Transcript
Speaker: Popularity Popularity Popularity Contest
Speaker: Hail and well met. Welcome! Shoot. Two minstrels. pontificating. Yes. Yes. This is...
Speaker: pop popularity contest the finest um In all the lands. The finest podcast in all the lands. We are medieval themed today. Yes, I am. My name is Princess Kate.
Speaker: I am Sam Lane. I am a peasant. I work. I i work. on Kate Sobs. Yes. What? What crops did they do? My wheat. The wheat, yes. My corn. No, they didn't have corn yet. Potatoes. Oh, fuck it. Yes, whatever.
Speaker: Time appropriate crop. Yep. Sam is my surf. Yes. And this is my kingdom. um it's quite beautiful so yeah this is a popularity contest oh
Speaker: It is a wonderful rainy late winter's day. We've got... Oh. Cheers. Oh. Sorry, bro. We've got some crispy beverages. Yes. Kate, what... what ah Stubby Haldi, you drinking out of?
Speaker: Floodlights. The band. The band. And it's got, i'm they've I've got their faces on there. Yeah, they're underwater. It was for a video. Oh, let them.
Speaker: um I also have a silent squishy with me. But I've realized it the pink matches my pink nails. That's your lady -in -waiting. Oh, yes. I love her so much. I couldn't have Otis this episode, so I've compromised. Otis is probably being a dog and waiting at the door, sp scratching. Scratching. He was very excited. He saw Katie do a little piss. This is my dog. Yep.
Speaker: Okay, what what beverage have you got? Oh, yeah, I got a DC Diet Coke. Got my Ashes stubby holder that I got at the test last year. Has the Cricket Australia on one side, England Cricket on the other.
Speaker: I think Stubby Hold is one of my favorite forms of merch now to buy. Anywhere. You reckon? Yeah, I've been accumulating quite like quite a few because I just think they're always useful. um They're usually pretty cheap. yeah And I will use them maybe more often than...
Speaker: a shirt Like, a bad shirt is really bad. It's pretty hard to have a bad stubby holder. Well, last episode, you know, we got our Charlie XCX shirts. And I wasn't going to mess up my outfit, so I didn't put it on. But I'm wearing it today. Yeah, and you had to self -crop it. Yeah, you know, I've done a little DIY. um I've got my...
Speaker: my skirt on it's sparkly and it's making me feel like a beautiful princess yeah it's very medieval um i was gonna you know come in my full princess minion get up Um, but then I decided not to, and now I realized I could have just brought my minion figurine with me instead of my lady in waiting.
Speaker: Should I get the Swarovski minion I have? Yeah. Stay on the line, people. Now, the base did break on this, but here is my Swarovski minion. You gotta hold it to the... camera For listeners, um it is a indeed a crystal. Is it Bob? I want to say it's Bob the Minion. He's holding a teddy bear and he's got a little kind of smirk. he feel like He's smirking. Here you go.
Speaker: You have to hold him. I've never held him before. All his, like his feet have broken off. Yeah, the base felt like it's, I mean, for something that costs way too much money. it did The bass did break.
Speaker: This is beautiful. Um, I need to get one. I need to get one. There actually was like minions and monsters, the new movie, like body jewelry you could get. And I just got my belly button pierced. Oh my God. But they didn't have, cause I had to get a floating belly button piercing, which is like different to a traditional one. I'm not going to, you know, waste your time talking about way belly button. Yeah. I'm not going to waste your time talking about belly button anatomy, but.
Speaker: Um, i Oop. Shit. Yeah, see, he doesn't stand up. You can't really. Oh, he's like he's sitting. he's He's reclining. Yeah. he's He's the third guest. He's being very regal. No, no, no. This is the third guest. That's the fourth guest. He's the fourth guest. Otis, the fifth guest, is at the door. My lady in waiting doesn't actually have a um a name. That's okay.
Speaker: But I mean, it kind of is sort of of the times where you were just like your job and that was it. Right. In the medieval times, as we are chatting about.
Speaker: The Ren Fairs. Renaissance Fairs. That is this episode's theme. It's what we're discussing because... They're popular. They're popular. And we went to one together with a bunch of our other friends for my birthday a couple months ago. That was delightful. That's where I dressed up. That's where the first time that Princess Minion came um and asserted her authority over her dominion. It was a whole different side of Kate's personality. Yeah, yeah. People had never seen that before. um They were like, is is she for real? And I go, yeah, I'm a professional. I don't care. It's like the movie Split, the James Beck of one one of your split personalities. is a queen minion.
Speaker: prince prince Princess. Princess. Which implies that there is someone currently at the throne in Minionverse. Does that grew then? Or is it within the minion hierarchy? I haven't thought that far. Sam, I really hadn't thought that far. All I was fixated on was the fact that I was going to be Princess Minion. It was so much fun. And that is what was important to me. We had a beautiful time. Yeah, I went as a peasant. Well, yeah, you got that amazing hat. And I laughed as a peasant.
Speaker: i find it quite fun although i would say my peasant is quite jester -y I think next time I go, I do want to be a full court jester. I think I have... Quite obviously a jester. End. You've got pink hair underneath that hat. Oh, yes, I do. Let's have a... Let the let the rabbit see the dog. Wow.
Speaker: Wow. Wow. Great. Grape. I will be pilot for Pakistan. Great.
Speaker: That's beautiful. um And I like that, you know, you got it in yellow as well. I feel like that's a pretty, pretty big color for me at the minute. um Yeah. mean i mean Well, you have it's always a big color for me. Yellow. Yellow is kind of in for me. Yeah. i know why I can't like put my finger on it exactly as to why I like yellow so much, but. but and
Speaker: Banana. Yeah, look, it's been um a long time coming for me sort of to, like like, come to terms with the fact that I like Minions this much. It's, you know, and then my grandpa. Coming out of the closet. Yeah. I like Minions. ye My grandpa's thing is Mickey Mouse.
