79: Broski Royal Ballet School Is Now Open
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Direct from the Broski Nation headquarters in Los Angeles, California, this is the Broski Report with your host, Brittany Broski. Bonjour, bonjour tout le monde, bonjour à tous et bonne année, bonne, bonne année, happy new year, bonne année, bonne, binson, bonne année.

That means asshole. Happy new asshole to everyone listening! Shit! Guys, it's been a hot minute.

And also, bonjour to you and yours, okay? I've been really intense into this French face. Just see me through it, okay? Just let me get through it and out of it. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, okay? Guys, lots, lots to catch up on for serious, bro. Lots of things to be grateful for. Lots of things to...

Reposition your mindset on, okay? Now, I just want to disclaim this episode by saying I know my bangs are really fucking thin and I'm self-conscious about it, okay? It's called having PCOS and it's called I think I'm going fucking bald. Also, it's called I've been dyeing my hair since I was in the seventh grade. Fuck you! If anyone wants to comment about my stringy bangs, you're going to have to talk to an officer and sheriff.

That's my two manicured nails, two manicured fists. Okay, I'm going to throw a punch and then start crying because I broke a nail. Anyway, officer and sheriff, shut the, that's not even funny. Like, it's not even funny. Because the thing about this podcast is I say a joke and then it's like, if it's not funny, it just stays. And that's sort of like, you know, it's a time capsule for me in a year to look back and be like, oh, I hate myself, but I don't. I actually cut all that.

Cut all that. I want to restart the episode. Hey, guys. Welcome back to the Broski Report. First of 2025.

If you made it this far, God bless you. And look, let me just sort of spew some inspirational bullshit really quick before we get into some more inspirational bullshit, okay? Because I've been watching those Hope Corps videos y'all make, and that shit goes crazy, okay? That one of me ranting about there being shit in my E. coli and my baby carrots from Whole Foods. Yeah, you put it over some of that ransom note text over a picture of some mountains.

I'm crying because it's a reflection on the current state of the world. Oh, you can't buy fresh produce. I'll be a fucking shit on it because you can't trust these factories and the man who's giving you food. They feed us their poison so they can sell us their medicine that makes us sick. Right? Whole Foods baby carrots. Okay. Guys, Happy New Year. Happy New Year for real. And I just want to take a quick moment to say,

Look how far we've come. Look how far you've come. And take a quick moment today to pat yourself on the back because look back on all the hardest days of your entire life, the hardest moments you've ever struggled through and been like, I cannot survive this. And you fucking did. So.

How about one of these? Okay, one of those little shitty inspirational messages. And now let's get into the real fucking tea. Let's get into the real mother-tucking tea of 2025. Okay, 2025. You know, everyone talks about New Year's and like, New Year's resolution. And that bullshit that, what's that, Jim, posted that was like, we don't accept new memberships on January 1st, you fucking bitch.

It was this crazy tweet that one of those gyms posted that was like, we do not accept new memberships on January 1st because you fat bitches always, you stop coming. You fat fucking asshole. I was like, God damn. Do you want people to sign up for your membership or not? I can't see your focus in these glasses. I want to take a moment to talk about how I saw this thing like a few months ago, maybe even a few years ago, that was essentially like,

New Year's resolutions are not realistic in the very essence of what they are because the wintertime, we find ourselves at the top of the new year in the middle of winter, if you're on the Western Hemisphere.

It is the middle of cold, dead winter. This is a season of rest and of hibernation, if you want to speak in a primal sense, where this is not a time for radical change and uprooting yourself and making these decisions

insane life decisions just because it's a cultural shift, you know, like around the new year, it's always like, I'm gonna start prioritizing my... If that doesn't make sense for you right now, I would say wait until it's more feasible. And of course, that's also at the same time that, you know, I believe in this mentality of do it now. Do it now because you don't know if tomorrow's promised. Nadie sabe lo que va a pasar mañana, wey. Nadie sabe.

No one knows what's going to happen tomorrow. So like do it today. You know what I mean? Just like jump off the cliff, take that risk because you don't know if we're going to fucking live tomorrow. Like, yes, that is true. But at the same time, you cannot live an entire life that is based on, you know, radical change. There needs to be periods of rest and resetting. And I think that that is the new year for me. And I think historically, I've always sort of been like, time to become the best version of myself.

I shave my head and I start a fresh and fit podcast. It's time to become the best version of myself. I'm bald the next episode and all of this is like...

It's like seven dudes and me around this small little table, but it's still my little laptop and my Mickey Mouse phone. But you know what I mean? It's like that is not... I think that the new year is not this grind mindset. The new year is a chance, if you've never tried it before, to rest and be gentle with yourself. Because these two weeks, and I'm speaking generally, I know that most...

Honestly, most jobs do not have two weeks off at Christmas and New Year's. I mean, that is such a privilege. And I think it's also a very like white collar thing. It's this, I mean, even when I worked my white collar job, quote unquote, I was making $39,000 a year at the insurance company. I had to ask off on Christmas Eve so I could fly to Florida to go see my family. Like, are you at Christmas Eve? Who the fuck is calling to talk about their insurance policy on Christmas Eve?

Like, sorry, girl. And you'd be shocked. A lot of people were, okay? Because disasters happen all the time because that's just the insurance business. And so I would have to be on the phone and be like, oh, we actually don't cover that. Merry Christmas and a happy new year. And a Felice honor new way, but do you, okay, bye. Ridiculous. So like, trust me, I've been through the corporate trenches of like,

having to fight, genuinely fight with your boss, tooth and nail, to get a semblance of time off. Like the concept of time off. So I know that, you know, I recognize I'm speaking in platitudes here, but generally speaking, during this time, when it's about the holidays and family and, you know, being home, and I know that's difficult for a lot of people as well, this time of year should be

About prioritizing you, I think. Because we... Well, how about... Say I think one more time. I'm annoying myself. I'm going to start doing that because...

