Shed Dogs

Maybe it was all the talk about the long-forgotten Robson Zoo (and whatever happened to Charlie the Lonesome Cougar, anyway?), or maybe it was our conversation around the Trophy Town documentary on the 1961 Trail Smoke Eaters, or possibly our warm reminiscence of this Christmas just past… But whatever it was, it led us to a long contemplation of the future, specifically the question of whether there is a future after this current turn on the stage of life. KJ has Thoughts, and we wonder whether you do, too.

Links: Shed Dogs; Trophy Town; reincarnation; channeling; tryptophans.

Once again, this week’s artwork was generated by Stable Diffusion, this time using the prompt “3 reincarnated dogs”.

PJ publicly announces his doddering phase as he struggles to come to grips with how much movies cost, while KJ and RJ happily discuss what they’re watching these days, and we all detail how movies will change when it’s us making them. In our ongoing quest to actually improve your life, RJ comes up with yet another golden PSA nugget on how to find your phone when you’ve taken that (not) inevitable fall on a slippery street. Speaking of inevitable, we spend some time dwelling in happy nostalgia while remembering innocent people we injured in our youthful sporting lives. And a couple added bonuses!: PJ 3.0 has become obsessed with rusty guns and how to fix them, and RJ provides a resource for you to learn how to use a rotary dial phone. Wait, don’t look into the sun, and keep your g****** eyes on the road! We’re looking at you, cinematographers and actors.

Links: Shed Dogs; all the shark movies, rated; how to play Guts Frisbee; James Cameron tells us how much Avatar: The Way of Water really cost; the video games that were most expensive to make; The Righteous Gemstones; one of those rusty firearm restoration videos that PJ 3.0 was talking about; Kurosawa was the first director to point the camera into the sun; the new rotary phone is coming to your town! (skip ahead to 9:16 to see the extreme clarity RJ was talking about).

This episode’s artwork was generated by Stable Diffusion, using the prompt “Dog falling in snow with smartphone in Neo Impressionist style”. We had to add the smartphone and rusty gun though.

Our special guest this episode is Jenny of Rossland, with whom your Dogs went to school and generally hung out 50 or so years ago. We talk about what she’s been up to over the long past and will she will be up to in the near future (Ecuador!), and she helps us out with KJ’s Snappers and some bespoke Listener Mail as well. Anecdotes and arguments abound! 

Links: Shed Dogs; the tarantulas of Ecuador; vegan turkey, Guilt & Company

Another afternoon in the Shed sees your Dogs coming to grips with a veritable shintangle of words and phrases in a KJ’s Snappers session. After he showed us the ropes we got a close-up tour of the ins and outs of renouncing one’s U.S. citizenship—this might be useful info for some listeners, so you’re welcome, it’s just what we do. Finally, we also got to read Listener Mail, a regular favourite. It all adds up to a ronnogram of fun, which is quite a lot!

Links: Inside the Movieland Arcade (article from before it closed down); the new metric prefixes; renouncing U.S. citizenship; the cat’s on the roof and won’t come down.

As they shelter in the Shed from unexpectedly wintry winter conditions, your Shed Dogs wander along and talk about some old stuff (like Star Trek and California Dreaming), some pseudo old stuff (like Mad Men) as well as some more contemporary themes: revelations from IOS 16, some thoughts on the business of weather, and of course dogs—specifically the easiest way to train them so they don’t disrupt the podcast you’re trying to do. It’s all in good humour and ambles along at a relaxed pace, so kick back (or walk along) and have a listen! 

Links: Shed Dogs; weather services; ShinDig! (which it turns out, contrary to what RJ was saying, was almost always live); Star Trek (The Original Series); Mad Men.

Long time listeners will know that we Dogs occasionally enjoy a K-drama. Like, you know, all the time. If you weren’t aware of that, this episode should bring you up to speed as we discuss, praise, and generally swoon over “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” on Netflix. We liked it a lot. We also take quick looks at RJ’s recent trip to Seattle and experience at a dinner club, and talk about the remixed “Revolver” that Giles Martin and modern technology have given us, but really….our focus on Attorney Woo Young Woo is extraordinary, and we hope you’re as charmed as we were. Bonus two words: flat, gloss.

Links: Shed Dogs; Extraordinary Attorney Woo; Alan White (Yes drummer); whyhunger.org; Mark Ellen interviews Giles Martin about Revolver; Guilt & Company (dinner club); flat gloss (the new champagne of coloured cars)

On a blustery cold November day, your Dogs warmed their old erudite hearts reading emails from resolute listeners… and then reverted to propense form by prattling on about KJ’s Snappers and genteelly discoursing on why Apple has appellations and numbers for operating systems, what canine Buddy has been up to, impedimenta PJ is spending money on, and RJ’s and Sue’s Halloween. In other words, and propitiously, it’s us!

Links: Shed Dogs; Lewis Monson (painter of the dog in the foreground of this week’s cover art); the 2010 Prius, BC doctor remuneration; Trophy Town (documentary on the world champion Trail Smoke Eaters); fancy words; Merlin Mann; dollar store candy bars.

Checking in at a small but busy hotel can be tricky business, as RJ explains to us here in a little segment we call Down in the Bayeux. Attentive listeners will pick up a small yet vital tidbit that could avert all kinds of problems, and globe-trotting sophisticates like our audience will do well to lean in and listen. To complement that information, we also get highly entertaining and informative Listener Mail; it turns out your Shed Dogs don’t have really deep operatic history knowledge, after all, but we do now. Who knew Warner Brothers cartoons were so vital to our cultural education. On top of all this goodness, we do our duty as citizens and bring you some insight on political campaigning on the ground floor—something you’re considering trying? You get a look here, because we are Those Guys.

Links: Shed Dogs; Nimrod; Mad Magazine; EC Comics; BC Ferries rates for seniors; retractable bollards.

A little over 5 months ago, we spoke of a few interesting things, as we do. Here at last, we share it with you: some good phone-related travel tips (hint: avoid roaming charges!), some great listener mail (thanks!), and as always some reflection on how we are dealing with things like using the tap with debit cards, what music RJ is listening to, and in this case the novel venue he was listening to it in (half time at a Lions football game, replete with cheerleaders doing the Pony Dance). Really, we had this episode kicking around and we needed the cupboard space, so enjoy!

Links: Shed Dogs; the Pony Dance; House of Teeth; the Willingdon Lands Master Plan (the detailed plan RJ was describing can be found in the three Supporting Documents on that page).

Theme music by Voodoo Jazz!

The Shed Dogs fall back into Daylight Losing Time with a look at all the fun things Apple’s new operating system brings to your phone: good tips, highs and lows, and favourite features. When we’re done with that, we need a change of pace and so bring you, under RJ’s tutelage, a thorough background on baguettes, followed by a rigorous taste test of three different local baguettes so that you can know what to put in that big basket on the front of your bike. After this, you’ll be able to dazzle your friends and scare your enemies with your confident cosmopolitan knowledge of one of France’s most carefully guarded culinary treasures. All you’ll need is that beret you’ve been wishing you could wear.

Links: Shed Dogs; Marques Brownlee’s first video; baguettes; Napoleon.