What kind of obscure lore will we unearth about Sonic "the" Hedgehog (Or is it Sonic "Maurice" Hedgehog)? Only time will tell, unless you're too slow! Fortunately, we have special guest Matt (AKA SonicMTD) to help us out! And that wraps up Season 8! Join us in a few short weeks as we return with the beginning of Season 9! What changes will occur? How rad will our beards be? Do people say rad anymore? In any case, the episodes will keep on coming, they just won't be live until we're back. So until next time... we'll see you next time! ## Where can I learn more about Matt (AKA SonicMTD)? If you'd like to hear more from Matt or check out his work, you're in luck! - His YouTube: https://youtube.com/SonicMTD - His Twitter: https://twitter.com/SonicMTD - His Facebook: https://facebook.com/SonicMTD ## Episode outline ### Fandom Facts **History and Origins:** > Sonic the Hedgehog is a media franchise created and produced by Sega. It is primarily a video game franchise, centering on a series of speed-based platform games. Sonic, the protagonist, is an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog with supersonic speed, capable of reaching the speed of sound. Typically, Sonic—usually along with some of his friends, such as Tails, Amy, and Knuckles—must stop antagonist Doctor Eggman's plans for world domination. > > The first game in the series, released in 1991, was conceived by Sega's Sonic Team division after Sega requested a mascot character. Its success spawned many sequels and helped Sega become one of the leading video game companies during the 16-bit era of the early 1990s. > > While the first Sonic games were side-scrolling platform games, later games expanded into other genres, such as Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. The series ...
What is it about that bitter (or sometimes sweet) morning delight that makes people such a fan? This week, we're talking about fans of coffee, and if there is more to it than its magical (and addictive) effects. What is it that has folks questing for the perfect brew? Next week, we seal the rift in wibbly-wobbly-summer-timey-wimey as we put on some classic rock (and our deerstalker hat) as we interrupt our world travelling with time travelling as we talk about fans of that fascinating meta-fandom: _SuperWhoLock_! ## Episode outline ### Fandom Facts **Origins:** There are historical accounts and there are accounts of legend of how coffee was discovered (and in a loose way, the fandom). One legend tells the story of a 9th-century Ethiopian goatherd, Kaldi, who discovered coffee when he noticed how excited his goats became after eating beans from a coffee plant. That story did not appear in writing until 1671 and is likely apocryphal. Another legend tells of a Sheikh Omar (known for his ability to cure the sick through prayer) who was exiled to a cave, and found the berries from a shrubbery and tried a variety of ways to prepare them. Starving, he found that boiling them worked best and he was 'revitalized', and stories of this 'miracle drug' caught on (and when he returned he was made a saint). The first historical record of the plant comes from accounts of 15th century Yemen, where the seeds were roasted and brewed in a way similar to how we prepare coffee today. It was then used by Sufi circles to stay awake for religious rituals. By the 16th century it had reached the rest of the middle east, Persia, Turkey, and ...
We take a departure from the ordinary as we get a bit more international, and talk about the "fandom" of this week: Esperantists! What is Esperanto? Are speakers of a language "fans"? What is its appeal and how did its followers come to be? Stay tuned for an educational episode! Everyone's a fan! Find more like this: [fanthropological.com](http://fanthropological.com) Find us on social media Twitter: [@thenickscast](http://twitter.com/thenickscast) Instagram: [@thenickscast](http://instagram.com/thenickscast) Facebook: [fb.com/thenickscast](http://fb.com/thenickscast) Youtube: [youtube.com/thenickscast](http://youtube.com/thenickscast) Email us about fandoms you want to hear about: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) Play-by-play 00:00 - Cold Open (Esperanto???) 00:07 - Theme Song 00:29 - Introduction (Esperanto???) 00:56 - Introduction (English) 01:20 - Who are Esperantists? What _is_ Esperanto?! 41:30 - Fans of the week 47:16 - Spotlight: [Springboard to Languages](http://www.springboard2languages.org) 50:46 - Goodbye! 52:03 - Outtakes Citations ["The Joy of Esperanto - The Daily Beast"](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/30/the-joy-of-esperanto.html) ["The Serious History Behind Esperanto | TIME"](http://time.com/4417809/esperanto-history-invention/) ["Esperanto: the language that never was | Prospect Magazine"](http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/the-language-that-never-was-esperanto-languages) ["The Secret Jewish History of Esperanto - Culture - Forward.com"](http://forward.com/culture/348344/the-secret-jewish-history-of-esperanto/) ["Regina home to smallest Esperanto language club in Canada - Saskatchewan - CBC News"](http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/esperanto-language-canada-smallest-club-regina-1.3557994) ["Esther Schor's Bridge of Words, reviewed."](http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2016/10/esther_schor_s_bridge_of_words_reviewed.html) ["Springboard… to Languages - an innovative introduction to language learning for KS1 and KS2"](http://www.springboard2languages.org/) ["Pasporta Servo - Wikipedia"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasporta_Servo) ["Learn Esperanto first: Tim Morley at TEDxGranta - YouTube"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gSAkUOElsg) ["paculo comments on Why learn Esperanto?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Esperanto/comments/4ujrc4/why_learn_esperanto/d5qccpg/) ["Adventures in Esperanto - Finding Esperanto's little quirks"](https://adventuresinesperanto.wordpress.com/) ["Wikipedia - Esperanto"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto) ["The Secret Language of George Soros"](http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/216065/secret-language-of-george-soros) ["The Joy of Esperanto"](http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/30/the-joy-of-esperanto.html) ["The Hidden Perverse Effects of the Current System"](http://claudepiron.free.fr/articlesenanglais/effects.htm) ["Esperanto in China Faces Uncertain Future"](http://www.china.org.cn/china/2016-07/26/content_38959660.htm) ["Parolas Esperanton? Esperanto Language still has Appeal in Brazil"](http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article99066207.html) ["Johnson: Simple, Logical and Doomed"](http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2013/09/esperanto-0) ["Are there any esperantization movements - Reddit"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Esperanto/comments/3xx6xx/are_there_any_esperantization_movements/) ["Gufujo - Wikipedia"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gufujo) ["Oomoto - Wikipedia"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oomoto) ["Esperanto Culture - Wikipedia"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto_culture) ["Esperantido"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperantido) ["Esperanto Stack ...