Lost my train of thought. All that to say, I think New Year's resolutions are fucking dumb. I think that the time for change should be when you're fed up. Not because of outside pressure telling you that you should change your life and the top five ways to run, don't walk. Fuck you, shut up! Actually, let me go on a rant really fucking quick about...

the top consumerism. I'm not the first person to rant about this, but let me go ahead and throw my little two cents in there. If I have to see one more person on TikTok come on and tell me their top 10 Amazon favorites of this month, which means they're doing an Amazon haul every fucking month, hundreds of dollars worth of Amazon products. How about the one? How about the people that come on TikTok and are like, absolutely.

Team you fucked me over? Yeah, are you 85? Did you just fall for a credit card phishing scam as well? What do you mean team you fucked you over? Of course I did. I'm so like infinitely shocked.

And how there can be these two conversations happening at once online of like, there's no ethical consumerism out of capitalism. This was made by five-year-olds at a sweatshop. And then at the same time, it's like, you need to run, not walk, to get this absolutely meaningless piece of plastic you're going to forget about in five days. Guys, I'm serious. It changed me life. Until next month when I forget about it and buy something else.

It's so wasteful. And I hope that the bubble's about to burst. You know what I mean? Of this just, we're buying to fill the void of everything else, I guess. I don't know. It's not the solution though. I can tell you that right now. Like retail therapy, I know that's always been, it's just not going to fix the hole. It's just a sickness. I really do think it's a sickness that like,

This under-consumption core thing, I'm fucking with that. I'm really fucking with that. It's nice. The de-influencing, I watch every single one of those. It's also kind of satisfying to be like, oh, and Project Pan, that's another one where people on TikTok specifically are pledging to use the products that they have to completion instead of buying this new palette or this new lip gloss or this fucking, that girl who had like 107 lip oils. What are you bitches doing?

Genuine question. What are you doing? There is no way, very realistically speaking, that you could use all of those always in rotation before they all expire and go bad. Like, there is no reason for you to have 107 lip oils. What are you talking about? It has gotten to a point that is, it makes my stomach turn. So this Project Pan and Under Consumption Corp,

I love it. I'm really here for it because I find myself falling victim to the, you know, run, don't walk to get this shit. And I'll get it and I'm like, why the fuck did I buy this? And then it sits in my cabinet or I give it away or I throw it away. And it's just like such a horrible feeling. I'm done with it. Like I am contributing to the problem actively. So I'm done.

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And some of those relationships start with moments you don't see coming. Ever underestimated the three chili peppers on a menu? The waiter said it wasn't that spicy, but they had lied. Your date felt so bad, they took you out for ice cream to cool things down. What started as a spicy disaster turned into the cutest Tinder date ever. And your stomach didn't even hurt that bad after. That may be a lie. Okay, your toilet is actually suffering later, but you had a great date.

It sucks to be wrong about your spice tolerance, but it's great to be wrong about Tinder. Explore all the possibilities for yourself on Tinder. It starts with a swipe. Download Tinder today. Okay, this is a rough transition, but hear me out. Going from under consumption core to the books I've been reading and what I want to talk about. So over the Christmas break, I went to my family's, my cousin's got like a ranch out in Hearn, Texas, and we went out there and

Just sort of disconnected. Rode four-wheelers with my pawpaw and, you know, really just tried to revel in the analog. And I brought Fahrenheit 451 because I've talked about this before. I never read it in high school. And, I mean, we focused on, you know,

I took an AP Lit class, and we did stuff like Edgar Allan Poe and Brave New World and Heart of Darkness, a lot of things to do with colonialism. The sort of censorship that 1984 and Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 tackle, even Animal Farm, all those books tackle that. I feel like we didn't really touch on that that much, and I'm wondering why sort of in my adulthood that—

that my school district picked that curriculum. Anyway, not to say that what we did study was meaningless. I mean, I really learned a lot from Heart of Darkness and all those sort of, I mean, even in college, we read Beowulf and all that, not to do with colonialism. But I'm saying there is a wide scope of what I absorbed from my English classes.

or my lit classes that, you know, of course you can't cover it all. So I've taken it upon myself as an adult to sort of go back through the classics. And over the break, I read Fahrenheit 451. I want to read you my...

Goodreads review that I wrote on it. And stop fucking asking me for my Goodreads. Let me have one thing that's private. I'm begging you, for the love of God, let me have one thing, okay? That's for me and my friends. And I really like Goodreads. It feels like the one social media that doesn't have, it's not inundated with ads, and I can connect with my friends. Goodreads, please, if you are listening, do not sell out. I'm begging you on my bended knee.

Anyway, I really enjoy Goodreads because on top of reading what other people have to say, it's hard. My brain has 100 different tabs open right now. I've been seeing a lot of discourse about

You know, this idea of rating and ranking books on a five-star basis and how limiting that is to sort of categorize the purpose and importance of books and what they represent to each person by making it a popularity contest and only giving five stars, not even half, not even 0.5 stars.

option to rate these books and how kind of unfair it is to the author and to the collective human history, you know, human archives, like knowledge to give the rating process a bit more grace. You know what I mean? Anyway, that's something I've been really tapped into is like that whole discourse because I agree. I think that in a lot of ways, as much as I love Goodreads, it is changing the way we think about literature and

and how we view how truly written word and novels and books are the collective history that humans have. Arguably, it's all we have, because who knows the longevity and the dependability of things like servers or even this topic of TikTok being banned. It's like,

everyone should save their videos now, save your drafts, like things like this, that we don't know where these videos will go. We know that they're stored, but do we have access to that? And what does that really mean?

