Three images in a row of Sarah Marie — on left and right, as ETHEgirl portrayed in 1940s pinup style; center a black and white headshot
(center) Sarah Marie; photo via Instagram; (left and right, respectively) "Cheers to Futures Past" and "I am the Dragon Breathing Fire" NFTs featuring a pin-upped ETHegirl; via OpeneSea

INDIEcent Exposure #45: NTRVW — ETHeGirl

ABOVE: (center) Sarah Marie; photo via Instagram; (left and right, respectively) “Cheers to Futures Past” and “I am the Dragon Breathing Fire” NFTs featuring a pin-upped ETHegirl; via OpeneSea

Heya, Brothers and Sisters!

Thanks for tuning in to Episode 45 of INDIEcent Exposure. I am your master of ceremonies, the mongrel, and I have to say, this is an episode of INDIEcent Exposure like no other that’s come before or probably that will ever follow. We will start off with a couple of great tunes I’ve been meaning to share with you but, the bulk of this extended episode will be an interview that I had with the brilliant, talented, brassy, sassy, and lovely actress, singer, model and crypto-entrepreneur, Sarah Marie, a.k.a. Ethegirl.

‘nexions

ETHegirl at OpenSea
ETHegirl at Instagram
ETHegirl on Twitter
Album: The Fire, by Kendra Black
Track: “Ghost,” by ALI3N SUP3R J3SUS

The main topic of our conversation was meant to be all about her new collection of highly stylized NFTs, inspired by pin-up art of yore but radiating with a powerful nd competent femininity that is finally getting the appreciating it deserves in more areas of professional and public life. What actually happened is that we talked about absolutely everything under the sun, and I had the opportunity to find out just what a multifaceted talent she is. We talked dogs. We talked personal safety. We talked family dynamics. We talked hunting and gaming and living and loving and trying to hustle a comfortable place for yourself on this planet at the near edge of Armageddon.

As I said, I’ve never brought you a conversation like this before, and I did NOT edit for length because when you’re hearing about her in the mainstream media, I want you to be able to say, “Yeah, I knew all about her good shit back in the day.” While you’re listening you should really take in her gallery of NFTs so you can get a sense of just what and who I’m talking about. There’s a link at the top of the shownotes, but if you’re not able to read the show notes on your podcatcher of choice, the link is opensea.io/ETHegirl  —  again, that’s opensea.io/ETHegirl

And we’ll roll that interview right after we roll a track from another of my favorite ladies, Kendra Black who released the album The Fire in 2019. For those of you who heard my interview with her, you know that there are many sides to her as well, but we’ll stick to her music right now with the tune “I’m better,” right here on INDIEcent Exposure.

NTRVW — ETHegirl

Editor’s Note: The Greylock Glass pays to have rough transcripts of interviews produced. We attempt to remain as faithful as possible to the speakers’ original meaning, and apologize for any errors of transcription. That said, even the imperfect transcription we perform is costly. Please support us financially by becoming a member or making a one-time contribution to help us continue to provide this service.

the mongrel: And with me on the line, actually, Skype is the one and only ETHegirl, Sarah Marie. Sarah, thank you for joining us on the show again. Again, I guess we should tell the listeners. Yeah, we should. Should we should because it’s going to sound like we’ve rehearsed this in some spots because we kind of have. We had a lovely conversation yesterday at about 2:00 PM Eastern time, and then my text hit the bed and we lost about 45 minutes worth of conversation.

ETHegirl: Actually an hour and 15.

the mongrel: Oh, but who’s counting? Right. And and it was we said a lot of great things. We we had a lot of laughs, became good friends. And fortunately we became good enough friends that when I told Sara Marie that everything just just crashed and burned, she was kind enough to say, All right, I’ll get up at at 730 in the morning to be ready to do the show all over again. And so I have to say thank you, Sara Marie.

ETHegirl: And of course, yeah, no problem. I am. I have walked to the wolf. I have a wolf. So he’s taking care of I’m pretty sure he’s sleeping next to me, but he’s too silent to hear.

the mongrel: And full, full bread, full blood, Wolf.

ETHegirl: He’s he’s 25% gray, Wolf. The other part of him is German Shepherd, Siberian husky, Alaskan malamute. And then he has some chow chow in there.

the mongrel: Oh, my gosh. So, you know, we didn’t even talk about that. But let’s let’s start that with that. Oh, Wolf is a and a chow. The chow is an extremely alpha kind of dog. Yeah, my my sister had a chow named Doyle.

ETHegirl: Oh.

the mongrel: He was a great dog. And. But he would not mind her. Yeah. Yeah.

ETHegirl: He’s cold. Definitely got some.

the mongrel: Of that in him. Yeah. She, he.

ETHegirl: Also has good he also has all those other dogs like all those other dogs that I just named off. They’re very similar. They don’t really like to, they don’t go by the rules. They have their own agenda going.

the mongrel: Well I was going to say they they comply. They don’t obey. They comply because because they’re like they understand. So what what made you decide to take on a a dog parent beast, beast like that when other people would probably be terrified. Yeah.

ETHegirl: So long story short, he was bought as a baby in the Sherman Oaks area. I’m assuming he was bought and they kept on leaving him home alone for 24, 48 hours plus at a time. And he would get out and one day he got out and he got hit by a car. And I think it was like his third escape and animal control was like, Hey, we warn you guys, he keeps getting out. He got hit like, you guys are taking care of him, so we’re not going to give him back. And fortunately, he’s. Or was young enough to. They decided he was young enough, so they got him all repaired because the car accident shattered the back leg. His back left leg. Yeah, but he was such a he was a puppy. So they fixed him up really good and fast. And they also fixed him. They gave him all his shots and then they didn’t really have anywhere to put him. So they put him in like, this little halfway house for cats. And so when I met him, he was the second dog. I met actually the third dog, the other ones that just didn’t. It’s like when, you know, you know. Yeah. So I met him. I went to this cat sanctuary and he comes flying out of the fucking house and with all these cats around and I’m like, Oh my God. And I look at this guy and he is just so hyper and so, like, just he’s crazy. And I just looked at him. I was like, Oh my God, only I can take you. And then we went on a walk, and by the end of the walk I was like, Oh yeah, this is my dog. As crazy as fuck as he is, this is my animal. And yeah, ever since then I had him.

the mongrel: Yeah, it can be love at first sight like that. More so I think with a dog than than with the human being.

ETHegirl: More so it was like you’re crazy as fuck. No one else can handle you but me. And I was like, So I need to take you. I need to take you under my belt.

the mongrel: Yeah. The four-legged in our house is a is a, is a Dixie dog and Dixie Dogs. There’s so many people who don’t spay or neuter their pets down south. Yeah. That it means that there are some amazing dogs down there that you can adopt. They bring them up here, they put them on a truck and they bring like 100 at a time. And you pick them out ahead of time.

ETHegirl: Yeah. I don’t I don’t know how I feel about that.

the mongrel: Well, I mean they’re going to get put down. I mean, that’s the thing they mean.

ETHegirl: Well, no, what I what I don’t.

the mongrel: Go ahead.

ETHegirl: The the it’s weird. It’s like I of course, like if I had the option, would I want to get my dog fixed? It’s like obviously I’m going to know, like, who’s he’s he’s around. I’m going to know that he can’t like, I wouldn’t let him impregnate a female dog, but yeah, I don’t I don’t know how I feel.

the mongrel: About all the all that stuff. Well, it’s, you know, it’s it’s a tricky business. It’s the thing is, up up here, north in Yankee Ville, most people do get their their dogs spayed or neutered. And what happens is if you go into if you’re going to adopt a dog from the Humane Society, I mean, when we were looking, what you had was rescued pit bulls. They were like half people, half shepherd, pit bull, half, you know, saber tooth tiger. There were a lot of dogs that may, may or may not have been like drug dealer dogs and was just like, it’s like really? And when you’ve got kids, you’re like, I don’t know if I want that in the house. So yeah, but if you go to the Dixie Dog site, they have, you know, golden retrievers and they have, you know, poodles and Chihuahuas and you name it, they’ve got it. And it’s not like it’s an industry. It’s just that there’s so many that get dropped off at the Humane Society. I know their choice is either, you know, and this one, she’s a mountain feist, which is like this little, little sausage dog. She’s kind of like a funny looking dog, but she clearly was an escape artist. Oh, yeah. Because she she’s really good at it. And you could tell that she lived on the road on her own by her wits. You’d get along with it. She lived by her wits for at least a probably six, eight months before you finally caught her. Yeah. And so she’s. She’s really. She obeys my wife. She tolerates me.

ETHegirl: That’s a it’s the other way around with me. I’m tolerated. And he obeys my boyfriend.

the mongrel: It’s. Yeah, yeah, it’s. It’s tough. It’s tough because, you know. Go ahead.

ETHegirl: Oh, no. I was just going to say, I think he tolerates we got this dynamic going on where it’s more of like a brother sister dynamic.

the mongrel: Got it.

ETHegirl: And yes. And it’s like, I know he loves me with everything he’s got. Like he is just my shadow, he is my protector, but he’s a little shit to me and he knows he can push me around. And so that’s why he does sometimes. And it drives me crazy.

the mongrel: Yeah, we had a we had a we had a dog called a it’s a German dog called a hoverboard, which it’s a beautiful dog. It’s imagine a Newfoundland. Big Shaggy Newfoundland. Oh yeah. But with the markings of a Rottweiler. Oh, my God, that’s gorgeous. Gorgeous dogs and super smart. They’re the precursor to the German Shepherd. Yeah, And their name means guardian of the farm or guardian of the estate. And that’s what they are. They’re so obsessed about making sure that all the shit is locked down where they live, that they’re.

ETHegirl: So.

the mongrel: Cool that they tend not to stray because they can’t imagine what might be going on, what kind of shit might be going down if they if they were to leave.

ETHegirl: Such Type-A dogs.

the mongrel: They’re really type A and he we got an adult, an intact male who is already three years old, He was looking for a new home and he just did not listen to my wife at all. I mean and the thing is, he would behave really well around me. And so it was it was a long time before I was like, You sing all this shit about his name with Salem, You talk all this shit about him. He’s a good boy. She’s like, Okay. Does what? Does the way he is around you. And then there’s who he actually is. Yeah. And then it turned out that he was like, So Alpha. My kids were little and he snapped at one of them and it was it was a bad scene. We shipped him back to the breeder. No harm, no foul. But I would love to raise one from a puppy one day. Anyway. So we’re talking dogs, We’re talking. We’re talking alpha dogs. And even, you know, even the fact that he does treat you like a little sister still, that suggests to me that that’s in line with who ETHegirl is as a strong, successful entrepreneurial woman in the 21st century.

ETHegirl: Yeah, he’s.

the mongrel: Companion. He’s a companion. And I’m sure I’m sure he’s a really reassuring presence to have on walks.

ETHegirl: Oh, my God. Yeah. People part the sees Betty.

the mongrel: Many people who look at him like.

