Oh... My... BRONY!!

Sometimes it's good to spice up Sundays a bit. People can get lost in the hum-drum of recycled--yet still very important--lessons and talks and primary answers and whatnot. I feel it's ok to introduce a bit of tempered unorthodox so long as it is doctrinally sound--or given with a disclaimer.
Today I gave a talk. Though I didn't mention space pirates or NCIS, I did confess to the whole congregation...

...that I'm a brony.

That may have been as earth shattering as my otaku confession on this blog a while back, but this was even more daring because I did it in front of my most significant social group. You may be wondering how I tied it in to any sort of spiritual topic, and all I can say is... too bad. You had to have been there.

Because what is important now is that fact that I don't know if I've ever really talked about being a brony on this blog. I have hinted at it, and most of you who do read this already know that I am... and what a brony is for that matter. For those of you who this is news to, check this out:

And for the record, I am a moderate. Maybe one day I'll be a creative...

But why did I become a brony? Simple answer is that it went in stages for me. I was introduced to the show through my nephews and nieces, particularly the ones in North Carolina, and I immediately enjoyed the cleverness of the show and often opted for it over Team UmiZumi or Dora the Explora when appeasing the children. The few episodes that showed me that there was more to the show than straight cheese and lessons on friendship (cause I already know all those anyways) were probably "Putting Your Hoof Down," "Lesson Zero," and "MMMystery on the Friendship Express." The first one mentioned had numerous parodies on pro-wrestling, the second had a Lord of the Rings reference, and the third had a James Bond reference. Clearly, the writers of this show had more than just the typical pre-adolescent girls in mind when they wrote it. That's when I entered the second and scariest stage: when I started watching the episodes EVEN WHEN LITTLE KIDS WERE NOT IN THE ROOM! At this stage I also grew in curiosity about the show in general, and I started looking up writers and voice actors and such. Not only did I see a lot of familiar names, I also first discovered the term "brony" and realized that I wasn't the only dude who appreciated the more grown-up aspects of the show (and not gross grown-up, more like intelligent grown-up). I would still spend most of this stage appreciating the show with my nephews and nieces and sharing some little easter eggs with them.

The third stage happened just recently, and it's mainly because I cancelled my DirecTV service (they tried to raise my monthly rates by 30 bucks... psssshhhh!! I'll miss the basketball, but everything else I can get online). Having little to do in my spare hours here, I perused YouTube a lot and found just OOODLES of pony videos. Now, some of them had bad language and even others had gore, but I was just amazed at how much Hasbro and the Hub just let be. They could really be handing out C&D's left and right with all this stuff, but I think the fact that they let these creatives just run rampant really contributes to the whole brony phenomenon. It's almost like this obscure cartoon on an even more obscure network built for little girl toys has become an interactive creator-to-viewer experiment. And it has turned out results that none of the writers or producers ever imagined. 

I think it also benefited from a not-so-golden age of Western television, the not-so-golden applying especially to Western animation. When everything is episodic inane children stuff like Spongebob or adult humor shallowness like Family Guy (both types of shows certainly fill their niche, don't get me wrong), people don't get their escapes-from-reality as much--the type of escape that is especially provided by linear, progressive shows. You know, when something cool happens at the end of an episode and you get to look forward to the next episode to see what happens as a result of said coolness. We get this from shows like Avatar (the Last Airbender cartoon type... it annoys me that I have to specify this now--thanks James Cameron and M. Night Shizalloverit) and Korra and Young Justice, but those shows are few... and largely over with. I guess you could consider Pokemon and Bukugan and such things linear, but how much depth can you get from a show about a card game or spinning tops? Anyways, I don't speak for the rest of the brony community--they all have their individual stories as to how they got sucked into a show about little girl horses--but this was one contributing factor as to my turning. Who knows if I would have even noticed the ponies if Greg Weiss was still writing Gargoyles and Kevin Conroy was still voicing Batman? 

Summing it up, 1: It's a surprisingly clever show. 2: I can enjoy it with the kids. Unlike Naruto. WAFFLE DAWG!!! 3: Oodles of bonus content. 4: Everything else mostly sucks.

There you go. I'm a brony. I also play sports. What now!?

You can go ahead and think I'm wierd. That's cool and you're probably right. I'm still gonna love and tolerate the @#$% out of you! But only if you're lovable and tolerable. If not then:

Whatevs.

Reason for graduating from bachelorhood NUMBER ONE: This... Just... Happened.

Some Thoughts on Sports

Imagine my delight when I discovered I could watch the Super Bowl without having DirecTV (via streaming on Foxsports). I wouldn't have to spend my whole day finding interesting youTube videos to watch!
Imagine my dismay when it wasn't that fun of a game to watch. I mean, after a while you just started feeling bad for Peyton Manning. Kind of like how I felt about the Texans after watching many of their second halves.
So, the fallout after the game was actually more interesting. The dominant Seahawks took a back seat again as everyone and their dog talked about how Peyton was feeling now. And then that kind of took a back seat as another controversy was sparked over PC America--concerning this commercial:

I watched it and I was like, "How are people getting offended by this?" Maybe I didn't see it because I'm mormon and I'm used to people singing "I Am a Child of God," in like a million different languages.
What I found to be the much more offensive commercial was this one:

So, apparently all German engineers are middle aged white males from... get this... Germany! Uhhhh.... stereotype much? Where's the diversity VW?*

In other leagues, Joakim Noah better watch himself: (warning, bad language is inferred here and probably readable on lips)

I mean, Ron Worldpeace is irrelevant and Rasheed Wallace is retired. Are the refs looking for a new target?
One more thing:
Why aren't the Rockets trying for Pau Gasol? Was he a bad fit with Dwight last year? Also, some people may say he's washed up and everything, but I think he's just been treated badly by a Lakers franchise that is willing to throw anybody under the bus for Kobe the Virus Bryant. He's still got a great offensive skill set, something to break the bad ice when Dwight is not making his free throws and everybody else are not making their threes. Maybe's he's too old for Morey to even look at him... I dunno. Of course, if Terrence Jones continues to be a break out bargain deal (like CP), why even bother? Four spot may not even need all that much of an upgrade.
Ok, my next potato is done in the oven. Time to carboload in preps for my own basketball tonight!! Is it just me, or does gravity pull harder in the south?
*Not a serious rant. More like a satire on the hyper-sensitivity of America.