Sofa King Podcast

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we take a look at the largest volcanic eruption in the modern history of the United States, the eruption of Mount St. Helens. This volcano started grumbling and causing a superstring of earthquakes in March of 1980, but on May 18, the volcano erupted. Two hundred and thirty square miles of forest were destroyed instantly as the equivalent of 1500 Hiroshima level nuclear bombs went off. Even though it was being watch closely by volcanologists, photographers, and the world, it’s violent explosion surprised almost everyone. Luckily a scientist who died in the eruption convinced the government to keep people away; this action is thought to have saved as many as a thousand lives. The destruction was inconceivable, but it may be in forms you weren’t expecting. For example, much of it was a tsunami like flow of water as called a Lahar that turned 46 billion gallons of glacial melt into several rivers of cement. The ash plume circled the globe and erased all geological features. People in the Pacific Northwest remember this very vividly. After all, Mount St. Helens was completely transformed by the explosion, and dozens died in this cataclysm. Visit Our Sources: https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mount-st-helens/1980-cataclysmic-eruption?qt-science_support_page_related_con=2#qt-science_support_page_related_con https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/18/us/mount-st-helens-facts-eruption-trnd/index.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_eruption_of_Mount_St._Helens https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/103/ https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/stratoguide/helenfact.html https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/624139/mount-st-helens-facts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYla6q3is6w

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we hit you with a little urban guerrilla true crime and look at the kidnapping, crimes, and domestic terrorism or Patty Hearst. Patricia Hearst is the granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst. In 1974, she was kidnapped from her apartment in Berkeley by a group called the Symbionese Liberation Army. While she was with them, she helped them rob a couple banks, shot up a sporting goods store, and made homemade bombs. Was she abused, drugged, and raped to become a victim-participant, or did she willingly join forces? Patty Hearst was born to a very wealthy family, obviously, but she was nowhere near granddaddy rich. She lived a normal life and eventually went to college at UC Berkeley to study art history. Meanwhile, a man named Donald DeFreeze was starting a terrorist group called the SLA. Their goal was to fight for the poor in America. Or something. After a few months, Hearst released recordings of herself saying she had joined the cause and shortly after that, she was seen on video footage in a bank robbery. The SLA killed some people, robbed some stuff, and demanded hundreds of millions of dollars to feed all the poor in American. Hearst’s dad managed to get two million, and the food delivery was a disaster. Eventually, this one got crazy. There was a Waco style shoot out between the feds and the SLA while their house burned. There was a nationwide manhunt by the FBI to find Hearst, and then when she was arrested, the trial was a circus. Was this a wild case of Stockholm Syndrome, or was it just a rich girl sowing her wild oats? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/patty-hearst https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/patty-hearst https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patty_Hearst https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/patty-hearst-kidnapped https://www.npr.org/2016/08/03/488373982/whose-side-was-she-on-american-heiress-revisits-patty-hearst-s-kidnapping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbionese_Liberation_Army https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/guerrilla-patricia-campbell-hearst/ Bank Robbery Video: https://youtu.be/xDPyT-6lh8E https://youtu.be/N17n8yleZKY

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at one of the all-time fascinating medical cases, the story of Joseph Merrick--The Elephant Man. Due to a hardcore medical condition, Merrick was deformed beyond recognition as a human being, with a massive head, huge protrusions all over his body, and even skin lesions that smelled. Add a dash of Victorian superstitions, and you have a man who was destined for misery at every turn. None of us are likely to have heard of him if it wasn’t for a world famous play and then a movie called The Elephant Man, but his story is one of sorrow, perseverance, and a surprisingly happy ending. The narrative in those fictions has some truth to it, but the real story varies quite a bit. What we know about him is that he wasn’t born like this. As a young child, he started to get deformities that only increased up till the day he died. His family eventually kicked him out, and even the work he could do got taken away once he was too deformed to perform skilled labor. By then, he was destined for the freak show. For a while, he made some money at this, but as tastes changed, they ran him out of town. If not for the friendship of Doctor Frederick Treves, his life would have ended with him on the street. But instead, he died with good medical care, surrounded by those who came to love him. So, what was the actual condition that caused this? What happened to him in his freak show days? How did he make it back to London after being abandoned in Europe? How did he die? What happened when he met Princess Alexandra? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/news/elephant-man-joseph-merrick-biography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Merrick https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-48149855 https://www.verywellhealth.com/the-elephant-mans-bones-reveal-mystery-2860454 https://www.history.com/news/elephant-man-joseph-merrick-grave-discovery https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CejyfdIaCQ0