ETHegirl: I am greatest.

the mongrel: I’m not going to smile at you. Yeah, I’m not even going to wave heights.

ETHegirl: But it is cute when they see him with me. Like when. When little women see him with me, they’ll be the first one to approach him. And no one, no one else would. But it’s like if they’re. If they look at me and they see me and they’re like my size. Woman Oh, he’s safe. And they go, they clobber him.

the mongrel: And I love it. And he laps it all up with the spoon.

ETHegirl: Oh, he loves it. He loves it.

the mongrel: So we we started talking yesterday, kind of, you know, your back story. I made the mistake of thinking that just because you’re up in northern your origins or Northern California, that you are a country girl and you corrected me, although I went back and read an article about your you’re getting into your being a finalist for Maxim. And you you did describe yourself as a Nevada country girl. So I’m going to hold you to that.

ETHegirl: Yeah. No. And like I said, like I was like such a chameleon. I didn’t fit anywhere. It’s I kind of just I kind of experienced everything. But mainly my my family was very hippie, like my mom and my aunt. Like I was saying yesterday, my aunt was born in a teepee outside of Houston, Texas, on a commune. So my oh, my, she has a lot of Cherokee Indian in her. So we were very hippie. But, you know, then I started hanging out with different people and I never fit in any place. So I would just, you know, I would hop to group to group. And one of the groups that I stayed in for quite a bit, they happened to be hunters and the really respectful kind, and they taught me everything I know with firearms and they taught me how to protect myself in that way with those things. And yeah, they taught me a lot and I think that’s where the country comes to be.

the mongrel: Gotcha. Yeah. Now, there’s some good hunting in Northern California.

ETHegirl: Oh, there is. If you can get a good deer tag.

the mongrel: Is it is it expensive? It’s very.

ETHegirl: Difficult. It’s it’s expensive and it’s difficult. A lot of people want to hunt. So your chances of getting the zone that you want is is pretty hard to get, huh?

the mongrel: That’s interesting. Massachusetts. It’s pretty it’s pretty easy. And yeah, we. I need more hunters here because the deer population is exploding. Yeah, and people don’t realize if you don’t have. Something to thin the herd. It gets you’re going to get diseased animals. You’re going to get sick.

ETHegirl: Oh, yeah, Yeah. You’re going to yeah, you’re going to get that or you’re going to get inbred or are you going to get there’s something’s going to go wrong.

the mongrel: And you’re going to be hitting them in your car at 60 miles an hour.

ETHegirl: Add that to that, too, and that could hurt you.

the mongrel: So no hunting. I mean, hunting is a thing and there’s a reason that’s a thing.

ETHegirl: Yeah. In the state of California, I feel like there are just so many people that want to hunt. And I feel like those people don’t understand that there’s so many states that actually really need help in that area. Hmm. I mean, I would I would love to deer hunt where you’re at, especially if it’s, like, overpopulated.

the mongrel: Yeah, it’s and it’s really there’s some really gorgeous, gorgeous domains to choose from. I mean, it’s, you know, New England cold, crisp mornings. Yeah. Really, It’s it’s a thing.

ETHegirl: Yeah, But, you know, one deer that gives you meat all year if done properly.

the mongrel: Yeah. Yeah. No, I have. I have always wanted to do bow hunting and I’ve never, I’ve never tried that. And because I think that kind of fits my, I think that would be my, my, my sort of my Zen moment. Yeah. Being out there because, you know, you’ve got to get really pretty close and then you got to be quiet and you get to sort of know your terrain really well. And I feel like that would be like my thing.

ETHegirl: Yeah.

the mongrel: Compound bow.

ETHegirl: That. Yeah. I honestly, I think I’m too tiny for the compound. Bone bows. I definitely could get one for my size and could learn, but I just haven’t touched base on that at all.

the mongrel: Yeah. No there’s, there’s, there’s, there is a strength factor and a size factor. I mean, yeah. Those suckers, you know, pulling those back or, or.

ETHegirl: Oh, Jesus Christ.

the mongrel: Like I just. But you’re in good shape though. I. You seem to have some, some good muscle tone there. Yeah. I guess you’ve got the strength for it. It’s just getting used to it.

ETHegirl: Yeah. No, I definitely I definitely have the muscles for it, but it’s. I feel like also would be one of those things where if I got a compound bow, take a lot of time to learn and to it just it would be time consuming.

the mongrel: Right.

ETHegirl: And I feel like there is so much more that I still have to learn and all the other areas with like.

the mongrel: Yeah, I get you trying to get your acting career, you know? Yeah. And rowing and you’re trying to do more modeling and yeah, there’s only one life here. That’s the thing that sucks.

ETHegirl: I know, I know. But I would like to. I would like to hunt, like, soon, Probably within this next year. I would love to either deer hunt or. But then I would have to get the industrial sized freezer or duck on. I love duck hunting.

the mongrel: Hmm. Duck hunting? Yeah. I don’t know if Tuscany is as big here as as it is in other places. I know that. And the like. The mid-Atlantic, you know, Carolinas and places like that. The big duck hunting down there. Yeah, but, you know, hey, I’ve got friends who are big hunters here. If you should decide to take a trip out to Massachusetts. Yeah, I would love to. I’ll hook you up with these guys. They’re good guys, and they’ll. They’ll set you up, and they have the freezer, right? So what you do is you arrange with them to store your kill, and it’ll all be like freezer pack. Right, right, right. And that way, when you want it, you just pay a to ship it out there in a cooler.

ETHegirl: Oh, I like that. I like to do that. That’s a good.

the mongrel: Service. I think. You know, actually that’s that is a good service. Maybe that’s a great service. Yeah. It pays better than journalism. So. So let’s talk about your origins. Yes, hippie. You’re actually on your birth certificate. It’s. It’s. It’s glowing. Moonbeam, I think, is probably your name.

ETHegirl: I it would be. It would be Sunbeam.

the mongrel: Sunbeam, Sunbeam. So the that that you left you’ve actually traveled around a bit and you were getting your your modeling career going and acting career pretty early on. How how old were you when you kind of get started with that?

ETHegirl: So to reiterate from yesterday when I did.

the mongrel: Keep rubbing that in, are, you.

ETHegirl: Know, no, no.

the mongrel: No.

ETHegirl: I want people to know and and I’m trying to think of, like, new ways to say it. So it’s not the same conversation. Got it. I think I’m doing pretty good. So when I was young, I did. Commercials. When I was very young, I don’t know where to find them at this point. Yeah, I started doing that. And then I did do the modeling thing here and there, but with the commercials, I there was a brief time where I took a hiatus because at the time of when I was like three going on to four, that’s when my speech impediment started kind of holding me back from things. And I couldn’t say my hours or my asses. And so I had to go to a speech therapy for a long time. So there was like a bunch of commercials when I was like cute and tiny and didn’t have to say much. And for the modeling thing, that was kind of all throughout my life, I didn’t really consider it modeling. I just considered it, you know, photos were being taken of me. But yeah, so the commercial thing was when I was very young, it was like for small town stuff.

the mongrel: Yeah, well, I did I did the speech therapy myself as, as we talked yesterday, I couldn’t say my R’s. And I still I kind of said like Humphrey Bogart, kind of out of the side of my mouth.

ETHegirl: Yeah.

the mongrel: Yeah. And, and I still sometimes slide into that after probably after that martini that I had last night, probably a little bit that I know did the Bogart thing there.

ETHegirl: I understand.

the mongrel: It.

ETHegirl: But you know what’s funny about that is I actually so I couldn’t say my R’s or my asses. And I’ve noticed and this is like really recently that when I say my R’s and my ass is the left side of my face does something way different. And that is tied in with why people think I look like Scarlett Johansson, because she does this thing with the left side of her face. I couldn’t be getting it wrong either on the right side of her face or the left side of her face. But we do the same shit, and I don’t know how to stop it.

the mongrel: I wonder if she had speech. Speech impediment?

ETHegirl: I have no idea. But when people say that I look like her, like I get a couple people like. But majority of the time it’s that I look like her. And it’s I really do think it’s because she talks with, like, the left side of her face. And I and I do that as well. And that’s because I have to try harder with my R’s and my S’s. And it goes to the left side of my face, if that makes sense.

the mongrel: Interesting. Yeah, I can kind of sort of see the the. But I’m guessing that probably, like you said, it’s not so much like your the features but but how your face. Yeah. Does that thing.

ETHegirl: Yeah yeah exactly. Because I do not think I.

the mongrel: Look like her at all. I could see a little bit you know. But then again people have said that I look like this person or that person. I’m like, No way. So that’s that is a that is an interesting factoid about you, because I know that when you have a speech impediment, it can affect self esteem and you kind of.

ETHegirl: Have to get those.

the mongrel: Yeah, yeah, you have to get over that. Go ahead.

ETHegirl: Eventually I did. But you know, like, I mean, you know, I don’t I don’t know if we had the same experience though. Like I got I got made fun of all the time. I could not talk and I was so shy and I was so. I was. I was so shy about not being able to talk like everybody else. And I got made fun of to where it literally made me go silent. And it was because I was embarrassed and I would have my mom as long as I could. I would have my mom introduced me because I couldn’t say my own name, which has Sarah. It’s an honor. And she would introduce me and I just I didn’t ever want to talk because I just remember either people couldn’t understand me, and then it would take them a long time to figure out what I was trying to say or I would get made fun of by the kids at my school. So, yeah, I just I was silent for a long time up until I was like nine years old. I was just shy and not wanting to open my mouth.

the mongrel: Now I’ve read that you and I had this experience to not to to make this at all about me. But I understand it that you found that singing did not give you the same problem.

ETHegirl: No, I didn’t have to enunciate.

the mongrel: Yeah, and because your mouth is opening very wide. Yeah, I think that there’s something that your brain does that makes it so that you don’t have to think about enunciation. Yeah. Yeah. So do you. You sing now. It sounds like you might be a second soprano or. Or an alto.

ETHegirl: Oh, I can all I can alternate throughout anything. Got it. Singing. Singing was my. I feel like it saved me and I feel like it also. I mean, music is a huge part of my life. Singing definitely saved me and it gave me a voice. I didn’t have to enunciate number one. That was obvious, but. I kind of just found a power within it. But I was I’m such a shy human being that I never thought I was good. So when I sang, I sang for myself because it made me feel incredible. So it wasn’t until recently, actually, like maybe two years ago that I could actually get up on a stage and sing because I was so used to like being with choir performers. So there would be 20 to 40 of us on the stage, right? And we were all singing next to each other. So I didn’t it didn’t matter how loud I was. And even even then I would restrict myself because I felt like I was too loud, like I never wanted to be too loud. I never wanted to have I never wanted people to think that I wanted their eyes to be on me. And so I always kept it at bay and I just kind of sang with everybody else. And then, as you know, I grew up well, as I grew up, something happened around 21. I don’t know what the fuck it was, but all of a sudden, me being shy, me being, I just transformed overnight. I don’t know what it was. All of a sudden I had a voice and I. I demanded to be respected and I demanded people to listen to me. And ever since then, I. I’ve just developed, like, this very strong, very forward personality and. I’m. Yeah. That happened. I don’t know. I don’t know who to thank for that, but it just I, I grew later on in life and yeah, now I’m just. My personality is very big. It’s very loving, it’s very compassionate. I’m pretty genuine. I would have to say. I just. I connect with people.

the mongrel: You strike me as a pretty authentic individual who’s, you know, there are people who are different depending on who they’re with. And then there are people who basically they are who they are mostly with anybody. And you strike me as the sort of person who’s Yeah, that’s me. You don’t you don’t want to really spend a lot of energy trying to come up with all these different skins that you’re going to wear.

