134: Broski Nation Pawn Stars

direct from the broski nation headquarters in los angeles california this is the broski report with your host britney broski yeah man i mean i'm trying to think um i can check in the back but any waistcoats we would carry would be from an extra small to a medium yeah brother i'm sorry um what's that hmm yeah i uh excuse me you know i think those were a limited edition drop so i don't know what to tell you brother i mean like i said i can go check in the back but pickings are kind of slim you missed the the craze of it so uh yeah we might have those diamond encrusted you pocket watches but i mean that was a collaboration with the show so yeah dude here give me a second i'll go check in the back i'll be right back hey man not looking good i checked in the back um bad news good news what do you want first bad news good news all right bad news uh all of our waistcoats 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 waistcoat um great news i did find limited edition nosferatu funko pop all right they were very very rare around the time they were released we also carry the nosferatu fragrance so i could bundle those for you 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 at this register hey guys welcome back i feel like uh 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 uh you know archival fan base stuff so uh this is a new character i'm working on 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 uh he is aware that he can't grow facial hair so it's a strap on beard it's it's a it's 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 a mustache due to malnourishment so it's just kind of a lot and he tries to hide the hair loss with dying 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 um 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 um 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 etc etc 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 pops actually but they've all been taken out of the box and um i chew on them they've been chewed on so if you don't mind the chew marks they are incredibly rare there are 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 um you know that's something they don't really talk about with funko pops 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 this character needs to link up with the um you know the girl who does the um tour guide of the historic homes where she's like don't touch that please thank you try not no 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 that if everyone's ready follow me upstairs i love her she does that and she does the non-profit 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 um 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 um later in the office if everyone will pitch in 35 i love her she also does the antique store owner like she nails the batty 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 um k-pop demon hunters but at the same time he has a deep appreciation for things like lion the witch in the wardrobe and star wars and um he 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 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 uh i 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 uh i'm feeling very inquisitive today i'm also feeling very um 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 you remember that take the like elvis spotted had to play for a concert fiend fiend oh mama fiend all right uh we're gonna look up mama mama they turned me into a playboy cardi 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 for something that's not good for you or desire for something most commonly drugs alcohol or nicotine well it applies and what i'm about to describe as peter claffey 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 tara season's coming i have to shave my beard for the occasion tara season is coming you bitches it's been everybody else's turn i'm about sick of hearing about everybody's turn oh capricorn season oh aries this every well it is taurus time everybody comment taurus time it's taurus time guys tt love comment tt love i can't wait for taurus season i'm gonna 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 i am patient and i am waiting to receive it like i really do believe and i got my i got i went to this woo-woo shop in um pasadena actually shout out to this woman i really don't uh i don't know her name but we've connected in a very spiritual way there is a Pasadena Antique Mall. And it's very, 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, you know, 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, Frankenstein, Werewolf, and 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 two. 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. And 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 curve balls 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 their shit up my back and my diaper. Like, I, I really am like, I can do this. I appreciate it. 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, don't get me wrong. I love an edible, but I, I am convinced that it's giving me memory loss. And maybe I've talked about that before. So, and it got to a point where I talked to my doctor about it. 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, great point, doc. Consider this. I want to watch Studio Ghibli off the edge. So what now? Dumbass. Dumbass fucking doctor. He doesn't even know. He doesn't even fucking get it. But sometimes I want to watch Totoro. Totoro. Sometimes I need to watch my neighbor Totoro off the, off the 30 milligram edible. And I need to like have a bib on my chest and drool. Like, 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 because 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, good point. So I'm going to stop. I'm going to stop because I don't even need that. Like I'll cry. My neighbor told her without an edible, you know what I mean? I don't even, I don't even need a stimulant or a depressant. Is it THC? Is it depressant? Yes. Jury. The jury's out on that one. Okay. Here's what I was going to say. I'm pushing 30. Very excited to be 30. Yes. I am still a fangirl. 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 a two sweatshirt. Okay. I rise 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, I am, we're moving into a new era of broski nation 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, as a show or a product or a book on here. However, can't go in on the actors 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, they're the subject of the munch, munch that I'm a munch for. Okay. 