The Broski Report with Brittany Broski - 104: New Favorite Irishman Reveal

Episode Date: August 5, 2025

This week on The Broski Report, Fearless Leader Brittany Broski discusses The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and the history of the macabre. The OFFICIAL Songs of The Week Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ULrcEqO2JafGZPeonyuje?si=061c5c0dd4664f01 👕 Get your merch here: https://broski.shop/ Follow The Broski Report: https://www.linktr.ee/broskireport https://www.tiktok.com/@broskireport https://instagram.com/broskireport Follow Brittany: https://www.tiktok.com/@brittany_broski https://instagram.com/brittany_broski https://youtube.com/brittany_broski Follow Royal Court: https://www.youtube.com/@royalcourt https://www.tiktok.com/@bbroyalcourt https://www.instagram.com/royalcourt https://www.twitter.com/bbroyalcourt ICE OUT OF OUR CITY / PROTEST RESOURCES: ACLU – https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/protesters-rights Immigrant Defense Project – https://www.immigrantdefenseproject.org/raids-toolkit Freedom for Immigrants – https://www.freedomforimmigrants.org/resources Immigrants Legal Resource Center – https://www.ilrc.org/community-resources/know-your-rights Immigration Justice Campaign – https://immigrationjustice.us/ CREDIBLE RESOURCES TO HELP FREE PALESTINE: Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund - https://www.pcrf.net/ UNICEF - https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/helping-gazas-children-cope-trauma Doctors Without Borders - https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org World Central Kitchen - https://wck.org/ World Health Organization - https://www.who.int/ Headcount - https://www.headcount.org/ IG ACCOUNTS FOR A FREE PALESTINE: @eye.on.palestine @aljazeeraenglish @palestinianyouthmovement @byplestia @motaz_azaiza @impact LGBTQ+ RESOURCES: https://Translifeline.org https://Glaad.org  https://Pflag.org https://www.thetrevorproject.org/ REPRODUCTIVE RESOURCES: https://aidaccess.org https://plancpills.org https://Ineedana.com https://www.reprolegalhelpline.org/ https://heyjane.com Brought to You By: Seat Geek – Get 10%-off Tickets – Download Seat Geek and use code BROSKI2025 Rocket Money – Download the app and tell them “The Broski Report with Brittany Broski” sent you! Songs of The Week: Disease by Lady Gaga Crying in the Chapel by Elvis Presley Crying in the Chapel by Rex Allen EURO-COUNTRY by CMAT Head Down to the Conversation by Getdown Services CHAPTERS: 00:00 – Intro 05:16 – Picture of Dorian Gray 35:55 – Oscar Wilde 51:34 – Philosophy 53:33 – Health Update 57:21 – Academy of Medicine 1:01:36 – Songs of the Week #brittanybroski, #broski, #broskination, #broskireport, #oscarwilde, #pictureofdoriangray, #victorian, #literature, #philosophy, #socrates, #steampunk, #oddities, #history, #macabre, #music

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to progressive and save hundreds, because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home, and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it, so your dollar goes a long way. Visit Progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Potential savings will vary, not available in all states or situations. Corum, never in my life if I seen such a more blatant display, exhibition of gross indecency.

My God, man. Get yourself together. With a hold of yourself, my dear fellow. Okay, here's the thing. Lots to talk about, good morning! I'm back in my Victorian era. And some of you much isn't going to say, yeah, with those features, you're always in your Victorian era. What's that?

That turned on TikTok that's like, just found out I'm chopped. Just found out I'm chopped and also unk. The comments that are like, Aphrodite, they used to make statues of your body type. Just found out I'm chopped. And also unc.

So literally, I feel. You look like you give the best hugs. Like those fucking comments on TikTok. Just found out I'm chopped. and also unk. Yeah, I do kind of give uncle, huh? I give uncle down. I give uncle big time.

I'm big time uncle vibes. Shit. Where all my girls are uncles? Stand up. Let me see you guys. Yeah. We've transcended this limiting description of fun, drunk aunt.

And now we've moved on to uncle. Just flat-out uncle. And I think that's great. You know, Uncle Brittany, it is, rolls off the tongue. And it feels strangely correct. Guys, lots to talk about today. Victorian. God, they were fucked up, huh?

I know I've kind of mentioned the Victorians before, the Victorian age. We are not not living through something similar right now with a rise of like conservativeism and Puritanism. and all these things, that it's like a return to traditional values, I say in heavy quotations. Because who do traditional values serve at the end of the day? Y'all, I'm charged up today, okay?

Here's what's inspired this entire episode. I need you guys to sit down, strap in, grab a fucking pencil, and take some notes on this episode. Because, my God, I've got something to say and I've got some shit to teach, okay? I, and yes, I can read, just finished the uncensored picture of Doreengray.

Now, some of you probably have heard of this. If you haven't heard of this book, then you've definitely heard of Oscar Wild. Okay, Oscar Wild. Gay. Gay, gay, gay, Irish. Gay and Irish, two of my favorite things ever to exist on this planet. This book, I have so much to say,

so you bitches better sit down. Today is going to be fun and sad, but fun. because lots to discuss in this book. Okay, before we kind of get into that, I do want to let everyone know that I'm going to the mayhem ball to nut. So if I start to, you know, if one of my eyes starts to wander,

that's why I got sunglasses on, because I'm over here, I'm thinking about Lady Gaga. I'm thinking about, Abrogatatatatabra. Sometimes that's how I feel. Because when you memorize lyrics to a song, you have to get every syllable correct. You know what I mean?

And I didn't just then, and I can acknowledge that. But that's the beautiful thing of, like, when you love an artist and you memorize it. Okay? You have to memorize all the ad libs. You have to memorize how the vowel sits in the mouth. When I'm memorizing Fontaine's DC lyrics, I do it in fucking Grin-Chatton's accent. Because you have to. Okay?

Selling genocided half good pride, I understand. I had to be there from the start. I had to be the fucking man. It was a clamor. Oh, the light, I socked the ring off every hand, had them ploying me would drink, even met with their demands. I love him. Okay.

