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Bronies: For Men Who Love ‘My Little Ponies’
by Cristen Conger | September 19, 2011
I guess I was a little behind on my Internet memes when I received an email from MomStuff listeners Regina a couple weeks ago. She wrote in to tell Caroline and me about a group of fanboys collectively known as “bronies.”In a nutshell, bronies are male fans of the “My Little Ponies Friendship Is Magic” animated series.
To the casual observer, it may seem as if the fanboy’s smug superiority and angry online screeds are little more than the product of rage, obsession and a notable lack of impulse control. However, the casual observer would be wrong: Writer Cyril Kowaliski explains that “various scientific studies have pointed to the existence of a basal process that, when one chooses between two roughly equally desirable items, causes the brain’s perception of the two items to change significantly. The rejected item appears less desirable than it did before, while the chosen item is suddenly viewed as more desirable.” Put more plainly, “fanboys aren’t just raving fools.” So … what are they?
It’s official: Nerds are hot. Again. After many, many fits and starts, geek has finally become chic. Again. I don’t know how this happened, but there really is no denying that nerds are like, totally cool now. How do we know this? Well, just like the popular kids of old, they’ve started kicking people out of the club — and the first ones to go are the so-called hot chicks.
“She Don’t Like ‘Firefly’” and Other Fandom-related Deal-breakers
by Chanel Lee | March 10, 2011
Everyone has their relationship deal-breakers — especially when it comes to fandom. I’ve had two different dates walk me through the “X-Men” mythology and I personally can’t date anyone who can’t abide “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Take that with a grain of salt, though: My fiancé has never watched more than a few snippets, but he laughed himself silly at “Band Candy,” so he’s fine. Others, however, aren’t quite as charitable when it comes to that kind of thing.
Study Pretty Much Irrefutably Shows Cats are Dumber than Dogs(!)
by Josh Clark | November 30, 2010
Having long suspected it, I was heartened to hear that cats are less intelligent than dogs are. Yes. Ahhh. Bask in it.
Far less, actually, at least in relation to the correlation between brain size and sociability. This small brain size is, it appears, why cats are aloof, say researchers at Oxford University’s Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, a group who are not known to be slouches when it comes to compiling reliable and solid data that dog people can reasonably gloat over.
It’s the Wednesday after my first Dragon*Con, and my poor tootsies are still on fire. I had a wonderful time, but I wasn’t at all prepared for the crowds, the noise or the sheer craziness that dominated the weekend. I knew all three would show up in abundance, but I’d forgotten what 40,000 people squeezed into four blocks looks like.
I headed to Peachtree Center fairly early Saturday morning, thinking I had a little time to set up and get comfy before the deluge hit. The steampunk horde I rode MARTA with should’ve been my first hint that I’d thought wrong. By the time I’d joined the throngs at the Hyatt Regency, one of this year’s four official convention hotels, I realized that what I didn’t know about Dragon*Con could probably fill the Hyatt. So, along with my newbie confessions, I’ll share the five things I wish I’d known about Dragon*Con before I stepped into the fray.
I was listening to NPR’s “Says You!” on my way home from HowStuffWorks.com HQ on Friday evening, like I do. If you haven’t heard it, “Says You!” is a game show in which contestants try to bluff their way through made-up definitions for real words, among other things. For the first time ever, the contestants were making up definitions for a word I’d actually heard before: filk. I had one of NPR’s famed driveway moments as I waited to hear whether they were talking about the filk I know or some other filk.
I was on the right track, but the show wasn’t exactly. Find out how and why after the jump.
In case you’ve missed it somehow, today is the 30th anniversary of the release of “Pac-Man.” Blogs are buzzing, and Google has put up its most interactive doodle. And I’ve had an important revelation.
Since starting this blog, I’ve been thinking about my own history as a fan. When was the first time I really felt like a fan of something? My most fannish moments are easy to chart, and some of them are still too embarrassing to announce publicly. But today, my first fandom became obvious: It was “Pac-Man.”
Jonathan Coulton, The Web and the Art of the Legal Bootleg
by Tracy V. Wilson | January 20, 2010
I didn’t go to many concerts as a kid. I grew up in a remote enough area that most of the performers I wanted to see didn’t tour near my hometown. But when I did have the chance to see a show, the basic process was always the same. Today, that process — and the way people remember the shows they attend — is changing.
One of the things I love about fans is that they like to create things that relate to their fandom. I just got my hands on a .pdf of the pocket program for Anime Weekend Atlanta, which is going on this weekend, and I’m thrilled by how much of what’s going on relates to building, making, creating and doing. Naturally, there are panels on costuming and cosplay, but there’s also a no-sew design challenge, a manga cross-stitch panel and a dance class going on this afternoon and evening. There are also lots of panels on art and drawing to go along with the regular convention standbys of games and costume contests.
AWA is a con I’ve been planning to check out for a while now, but since it’s right on the heels of Dragon*Con, I’m usually broke and low on extraversion. FanStuff has given me an extra kick in the pants to make it this year, though. If you’re headed in that direction, you might see me there tonight and part of the day tomorrow.
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