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, 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 last week and I haven't read any more since last week, to be honest, because I've been, we had a crazy Royal court shoot week. I've filmed every single day this week, sometimes multiple times a day. And, uh, on top of that, we were filming other stuff. So Oh, new YouTube videos coming by the way, that's what we were filming. And, uh, 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, um, high school assigned reading. Cause this is what, this is my goal for the rest of this year. I have a huge, massive, uh, 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. I've had the, 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, um, the, um, 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 a hair heretical night Roderick to find her fellow prof prophetesses after they mysteriously disappear. And she's a prophetess. Venturing into a dangerous world outside her cathedral home. See, hold on. I'm 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 Oh my God. And 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. Um, I think I gave it a three, 3.5. It just wasn't as exhilarating as the first one, but I really like her writing and she is, she is very unique and original in her concepts and, um, her storytelling and her magic systems. Oh my God. The magic system was so fun. 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. 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 the shit from the high school curriculum. Cause we had to read things like great Gatsby and 1984 and, uh, the Raven. And, um, what else we read? We read heart 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. Cause I went to two different high schools. And the first one, I was freshman, sophomore. And so we did the basic things like Shakespeare, which 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 get 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 a 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 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 of Dorian Gray and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and these gothic madness adjacent kind of things. Kind of surrealist, kind of dystopian, kind of not books that deal with things like the ego and goodness versus evil in people and 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 Catcher in the Rye. I have never read those books and I would like to be in on that. And I would like to be aware of them. However, it's been a while since I read a romantic. It's been a while since I've jerked it. All right. Since I've literarily jerked it, literally, logically speaking. So it might be time to, you know, kind of dive back into that. Also, 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 romantic. I'll be completely honest. Probably the last one I read was, what's that one where the sequel just came out? The Brimstone, Quicksilver. I think Quicksilver was the last romantic 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 and the Moth, because it's by an author that I really enjoy. And that's why I picked it up. Honestly, I wish on Goodreads 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 condition, so to speak. So I have to trade off. And I created this to read list like four months ago where I was like, here's the order. And it was going to be shit like Great Gatsby, Slaughterhouse-Five, East of Eden, Stoner, Grapes of Wrath, Count of Monte Cristo. Like it was all these books. And they were just really heavy, 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 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 kind of established. Probably I'm going to read Night and the Moth. Then I'm going to 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 Sam Fender 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 a, 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 a catalyst for the downfall of, you know, that gives way to ego and it gives way to entitlement and it gives way to, uh, power dynamics, right? Someone establishing themselves over another group of people. And then that blows up and continues and the ripples continue out. But at the same time, an oppressive society with very limited free will, something like, uh, 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 gray where everyone is safe and happy? And is that possible? And is that the point of life is to, 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, and this makes me sound like, uh, 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 of 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, they're going to be punished. And I think that's 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. Worth pointing that out that the quest for knowledge, you know, if you've been watching this podcast for long and you're like, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, 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, enlightened approach to how we interact with each other and the world, 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 a reality, you know, it's a reality. And so when you take that 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 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 world. And I think that's what 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 piques my interest. It really piques my interest of the limits and the spectrum of human nature. We're very interesting creatures. Oh my God. Did y'all see what 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 picked 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, because 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 going to read The Knight and the Moth because it might be time to get back into Romanticy a little bit. My meter, I guess, for Romanticy 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, gothic horror is just my standard now. So something, it needs to be as. Impressive and entertaining and as hooky as gothic horror. That's why I'm excited about this because I realized that's why I bought it. It was, it was gothic. It's been on my shelf for since last year because I saw it at Barnes and Noble and I was like, so yeah, I'm going to freaking read that. Let's do some Googling, guys. History of carousels. You know what time it is. Wikipedia hour. It's Wikipedia. A carousel, merry-go-round, or galloper. The British English is always so whimsical and fun and I do appreciate that. A galloper. 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 simulate galloping. Oh my. My God. If I, when did carousels drop? Devices like these became popular among commoners by the early 18th century and carousels were 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 mommy and daddy would have taken me to the carousel in the park. Oh my. 