Anyway, was it the weed at a moment that stoned you, Skinty Fia? Guys, pause this and go listen to Skinty Fia by Fontaine's DC. Okay, now come back. Okay, now pause it. Okay, now come back. Okay, uncensored picture of Dorian Gray. this book really has changed me. I've taken the sunglasses off for this.

This is a tale of, I believe, there's so much to say about this. I believe this to be a tale about first and foremost, youth and beauty and our obsession with it and how it is fleeting. No one survives. Everyone fucking dies. No one is able to cling on to youth, okay? And that's what makes it precious. youth is for learning, it's for making mistakes, it's for being young and beautiful, yes, but beauty doesn't expire, okay? If you look at beauty from an expanded definition, what is beautiful? What do you think? How do you define the word beauty? And I think that's what this book kind of made me, I went down that thought process a bit, but more so this book is like a new, hedonism. Okay? The main characters talk about it a lot of this is in the context. So much to say.

I'm freaking out. This book was written in 1890. It was published in 1891. This is like height of kind of Victorian ideals. It is, like I was saying, it's Puritan culture. And to publish a book like this, which at first, the reason it's called the uncensored picture of Dorian Gray is because the original editor who published this and okayed it for publishing removed like 500 words or sentences, something like that because it was too homosexual. It was too graphic. And even reading this, I was like, oh, this is going to be like a gay porno. Girl, by Victorian standard, sure. But it's just the most subtle mentions, well, maybe it's not subtle, but it's mentions of, you know, a man worship. another man in a romantic fever where he is so enamored by this person and he knows that it

will never work out. But that doesn't stop the emotion. And there are some heartbreaking scenes where one of the main characters reveals this to the other character and the other character is a bit unmoved by it. You know, he's almost expectant of the adoration. I'll get into the plot in a second, but a lot contextually to describe with this book. And I actually wrote some notes. So if it looks like I'm reading off my laptop, it's because I am. Okay?

Can a teacher not read off her fucking PowerPoint? So like I'm saying, the context of this book makes the story even more devastating and impactful because it was so taboo. And arguably, it still is taboo, right? Like, we haven't really climbed to the peak of this mountain yet. We're still fighting for gay rights, not only in America, but across the whole world.

So texts like this were revolutionary at the time, and they set some stepping stones for us, but fuck, we're not there yet, still, you know, 130 years, 140 years later. So at the time, the British government was really cracking down during the Victorian era and beyond. Oscar Wilde lived through this heightened intolerance of what was described as gross, decency. Now, this is a very vague descriptor, gross indecency. A lot could fall under that, okay? And it really was to target the gay community. But I mean, you didn't have to be fucking to be called grossly indecent. Walking arm in arm with another man, gross indecency, things like this, late night visits, male only brothels, male prostitutes, all these things. It falls under the blanket, the umbrella

of gross indecency, which is just a legal term for homophobia. Oscar Wilde was born in Ireland, who's born in Dublin, went to Trinity College in Dublin, I believe, and then went to Oxford. And at Oxford, I think he lost his Irish accent. And around this time as well, he starts to really find his stride. He's very stylish. He's very opinionated. He's incredibly witty.

He is entertaining. You know, he's just a personality to behold. And how sad is that that just from having those qualities, it's like, no, you're a little bit too fun to be around. Gay! Something must be wrong with you because you are so vibrant. Gay! And that's how it was, for real. He was a poet, a playwright, an intellectual.

And a book like this, I believe this was his only work, his only novel that was published. And let me go ahead and explain the plot, okay? If you're going to read it, maybe skip ahead 10 minutes, but I know a lot of you are not. So let me go ahead and give you the Cliff's notes. There is a painter named Basil Hallward, which in a British accent, Basil. His name is Basil. Basil is a painter. He meets Dorian Gray, who is a 17-year-old.

boy, uh-uh, quickly becomes infatuated with him. He's described as having an Adonis-level beauty. It really, I was having some flashbacks to

the Song of Achilles of the way that Patroclus described Achilles, just the most ethereal, godlike, sunlight beauty. Basil's very infatuated with him. He starts painting portraits

of Dorian Gray. Dorian is at this time, this almost innocent figure. He hasn't been corrupted by the evils of the world yet. Thus enters Lord Henry, Basil's best friend, okay? He is this old, cynical, I wouldn't say apathetic, but God, some of his opinions were just like, this book is gag. To be honest, it's gag. I was gagged because my favorite book is The Secret History by Donna Tart. What I love about the way Donatart describes characters and the way that the secret history is told is that it's very character driven. You are so in the mind of the narrator that the way that the narrator describes these people, I'm as infatuated with them as he is.

So that level of, oh my God, what an intriguing complex character. That's how I felt about Lord Henry. And it's to this level of your, there's no clear narrator in this book. It's not told from any one person's perspective. It's kind of this neutral other that is narrating the story at large. What I really enjoy about Lord Henry is that, yes, he is cynical. Yes, his view of the world is kind of really fucked up. But he sees it almost, I was thinking of it as like voyeuristic hedonism.

It is pleasure for the sake of pleasure. It's art for the sake of art, which is also aestheticism. And it's all these things where he is intrigued by people because he's curious what they're going to do next. There's no real, you know, concern with morality or with, is someone good or bad. It's life offers so many paths and decisions. I'm intrigued to see which one you're going to pick. He sees it as almost this like he's an audience member in the stage of life,

which is so interesting to take no like accountability or no blame for the way that things go. This is how I kind of interpreted this. And treating life is like a big game, which I've just, never, you know, we take life so seriously. And a character like this, who is so hyper-intellectual, it's like life being reduced down to, you know, a game of life, like the board game is a very interesting concept. And I don't know, I mean, so many things converge to give him that worldview. And being well-traveled and well-read and whatever, yes, that goes into it. But he has very interesting opinions on marriage, you know, that marriage almost requires.

is a level of secrecy, especially Victorian-era marriage, where it's more a marriage of duty and convenience than love, and fitful passions of love are with your mistress. You know, your wife is someone who you live with, who you carry on the family line with. And he admits to Dorian that there is this accepted level of secrecy. Yeah, we both sleep around. I don't want to know she doesn't ask. You know, we come home and we have dinner together. It's that sort of weird, it's like, it's This book points out the hypocrisy, the fucking stark hypocrisy of the Victorian age, and not just the Victorian age of humankind in general and of civilized society, I say that in quotations, in general, how we're performing for each other.