Speaker: And I was like, ooh. Neurodivergence is hereditary. like Do your parents have an animated character they adore? No. Your dad's a furry. I'm sorry to tell you this. no he's going to be listening in a few weeks it will everyone it's He's hiding it from you. You grab that Mickey Mouse. and Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Speaker: Ooh. Damn. I went to a Ren Faire last weekend as well, which is why. um We thought, now's the time. And I got myself a little mushroom brooch, which was lovely. A little kind of... ah Insert picture here? Yes. I put it on my little, my my jerkin. Pause.
Speaker: What do you mean by that? It's called, a that's what the vest is called, the jerkin'. are you sure yes What? Why? 100 % sure. It's like the, you know, instead of waist, it was called like your jerkin.
Speaker: okay but then where did like the etymology like you know we can it come talk in it Maybe it's from that. I'm pulling this up. I've got to get this up. I've got to know. We've got to pull this up. we yeah in In the meantime, so you went to the Petersham Ren Faire, which I kind of think is sort of...
Speaker: You know. Everyone in the inner west may be there first. But for us. It's the gateway drug. It's the gateway drug. But I think that. Because, you know, we we go all or nothing. Like we went all the way to, I say all the way, it's not actually that far. We went to Blacktown.
Speaker: um for the medieval fair. um for my birthday in May. And it was a beautiful day. um in the gorgeous garden and it was like so popular it was like so packed that
Speaker: The fair was not really prepared. No. Both fairs I went to, they were kind of not prepared for the amount of people. The one at the bowling club basically lined up around the entire block. Whoa. Yeah. And I got in pretty quickly. But yeah, I mean, and the one I went to to out at um Blacktown was like.
Speaker: and There was like one. bar line for the whole Fair, which sucked. Because this thing is becoming so much more popular. All right, I've got the etymology of jerking. A jerker in J -E - R -K -I -N is a close -fitting short jacket or vest that is traditionally see sleeveless and made of leather. so Mine wasn't leather, I'll say that, but its intended purpose was that - Were you vegetarian, you know? Yeah, it so it was worn over a snug -fitting shirt called a - Doublet. Doublé?
Speaker: Double it. Let me see. Dublé? Doublé. Doublet? Yeah, okay. And then the etymology of jerk -off. From 1896, from jerk denoting rapid pulling and off.
Speaker: um Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I don't know where... It's not really big. The leather comes from because it's like a snug fitting cover. It's solid. I'm going to say it. I'm going on r slash etymology.
Speaker: And they have jerking off there.
Speaker: in Earliest reference is in 1968. It appears in current slang volumes three and four by University of South Dakota. Department of English. Well, that was like... That's... When, you know, it would it was recognized by academics. Yeah. when so i think I think it was probably percolating in the 1960s slang. Like when kids were being like, I'm going out of the milk bar to have ah ah do do the sucking hop or whatever the hell. Yeah. And then, you know, I'm going to go to the drive -thru and my my girl, she's going to jerk me off.
Speaker: Yeah, drive -in movie. You know? The kids are habitants. Hip habitants. They're doing all kinds of things with their hands. but baoo Yeah. All right. um Well, shall we talk quickly, maybe, about our highlight and lowlight of the Ren Faire experience? Oh, my highlight.
Speaker: Probably was. um seeing furries for the first time in real life. Yeah, furries were out. that They were out. Beautiful. um there was i remember this beautiful dragon and she was purple And I was like, fuck yes, bro.
Speaker: That's exactly what I wanted to see on my birthday. Yeah, i the furries were some of the most committed to costume, which I thought was cool. And, you know, even though it was like... Uh... Autumn.
Speaker: day It was... warm. The sun was shining. It was beautiful. And so all I can think of, like I got sweaty coming over here today. and it's like cold and raining outside imagine being in the first suit Wow respect these people. Oh, yeah 100 % respect. Endless respect for furries. Yep.
Speaker: I stand with them. um I think my highlight was. heckling at the jousting. Yeah. we i got it I was in character a lot of the time. went can Take the kid out of the improv. Can't take the improv out of the kid. Have you seen Celebrity Theatre Sports? It's happening at the Enmore Theatre.
Speaker: ah Yes. And you are the surprise guest. Well, that was what my... um Like improv teachers in high school, there were they were like the players in that.
Speaker: Cause a lot of them were on like, thank God you're here back in the day and stuff like that. Oh, and then they became teachers. Wow. What a familiar pipeline. Yeah. oh And then, yeah. So like we would sit there and there was like, there was only one guy jousting. The rest were women. And so we just heckled the guy. Yeah. That guy, he sucked. We were like, he have no maidens. His scrolls are barren. His fields barren.
Speaker: I can't even remember. He's mirthless. Can't remember his name, but I know he had a stupid fucking name. So Rodney? Yes, Rodney. um Stupid name. No hate to Rodney, but it was very fun to get in character. Oh, yeah. and it was And I got a lot of laughs around me, which I felt good because I was committing. Well, you do have to be committed with that kind of thing. Like even as a fan, it is a sport at the end of the day. so
Speaker: It's the same way that I feel about when I play basketball. You know, I'm ruthless on the court. Yeah. um Leave no stone unturned or any ankle broken. Right. but yeah Hell yeah.
