0:00

It's a good one.

0:03

laughs playing in bright

0:05

rhythm playing in

0:07

bright

0:10

rhythm Maybe

0:12

you changed your mind Far

0:16

too many times Over and

0:19

over again Over and over

0:21

again Maybe you changed your

0:24

mind Far too many times

0:27

Over and over again

0:30

Hello and

0:32

welcome to Still Buffering, a cross-generational

0:34

guide to the culture that made us. I am Riley

0:36

Smurl. I'm Sydney McElroy. And

0:39

I'm Taylor Smurl.

0:40

Well, I guess it is

0:42

the spookiest time of the year, and I realize, not that I'm launching

0:45

directly into our topic, but

0:48

I'm just prefacing with, I realize I

0:50

did not pick a very spooky topic,

0:53

depending on how you look at it, I guess. But

0:56

I felt like I should at least acknowledge that at

0:58

the top of the episode. That's

1:00

alright. I mean, for some people,

1:03

gnomes are very spooky. laughs

1:06

I don't know. Maybe. It's possible.

1:09

But it is a spooky time

1:11

of the year, so

1:12

are you all going to any parties

1:14

or wearing any costumes? Um,

1:19

I'm working a bunch. I'm

1:23

working a party at my bar that

1:26

will be a spooky

1:28

queer cocktail party. So

1:31

there will be a bunch of spooky

1:34

gays. I'm

1:36

sure they'll show up in costume.

1:39

Yeah, well, I mean, it is gay Christmas,

1:41

right? Yeah. I think I'm going to be David

1:43

Bowie. I think that's what I'm going to do for the

1:46

party. That's very appropriate. I think that's

1:48

a good fit for that party. I

1:51

had to just ask myself, who do I think

1:53

gay people will be most happy to be served a drink by?

1:56

And I feel like that's a good

1:58

answer. I think so. Riley,

2:01

parties, costumes? Well, I'm

2:03

going- Are you going to dress up and just sit in your living room in

2:05

a costume? I mean, I've done that before. I'm

2:09

going to a concert Friday night, and

2:12

it's a Rene Rap concert who

2:14

we talked about. So

2:16

my friends and I are all dressing mean girls

2:19

as the mean girls. Because it's

2:21

Halloween, but also it's Rene Rap. And

2:25

Saturday, I do have a party I'm going to, but

2:28

I also do have a moot court competition the entire

2:30

day of the party.

2:34

Which mean girl are you?

2:35

I am the mean girl. Regina George?

2:39

Regina, yeah.

2:40

Well, I'm the only one of my- The mean girl.

2:43

I'm the only one that's like, blonde at all. And

2:45

I know that Karen is also usually blonde,

2:48

but it's not like, you know, I

2:50

don't know. I also just have more pink than

2:53

anyone else. Did

2:55

you have like a reaction to you didn't want to be the

2:57

dumb one? No, honestly,

3:00

I like, especially the musical, Karen's like one of the best characters.

3:03

She's got one of the best songs, that sexy song

3:05

about Halloween. I love that

3:07

song. That's Cooper's

3:10

favorite. Yeah. Charlie and

3:12

Cooper listen to the musical all the time, and Cooper likes to be

3:14

Karen. Yeah. Only. Every

3:17

other part. As

3:19

long as Cooper gets to sing Karen. That

3:22

makes sense. I don't know. But

3:26

yeah, that's- And Saturday

3:28

I'm dressing as

3:30

Barbie in The Princess and the Popper. Oh

3:33

yes. We also discussed on the show.

3:37

As princess.

3:40

Well, you all didn't ask me. What about you?

3:43

Yeah, nobody asked me. I

3:46

would also like to note that, because

3:48

our listeners can't see me, that

3:51

my hair is red. And

3:54

no one has noticed

3:54

so far.

3:59

But it is.

4:00

I noticed it's been that before.

4:02

Yeah,

4:02

that's why I didn't say anything. I

4:06

just redied it two days ago. Are

4:09

you making a statement?

4:11

No, it's my Halloween costume.

4:12

That's why. Okay. All

4:15

right. No, it's temporary.

4:18

No, Justin and

4:20

I are going as Aziraphale

4:22

and Crowley. Oh, okay. So

4:25

yes. That is why.

4:28

I thought that suited us. I see

4:31

that your hair is red and I acknowledge that.

4:36

I don't, I mean. You've had the bright pink

4:38

and then also the bright red before. I just,

4:40

you know, it didn't

4:43

shock the conscience.

4:45

Fair enough.

4:47

It looks funny. Also, like, it's not

4:49

like we're getting like a

4:51

direct angle of your hair

4:53

here. You're wearing headphones. We

4:55

got like an upshot going on. Like, it's not.

4:59

Also like close to the same color as those sound

5:01

boards behind you. Yeah. And

5:03

your shirt. Yeah. Did

5:06

you just think it, like I had no hair. It was blending

5:09

in with everything. It just doesn't stand

5:11

down. Yeah. You know, it didn't.

5:14

Sorry. Like

5:15

it would against like a white background.

5:19

I really like these, these

5:21

hair dyes that it is what my

5:23

hairdresser used once. And I looked at the bottle

5:26

and I was like, this kind of hair dye works

5:28

well. And but I was told

5:30

this for professional

5:32

use only. But they let you buy it.

5:38

They don't ask you for a hairdresser card when you buy it.

5:43

Now, could it go terribly wrong? Yes. No.

5:45

Because you're not bleaching

5:47

your hair. You're just coloring it, correct?

5:49

Oh, yeah. I'm just coloring it. That can only

5:52

bleach. Sometimes

5:55

I think people should have to have some sort of like license.

5:59

I'm not a virgin, myself included

6:02

for the things I've done to my head with bleach, but

6:05

you can only do so much damage with color.

6:07

Well, the way she explained

6:09

it to me, the dyes that I was using

6:11

that you buy off the drugstore counter,

6:13

or not counter shelf,

6:16

they don't keep them behind the counter typically. Those

6:19

dyes, the way she explained it is

6:21

that they're like fabric dyes essentially

6:23

that you're using on your

6:25

hair, and so

6:28

this is like a safer product

6:30

to

6:30

use for your hair.