ETHegirl: Oh, it’s exhausting. I have one skin. It’s just.

the mongrel: Mine. Yeah. So I think we talked a little bit about yesterday, about your about your mom. And I wonder if I wonder if, as you got older through your teen years, the lessons that you picked up, whether you knew it or not, as you’re growing up, maybe sort of you might have internalized those your mother was a you grew up with a single mom, right? Yeah. Yeah. Who became, I’m guessing, probably one of your best friends.

ETHegirl: Yeah, my mom was definitely one of my mom. My mom was even for a single mom. She always was the mom. You know, she never wanted to try to be my friend. She was the she was the mom. You know, she. Taught me ways of life and. But she took no shit. And her and I. As much as we love each other and she knows me very well, and I know her very well. We. We butted heads a lot because around 1516, I started developing my voice, and I. First in my home, and I started just not taking shit from people. And I don’t know where that came from. Maybe she had a little bit to do with it, but my mom, as much as I love her, she she can be a very controlling woman. And I think that caused me to not rebel. It was not rebelling. It was me being like, okay, I know that you have these controlling aspects of yourself and I need you to know that that’s not healthy for me. So her and I would, but has all the time. And she is an extremely strong woman. But yes, she does have a little control issues. But yeah, I got a lot of that from her and she always spoke her mind, as far as I can remember, especially with our family. But yeah, I got I got a lot of that from.

the mongrel: I can tell you, from from having kids that you teaching them all the time. You’re you’re providing them with a template all the time. And, and both my kids are extremely self confident in many areas, not all areas but many areas. And they say what’s on their mind. And they they don’t understand because I never treated them like little kids. Right? I mean, I didn’t baby talk them ever. Yeah. And I always I always had really high expectations for them. So now they’ve they’re growing up and they’re meeting those expectations. And sometimes I’m like, oh shit, did I, did I intend did I really want them to be have such strong will? Did I really want that? I think ultimately it’s it’s good. Great. Your mother, you know, you you talked about how your mother really was overprotective. I mean, this was in yesterday’s conversation. Oh, yeah. But yeah. And how that was something that you’ve had to kind of get over. But at the same time, it it also you took that with you when you left home.

ETHegirl: Yeah. Yeah. So yes. So I’m a my mom was very overprotective because she only had a little girl and she just put in my head, you know, do not trust people. I remember not even being able to walk down the next grocery aisle without her because she was fearful of me being taken or stolen. And that was throughout, honestly, until I left the house at 17. And I thank her for it because when I left and when I was on my own, those kind of I always protected myself. I always knew my whereabouts. I always just, you know, I scanned every room.

the mongrel: Situational awareness.

ETHegirl: Yeah. And I took that from her for sure. Did I? Do I think that it set me back a little because I was so scared sometimes. But, you know, I also always want with my gut. And I think it I think overall it made me extremely smart and cautious. And if anybody has a daughter who’s 17, going off into a city that you are not close to, you would want her to be exactly that. Even if it’s a little overly at times like there is, there’s there’s no harm in being overly cautious about your own personal safety.

the mongrel: These days, especially. I mean, yeah, there have always been dangers. You know, when I was a kid and this was, you know, back in the Stone Age, but my parents, you know, my mom, basically, she would kick us out. This is like summer vacation time. She’d kick us out and say, this is like after lunch, I don’t want to see you until dinner. Like, literally, I don’t give a fuck where you go, but stay out of my hair for the next 6 hours. And we took that. We took that to heart. And I mean, the things we did and the places we went and the trouble that we mostly didn’t get caught at. I can’t imagine most parents doing that today. I don’t. I don’t. My wife is also a little bit more like, I think your mom probably. She’s very, very overprotective. I try to be the the sort of lenient one. Lenient one. But we have come to a sort of a. A middle point where what we’re doing is we’re slowly giving them freedom and teaching them like, for example, what we’re doing is we’re saying, okay, here is a dollar 75 for the bus for each of you. Go down, go take the bus. It drops you off right in front of the movie theater. Go buy some tickets, go watch a movie together, then find your way back to the bus stop and come home.

ETHegirl: Yeah. Do you guys have boys?

the mongrel: I Yes, I have. We have two boys.

ETHegirl: Two boys.

the mongrel: So. Oh, you guys got lucky. Yeah, well.

ETHegirl: No boys are. Oh, my gosh. I have two little brothers, and they’re the most amazing little things in the world. Hmm.

the mongrel: Well, I mean, you know, people say that boys are easy, and in some ways, yeah.

ETHegirl: Yeah, in some ways.

the mongrel: Yes, in some ways. I mean, I was not easy. And I think that the the thing that my mother did, she said. Jokingly. But, you know, she’s kind of got some wittiness to her. So she so she said, I hope you have children who are every bit do or just like you. And I’m like, that doesn’t sound like a wish. A warm wish. That sounds like a curse and gypsy with you. So, yeah, So that’s kind of that’s what happened. And I have kids who.

ETHegirl: Are like me. I know for a fact that I was much harder than both my brothers. Well, one brother came from my biological dad’s side, and then the other one came from my mom’s side after she got married when I was around ten. And both of those boys are just they’re angels compared to what I was. You know, I talked to my mom. Now I’m like, God damn it, Like I was a fucking asshole. And she trauma blocked it, of course, because she loves me. Sure. She’s like, You weren’t that bad. I was like, Mom, I like I remember calling you a cunt. Like, please don’t. Don’t sugarcoat it. Like, I was not perfect. She’s like, No, you never said that. I’m like, Yes, I did. Yes, I did.

the mongrel: Well, she’s she’s trauma blocked it, but at the same time, yeah, I’m going to say something. Parenthood is is really largely about trauma blocking. Yeah. Because if you remembered all the shit that your kids did, you wouldn’t raise them until they were old enough to breed. And you wouldn’t like them. You wouldn’t like them and you wouldn’t want to take care of them. So my kids, they I love them to death and and I wish them all the success in the world, but I really want them to reach that point. I’ll probably be dead and gone before they do where they say, you know, he actually was on to something there. He actually knew some shit. Yeah, because it takes a while before you get to that point where you’re like, you look back at your parents and say, Oh, they knew some shit.

ETHegirl: Yeah, but isn’t it isn’t it weird? I don’t know if you’ve experienced this yet, but isn’t it weird? We all go through that point where we’re like, Oh, maybe they knew some shit. I went through that. Like from the age of 20 to 24. I called my mom for like four years straight, being like, Goddamn, thank you for making me who I am. Thank you for being who you are. Like, I apologized for being a little shit when I was a teenager. I was an emotional wreck and just like you’re the greatest. And then time went by, and then I started seeing her as a human versus my mother.

the mongrel: Right?

ETHegirl: And then I started seeing her flaws as well, because, you know, I was a grown adult. I was, you know, I was well into who I am now. And, you know, this was only a couple of years ago. And it’s just like I think there’s stages where you see your parents. And then I saw her in a different light where it wasn’t like she was the superhero and she knew everything. It was like, Oh, no, you’re a human too. You make mistakes, you don’t know everything. And then that was like, that was a very big thing for me because I’m like, Oh shit, this, you know, this woman that literally gave her life to raise me, to make me who I am, to make my brother. And I’m looking at her now and, you know, I’m taller than her and I and she seems more fragile, and all of a sudden, she’s not this, like, superhero anymore. And I’m looking at her. I’m like, Oh, my God, you’re a human. And you make mistakes, too.

the mongrel: Yeah, It’s almost it’s almost Well, for me, I mean, I still get along really well with my mom. We had some friction. I know mothers and daughters tend to butt heads no matter what, but yeah, fathers and sons do, too. My father was a actually a monster. My father was a complete monster.

ETHegirl: Mine was as well. But he my mom made sure he wasn’t in the picture to be that monster to me.

the mongrel: Yeah, unfortunately, it happened a little too late. The my parents did eventually get. That’s all right. You know, it’s water under the bridge in a way, because it never quite leaves you. They did get divorced and fortunately, they got divorced in time that my little brother was spared a lot of what I went through, which was good, good. But at the same time, here’s the thing, see? I felt really good about hating him. I feel perfectly comfortable in hating him. In fact, he hated. I was in theater when I was in high school. He hated it. He assumed that only only gay men did theater. And. And that just was not intolerable. I mean, I took actual ass whippings for being in theater, which was like, for fucking monster. So sorry. Right. And so he. He never went to a single show of mine. And then my son and daughter are in their first sort of semi-pro theater production. And it’s opening night. And I get a phone call saying, Your father is on his deathbed in the hospital. Come quickly. Right.

ETHegirl: Oh, Jesus.

the mongrel: Yeah. And I thought about it. Well, first it was like they call me two days. Actually, no, I think it was. They call me at night when they call me at like 6:00 in the morning. They said he’s only got about maybe a month to live. And then they call me back 4 hours later. He’s only got about two weeks to live and they call me back. Get here now. So he just the bottom dropped out of his system. And I sat there and I thought about it and I thought about it and I thought about it. And I said, You know what? Fuck you, fuck yourself. And he asked for me at the end, I’m told. And then when they told him no, they didn’t want to come. He just apparently sighed and he kind of nodded his head. So I felt pretty good about that because, hey, I’m sticking up for my my kids. I’m there for them instead of this prick. Yeah, but here’s the thing. In the intervening years, I have actually come to understand. Not forgive, not excuse, but I’ve come to understand more of why he was the way he was. And I never wanted to achieve that understanding.

ETHegirl: Well, do you think it was just like, mainly a generational thing?

the mongrel: No, no, I think. I think he’s a fucking monster. But. But I think that there were things that.

ETHegirl: He did like things that he went through to make him.

the mongrel: That way. Right. Right.

ETHegirl: And I can only assume probably the worse shit.

the mongrel: Yeah. I mean, he went through terrible stuff himself as a kid, and, and, and there were also tools that he didn’t have. Emotional, emotional tools, coping tools that we kind of know because we live in the 21st century and we understand a little bit more. But yeah, so growing up is is really tough because you have to you have to cope with all of the shit that you now understand. So that’s that’s my little confessional right there. So, yeah, Fathers segment suck. We’ve talked we talked about that yesterday too, generally speaking, and I include myself in that I try to be a modern sort of 21st century guy, and I fall. I fall the fuck down. I know I do. I try to.