Speaker: I'm a center. I don't break ankles. But. you you back like You back people down in the post. You back helpless men down in the post. You make them pay for your drinks. Exactly. But the thing is, you know, like once we're off the court, like we're all friends. Of course. So I feel like, yeah, like I'm getting into it. I'm getting into it.
Speaker: But it is all fun and games at the end of the day. The one on the weekend, the Petersham one, I was chatting to a friend of mine, Lily, if you if you're listening to this, this is about you. ah Hi, Lily. And she was like...
Speaker: I never thought I'd be the type of person to like watch the gladiators if I was in ancient Rome, but we were watching the the fighting, the LARPing, when they were going at each other with swords. She was like... I actually think I would be.
Speaker: Bloodsport? Bread and games. Bread, so yummy. Games so much fun. Yep. Don't worry about your material conditions. You've got bread and games. No. um And what was the other episode that we were talking about bread and games?
Speaker: Um, sport. Yeah, the sport one. It's just like... It's something to watch that's not on my phone. And I think that's why I like it so much. And it's visceral. It provides a theatre.
Speaker: I'm reading... um Uh... Both right now. he like Oh, Roland Barthes? Yeah. What's the collection called? Mythologies. I have it on the bookshelf. And he does it... ah An essay on boxing? yeah but But kind of like proto -WWA and talks about it as like a way for us to role play morality.
Speaker: Well, they're, you know... The villain is the villain and like you're able to kind of... do transgressions and stuff. A very good friend of ours, Miss Mia. wrote a wonderful article about it.
Speaker: oh Yeah, of course she did. Of course you did. um Low light from the... um The beer line. yeah be The beer line. But I mean, this this is... saying it' so pop It was so popular that pretty much every food store was packed and the be there was only one beer line. like They didn't fully understand how many people were going to be coming. I'm going there to drink meat and get fucked up. Like.
Speaker: at what I guess maybe like... from someone who hadn't been before like myself. The only footage I'd seen or any kind of relation that I had to it would be like seeing the Americans and them just like, it's a fucking booze cruise. Right. yeah So this obviously was a bit more like family friendly.
Speaker: um Which was a detriment to me and enjoying myself. Gabe was like, I'm trying to rack up a line. yeah Anyone got one to spare? I'm kidding. um But.
Speaker: Yeah, like... you know. I still think even though I was thirsty at the watering hole. Um. As. Even though I was a princess and that shouldn't have happened.
Speaker: um All of my needs should have been catered to, like my CZ that was paid for by my surf today. Thank you yeah so much. Yes, I paid for cakes. cakes but for my cakes. What? I tried to say Kate, but I said cake.
Speaker: Fuck yeah. I paid for cakes Coke Zero. Yep. Well, it's because Ali made you. Yeah, Ali the... who runs the corner shop next to me was like only men pay here and I said fuck yeah they do Amen, brother. fit A fitting conclusion to our discourse on the misery slop episode we had last week about the harmful gender roles look at you willing to see yeah i'm not gonna fucking picket line yeah Alright.
Speaker: can i so Can I give a quote to you? Okay. Alright, here's a quote from Patrick Marlborough, who wrote a book kind of about random affairs called Knock Loose. He wrote... an article about rent affairs for The Guardian a few years ago.
Speaker: Hmm. As Australia's loneliness epidemic worsens, people are spending more and more time online, atomized and disconnected, locked in the pillory of isolation. But visiting Ren Fairs, I've met so many young people. especially those from marginalized communities who have found regeneration through reenactments and reinventions of centuries -old culture and customs, found a sense of purpose and connectedness, a contemporary life which has locked so many of us into a digital serfdom.
Speaker: has otherwise cut us off from. I paid $40 ,000 for a university degree to recognize the term digital serfdom. That's beautiful. Life is so good. Life is so good. Does that quote resonate with you?
Speaker: Yes. Yeah, it really does. I think I'm hyper fixating on the digital serfdom part, to be honest. um And for those listening who aren't really aware of what a digital serfdom is, maybe you're unfamiliar. You're looking at one right here. I am. um It is where you're. Basically, you're like cookies, essentially. All of the...
Speaker: the data points that you... collect online and you do you generate, um they are sold off to big corporations for profit and stuff, right? So you are the lowly serf. You're not. owning anything by being online and and engaging with everything or whatever, but.
Speaker: The fact of the matter is that your data. is then being sold for a profit in the same way that if you're a serf. You're just tolling the land. And I don't get anything. i pay No, you don't get anything. zero Even though I'm...
Speaker: making the coke zero in this analogy Yeah, maybe not the best one to do, but... Um. Yeah, I think, um no and that you know, the whatever his name is. that Patrick Marlborough. Patrick. um He is a big fan of the Renfez and stuff. Yeah, they're a big fan of the Renfez. I...
Speaker: I mean coming back to the furry chat. I think this is it. One reason it is popular is because this is a... a space for marginalized communities, as yeah Barbara says. Yeah. ah So many people here, it's a safe space to kind of...
Speaker: be camp and fun and it's like a socially accepted place to like not conform to traditional gender roles and things like that like You can wear whatever you want. You can...
Speaker: you know express yourself quite freely yeah you're you're there in your embodying this completely ah different character. And that might even be you know your means to escape from the...
Speaker: Um, oppression or like the mundanity of your everyday life i think that that's really fun um and it's quite freeing it's like you know being in a play or being at the theater but you're You're doing a live performance and you're not getting paid for it. You're not getting paid. You're doing it for the love of the game and hanging out with your friends. And I think that that's awesome. Yeah. And there's also like.
Speaker: first Speaking of love of the game, there's always a beautiful section of like craft markets and markets at these places. and A lot of them are just like... you know, mum and pop. businesses and they're making stuff that's like You know, I'm going to say it it's probably not market efficient to me be making.