6:33

Yeah, well, and BoxDite often

6:35

has some sort of like

6:38

a chemical component to lift the hair slightly

6:40

for something, like you'll have

6:42

something that will do damage, but you

6:44

probably are just buying color, right?

6:47

Like what's the brand?

6:49

It's... Hold on.

6:52

Now, see, you asked me too

6:54

fast. You said you mentioned how much

6:56

you like the brand, I assumed you knew it. No,

6:59

I looked... I

7:02

knew the color that she used

7:05

initially was called Cleopatra, so

7:07

I looked up professional hair dye called

7:09

Cleopatra, and

7:11

then that's how I found it, Pulp

7:15

Riot.

7:17

Right, that's just color. That's the brand. Yes.

7:21

And that's a pyro.

7:23

My hair is now

7:24

pyro. Pyro.

7:27

Pyro. Yes.

7:29

I got that, and Fireball and Debated

7:31

Between the Two, and Pyro

7:33

was a darker, richer red, and Fireball

7:36

was an orangier red. I

7:38

don't know. It's all on brown hair, so it only

7:40

does what it can. Yeah.

7:43

But that's a good curly color.

7:45

I went through the same debate when I did a curly

7:48

cosplay with a wig. It's like

7:50

you can go a little orangier, you can go

7:52

a little redder, because his hair changes, but

7:55

it works.

7:56

I like the redder, and I also decided

7:58

just to do my hair. One cosplay. because then I got

8:00

to dye it and I think it's fun to dye it and I knew it would

8:03

wash out, but two, I

8:05

felt like I could go season one and just wear

8:07

it kinda combed back from my

8:09

face and down with just a little bit,

8:12

not curl, but you know, it's just got a little bit of texture

8:14

to it like wave, and then I don't

8:16

have to do much styling.

8:20

This was my plan.

8:22

Well, I admire the dedication

8:24

to

8:25

the costume. Well,

8:28

thank you.

8:29

Don't forget the face tattoo.

8:31

So I looked

8:33

up, like I thought for sure there was probably

8:35

somewhere on Etsy or somewhere I could buy those, because

8:38

I thought there's gotta be fans who've made these. And

8:40

I could- And but probably not that quickly.

8:42

No, exactly, exactly. Couldn't get them here

8:44

in time. So our friend

8:47

Rissy makes things like

8:49

that. She's like a cricket master and

8:52

makes all kinds of cool things all the time. So I texted

8:55

a picture of it and I was like, Rissy, can

8:57

you make this? And she like an hour

8:59

later sent me back a photo of her

9:01

hand with the exact tattoo

9:04

on it. And it was like, is it this? I was like,

9:06

oh my God. Yes, she was like, I got

9:08

it. Let me just say, yeah, you just get printable

9:10

tattoo paper and print

9:13

it out. That's not, I've done other

9:15

characters tattoos that way.

9:17

Yeah, I wouldn't have known exactly how to

9:19

do it. I figured there was a way, but Rissy's very crafty.

9:22

And she like instantly, like within an hour, she had it

9:24

made. I was like, you're incredible, so. So

9:29

yeah, we're all ready.

9:30

I'm exciting. Yeah.

9:32

And I tried not to read too much into the fact that it was

9:34

like after we watched the last episode of this season,

9:37

we turned it off and Justin went, well,

9:39

I think those should be our Halloween costumes. That seems

9:41

like us. I was like, okay.

9:46

Okay. I said, I'm assuming I'm,

9:49

he was like the demon. I was like, yeah, okay. Okay.

9:54

Fair, I guess.

9:55

There's a second costume that you guys have done.

9:58

It's just a couple of gay dudes, but you know.

10:00

Yeah, I know I realize that

10:03

I figure we're gonna continue this like

10:06

if you follow the tick-tock logic if If

10:10

we've been and see that's

10:12

what I was gonna say next We've got I've got to be Sherlock

10:14

and he's got to be Watson has to be the next

10:16

thing and then I Don't know are

10:18

we dr. House and Wilson after that

10:21

and

10:23

You've got a lot of Sherlock's to cycle

10:25

through after that

10:27

We've got yeah, we got a lot of Sherlock's to do But

10:30

if you believe tick-tock then you got to throw a Loki

10:32

and Mobius in there

10:34

but see that's what I feel like it loses the

10:37

like however much I agree that you

10:39

have

10:40

like the black beard and the and

10:42

the the Crowley thing

10:44

I can see like I don't know. Do you

10:47

see yourself as a Loki? I do not

10:49

know

10:50

Well, that's a me. It

10:52

can't be your Yeah, well,

10:55

I don't I would not have gravitated towards

10:57

that. I mean I love that show. I love that character

11:00

I did not feel it. I don't know Like

11:03

that I didn't see myself as much as I saw

11:06

myself in a demon

11:09

So

11:11

we'll just all and then Justin apparently saw himself

11:13

in an angel So

11:16

we can just both go to our therapist and discuss

11:18

what all that means On

11:22

a more fun No, I should have added

11:24

that on actual Halloween even though it's a Tuesday

11:26

that the original magenta

11:29

and Brad So Patricia Quinn and Barry

11:31

Bostwick are coming to

11:33

DC

11:33

to also be there for a shadow cast

11:35

screening of Rocky No,

11:38

that's awesome. I'm going to

11:39

that on a Tuesday night

11:42

But

11:44

Halloween's alright trick-or-treat

11:46

is in Huntington. It's gonna be on Halloween. Yeah,

11:49

I mean my class I have the next morning at 10 got

11:52

moved to video only so I'll

11:56

be fine. I can I can do class

11:58

you in bed.

11:59

Do you have to have? your camera on?

12:01

No. Oh good.

12:03

It's like video only like like the

12:05

video for the class is actually being recorded

12:07

at this moment on zoom and

12:09

then we just have to watch it. Oh okay.

12:12

That's great. Not

12:15

perfectly. I

12:16

have the very very scary

12:19

Tuesday of anybody

12:22

that works in a bar knows this the last day of the month

12:24

is inventory where

12:27

you have to count every ounce of alcohol

12:30

in the entire bar. So

12:34

usually we do it at like midnight. I was like do you

12:36

want me to do that at midnight on

12:38

Halloween? I will. It's my job and

12:40

luckily one of the other people that also have to do inventory

12:43

was like I'm not gonna do it. I was like oh okay

12:45

so we'll come in bright and early than the

12:47

following day and do it. Yeah. It's

12:50

a little better than late night.

