Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to Episode 559 of Sneaky Dragon – the podcast that always tempts fate!
This week: can you believe it; unencharted; no stakes; time trouble; third class laundry; en espançais; daffy about taffy; extreme punishment; pony expression; Canuck doodle; nimble dicks; cunning crows; uptight fish and chaotic cats; wacky Wednesday; failing the test; Hollywood hates men; ripped dicks; semi-honourable; best time for nerds; ecstatic reaction; jut so boring stories; use only in emergencies; all ears; inequality street; permanent record; misrule follower; how do we know; trick answers; formula of blame; har ask; young adult fiction; fault lines; create love; in a rut; you’re better off dad; dangerous writers; Top 5 Songs – Extra-Terrestrials; the Bechdel amendment; when medieval worlds collide; imitation breeds flattery; prestigious opinions; and, finally, X-citement.
Top 5 Songs About Extra-Terrestrials
- NRBQ – “Rocket #9” – NRBQ, 1969 – 2:04:05
- 34 Satellite – “Spaceman” – Stop, 2002 – 2:10:39
- Jim Sullivan – “U.F.O.” – Jim Sullivan (aka U.F.O.), 1969 – 2:15:31
- The Newcomers – “The Martian Hop” – Stax Records single b/w “Humpty Dumpty”, 1973 – 2:22:05
- Billy Lee Riley & His Little Green Men – “Flying Saucer Rock’n’Roll” – The Sun Records Collection, 1994 – 2:27:17
bonus track
- The Byrds – “Mr. Spaceman” – 5D, 1966 – 2:32:15
Question of the Week: As a kid, did you look forward to school beginning?
Sub-question of the Week (from Lezah): What’s your punk rock name?
Thanks for listening.
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I really enjoyed the Top 5 ET songs. But I didn’t know until this week’s podcast that The Carpenters’ version of “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft” was a cover! I gave Klaatu’s original recording a listen. I’m surprised The Carpenters didn’t stray too far from it – except to add a spoken-word intro that didn’t get airplay on the AM stations I listened to as a kid. It’s an exchange between a faux DJ and an alien that pushed the length to 7 minutes – maybe just long enough for the actual DJ to go for a smoke.
I never liked going back to school. Every September, I’d have a lot of anxiety about the year ahead, both socially and academically. I still have a lot of anxiety at the start of any new assignments so I guess that’s just my temperament.
My punk name would be Luna Cee.
I’ve been neglectful in thanking David for all the great music he’s brought to the podcast, it’s a nice sampling of the Listening Party we so dearly loved.
Sometimes I think Ian and I are sharing a brain or something, as soon as Dave started playing “The Martian Hop” I thought two things, “This sounds like an intro to a Sid & Marty Krofft show” and “Now I’m hearing The Jackson 5”!! The song ends and I hear what sounds like an echo from the mouth of Ian Boothby. I guess great minds think alike but I’m not sure if mine is great or just affected by extreme nostalgia. Ian’s is great because he can use it more for profit than I can mine….
I guess I had a rather favorable public education because I did look forward to the beginning of the school year. The newness of everything, like art and school supplies, new clothes, a new lunchbox and a backpack for the year, it was all like starting over again. I can only think of one time I really didn’t want to go to school in the 8th Grade, it was due to the fact my Algebra teacher Mrs. Butler had us do the problems on the board in front of the class. I faked being sick just to avoid it. All in all, everyone got along within the variety of cliques throughout my 12 years of public education, I was the class artist and at some point everyone needs you to draw something.
Not knowing much about punk rock, I’ll have to defer to an old friend of mine who was immersed into the punk skater culture. His name was Greg and he worked for a skateboard store in the mall where Lone Star Comics had its first location in Mesquite. Greg gave me a punk name based on “Draganski” first and “Ed” second, so he nicknamed me “Dredd” and to this day is one of my favorite nicknames…and I’ve had a few, believe me.
Going back to a Pixar conversation two shows ago, I have to strongly agree with David that “Monsters Inc.” is one of the best and most original Pixar films. “The Incredibles” comes close but there are hints of other comic themes in that one, like “Watchmen” and “Fantastic Four”, so “Monsters” edges it out in originality. I can remember how great “Monsters Inc.” was when it came out, my kids were the perfect age for it, so we enjoyed the run of Pixar films around that time.
One of my company’s first big projects was working with Pixar to create life-size characters of Mike and Sully from “Monsters Inc.”, click below to see the front window of my office at Idea Planet/BDA and you can see Mike & Sully clearly inside. My office is directly behind them, so one could say my work space is safely guarded by these two friendly Monsters…
https://www.ideaplanetlp.com/about
To all my Sneakers, Friends of Sneakers and Anyone reading this, enjoy the rest of your August as we sneak into Fall! (Thank God.)
Dredd out.
As if I’m Peter Falk, “Uhhh, one more thing…”
Thoughts on the Netflix series “The Sandman”?
Just finished it and never read the comic, shame on me. Loved it.
Dredd REALLY out.
Keeping in mind that Summer holidays in Australia include Christmas and New Year, followed by a long January of endless swimming and – in the 80’s – watching VHS movies recorded off TV, it was pretty much as good as life could get.
And while it was always great to see friends again when school returned, it was usually about lunchtime on day 1 when the prospect of another year in the rigid oppression of school life seemed like a life sentence. Yes. Give me summer holidays forever more.
Punk name?. I’m going to go with Stink Pinkeye.
No. Maggotus Jones.
Wait… Snottley Smith.
