a pole. It was connected to a big musical instrument that played a fully orchestrated concerto. That's cool. And from the first note, the carousel was start turning while each horse would make a galloping movement with a visitor riding on its back. Merlin did not patent his inventions and engineers were allowed to come to create their own models of his creations. By the mid 19th century, the carousel became a popular fixture at English fairs. The first steam-powered mechanical roundabout invented by Thomas Bradshaw appeared at the pop market fair in Bolton in 1861. Cool. The first ever one in the US was open in the 1840s in Ohio, Hessville, Ohio. The American carousel industry was developed by European immigrants, notably Danish immigrant Charles ID Luf, German immigrant Gustav Dintsel, and Scottish immigrant Alan Herschel. During the late 19th century, these were beautiful. Several carousel construction centers formed in the US, each with their own style. OK, this is actually I'm freaking out. The Coney Island style characterized by elaborate and sometimes faux-jeweled saddles, as well as mirrors to catch and reflect lights. This style was pioneered by Luf in Brooklyn, New York City. This is the Coney Island style. That is fucking beautiful. And I actually-- I'm really rocking with this. And I appreciate the-- they painted the horse's legs and head to have-- it's like ombre. And it looks like a real horse. It's awesome. Then the Philadelphia style, known for more realistically painted saddles, this style was pioneered in Philadelphia. That's kind of beautiful. It's not as ostentatious as the other one. And the horse is attached to the ground. See, look, this one has an ostrich in the background. I like the ones with different animals on it. OK, I like this. And then country fair style, often with no saddles at all, this style was pioneered by Alan Herschel and Edward Spillman in New York near Buffalo and Kansas. Interesting. Yeah, I don't really love this one. The horse is very beautiful. But they put real hair on it on the-- I guess there's real hair on all of them. Very interesting. During the Great Depression, the production of wooden carousel figures was phased out and was replaced by more durable, mass-produced aluminum castings. They were in turn discontinued in favor of cheaper and lighter fiberglass castings later in the 20th century. The golden age of carousels was from the 1870s to the early 1930s. Less than 200 complete units exist today. Whoa. Mechanical band organs that provided music and brass ring dispensers that encouraged riders to sit on the outermost row were common features for carousels during their golden age, but now are very rare. These are so sick. This one's in like a arboretum, not that, like a glass-- what are those called? Like a glass greenhouse. This one's in the Netherlands. Oh, it's beautiful in the top. Oh my God. And the carriages. God, we just don't do it like this anymore. The United States ones look American. It's so crazy. Like these look colonial. They're a bit more subdued. They're very white. It's giving like Kentucky Derby. And the horses, they just don't hit as hard. Here's one in Canada from 1885. Beautiful. I wonder if these are still up. Ooh, this is pretty. This one's in America. This is then the cradle of Aviation Museum, Garden City, New York, manufactured in 1912. And the horses have built flowers on them, new trees, wheat. I need to ride a carousel now. Whoa. There's one at California's Great America, which is an amusement park that was built in 1976. It is a double-decker carousel. It's the tallest carousel in the world at 101 feet. The nearly identical Columbia carousel in Six Flags Great America in Illinois is one foot shorter. Damn. OK, very interesting. The violent medieval history behind the carousel ride. It's just about kind of jousting with the rings. The Lance rings. Has anyone died on a carousel? Oh, Jesus. There's a Griffith Park carousel. Griffith Park carousel. Ooh. Oh, my God. I have to go. Griffith Park married around it. Has it temporarily closed? Oh, my God. We're closed for repair until further notice. When was this? 2022? Oh, my God. Are you for real? Work on some important repairs to our historic 1926 Spillman Engineering County carousel. Engineering company carousel, my fault. We want to preserve this beautiful and valuable machine for generations to come. And for now, this means closing. With the machine, this old, these special jobs take a lot of time. All the comments are like, please open. Thank you for taking care of it. Please open it. Can you guys let me know if you're done? I have to ride a carousel. Wow. We take little things like that for granted. The carousel was the shit back then. The escalator. The escalator dropped at the-- I believe it was the Paris World Fair World's Fair, like turn of the century. People waited in line for hours to get on the escalator, because it was like a modern marvel. Also, it didn't have stairs. I watched this whole fucking video on the history of escalators. And I wasn't even high, bitch. I love this shit. The history of escalators is crazy. So many different design attempts were made before they settled on, there's little grooves that it fits into, because skirts and pants and children's fingers were being caught in the escalators. So they had to make the little grooves. And then those little brushes on the side are so things don't get caught in it. I used to think it was a boot cleaner. It's not. When the escalator goes up, and