12:52

Yeah.

12:54

Won't you be crowded at that time too? No.

12:57

We close fairly

12:59

early. We're like a restaurant bar so I

13:01

could do it at like midnight. That's what I usually

13:03

do it and it's fine but they're gonna let me

13:05

do it at like it's gonna be being

13:07

up there at like 8 a.m. but that's better

13:10

than doing it Halloween

13:13

night.

13:14

Yeah. Well

13:19

now the spookiest thing I can think

13:21

of.

13:23

Gnomes. Gnomes. Gnomes.

13:25

So we're talking about David the gnome. This

13:27

was my idea so you can blame me for

13:30

it. Or world of David the

13:32

gnome was the

13:34

I mean I think it depends on where you watched it initially.

13:36

I guess the American version.

13:37

Well not American it was Canadian but what

13:40

we watched here in the States was the world of

13:42

David the gnome.

13:44

It was apparently originally a Spanish show

13:47

and I didn't know that and it was all dubbed in

13:49

English. David el gnome.

13:53

And then a

13:55

Canadian company dubbed it in what? You

13:58

guys are laughing at me. David el gnome. David,

14:00

comma, El Nomo. The

14:05

world of David the Gnome

14:06

is what it was called when a Canadian company

14:09

released it with English dubbed

14:13

and with the voice

14:15

of David the Gnome being Tom Bosley

14:19

who Justin said, do you know who does

14:21

the voice for David the Gnome? And I said, Tom Bosley.

14:23

He was like, I'm impressed that you knew that. And

14:25

I said, well, I mean, it was in the credits. And

14:27

he said, yeah, but I just didn't figure you'd know who Tom Bosley

14:30

is. And I said, I do. He's the guy who did the voice

14:32

of David the Gnome. But

14:34

I guess he was also the dad on Happy Days.

14:37

Oh, OK. Oh, I didn't know that. So there

14:39

you go. Yeah.

14:41

A lot of people know who Tom Bosley is, just not

14:43

outside of the context of David the Gnome, just not

14:47

me.

14:48

David the Gnome is a cartoon. It

14:51

played back in the, I mean,

14:54

at least for those of us in the US, it would

14:56

have been what in the 80s?

14:58

Yeah. Late 80s

15:02

and early 90s. Which

15:05

it was weird when I started looking at how old it was,

15:07

how little we must have been watching it. Like

15:10

I think it started airing before you were born, Taylor.

15:15

I don't remember watching it often. Like

15:18

it's one of those like hazy,

15:20

I bet I was five. I don't

15:23

I don't remember much of it. I

15:25

do not remember the premise whatsoever, like

15:27

watching it now. I'm like, oh, this

15:30

is like a doctor thing. It was the whole

15:32

thing.

15:33

Yeah. He was so the

15:35

the world of David the Gnome, like each episode

15:39

introduces you to like a different sort

15:41

of facet of gnome life,

15:43

gnome culture. Like

15:46

it's kind of like there's one where he's like,

15:48

here's how we make pottery. And then there's a story

15:50

that unfolds afterwards. So like each

15:52

one is kind of teaching you because they're talking to

15:55

you, the kids in the audience to

15:57

start off with. I will say I had forgotten that

15:59

the entire. series started

16:01

out with David the gnome in a bathtub

16:05

naked in a bathtub talking to you which

16:07

is weird because he's a 399 year

16:10

old gnome

16:15

who's sitting in a bathtub naked talking to

16:17

you the child audience.

16:20

Well,

16:21

yeah,

16:22

it's a it's a weird energy that starts

16:24

with a weird energy. Yeah. It's

16:27

got that hippie

16:27

energy that a lot of animation at that

16:29

time had like there were a lot of shows about

16:32

like Wizards and magical people. It's

16:34

like everybody was really high when you made this,

16:36

huh? Well,

16:38

I think it definitely because it like so

16:40

David and Lisa are your two main characters.

16:43

They're an older gnome couple. They're 399

16:46

and gnomes by the way, I don't know how much

16:48

of it you guys were able to watch. I

16:50

only watched a couple episodes. I don't expect a lot but

16:52

like they only live 400 years.

16:55

Oh, this is their last

16:57

year. There's a countdown happening.

17:00

Yes, I don't know if I certainly

17:02

didn't realize that as a kid.

17:04

Is that how the show ended? They died.

17:06

Yes. Oh, oh,

17:09

yes, not spoilers. Yes,

17:13

David

17:13

the gnome spoilers. Sorry.

17:15

Sorry. There's a lot of wild stuff

17:17

we could talk about as I was like I watched

17:20

a little bit of it and I was like, man, this is weirder than I remember.

17:22

And then I started reading more about it and

17:25

just to jump into that, so

17:27

gnome lore is

17:30

that gnomes only live 400 years always. I

17:34

mean, I guess unless some sort of tragic accident takes

17:37

their lives earlier. They like reference

17:39

that there was one gnome who like beat the odds

17:41

and lived to be 550 but that only

17:43

happened one time ever. And all other

17:46

gnomes have always died when they turn 400. And

17:50

the last episode of the series, which I do

17:52

not remember watching and I had this moment of like

17:54

maybe I should watch that then and then I thought, no, that

17:56

sounds really freaking sad. The last

17:58

episode of the series are... you're too little,

18:01

this little older elderly gnome

18:03

couple who are adorable, like

18:06

hiking up to the top of this tall hill,

18:09

embracing each other and then dying

18:11

and turning into trees. That's heavy. That's

18:18

the last episode of this children's show.

18:24

I know.

18:26

I mean, you know, kids are going to learn about death

18:28

one way or the other. I guess that's one of the

18:30

better ways you could learn.

18:31

But all gnomes turn into trees. So

18:34

part of the rationale for gnomes being

18:36

so protective of the forest, like

18:40

that's their frickin family. Like the trees were

18:43

people, they were gnomes. They were people, they

18:45

were gnomes. And so they

18:47

are very protective of the forest in part

18:49

because those are their ancestors.