ETHegirl: Be. But you know what? As a woman, I fall the fuck down. But I. I don’t want to go around saying, Hey, all men fucking suck. I think there’s just a very big handful of men that do suck. And unfortunately they’ve been throughout history, the ones that kind of regulate things. And, and they, you know, the, the light has been shined on them and the crap they’ve done. So it does make things harder for. You. Ha. No one’s perfect. But yeah, there was a gender that sucked a little bit more. It would be men.

the mongrel: Now, let me ask you this. You’re you’re in California. You’re in Los Angeles in a somewhat enlightened place, but you’ve also lived elsewhere. You’ve lived in Florida, right?

ETHegirl: I visit there.

the mongrel: Oh, no.

ETHegirl: I lived there for each time I did. It was like for a month at a time.

the mongrel: Okay, so but you you’re aware anyway, that there are places that are not California or Massachusetts. They have very different sort of culturally programed attitudes. Yeah. And the the thing that people say is that it feels more and more like we’re going into The Handmaid’s Tale. Yeah. Do you feel as a woman that the country is maybe taking a step backward when it comes to women and women’s, you know, respecting?

ETHegirl: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what’s weird, though, is I was thinking the other day, I think it was yesterday, and I was talking to my boyfriend about it, and we were watching something. Oh, we were watching. So I, I love the show American Dad, and I’ve watched it through and through, but I haven’t watched the first couple episodes in seasons and so goddamn long. And when we were watching them and he hadn’t seen them yet, so he was used to the, the new ones and how they were. So we went back, started watching the first season and they were so fucking brutal and it was hilarious. And they said things that they could not say today, like they were saying these huge, like outrageous, fucked up things that were clearly a joke. And I just remember him looking at me and be like, Holy shit, this is so different from what they make now. And it’s it’s true. So to answer your question, I think I. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I kind of feel like we’re at that point where. Yes. All this crap is happening and we seem like we’re going back in the stone ages when it comes to like women’s rights and all that shit. But then there’s also another part or another piece of society that I feel like is really giving me the kind of hope and confidence that it’s not going to remain that way that we’re actually progressing. But right now we’re in this weird limbo because of, for example, the, the, the women’s rights right now. Like, it’s it’s in this weird limbo. But and I don’t know where it’s going to go. I hope it’s going to I. Yeah.

the mongrel: Well, I think I think I mean, you know, I know sometimes getting all up in the political sphere of conversation can be difficult.

ETHegirl: And I’m fine with that. I’m totally cool with it.

the mongrel: You know, I think it’s it’s I think that you can hold to things that seem to be disparate. I think you can hold them both in your head at the same time. I, I believe we need to expand rights for all peoples, you know, women, gays, lesbians, trans, everything. I also feel like a lot of communities need to stop being so damn woke. Yeah, because sometimes it just sounds like whiny bitch little stuff.

ETHegirl: And that’s what it is though.

the mongrel: And the thing is, it’s like, okay, so you want to fight for rights. You want to fight for respect. How do you do that in such a way that doesn’t that that is speaking the language of, you know, the common clay? Because like, you know, if you go to, you know, let’s we said Florida, let’s talk go back to Florida because that is one of the states that women really are. I’m surprised that women that they’re not like leaving the state at great. I mean, some of them are actually some are moving out. But, you know, single women who have no reason to be there. But the the OC, I have I lived in Tennessee for several years and there are plenty of people who are gay and can’t come out. They’re just never going to come out. Right. Makes me sad. And their parents won’t accept them, their communities won’t accept them. But it’s not so much that that that’s the tragedy. It’s that there are families who would still be big, happy families that gather together on the barbecue and whatever, and they have all the same fun if they just got over it. Right.

ETHegirl: I know it’s the ignorance. Should goddamn people just need to get over it. As long as people are fucking happy and healthy and love with whoever they want to be in love with. I don’t see an issue.

the mongrel: No. Yeah. And I just. I just know that probably more people would be accepting. It’s just that like. It’s like, who’s going to blink first? You have to come out and you have to say, I accept you or you have to go to your church. And if somebody says anything about your your lesbian daughter or whatever, you just have to step up and say, you know what? You know, I’ll let I’ll let that be between me and God. And you can just shut your mouth. And the more people who say that, I think the faster it will progress. Go ahead.

ETHegirl: I think it’s as simple as just being not ignorant.

the mongrel: You know.

ETHegirl: It’s just ignorant to say that two people can’t love each other because such and such.

the mongrel: Yeah, that is just.

ETHegirl: That’s just silly. And I same goes for all that kind of stuff. It’s just ignorance. It’s just like you don’t. I just love who you want to love. If you’re happy and you’re healthy, that’s that’s the most important thing. It should just stop it there.

the mongrel: Yeah, I think you’re right, though. I think that we are progressing. It’s just like a lot of other things. You get bumps in the in the in the graph. You know, you get peaks and you get valleys, you know? Hey.

ETHegirl: And then yeah, and then there’s also like social media that, you know, they all have an agenda as well.

the mongrel: Yeah.

ETHegirl: And do they navigate things to make people think certain things And that’s scary as shit.

the mongrel: And we can’t control that. Yeah. I mean keeping people in these echo chambers.

ETHegirl: Yeah.

the mongrel: Showing you just sort of reinforcing your worst the. Worst of you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, 100 years ago, it was a scandal if an Irishman married an Italian girl. So. Which is crazy, right? It’s fucking crazy. So, you know, But look at where we are now. You know, we’ve we’ve we’ve gotten to the point where, you know, in most places, even the south, you’ll find mixed race couples. And people generally don’t say a thing about it. So, I mean, it’s you and I know that there’s no reason that we should be waiting for progress. But no, obviously.

ETHegirl: I mean, love is love. And as long as people are healthy and happy, there is that that’s as simple as it needs to be.

the mongrel: There you go. Right from the girl’s mouth. Love is love. Let’s talk a little bit about about love and about the the many loves of of ETHegirl here. You you have a wide range of interests. And that is one of the things that really, really kind of piqued my interest in talking to you. The fact that you are you’re you’re a complex character, kiddo. That’s what I can say. You in addition to acting and singing and modeling and and now, Wolf, raising you, you have you and I share a real a real love. And that is gaming. Yeah. And we talked a little bit about that yesterday, and.

ETHegirl: I could talk about it for the rest of my life.

the mongrel: I know. Right? So we talked about I’m going to I’m going to date myself here really badly. But we already everybody knows that I’m I’m an old crotchety bastard, so that’s not anything new. But I my first video game was actually a a home console of the game pong. Okay. I don’t even know if you know it. Pong is.

ETHegirl: It? Yeah. No, no, no. Of course. Goes back into my mom.

the mongrel: It. Blip, blip, blip. It’s just tennis. A little a little square going back and forth. And. And that was the original I think might have been I can remember which there are a couple of different people who put it out as console and then of course, I get to see the development of you know, Battle Zone and Pac-Man and Tempest and all that thing giving away, giving rise to much more sophisticated games. What do you remember as your first early video game experiences?

ETHegirl: Oh, my first one, my stepdad borrowed a Gamecube from, I think his brother. It was a card game and it was of Disney characters. And I played that and I was like, Oh, this is really cool. This is fun. And then I swear to God, like a month later the Xbox came out and we got it. And, and my my stepdad, like, he’s the one that got me into gaming. Like, he got that Xbox. He knew what was happening. He’s a he also back in the day. So this was before my brother was born. So when I was around ten years old, he made his own computers and he was very much into that world.

the mongrel: So so he techie stuff was all about. He was all about that.

ETHegirl: Yeah. But then I surpassed him by 16. It’s really funny. So yeah. And then we immediately got an Xbox and so on. Xbox, of course, like Halo was the big thing. And then I think actually there was a time period before we went from the Gamecube to the Xbox. There was a PC moment for me that would just enlighten me. I remember playing. I don’t remember what it was. I know it was a vampire game that scared the shit out of me, and I had to have like a parent home at all times in order to play it. I know I also played Silent Hill on the PC, which I was like 11 years old, so that was completely fucked up. But mainly Battlefield and Age of Empire. I was all about on PC. I thought Battlefield was just the most to me Battlefield just on the PC specifically, I never needed Call of Duty. And yeah, so I played that. It played Gears of War. Oh, I played Doom. Doom was a good one.

the mongrel: Doom was, Yeah, that was a and that’s been around for a long time, so.

ETHegirl: A long time. Yeah. And I played that on the PC. Then we transitioned over to the Xbox. The Xbox was all about Halo. Then I got into Gears of War. That’s where I learned how to curb Stomp someone, and that was a great game. And then of course, I fell hardcore in love with Morrowind, which was the first of the Elder Scrolls games to come out. And that game was fantastic.

the mongrel: So let’s let’s let’s take this kind of piece by piece here because these games have they offer a lot of different experiences. I mean, it’s like Silent Hill, for example. That is a it’s a it’s a horror game. And it is even today, it’s you know, it sends prequels, you know, it’s oh.

ETHegirl: It holds.

the mongrel: Up somehow.

ETHegirl: No one’s done it like Silent Hill.

the mongrel: No, no, no one.

ETHegirl: Like when you when you’re walking around and you hear that fucking noise coming underneath a vehicle. Yeah. Like static or radio noise with that screech and you look underneath and that fucking, if anybody is listening and they know exactly what, what I’m talking about. Yeah, there is this fucking monster that’s all white under there, just with his long limbs. That scared the shit out of me, I Ken.

the mongrel: Yeah, I mean, and, you know, I’m glad that you say that because I’ve let my kids play games probably a little earlier than. No, I know, but yeah, what the hell I actually am now. It’s sort of it’s a new father son thing with with one of my boys who is my csco, my Counter-Strike global offensive buddy. And so we typically try and team up, but occasionally we we go head to head. And he he doesn’t like the fact that I actually was playing first person shooters long before he was around. And I actually have skills I think he’s he wants to be able to just say, well well I’m going to kick your your ass old man. Yeah. And then he does. And he does sometimes, but but not, not without a fight. So. Yeah, but yeah, I was. I was all about Ghost Recon. And when I was, you know, probably, I guess would have been, well, I’m not going to say how old. Long time ago. 21. 22 or so. 2003, whenever it came out. Now of course they have and we have it on Xbox, we have Ghost Recon Wildlands. Right. Which is awesome because although it’s technically a first person shooter, it’s also a strategy. Yeah, you know, it’s not like Ghost Sisco, where basically you should just shooting people all the time. High, high adrenaline does great stuff or serotonin levels, whereas Ghost Recon, you have to kind of spend time walking, thinking, planning, figuring out how to get into this thing or how to get on to this thing. So it’s a different experience. And, you know, battlefield is is a different experience, different experience from certainly age of empires, which I still love to play. I’ve got Age of empires six. I cannot go multiplayer because I get my ass kicked every single time. I’ve never been.

