EPISODE 100

[Acierocolotl]

I would have been happy to include some "World's Fastest Greatest" in there.  He'd be hard for a casual listener to distinguish from Timecube, but my man Martin Gale is OG, the true schizophrenic world salad martial artist.

Is this the same guy as Frankenstein Gangster Computer God Moon Power?

Oh no no no.  Martin Gale, starting from basic Newtonian physics, believes he's invented the most effective martial art known to man.  That's about the most logic you'll get out of it; I can tell you he's assembled a pantheon of the most influential martial artists over the last 2,000 years, and put himself on it twice.  Either he's a deservedly immodest utter martial arts badass, or a bit of a yutz who'd made a webpage that set the standard for schizophrenic web design for years to come.  (Having seen a few of his videos, I can attest it's the latter, not the former.)

The dude you're thinking of is Francis E. Dek, who used to put up fliers and had them read by a DJ with the most amazing voice, one that inspired jealousy on my part.

[Cyberventurer]

Forgive me podcast for I have sinned.  I remember coming across that 2 the ranting gryphon site on my own years and years ago, back when I was into stuff like Maddox's site.  I'm listening to an episode I remember liking a lot back then and now I just feel a twinge of shame.  I remember laughing at his portal of evil episode without actually looking at the site and just assumed it really was about people looking for things to offend them.  :(

Now that I've finally finished the whole thing, I want to say that this was an awesome episode and I also now understand why you limit yourselves to an hour.  I had to break it up for myself and listen to bits throughout the day because goddamn, 3 and a half hours!  But I did enjoy every minute of it.  Time Cube and Rat Porn Lady are my favorites from this.

[agentanalogue]

Forgive me podcast for I have sinned.  I remember coming across that 2 the ranting gryphon site on my own years and years ago, back when I was into stuff like Maddox's site.  I'm listening to an episode I remember liking a lot back then and now I just feel a twinge of shame.  I remember laughing at his portal of evil episode without actually looking at the site and just assumed it really was about people looking for things to offend them.  :(

Now that I've finally finished the whole thing, I want to say that this was an awesome episode and I also now understand why you limit yourselves to an hour.  I had to break it up for myself and listen to bits throughout the day because goddamn, 3 and a half hours!  But I did enjoy every minute of it.  Time Cube and Rat Porn Lady are my favorites from this.

I liked 2 okay also, so don't bury yourself in shame.  And I'll even say a few things in his defense:

1. As far as F-plus subjects go, pretty self-deprecating.  He refers to what he does as crap, and I don't know that I ever heard him describe what he did as comedy, so the fact that it's punchline-centric isn't a giant failing on his part.

2.  His medium was definitely part performance.  2's rants worked because they were long and quick.  He'd recite each one over fast techno and then edit out the breaths in between.  I imagine the repetition the F-plus so rightfully pointed out was a lot less tedious to the listener because of this.

3.  That was not his best rant.  His twin pieces on vegetarians and carnivores were both sort of fun.

That being said, I'm embarrassed for him that he didn't bother to do more than two seconds of POE research to determine they weren't a Christian site, and I can definitely appreciate the weakness of his "trying-too-hard" style now in a way that I couldn't have when I was ten years younger. 

[Lemon]

I liked 2 okay also, so don't bury yourself in shame.  And I'll even say a few things in his defense:

Counterpoint:

[Isfahan]

Why, that's not a griffin, that's just some guy!

Doesn't he look sassy, though? That expression is lifted straight from the cover art of every Dreamworks animated DVD ever.

[Delcat]

As for this ep, I just...I...

I love you guys, gorrangit.

Things unfamiliar to me:

CAROLE (although I'm very familiar with voluntary amputees)
Pinku
Dead Wife
Matthew Moulton (possibly, he seems familiar)
Elven Holocaust

Everything else was a trip down memory lane.  I can't believe I remember the Rat Porn Lady, I'd forgotten about it until now.  That was one of my first exposures to the horrors of furry porn, back when I was 13 or so.  My sister and I had just discovered PoE and we tried that site and I was like "I had a crush on Justin when I was four but it wasn't like this D8".  I had no idea about the scrap going down behind the scenes, I didn't start looking at the forum posts for at least a year or two more.