18:52

Yeah, I noticed too, there was a little bit of a,

18:54

when they were talking about the food that they eat, they were very

18:57

specific to say like, oh, we

18:59

eat eggs, but only the eggs that the birds aren't going to

19:01

hatch. So a little bit of a

19:03

vegetarian situation going on there.

19:07

Some indoctrination.

19:09

Okay. I think there's

19:12

even just watching the first episode, it

19:14

struck me that first of all, it introduces

19:17

you to the world of David the gnome by contrasting

19:20

what they call city life and then

19:22

what it's like out in the forest. And

19:24

the pictures of city life are

19:27

like actual like real footage,

19:30

not animated, not, you know, this isn't cartoon.

19:32

They're just like

19:33

stock photos, stock video of

19:35

cities.

19:36

And they're like crowded and noisy.

19:39

And there's lots of like smoke and pollution

19:41

and cars honking, you know,

19:44

and they're like, this is what it's like in the city.

19:47

And they show these like beautiful, peaceful forests and they're

19:49

like, but come with us to the

19:50

better world

19:51

where the forest is, where there's no

19:53

humans, there's just animals.

19:56

Isn't this so much better? And then they introduce

19:59

you to David the gnome. And he's

20:01

like, hey, humans,

20:03

welcome. You must be really sensitive because

20:06

you can see us and like most humans can't.

20:08

But we know all about you guys. We know everything

20:11

about humans because

20:13

you come into our forest and shoot all our animals.

20:16

Yeah, yeah.

20:16

The mention of

20:19

guns right away kind

20:20

of thing. Yes. Yeah.

20:23

Like that's right off the bat. He's like, yeah, we know who you are.

20:26

And then he's like, and you cut down our trees and

20:28

you pollute our land. But

20:32

anyway, we wouldn't hurt a

20:34

fly. He says that they're

20:36

harmless right after referencing

20:38

all the damage that humans do, which to me,

20:41

I read that as like, is that

20:43

a bit of a threat? They're

20:46

going to take over. Well,

20:49

to me, it read a little bit like, I

20:52

mean, it sounds like we should like beat

20:54

the crap out of you guys, doesn't it?

20:56

We wouldn't.

20:58

But it sounds like we should, doesn't it?

20:59

I didn't take it like that. I took it

21:02

as, while you all

21:04

are very harmful, we are not.

21:06

That's why we are different.

21:09

But Sydney the human took it as a threat.

21:12

Later,

21:12

they make the point. They

21:14

give you the weight. Sydney was ready

21:15

to punch a gnome.

21:17

They give you the weight and height of

21:19

gnomes, which that part is weird too. They're

21:22

like, here's how many grams a gnome weighs, which

21:24

is like, I'm sure when I was five,

21:26

I was like, oh, good, I needed that info. They're

21:29

six inches tall and they weighed 250 grams or

21:31

whatever. And then they're like, but also they're

21:34

seven times as strong as humans. Compet.

21:38

That's horrifying. Yeah.

21:40

A gnome

21:44

could throw you if they wanted to.

21:47

Yes.

21:48

It's six inches tall,

21:50

but it could pick you up and

21:51

throw you across the room. I

21:53

love that. Six inches is

21:55

too small. Gnomes, like

21:57

garden gnomes, are not six

21:59

inches. They're like

22:01

at least like a foot

22:02

Yeah, but this this is cannon

22:04

it is in the first episode. They are shown to

22:07

be six inches

22:07

tall Yeah, I don't I don't think garden gnomes

22:09

are like body casts. I don't think they're

22:12

They

22:15

shed see gnomes shed their skin like locusts

22:18

and so garden gnomes are just like the shed

22:20

skins that then we display in our

22:22

gardens I

22:25

just thought like when you hear gnome, that's what you think

22:28

Yeah,

22:28

that's just a that's an effigy when

22:30

they were going through the different types of gnomes and

22:33

they taught they mentioned the garden Gnome and the garden gnome

22:35

is kind of fuzzy like excuse me like

22:37

oh that was gay

22:40

Their depiction of the gnomes

22:42

is not okay Like yeah that that gnome

22:44

is kind of gay and then they're like they have

22:47

the Siberian gnome who's just scary

22:50

Who's just scary and whose eyes glow inexplicably

22:52

and that's like well kind of racist. I

22:55

mean What are we trying to say here?

22:56

Well, it's like a scary

22:59

Russian gnome, but this was made in what like the

23:02

70s, I'm guessing yeah

23:04

80s, but yeah, all right. I still

23:06

cold war days. Yeah

23:08

Yeah, no, I mean that that is it was supposed to look

23:11

like a scary Russian gnome and

23:14

then there's a There's something later

23:17

they talk about the nomadic Gnomes

23:20

who travel and that's pretty rough

23:22

too because they're very like

23:24

They don't they look down on them

23:26

Like they're lesser gnomes and it's like okay.

23:28

We see where like they're like travelers.

23:31

They're Romani. They're yeah, okay

23:33

You know, okay,

23:34

so like some of that's in there I don't know

23:36

that's man that's and that's so like

23:38

that hippie era of progressive

23:42

where it's like

23:43

We really love the earth. We're against

23:46

pollution now. We progress

23:48

to the point that we're anti pollution But

23:51

we're we're still just sort of openly

23:53

hostile to different racial backgrounds

23:55

and we don't understand why that's a problem That's

23:58

a very distinct era of like the problem progressive

24:01

movements. It was a very hippie thing.

24:04

I'm not saying that's what hippies are like now, but there was

24:06

a moment where hippies were like, love the earth,

24:09

not all the people want it.

24:11

But

24:15

so I don't know. I think I took

24:17

it as like, they were just reminding us

24:19

for a moment, like, gnomes could

24:22

mess you up. I'm not, we

24:24

wouldn't.

24:25

We wouldn't.

24:26

But we could. I think

24:29

that they had got a lot of friends that could

24:31

though.

24:33

Yeah.

24:34

Foxes and geese and they

24:36

got a whole army at their disposal.

24:38

They do. Well, I mean, he's doctor

24:41

to all the animals.

24:43

I thought that whole plot I

24:45

forgot completely. And is

24:47

that what you like about this? Is this one

24:49

of your, is this one of the doctors that inspired

24:51

you to be a doctor? I want to be like David

24:54

the Gnome.