Speaker: realistic swords and shields and pikes and stuff, but it's beautiful and they love doing it. Oh yeah. Like I bought this hat from a, um, like a just one of the vendors there and it was just like a parents and their kids running the store and they had all this like medieval clothing and it's like I don't know, just think about the kind of beauty in that, that they were able to kind of carve out this space for themselves. I will say that.
Speaker: Wherever there is good, there is evil. And the evil at the Ren Faire were a few 3D printed dragons. yeah's And that was just so disappointing. I didn't see them with my own eyes, but a princess heard stories from yonder.
Speaker: About. The festivities. My spies. My knights came back and reported to me that... Which was Hugo in a hood. they were wearing a hood it was a denim hood That was crazy. The Jordan. Yeah.
Speaker: Jewel. The denim hood. Jeans hood. Um. No, and there were there was some 3D printed slop. Look. As a fidget toy. user.
Speaker: I do have one 3D printed fidget toy. Stand in your power. But. That's the only one I need. It's one of those like spiky ones. And that's it. That's the only kind of like AI.
Speaker: 3D printed slop that I will ever engage in. Apart from that. I love my neato. And. It was just like. um It is a little bit frustrating that like.
Speaker: the organizers. of the event then didn't sort of have the. like discernment to be like oh actually you know maybe we shouldn't have the the 3d printed whatever but If you're just trying to fill stalls and...
Speaker: Just get the next person that's coming in. Like, that's fine. Most of it was really good. ah Like, yeah the overwhelming majority is is handmade stuff. Yeah. I'm just a critic at the end of the day, and therefore I'm going to fixate on the things that I don't like. Yeah, I mean, a lot of these mass -produced market goods, like when you go to like...
Speaker: Your average market, there's a lot of slop. There's like drop shipping. There's like a drop shipping element to it. Or like going to a market and realizing that... This isn't like a... kind of community venture. This is like a...
Speaker: something that makes its business by showing up at different markets, which I, like I was up in, I was in Glenbrook in the blue mountains and there was this bakery there. And I was like, I got something from them. I was like, wait, this seems familiar. Then I realized it's at my like various markets in Sydney. and It like goes around them. and I was like, I don't know how I feel about this. like
Speaker: Part of the appeal of the markets is that it's homespun and you can't get it anywhere else. There there is that element. But, I mean, at Petersham, that one was much smaller and had, like, the goods were but much more... Curated. Yeah, curated and nice. There was only, like, a few stalls. Probably a lot of, like... um, items that are made from stuff from reverse garbage where they can, I think is always good to like using the, this sourcing stuff that is from around you. Um,
Speaker: I'm interested though, because it was at the Bowls Club. Yes. Were you allowed on the green? Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah The whole thing was on the green. Oh. Yeah, because I don't think they're using them as much because it's... it I think that...
Speaker: one of them they're like renovating and the the bottom one i think they're just like it's maybe the off season sort of thing but i mean you have these the other thing as well is there are these societies that underpin this stuff of like people who learn how to joust and like fight realistically there were people um the the best one at petersham was um People in full... dressed up as Polish has hussars. Hussars.
Speaker: like not Like medieval Polish. um Warriors. I would have liked to be there. Oh. We'll get on to the horniness part of the jousting in a second. Oh, yeah. But it was, like, really photorealistic. It acted as, like, a history lesson. I really enjoyed there was, like, a costume party thing as well where people had made their own. A lady had basically become, like, a satyr, like what Pan looks like, where it's, like, just... Oh, with the, like, goat legs? Just the goat legs and the... Yeah, and so she had made that for herself. And she was topless.
Speaker: Um, no, she had like a, a, a leaf bra. Stop being, you're being way too horny right now. Okay. Sorry. I mean, no, no, sorry. You're a princess. You can do whatever you want. I will strike you down. ah Um,
Speaker: Yeah, i really and it was really like a community event. though Also, the other great thing about the road fair is the pets are dressed in costume. Yes. Which is brilliant. Yes. Have you ever seen a pug as a king? oh i didn't see that was that was yeah that was a pug in a beautiful velvet uh like coat There was a golden retriever with bat wings um at... The one in Blacktown in Doonside. That was fun. It was so good. And I think like.
Speaker: These things are getting more and more popular. I was looking at the Google trends. ah It's just up. Renfez it's just like going up and it's so interesting because like Think about the the first time I heard about like a Ren Faire in...
Speaker: by popular media. was probably like... Not Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but some sort of like high school literature. like based in a high school. And it was like, the dorks are going to the red affair. Yeah. Like it was a deeply derogatory thing. To be seen doing. Even.
Speaker: um With, you know, the rise of Dungeons and Dragons and things through shows like Stranger Things. Where I guess, yeah. traditionally or for lack of a better term then these things have been seen as something that like loses and and you know, nerds and stuff do. and Yet.
Speaker: Someone as swagalicious as Sam Lane loves some D and &D. I've been playing D &D for eight years or so, pretty much since I yeah left high school. Yeah, but I don't know. I think that's...
Speaker: Interesting, like... Because I... I mean... ah Just how like social class has changed in terms of nerd culture. Um.
Speaker: Because, I mean, even think about the idea that like nerd culture when we were growing up was being good at computers. And now. It's kind of a Chad alpha thing to be like. a coder and lock in and make a like tech startup yeah like it changes so quickly it's That's the same kind of people that...
Speaker: would wear an aura ring now i saw an ad at the bus stop my dad has an aura ring my trixie mattel has an aura ring i was like brian what the fuck are you doing Girl, she's never going to see this podcast, but if you ever do. Ms. Trixie.