ETHegirl: No. Yeah, not a multiplayer kind of girl. Did you ever play a Half-Life? Didn’t you say that yesterday?

the mongrel: I did. I did try it out. I don’t think it wasn’t. It’s kind of weird because I have periods of my life where I could give time to gaming, right? And and then I’d have periods of time where that just was not, you know, I sort of set it aside, so. I have I have tragically, I have holes in my gaming history.

ETHegirl: I understand. Me too. I do, too. I did do a Half-Life I it was a little before my time and I feel like if I were to get into it, I did a little bit, but I don’t. I don’t know what happened to make me. It doesn’t sound like me to just stop playing that game. I don’t know what happened. Maybe we moved. All I know is there was this huge transition when I found the Elder Scrolls game, Morrowind, and then that took over my life for, I want to say, a good three years. And just all those Elder Scrolls games, they were like the top notch. They gave me everything I wanted and if I needed that first person like shooter game, I could always go back to Battlefield. And then I remember we got rid of the PC, so the battlefield was a no go. But then Halo kind of took over and then I would like alternate because I still needed that first person shooter. So I would alternate between two games and then fuck. In my twenties I discovered fallout and fallout. Oh my God, just the most beautiful fucking game. I thought nothing would be the Elder Scrolls games for me. Like Oblivion was great, even though it’s my least favorite of all of them. Morrowind again, my favorite. Let’s see, what else is there?

the mongrel: You know, Fallout is out now with a virtual reality game. Now let’s see. Really? Yeah. Fallout. Is it fallout? Is it on the Oculus? I’m looking. I’m looking, uh, follow six. So my that is is a good.

ETHegirl: Follow.

the mongrel: Six. No.

ETHegirl: It’s. If it’s coming out, it’s going to be follow six.

the mongrel: But virtual fallout, Virtual Reality and the Legend of Vault 112. Well, we’ll have to check this out offline here because it. It looks like it’s out, but I’m just trying to. I can’t.

ETHegirl: I feel like I would know about it if it was out. Maybe they’re experimenting with it.

the mongrel: Maybe.

ETHegirl: So far, they have Fallout 76 and they. They update it all the time. All the time. And it Fallout 76 Got a lot of shit when it came out.

the mongrel: Oh, this is this is fallout for VR and. The. Come on. I know you value my privacy to date. So, Fallout four, legendary post-apocalyptic adventure from Bethesda. Winner of more than 200 Best of award. But Ba ba ba finally comes in its entirety to VR.

ETHegirl: Yeah, I Googled it.

the mongrel: Okay. All right.

ETHegirl: I’m going to give them two years to make this good.

the mongrel: Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don’t know. Then I don’t have an Oculus. I haven’t. I haven’t made that leap yet. I know that they’ve gotten better, but I don’t want to. I’m going to wait. I’m going to wait.

ETHegirl: I’m going to. I’m going to wait. My brother has one. I thought it was amazing, but yeah, I’m going to stick to my follow up games in my Elder Scrolls games until then.

the mongrel: Okay, So now again, I don’t want to make this all about being a woman here because there’s more about being human than being a woman. But aw, man. But I do have to ask that. Have you ever have you ever got any shit for for your gaming? I mean, any friends family are like, you know, I really want to be a gamer girl. I mean, you know.

ETHegirl: No, my mom would just get more annoyed because I would spend 12 plus hours not showering, not eating. I did drink a lot of water. I’ll get myself that. She just hated it because it was so life consuming.

the mongrel: Right.

ETHegirl: But she was pretty understandable, I would have to say. No. You know how you become an expert on something if you spend more than 10000 hours doing that thing, right?

the mongrel: Yeah, well, you’re an expert. Elder Scrolls and Fallout. Nice. Yeah, well, I. I tell you, I. I don’t think if unless you I mean, there’s nothing else like gaming. If you haven’t spent, like you said, 12 or 16 hours glued, stuck to a chair with your eyes just about bleeding because you you’ve got to go one more level, you’ve got to go or whatever. Then you just you don’t get it. If you if you if you know, you know. Yeah. And and you have to kind of you kind of have to come out the other side and eventually put the controller down, walk away and say, okay, I’m not going. That was fun. I’m going to give myself a break for a week or so before I do that.

ETHegirl: Yeah, but it’s also I think it’s more than that. Like for me it was like I was hitting so many serotonin levels and then I would have to get off and then go to high school and I was fucking goddamn miserable. Like I was miserable because I didn’t want to be in that world and I didn’t associate myself with anybody. And I had had to try to fit in with anybody. I just wanted to go home and I wanted to be in my fucking game.

the mongrel: Yeah. Yeah. Because it’s a world that you understand. The rules are there, you know, it’s it’s, it’s exciting, it’s dangerous. And it can be just as it can be just as real. And, you know, I know that a lot of people think that ready player one was kind of hokey, but.

ETHegirl: It was not hokey. It was way too factual.

the mongrel: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and, you know, it’s it is the truth. I you know, I think I was telling you yesterday about how and I confessed that that I am a second life long timer. I’m a second life old timer going all the way back to 2003. And, you know, Second Life was lampooned in the series of the office. And it has been widely panned as like if you’re if you’re a second life, that’s really weird guy. But it’s like no different than Minecraft really, because like, you’re building stuff and you’re making stuff, but if you if you have friends in Second Life, especially if you’ve had them for years, they are not like just pixels on a screen. They’re your friends, you know, and they’re every bit as real as any friend. I have one friend in Second Life who I don’t know if it’s actually a he or she never have. We’ve known each other for years.

ETHegirl: Well, that’s kind of cool.

the mongrel: And I don’t ask. This person has two different avatars, one a male and one a female. And I never know which one. I never know which one I’m going to run into.

ETHegirl: Right.

the mongrel: But it’s like, you know, we’ve been there for each other. We’ve given advice for each other. We’ve listened to, you know, tragedies from each other. And it’s just one of those things, you know, you, you, you know, again, if you know, you know. Yeah. So I think that as the tech gets better, more people, especially if we have better virtual virtual worlds. I mean, I love Second Life, but it’s it’s it’s running on really old and old engine It is. Yeah. And I think I don’t know how they’re going to update it because you’ve got tens of thousands of people who built cities and how do you update that without wrecking everything they do they’ve done? I don’t know. But I think when we do have a a virtual world that is really seamless and really flawless and and also it doesn’t cause your CPU to scream, then I think the more people will say, huh, interesting. And especially as the fucking climate collapses and it’s more fun to be in a virtual world than than this one.

ETHegirl: So that. Okay, so I have a question for you too. So with all the open map concept games that we have both played.

the mongrel: Mm hmm.

ETHegirl: Don’t you think that is don’t see, sometimes they get really frustrated and upset because when people talk about like, Web three, like the mental world, all that shit, I literally am screaming in my head like, I’ve been doing this shit for goddamn years.

the mongrel: Yeah.

ETHegirl: Yeah. And you just plastered a new name on it, and it’s you’re calling it something else. And on top of that, the at least from what I’ve experienced so far, it’s like and it’s a little trying to find a nice way to put this. It’s. Less than what I’m used to.

the mongrel: Yeah, but that’s true.

ETHegirl: It’s like it’s trying to be the same thing, but it’s just not. It’s not as advanced. But still, though, like my open world concept maps like Fallout 76, even though it got a lot of shit, Elder Scrolls like that is ideally what this whole web three.

the mongrel: That? Yeah. Are you asking. Are you asking me Do I think there’s a web 3.0 or is it just a fricking a pretty label? The answer is yes.

ETHegirl: Okay. Because I believe that, too. So when people ask me like, oh, what is Web three? One is like, what is your view on this, this and this? It’s like, I’ve been doing this shit for years. And for some reason we are just making it its own thing. And on top of that we’re dumbing it down because you have people like, yes, the games I love like Fallout. Elder Scroll But let’s talk about Red Dead Redemption.

the mongrel: I was going to bring that up because that is my son’s favorite game.

ETHegirl: That fucking game is so goddamn good and they did such a good job on it. So to me, it’s just like you’re making something that has been establishing itself for years and years and perfecting itself, such as games is like Red Dead, Redemption Far Cry my games that I speak of. Fallout.

the mongrel: Elder Scroll Watchdogs.

ETHegirl: Watchdogs. Yeah, like all those games that deserve all the recognition. And then you’re calling like.

the mongrel: It’s like Mark Zuckerberg’s metta. You’re like, Are you kidding me? This is like the do it. This is the preschool version. Buddy, where have you been?

ETHegirl: Yeah, this is Minecraft version. What are you doing?

the mongrel: Like. Yeah, this is the best of that stuff. Yeah, I know. Sit down. Sit down.

ETHegirl: Mark. Exactly. But then again, like Bethesda Studios, like all those places, they don’t. They don’t stand up and say anything when it comes to that stuff. And I think there’s I think it’s just because they know how good they are and they’re not worried about money and they’re not bothered.

the mongrel: Yeah.

ETHegirl: That’s why they’re like, you know what? You guys go do whatever the fuck you want, whether it’s shit or not. Like, I just think they they they are so secure, right. That they don’t have to fall into this, like, bullshit trap.

the mongrel: Well, yeah, I don’t even see, here’s the thing. And I don’t know if Mark Zuckerberg and CO really they should have paid attention to Second Life because there was a rise and fall of Second Life and now and you know, I love Second Life and I, you know, I wish more people would learn that. It’s actually a pretty, pretty advance. I mean, it was always pretty advanced. Yeah. But the thing is, one of my friends in there said when we’re trying to figure out why it is not more popular. And she said, Well, maybe it’s because it doesn’t have a use case. And I think she hit upon the key right there. There’s there’s no use case when you’re playing Red Dead Redemption, You have a use case. You have to go take your cowboy and you got to go either do bounty hunting or, yeah, do whatever. And you have a thing that you’re doing. You have a mission. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that with, you know, the metaverse and, and places like Second Life and there’s actually another one that’s pretty cool. I can’t remember the name, but I’ve downloaded it. I have a, I have an avatar in it, but I never go there because it’s nobody’s there. There’s nothing to do other than build things you not going nowhere. So I think I think that when we’re talking about this Web 3.0, what we’re saying is that we’re still keeping a dividing line between what’s the web and what video games are.

ETHegirl: Yeah, you’re right. Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. You’re very right. And I.

the mongrel: Think. Go ahead.

ETHegirl: No, I was going to just say there is a fine line and I want it to be done properly, and I’m afraid it’s not going to be done properly.

the mongrel: Yeah.

ETHegirl: And that’s frustrating. It’s really frustrating because you have Bethesda, like all these guys have been doing shit beautiful shit for years, you know? And then see, that’s the gray area I was trying to talk about yesterday. Like that is. That’s that gray. Area. I know we started talking about it with crypto. And we started talking about it with crypto and nfts.

the mongrel: I guess we have to get around to that again, don’t we?