24:55

I do think that was part of it, which

24:57

I again, it's funny because the

24:59

show had left this deep impression on

25:02

me that was very like amorphous,

25:05

this nebulous impression on my soul

25:08

that I couldn't like pinpoint. Because if you had asked

25:10

me to describe plots from David the Gnome prior

25:12

to rewatching it, I wouldn't have been able to like, I don't

25:15

know. There's cute little gnome guys and he was so kind.

25:18

The David and the gnome was so kind. And I

25:20

don't remember like much of what happened. But

25:22

as I was rewatching, it hit

25:25

me like, okay, this is part of it. Like

25:27

I loved the scenes when he would like pull

25:29

a thorn out of an animal's paw or something.

25:32

There's one where some deer, like a deer

25:34

gets a pine cone stuck in its throat. I

25:37

remember that like, Oh, this

25:39

is so vivid. Like, okay, I remember this,

25:42

this, you know, getting this pine cone out of this deer throat.

25:44

So I do think that was probably part of it for me was

25:46

like he takes care of animals,

25:49

he takes care of others.

25:51

And he's like doing surgery. Like I was surprised.

25:54

He's gonna cut this this animal

25:56

open. Oh, that's gonna

25:58

happen. Like there's no. blood but

26:00

there's an incision.

26:02

Yeah,

26:03

yeah. He does whole surgery on

26:05

things. Yeah.

26:07

It's pretty wild. But there was

26:09

a little bit of holistic medicine in there though. Like

26:11

there's like, you know, some like, oh, I'm gonna

26:13

numb you with acupuncture. For

26:16

this sake.

26:18

So I think it's funny, I hadn't remembered that either,

26:20

but you're right. I think that was part of the kind of hippie

26:22

crunchy thing is that

26:24

like they're telling you all about like

26:26

how beautiful the forest is and the environment

26:29

and like, isn't it awful that humans destroy

26:31

it and so like we're trying to get the kids to

26:33

rebel against that. But then also

26:35

they do throw in stuff like that. Like all

26:38

we need is some acupuncture. This

26:40

is a, what

26:42

does he say? Like a practice that dates back centuries

26:45

and has been shown to do something that's

26:47

like, are you just kind of like sneaking in there

26:49

a little endorsement for acupuncture? And

26:51

then he's like, and then when we're all done

26:53

some lavender oil and that's

26:56

what we're doing, we're doing something and I'm like, now we're using essential

26:58

oils. So

27:03

yeah, I do think some of that like hippie

27:07

thing, I think that was part of it. There's

27:10

a fine line between like magical forest

27:12

medicine and just, oh no, that's just, that's

27:14

just pseudoscience. Yeah,

27:17

that's just stuff you made up. Yeah. Yeah.

27:20

No, I think that that's part of

27:23

it now. I mean later on like they

27:25

do get more magic powers or

27:28

like they talk about their magic. Like they have

27:30

like telepathy.

27:32

Yeah.

27:34

I don't like that. They

27:37

also, they say a lot of the, in

27:39

a lot of episodes that they'll always

27:41

be watching you.

27:42

Like the gnomes make that pretty clear.

27:46

Yeah. That even if you don't see them, they

27:48

always see you. Am

27:52

I the only one who finds that upsetting and they

27:54

can pick you up and you know,

27:56

I

27:57

don't know. Say what are

27:59

you doing?

27:59

you're worried about it. I

28:01

just don't like the idea of being surveilled

28:04

by tiny

28:05

but like

28:07

tiny hulks basically.

28:10

That makes me feel safe.

28:13

Well but they're also kind of mad at you

28:15

because you're a human and humans destroy

28:17

the world. Yeah but like

28:21

I don't eat meat so I got that working

28:23

in my favor to not get busted

28:25

up by a gnome.

28:29

I take care of my feed my birds. I

28:32

take care of my cat. I think I think me and

28:34

the gnomes well we got an

28:37

understanding. They might

28:39

keep an eye on me and that's alright. If I get out

28:41

of line I know what's coming but

28:43

I think we're okay.

28:44

I'm not worried. I don't know why you are. What are you

28:47

doing that you're worried about? Are you dumping

28:49

toxins in a creek? What are you doing?

28:52

Well I just don't know how intense

28:54

they're gonna get. Like obviously I'm not

28:56

like openly polluting. I'm

29:01

not out there like I don't have

29:02

like a smoke era. What pollution is?

29:04

Just like dumping toxic

29:06

bins into a creek.

29:07

Exactly exactly. Like I'm not doing

29:10

that. Call that me gnomes. I

29:12

don't throw trash on the ground so

29:15

like I'm not doing that but like I mean

29:17

I compost. I recycle.

29:20

We have solar panels. Like I'm trying

29:22

but on the flip side I don't know what my carbon

29:24

footprint is and it probably could be

29:27

smaller. I do

29:29

drive a car like maybe David

29:31

the gnome by today's standards would be like that's not

29:33

electric.

29:34

Sydney? I

29:37

mean I

29:39

guess that's something that

29:41

you know

29:42

you have to it would be actually maybe

29:44

at this day and age like we could use a gnome uprising

29:47

just to get the planet a little bit better

29:49

better better position. I don't I think that would

29:52

be okay. A

29:53

bunch of gnomes come out of the woods start throwing

29:55

us around. Nothing else they just throw

29:57

us like that's their whole defense mechanism.

29:59

them. We can do this whenever we want.

30:03

Stop polluting. Global warming

30:05

is real. I'm

30:06

gonna throw you across your yard.

30:10

How did this air on American

30:13

TV? It's very clear

30:15

based on all of this that it is not American made.

30:17

There's no way that there would have been an American cartoon

30:20

that focused on like

30:21

how humans are killing the planet and like,

30:25

wait, like, I know it's

30:27

like- Captain Planet?

30:29

Yeah, but like- No, there

30:31

was a time period in the

30:33

80s where it was okay

30:36

to be like, hey, we're killing the world. And

30:39

then when we got past the point

30:41

of no return, everyone just decided, never

30:43

mind, don't bring that up. We can't talk

30:46

about it. No, it

30:47

was very- it was, I will say like

30:49

even for kids, it was- there was a trendy

30:51

thing about being environmentally

30:53

conscious for like, I mean, a very

30:56

short- and I would say into the early 90s in this

30:58

country, there was this like-

30:59

Like the food frog stuff? Yes,

31:02

like, but it was all very surface.