I just, you know, the tangibility of having something in your hand that is as precious as a book that has been beloved for decades, centuries even, some works where they continue to stand the test of time like Shakespeare.

or, you know, Victorian literature. It's like these things are so much more important than just a story. It is a telling of what humanity is and what it's been through and how we've come here and how certain people predicted that we'd be here. It's so interesting. And we're doomed to repeat the cycle of history if we don't read. I mean, I've been reading, I don't want to freak myself out, but a lot of these dystopian novels and

How authors from the 30s and 40s who lived through World War I and World War II and eventually, you know, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, all of these things influence how you see the world. And I feel very lucky, knock on fucking wood, to not have lived through an active war zone before.

in America at least, where there's bombs falling and, you know, to fear for my life and my family every day. I mean, we have plenty of disaster in this country, don't get me wrong. Enough things to have intense and overwhelming anxiety about. But an active war zone, my God. And so to hear from people like Orwell,

who lived under the British Empire and was an active, outspoken opponent of the empire, as a British citizen himself. These things, I want to listen. And I've talked recently about how reading Orwell's works, it was very weird for me because the way that he writes...

is the way that, and this, again, sounds so pretentious, it's the way that I journal, or it's the way that I put my thoughts down. And it was very strange to read it and be like, this voice is so familiar, and he's been dead for decades. And to have it still carry on in a way that is so almost...

disturbingly applicable to today. And so all that to say, I felt that way as well reading Fahrenheit 451. This is not groundbreaking news, me saying, oh, these books are still relatable. Yeah, that's the fucking point of like reading the classics, right?

And if you even want to call Fahrenheit 451 a classic, I was reading a lot of criticism about Ray Bradbury's works and how, you know, it's a bit limited, but the message is there. The story probably wasn't as developed as it could be and how a lot of these authors, I told you all last time, Steve.

steal from other authors. And this has been a plague that's been in the literary community for however long. I mean, you will always be inspired by other people and

you will steal from other people. We've seen it happen so many times. Like, we know that authors steal from each other. It doesn't make it okay, but it's a known phenomenon. And it really sucks as a reader to read a book and be like, God, this is genius. I really loved it. And then come to find out he stole it from a Russian author. It's like, fuck! Anyway, I want to read you my review of Fahrenheit 451. I really enjoyed it. And...

It opened my eyes. So for reference, this said that this is rated as a 3.96 on Fahrenheit 451. 2.5 million ratings. And who's to say also, you know, I always think about this with apps like this and things like Spotify, Apple Music.

We equate cultural relevancy and cultural significance with these numbers on these apps. Oh, they're the most streamed. Oh, this is one of the most rated. Oh, this is the best rated. And it's like, how is that truly true?

How is that truly an example of the sort of collective opinion? I don't think it is. You can manipulate numbers. You can manipulate streams. Some of these things are not genuine. I mean, like the cultural impact of...

People like the Beatles or Elvis or Michael Jackson. I don't think that's reflected in Spotify stats. They are and will forever be some of the most famous people ever. Whitney Houston, Beyonce, these people that have changed the industry and how we view art.

And their art shaped the world. Like, I don't think that's enough to sum it up in streaming numbers or albums sold. It's so much more than that. And so I want to take that mentality into Goodreads, even Letterboxd, you know, things like that, of formulate your own opinions. And if art means something to you, don't let numbers or outside influences take that away. If it means something very special to you, that's what it is for, right?

It was successful in its endeavor. I also, there's so much I want to talk about. This episode is going to be an hour and a half long. I have been reading a lot about this lately, which I agree with too, of art is not to be made for consumption. Art is for the artist. It is a means of expression. It's how to interpret and translate the world.

It is that artist's translation of what they're feeling, what they experience and what they're feeling. And if that connects with another person, great, right? Art brings us together. But art is for the artist.

until the artist passes, then it's for posterity. That's my opinion. And I really, I read that the other day and I was like, God, that's so fucking true. Because so much of what we see on social media, and I'm guilty of it too, right? Because of the job that I do and the crossroads that I find myself at culturally and time period wise, where everyone is trying to sell themselves as an art piece, as an artist, as something to admire, something to buy, something to believe.

It's exhausting. And it takes away from, I think, the intrinsic feeling of art. And when you walk through a museum or when you discover a new song and it's like, fuck, that's good. Damn, that's good. That really connects with me. That's the point. And it happens by accident. You should not be creating things with the intent that it's going to do well. Did I just make the song of the summer? No!

That's not the point! Did you make a song that reveals your spirit? Did you make a song that sums up your experience? Did you make a song from the soul? Did you write a song that means something to you? Or did you make a song with the intent to go viral? And don't fool yourself for a second into thinking that people don't see through the crock of shit. Oh, I'm fucking pissed off.

Art is so important and it's been diluted into a product. What is this earth without art? For fucking sake, shit. I'm going to start a new bit where I create a Muppet version of myself. And when I start getting really angry, I'm going to go into the table and have a Muppet of me come up and be like, if anyone wants to make me a Muppet.

I'll give you the P.O. box and you can send it to me and I'm going to start doing anger management puppet hour. Because they just pissed me off! You bitches are ruining the sanctity of what art is. Okay, anyway. Here's my review of Fahrenheit for 51. Okay.