ETHegirl: We do, and we’ll find a way. But that is the gray area right now with like Web3. It’s like you’ve had all these just incredible minds make these incredible games and Bethesda, they know what they’re doing. So do a lot of others.

the mongrel: No one’s getting paid, by the way, to mention Bethesda over and over again.

ETHegirl: No. And if anybody should, I fucking should. But I’ve reached out to them a thousand fucking times with no return, and I’m probably their biggest supporter. So a little fuck you to them right now. That would be.

the mongrel: Fine. Unless. Unless they want to maybe make you a spokesperson.

ETHegirl: And I mean, maybe they just don’t get my hundred emails. Like, I can’t. I can’t fault them for that.

the mongrel: I can’t believe that you are not there at at the conferences, the big conferences at their booth.

ETHegirl: I cannot believe that either. But, you know, it just goes this goes the show. It’s all about who you know, and I just don’t know those people.

the mongrel: Well, let’s we’re going to make those connections. I think we’re going to make those connections. Maybe. I hope, you know, the dial does not have which is sort of my online radio. I’ve got a streaming radio called the Dial 24 Hour seven independent music and news and Talk. But maybe we just need to do a gaming podcast or something. I don’t know. That would be amazing. We might have to do that. We’ll talk about that back in the green room. But I think like when I go back into Into Second Life for a moment, like I don’t always want to log in to find out if my friends are online. What I would love is if I could connect my messenger account. Okay. Into Second Life. Okay. Right. And I think that that’s where Web 3.0 could exist. Like if I could connect my games and my life.

ETHegirl: Yeah, See, and I think that’s where you and I are very different because you would want to do that. Whereas I find it to be my own sanctuary the less people involved. And I really like that. And I think I mentioned yesterday that. The whole reason for like I did not like when Fallout and Elder Scroll went online, I did not like it. I had a problem with it because then it’s not my own little world, my own little sanctuary. It was all of a sudden like these people were around and, you know, I acclimated and you can you can change your settings at all times. But I think you like that social part of.

the mongrel: That, right? I do.

ETHegirl: Versus I do not.

the mongrel: So it’s to you, it’s intrusive. It’s a little intrusive.

ETHegirl: No, it’s just like I don’t I think it’s because I’m such a like an emotional being and the people in my life and my my small circle, I give them so much of my energy that when it comes to me wanting to exclude them and everything else, it’s just like I want my own little world to be my own.

the mongrel: Yeah, it makes sense. That makes sense. I think probably part of why I am interested in merging and it’s funny because I don’t want everybody I know in real life to to join me in cyberspace, Right? I don’t want everybody involved. Yeah. Which is why any you don’t want any. But, but I think for me a lot of it is because I run an online news organization and I do a lot of podcasting and I’m sitting in this goddamn chair for 16 hours a day most of the time. And so, like, I would love to get out more. I have friends, you know, in the flesh and blood who are like, Dude, we never see. You would maybe come out to an event or a party or something one of these days. Yeah. And I’m like, Yeah, yeah, I will. I will, I will. And you know that, you know, I’m just, I’m always working. So for me, if I can log on and chat with a few people that I know, that to me is a, I guess it’s maybe I won’t say compromise because like I said, the people I know online are genuine friends. Yeah, they’re just they’re just. They’re just digital friends, you know. And I know I know that at any moment they could decide to say, fuck it, I’m not going to be playing this, I’m not going to be logging on. And I would never know where they went, you know, I mean, unless I happen to have their their their actual emails and stuff like that. And sometimes I do. But yeah, it’s a weird thing because they’re, they are pixels but, but you know, so anyway, yeah, that’s, that’s a place where we’re probably always going to have a disagreement and that’s fine. Oh, totally fine. Totally. And that’s why you’ve got these you still have these options to not interact with people.

ETHegirl: But I love that. I love that. And I think it’s so funny because I’m born on the cusp. I’m a Leo and a cancer. And the cancer part of me is like, I have to go to so many events, so many movie premieres. I have to be engaging with people, which I actually love to do. And it makes me feel really good and I make people feel really comfortable, and that’s always my goal. So when it comes to me at home and gaming, it’s like my own little sanctuary.

the mongrel: And you get that cancer home body that can’t.

ETHegirl: Exactly become my hermit. It’s like, okay, I have everything I need here. All the loved ones are in this building like everybody’s safe. And I can just indulge myself into this universe that I much prefer. And then when you know, and then when I have to go out, I go all out. Like I’m a people person. I know how to talk to people. I know how to make them feel comfortable. So it’s just like this. I don’t know. It’s how I it’s how I. It’s how I maintain my balance.

the mongrel: I got you. I got you. And that’s again, it’s. It’s something that didn’t exist 30 years ago. No. And and if you don’t know how gaming can actually reset you, then it does. It really does. And so you’re a cancer, huh?

ETHegirl: Yeah. Or I’m a cancer and a Leo. It’s very weird. As I get older, I become more of a Leo.

the mongrel: Well, I, I’m a cancer and I was born at the very beginning of that Zodiac house. So I’m a Gemini, I’m a cancer, but leaning heavily toward Gemini, so.

ETHegirl: I don’t know anything about.

the mongrel: Geminis. Geminis are they’re complicated. I mean, they, they have, I mean, the twins. And so there’s a lot of sort of split personality. You know, there’s you’re, you’re this way, but you’re also that way. And so that is why even though I’m a cancer and I’m a homebody and I grew up very shy also, I also have this other part of me that’s like, I want to be out there, I want to be public.

ETHegirl: Yeah, it’s very yeah, So I’ve almost developed I don’t know if you need to do this, but I’ve developed a persona to be that Leo and be able to be like, okay, you can go just network, be you. You’re still going to appreciate people, you’re still going to be genuine, you’re still going to actually meet them for who they are. You’re going to adore them. But when I come home, it’s just like this weight of like exhaustion from all.

the mongrel: That you have to take. You have to take the lion’s mane off and hang it. Exactly.

ETHegirl: Yeah. And you can put me in a room with five, 5000 people and you can put me on a stage in front of 5000 people. I will be fine. But when I come home, it’s like, okay, I need. I need my shelter.

the mongrel: Yeah.

ETHegirl: Because this is how I this is. It’s like. It’s like how I charge my battery.

the mongrel: Yeah. Cancers get along pretty well with cancers, although. Oh, yeah. Oh. I mean, and you know, there’s a few signs that we do really well with tend not to do well with Libras. Tend to do really well with Scorpios. Cancers and cancers get along really well except that sometimes we can be like it’s like this emotional fast. So. So you know. So you’ve got to be got to be careful there. Yeah. All right. So let’s talk about you brought up you brought up this public, you know, public persona. And there’s a reason that that you’ve got this public persona. And it’s not just it’s not just the, you know, the acting and it’s not just modeling, but also now I think that this is the Segway that I’m looking for. You are very publicly a supporter and sort of a booster for the cryptocurrency world, and especially the NFT world. And you you’re basically a spokesperson for these this new blockchain technology. And we talked about it. We started talking about it yesterday. And I’m glad that we’re back here now because there’s a lot of stuff that that I mean, a ton of stuff that I we didn’t get to talk about. So first of all, let’s let’s revisit how you found out and what got you interested in cryptocurrency. Let’s just start there.

ETHegirl: Yeah. So I had a friend a couple of years ago. He was heavily in it and then he he mentioned it to me. I did my research. I was like, okay, this is something that I could definitely get into and specifically, like I could believe in certain coins. So I got into XRP very early, I got into Ethereum very early and I mentioned this yesterday like the you know, there’s a reason why the rich get richer at the time. A couple of years ago I was pretty poor and couldn’t afford to put too much into XRP, Ethereum, Bitcoin ADA at the time. But I put in all that I had and then that was that was a great thing. It did very well for me. And then I backed out in November when I knew and thought everything was going to crash, which it did. So I, you know, I took everything out in November and I made a good profit, a great one. No, because what I had to start wasn’t, you know, it wasn’t all the money in the world.

the mongrel: Yeah. You said that you bought XRP when it was like, what, $0.05 or something? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if you had, you know, ten grand.

ETHegirl: I think even lower than that, actually.

the mongrel: Even even a grand, you know, because it went up. What did it go up to?

ETHegirl: Eventually it went up to almost $2.

the mongrel: So yeah, I mean if you start out at even a nickel and you can drop a thousand into, into one of these coins because you have $1,000 that you can afford to part with. Yeah, Yeah, you can all of a sudden be buying fricking houses in Beverly Hills and, you know.

ETHegirl: Yeah, yeah. But I didn’t have that much money at the time to do that, which is unfortunate. So. Yeah, but I did get lucky with Ethereum. I am an Ethereum girl, which is why I based my company off of their blockchain and she is named ETHegirl.

the mongrel: Well, what what do you think? I mean, we talked about this a little bit earlier. There’s a lot of misconceptions about cryptocurrency and there’s a lot of yeah, a lot of people who they still are looking at it as this sort of, I don’t know, this flash in the pan. And we talked about how really that’s the furthest thing from the truth. What gives you what gives you optimism that it’s here to stay?

ETHegirl: I think, again, like to repeat yesterday, I think we are going through that gray area. I do believe it’s here to stay. I believe cryptocurrency and nfts. They reach their peak. And then just like with anything else, it hit that peak and then slowly started to fall off, which is needed. That’s like the cleanup area. That’s a cleanup time. I felt like there were too many cryptocurrencies just being made. Just. Just all the time.

the mongrel: Crazy being minted one after the other was insane.

ETHegirl: It was absolutely insane. And there was no like. Oh, it was crap. So I think we’re in the weeding process right now. I think what’s happening is we’re in that gray area where it’s like, okay, everything reached its limit and now we’re cleaning up. And I think that’s exactly what we’re doing. And that’s exactly that. It’s it was completely needed and I was prepared for it. I mean, I got out in November knowing that things are looking way too fucking good and they’re slowly starting to slip. And maybe this is the moment where we slip drastically to clean house. And I think that’s what happened. So, yeah, I got out in November, took all my cash. Honestly, I keep an eye on it. Like, I just. I look at the crypto market every single day just to skim through it. It’s again, I think it’s just. It’s cleaning house right now. And then with Nfts, I would love to get into the conversation that we got into yesterday about them.

the mongrel: Yeah, no, I think, I think the the point is, you know, the irrational exuberance of the last five years, it was just that there was a lot of speculation and a lot of people who didn’t really understand what it was who were willing to. I mean, and that’s why all these coins started popping up, because there were so many unsophisticated investors who enabled I mean, they were basically enablers, you know, you know, they were throwing the money at everything new, hoping that there would be some payback. And eventually you start to realize, wait a minute, these can’t all take off. I mean, they can’t all succeed. You should realize that. But, you know, we talked a little bit yesterday about how, you know, cryptocurrency can be used for a lot of things. We talked about how there’s this local currency called Berk shares because I’m in the Berkshires and now it is a local currency that started out as paper money, beautiful paper money actually, that you could use locally in stores that accepted it. And it keeps the money in the community. Now that they have an app that you’ve got on your phone, they have a coin, it’s a Burke share coin and it makes it super easy for people to pay for things and the money stays here and you pay no fees on it unless you cash out and people don’t really cash out because it’s not an investment instrument.

the mongrel: So I think that there is a lot of use in the future for cryptocurrency used in a rational way, in a useful way, not just as as an investment, although, you know, there’s still always going to be that that facet. The NFT market is a I mean, the NFT market I think is fascinating because while again, you know, people are still buying, I mean, they’re still paying, you know, $100,000, $200,000 for, you know, funny little pictures. And I think that it means a lot more than that. And and I guess for me, when I saw your your your series, you have a collection ETHegirl series, I realized that you were really sort of merging a lot of different parts of yourself. Certainly. I mean, we haven’t talked about this because I typically don’t bring up, you know, such superficial things as as looks. But you’re a bombshell. And and that’s just, you know, that’s just what it is. And you have been a big supporter of strong women. And it’s okay for strong women to also be sexy women.