31:04

And I do think it was that kind of like

31:07

corporate thing where they're like, yeah,

31:10

the problem is you're not cutting the

31:12

rings from your soda cans. Fixed.

31:15

The problem is you

31:18

need to recycle your cans and then

31:20

it's better. And because that

31:23

sort of like MO of like thrusts

31:25

the responsibility onto individuals

31:28

and distract from where the real problem

31:31

is, I think that's when it started,

31:33

right? And so you send a bunch

31:35

of these environmental messages to kids, like,

31:38

you can change the world. When the truth is like,

31:41

you as an individual, that's great, do

31:43

everything you can. I'm not- I mean, obviously I

31:45

do, I'm not anti that stuff. But like, that's

31:47

not going to change the trajectory of

31:50

climate change the way

31:52

that regulating corporations

31:55

would change the trajectory of climate change, right? Like

31:58

forcing us all to buy a-

31:59

electric cars through price

32:02

measures and you know by

32:04

regulating the companies that make the cars. Like

32:06

that's how you fix it. Right. But it was very fashionable

32:09

I think to be like no kids

32:12

you can fix it. Well.

32:15

Feel your mom's aqua net and you'll

32:17

fix it.

32:18

I mean I think yeah like I don't think there's anything

32:21

wrong with promoting individual responsibility and

32:24

I wish like as I agree

32:26

like as ineffective as it is

32:29

it's better than nothing which is I guess where we are

32:31

now.

32:33

But it was a time period. I literally clocked

32:35

on this the other day because I had just

32:37

filled up the soda fridge at work and I pulled

32:40

all the rings off and I was standing there cutting them

32:42

and a customer looked at me and said you were born before 1990

32:44

and I said excuse me he said you were

32:47

born before 1990 you're cutting the rings. I

32:49

was like oh yeah is

32:52

that like a generational thing.

32:55

That campaign to

32:57

cut the rings of your soda cans has

32:59

to have been one of the most effective because

33:02

I have never thrown away rings

33:05

without cutting them.

33:06

No. You don't have to look out for the

33:08

sea turtles. Yes. Never. Now

33:11

it didn't stop me from throwing away plastic.

33:15

Or buying it in the first place.

33:18

I also have always done that but my friends

33:20

never did and I guess that makes sense that I learned

33:22

to do it from our shared household.

33:26

But everyone else born when I was that was

33:29

not a campaign for us. Well it's like now

33:31

you're the crap out of you. I mean I guess the

33:34

new generation's version of that is paper straws but.

33:36

Yeah that's a good point.

33:38

Yeah or you

33:40

all like metal straws or

33:42

glass straws that's C now. I

33:45

do have glass straws. See

33:47

I felt like when they introduced metal

33:50

straws and glass straws I

33:52

felt like it was a way of pushing people to

33:54

stop using straws unless they had to. Like

33:58

for everybody who doesn't have to use a straw. straw because some people

34:00

have to for different reasons, you know, for

34:03

accessibility. But like for all of us who

34:05

don't have to use straws, I felt like for

34:07

me a metal straw is scary. I

34:10

was worried that like what if I

34:12

trip and fall? So metal

34:14

straw scare me and glass

34:16

straws similarly are slightly less

34:18

scary except what if I like I don't

34:20

know, I jerk suddenly and bite

34:23

it and it shatters. I don't know. I

34:25

find those straws scary.

34:26

Paper straws are fine.

34:30

I will. That's the first time I've

34:32

ever heard that. No, this is the second time I've heard of somebody

34:34

being afraid of a metal straw because the other day

34:36

I had somebody trying to pitch me on there like they have

34:39

like retractable straws that

34:41

they sell and they were trying

34:43

to pitch me on and they're incredibly expensive and they don't

34:45

make sense at a bar. But he

34:48

ordered a drink for me first and he's like, you know what I could

34:50

do? I could bring this drink

34:52

to my table, fall over and trip and it would go

34:54

right into my trachea. And I was like, don't

34:56

do that. Don't

34:59

do that, please. He's like, no,

35:01

that's why you need to buy my straws. I'm like, you just threatened

35:03

me with your life.

35:06

There was a case there. Well,

35:09

and now, you know, as I say this, this might be one of those

35:11

apocryphal things that you hear about just to scare

35:13

you and it isn't real. But I'm pretty sure there was like

35:15

one documented case of a kid falling

35:18

while having a metal straw and

35:20

it like puncturing their palate.

35:22

I mean, I absolutely believe that could happen.

35:26

And so like, I don't know. I mean, I

35:28

know, I know this is silly. I know that that's very unlikely.

35:31

And I know that the glass straws are safe too. I

35:34

if I'm going to use a straw, I'll use a paper straw,

35:36

although I will admit that they do

35:38

start to get a little disintegrate.

35:41

So I know. I

35:43

don't like straws. I just don't like straws.

35:46

I like that

35:46

there are a lot of straws now. And I

35:48

mean, they are a little bit more expensive than your

35:51

cheap. I mean, plastic is is

35:54

it's like the sheen of straws. Like it's

35:56

cheap. It shouldn't be that cheap. But

35:59

it's hard to convince the people.

35:59

people that work in the industry, their

36:02

straws made literally from waste products.

36:05

They're made from the processes

36:07

of processing corn, processing agave,

36:09

processing just different things.

36:11

So it's like, that's great. It's a sturdy product.

36:14

It's like a fiber product. So

36:16

it stands up better than a paper straw,

36:18

but it's completely biodegradable and it's

36:21

made from a byproduct. That seems

36:23

like the way forward. But instead

36:25

people are trying to make their money weird

36:28

overpriced retractable straw. Inspector

36:32

Gadget straws, like no, just give

36:34

me something affordable that I can throw away that won't

36:36

kill the earth please or a turtle.