Let me go ahead and read the description if none of y'all have read it. I'm sure you know it's about, you know, reading is outlawed. Books are banned. Okay. It's this. Especially when you think about, you know, the Nazi book burning and all of these things where how truly can't think of anything scarier.

Then a higher power, the government, removing and censoring and outlawing the ability to read. The ability, the capability. What's the difference between ability and capability? Capability, the quality of being capable, capacity. His capability was unquestionable. The ability to undergo or be affected by a given treatment or action.

Okay, what's the difference? Ability, power or capacity to do or act physically. Competence in an activity or occupation because of one's skill training. What's the fucking difference? Capability and ability have similar meanings, but capability is often associated with a particular competence or efficiency at a specific task.

Capable. Like, are you capable of it? Not do you have the ability. Ability is more basic and often means the capacity to do something regardless of... What the fuck does that mean? My brain just shut up. Ability is more basic and often means having the capacity to do something. Capability. Capability have similar meanings. But capability is associated with a particular competence or efficiency. Okay. His... Okay.

I'm going to admit that I do not understand. And we're going to move on. And I'm going to actually take away from this that they're sort of interchangeable. Okay, great. Okay, thank you. What was I just talking about? Oh.

There's nothing scarier. There's nothing scarier than censorship in my mind when the government tells you what you have access to and what you can and cannot believe. And so this book explores that in a dystopian future. I'll read you the description and then I'll read you my review. Okay. It's a short read, by the way. It's like 150 pages. But the book that I got, half of it is the book and then half of it is

criticisms and context of the book when it was published in the 40s, and some opinion pieces or critiques, honestly, by other contemporary artists, contemporary authors like Margaret Atwood and people like that. And it was really fun to read their takes on it because Margaret Atwood created Handmaid's Tale, if I'm not smoking crack. Handmaid's Tale.

Yeah, it's a book by Margaret Atwood. So these are people, obviously, who have dabbled in dystopian fiction and have their own opinions and beliefs on, based on what we're living through right now, what we're headed towards. And I really enjoyed that. So here's the description. Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book.

along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television family. This is like an immersive room where all three walls and eventually all four walls, when they get the money to upgrade, will be screens, floor-to-ceiling screens.

And it's an interactive television program where every morning or, you know, every week, they'll send you in the mail the script of this show. And you, as the viewer, are an active participant. So Mildred sits in her living room, watches the television, and it's a family unit, and she has a part. So she literally calls them the family. Hey, hate it. But it's not too far off because we think the Kardashians are like our family. We know them like they're our fucking family. It's literally such a commentation on...

When he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarice, she introduces him to a past where people didn't live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television. Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.

Okay, so people are saying it was okay. It was more message than story. The setting was cool. Here's my review. I gave it four stars because the message means a lot to me, obviously. This sort of stuff I'm hypersensitive to. If I were to go back and get my master's, which I will, I am going to get my master's, maybe two. One of them is going to be in Spanish.

and one of them is going to be in this sort of shit, like a specialty in dystopian literature. I am addicted to it. I love it. I think it is so impressive how these authors—

pretty much, give or take, predicted the future. They saw where we were headed and they wrote it. And maybe that sounds conspiracy theorist, but I think it's a feat of the imagination and a wherewithal of your surroundings and the context that you live in to recognize what's happening and be like, if we don't stop this, if we don't mitigate this,

This disconnect between the government and Big Brother and us, I don't even think it's conspiracy theorists to say that. It's fascism. It's authoritarianism. It's scary. Anyway, I said, this book made me realize I have not taken advantage of the gift that is public libraries. So much information and knowledge at our fingertips for free in an age where everything is behind a paywall.

And if you really think about this, and I saw this on TikTok as well, which part of me, I am very saddened, obviously, at the fact that TikTok will be banned, probably will be banned.

So much access to information and people and cultures that I never would have known about, to be completely fucking honest. I've said that before. I never would have known about it. And it's a blessing in a lot of regards. But it's also a tool for misinformation and spreading hate and violence, as is anything. You know, the technology itself is neutral. It's the people who wield the technology that sort of determine its ethical code. Anyway, someone made a TikTok that I was like, fuck, it's so true. That was like...

Think about it today. The funding and even the idea of something like a public library or a public park never passed today. It would never pass. How sad is that? How fucking sad is that? It's true. So anyway, that was sort of what that was on my mind as I was reading this as well of like these public welfare programs or or

funding or having the faith that the government will fund these projects and they will open and be usable to the public. I don't have any of that faith today. I live in California. I don't have any faith in my government that the taxes I pay will go to people that need the help. So what's the option? I don't pay my taxes and I go to jail? Dystopian. Here's the rest of my review.

I've been thinking about how interesting it is that at some point in time, maybe when I was finally out of school at 21, maybe eight months ago, I don't know, I had a complete change of opinion on the importance of reading. From a young student just trying to score well on a test using short-term memorization alone, to adult me trying to drink up and permanently store the heart and essence of books like Fahrenheit 451 in my brain forever.

I didn't take this type of reading seriously in lit classes and never stopped to question why certain books had been hand-selected for us to read and study. It's never too late to start reading critically, as long as you start. My favorite lines from the exiled Professor Granger...

who Professor Granger, Guy, the fireman, eventually runs away from his job, from society. The police are chasing him. They're going to kill him because, you know, he recognizes the importance of reading and he wants to save the books, not burn them. And he's now a dangerous fugitive. He runs far enough away to the outskirts of the town where he finds an abandoned railroad. And along this railroad are exiled prisoners.

and academics, which is such an interesting... Here, who used to be heralded as the pinnacle of academia and the humanitarian studies, essentially what it is to be human and studying the human condition, they've now been exiled as untouchables. How interesting. And so he finds a little nomadic group of them around a fire, literally.

like a homeless group. And he watches them from afar. And then eventually one of them, who's a professor, says, we see you out there. You know, come join us. We won't hurt you. And he joins them and learns that each one of them was a professor at Oxford or Harvard or here or there. He, you know, specialized in this and whatever. And here they all are. Look where that landed them, you know, because you can't.