Hmmm. Might need some more thought on this.
But I can see you gents as Screamin’ Ian and Rip Dead-rot.
Mick,
I can remember a friend of mine from Queensland sending me photos of Santa Claus arriving in swim trunks and on a surf board since Christmas is warm down there. How does he account for the eight tiny reindeer? Are they underwater?
I think my punk name would have to be Chris Roberts. However, if that’s too offensive, how about these:
Classy: Vox Pop
Scatological: Gary Shitter
Scottish 1: Lezah Lane
Scottish 2: Geeza Brek
Smartarse: Q Cumberbatch
Vegan 1: Tofu Burger
Vegan 2: Robert Plant-Based
Self-explanatory: Dick Head
Too rude for TV: Cunt Eastwood
Still loving the show, guys. Love to you both, and to all sneakers great and small.
*Doffs hat, bends then straightens both knees*: “Evening all”.
To expand on last week’s chat about Yankee Doodle (as I’m sure everyone was hoping); as Dave mentioned, the ‘Macaroni’ is a jab at 18th Century Trustafarians, particularly those returning from the Grand Tour of Europe with outlandishly Italianate affectations. Doodle is also the derivation of ‘Dude’, an American form of ‘Dandy’. As a non-American I only recently discovered that a ‘Dude Ranch’ was actually a tourist resort packed with foppish city slickers, and not cool cowboys. Shocker!
As a further digression, only today I learnt that the Mexican cowboys were called ‘Vaqueros’
Since Spanish speakers pronounce Vs as Bs, this becomes ‘Baquero’, hence ‘Buckaroo’.
Hope you like these nuggets. If not, then I’m guilty of one of your other topics of conversation – that of being boring. In my family, we have a couple of prime examples at the extreme ends of boredom. My father-in-law is an introvert who takes little interest in the world around him. As a result of his incuriosity, he is unable to talk about the world in depth, and this lack of interest makes him boring to talk to, as most attempts at conversation go nowhere. My father, by contrast, is fascinated by an incredibly niche corner of history, but is completely unable to adapt his stories to suit his audience, including reams of arcane and digressive detail that confuse the listener. This makes him a bore.
So the boring person simply brings nothing to the party, whilst the bore stops the party dead. Both suck energy out of the room, and I wonder whether the boring person who puts little effort into human connection feels less happy than the bore who puts in so much so fruitlessly? I know for a fact I can be a bore, but am glad that I am at least somewhat self aware about this, and do try to make an effort – which again, is something the boring person lacks. In general – if you are making the other person work too hard, whether through giving too little or too much – then buddy, you’re a bore.
Thanks David for another out-of-this world music selection.
‘Hey Mr Spaceman’ is a joy! I had no idea it was a Byrds tune. The first and last time I heard it was about 20 years ago in the West End production of ‘Return to the Forbidden Planet’. This hugely entertaining jukebox musical takes the retro-future charms of ‘Forbidden Planet’ and re-inserts your actual Shakespearian dialogue from its source ‘The Tempest’ and other plays, with a grab bag of 60s tunes. A high concept if ever there was one – but it worked beautifully, with musical instruments incorporated in the ‘bridge’ set, and tentacles dropping from the ceiling onto the audience.
Not a punk rock name per se, but listen out for punk rock tunes in a Doo Wop style sung by my group ‘The Expectorations’
Blimey this was a long one. Thanks you to Ian’s jaw muscles, and Sneakers’ ear muscles for indulging me.
*adjusts Stetson, steps through saloon doors into the dusty street*
Question 1: Heck, no! I dreaded school starting. Not so much when I was in the primary grades, but definitely as I got older. I can recall finishing grade 3 and realizing that not only was I now out of primary and into intermediate (which was actually all housed in the same little 4 room school house so it wasn’t a massive physical transition), but it was also enough to then cause me to make the to jump to thinking about what was next – high school. So from the summer between grade three, I had double dread at the end of each summer, the first of going back to school and the second on the ticking of the clock as the thought of scary high school bore down on me one year closer each summer.
Once I was in high school, I spent the summer dealing with the mixed emotions of the excitement of preparing for and showing my horse at the PNE, which was the highlight of the season held over the last three weeks of August, and the sad realization that this would be immediately followed by a return to school.
When I was in university, I looked forward to the return to school, probably for two main reasons, one being that I enjoyed university for its greater choice in classes I could take and the fact I wasn’t locked into an 8-3 schedule five days a week, and the fact that my summer job of riding/training/teaching was so physically exhausting that I appreciated the return to a more humane lifestyle (as my own boss, I have learned that I am a slave driver).
So, upon reflecting on this, I now realize that maybe my chosen profession as a teacher wasn’t the best pick for me as I have spent the last 30+ years also dreading the return of school over summer. However, I have also learned that within an hour of being back in the building, I’m back in the swing of it and it’s like summer never happened.
I guess it’s partly anxiety-based, but it does cause me to really drag my feet about returning to school in the last weeks of August as many/most teachers routinely do. I did get the first of what will likely be a few anxiety dumps from colleagues about this same thing yesterday via an email on the topic of ‘when are you coming back in?’ – I already have to go in twice next week, but I also have a full schedule between now and then with various tying-up-loose-ends-before-returning-to-work things, so that just ends up compounding my anxiety.
But, on the bright side, as I near retirement, this will likely be my penultimate summer-toe-drag back to school so perhaps I should embrace that.
Question 2: My punk rock name: Sleezy Leezy ? Just cuz it rhymes, of course.