ETHegirl: Yeah. Oh, yeah.

the mongrel: And I think that’s great because, you know, being attractive is not a crime, right? I mean, no, no, no, no. So you have a really fun sort of sort of throwback collection of nfts. Yeah, I do. For ETHegirl, which which place? You know, in some ways somewhere in the 1930s and 1940s. Yeah. As a pinup girl. But also, you know, as a modern as a modern woman. To tell me about when you thought, hey, this is something that I want to do.

ETHegirl: Yeah. No, I think I described it perfectly yesterday. So I’m going to, I’m going to. They try very hard to elaborate. So yeah, ETHegirl is that nostalgic 1930s through 1940s – ’50s pinup girl it’s it’s the Marilyn Marilyn Monroe look and. It’s that. The whole idea came from like, I wanted that post-apocalyptic kind of advertisement that we can all kind of find a home in with know that’s that stuff is early America. And so that’s what I did with her. She is this beautiful pinup and she advertises well, she will be advertising the new products of our generation, but still bringing that little past with her. And that was the whole concept.

the mongrel: I love the fact that you’re making use of some some symbols that are often associated with very masculine. The world, the martini, the cigar. Yeah. But you, you know, you are doing a hot take with them as interpreted in a very stylized it’s a very stylized look. It’s not it’s not a photorealistic thing. It’s it’s definitely pinup style. But you go and you have various, various poses. You’re dressed in some provocative lingerie, and you’re obviously having a lot of fun. Did you did you do a photoshoot specifically for this?

ETHegirl: Yeah, I did. Yeah. And actually, so one of my favorite nfts that came from a from this, if you give me like 2 seconds, I can look at the name online. It’s my favorite picture. I’m smiling and it’s like it’s a very natural laugh. Oh, so the NFT is called. I don’t Want to Set the World on Fire. And it’s me laughing. And I had the martini glass up in the air and the photographer, how we captured that moment in particular. I had I had Beyonce playing when we were doing these photos. And then my actual my actual playlist started right after I think we ran out of the Beyonce. So my my like at Home playlist started and it was a song by Eminem, Royce nine. I’m pretty sure Crooked was on it, but it was called Oh, and Yelawolf was on it and it was. The song is called Shit. I don’t want to get it wrong. Oh, psychopath killer. And so when that song came on and I was like, I’m so I looked to the photographer and I was like, I am so sorry. This is just like, this is my home album. It’s just. No, no, no, it’s fine. Keep doing what you’re doing. And, and I started laughing because it’s like, Oh my God, this poor woman. Like, she’s listening to a song called Psychopath Killer. And this is what we’re doing, the photo shoot, too, because this is what I actually listen to. So that’s actually where I got that photo from.

the mongrel: So should you be surprised that your favorite piece comes from an inspiration from your true self?

ETHegirl: No, I wasn’t surprised at all. And I loved it. It was just it was cute. It was cute, but it was just like, oh, Jesus. Like an Eminem song called Psychopath Killer. Like, are you serious?

the mongrel: Well, whoever decides to snatch that up, it’s they know the history now. They know the history. Perhaps we can make an NFT out of you describing that. And they can. They can, because you could do you can do audio nfts, too. I’m surprised that more people aren’t doing them. I’ve thought about it myself. I have an open see account myself. I’ve been trying to think of what would I do as a as an NFT?

ETHegirl: Yeah, no, I happen to. I’m also a singer. So yeah, it’s it’s a question in my mind.

the mongrel: Yeah, I’m thinking about it. I think that it’s it’s going to be used. I think, I think that more things are going to be nfts pretty soon, but I can’t think about what I would do. So I want to talk about I won’t talk about that. That look, I mean, there’s a number of things that you could do. You could have taken pictures in any number of ways. You’ve chosen a very a very sensual. Side of you to to to I guess basically eternally capture and then of tea. As long as there is an Internet, as long as there are blockchains, you will exist as as ETHegirl, you know, sitting in a martini glass with a martini glass, talk about sensuality, talk about sexuality, and why you don’t think people should be afraid of it.

ETHegirl: Oh, no. I mean, what I what I’m doing, I feel at least with me, it’s very. But I feel like it’s very different for what we’ve all been seeing lately. I feel like, you know, the Kim Kardashian bodies and all that shit, I feel like that’s been overly sexualized. So, yeah, with these, you get the you get a natural woman who is curvy. And I happened to be blond. I have yellow eyes. I you know, it is that I do look like that American pinup. And I don’t think we see that too often anymore.

the mongrel: You don’t look plastic.

ETHegirl: No, it’s because of not because it’s all real.

the mongrel: Well, yeah, I think for me, it’s it’s I don’t think America has ever been had such a sort of a schizophrenic. And I and I probably shouldn’t use that word because it’s not exactly accurate, but a split personality when it comes to sensuality, We’ve never had more hypersexualization of everything. And yet at the same time, we’re getting more conservative and more. Yeah, and I don’t know how how is it that we can do both at the same time? Do you know?

ETHegirl: I actually think it’s a good thing. I think it’s that it’s just it’s that balance. I wouldn’t I wouldn’t want it one way or the other. I kind of like that. It’s in the middle.

the mongrel: That’s very it’s very fifties and it’s a very fifties thing where there’s a lot of sensuality going on, like with pinup girls. But at the same time, there’s a very sort of, I don’t know, it’s sort of a buttoned up, locked down conservative streak. I don’t know. I think I think that on the one hand, yes, it’s it’s it’s good that we are not in the sort of complete free love and free love and drug world of the sixties and seventies. But yet I think also there’s a there is a I don’t know, there’s there’s almost this taboo against being sexual in real life. It’s okay if it’s if it’s, you know, as part of an entertainment vehicle, a movie or video, but you’re not supposed to be in real life. And I just feel like.

ETHegirl: There’s no and I also I also feel like with women lately, like I mean, going back to Fashion Nova, they have not sponsored me. And all I do is wear their clothes, but they have that naturally. They flock to a woman who’s super curvy, you know, and that’s I am curvy, but I’m like a natural curvy. So like I have big lips, I have a good size, but I got great boobs. But it’s like I’m not that overly stylized.

the mongrel: You look like like a you’re not a cartoon version of yourself.

ETHegirl: Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like everything. Like lips are real. Like, everything is real. So that is, I don’t know, something. I think that’s why they haven’t sponsored me yet.

the mongrel: Well, we’re going to have to. We’re going to have to. Maybe I’ll call them up and ask them, what’s the deal here? You’ve got this.

ETHegirl: I’ve done the same thing. I’ve emailed them. I’m like, Hey, what’s the deal? I know I’m not your average, you know, body. Everything is natural and real, but I, I am very petite and I’m very curvy, but just not into the extent of what they’re used to dealing with.

the mongrel: Well, we’ll start a campaign. We’ll start the, you know, demand that fashion Nova pick up either girl as their you know, their 2023 the new face. So we’re going to put some pressure on them. Yeah well I just I think that there’s a there’s a there is a sort of a premise to the to the 2020s that I didn’t expect. And I just feel like with women it should be that they are free to express themselves and not just, not just because it’s commercially viable. Right. But because it’s, you know, it’s a way of life. I know it’s kind of like people who are so darn, they think they’re so edgy and like because they dress. Because they dress because they dress edgy. But when you start talking to them, they’re like, you’re actually not edgy. You’re just like.

ETHegirl: You’re not even Yeah, you’re not even interesting.

the mongrel: Yeah. So, you know, and I would like to say that I wear very normal clothes. I’m a very normal average guy. But when when you start talking to me, you realize I’m a bit off, I’m a bit strange. And that’s, you know, you know, people. I think the gel is strange, though. Well, you know, not not, not in a bad. I think you’re.

ETHegirl: No, I think you’re unique. Exciting, I think and I think people like you and I are hard to come by.

the mongrel: That is the truth. And that’s why we get to stick together going into the into the apocalypse, because that’s how we’re going to survive. So. Right. Well, I mean, the the earth is it’s either burning or flooding or freezing. Something’s going to happen. Something’s going to happen. I, I, I feel like. I feel like there are people who have known for a long, long time and have pretended like it’s not happening, but really knew it was happening. And they were buying buying up huge chunks of land in places like like South America and places like Alaska and Maine and hopefully Nevada, hopefully. Right. Yeah, It’s the places I would I like Nevada, actually. I drove through there and I was I was pretty fond of it. I didn’t get to spend as much time as I wanted to.

ETHegirl: So did you drive? Did you drive towards the OC? So there is a difference. If you drove up from Vegas to Reno area and you took that left side, did you see all those bunkers?

the mongrel: I did not go that way. I went from the California. I went from California to Reno on some of like I think it was Highway 50 or something like that. All right. So, no, I didn’t see those. Is there like a big sort of bunker community?

ETHegirl: Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. Okay. So on the way from Vegas to Reno, if you take the West Coast side, you will go past at least. Shit, I don’t even know how many. There’s I want to say you go through the strip on the highway and on both your left side and right side. There are at least 500 bunkers.

the mongrel: Oh, my gosh.

ETHegirl: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Just these little mounds of dirt with a fucking door.

the mongrel: And they’re bug out bunkers.