Speaker: Why did you do that? She loves Palantir. Girl, no! No. He's trying to get on the DEI committee at Palantir. That's beautiful. So you think they should be less diverse, these companies? Interesting.
Speaker: That's interesting. i'm Sorry. I'm going to let a First Nations American woman speak. yeah sorry Trixie sorry Trixie Um. What was I gonna say? I was gonna say...
Speaker: Yeah, the the battle lines have been redrawn. It's interesting. Like this is still a space, like I would say. Like the first... people who are there, like the the core of these communities. in terms of the people who were taking place at the LARPing and all the kind of organizers, you still look quite... deeply queer and Um,
Speaker: I don't know, community, just it's quite diverse. Like, there's a lot of trans people in these communities as well. as like we So about the kind of freedom you can have of gender expression, like medieval costuming. That's the first layer, but I mean... beginning kind of middle of last year what started happening for me was like cool arty friends of mine who are like in the, you know, work and...
Speaker: you know, music, music, fashion, film, music, fashion, to reference your Charlie shirt. Yeah. You know, they go into, they started being like, I'm going to the rent fair as like a thing of like the people in. in the area would do. And I was like, that's really interesting. So that was the kind of second thing. And then the third. peripheral crowd we saw some like kind of chad dudes there dressed in their like crusader gear Which is kind of a right -wing lop. But they're still there and they have to, like... Coexist so long.
Speaker: alongside queer people so sorry brothers but like and it's a crowd getting more diverse yeah it's a beautiful um ecosystem of so many so many different breeds of people but My interesting part, like Even in the cosplaying space.
Speaker: There are hot nerds where, you know, they're getting absolutely shredded to. cosplay as some big hunk like from JoJo's Bizarre Universe at Comic -Con. Or something like that. And I just think. that is actually where I should be. I think also about the Marvel movies and how...
Speaker: Like that. Is the... maybe crossing over of like mainstream nerd culture. because like And then you have like someone like Kumail Nanjiani, who is...
Speaker: you know, was typecast as like, he started in, um, Uh, What was that? Silicon Valley.
Speaker: sitcom It wasn't, it's not the IT crowd. American, the IT crowd. Yeah. The one that's set in Silicon Valley. um And he plays like a nerd in that. Right. And then he's playing, he gets shred and he's playing a Marvel superhero. In Eternals that no one watched. Except me. I went to. And you were there and you were salivating. No. Oh no. I was like, fuck this movie is so long, but also like he needed it to be naked a little bit more.
Speaker: The movie's going to be this long. It needs to be more naked. Battle lines redrawn. I think this is like a growing up on the internet thing. Mm.
Speaker: Elaborate. Oh, elaborate? Like... I think if you're if you look at like seminal high school texts of like where you're portraying... I mean, Freaks and Geeks is an example that comes to mind where...
Speaker: um The three, like, shrimpy little nerd kids in there who kind of get tossed around by James Franco and his boys. um His goons? They are, like... portrayed And this is like a you know a fairly common one. I mean, the Breakfast Club as well, I'd say, falls into this. ah If you're a Chad, you play sports and you drink beer and whatever. And if you're a nerd, you play Dungeons and Dragons and go to the Ren Faire. The social class is a lot more stratified. But I think...
Speaker: and And I think this remained, but then with the advent of of technology and being online, like... Everyone growing up. Whether you were nerd, jock, whatever, everyone was watching YouTube and watching like Let's Plays and playing you know even playing Minecraft. Like, everyone was playing this. Like, yeah, the but Chads were all playing Call of Duty, but, like... People still played Minecraft. Even, I think, that the internet sort of, like, when we were growing up...
Speaker: is kind of like an even playing field where. Yeah, you know, you might have been exposed to way too many things, but... That's kind of Good wear. You got a little bit of everything, even if, you know, it wasn't for you or it wasn't the right kind of thing that you were engaging in. I'm thinking about.
Speaker: Yeah, like um my friends even still. they will hop on with an hour one Minecraft burst a year. Yeah. We'll hop on a server. They'll spend 45 days.
Speaker: And then it'll be over. but It's... this wonderful, like bringing together of community. Um, and even like everyone was on YouTube, no matter who you were, you were probably watching PewDiePie. Yeah.
Speaker: And... Like. Those kinds of cultural. capstones. were really important. And it's not so much of a jump from PewDiePie to the Ren Faire. No. like Like, it's already nerd culture. I just don't think we see it as as nerd culture.
Speaker: like I don't know. Like, what what what is a nerd nowadays? Well, that's the thing, you know. I think a lot of what we've spoken about is that like everything in moderation, right? Where you are, you can be a person that's into so many things like cycling and soccer and smoking and smoking cigarettes. I'm only into one of those things and that's smoking cigarettes. But you know, like.
Speaker: as As long as you're having fun and you're not harming anyone doing the thing, I think that... Like. Let people, let the those blossoms bloom or whatever. Don't let blossoms bloom. People need to be told what to do more often. People are stupid. But I do think.
Speaker: That like. These things don't cancel each other out anymore. It felt like, you know, if you... How it was portrayed going on to me being a teenager was like, if you... Um.
Speaker: the The second... you play one game of D and &D, you will automatically like cast out from there in any other social class. And even like in like the... you know, mean girls, like early 2000 stuff, like, you know, getting up until quite recent or even, I mean, one of the greatest teenage movies of all time, Sky High. Have you seen Sky High? Fuck yeah, I have. That's it. That feels so good. But it has the archetypes, the bad boy, the little nerd, the beautiful girl. And the whole point is like.