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we visit the dark king of techno, Trent Reznor. Many people don’t know him by name since he is the front man for Nine Inch Nails, but in a way, he IS Nine Inch Nails. The other band members come and go, but his writing, his producing, his ideas and lyrics are what the band really is. He is considered by many in the music industry to be one of the most influential artists alive. He has won Grammys and Oscars, and he has done sound tracks to some of the most popular movies of the past decade, all while taking shots at the hypocrisy and ignorance of typical American Culture. Trent Reznor was a talented child, and by high school was a master of the piano and could play just about every other instrument out there. He started college as a computer engineer, but he dropped out to try to make it with music. He got a job as a janitor at a music studio, and he was allowed to play around in the booth when they weren’t booked. Here, he taught himself to be a producer and how to layer, mix, and do all his music is famous for. He recorded all the songs on his first album, Pretty Hate Machine, and it was an instant success, even leading to a bidding war for who would release it. His next album was even bigger, and a very young age, Oliver Stone hired him to do the soundtrack for Natural Born Killers. He worked with David Lynch next and even got into video games. As his albums kept coming out, he kept creating controversy. He found Marylyn Manson. He lost Marylyn Manson. He became an addict. He became best friends with David Bowie. He got clean. He got married and created a new band with his wife. He bought the house where Sharon Tate was killed by the Manson family. He made a music studio in a funeral home in New Orleans. Through all of it, Trent Reznor became one of the best producers in the industry, mostly due to a chronic case of not caring what anyone else thought of him (and the ability to realize what his own brand was and to keep refining it). Give this one a listen, and then go binge on some NIN! Visit Our Sources: https://www.allmusic.com/artist/trent-reznor-mn0000017580/biography nin.com https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/rock-stars/trent-reznor-net-worth/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Reznor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUCKYter60A https://www.npr.org/2013/09/04/218961237/trent-reznor-im-not-the-same-person-i-was-20-years-ago https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Inch_Nails http://antiquiet.com/misc/lists/2013/07/former-ex-members-of-nine-inch-nails-where-are-they-now-nin-2013/ https://uproxx.com/indie/trent-reznor-nine-inch-nails-members-inducted-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame/ https://exclaim.ca/music/article/five_noteworthy_facts_you_might_not_know_about_trent_reznor

On this episode of the World Famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about a strange bit of true crime, the case of Dr. Quincy Fortier. He was a fertility expert for four decades, and he’s known to have impregnated at least 26 women with his own sperm. Aside from dozens of unwitting children across the nation, he also molested his own children, even impregnating one with his own sperm! This monster died before any strong legal action could be brought his way, but he impacted so many lives He started as a Norman Rockwell type Americana doctor. He took interest in medicine watching the cows give birth back home on the farm, got into medicine, and then served as a field surgeon in World War Two, making it all the way to the rank of Colonel. Once back in the states, he opened his own women’s hospital, and that’s where the dirty deeds were done. One by one, he would impregnate women with his own sperm, instead of random sperm from donors. In some cases, he was supposed to use the husband’s sperm but used his own instead, and in the case of his own daughter, he impregnated her during a medical examination. His evils came to light in the film Baby God, which follows a woman named Wendy Babst. She bought herself a home DNA kit as a retirement present when she stepped down from being a police detective. What she learned changed her world, and the film maker Hannah Olson followed her investigation and journey. Listen, laugh, learn Visit Our Sources: HBOmax: Documentary, Baby God https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12/01/hbo-fertility-doctor-fortier-babygod-documentary/ https://www.oxygen.com/true-crime-buzz/dr-quincy-fortier-of-baby-god-also-accused-of-molesting-his-kids https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a34814705/baby-god-hbo-dr-quincy-fortier-nevada-law/ https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/dec/01/baby-god-dna-testing-fertility-fraud-quincy-fortier-nevada https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/quincy-fortier-obituary?pid=142068964