Legolas by laura was the only (mostly) clean rite-of-passage fics on GodAwful Fanfiction.  "Legolas-by-laura ending" became a working term for any fic that abruptly cut off.

One thing worth mentioning about 2 the Ranting Gryphon is that he highly endorsed Jack back in 2001 and Hopkins has never taken that liner-quote off his website.  It's almost like he's lacking in unconditional praise these days.
also this segment was horribly oppressive to me
I was listening to it on Winamp
iTunes scum actually I have literally no idea what people use for music these days it's seriously that bad help

And oh, finally, good ol' Davey Wifebeater Hopkins gets his fifteen minutes.  I'm a Kate-Comics fan, and this came out the same day that someone crashed his forum defending the Tumblr and Dave pitched a massive fit.  I dunno if he's seen this yet but the sequence of events is like a karma bear trap closing, I love it.

Question for Ridiculists/Mods: Since there's such a massive amount of content in this episode, would it be okay to make (or revive) topics for different exhibits on Notes From the Front Lines?  I feel like people could use the room to spread out, light their pipes, and have some leisurely discussions.

[icarus]

my only real memory of 2 the ranting gryphon was a few years back when his episode about art theft was making the rounds.
it may have just been that, you know, getting your art ripped off -> signature erased -> and seeing someone repost it for profit has happened to me and it pisses me off, but i did enjoy that rant. i tried to download a few more and...he failed to evolve on most subjects.

like his solution to the gas price crisis was everyone quit work and refuse to go out of your house. just kinda real shit ideas that would be fine, if they were coming out of the mouth of an 8 year old.

also this whole "PoE is a christian website" is super confusing to me, someone explain that cause i feel lost

is it just because of the word evil in the name
people see 'evil' and just assume it meant 'christians hang out here'?

[PurpleXVI]

I really, really loved Jimmy in this one. Just fucking magical.

Aside from that, I can hardly choose what I enjoyed the most.

[Down10]

This episode of the podcast (and its thread) does raise a question I've always had:*

Does being a self-identified Furry make people psychotic, or are psychotic people just naturally driven to the Furry fandom? I mean, the examples in this podcast (Nekobe, 2 the Ranting Gryphon, Gonterman, etc., etc.) are far from unusual behavior in Furry circles. It's almost as if histrionics are second nature to having a fursona.

_{* Any furries of Ballp.it: please don't take this personally. It's just my observation as an outsider. Am I wrong?}

[PurpleXVI]

Does being a self-identified Furry make people psychotic, or are psychotic people just naturally driven to the Furry fandom? I mean, the examples in this podcast (Nekobe, 2 the Ranting Gryphon, Gonterman, etc., etc.) are far from unusual behavior in Furry circles. It's almost as if histrionics are second nature to having a fursona.

I think it really depends, I think the thing is... for a lot of furries, being a furry is about the boners. And anyone who self-identifies by their fetish almost to the exclusion of everything else is utterly insane or at least incredibly socially awkward and someone you want to avoid.

"Spiritual" furry-ism seems to have largely floated over to merge with otherkin(a shame, I kinda miss it as something to giggle at, fare ye well, Astral Walmart), so basically all you're left with is people who make 90% of their social interaction centered around a fetish.

[Yossarian]

This episode of the podcast (and its thread) does raise a question I've always had:*

Does being a self-identified Furry make people psychotic, or are psychotic people just naturally driven to the Furry fandom? I mean, the examples in this podcast (Nekobe, 2 the Ranting Gryphon, Gonterman, etc., etc.) are far from unusual behavior in Furry circles. It's almost as if histrionics are second nature to having a fursona.

_{* Any furries of Ballp.it: please don't take this personally. It's just my observation as an outsider. Am I wrong?}

Part time/ex or whatever furry here

There are equally crazy people in any social group you could name. However the fact that for a large number of furries it is a fetish, and a large part of the community is about porn and constant sexual exposure leads into an escalation that we frequently see displayed in the related artwork.