We're upholding these laws. We're trying people in cases. And behind closed doors, you're doing the same fucking shit that you're trying these. It's just a level of hypocrisy that is not. It's not shocking. It's not surprising. It's always existed. But it's just really on an exhibition here. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to progressive and save hundreds because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full,

owning a home, and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it so your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive dot com to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary, not available in all states or situations. Struggling to see up close, make it visible with Viz. Viz is a once daily prescription eye drop to treat blurry near vision for up to 10 hours. The most common side effects that may be experienced while using Viz include eye irritation, temporary dim or dark vision, headaches, and eye redness. Talk to an eye doctor to learn if Viz is right for you. Learn more at Viz.com.

So, Basil meets Dorian is quickly infatuated with him, in love with him, asks him to sit for a painting. He's painting a portrait of Dorian because he's so beautiful. Around this time, as he's working on the painting, his friend Lord Henry comes, Lord Henry, this cynical figure. He comes in, you know, he's got an opinion on fucking everything, and he believes himself to be right about everything. Lord Henry and Basil are going at it. And he's asking, are you going to put this portrait, you know, on display? Are you going to show it at an exhibition or at a museum? And Basil goes, oh, no, I can't. And Lord Henry goes, why? And Basil goes, oh, well, if I tell you, you can't tell anyone, I'm ashamed. And Lord Henry's like, come on, dude, what the fuck's going on? Just tell me, why don't you want to show it? It's gorgeous. It's beautiful. He goes, I fear I've put too much of myself in it. I've put too much of myself in it. I've put too much of the artist in the work. Yes, it is a portrait, but the curve of the lines, the suppleness of the skin, the fullness of the lip, there's a sensuality to it that surely I will be known. I will be discovered as being gay because of the care that he painted this other man with.

And he had a real fear of being made a mockery or being, I mean, at this time, this was a criminal offense of being discovered. And Lord Henry goes, come on, the fuck are you talking about? And Basil's like, no, please don't mention this to Dorian and please don't ever bring it up to me again. You know, he's embarrassed. Lord Henry's like, yeah, sure, whatever. Lord Henry meets Dorian, quickly Dorian becomes attached to him. Their first meeting, he's corrupting the youth. He's corrupting the fucking youth girl. So Dorian's sitting for this painting. All three of them are in the studio and Lord Henry's just fucking talking. Okay, he's asking Dorian some questions, some introspective questions, mentioning points that Dorian's never heard. Okay, he's an innocent,

uncorrupted youth. He's saying shit like, the terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion, these are two things that govern us. The body sins once and has done with its sin, for action is a mode of purification. Nothing, remains then but the recollection of a pleasure or the luxury of a regret. The only way to rid temptation, to rid yourself of temptation, is to yield to it. Resist it and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful. It has been said that the great events of the world take place in the brain. It is in the brain and the brain only that the great sins of the world take place also.

You, Mr. Gray, you yourself, with your rose-red youth and your rose-white boyhood, you have had passions that have made you afraid, thoughts that have filled you with terror, daydreams and sleeping dreams whose mere memory might stain your cheek with shame. And then Dorian goes, stop! Fucking stop! You're scaring me! You bewilder me! So he's just filling his head with these ideas of like, it's hedonism, right?

It's what he calls new hedonism, or if you're British, hedonism. I think that this being the foundation for this book of like chase pleasure. Don't concern yourself with regret. Don't concern yourself with morality. Don't concern yourself with any of the things that uphold the pillars of this society. Do what you want to do. Don't even worry about who you can affect or will affect in the process. Chase your desires.

Dorian is 17 when he hears this. Okay, da-da-da-da-da-da. They finish this. Lord Henry has to go, and Dorian is just addicted to him. Okay, they start hanging out one-on-one. Well, we know that Basil's in love with Dorian. Lord Henry and Dorian start having this weird thing. You know, they're going to dinner.

They're going to the opera. They're going to country houses together. They're doing this or doing that. Dorian starts acting out in a way that is predictable. and the debauchery that he starts to get involved in, it's one of those things of leave it to the mind. Like leave something to the imagination. The way that Oscar Wilde describes what Dorian ends up getting into is vile.

It is disgusting. You know, it's all these things. And when he's met with, coming face to face with what he's done in his life, because, you know, you go forward, he's 17 when they meet, towards the climax of the book, or the very ending of the book, he's 32. So he has lived a long time. And here's the crux of the story. I'm not ruining this, because if you know anything or have heard anything about the picture, Dorian Gray, this is a gothic horror. And what ends up happening is this portrait that Basil paints of him is so stunning, so beautiful.

He gifts it to Dorian. And Dorian keeps it. And then something happens with a woman where he's infatuated with this woman. She's an actress. She's incredible. And then he proposes to her. His friends come to watch this play that she's in, which is fucking Romeo and Juliet. And they're sitting in the, and he's just been talking her up.

Girl, I was even getting annoyed. I'm like, she can't be that good of an actress. They sit down. She's awful. She's fucking awful. He's sitting there, like, hand over mouth, so embarrassed. Basil and Lord Henry are like, this is your girl. That's your girl.

Oh, she's really good. Lord Henry leans over and he's like, Mama, this is shit. Mama, that's poop from my butt. She is awful. Happy for you, though. Happy for you. She sucks. All right, I'll catch you.

I'll catch you later. That literally is how the scene goes. they leave early. Because Romeo and Juliet is what, fucking three, four acts? They leave early. They're like, I cannot sit here another minute and watch this girl. I'm so sorry, but I am happy for you. And he's like, come on, Dorian, let's go.