Resistance starts in groups like that. And their task that they've taken upon themselves in the wake of these books being banned, the lifestyle of being an academic has been outlawed. And they've taken it upon themselves to each memorize certain passages from certain works. It's fragmented, it's broken, it's not cohesive, but it's something. And together,

They represent a lot of different disciplines, you know, whether that be old religious texts or the Odyssey, the Iliad, classic epics, stuff like that. Montag, Guy Montag, the main character, memorized something from the Bible. You know, it's these stories and these things that feel disjointed and like they have no meaning. But when you put it all together, it means everything. And so this was one of my favorite quotes from that exiled professor.

This is another quote.

Stuff your eyes with wonder. Live as if you'd drop dead in 10 seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories. The magic is only in what books say. How they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us. Holy fuck! The magic is only in what books say. How they stitched the patches of the universe together into one garment for us.

I also loved and grimaced at the complete accurate prediction on Bradbury's behalf of a mindless consumerist society incapable of saving itself from looming nuclear annihilation. This is another quote. Whirl man's mind around so fast under the pumping hands of publishers, exploiters, broadcasters that the centrifuge flings off all unnecessary time-wasting thought.

And I said, I have to delete TikTok and Instagram. Free me! What an interesting time we find ourselves in where I feel this way, truly, that social media has turned into a...

net negative. It used to be a net positive, I believe, and now it's a net negative, but we're shackled to it. I am shackled to it by my job. I love my job. I love what I do. It's sort of a necessary evil that I have to post on these platforms when I think that I would be a whole lot happier if I didn't have to

go through the mental anguish of using these apps. And that's not to say I don't have fun. I have a lot of fucking fun on these apps. You know, I love TikTok and Instagram. You know, Instagram is now the new like Twitter for me. Honestly, it's a way to connect with my friends and my my like siblings and my cousins. But it's

at the cost of everything else. The anxiety, the dread, the horror that I see every fucking day on these dystopian apps. Anyway, Fahrenheit 451. Read it. I think it's important. And in that vein, this year, I read, as you all know, Animal Farm, 1984.

The Bell Jar, unrelated, but I read it anyway. And now Fahrenheit 451. I'm in the middle of Brave New World right now. And also, hold on before I get there. I have a lot on my to-be-read list. Classics like The Jungle by Sinclair and Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. You know, a lot of John Steinbeck. A lot of things that I just...

I never got around to reading. And I think also it's a maturity thing. When you're 22, you don't want to be at home reading the fucking Grapes of Wrath. Oh, you're the most insufferable person I've ever met. Oh, now you're going to talk to me about it at a party? I'm going to kill myself. Like, fuck you, girl. But man, I'm turning 28 this year. Oh my god! Ew! No, that's not ew. That's actually fun. Me convincing myself. It's fun.

I love being 28. I love being 27. And I'm about to be 28. What a blessing. What a blessing and a privilege. 28's a cool age.

I think that I'm at the time now in my life where those stories and those things mean a lot to me. And I can recognize, you know, on an emotionally mature level, the significance of them and what I can learn from them. I've also saved a bunch of books like the Poisonwood Bible, which I've never read before. Some C.S. Lewis books.

I've saved The Poppy War by R.F. Quang. I'm so excited to start some R.F. Quang books because I've had Babel on my shelf for years when I was deep into my dark academia phase. The Secret History is my favorite book of all time. And around that time, I bought Babel. I just never started it. Babel? Babel. Babel.

I'm going to eventually. And then on top of that, The Dragon Republic, which is the sequel to Poppy War. All those. And then The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. Like, all these are just... They're just classic. I've just never gotten around to them. Slaughterhouse-Five, Logan's Run, Catcher in the Rye. So...

I'll update you guys on that. If you give a shit, I don't know. Let me know because I like talking about it and I like talking about what I got from those books. And if you never plan on reading them, if you have no interest, then at least let me be your exposure to them because they are important to know about. And as I'm taking on this task of educating myself, I think it's fun to share it. And I like to read y'all's comments on it. So that is that on that.

Now, I want to talk about this other book I've been reading, which is called The House of Blood and Bane. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes. This book was pitched to me, you guessed it, on TikTok as a Peaky Blinders inspired fantasy romance. Hey, my cock is hard.

Hey, my PNAR is stood upright. Okay? I'm locked the fuck in. I downloaded that bitch on Kindle immediately. $4.99. You bet your fucking ass. I bought that shit, finished it in two days. Yeah.

Here's what I will say, okay? Wasn't, and I hate that this is about to come out of my mouth, recognize that I don't feel good saying this. It wasn't as smutty as I had wanted. And I saw that the author said that she did that on purpose because apparently it's gonna happen in the second book. I don't know, we're gonna see because I'm locked the fuck in. I'm like 25% of the way through the second book right now. It was cute. It was cute. The Tommy Shelby of it all, love, okay? But she sort of did it as a, I just spit all over the desk.