For example I knew a kid I'll call Ben. Ben liked pokemon, Ben was an awkward kid and when Ben found himself transplanted to another state with no friends but his computer he moved onto the path to escalation. Ben found a group of people who liked Pokemon, could help him with his computer, and played him games, well that's great! But these friends also had fursonas and had artwork done. Gradualy Ben drew himself a fursona and became more and more involved in the group. The sense of group belonging drags you in and you don't even feel it. Its a combination of groupthink, peer pressure, and the need for community. Eventually Ben decided that instead of going to college he was going to just hang out online and talk to these friends. He ended up dating a complete cunt he met in the community and spent his entire savings on a trip to visit this guy.

Now as for myself I almost hit the same path. I was bored and wanted some friends so I met the same people. I broke away for a few reasons, when an artist against my wishes tried to draw porn of my character with my boyfriends character before we were dating, when one of the group leaders pulled/tried to pull a stunt similar to nekobe, and when I was harassed to give out the porn I allegedly had of my character (there was no porn)

TLDR
Picture it like gravity. You want to belong, and be a group of friends. Gradually as you get closer and closer together you may lose your sense of decency, and because of that you might find yourself in a casual chat with friends talking about how you ruined you totally got that XXL chance the stallion down to the base and you have videos to prove it. The spiral of wanting to be in a community makes people crazy, when the community is around or encouraging someone who is already unstable or crazy you have a disaster waiting to happen.

[agentanalogue]

This episode of the podcast (and its thread) does raise a question I've always had:*

Does being a self-identified Furry make people psychotic, or are psychotic people just naturally driven to the Furry fandom? I mean, the examples in this podcast (Nekobe, 2 the Ranting Gryphon, Gonterman, etc., etc.) are far from unusual behavior in Furry circles. It's almost as if histrionics are second nature to having a fursona.

_{* Any furries of Ballp.it: please don't take this personally. It's just my observation as an outsider. Am I wrong?}

Beautifully put.  I flirted with the Furry community for much the same reasons when I was young and impressionable. 

now your words just have me worried that the F-Plus community is going to drag me into some similar spiral...that I'll be up at 3 a.m. reading typos out of books to strangers on the street some day.
Part time/ex or whatever furry here

There are equally crazy people in any social group you could name. However the fact that for a large number of furries it is a fetish, and a large part of the community is about porn and constant sexual exposure leads into an escalation that we frequently see displayed in the related artwork.

For example I knew a kid I'll call Ben. Ben liked pokemon, Ben was an awkward kid and when Ben found himself transplanted to another state with no friends but his computer he moved onto the path to escalation. Ben found a group of people who liked Pokemon, could help him with his computer, and played him games, well that's great! But these friends also had fursonas and had artwork done. Gradualy Ben drew himself a fursona and became more and more involved in the group. The sense of group belonging drags you in and you don't even feel it. Its a combination of groupthink, peer pressure, and the need for community. Eventually Ben decided that instead of going to college he was going to just hang out online and talk to these friends. He ended up dating a complete cunt he met in the community and spent his entire savings on a trip to visit this guy.

Now as for myself I almost hit the same path. I was bored and wanted some friends so I met the same people. I broke away for a few reasons, when an artist against my wishes tried to draw porn of my character with my boyfriends character before we were dating, when one of the group leaders pulled/tried to pull a stunt similar to nekobe, and when I was harassed to give out the porn I allegedly had of my character (there was no porn)

TLDR
Picture it like gravity. You want to belong, and be a group of friends. Gradually as you get closer and closer together you may lose your sense of decency, and because of that you might find yourself in a casual chat with friends talking about how you ruined you totally got that XXL chance the stallion down to the base and you have videos to prove it. The spiral of wanting to be in a community makes people crazy, when the community is around or encouraging someone who is already unstable or crazy you have a disaster waiting to happen.

[fluffy]

While listening to the episode I decided to search on "the wisest human." Guess what I found.

Sadly he hasn't updated in a while.

[Moriarty]

You know, Nekobe's hapless hosts thought he was crazy and paranoid for assuming they were trying to lose him in traffic, but all I can think is that other, smarter people probably had the sense to actually do that. Why they gave him six hundred dollars to leave instead of luring him to an unfamiliar location and leaving him there, I do not understand.

[gee golly gosh]

Bunnybread: I heard of the governmentgetsgirlfriends guy from the friend who introduced me to the f+, and was considering submitting yiff the otter to you guys but decided everyone and their grandma had already read that whole crazy saga. The rest was completely new!

Clearly I've been doing this internet thing totally wrong.