I don't want to sit. Let's go. Let's go out to the gentleman's club. And Doria goes, I have to sit here and see this through. I'm so sorry, y'all. He's crying. He's so humiliated. He goes backstage after the show.

And the woman's like, I've freed myself, Dorian. Now that I've known real love, I don't have to act anymore. Wasn't my performance horrible? It was on purpose. There's no need to act. Now that I have you, let's run away together. Kiss me, Dorian. And he goes, Mama, that was shit.

That was shit. I don't love you anymore. Breaks off the engagement. She's devastated. Because, duh, she just threw her acting career in the shitter. For this man who just tossed her to the side because her performance. girl. So, that's one night. The next fucking morning, woman found dead. Killed herself. Okay? The first sin has been committed. Dorian goes home. He finds out about the news.

Lord Henry tells him he's devastated. Obviously he's devastated. But then he quickly, almost too quickly, gets over it. Some things happen. They discuss it. Lord Henry kind of helps him. And in his fucked up cynical mind. He's like, think about it, you freed her. What a beautiful tragedy to die for love. She died in the most poetic way possible. You should be proud of that. And Dorian's like, yeah,

like he's fucking this young dude up. Fucking him up. Lord Henry goes away. Dorian looks at the portrait. There are lines on his face. Bitch, it's a magic portrait. It's haunted.

Okay? So now here is the setting for this book. Here's the kicker. He sins, the painting bears the sin. He made a wish when Basil was painting this portrait. Oh, I wish my youth would never leave me. I wish that instead the painting would grow old and I would stay forever young because Lord Henry is talking about the beauty of youth and how he's just the most stunning young man he's ever seen. his wish came true bitch every single bad thing immoral act that Dorian commits

the painting bears the brunt of it it honestly was giving me substance vibes I think the substance pulled from the picture of Dorian Gray it's 100% the same story to a certain extent so what does Dorian do with this the same fucking thing that Demi Moore does okay sin after sin after sin

unabashed, living life. He gets into so many things. During this time where he's just committing sins left and right with really reckless abandon because who's keeping him accountable? Who fucking cares? Right? And he's so, there's commentary here about when you are beautiful, you can get away with it. When you are nice to look at, the world turns a blind eye. And I think that's very interesting because I don't, Oscar Wilde wasn't really a look himself. A lot of people under the Victorian age were just kind of hard to look at. Chopped.

She found out I'm chopped. And also Unk. Dorian Gray was not chopped, okay? And so he would do all this shit. Treat people horribly. I mean, the sexual perversion that's alluded to here is just, like, it boggles the mind would have truly killed a Victorian child, like if the Victorian child had known what Dorian Gray was up to.

sneaking in and out of brothels and these clubs and traveling and leaving almost just like destruction in his wake. And Lord Henry gave him license to do that. He was not taught to feel remorse. He was not taught to look back and regret. He was taught to shut the door and keep moving forward, chasing those pleasures. Okay, so during this time, he explores all these different disciplines from embroidery to music, to jewels, to travel, to culture, to, you know, art. He's a connoisseur of art. And that, you know, obviously doesn't repair the hole that's left in you as a person when you have no moral spine.

You have no semblance of what is good and bad, what's right and wrong. But he does, right? This is my theory. He does. it's just easier to give in to temptation. And you've been given, you know, permission to do it. From here's an older gentleman that you respect, you've been given permission. Why would you not?

So, fast forward, end of the book. Basil comes over and he confronts Dorian. And he says, brother, what these girls on the street are saying about you is so nasty. wicked. It's wicked part two. What they're saying about you? Cannot be true. Please, Dorian. And by the way, he's not aging. Okay, Dorian's not aging. He still is the same youthful beauty that he was at 17, 18, now 32. He's, you know, languishly laying on the couch, listening to Basel say all this bullshit about where he's been, but he's done. Okay. Also, it's gag, because he's saying the things that it's almost like Dorian knows and doesn't give a shit.

Associates and friends that Dorian has, you know, been seen around, dead or killed themselves. Almost every woman that he's been with dead or killed herself or exiled. He used to run around with this one woman. Now her kids can't live with her. Taxis won't even pick her up. Like this is for real. He is leaving destruction in his wake. with no concern.

And so Basil's sitting there and he's like, where is the boy that I used to know? What the fuck happened? Please tell me it's not true. Just look at me in the eye and tell me it's not true. Please. And Dorian won't. Dorian goes, you want to know?

You really want to fucking know? Follow me. And Basil's like, what do you mean? He goes, I've kept a diary of all my sins. I'll show it to you. Basil goes, Darian, what is this? What's the meaning of this?

Follows him upstairs to where Dorian keeps the portrait under lock and key and under a sheet. He goes in there, brings the lantern, rips that shit off, and shows Basil the portrait. Look at my sins. Look at this. You did this. Okay, right, he's blaming Basil. Basil's of course horrified

He thinks it's a joke What sick fuck would paint over That beautiful portrait I did so many Did you do this? Who did this? Oh this is, you know, it's like a crime, whatever Then he sees at the bottom left His signature

And then it starts to make sense Dorian has not aged a day Look at the painting In a fit of rage Dorian looks at Basil and thinks This is the motherfucker that did this. this to me. You have marred my soul. You have marred me as a person. He starts to really, he's worked up, he's worked up. He finds a knife on a nearest bookshelf and he fucking, ugh, okay? He stabs Basil.

In the neck. Stabs him in the neck. He's sitting down at a table that's up in this attic space and he slumps over dead. I mean, in less than 60 seconds, dead. Dorian, in the most like, bitch, I was gagged. I wrote notes. I mean, like, true sociopath, for real. The way that he, the way that he conducts himself for the last, like, 40 pages of the book, he's calm. He acts like it's just a task to do, like, have to dispose of this body. How the fuck am I going to do this? I'll handle it tomorrow. Goes to bed, okay? Next morning, wakes up. His butler wakes him up with some hot chocolate. He's smiling. He wakes up. And then as he's going about his day, the birds are chirping.