She wrote it as a rivals to lovers sort of thing, which wasn't very believable to me because Nico had it bad for her from the fucking beginning of the book. Okay. Had it bad for that bitch. And so I'm like, I don't believe this rivals to lovers. I enjoyed it regardless. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed it. But marketing it as a rivals to lovers. Hey, no, it's not. I did enjoy. Now look, look, I did enjoy.

What's that called? Arranged marriage. Marriage by necessity. That shit. I did enjoy that. Okay? Because guess what? I need him. And guess what? She's a bad bitch. And I like that. I like that. I like that. I enjoyed it. As soon as it was done, I was like, I'm ready to move on to the next one. It's that good. And it leaves you on a cliffhanger too. And I know that bitch did it on purpose. Yup. So I'm about a quarter of the way through the second.

I really like it. If you are on a reading hangover from any of those books like Akatar or Fourth Wing or, you know, any of those like fantasy romance, da-da-da, this is a really cute one. It's a short, quick read. It gives you that... It was really, really cute. And now I'm re-watching Peaky Blinders. Why? What's wrong? I'm re-watching Peaky Blinders. Is that okay with everyone? Because that shit is good.

That was one of my favorite TV shows probably ever. Peaky Blinders and Narcos. Okay. I'm locked the fuck in. So I've been reading that. That was real, real cute. And hold on. What's the author's name? The House of Bane and Blood, Alexis L. Menard. Lock into that. I read it in two days. Okay. And let's move on from books. Here we go. I, listen, okay. I have a newfound obsession.

And this episode literally is probably going to be an hour and 15 minutes because I need to talk. I need to reveal my new thing to y'all. Okay. That's the whole point of this podcast is to tell you my new thing, what I've been loving, what I've been digging, if you will. And that is actually going to be ballet. Now, bitch. Okay. Let me just stand with me for a second. Just stand there and let me think for a second. Let me talk my shit for a minute. Ballet.

When you think about the inaccurate, and I think quite unfair, judgments that have been placed on the art form of ballet, you know, of like, they're just...

It's a very hyper-feminine thing, and they're just dancing around the stage like little girls. And, you know, it's just this very... I think it's also just deeply rooted in misogyny, the way that people think about and talk about ballet of, like, it's just this feminine thing that is to be brushed off. Oh, my fucking God. Like, I'm actually... I'm about to get hot. I'm so mad. Ballet is as...

physically demanding and challenging as any professional men's sport. Any. Take your fucking pick and then go watch a ballet rehearsal. For those that know, they know, you have to be in the shape of your life to be a ballerina. You have to have complete mastery and control over your body and its movements to be that graceful, to be that in control, to

And to, on top of that, have it be a performative art in so that it's telling a story.

You know, ballet isn't just a combination of dance moves to music. It is telling a story. These stories that are centuries old in some regards, if not, you know, decades. Stories like Swan Lake or Don Quixote or The Nutcracker, all of these things are still incredibly culturally relevant today, but also have been and have withstood the test of time.

and have just gotten more polished and more impressive. Do you know how hard that is? You know, musical theater is always changing. Live productions and performances like black box theater are always changing. But I think with ballet, always changing in the sense of, you know, they're getting better, but

I don't know. You know, the stage acting of the 50s and 60s, what is that compared to today? I don't know. I'm really not that in tune with that whole side of live theater.

But what I can say about ballet is... Because I'm tapped the fuck in, y'all. Like, I'm about to go off. I watch ballet YouTubers. I watch ballet documentaries. Like, I am locked in on this topic. And so I have a lot of knowledge and I have a lot of feelings. There are some criticisms of modern ballet that have turned it... that say it has turned into...

just an athletics performance. It's who can stretch the farthest, who can do the highest jump, who can do this, who can do that, and the heart of it has been lost. That is one criticism that is coming from inside the ballet community, okay? And I speak for the ballet community. Trust me, I speak for the ballet community because I myself am a ballerina, okay, if you did not know. I'm a ballerina by association. Ballerina and associates, that's me. Broski and Associates Ballet Company.

Now hiring. Now hiring janitors. Okay, we've got all the spots filled. I am the dancer. I'm all the background dancers. I'm also the director and the musical composer. Okay, so we're not really hiring talent right now. We're hiring bathroom cleaners. I need y'all to come and like vacuum the sort of dressing room and stock the fridges. So just let me know if you guys are interested. They're saying it's just like a who can do it better sort of thing only based on athleticism.

And the heart of the craft has been lost. You go back in time and you study some of the most important famous ballerinas. It is their delivery of the story that sets them apart. Sure, it's the perfected and controlled movements and the utter grace that just pours out of their pores. But I don't know. It's...

Who's to say where it's at currently? But I just have this obsession with classical ballet. I don't give a fuck about contemporary dance. I don't give a fuck about contemporary ballet. I care about classical ballet, traditional to Tchaikovsky and that sort of shit, where I am just blown away by this old and preserved... I feel the same way about flamenco, to be honest, where it is like...

This comes from a very deep part of the human soul. And traditional ballet to me is that. I don't really know how to explain it other than I'm just, I am utterly fascinated with it. And in that vein, I'm still doing bar method. Bar method kicks my fucking ass, dude. Bar method kicks me down. You get me down, lift me up, spin me around, hundred times a day. Florence and the Machine.

Bar Method, I did it yesterday. Shit is so hard. And what I like about Bar Method, and I think I'm discovering this about myself, okay? The reason I like Bar Method is because it's ballet. It incorporates ballet elements, which is why I was interested in it from the get-go, because it's not just a workout class. It incorporates an art form that I love. And it's not a dance class, right? Because my fat ass isn't going to get up there and do a fucking dance class.

in Southern California. I'm not doing it. But I will do this structured workout class that has elements taken from, you know, we use the barre to stretch our legs and we hold it and we do plies and we do, you know, all these sort of things that work those muscles and it feels cool. Like, yeah, bitch, it feels cool. Leave a barre method class like, just finished my ballet rehearsal. I feel cool.