Speaker: That. the tension in the plot and all these texts comes from the fact that like, the nerd is like an outcast. And that' that creates the drama. Whereas it's that's just like become. less and less true because it's it's interesting like when i try and think about what a nerd is like everyone in my sister's year was on discord Every one of them.
Speaker: And so then how how are you going to, like, how can you be a nerd? Like, what makes you a nerd? I'm gonna, okay. push my glosses Push those glasses up. The pandemic made everyone a nerd.
Speaker: Yeah, protrusion into online space. Well, yeah, like that was that was the third space then. um And it is also sort of a break from like. If you are a nine to five corporate person.
Speaker: then your free time is, those are the things you actually want to be doing, right? like I... there' There's probably a select few that do. Love generating capital and making money.
Speaker: But like. you know, everything in moderation. um Another thought that kind of sparked your mind about like all the archetypes of people. it are these um like PhD influencer baddies that I see on the internet. There's this one.
Speaker: Girl who I think is from like Manchester or something And she has the fake tan. Blonde hair. Um, like juicy tracksuit, almost like that. uh meme infographic of like the the bimbo to nerd pipeline yeah yeah but she's like an academic she just finished her phd she's a lecturer whatever and she also loves to look like that. Um, And. There is another.
Speaker: woman in the States. I think she's at Harvard doing some sort of like. aero nautical phd physics whatever and she's also like a ballerina and looks beautiful all the time yeah and so i like you know.
Speaker: Like, they're normally nerds, but they're obviously not nerds. Do you know what I mean? Well, like they you know, they just don't. fit in that sort of classic idea yeah you can't you really cannot but like this brings back brings it back to me it's like okay well then the ren fair is now a place well there is obviously an element of what we would call quote unquote nerds But, I mean...
Speaker: it's kind of getting harder and harder to like. Really? define what a nerd is is what I've Finding interesting after like. you know thinking about the type of demographics that are there because even like the terminally online comp Computer.
Speaker: love of people like Nina Jirachi I love my computer Like that Hulk and going to to gigs where like you have this community that does all the things that would have been nerdy when. like in the early 2000s, which is like being totally online and playing video games, has now like... So much cultural capital. Um, And it's like. These are the the cool zoomers.
Speaker: They're like, they're out there and they're like really on like terminally online. Love their, their PC music. Love their Nina Jirachi. And so, like...
Speaker: Again, it's just not a big jump to the Ren Faire, is it? No. Not a big jump at all. Even if you like listening to ones and zeros. I think that there's something for you at the Ren Faire too.
Speaker: um and People were doing some cyberpunk -y, like... interesting get ups as well. If you want to get a bit internetty with it. Yeah, I like. It's just sort of a, it's a big festival. um It's a big dress up party.
Speaker: And even if like you. didn't go out and like make a costume or whatever. I think everyone sort of has something in their wardrobe that is vaguely medievally peasant.
Speaker: um but Harrison, he wanted to go as the village idiot. um And you were like, you don't need to dress up at all. Whaaat? Keep those clothes on. You're perfectly dressed. Just be yourself, babe. Be yourself, babe.
Speaker: Um, but no, I like it is. fascinating to this sort of Um... return to almost like catholicism um And especially with the new Pope that we have and how based he is and stuff now where that like religious imagery is coming up in.
Speaker: pop culture and also, you know, via the Ren Faire and things like that too, like medieval core. um our friend jenna's birthday party it was a cool bod call like it was a cool party but um There was a beautiful, oh my God. a fabulous prank. Pink castle cake.
Speaker: But. I'm. you know. Circling around my point. I think that. It's really fascinating that these things are always. Interesting in. culture. yeah the like religion medieval like i i think it's wrong to call it nostalgia But I think that's the other side of the appeal for it. It's like...
Speaker: I don't know. There's something they're saying like with with the world. being so chaotic at the moment. Like, it feels like there are... Aesthetically, there are very few aesthetics that are like of the now. Like, we have still...
Speaker: A lot of the stuff we go through, like even the... like the Nina Jirachi stuff is still at times. a bit like Indie Sleaze 2000s electro clash. Yeah, like early 2010s kind of, like iPod Touch, right? Yeah, that's nostalgical for that. And so it's like interesting that maybe the meat medieval fare is comforting now because you're able to quite easily latch on to an aesthetic. But even... Um.
Speaker: When I was growing up anyway, I loved all the the princess stuff and like Barbie princesses and things like that. So it's always sort of been in. The. the in the if in the air in the ephemera or whatever it is um i think that the the the style of now is like Mark Zuckerberg bullshit, like Palantir.
Speaker: you know, yeah weird tech guy stuff like that. That's what it is now. And people. Really? dislike it. So they're running to the Ren Fair. Yeah, so they're running to the Ren Fair. Can I also just talk about...
Speaker: Allow me. Okay. The women at the Renfrew are some of the most beautiful people I've ever seen in my life. What's going on? I'm on the train over there, and it's like... The... The goalies are putting on...
Speaker: the The coolest makeup. The most incredible outfits. Everyone looks... stunning and beautiful so is there like also maybe then if Because if you're a guy, maybe the the road is like PewDiePie, Minecraft, YouTube stuff.
Speaker: ah playing ah Civilization. And all this, you know, turn -based medieval strategy games. And that's how you get to the Ren Faire, even if you like... you know, other, you know, stereotypically non -nerdy things like, I don't know, going to the gym or whatever. but But there are girls playing Minecraft and watching PewDiePie and stuff too. I don't want to discredit them. But I am saying in terms of like pathways to there, is there like a kind of like...
Speaker: make up influence at a Ren Faire pipeline, is what I'm asking. Because like the looks were like... This also seemed like an opportunity for some people to like really show off what they could do. Yeah, their talents. Well... You know, you sit in your...