He's sitting there having his tea, he's eating breakfast, wherever. And then he goes, you know, oh, dead body in my attic. Fuck. Classic Wednesday, normal Wednesday like, Wednesday vibes have to go clean the fucking corpse out of my attic. And so he blackmail someone to come help him, whatever. And then at the end, I'm going to ruin it. Okay, if you're going to read the book, go skip forward. skip this whole part actually.

This fucking 30 minute part. End of the book. He goes up there and he goes, I know what I have to do. Takes the same knife that he killed Basil with, rips the painting, and then the perspective shifts to the valet and the butlers

and the policemen outside, passerbyes, where it said they heard a cry and a thump. And they went up there. Dorian Gray was old, as fuck collapsed on the floor, the painting was ripped, the painting was of a beautiful young boy, and the knife was in Dorian's heart.

And that's how the fucking book ends gag. Okay, if you skipped forward, if you skip forward, come back now. Oh, my God, this book is gag. Okay, so that's the plot, right? The context and the ripple effect of what this story was, the homosexual undertones, the debauchery, the absolute disregard for Victorian civil standards was what makes it so good.

At the same time, this marked a real pivot for literature and for art from, you know, art should be almost an academic medium. now it's for pleasure and entertainment. It's art for art's sake. It's not art to appease someone, whether that be the church, a government, you know, painting for kings or whatever. This really is a shift in, I believe it's pronounced aestheticism, decadence, which by the way, decadence, we think of something being decadent as like a cake or a chocolate, something that's very rich and perhaps luxurious if we see a room and it's, oh, it's decadent. Decadence actually means decay. Decay of something that is once was good, almost down to like a trashy level now.

This book, as well as a lot of Oscar Wilde's works, are described as decadent or this movement of decadence, which just learned that very interesting. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance, Fiscally Responsible, financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds, because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home, and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it, so your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary,

not available in all states or situations. Struggling to see up close, make it visible with Viz. Viz is a once daily prescription eye drop to treat blurry near vision for up to 10 hours. The most common side effects that may be experienced while using Viz include eye irritation, temporary dimmer dark vision, headaches and eye redness. Talk to an eye doctor to learn if Viz is right for you. Learn more at Viz.com. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance, Fiscally responsible, financial geniuses,

monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance. to Progressive and save hundreds, because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home, and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it, so your dollar goes a long way. Visit Progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates.

Potential savings will vary, not available in all states or situations. Struggling to see up close, make it visible with Viz. Viz is a once-daily prescription eye drop to treat blurry near vision for up to 10 hours. The most common side effects that may be experienced while using biz include eye irritation, temporary dimmer, dark vision, headaches and eye redness. Talk to an eye doctor to learn if Viz is right for you. Learn more at Viz.com. Okay, so let's move on to Oscar Wilde's, the kind of end of his life. After this book came out, he was criminally tried in court for gross indecency. If you're at all interested in this and what I'm about to say is so, it's tea, but it's also very

sad. And also what I this 100% is part of queer history and um what Oscar Wilde represents to queer history and to pride as it stands today. He was tried in court for gross indecency by his boyfriend's dad gag. They go to court and

he treats the courtroom like a theater thinking that he's charming when he's on the stand. He's making people laugh. He's getting caught. You know, he's catching the opposing counsel and like he's asking him questions back, rhetorical questions, making a farce of the whole thing. But really, he ended up making himself look more guilty. He played word games with opposing counsel, and he fucked it. He completely fucked it. What's important to note about these trials is that it was never about actually proving he was engaged in homosexual sexual activity. Just the implication of it was,

bad enough. This was a humiliation ritual. Okay. It was to make him this sort of metaphorical leper of look what happens when you do the things that Oscar Wilde does. We all know he's doing it. And let this be an example to anyone who wants to follow in his footsteps. Okay, he was made out to be an example. The view of masculinity after these trials became much more narrow. You know, you don't want to be described as gay or having any qualities or descriptors about you that would allude to you being gay or being grossly indecent. In trying to squash this caricature of the sinful, indecent other, this threat that the British government was pinpointing, they actually ended up creating a figurehead for the whole movement, which isn't that how it goes? He was a martyr. He was a

martyr for gay rights. And I think that's part of the reason why he's so widely celebrated today. Now, I'm speaking objectively in the sense of what Oscar Wilde lived through, what he was put through. He served jail time for being gay. I don't know jack shit about some of his personal worldviews. He was a product of the time. If he was racist and sex, he probably fucking was. I'm not defending that. I'm saying that in the time period that he was active and when we could have gotten so much more art and beautiful, where, I mean, this was his one novel and it's amazing. Like, that's what I mourn is when these artists are persecuted, prosecuted, and ultimately die prematurely, it's like, it's a loss for human history as a whole. And, uh,

while his life was important and what happened to him really it has marred the history of how humans treat each other. You know, the history of human rights and the struggle for human rights and just common decency between people. That is, this story and his life is incredibly relevant. Oscar Wilde died alone, broke, and in exile in a Parisian hotel. in 1900, like all that, and it's just, it's so sad. But the way that he has celebrated today, what he represents today is arguably so much more important than any of the works that he did. You know, what he represents is living unabashedly, unfiltered, truly you. And I love that. I really do love it. This is a quote that I love from him in defense of homosexuality.

it is in this century misunderstood, so much misunderstood that it be described as the love that dare not speak its name. And an account of it, I am placed where I am now. It is beautiful. It is fine. It is the noblest of affection there is. Nothing unnatural about it. Then he goes on to defend getting with minors and the beauty of an older gentleman dating a younger gentleman, which I just, you know, it's like, come on. Come on, Oscar, you had me. You had me and you lost me. There's one of those things where it's like, yeah, it's not completely defendable, but I guess his heart was in the right place where it's true. There's nothing unnatural about it. And that love is no less or more than straight love. It is completely human. and it's just like to ruin it by saying it's so bullshit I'm bad and I should be able to groom

okay and gay rights and also I should be able to date a 17 year old and yes I'm 40 okay love is love fuck okay um could we strike that one from the record yeah go ahead and strike that from the record thank you anyway by the way homosexuality was not decriminalized in the United Kingdom until Okay. Okay. Yay. Yay. I want to read this passage. At the beginning of this book is a huge introduction. It's probably like 40, 50 pages of an introduction of the, like I'm saying, the context of this book, the struggles of publishing it and the critiques it was met with. And this is what I want to read. The novel altered the way Victorian saw and understood the world they inhabited, particularly with regard to sexuality and masculinity. It heralded the end of a repressive Victorianism. After its publication, Victorian literature had a different look.