And in that vein, I've also been addicted and obsessed with like French beauty. Guys. So one of the things that kickstarted me into like really appreciating and loving this as what it is, you know, a craft and an immeasurably significant and impressive, just infinitely impressive art form to me.

was this documentary, kind of documentary, that I found on YouTube of the famous French ballerina, Angélie Dupont. She is amazing. She is everything. And I found this documentary. It came up on my YouTube Recommended.

I watch it like once a day. I don't know why. You know, like you get, maybe it's the undiagnosed, you bitches love to say I have ADHD. Sure. It's the thing that I'm like, oh, time to watch that again. I've watched it every day. It's been a week now. I watch it every single day.

I just love it. And I also like the tone that the video is made in. There's no narration because fucking documentary that's got narration, bitch. I want to read and I want you to just show me the clips and say this was the year. You know, they leave for Australia in three days and she just broke her fucking metatarsal fin. She just broke her dorsal fin and she had sprained her dorsal fin. So how are they going to do it?

And she's got her special fin like Nemo in Finding Nemo. And so how is she going to do the Nutcracker of Fuentes? Anyway, this documentary about Arlée Dupont, I go and I follow her on Instagram. Bitch, she followed me back. What the fuck? She had followed me back. I genuinely jumped out of my seat like Ariana Grande had followed me. I was like, oh my God. She...

Like, I am a super mega fan of this ballerina. Like, I freaked the fuck out. Why did she follow me back? I don't know. And I thought about DMing her and being like, I love translating it to French. I think you are just the most talented person in the world.

But I didn't. I couldn't. I got too nervous. I was like, I can't message her. Anyway, I love her. I watch compilations of her like best variations on YouTube. I love her. And there's another Russian ballerina who I'm kind of addicted to as well. I forget her name. No, not Russian. Her last name is Nunez.

Any ballet heads know who I'm talking about. What is her name? Nunya. She's always in those like variation. I'm locked the fuck into ballet. Okay. I also have been watching Luna Montana. She is, I think she just does like freelance ballet. I don't think she belongs to like a company. I could be wrong, but I love her. She's like a YouTuber ballerina. So she'll record her rehearsals. She'll record her very vulnerable like breakdowns and stuff.

I haven't had a YouTuber that I've been addicted to in a long time. I think it's also just because YouTubers can be so problematic. And it's like, you know, if you come out and you say, I love this person, they get canceled. It's really tough. So I'm hoping, Luna, please don't get canceled because you're a ballerina. Please. I love you. But she does like very vulnerable that I relate to a lot. You know, it's just she'll be very real. She'll go in her car after a hard rehearsal and be like,

I feel stupid and like I can't do it. And like this one thing, like I can't get these fuetes, these spins. And like it's going to fuck up my whole week because I can't do it because I feel shitty and I feel disappointed and I feel embarrassed. And, you know, it's stuff like that where when you're in the business of

here's my talent, watch it. And you can't do that talent for some reason. It's humiliating. And I feel like that a lot of the time, you know, it's like, you're supposed to be funny, fucking be funny. Why aren't you funny? And it's like, I don't know, I'm embarrassed. And when it all comes down to that moment where it's like, you need to deliver. If you're on someone's podcast or if you're doing a live show or if you're interviewing someone and you're not on,

That shit sucks. There is not a worse feeling. And anyone who's done live performance knows that feeling where you just didn't nail it. And you're going to think about that for the next six years of your life. She talks about that. And I was like, I really relate to that because I am a ballerina. I'm also a, you know, proverbial ballerina. I just love her. I'm really, I'm fucking with it. And I'm into ballet core now.

Like dressing like I bought some Repetto ballet flats. Bitch, lock into that. Love Repetto. I'm a Repetto girl now. It's just so, you know what part of it is too, is locking into this untapped forbidden chamber of my femininity that is so complex because ballet is,

While it is woman-dominated, I wouldn't say it's a grossly feminine sport because have you ever seen a male ballerina? Have you ever seen a male ballet dancer? Some of the most jacked men you'll ever see in your fucking life. Thighs to rival Carrie Underwood. I mean, these people are athletes. And...

So much of the storytelling in ballet is always, it's centered around love and, you know, mysticism and fantasy and tragedy and forbidden love and all these things where you need your male counterpart to execute the lifts and the spins and the whatever to operate and live in that world. I don't know. I know it's cutthroat and I know it's like, wow. But anyway, all that to say, ballet is,

watching it and studying it and being a fan and admirer of it. These are strong, tough as nails women. And,

There is a certain, yes, it's admiration and a respect, but like this almost childlike awe of, look what they get. She's my age, you know, like, well, Luna's not. But, you know, these some of these ballerinas, I think you age out of ballet. In some countries, it's 35. In France, it's 42. Yeah.

I know Orville, Orville, Orville, Orville Dupont. She aged out at 42 and I think she became an instructor or she actually went to New York to study and then went back to France. I think I'm really not sure where she is now, but that is something that, you know, your body is your tool. And

I don't know. It's, it's, I just feel really like this childlike sense of, wow, like I want to be her and doing bar method and all that, you know, it's a taste of it and it's fucking hard. I'm sore all over today. And like my muscles give out on me. I am so out of shape, but I'm trying. And that's what doesn't matter, bitch. That's what fucking matters.