ETHegirl: Yeah.

the mongrel: Wow. So. And I know there’s, like, a thing where, like, people, they buy up, like, missile and empty missile silos and stuff, and they they build amazing retreats with, you know, they have a, you know, enough food for like, you know, 12, 12 people for ten years or some shit like that stored. And I think that that’s probably, you know, that’s great. But I’ll tell you this, I went to them, I went to the one of the oldest country fairs in the in the country, the heath fair in Massachusetts, which is itty bitty fair. There’s no there’s no commercialism there. In fact, there weren’t any rides this year, which is really weird. They usually have rides. But I was looking at the people and I was thinking, these are the people. And, you know, I own a farm as well. And so I include myself there. But these are the people who they know how to do shit, right? I mean, they are hunters and they are gardeners and they know how to fix things and to build things. They know how to do things. And when the apocalypse happens, you know, that’s great that you’ve you’ve got $1,000,000 right now and that you’ve got a bunker.

the mongrel: But once you run out of that food, you’re going to need to know how to do things. And so I kind of feel like there’s a certain sort of certain down home population that’s actually going to be a lot better off than others when the shit finally does hit the fan because they’re going to actually know how to survive. Oh, for sure. You know, not to get too dark here because, you know, this is you know, we’re talking about your gorgeous nights. Oh, you know, we didn’t talk about how to let’s let’s back up here. Okay, Let’s back up here because I can see that this is the way our conversation is going to go. These nfts are just sitting there being pretty for the hell of it, right? People can get these nfts. That’s the point. And the point about the Nfts what I should say is that there is only one. Yeah. Could you take a screenshot of it? You could. However, there is a a an ownership contract when you purchase an NFT that guarantees that there can only ever be. Well, actually you can set how many there’s going to be, but I’m guessing that there’s only one of each of those.

ETHegirl: Yeah. Correct. Yeah.

the mongrel: So there’s never going to be another. I don’t want to set the world on fire.

ETHegirl: Right. But the whole thing about them, which is cool. So they are, they are advertisements in the metaverse. So I am talking to big companies to advertise. Okay, So for example, we see the martini glass and one of the pictures. So, for example, we get a we get a gin product, we do a whole other other photo shoot and with within ETHegirl style, and she does this advertisement for this gin product and then whoever buys it, they can put it into whatever Metaverse Web three they want. So they have a piece of the advertising that’s going back to the product, which is going to be a brand of the United States. And they have a little you know, they have a little piece of that compensation from that brand. So, yeah, So if you believe in a brand, for example, I think my favorite gin, if Sapphire wanted to work with me, they we would do a pinup inspired sapphire, you know, advertisement. And then people could buy that advertisement and put it into the metaverse that they choose to put it in. And that would be free advertising for Sapphire using ETHegirl. And then the person person who purchased it would be you know, they would they would also have some stake in that.

the mongrel: I love it. You know, I didn’t understand that before. And I’m glad that we circle back around because that makes all the difference. So is it just that you have a gorgeous picture of a beautiful woman? Yeah. And there’s nothing wrong with having a gorgeous picture of a beautiful woman. No, no, no. But but it goes beyond that.

ETHegirl: Those American brands into commercial. And this is the next way to go with three. So whether it be a gin or a cigar or a beer.

the mongrel: Or a laundry or lingerie.

ETHegirl: Yeah, yeah. Or makeup or fuck. I contacted DJ Electric the other day like the old pinups to do anything about a washer and dryer. Like it’s the sky is the limit. It’s she is just advertising the new and she is bringing the piece of old back into the advertisement being the like the pinup and then like that pure American woman and Yeah.

the mongrel: I love it. Hey, your volume dropped significantly just then. Oh, shit. Okay.

ETHegirl: Let’s see what happened.

the mongrel: Well, while you’re checking that out, I will do a little more explainer here for the audience. Nfts They started out as in a lot of a lot of the way a lot of things stood out as something that did not seem to have a lot of, you know, utility. They were for fun. They seemed even frivolous. You know, you get people who are, like I said, spending $1,000,000 on, you know, funny pictures, which is like, why? Why are we doing this? But the real the real usefulness of nfts is the fact that there can be an I’m going to slip it in my Highlander voice. There can be only one. And you could use nfts for all sorts of things, such as you could have an NFT system whereby you sell concert tickets, right? And so every ticket is an NFT, and that way it is guaranteed that it is authentic. You could have hospital records that are nfts hospital records that contain your, you know, your health information, your medical information that are secure, that are encrypted, and that can travel with you anywhere in a way that is completely unaltered and travel. You could you could have nfts for your college transcripts.

the mongrel: You can have NFTs for just about anything where you need to be able to trust the authenticity. And I think that. It’s a it’s no accident that one of the first things we started talking about in this conversation with with Sara Marie here ETHegirl, is the fact that she is authentic. She is the real deal. And I would love to see brands sort of catch a ride on that because if there’s one thing that brands have to convince people of these days is that they are authentic. They have a an originality, a uniqueness that you just you can’t get with with the store brand, so to speak. And I think that high end products, whether they’re shoes or or like you said, makeup or or gin, they would do well to to partner up with with you because that’s what you’re, that’s what your brand is all about. It’s about authenticity, uniqueness. And and of course, you know, a little bit of lightheartedness during the, you know, lead up to the apocalypse, which we all need A little bit of gallows humor, I suppose.

ETHegirl: Yep. Yeah. Great.

the mongrel: So what next? What what do you think is next for you? You know, you’ve got this obviously, you know, people are going to be going to visit because I’m going to have the link in the show notes to your open, see your open see page. And people can just search if they want. They can go to opensea.io/ETHegirl and they can search ETHegirl and they’ll find you. Yeah, but what, what else you got on the on the stove, on the back burner. Yeah. That’s cooking.

ETHegirl: Yeah. So I am going to do a movie with a very large budget. So I’m hoping it is good. It has a $70 million budget. It is about El Chapo in his early days of life, and that should be starting in September.

the mongrel: Wow. Not mistaken. Yes. $7 million is no is that is not chump change.

ETHegirl: No. 70 million is not chump change. Yeah. No, no. I’m expecting this movie to be very good. Yeah. So we’ll see.

the mongrel: El Chapo. Now, that is a character who is definitely authentic. There was only one of him, but I don’t know.

ETHegirl: It’s. It’s very strange because my. My biological father, his dad. So my biological grandfather. Spitting image of that guy.

the mongrel: No way.

ETHegirl: I swear to God.

the mongrel: That must be weird. It must be real.

ETHegirl: Yeah, it’s weird. It’s weird. Yeah, because my dad is Cuban, but my dad is. He’s Cuban. Where he is blue eyed, blond hair, really dark skin. And his father, the one picture that I have. Yeah. He looked straight out of Cuba.

the mongrel: Yeah, I hear you. My father. I’ve got. Well, my father’s from Puerto Rico. He’s. He has green eyes, He’s got dark hair, kind of wavy hair, but he’s got these emerald green eyes that are piercing. And. And he was such a charmer. Yeah, that’s a charmer. And I, you know, again, I. I am also the kid who is most like him in a lot of ways. That’s the thing that scares me, you know? But I definitely keep it under control. And that’s the main thing. I do have a little bit of a temper, and I’ll admit that. So I have to have to focus that. But let’s talk about let’s talk about where people can go to find out more about you. You know, you say that you’re not into playing games online. Do you ever play multiplayer online or. No.

ETHegirl: I mean, I do occasionally. Yeah, I do have.

the mongrel: Would you want to would you want to tell us what your what your tag is?

ETHegirl: You know that. So I actually have a forcefully not let myself have an Xbox console in two years just so I get shit done.

the mongrel: Okay.

ETHegirl: Okay. It is an a very addictive. I do not have an addictive personality, but when it comes to that kind of stuff, it gets a little.

the mongrel: So you’re in GTD mode right now getting things done. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, I’ll tell you what. When you when you do.

ETHegirl: When fucked, if I remember it, I mean, I could look it up real quick. I know it is, Sarah. See? God, it’s on my Microsoft account. The one. I could look it up. Earthquake?

the mongrel: Yeah. I mean, you know, we don’t have to make it public, but certainly if people see one line, I think that. That. That they they would love to be able to take a couple of shots at you right away.

ETHegirl: Oh, for sure. Yeah.

the mongrel: And what I’m going to do is I’m going to take I’m going to with your permission, I’m going to take a screenshot of one of your nfts go for it. And I’m going to upload that to my, my, I’ve got a cafe in Second Life and I’ll hang you on the wall. Beautiful as a, as a, as a piece of artwork. And I will link I will link to your Opensea account from Second Life. So it’ll all come full circle. People will say, Huh, What is that? They’ll click it and then they’ll take it to you’ll be, you’ll be my my brand, my brand ambassador. Sort of. That is fun. I’m totally cool with that. Yeah. Yeah.

ETHegirl: And then people can also find me on my Instagram, which is Sarah Marie, period. Ms..

the mongrel: So, all right, well, you know this you actually have set a record. Sarah. Marie I have never done a two hour interview. Oh, never in seven and a half years, actually, if you include AP, if you include the if you include the year I did in 2005 when I was in Boston doing Yeah, I was doing mostly Boston area independent bands, indie bands. And so if you add that I’ve been doing podcasting for Jesus eight and a half years now and and I have never done a two hour, two hour interview because frankly, they tended to get tedious. I’m not saying that. I’m not saying that I get it. It’s not that people that are tedious, it’s that the being on but this this has just been like, you know, shooting the shit with a friend here and that like I said that. Oh, no, I think you said that. That’s kind of what people love about podcasts, that sometimes they’re exactly what they love the cash. Yeah. So you’ve got your Instagram, we’ll put a link to your Instagram link to your to your Opensea account. And when you can share, say, a link to the official movie page, I know that you probably have to.

ETHegirl: I would love.

the mongrel: To keep that under wraps. We’ll update the show notes and we’ll put the link in there when you can do that. So much ETHegirl, it has been a genuine pleasure times to talking to you. Yeah, and I want you to make sure that you shoot me an email. So yeah, you just shoot me an email and keep me up to date with everything that you’ve got going on. Because I can absolutely. You know, I’m going to be your biggest fan and I’m going to be putting the pressure on putting the pressure on these brands to, you know, should to step it up and and and rope you into, you know, to what the big money really is. What we’re looking about here. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. All right. Well, have fun preparing for the apocalypse. I’ll give you a piece of the commission. Oh, nice. Nice.

ETHegirl: Yeah, well, I’ll have to.

the mongrel: I would say even 5%. 5% will do it.

ETHegirl: Yeah. Fuck, yeah. You know, I’ll do it.

the mongrel: All right, Sarah Marie, take care of yourself. Enjoy the rest of 2023, and we’ll talk to you again.

ETHegirl: All right?

the mongrel: Sounds good.

Jason Velázquez

Jason Velázquez has worked in print and digital journalism and publishing for two decades.
Phone: (413) 776-5125

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

An array of offshore wind turbines rising out of the sea.
Previous Story

Mass. Offshore Wind Generates Concerns for Fishing Industry

Two young teens dressed up as if for Hallowe'en, one as a pirate, the other with a bat wings hat and a furry spider shirt, hold up a protest sign that reads, "Farley-White, don't be mean, please remove your 877 South Street Cell Tower this Halloween," in front of the site of a cell tower raised in close proximity to residential homes in Pittsfield, Mass.
Next Story

Top Left Corner #174: Lenox residents, officials not on same wavelength about cell towers.

Latest from INDIEcent Exposure