Shed Dogs – Details, episodes & analysis

RJ is heading to the World Foosball Championships in Spain this summer! It’s true, and you’ll hear about it here. You’ll also hear: a valuable PSA on what to do if you’re involved in a hit and run; really fun listener mail, our thoughts about our mentally taxing Episode 193, and for no real reason a good long talk about about how we use our vacuum cleaners, and how much they have sucked.

Links: Shed Dogs; lunar new year; Year of the Snake; Saskatchewan time; Emilia Perez; Helen Jarvis; Magic Mind (not brought to you by); the Foosball World Cup; Episode 193; shirt label location; Little Red Warrior; Elon Musk cheats.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, with permission.

Just when we thought we had exhausted our language and usage outrage, we stumble upon a new wave of pronunciation changes that has crept up and caught us napping in our rocking chairs. So that’s the big news, but we also have Snappers, more from the world of Artificial Intelligence, some food reports from nearby eateries we’ve visited, another car oil change PSA, an introduction to Lifting Straps (which given our demographic I initially thought might be just sock garters, but thankfully not), and discussion with KJ about his recent very successful turn as Kris Kringle in the Arts Club Theatre production of “Miracle on 34th Street”. There is other stuff too, but that last sentence has worn us right out, so just go ahead and have a listen and let us know what you thought, how you’re doing, and what you’d love to hear about from us.

Links: Shed Dogs; Bobby Fingers; Yum! Gourmet Donuts; To Live For bakery; Innocent Ice Cream, Variable Valve Timing; use of botox to relieve migraines; review of Miracle on 34th Street; Kagi search engine.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, with permission.

On a sunny afternoon in the Shed, your Dogs enjoy great listener mail, albeit with several sidebars. Part of the outcome of that great mail is us taking our first and best shot at offering travel accommodation advice. We are now dying to hear whether it worked. We remember the 1980 cinema classic “Popeye”, and then to remind ourselves that people are decent, we share a great lost and found story. Generally, we recall that it’s pretty great being around and doing whatever it is we each do, which is a recollection there can never be too much of.

Links: Shed Dogs; Northern Cafe and Grill; disability parking; Yum! Donuts (Instagram); TripAdvisor; how to negotiate for better Internet and TV providers; Shed Dogs on FaceBook; Garmin.

Theme music by Voodoo Jazz or is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, by permission.

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We’ve touched on KJ’s painting accomplishments several times over the years, as well as his acting, and we get yet another look into both in this episode, in which he shares his ingenious homegrown approach to painting landscapes, his creation of very special cards for special occasions, and the latest in his acting and video dancing career. We also have a great time with our special friend Leigh of Courtenay as she once again sends us mail that makes all the little neurons fire off in all directions. Throw in a little of our usual grumbling about pronunciation and usage and there you have it! It’s us again, your Shed Dogs, lowest on the totem pole.

Links: Shed Dogs; Airline enshittification; totem poles; steep learning curve; a surprisingly long list of retro cars (with photos); Trivial Pursuit; do automotive sterilizer trays work?; KJ McNulty stars in Jill Barber’s video “Mal de Vivre” (also, KJ’s green International Harvester Travelall is featured at the beginning and end); KJ McNulty’s Leo noms; Lowlifes on Crave; Lowlifes on Tubi; “an historic”; Louie Del Grandé’s head explodes in Scanners (oops spoiler alert).

There are probably caves in France where Stone Age artists depicted the tribe’s appreciation for those who didn’t lead the hunt or strike the final blow, but who showed up and helped out. In this episode we reiterate that some things have not changed as much as old haters might think, and that just showing up was rewarded back in the ’60s as well as it is today. We also unveil wondrous new software for creating music, a little PSA about glasses, a ton of Snappers, and an amazing robotic foosball table, not yet available in Canadian Tire, but amazing all the same. We invite you to listen in… and participate! 

Links: Shed Dogs; the monkey puzzle tree; Costco Optical; participation trophies; the 2024 Tornado World Series Foosball Championships; cap guns; the amazing foosball robot; udio.com (the AI music generation site—create an account so you don't lose whatever you come up with).