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we get our Golden Girls on and talk about the life of the one and only Betty White. While most of you known her from her role as Rose on that smash hit show, some may know her from her life in game shows or any of the endless rolls and Emmys afterward. She is the oldest person to host Saturday Night Live (was 88 at the time), and she was pioneer for both women and black actors in Hollywood. She started off wanting to be a forest ranger. Why? She loves animals and the outdoors. But turns out, back in the day, women couldn’t be rangers. So, she set her sights on acting and entertainment. After a bit of a dis, some movie execs told her she didn’t have the looks for film, so she started in Radio. She took off, landing lots of local jobs in LA, then a local TV show in LA, and then finally a national show on NBC called Life With Elizabeth. In her role as head of the show, she pissed off the south by insisting a black actor stay in the show, even though it may be what got the show cancelled. Good for her. She spent years doing game shows, most notably the Password and Matchgame. She in fact met her one true love, Allen Ludden the host of Password and married him. From there, she did numerous shows and guest spots, finally making it to Mama’s Family, a sitcom that was successful enough to make them want to cast her on Golden Girls. She was a breakout hit in that show, earning an Emmy for best actress in the first season and getting nominated every other season of the show (The first time that has happened). So, who was she supposed to play on Golden Girls originally? How old is she now? How did social media land her on SNL? How old was she when she finally became a forest ranger? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/actor/betty-white https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_White https://www.pbs.org/wnet/pioneers-of-television/pioneering-people/betty-white/ https://people.com/tv/betty-white-preps-for-99th-birthday-and-says-a-sense-of-humor-keeps-her-forever-young/ https://apnews.com/article/mary-tyler-moore-sandra-bullock-betty-white-fecd6ed6db7f9f82c5fcc4d587084d68 https://www.insider.com/betty-white-facts-career-2019-1

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we do a somewhat unique show and do a deep dive on the Netflix documentary called The Social Dilemma. What exactly is the dilemma? Well, for one it’s privacy and the way that apps like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and all the rest use our data and manipulate us. Worse, however, is the ability to the platforms to isolate us in ocean of our own making, where our own politics, fears, prejudices, and hopes are the only thing we see. These apps distort our world view to the point where there is no more truth, just bias and a divide that keeps putting a wedge between us more and more. We talk about the three main goal of the apps—engagement, growth, and advertising. The algorithms used by these companies are far more sophisticated that we could dream, and even the creators no longer have control of what their AIs do or how they do it. More to the point, the social media apps are leading us to a dystopia where we all hate each other and only see one narrow world view. If you’ve wondered why politics have moved from divisive to destructive, this episode talks about why that is. So, what tricks to the social media apps use to get your attention and hold it? What can be done to stop them? What effect has this had on teenage mental health? What is the real commodity that is being sold by the likes of Facebook and Google? What can you do to stop yourself from being used? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: Netflix Documentary, The Social Dilemma

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk one of the all-time legends of the music industry, the one and only Quincy Jones. He wasn’t just a music prodigy, he understood the business in a way nobody else ever has. He worked with some of the greatest of all time, from Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles to Dizzy Gillespie and Elvis Presley. He created the sound of Michael Jackson’s three biggest albums, and has won a whopping 28 Grammy awards. He created The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Mad TV, and worked on film with greats like Steven Spielberg. But he started with humble beginnings in Chicago. After his mother went insane, his father moved to Seattle, and he started to learn music. At 14, he met a young Ray Charles, and they broke into the music world together. He got into a prestigious music school and then transferred to another one, but ultimately left, so he could tour with legendary Lionel Hampton’s big band. From there, he met and worked with bigger and bigger stars until he was hired by Mercury records to create his own albums and produce others. Then, the film and tv started. He got his foot in the door doing scores for films, and has now done over 50 films. He produced the class film The Wiz and then did so again with The Color Purple. He created “We are the World,” the Montreux Jazz Festival, got Miles Davis to come out of retirement, and spends a lot of time and money helping the world in general. So even though, you may not know the accomplishments of this amazing man, you’ve certainly listened to them without even knowing it. Give this episode a download, and you’ll learn the secrets of the man behind everyone else’s success. Visit our Sources: https://www.famousfix.com/topic/quincy-jones/dating https://www.biography.com/musician/quincy-jones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quincy_Jones https://www.quincyjones.com/ https://www.vulture.com/2018/02/quincy-jones-in-conversation.html https://www.cnn.com/2014/06/12/showbiz/quincy-jones-fast-facts/index.html#:~:text=Jones%20has%2080%20Grammy%20Award,television%20shows%2C%20documentaries%20and%20shorts. pbs.org/black-culture/explore/renaissance-man-quincy-jones/ https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/producers/quincy-jones-net-worth/#:~:text=Quincy%20Jones%20Net%20Worth%3A%20Quincy,net%20worth%20of%20%24500%20million. https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/quincy-jones-claims-he-used-to-date-ivanka-trump/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look back at a little known group from World War Two called the Night Witches. Known as the 588th Night Bomber Regimen, this all female group of Soviet pilots were such a terror to the Nazis that any German who could shoot one down would instantly receive their prestigious Iron Cross medal. Over the course of the war, they flew around 30,000 missions. They were the most decorated unit in the entire Soviet air force. Their story is a very interesting one. At first, women couldn’t serve in the Soviet air force, but a woman named Major Marina Raskova (The Russian Amelia Earhart) convinced Stalin to let it happen. He signed in three women regiments, including the 588th. Ironically, the biggest difficulty they faced was also the biggest part of their legacy and infamy. They flew the worst planes. They were given old plywood biplanes meant for crop dusting. They had no armor, no radio, no parachute, no light. However, they were so old and slow, that they flew under the stall out speed for all German aircraft. Also, they were too small and light to be picked up on radar. Once over a target, they’d cut their engines and drift until over their target and drop their bombs. This is what made the Nazis call them the Night Witches. All they’d hear on the ground was the whoosh of what they said was a witches' broom and the cackle of the pilot's laughter before the explosions started. So, how many of these women were there? How many died in combat? How many missions would they fly in one night? Why does one historian think they are crazy? Why didn’t the Soviets include them in the victory parade at the end of the war? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/news/meet-the-night-witches-the-daring-female-pilots-who-bombed-nazis-by-night https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Witches https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/03/01/fierce-feared-female-wwii-pilots-known-night-witches/ https://www.wrightmuseum.org/2020/10/01/the-soviet-night-witches/ https://allthatsinteresting.com/night-witches-ww2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A88qXWtP6Sc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irina_Sebrova