I mean, holy shit. What an impactful work. There are so many good, just like individual lines that I ended up annotating or underlining. One of them is, the life that was to make his soul would mar his body. He would become ignoble, hideous, and uncouth. That's how it's described here. But that one line, the life that was to make his soul would mar his body. Isn't that the point?

Isn't that the point? Isn't that the price you pay? To really self-realize the process of self-realization and all the pain, sorrow, joy, and happiness that come from that and everything in between, the cost is a marred body. But isn't that almost proof? It's proof you lived it. It's proof and battle scars, not to sound cliche, of a life well lived. And while there is an importance in your health and not necessarily preserving youth for the goal of preserving beauty, but, you know, wearing sunscreen every day, eating right, all these things that you want to

protect your organs. That's more so the point. And I really, you know, from last week's episode, me ranting about this shit, it's like this book, honestly, I was going to read, I haven't finished East of Eden. Sorry. The intro is a lot. It's a lot, it's a lot, it's a lot. It's giving 20,000 leagues under the sea, I don't want to fucking read this. But it's one of the most highly rated books ever. I will get to it. But this one, it's been calling to me on my shelf. I've got a whole bunch of books because I love to go to Burns and Noble and spend money that I really shouldn't be spending. And so I've had this as well, a bunch of other classics. I might read Frankenstein next. Because I've never, well, actually, I read Frankenstein in

college in my Britlet class, but I didn't, you know, I have not paid attention since then. I was probably 18. So I think it would be fun to revisit it 10 years later and really see it through now that I'm in this sort of Gothic horror Whatever, I might finish Dracula as well Anyway, this book is very relevant to So many things that we're still a bit what I love about reading Bitch what I love about reading is nothing is new Nothing is new The struggles that we have today humans have had for millennium

It has always been a struggle, to be seen, to have rights, to be represented, to live freely, to live comfortably. All of these things have always been under attack. No generation, okay, and I put that with an asterisk, no generation has had it easy. Every single generation, every single century has had the things that plagues it, and we haven't figured out how to perfect the human experience yet. all of us are still a part of this big puzzle, this big equation that has no solution, it has no ending, it has no formula. We have theories, we have philosophies, but we're hopeless. You know, like we are hopelessly chained to our own humanity, which is flawed. We will always be flawed.

So find the beauty in the flaws. Find the beauty and the in the hypocrisy and the contradictions. I mean, part of the, it's art that represents that kind of stuff like this, where this is almost a satire. I would argue this is a satire, this book. Albums like Motomami by Rosalia, these things deal with transformation and acknowledgement of the fact that we are always transforming. Therefore, how can anything be solid? How can anything be solid? We are fluid beings. So something like this, as well as.

just reading in general, it opens the mind to, and honestly, it endears me to these authors and to a time that is not my own, that, oh my God, we're going through the same thing. Of course, it's a different flavor, and it has different context, and sometimes the words they use are kind of really outdated and hard to read, both, like, actually, you know, I'm having to Google what they mean, but at the same time, just completely racist, just unabashedly racist, really fun. Oh my God, and fuck. The lead character in this, Lord Henry, he's got some crazy views on, like,

just super misogynistic. You know women. Like, classic, like, women be shopping. Like, that kind of shit. I'm like, oh, fuck. It just is, it boggles the mind. But you have to sift through all that, all the prejudices and the judgments and whatever,

and sit with the fact that the struggles of that age are the struggles of this age. age. And when you read books like Heart of Darkness that deals with colonialism and the effects of that, we're still dealing with that today. You know, and all these, it's like, there's nothing new. Human history repeats itself. And it's a cycle, but it doesn't have to be a circle. I'll learn that recently as well. So all these things, I mean, reading is so powerful. You don't need me to tell you that. Like, please get back into reading. I'm also on this, this kick. There are so many

things pulsing through my body right now, where I feel so privileged always to have a platform to be able to spread this message of the best piece of armor you can equip yourself with is intelligence. Intelligence is the only thing that really has weight in this world. Beauty is fleeting. Youth is fleeting. Fame is fleeting. Intelligence. Intelligence. And an education. Wow. Those are the, it's, there are reasons. when you, you know, there are banned books that the curriculums are under attack. Universities are under attack. Why do you think that is? All of these things are, it should be redirecting you or charting the stars in your sky to want to know more. And the more you know,

the more you want to know. And that to me is a life well lived. Have I seen all there is to see? have I read and experienced all the things that I never would have experienced. If I never left Texas, dude, oh my God. We have the internet at our fingertips and what do we use it for? So reading to me, it's a great way to get the fuck off of my phone. I get the hell off my phone. I finished this book in a day. I was so proud of myself.

I was so proud of myself. I finished it in a day and I annotated it and I did all that. I mean, I don't do, I'm not this girl. You know what I mean? Where people are like reading Akitar, annotating actor, I'm not doing all that. This to me is a, it's an academic work that is worth annotating because it, either it's lines that I really love because Oscar Wilde was a fucking poet or it's like towards the end. What did I write? I wrote something that was to the effect of like a true annotation.

I wrote, oh, this is towards the end of the book when Dorian has just gone off the fucking deep end. I said, he's so corrupted beyond reproach that the absence of praise for his good deed is enough for him to never try again. And then I wrote in quotations because I know people like this. I have people like this in my life of the, well, I guess I can't do anything right. Right. Well, I guess I can't do anything right in your eyes. So why I even try? It's giving Dorian Gray.