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. And 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 lying 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. So I was like, I'm going to 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 me down, get me down, get me down, get me down. And they would have had to stop the ride because 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 lap bar. All you have is a lap bar. I peed. I'm going to pee. And the horror stories from like Six Flags and shit where they have that ride and then someone vomits and 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. Because you could say, oh, go to Disney. 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 Looney 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. The rides are so. Dirty that there is a charm to it. And they're so thrilling that it's amazing. So, yeah, I would, if you're coming to America for the first time, go to Six Flags. Go, go see what it's all about. That's, 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 good. This is going to be a, this is, this is a test. Mexico, Spain. No, Spain never owned Texas. Mexico, United States, Spain. France. Who would we buy the Louisiana purchase from? Was Texas part of the Louisiana purchase? I'm going to say France. All right, that's four. Let's see. Tormenta Rampaging Run. New in 2026. Yeah, I have to go. Whoa. There's a California's Great America. Canada's Wonderland. Carowinds in North Carolina. Dorney Park in Pennsylvania. Cedar Point, Ohio. I didn't know these were all connected to Six Flags. Castaway 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. Knott's Berry Farm in California is owned by Six Flags. I didn't know. Schlitterbahn, Galveston, and New Braunfels is owned by Six Flags. Six Flags? Six Flags Darien Lake Hotel in New York. Damn. What are the Six Flags over Texas? Spain, France, Mexico. 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. 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 kind was held by Louis XIV. X-I-V-14 in 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, medieval times, if you've been, you're 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. Centrifugal. Moving or tending to move away from a center. So it would be like those other rides at the amusement parks 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. I can't do those things. They actually scare me to fucking death. There is nothing to hold on to. It scares the shit out of me. I can't do it at Disney. They were often powered by animals walking, 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 dobbies and were operated manually by the operator or by ponies. Carousels in the United Kingdom, where they are also known as gallopers, usually turn clockwise, while those in North America and mainland Europe typically turn counterclockwise. Why has Britain got to be different? Thank you. Britain's got to be different in 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 would 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 U.S. was opened in the 1840s in Ohio, Hessville, Ohio. The American carousel industry was developed by European immigrants notably Danish immigrant Charles I.D. Loof, German immigrant Gustav Dintzel, and Scottish immigrant Alan Herschel. During the late 19th century. Oh, these are beautiful. Several carousel construction centers formed in the U.S., each with their own style. Coney. Okay, 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 Loof 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 you know what I appreciate? 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. Okay, 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. Oh, 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 provide. And brass ring dispensers that encourage 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. Look at the top. Wow. 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 in. The Cradle of Aviation Museum, Garden City, New York. Manufactured in 1912. The horses have little flowers on them. They're pretty sweet. 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. Okay, very interesting. The violent medieval history behind the carousel ride. It's just about kind of jousting with the, um. 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 merry-go-round. It has a. 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 a 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. You know what I mean? The carousel was the shit back then. The escalator. The escalator. The escalator dropped at the, I believe it was the Paris 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, you know, there's little grooves that it fits into because skirts and pants and children's fingers were being caught in the escalator. 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 would, 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, 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. Shit 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 use for you. 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 waistcoats 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 summer 2026. So, 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. 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 bitches have been screaming at me, screaming at me for literally years. Kaz Brekker. His name? Kaz Brekker. 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 Poulter. So, I need to read this. If I'm going to 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 convinced myself because it's kind of, It's like steampunk, isn't it? isn't it? Six of Crows. Leigh 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 miss for me, Ninth House. It really felt like trauma porn with 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 that really took me out of it, like, to the point where it overshadowed the plot. I can't even remember. Uh, the main points of the plot. I know that it's, like, uh, 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'm, 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 is Shadow and Bone the first one? The book follows criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker 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 is part of a larger universe that includes the Shadow and Bone trilogy. Okay, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it, got it. It's a heist book? Hmm. Okay, T, it's the first book in a duology, followed by Crooked Kingdom, and it's part of a larger 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 one's more highly rated? Six of Crows, Goodreads, 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? Ninth House. Let's see what Ninth House got. See if you guys are lying. Ninth House got four stars. Hmm. 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 Emporium Bazinga blowout sale extravaganza is happening this summer at the Broski Emporium and Apothecary. Please come check us out, guys, seriously. Let me put my beard back on. All right. I hope you guys are 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. Thank you.