And it makes me feel good. Like I finished the class. I may not finish every set or every workout to completion because I'm so weak. By the way, there's like 55-year-old women in there kicking my ass, doing every set to completion, doing a full, like their legs are touching their eyebrows when they do a stretch. I'm like, oh my God. You know, it's inspiring. And it's always all women in my bar method classes, which I like because I've done some workout classes and there's men in there. And I'm like, I don't feel safe here.

It's a gay man. I don't feel safe here. Can you leave? Please leave. Anyway, I think that that has been really, there are certain eras of my life or certain time periods that have been bookended by things. And right now my bookends are ballet and hyper-focusing on literature. It's so fun. It's so fun to like reinvent and discover things that I didn't know I liked.

You know, I never grew up like wanting to be a dancer or wanting to be a ballerina. But now as I'm older, it's like, God, that takes so much skill. In fact, I'll say this.

I think if I would have been put in ballet as a child, I would have a different opinion on it. You know, that as strongly as I feel about how it's an art form and it needs to be preserved and it needs to be told by only the strongest storytellers. And I think that if I had been on the inside of

As a child dancer or, you know, because these ballerinas, they start when they're fucking four years old. They're put into these classes and they're taught the basics and they're scolded and they're just like beaten into this marble example of a ballet dancer, a ballerina.

I think my opinion would be a bit skewed or it would be a bit tainted if I had grown up in that. And so as an outside objective or I guess subjective observer, I'm just in awe. And I'm so, I'm going to see Swan Lake in New York in February. I bought a ticket. Me and Stanley are going to go. I'm so excited because I've never seen, I think I've seen a ballet once. I was in high school and I was like, this shit's boring as fuck. Now my opinion's completely changed.

So, that's my new obsession. My other new obsession in that vein is sort of the outfits that they wear when they're rehearsing. They're not really, I mean, if you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. It's just like tights and leotards and then just bullshit. Just wrap sweaters and like ugly leg warmers and obviously the pointe shoes and the flat shoes or whatever. But it's like this, it's this feeling of...

I don't know. I feel very inspired by it as something to pull from in fashion, like leg warmers and that sort of thing, but not in an 80s way, in a ballet way. So I'm going to start. My fits are about to be fucked up. So if you see me in a ballet core fit out in public, you better compliment me. You better say, oh, that outfit is so ballet core. Is that because you were going to see Swan Lake in February? Yes. Thank you.

Oh, it's not because you watch Luna Montana on YouTube. Yes. Thank you so much. I'm wearing leg warmers in a Luna Montana way, not in a, an Elizabeth sparkle way. Okay. And that is the substance. That is a reference for the substance. Is that her name? Elizabeth sparkle. Um,

I'm also into French beauty right now, but it's not in the like, I wear a red lip and a beret and I'm ready to go. It's not that, okay? We're not doing like Pinterest, ooh la la, Paris 2009 bedroom decor, okay? We're not doing that. We're doing more so dewy skin, a fringe, maybe like an oversized blazer, some tights and some belly flats. That's what I'm feeling. Maybe a darker lip, like a plum lip.

That's what I'm feeling. Alyssa's magic on TikTok. She's another sort of beauty inspo of mine. I love her style. It's kind of weird. It's kind of eclectic, but it's very suiting to her. It suits her very well. And it's just like, I love watching women. She's a dancer too, by the way. Love her.

I love watching women dress for the female gaze because that's what matters, okay? For the lesbian gaze. That's what we're dressing for, okay? Female gaze. Female gaze, realize, realize. And believe you me,

So it's that, you know, it's like I'm going to start being more experimental in my outfits because I've never fucking done that before. But don't expect that on this podcast because in here I'm coming in here brawless in a dirty sweatshirt that smells like onions and probably unwashed hair. That's sort of just the vibe of what I'm rocking with here. So thanks for rocking with me.

Okay, team, that's all I've got for you today. Go read a book. Go read one of the classics and let me know what you're thinking. And then also, lock into Orly DuPont. Orly DuPont. I, au revoir. I can't be saying I. That's not what French people say. That's what they say. Bonne année. Bonne, bonne, bonne année.

Happy New Year. Okay, team. If you are missing some Broski Report merch in your life, go buy it. Okay? It's up there for you to buy. It's on broski.shop. Just fucking do it. If you need a Moo Moo, just go get one. It's the wintertime. I'm just trying to kill my baby love for the wintertime. And whatever's on your list, I'm doing. And if Ariana Grande gets that Audrey Hepburn biopic role, I'm

Just went nonverbal. Watch me turn this podcast into the Ariana Grande report. Bet on that, bitch. Y'all thought I was insufferable when Elvis came out? You!

If Ariana Grande does an Audrey Hepburn biopic, I am going to be the most insufferable person you have ever laid eyes upon, ever listened to, ever seen in your life. I'm going to make that my entire personality. I'm going to get those fucked up micro bangs. I'm going to start wearing pearls everywhere and gloves. Bitch, watch. I'm going to weigh 100 pounds soaking wet. I'm going to take that shit so personally. Ariana Grande, please, please, Audrey Hepburn, bye. I don't ask for much.

I don't ask for much. I just ask for Harry Styles and Jack Harlow to come on Royal Court. Maybe hosier. Okay? And I'm asking for... Marble, please! Take a breakfast at Tiffany's Roman Holiday Remake on Netflix, please, Marble. I'm not really... I don't even want to watch it. Okay. Love you guys. Go watch Royal Court. That's my interview show. If you don't know what we're doing over here, you better find out real fucking quick. Okay? Go watch it. And I'm not joking.

Okay, love you guys. Bye.