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the one and only kings of rock, the immortal Run-DMC. Composed of DJ Run (Joseph Simmons), DMC (Darryl McDaniels), Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizzel), this trio set the world of Hip Hop on fire and managed to take it from streets and dance clubs to the entire world. Without Run-DMC, Russel Simmons, and their unique take on style and marketing, the rap world would be an entirely different place. The three of them met each other as teens in Hollis, Queens, New York. When Run was only 17, he worked with the legendary Kurtis Blow thanks to his promoter/producer brother Russel Simmons. Eventually, Run, DMC, and JMJ wanted to record together, but it took them some convincing to get Russel on board. He changed their name to Run-DMC, insisted they keep a street looking style, and the rest was rap history. They started release hit after hit, becoming the first rap albums to make national attention and even get played on MTV. They had a lucrative deal with Adidas since that was their signature style. They were part of the recording and touring stable of Def Jam records along with LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys, and the Fat Boys. They starred in movies, rejuvenated the career of Aerosmith, and merged rock and rap in ways nobody had done sense. So why did they break up? What made Run change his stage name? What helped cure DMC of his years long depression? Why did they team up with the unlikely Aerosmith? Why was Jam Master Jay Murdered? Did it have to do with a 50 Cent beef or a massive drug deal? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Run-DMC https://www.rundmc.com/ https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/run-d-m-c/ http://www.oldschoolhiphop.com/artists/emcees/rundmc.htm https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-juice/6296910/how-run-dmc-changed-rap-game-in-1984 https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102675250 https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/02/aerosmith-run-dmc-and-story-behind-walk-way/582220/ https://www.npr.org/2020/08/17/903335189/two-men-charged-in-cold-case-murder-of-jam-master-jay https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jam_Master_Jay https://www.songfacts.com/facts/run-dmc

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we go back in time and look at two of the most famous train robbers and desperadoes from Cowboy Days, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These two are linked through all of U.S. history, but they were really part of a much larger game called The Wild Bunch (and weren’t even that good of friends). The Wild Bunch led the most successful career of train robbery in the American West, and some scholars say they were only brought down by the hiring of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Butch Cassidy was born Robert Parker, but took his name from a mentor he met, who probably taught him how to steal and sell cattle and how to shoot a gun. Cassidy frowned upon violence, ironically, and boasted to have never killed a man. The other famous member of the gang was The Sundance Kid, aka Alonzo Longabaugh. Both of these men did various crimes from petty to preposterous and eventually joined forces in the Wild Bunch. They were joined by a cast of characters with amazing names: “Elzy Lay", The "Tall Texan", Kid Curry, News Carver, Deaf Charley Hanks, and Flat-Nose Curry. Men and women were part of the Wild Bunch. They gained fame across the nation for their gonzo train robberies and a little bit of a Robin Hood complex. So, what forced the surviving members to head south of the border? How did these wild characters die as the gang shrank? Did Butch and Sundance really go down in a blaze of glory in Bolivia? How much were their heists worth? What year did the oldest member of the Wild Bunch finally die? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit our Sources: https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/butch-cassidy https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/sundance-kid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butch_Cassidy https://www.history.com/news/6-things-you-might-not-know-about-butch-cassidy https://www.history.com/news/butch-cassidy-sundance-kid-robberies-death https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundance_Kid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butch_Cassidy%27s_Wild_Bunch https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/78459/8-fascinating-facts-about-butch-cassidy