It's giving shut the fuck up. bitch, you are childish. So I wrote that of like summarizing kind of in a real life way the personality type. God, so well written. And really reminds me of the secret history, the way that Oscar Wilde writes characters really reminds. And you know what? I want to see the importance of being earnest.

We had to read that play in high school and I couldn't have given less of a fuck. I couldn't have given less of a fuck. I don't care. importance of being, don't give a shit. Epic chungest moment, epic chungus moment. I don't care. I was 17. Now? I'm like, local nearest importance of being earnest play near me featuring Paul Meskell. Like, fuck. I want to see it. Wow. So, go read the picture of Dorian Gray. This book fucked me up. It fucked me up in a good way. And I, it's so sad because I'm like, oh, there works by Oscar. Oh, it's just, you know, an unfortunate reality of intellectuals and academics always having been executed for telling the truth.

For putting society under a microscope. They get fucking executed for it. Girl, I watched this YouTube video the other day. 25 different philosophies and 10 minutes. And I'm like, hell yeah. I pulled it up. And it basically goes through, you know, any, from like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle to Confucius to like Thomas Aquanus to, you know, like modern philosophy. And like there's a through line with a lot of thought leaders, with a lot of mouthpieces for philosophical movements. So many of them are killed. Why do you think that is? So many of them are killed. Even when you get into like Malcolm X, John Lennon, these people that like represent progress, right, quote unquote, it's like they become martyrs because why?

They don't have to become martyrs. And in doing that, you like inspire a new generation. When we could have just let that keep going and maybe achieve more progress, who fucking knows? It's just so devastating to what I was watching this video getting pissed the fuck off because they killed Plato or no, it was Socrates, who killed Socrates. Socrates was sentenced to death by the Athenian court. He was accused of impiety and corrupting the youth. And after being found guilty, he was ordered to drink a poison hemlock. It was the jury of Athenian citizens who convicted him.

It's just like, and even shit like Galileo, Da Vinci, like all these people, they're, they become enemies of the church, enemies of the state. And it's like, for what? Why? I mean, I know why, but it doesn't have to be that way. It doesn't have to be that way. Me, Britney Brookey reacting to human history. Oh, what the fuck? Why?

They could have just not killed him and life would have been better. Anyway. Yeah, so go read some Oscar Wild. I have some other shit I'd like to talk about. Oh, I got my stint removed. I don't know if I'd told you all that. It went great. The gallbladder saga is,

officially behind us. It's officially probably embalmed in some formaldehyde somewhere in Rome, Italy. I don't know what they did with her. I don't know where they put her. Okay? My gallbladder can be on the black market somewhere. I don't know who wants it. It was necrotic and filled with gallstone. So I really am not at liberty to talk about the whereabouts of my gallbladder, but I do hope she's out there doing it okay. What? Do they just throw it away? What the fuck? How do hospitals dispose of dispose of organs?

Hospitals send this is AI overview. Hospitals primarily send removed organs and body parts to pathology labs for examination and analysis. After analysis, they are disposed of through incineration or other regulated waste disposal methods. In some cases, organs may be preserved for research purposes, or if the patient

requests and it's feasible return to the patient. Damn, should have asked my gall butter. I could have kept it on the desk. I could have kept it in a jar on the desk. Oh my God. I'm changing this podcast. You know that it's like, oh my God. I wish Drew was here. She would laugh at this. Do you know that group of people that honestly I believe I belong to that's like steampunk enthusiasts like cyberpunk girls were, They wear the Victorian boots, the lace-up boots, and, like, they dress. It's not cosplay because their houses are decorated like this. And usually they have, like, the victory rolls and the red lipstick.

It's like the vintage cosplayers, like sexy ladies. There's like that whole community. They're really tatted up. I have always been addicted to those type of women because they're so fucking cool. And I don't think I've admitted to myself that I might be. I might be that. Like my, look, my house is kind of getting, it's pushing into that territory. All my furniture is antique.

I've got those Victorian lampshades. All right. It's kind of like Texas meets 1875. I don't know. I really don't know, but I know that that's in me. That shit has always intrigued me. Girl, when we went to, where were we? I think it was Barcelona.

my mom and I went to, it was like, it wasn't a macabre museum. You know how they'll have those sometimes, like, history, or museum of the dead, or museum of the macab vecking, whatever. And it's like pinned butterflies and moths and bats and shit that's like weird and not fuckle pop, but like steampunk. It's like that. It's a real shrine to Victorian oddities. It's oddities, okay?

I'm going to decorate the Brosky Report set like that. So next time you see it, there's going to be lace everywhere, there's going to be wallpaper, there's going to be Victorian lampshades, there's going to be huge glass jars with like embalmed. Like that dumbass shit. Like, what is that? And it's never real. They're like embalmed chupacabra. What are you talking about?

And then I'm like, embalmed chupacabra. I'm going to have that. I'm going to have old dusty books. They have, they make those, I hope they're not real. But usually they're like fake taxidermy bats that hang upside down that you can pin. Sometimes they're real. I don't like that. But that shit, you know those oddity museums.

I love that. Oh, I was going to say, in Barcelona, me and my mom went to what used to be. I'm going to look it up. Yeah, dude, this was it. This was it. Hell, yeah. the Royal Academy of Medicine of Catalonia. This was so, so, so interesting.

Okay, as we know, medicine and the study of medicine has always been a point of intrigue, and there have been so many mishaps over the history of medical research, where, you know, from dissecting bloated corpses, where you, you know, you know, cut the stomach with a knife and it fucking explodes. Like that, this was the era of that, okay? They had little to no understanding of how a body decomposes, what organs are where, the function of each organ, studying things like bloodletting and leeches,

and all these archaic forms of healing that ultimately, they didn't know what they were doing. this was a learning amphitheater. So you can see here in this picture, and if you're not watching video, I'll describe it to you. Audio listeners! If you're an audio listener, make some noise.

Now shut up. If you're an audio listener, make some more noise. Yeah! Now stop. Okay. This is an amphitheater with tiered seating. It's in an oval shape. And in the middle of this room is a marble table that can fit.