Speaker: bedroom late at like practicing makeup all the time just because it's fun like you know um And it's that sort of artistry where... it come all comes together like in the final look Um. And it's...
Speaker: you know, you're putting on the costume and you might be wearing like a physical mask or you have the makeup, right? um And I feel like for some people that like to wear makeup.
Speaker: you can't always, it's not always the the most appropriate occasion to wear like a full bead and like this beautiful pearly bedazzled. I look very complicated, whereas, you know, you weave it into your character at the Ren Faire or at Halloween or Comic -Con or wherever you're you're going to dress up, right? So it is an outlet for that sort of creativity that not everyone...
Speaker: has the opportunity to do in their everyday life I mean we're sort of lucky in the sense where you know, we... talk about music and culture and, you know, reading stuff, music, fashion, film, like. for money right like that's our jobs yes where most of the people I think that are attending these kinds of things, this is their.
Speaker: creative outlet yeah but it's also like it's it's quite inherently a deeply creative crowd in general like it is the the inner west the creative types So I guess it was just like... Well, at the Peterson one, yeah. Yeah, but also at the Blacktown one. It was just interesting to see the kind of...
Speaker: various you know, social... stratums. United. at this event that like traditionally is for. the freaks and outcasts well of the world. Well, everyone's a freak then. Well, that's what I mean. Everyone is a freak.
Speaker: Yeah. Boom. Everyone's a f freak. We just fist bump for you listening. Yeah. with A freak. Freakazoid. Do you reckon, what's the next step then for Renfears? How can they get... Are they going to continue their march towards...
Speaker: The city center. Are we going to have a Ren Fair? In the domain. Yeah, are we going to have Ren Faire in the domain? Totally. yeah i think I wouldn't say next year, but I would say two years' time. yeah um I mean, we could do it ourselves. because that this We could organize that. Oh, my God. Renfair Bushdorf rave, bro. Oh, I feel like.
Speaker: That sounds kind of awful. Yeah. You'd be jumping around in fake armor. It's going to be run by but the timere and the same people who are going to be like, we're doing the Shrek rave. And you're like, oh, shut up, bro.
Speaker: But I like Shrek burlesque. Shrek Ballest versus Shrek. Shrek Rave is like... yeah That's kind of like matcha rave, but a different kind of green. A different kind of distasteful. No! but That always makes it good. Two wrongs making it right. Anytime I think of Shrek now, I just think of um sexy Shrek at La Culturistas.
Speaker: He was great. ah
Speaker: It's the award show. If you're unfamiliar. Next time you go to Renvay, it will be on Bondi Beach. Yes. Look, they're getting more. I wonder if we can have like an activation. Bondi to Coogee. Renfair walk. well All of the fit fluences. Oh, my God. Ren Faire Run Club. Ren Faire Run Club. You're dressed in.
Speaker: Full suits of armor. Yep. Yep. Doing Bondi to Bronte. Yes. Clank, clank, clank. Running past the cemetery like, ka -ching, ka -ching, ka -ching, waking up the fucking dead. the ah yeah Some poor soul who passed in 1894 wakes up and goes, Oh! My ghost has been awakened by the night. Grandfather? ah Okay. ah Mary Vale.
Speaker: Does know. Lost Sundays. medieval theme. What do we think? They already do like a Halloween thing. This is the next step. All of the...
Speaker: Most of the music. where That was at the function that we were at, Jenna's birthday party. all of the DJs, no matter... how long they've been DJing for or how much notoriety they had. Everyone was playing some bard covers.
Speaker: of Sexy Back by Justin Timberlake. So much fun. And it was really lovely to shake my ass to the like the pan flute. I didn't even even even know like the lyre or whatever other instruments that you would use to make a song back then.
Speaker: But it was great. yeah i I mean I love it it's just like i have I mean, I've always had loved the the storytelling of... medieval stuff like i've always i find it's funny i find sci -fi as a genre hard to get into but fantasy books I've always really loved. Um,
Speaker: Like I found found them easy to pick up. in terms of genre of fiction, which I don't i don't know. like they they They shouldn't be that far apart for me, but they they are. And I guess I'm just like. really heartened to say that There's so many different types of people at the Ren Fairs. right now.
Speaker: And... I don't know. Yeah. I'm just trying to think of like what the next level is because it's it to me. Yeah. It crosses off so many of these things like. Uh... kind of a an aesthetic that is like easy to understand and nostalgic and it's like It unifies you. It's a place for like queer expression. It's a place to like.
Speaker: ah you know, laugh a bit as ah as a king or a crusader if you're ah a... A little right wing boy. ah Or i be a princess. Of the minions. Like there's there's so many. Like it was just fascinating. You'd walk around this place. And you'd see. families.
Speaker: Gym bros. Furries. Uh... Lots of queer people. Um, giant burly dudes. And then like, yeah. all the bunch of people who were like at fbi like community radio people are out there like yeah And i maybe everyone was already nerdy to begin with, but it was like...
Speaker: Yeah. It just feels like nerd culture is... You know, this is the ultimate proof that nerd culture doesn't really exist. any like Being nerdy.
Speaker: like Again, I'm just trying to think about what it actually means to be a nerd nowadays. It's just kind of to like be really passionate about something super specific. Yeah. um Because then... Like.
Speaker: People are like, I actually really like that about a person. like i like when someone like like think about the aqua type of like the Um, Hot nerd. like we were talking about before. like Yeah, I'm into that. i mean like What's his name? From Love Call? From Love Actually?