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the strongest cases of UFO sightings, the Ariel School Encounter in Zimbabwe. What makes this one such a good case? For one, it was in a rural area, and it had over 60 witnesses. They were in such a remote location, they were not subjected to bias from mass media and popular culture, and they came from different ethnicities and religious backgrounds. What did they see? Well, common story is that several glowing silver orbs in the sky were flashing red lights. They lowered, and then two beings came out and bounced from the earth as if they were humans walking on the moon. They were riffs on a Gray Alien, almond eyes, short, thin bodies, but these had long flowing black hair. Once they were near the children, they looked at them with “evil eyes” and apparently sent a message to their brains. We are destroying the planet, and we need to stop. An African Ufologist named Cindy Hind was there the next day to investigate and reached out to a man named John E Mack. Mack was a psychiatrist from the Harvard Medical school and Pulitzer Prize winning author. It doesn’t get better than that for a UFO investigation with repute. He and his partner interviewed the children, filmed it, and sort of became UFO rock stars. So how did Mack’s academic colleagues greet this new line of UFO work? Why was he in Africa in the first place? Why were there no teachers out there? Could this have been mass hysteria, and why does one investigator think not? What is up with Randal Nickerson and his documentary using the original footage shot by Dominique Callimanopulos? How did Mack Die? Where are the students now? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.afrikaiswoke.com/ufo-incident-in-zimbabwe-ariel-school/ https://mg.co.za/article/2014-09-04-remembering-zimbabwes-great-alien-invasion/ https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/05/americans-alien-abduction-science?verso=true https://new-cryptozoology.fandom.com/wiki/Ariel_School_Aliens https://www.news24.com/witness/archive/The-day-the-aliens-landed-20150430 https://www.bostonherald.com/2009/05/31/film-takes-closer-look-at-african-ufo-sighting/ https://mysticsciences.com/2018/03/04/the-mass-ufo-encounter-of-ariel-school/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3588562/ https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/77o49s/i_am_randall_nickerson_director_of_doc_on_ariel/ https://youtu.be/c5L6r6AazkU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5L6r6AazkU&list=PLhsvo3kvN2K7YAOyBAlWaikpzV1s-3Ypc&index=25

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the most revealing figures of World War Two, Anne Frank. Born to a Jewish family in 1929, her story perfectly captures the plight and flight of Jews as they tried to avoid the pure evil of the Third Reich. Though her father fought for Germany in WWI, they had to go in hiding to save themselves. During their two year stay in what came to be called the Secret Annex, Anne kept her world famous diary. It shows the mind of a very bright young woman, and it captures the fear, dread, and hope that people felt during World War Two. Who all was in the Annex with Anne Frank? What types of things did she put in the diary? What things did her father not allow to be published? What type of friction was there as Anne fell in love with Peter Van Pels, leaving her older sister out of the loop? What happened to Anne and the others? Who survived and who died? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/activist/anne-frank https://www.annefrank.org/en/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/anne-frank-1

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we explore the meteoric rise, scandal, and fame of the one and only Hulk Hogan. Born Terry Bollea, this six foot seven inch monster became synonymous with wrestling for several decades. It is said that nobody ever sold as many tickets to a wrestling match as Hulk Hogan. Starting in humble beginnings, Bollea was a big guy who bragged about becoming a wrestler—so much so that on day one of his training, they broke his leg on purpose and sent him home. But this didn’t stop him. For the better part of a decade, he traveled to different wrestling territories. Eventually, he ended up in New York working for Vince McMahon Sr., and this is where he got the name Hulk Hogan and started to get real fame. However, he was fired for his work in Rocky III and went elsewhere. Eventually, the WWF was bought by Vince Jr, and he instantly hired Hogan as the most popular wrestler in America. Together, they broke all the rules and lit wrestling on fire. They conquered every territory and told amazing stories in the ring. So, what happened between him and Macho Man involving his wife? Why did Hulk Hogan get fired from the WWE, even when he was on top of the world? What happened with the sex tape of him? What’s the story with him and the Andre The Giant body slam? Who tried to pay the Iron Sheik $100,000 to break Hogan’s leg? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit our Sources: The Stone Cold Steve Austin Show: SAS Classic, Hulk Hogan https://www.biography.com/personality/hulk-hogan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulk_Hogan https://playersbio.com/hulk-hogan/ https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/hulk-hogan-1654.php https://prowrestling.fandom.com/wiki/Hulk_Hogan https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/hulk-hogan-gets-115m-verdict-876768 https://www.factinate.com/people/24-smashing-facts-hulk-hogan/ https://www.thethings.com/things-no-one-knows-about-hulk-hogan/