36:39

Right, because I got that

36:41

as a gift somewhere for something. Like

36:43

it was in a bag of stuff, like a retractable

36:46

straw in its own little case. And

36:48

it had like a thing

36:50

to put on your key chain on it, like a ring on it. And

36:53

I was thinking like, I feel

36:55

like that's a choice you make if you are the kind

36:57

of person to put your own personal straw on

36:59

your keys and carry it with you

37:01

at all times, like you must

37:03

really prioritize having a straw at that

37:05

point. And I am not a person who prioritizes

37:08

having a straw. So I don't think this makes sense

37:10

for my lifestyle

37:12

personally. Yeah, like I think I

37:14

agree with you like we could just do without it. But

37:17

I mean, I don't think like, you know, I'm

37:19

saying this from the bartender perspective. Like I serve

37:22

a lot of drinks that I don't want. I don't think

37:24

anyone would want to stick their face in. Like

37:27

if you've got crushed ice in a drink, you can't stick

37:29

your face in that, you need a straw. Like that's

37:31

just, you know, if there's a way we can do it,

37:33

that's environmentally friendly and there are a million

37:35

ways to stick. It's like

37:38

lots of ways.

37:39

Yeah. Also like, like what about like milkshakes?

37:43

Can't just, I mean, I guess you

37:45

could like spoon them, but. No,

37:49

then you're admitting to yourself that

37:51

in fact the milkshake is just slightly

37:54

liquidy ice cream. And nobody wants

37:56

to admit that to themselves. Yep. Oh,

38:00

it's a drink, it's just a beverage. No, you're

38:02

just drinking ice cream. That's what you're

38:04

doing there. No one, don't

38:06

make people admit that.

38:08

Yeah, I was only thinking about that

38:10

because I did go to a restaurant that had paper

38:12

straws for their milkshakes and it was just the worst

38:15

experience. Because

38:18

it disintegrated like 100 times faster than

38:20

it does in like a regular beverage. We

38:23

had these silicone straws for a

38:25

while that we got for the girls

38:27

and they were like flexible but like sturdy

38:29

enough that you could stick them in a drink and they worked, you

38:32

know. And I guess that's

38:34

very easy to clean, I

38:36

guess. I don't know, they seem to, but I

38:38

just, after a while I'd rinse

38:40

them out but they would use them for things like milkshakes.

38:43

So like all kinds of, I

38:45

don't know,

38:46

I feel like after a while is that still

38:48

good to, we still have them but it

38:50

makes me nervous to have something like that that my

38:53

kids put in their

38:54

grubby little mouths and all of their

38:56

drinks. I reuse and I'm

38:58

rinsing it with hot water. I don't know, do

39:00

I need to, it just makes me nervous

39:03

after a while. Surely this is getting gross. Surely

39:05

at some point this is a gross

39:06

thing. Yeah, I mean we

39:08

do metal straws at my job and we've gotta like

39:11

get up and in there and it's

39:13

a bit of a beast to have them be our straws.

39:17

You should get the kinds, there are the silicone

39:20

ones that you can literally open up. Like

39:24

they twist tight, like they're

39:26

water tight and they twist up but you can

39:29

peel them open

39:31

and clean them out.

39:33

And. Now that I would get, yeah. They're not

39:35

cost effective for us to use at the bar but for

39:37

you at your house that is a reusable,

39:41

easy to clean thing. Although

39:43

I will say we kind of went there out of, we bought

39:46

a box of paper straws and we said, girls

39:48

this is what you're gonna use if you need a straw.

39:50

They almost never use a straw now. I

39:52

mean. They just like we weaned them off of straw.

39:54

I do feel like that's, we

39:57

had at my last bar we did paper straws and that was kind

39:59

of the, like people. People that really need a straw and

40:01

sometimes they'll go through like three, like, oh, this

40:03

is mushy. Can I get another one? Yeah,

40:06

that's fine. Have as many as you want. They're paper.

40:08

They are biodegrading in front of us. It's

40:11

fine. It's fine. It's

40:13

fine. We are not hurting earth with syphilis. Yeah.

40:15

No, turtle will just

40:17

sniff this and it will disappear.

40:19

What kind of straw do we think David

40:21

the gnome uses?

40:22

Biodegradable. Yeah. He

40:25

uses a reed and this is actually

40:27

a thing out there in the industry. You can literally buy

40:29

like reeds that are cut into straws but that's

40:32

what he uses. Yeah.

40:34

Yeah. Definitely something natural

40:36

from the forest. Yeah.

40:37

And

40:38

he's going to give you a lecture on it. You know he is.

40:42

Have you... I was reading through...

40:44

Where is this one, synopsis? So I was reading through

40:46

some of the other episodes because obviously I didn't

40:48

have time to go back and watch what

40:50

was it like 20 some episodes

40:52

total of

40:54

the show. He's like the short. I

40:56

know, right?

40:57

It's very sad. 20 six episodes. That

41:00

makes sense why they called it a mini series. Everywhere I kept

41:02

seeing it, it's like it's a mini series. I'm like I thought it was

41:04

just a TV series. Well, it was mini because

41:06

it was just the last year of David the gnome's life.

41:09

Can you imagine pitching

41:11

that to

41:12

like Cartoon Network today? We're

41:14

going to make a show. It's about a gnome in the

41:16

last year of his life. Well, actually I think that would fly

41:18

at certain boards at Cartoon Network.

41:21

He dies at the end. He definitely

41:23

but it's... He's going to die. He's heartbreaking and beautiful

41:26

because he embraces his little wife and they

41:28

die to be together in each other's arms.

41:29

I mean that's like that's actually no that

41:32

sounds like a plot line from Adventure Time. So they would certainly

41:35

will be down for it.

41:36

Like an over the garden wall style.

41:38

Yeah. Like little

41:40

gnomes that fly together.

41:42

There was a spin off. There was a launch pad

41:44

for the David the gnome reboot.

41:45

Yeah. There was a spin

41:48

off called the wisdom of the gnomes which I don't ever

41:50

remember watching.

41:52

But where's the one...

41:54

I think when you talked about

41:56

like how there was a time where like people were very

41:58

into magic I think that But some of these

42:00

sound like almost like D&D inspired

42:04

kind of adventures that they would send these.

42:06

Like here, there's this one, the

42:09

magic knife, which

42:12

I'm going to go watch this one. But

42:14

okay, so Lisa, that's David's wife,

42:16

is her sister Julie comes to visit and

42:18

she brings along a copy of a

42:20

scalpel. And when I say scalpel, I

42:22

mean a knife. I'm talking about like a surgical

42:25

knife.