The purpose is putting a human body on it. The floor is kind of concave. It goes down for draining reasons. Yeah, I'm fucking ew. There's a drain on the floor. And so the floor slopes down. There's a huge marble table. And then around it are seats.

And then above that are benches with like nice veld. cushion, whatever. And also in this room are these thick-ass velvet curtains all around. This was a very prestigious place to be. You had to be somebody to sit in this room and watch a surgical, you know, what is that called? It wouldn't be an autopsy. It's when they cut open a body. You know what I'm talking about. And this was a real place for learning. And we went in here and y'all, it's so well preserved, and it's also so macabre to think about this because, oh my God, one of the tour guides said,

if you were sitting in that front row, you were in the splash zone. Splash zone! Splash zone! Hey, what do you mean? Splash zone. Hey, I'm about to vomit. Hey, so what the fuck do you mean?

Splash zone, human body splash zone? SeaWorld, but it's guts. Okay. Splash zone. Yeah, please wear your COVID mask, okay? Because guts might get in your mouth. So they would sit here and they would watch and they would learn. And I'm not sure what the fuck they were learning because I think this was like 1700s or like late 1600s.

And I think this was used all the way up until maybe the late 1800s. But this whole building was so stunning. Oh my God. It was like these huge libraries, huge conference rooms with all like original furniture, original books. and it was just amazing. And this was, this is an example of many around the world of a learning environment where I'm not sure who the corpses were. I'm not sure who volunteered themselves to be kind of dissected and cut open.

But damn, so much of what we know about the human body is unfortunately through these sort of, you know, medical research opportunities. very, very tea, though, to go in here and be like, damn, the forward-thinking minds of medicine were in this room for centuries learning about things we still don't. We haven't figured out fully today. So yeah, very, very interesting. Let's move into Songs of the Week. I'm going to go ahead and throw Disease by Lady Gaga in there, and I'm also going to throw Crying in the Chapel by Elvis Presley. Actually, okay, the Elvis version and also the Rex Allen version. That's my favorite one. Crying in the Chapel by Rex Allen. And oh my God, Eurocountry by C-Mat.

Why have you bitches not told me about C-Mat? I really trust you guys. I read those comments and not one of you told me about C-Mat. That, oh my God, I could do a whole separate episode on the meaning of that song where we kind of learn it together. That song, EuroCountry by C-Mat is about the Irish economy and how the Celtic Tiger. and how Ireland was really the first country to be hit with the 2008 recession, and they felt it very intensely. It also addresses suicide within the Irish community, which is a staggering number.

It also, I mean, this, CEMAT is like your artist's favorite artist type of shit. You know what I mean? Like, she's ahead of it. And I also like that she's kind of in this realm of, Sam Fender and Mumford and Sons love C-MAT. It's like very political, but very real. Like there's no feigned academicism, and the lyrics are raw, and they are to the point, and they hurt.

And that's, it's great artistry. I mean, she's fucking incredible. I would also like to offer head down for the conversation by Get Down Services. Who the fuck is Get Down Services? They came on my kneecap radio. I was listening to Kneecap. And they came up and their music is, it's very talking like this and they're doing an accent.

It's really got big drums in the back. It's like I, I'm driving. I'm like, oh, okay, hold on. Okay, yeah. Okay, and then, and they followed me on Instagram. I'm freaking out. Who are they? Where did you guys cut?

Hey, Get Down Services. Where did you guys come from? I love them. I'd like to see them live. I'd like to get very, very violently high and go to a Get Down Services concert. Do you guys mind if I do that? Anyway, go to the Mahem Ball. Pray for me.

I might take an edible and have a panic attack. The Payham Ball. I might pay a little visit to the medic tent. The Mayhem Ball, okay? Might ruin everybody's night, just for fun. Got a look, greened out. Greened out. Abra, me and the medic tent.

And it really is like that. All right. Guys, there's an official playlist for all the bullshit songs that I recommend. Actually, they're not bullshit. They're really fucking good songs that I recommend because I have taste. If you ask me, I have taste. There's an official playlist linked in the description that my fantastic Squire Elizabeth put together for us. Go give that a listen.

There's also an unofficial playlist that some loyal member of BroSkey Nation has been working on for like the past four years. Every song I've ever mentioned in any capacity. Instagram story and interview my podcast. She adds that shit. I don't know who you are, but I am sending a big fucking hug to you. Please shoot me a DM. Whoever runs that playlist. If you want merch, go grab it.

It's at Broski. Shop. If you want to listen to my music, go do it. It's on Spotify wherever you listen to music. love you guys very much. Thank you for listening to me rant about the Victorians and how fuckered they were. Okay? I will see you guys next week. Goodbye. Garnier is proudly partnering with the National Park Foundation, the official non-profit partner of the National Park Service. Garnier's support of the National Park Foundation's

Service Corps program is enabling young adults and veterans to help care for and enhance the national parks that we all love. One of lend a hand, explore Garnier's partnership with the National Park Foundation, and learn how you can help. you can help support our national parks at Garnier USA.com slash NPF. Hi, everyone. This is Mariah Rose, co-host a full circle and the creator behind Hoops for Hotties. Whenever I'm headed out to a workout first thing in the morning or getting ready to yab about sports with the girls, I'm drinking Gatorade lower sugar. I've always been a Gatorade girlie, but I don't always need more sugar in my life. So Gatorade Lower Sugar is perfect. It has 75% less sugar than regular Gatorade and all the electrolytes.

It hydrates better than water and has no artificial flavor. sweeteners or colors. Try Gatorade Lower Sugar today. Available on Gatorade.com and in stores nationwide. On this episode of Plant Killers, we'll explore one nation's most notorious fruit and vegetable killer, bad dirt. What makes bad dirt so bad? The answer? The ingredients. But fear not, true crime enthusiasts. This story has a happy ending. Miracle grow organic raised bed and garden soil. It's made with quality organic ingredients from upcycled green waste like compost and aged bark. Unlike the other guys, Can't say the same. Looks like bad dirt's murdering days are over. Thanks to Miracle Grow. Join us next time on plant killers.