Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to Sneaky Dragon – the podcast for the little people!
This week: the irrelevant in the room; call any vegetable; taxonomy season; the X factor; nun such; monk business; shuriken violence; Hägar-iography; comics stripped; death by a thousand cuts; puzzling; missing inks; let’s get cubicle; Google it; gentlemen prefer Blondie; alternative fuel; doesn’t suck; the hole plot; Beasley living; seldom scene; Hardy boy; bonin’ material; café society; star wares; too personal pizza; die-ner; ex-squeeze-it!; charge cards; weirdo sisters; stand-up stand-in; teen beef; deadliest catch; nice asshole; so young; my generalization; career pathos; big talker; Bird is the word; amazingly bad; Question of the Week – Sneakers respond; the beautiful South; water, water everywhere; fennel take; the host with the most; Murphy’s pa; Taiwan on; and, finally, this is pop.
Question of the Week: Who is your favourite TV detective?
Sub-question of the Week: When did you know what you wanted to do for a living?
Sub-sub-question of the Week (Since I suspect we have asked the first question before): Do you still have paper newspapers or magazines in your life or have you given yourself entirely over to cyberspace? Which is better and why?
Thanks for listening.
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Hopalong Cassidy had 66 movies all starring William Boyd and atleast a couple of them decent. I think I’ve seen about 17 of them.
Hoppy was skewered in the film Callaway Went Thataway (1951), no relation to me as far as I’m aware but I feel obligated to mention it here.
See you in the email section and thanks for all the fish.
Hello David and Ian and all my fellow Dragon followers, my favourite TV Detectives were a pair of spy sleuths, John Steed and Mrs. Emma Peel. They were the Avengers. The 1961 Avengers series was ground breaking because it had one of the first kick-ass T.V. heroines who rarely needed rescuing, she wore action outfits rather than frivolous girly clothes and could Karaté her way out of most dangerous situations. She was also always the smartest person in the room. My first crush. My car is named after her with personalized plates. Unfortunately youngsters today have a completely different set of avengers. They see the E-M-M-A-P-L licence plate and ask what does em apple mean. Whippersnappers. Question two. I knew I wanted to be an actor in grade one after seeing Dick Van Dyke make his friends laugh falling over an ottoman during the opening credits of his show. I was desperate for friends in elementary school. It was also at this time I had tremendous success getting laughs playing the troll under the bridge in Billy Goats Gruff. I realized you wanted to act the bad guy. They got the best lines and had the most fun. Stay happy and healthy everyone and remember to vote! ❤️
Thinking long and hard about my favorite TV detective only posited the fact that there are so damned many of them! And so many great ones, which everyone does have a favorite. So many came to mind because other friends had their detective must-see shows and those came to mind first. My Mom loved James Garner, so “The Rockford Files” was always on in our home. My first girlfriend’s Mom loved “Columbo” so much that she would set her alarm for 3:00 am to get up and watch the reruns. And Dad and I would watch “Crime Story” repeats together back in the 80’s with our favorite Chicago detective squad led by the late Dennis Farina.
But I have a new favorite and surprisingly it isn’t Adam West’s “Batman”…it’s William Murdoch of “The Murdoch Mysteries”, 18 seasons and running. Susan calls it her old lady show and we watch it on the weekends while it’s on in the background. My only question about Murdoch is this: If he can invent something to solve a crime, like a close circuit television, a bulletproof vest or a GPS, why hasn’t he patented these things and made a fortune?! Seriously, there’s even a webpage dedicated to his inventions.
https://murdochmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Inventions_%26_Technology
I realize there wouldn’t be a detective show if Murdoch did cash in on his gizmos, so what’s the fun in that? And where else are you going to see Marie Curie, Alexander Graham Bell, Nikola Tesla and Harry Houdini in a room at the same time? I’ve really taken a liking to ‘ol Murdoch since Susan shared the show with me, it really is a lot of good Canadian fun with a cameo here and there as well.
I’ve mentioned this before but I distinctly remember my middle school art teacher asking me if I knew what a commercial artist was, she was the one who dropped that life-long bug into my ear and started me on my journey. Even since then I’ve never even thought of doing anything else for a living. There was a slight detour in high school where I thought about architecture but then I saw the math involved…you know, math? It wasn’t long before I was back on track blazing a trail in advertising design.
The only person I know who still reads and digests his daily paper is my Dad. He reads it from beginning to end and then completes all the puzzles and crossword. Before Mom died that was their morning ritual, doing the crossword together. I think continuing the ritual gives Dad good memories of he and Mom doing it together. When I go over to Dad’s house I sometimes see the finished crossword puzzle still folded up on the table, he puts a big checkmark next to the crossword when he’s finished it. No joke.
May all my Sneakers have a blessed Easter weekend and rejoice with joy and happiness!!
Hey folks!
I was well and truly tickled by your idea of a Swiss Guard tv series and wanted to add:
Each week starts with a cold open setting up a new crime in Vatican City. CARDINAL X surveys the scene.
“Mamma Mia! Get me…” then cut to: title sequence: The Swiss Guard
– Our 3 heroes, in various shapes and sizes, asleep in a triple decker bunk bed:
– A bust of a cardinal, the hat flashing red:
– A cuckoo clock sounds, waking RUDI, freeze frame on his keen eyed face.
– A cowbell wakes ROLF, who leaps to attention.
– Finally – HONK! – the camera pulls back to reveal a full size Alphorn pointed at the still sleeping GEORG.
The trio vault out of the room grabbing halberd poles as they fall , emerging at ground level fully dressed and ready for action.
It gets sketchy from here, but I envisage tense foot chases through the cloisters as the criminals rush to the Italian border that surrounds Vatican City. Every week they use a different attachment of the Swiss Army knife to save the day, and the trio are rewarded with cheese and chocolate.
I was also delighted by the chat about the ‘Blondie’ movies, for niche reasons: Although I’ve never seen any of them in whole, I’ve watched two minutes of ‘Blondie Meets the Boss’ countless times. This is because it features a great Swing Dance contest, containing ‘Collegiate Shag’ moves that are danced to this day, and which I’ve had the pleasure of sharing in my classes. I can’t vouch for the quality of the rest of the movie, but those two minutes are a lot of fun. And here’s a link!
Sayonara, sneakers!
Peter
Check the ‘Blondie Jump’ at 0:27
https://youtu.be/XkVfBupcT2k
I’m know I’m late but this was a great episode guys.