42:26

Julie says the copy came from the Himalayas.

42:29

David decides to journey there to find the original

42:31

knife. When he is in the high mountains, he

42:33

goes to see his human friend, Pondent

42:36

Dure. Pondent is a wizard

42:38

and with the help of his magic mirror, he tells David

42:40

that the original knife is in the temple of Mekong,

42:43

an abandoned structure in India. David

42:45

and Swift, that's his fox, leave the Himalayas

42:48

and go to the deep jungles of India. And

42:50

once he enters the temple, he finds out

42:52

it's built on an active volcano.

42:58

This is one episode of this cartoon.

43:01

It's guarded by a troll and an army of spiders.

43:04

Holler the troll has the knife and

43:07

taunts David while the spiders chase him

43:09

and then he throws the scalpel into a spider's

43:11

web. David gets it and sprays him with sneezing

43:13

powder. And while he's sneezing uncontrollably,

43:16

the volcano erupts. David escapes, but Holler

43:18

the troll is burned terribly. Oh my God.

43:21

This is

43:23

an episode of a children's show, right?

43:26

Yeah. Yeah. To

43:28

retrieve a magic scalpel?

43:29

Oh, what's the point? Because I know

43:32

he knows what scalpels are. I've watched him

43:34

use one on a deer. What

43:36

was the thing with this one? It

43:38

was a magic one. What did it do?

43:41

You know, I don't even know. See, I need to

43:43

watch the whole episode to get some more context. All I know

43:45

is he needed this magic scalpel and he went

43:47

through a lot to get it.

43:49

Yeah, I mean, it got

43:51

intense at times. I mean, like

43:53

a lot of the episodes were like that, like really big

43:56

adventures. Most of the time it was David and Swift. Sometimes

43:59

Lisa went. Sometimes Lisa saved him,

44:01

which is kind of cool. Like,

44:04

because a lot of the time she was kind of depicted as like

44:06

the homemaker and David got to have adventures

44:08

while he was out doctoring all the animals. Yeah,

44:11

I feel like there's two types of

44:13

ways to make a kid's show. And I don't

44:15

want to make it like a generational thing because I think that

44:18

both types still exist today. But

44:20

maybe the balance is swayed. Where

44:22

it's like, I'm making a show that

44:24

I wish I could have watched when I was a kid versus

44:27

I'm making a show that

44:29

is made based on what I think

44:31

kids need to see, like

44:33

to educate them properly. And

44:35

they're very different vibes. And this is definitely

44:37

the first kind where it's like, this is the thing

44:40

that I'm like, what would I like to see as

44:42

a kid? I want to see gnomes

44:44

battling snakes and

44:47

dragons and going on magical quests

44:49

and doing weird stuff versus

44:52

like, this is how we teach kids

44:54

how to share. This is how we teach kids

44:56

that you have boundaries. And that's

44:59

all good too. Both things are fine.

45:02

But it's a very strong differentiation.

45:06

I think you could take this kind

45:08

of format and like leaning

45:11

into the magic and the fantasy and the adventure.

45:14

They also talk, the gnomes talk directly to the

45:17

audience, which is good for kids programming, but they talk

45:19

to kids not like they're

45:21

little kids. You know what I mean?

45:23

They're talking to them on a higher level, which is good. These

45:26

are all good elements. And I think if you

45:28

just make the environmental message a little more

45:30

nuanced, a

45:33

little more fitting for today's, I

45:35

mean, I really think there's some good stuff

45:38

there

45:39

for kids programming.

45:41

I don't know. Watching it, I was like, well,

45:43

I mean, I can't see Charlie and Cooper really loving

45:46

it because the elements

45:49

that aren't there for kids, kids like to see somebody

45:51

that they can kind of put themselves in their

45:53

shoes.

45:55

And I would imagine for most little kids, it's hard to see

45:57

yourself as a 399 year old.

45:59

elderly man dwarf

46:02

in the last year of his life. No way, I felt that

46:04

way since I was five. That's

46:06

absolutely true.

46:09

But like, you know,

46:11

I can see like, I don't know, but there's

46:13

a lot of other stuff that, I mean it's beautiful to look

46:15

at. I think there were books too. I think a lot of the art

46:19

is based on the illustrations from the books that these were,

46:21

the TV series was based on. I don't

46:23

know, Cooper would really dig the animals getting

46:26

surgery. Yeah. But

46:30

anyway, thank you all for watching David the Gnome, or

46:32

David El Gnomo. El

46:33

Gnomo!

46:36

I have to say I enjoyed

46:38

it. I was a little shocked that I loved

46:40

it as much as I did when I was like five.

46:44

But I know I did. I know it left an impression on me.

46:48

So anyway, what is next, Tay?

46:51

Well, I do want to get

46:52

a spooky thing. Not

46:54

that we haven't discussed the terror that gnomes

46:56

in reality can be, but a spooky

46:59

movie before we close out spooky season.

47:02

So I wanted to talk about Ginger Snaps.

47:05

Perfect.

47:07

I meant to watch that all last year. Lady Werewolf

47:09

movie. It's very good.

47:10

I'll watch it this year. Alright,

47:13

well thank you both. Listeners,

47:16

I found David the Gnome on YouTube. I

47:18

don't know if it's anywhere. Yeah, that's where

47:20

I watched it. But all of it's there. Like

47:23

everything. If you want to watch it. It's the best

47:25

year of his life.

47:26

To the conclusion. Jesus

47:29

Christ. It's

47:31

all there. If you want to watch

47:33

a gnome die.

47:35

It's on YouTube. Slowly,

47:37

but not slowly enough.

47:39

But thank you all.

47:43

Go to Maximum Fun. Check out MaximumFun.org.

47:45

There are lots of great shows there you'd enjoy. You can email us at StillBufferingatMaximumFun.org.

47:49

And thank you to the Novellas for our theme song, Baby

47:51

Change Mine. This has been your cross-generational

47:54

guide to the culture that made us. I'm Riley

47:56

Smirle. I'm Sydney McElroy. And

47:58

I'm Taylor Smirle.

47:59

I am still buffering.

48:00

And I

48:04

am too. I

48:18

didn't even get into the phone. No. We're

48:22

having a really good day. See?

48:28

That's in there. It's a great song.

48:52

Thank

48:56

you.