Speaker: You know, Laura Linney's character has that guy that she... Has the crush on with the glasses. Oh, he's so hot. Because he's got the dorky glasses, but he's like. And he's like a coder. Yeah, something like that. And he's got a, you know, he's jacked or whatever. Well, because as, you know, a communist. You do have to get jacked to defeat.
Speaker: the bourgeoisie like i'm sorry How else are you going to ravage your factory boss, your landlord? Ravage them, you say? Ravage them. How else are you going to dick down?
Speaker: your like Use your body for good. This is what that means. Seize the means of reproduction. reproduction? Seize the means of production by fucking your boss. I don't know what I'm saying.
Speaker: Ramfair's popular and we're here for it, is what I'm saying. Yeah. um And it's lovely. And I would totally go again. I'm really. Sad that I wasn't able to make it. to the Peterson one, but...
Speaker: There's going to be more. Yeah, I think a summertime Ren Faire would be really fun. Because then you could get some hot weather. Medieval costumes, right? I could show off a little skin. oh Oh, you could be a little slutty with it, Sam. A little slutty jester. where A jester in, like, cut -off Daisy Dukes.
Speaker: No, it would be those like Tudor. I'm a jester and my trick is to twerk. No, I'm just imagining, you know, those um like Tudor style, the like puffy balloon pants.
Speaker: Yes. Yeah, like the the diaper looking ones that for some reason girls on the internet are wearing. I think that that would go off. um Maybe I'll just wear a diaper. yeah Be like a big... Big medieval baby. And I go, I'm a big baby. Oh, no. I'm going to poop my pants. And then everyone humiliates me. Yeah.
Speaker: And I really like that. You could wear a barrel like Obelix. That Wait, that could be so goaded. Yeah. Next time we need everyone to show up with barrels and be like walking around. Hello, my name is Obelix. I'm Stanky Ten Obelisk.
Speaker: Yeah, far out. It was just such a fun time. And I think it's just proof that nerd culture doesn't... or at least the like the representations of like the clueless type media, shape like Mean Girls, Clueless. ah 10 things I had about you. That whole, like, the high school, whatever. That...
Speaker: The ostracization of nerds. I guess maybe it's not happening in the same way, or at least it's not happening on the lines of like, oh, you're into like. being on the internet what it is though i think as you get older is just you realizing that those like boxes that you put people in or that you see, like the media puts people in like aren't true. um And you meet. more people and you learn more about yourself and you're like oh
Speaker: No, you know No one puts baby in the corner. No one puts baby in a box. However. I will say. okay When I told my parents, I was like, I go into a Renfe. They did have a reaction.
Speaker: That was like... Oh. Like it was still like. In older generations, it's still probably like a thing that's like... Now that's really nutty. That means you're a big dud. I think for our generation, it's like...
Speaker: We kind of take that for granted. Yeah. But I think like for so long, the discourse has been. No, you are in a box. And we are changing the narrative yes one...
Speaker: Joust getting knocked down at a time. One joust at a time. um Some further reading, I would recommend the book...
Speaker: knock loose Knock Loose by Patrick Marlborough, who was the author I spoke about earlier. yeah um It's somewhere on my bookshelf over there. It's basically... ah inspired by an art the article he wrote that i'm referencing is about a town in wa called balling up which is a couple hours south of perth it's like a margaret river area um and it's it like transferred the whole town transforms into a medieval fair for like A weekend. And this book is about like.
Speaker: essentially a fictionalized version of that town where it kind of becomes the purge. Like everyone, like it's medieval and there's like a full battle, like reenacted. Do you put people in the stocks? Yeah, like they kill people. it's like in the it's like ah It's called a blood year, but it's kind of like. It's an absolutely insane.
Speaker: Australian novel. Really funny because it arises a lot of parts of Australian culture. And that's, you know, good considering the other Australian novels that we've spoken about. Yeah, far out. No, he's really, really, really good. um And yeah, I just found it like interesting that he'd also kind of come to the same conclusions exploring Ren Faire as being like, this is a place where like...
Speaker: you know, everyone who's been online And he's like in deeply weird online communities can come and find themselves. But like now everyone else is kind of cottoning on slowly. So. Next year's the Ren Faire at...
Speaker: Sydney Opera House. Next year's Ren Faire is at... i think I think next year you're going to have Maryvale doing a Ren Faire type thing. Mark my fucking words. Mark my fucking words. On the fucking tennis court.
Speaker: Um. Yeah, I think that... I like going to the medieval fair now. Because there are things like modern comforts like public toilets.
Speaker: and gluten -free beer. which is something that if I were really in the medieval times would not have access to. Well, I mean, both of us would be dead. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. yeah i I mean, I have various allergies and ailments. I mean, I would have died. Yeah. And so it's the...
Speaker: you know you're picking I'm picking and choosing the parts that I really like. here And I am a, I believe in choice medieval. Choice medieval feminism. Yep.
Speaker: I choose the princess treatment, and by that I mean I have three ladies in waiting. um And I'm entering in a diplomatic marriage. Yes. And I do not pay for my Coke Zero at the corner shop.
Speaker: Well, yep That about wraps it up don't you think? Yeah I think so. Um. I am really excited to go again for the Medieval Fair. It always happens around my birthday. It used to be around my birthday there would be exams.
Speaker: And now it's the medieval fair. And I'm really happy about that. um This episode goes out to the Pope. Shout out. We see you. We see your anti -AI statements and we love you. Love you. But I think you should also, you know.
Speaker: say that like gay people can get married and you will bless their marriages um but This is a princess talking and Pope. You want to listen, brother? yeah But, you know. The...
Speaker: Think. You know, you'll you'll be the Pope for a while, so you can make that happen. Thanks, Leo. Thanks Leo. Goodbye.