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, by permission.

Listener Leigh of Courtenay gives us a lot to talk about in another great email, leading us to into the whole business of clearing out the house for sale, and eventually into the topic of bank money. KJ once again hits it out of the park with a selection of Snappers, which leads quite inevitably to getting some fun facts about the Jewish lunar calendar. The stars and planets align for 35 or so minutes of fun in the Shed, and we’ll be happy to see you there!

Links: Shed Dogs; our YouTube podcast page; Swedish Death Cleaning; banks still create money; the Grizzly-Polar bear; shotgun houses; the Hebrew calendar.

Being in the latter half of one’s 60s isn’t all bad: you have time to learn things like how to make a decent video, as RJ did to celebrate a notable foosball celebrity, or learn how to paint, as KJ has been famously doing for some time now. You begin to feel free to express your thoughts and opinions perhaps more candidly than you ever have, or take an interest in politics, like PJ. You can use the depth of long experience to provide Public Service information about things like Old Age Security, or brake fluid, or leap days. However…this intellectual and temporal freedom can be perilous, as we get a light taste of in this episode along with those positives above. How do younger people change word pronunciations on us, and get away with it? How can they not be reprimanded for their glib and arguably unconscious mimicking of the Speaking Styles of the Rich and Famous? And how did that bumblebee get in here and why can it not just shut up? If you’re too young to find it relatable it’ll at least be educational, and if you can relate…well, misery or even fleeting irritation loves company. Get some company and have some laughs by taking a listen.

Links: Shed Dogs; Geoff Lerner's videos on dropping Ts and vocal fry; should you change your brake fluid?; calendars; what's happening with nonplussed?

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, with permission.

We have Snappers galore, a PSA, another money making idea, a few collisions with and observations on our ongoing development into Cranky Old People, and then suddenly out of nowhere a couple surprising and insightful observations about words and identity that we wish way more people would hear. We manage to get past that and resume our usual posture as Geriatric Adolescents (we can just hear the emcee introducing this band name) to conclude a pleasant session in the Shed. It’s a little educational, a little foolish, and very easy. Take it in. Put your feet up. Order some takeout from the I Don't Care Cafe.

Lots more episodes at Shed Dogs.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, with permission.

As we go through our days, we do some things well, some badly, some by dint of noble effort and some by chance. And some things we do just work, for no reason we can name. KJ tells us a story of a thing that just worked when dealing with earnest visitors. No one was hurt or offended, but we were very amused as well as forearmed should we receive these same visitors. We also got to do Snappers and discuss another sure fire blockbuster money maker, and RJ was able to give us an overview of how to navigate city bureaucracy and neighbourhood tensions at the same time. There’s some first class adulting paired with the usual hefty glass of foolishness here, so sit down and dig in!

Links: Shed Dogs; Koi cafes in Vietnam; 15 Ways to Get Someone Out of Your Head; the Jehovah's Witnesses view on what Jesus looked like.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, with permission.

Faithful listeners will know, and new listeners should know, that KJ of the Shed is a productive and well known actor, in addition to his many creative endeavours within the actual Shed. Here in Episode 180 we hear more about how the other two more shadowy Dogs are spending their time, working, playing, and absorbing little bits of occasionally useful information, like: the real story behind the old “I want all green M&Ms in the green room” diva trope, the world of used tires, the little known connection between the trivia business and the pub business, and speculating about what kinds of substance abuse the early creators of moving cartoons were indulging in. Your head may well be spinning coming out of this one, so take a good look at your surroundings as you begin listening!

Links: Shed Dogs; Van Halen's tour rider specified that M&Ms be provided backstage with the brown ones removed; used tire shop in Burnaby; Steamboat Willie out of copyright; over 200 viruses cause cold symptoms; RJ plays in the Senior Doubles semifinals at the 2024 Vancouver Foosball Championships; vertigo; the Rossland Senior Secondary Grad 50th Anniversary; nicknames.

Theme music is Escaping like Indiana Jones by Komiku, with permission.