you know how it goes straight, and then there's that little groove that it goes into, it's so shit doesn't get caught in it. It's honestly genius. And then it goes, and it goes under the machine on this conveyor belt thing, and then it comes back up. It's amazing. It didn't used to be like that. It used to be a flat surface. And your ankles would be like this. And it was kind of painful to ride, but it was so neat that something mechanical was lifting you up. And you didn't have to walk. So it was really, really neat. And then I don't know when the elevator dropped, but the escalator was really fucking cool. And at this world's fair, it was again, a flat surface, but it was at like a 45 degree angle. And it would take you up to the top. And then you'd have to get off. So you'd take stairs down. And people would do it over and over and over. It was really neat. She'll like, that's awesome. We take so many things for granted nowadays. Anyway, well guys, let me know if there's anything from the back that I can try and source for you, but unfortunately we are out of a lot. So go ahead and send me any comments or any requests on items that I can try to source so we can keep in store for you if you're looking to come by. But really at this point in time, you know, you got to get it, check our Facebook page for when new items are acquired and they are in store. Once it's gone, it's gone. All right guys, once it's gone, it's gone forever. We will be having our annual Steampunk Convention soon. Any waste cuts you might be wanting, any glasses, any walking sticks, top hats, you know, kind of like Steampunk-esque things. We really, we keep it in the back in the Steampunk room, but those will be brought out to the main lobby on display for a summer of 2026. You know, also, by the way, let me break character for a second, you know that book, Six of Crows, and they made the damn that TV show Ravens and fuck what's it called? Six of Crows TV show, Shadow and Bone, bro, bro. Can I be completely transparent with you for a second? I got paid to promote this show back in 2021 and I had to watch it before I talked about it. I became addicted. I'm not even like, girl, the brand deal's done. Money, whatever. I loved this damn show. And it made me want to read the book because there is a character that you have just been screaming at me, screaming at me for literally years, Kaz Brecker. Is that his name? Kaz Brecker, dude. Yeah, and who's the actor that plays him, dude? Freddie Carter. Yeah, yeah, I'm liking Freddie Carter in that show. I really liked him. He's got scary eyebrows. You know, he's an eyebrow actor, similar to Will Polter. So I need to read this. If I'm gonna do Night in the Moth, I might as well just read fucking Six of Crows because that's an iconic, I think it's YA, but it's an iconic series and I just convince myself 'cause it's kind of steampunk, isn't it? isn't it? Six of crows. Li Bardugo, she wrote that other book that I did not like actually. Ninth house, I did not like Ninth house y'all. I read Ninth house because I thought it was going to be a book hangover cure for secret history when I was way back when in like 2022, when I was on that kick of Dark Academia, which of course I love Dark Academia, but this was kind of, it was a mis for me, Ninth house. It really felt like trauma porn with no no payoff. She has a really dark history that she spares no detail in telling you about for what? Like there's no reason. And I really that really took me out of it. Like to the point where it overshadowed the plot, I can't even remember the main points of the plot. I know that it's like secret societies at this college. And like it had all the makings to be a really great Dark Academia fantasy, and it just missed the mark for me. So knowing that I think Ninth house was her attempt at like adult fiction or college fiction, I might, I'll give six of crows a try because six of crows. Oh shit, six of crows is a, is this related to Shadow and Bone or Shadow and Bone the first one? The book follows criminal prodigy Kaz Brecker and his crew, a spy, a sharpshooter, a runaway, a heart, heart render, and a thief, as they attempt the job for immense wealth, exploring themes of found family, revenge, and survival. It's the first book in a duology, followed by crooked kingdom, and it's part of a larger universe than includes the Shadow and Bone trilogy. Okay, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it. It's a heist book. Okay T, it's set in the same world as the Shadow and Bone trilogy, but prior knowledge of that series is not required to understand six of crows. Okay, which ones were highly rated? Six of crows, good reads, 4.45, it's got a cult following. Okay, that's why I definitely need to read it. It's got 1.1 million ratings. Six of crows and what's the other one? Nighttouse, let's see what Nighttouse got. See if you guys are lying. Nighttouse got four stars. What was the other one? Shadow and Bone. Shadow and Bone has 3.9. Okay, okay. I have my marching orders. You guys have yours. The steampunk and porium, bazinga, blowout, sail, extravaganza is happening this summer at the broski and porium, and apothecary. Please come check us out, guys, seriously. Let me put my beard back on. All right, I appreciate you guys tuning in, and I'll see you on the next one. Thank you so much for learning about the history of carousels with me, doing a mini book club, and checking out the shop. So, love you guys, and I'll see you on the next one. See you, boys.