I will just leave this right here. Merry Christmas.

This holiday season has hit us with some unexpected time restraints as we are visiting and spending quality time with our families. We hope all of you are healthy and doing well in this joyous season. Please excuse our absence as we will be back next week on our normal schedule, well as normal as we three can be. On this very merry episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we discuss Christmas. But it wouldn’t be us if we didn’t dig back the layers and come to some strange and ugly truths about the holiday that is associated with the birth of Jesus Christ. You may think this topic is a no brainer (a recent Pew Poll showed that 65% of Americans believe the Christmas story to be true), but be prepared to learn some odd truths about this beloved holiday. For one thing, the origins of the holiday and how it is celebrated date back to ancient pagan rites and were only adopted by the Catholic Church as a way to lure pagans to church membership. That’s right: gingerbread cookies, the Yule Log, a Christmas ham, Christmas trees, all of it tie back to Germanic and Norse pagans and were part of a celebration of fertility and reverence for the dead. Also, we look at Santa Claus, the truth of the real man named Saint Nicholas of Parara, how his bones were stolen by sailors and moved to start the Cult of Nicholas in the 11th century, and how Siberian shamen tripping on amanita muscaria mushrooms may be the birth of the red-suited reindeer part of the myth. You may have also heard about Krampus, Zwarte Pete, and the ancient feast of Saturnalia, but we talk about some crazy facts that you might not believe. Lastly, we discuss the birth of Jesus and the Nativity itself (something that Pope Benedict XVI largely even denounced when he was the head of the church a few years ago). So, be prepared to get your Christmas bubble burst and learn how you are actually a pagan, how Santa was an anti-Semite, and how gingerbread cookies are a way to symbolically eat human flesh to venerate the dead.

This holiday season has hit us with some unexpected time restraints as we are visiting and spending quality time with our families. We hope all of you are healthy and doing well in this joyous season. Please excuse our absence as we will be back next week on our normal schedule, well as normal as we three can be. Hello and welcome to Brewing The 99 where we talk about all facets of the Magic: the Gathering’s Commander format. This episode we are giving you some ideas on how to play webmander, online live commander games. We will also be answering a no stupid questions question asked by one of patrons. And we bring you another week of hot picks. Lastly, we break down our successes and failures collecting for Commander, so you can learn from our mistakes, and start your collection off right. We hope you stick around for the show and we also hope you take something away from it as well. Follow us on Twitter! @Brewingthe99 Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brewingthe99/ Follow us on Instagram: @brewingthe99 Email us: [email protected] Visit our website: http://www.brewingthe99.com We are a member of the Podbelly Podcast Network (https://instagram.com/podbelly/). Check out our show and other great podcasts on the network by going to http://www.podbelly.com Commander/EDH Official Rules, Ban list, FAQ, and more: https://mtgcommander.net

This holiday season has hit us with some unexpected time restraints as we are visiting and spending quality time with our families. We hope all of you are healthy and doing well in this joyous season. Please excuse our absence as we will be back next week on our normal schedule, well as normal as we three can be. The old man lingered in the liminal place that presaged sleep, that space where reality had variable density and fluctuating tactile strength. Moments of clarity, of skies with a blue so sharp they caused him to ache, were interspersed with vagaries, memories, haunting scars and echoes of the psyche in which he was intruding. This episode of Mindframe is a Prelude of the whole story. It introduces you to some of the major characters as seen through the eyes of a very interesting “Old Man” who doesn’t have the best grip on reality. He travels from place to place and time to time, checking in on people who he knows. It may be trippy and seem innocent, but the key themes (such as WorldGov and the World Navy) and the most important characters are introduced in this dream like fugue state episode. Go along for the ride on this episode. And remember. The Lariat is closing…

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about a true-crime story. It is a case that feels like the plot of the next Grand Theft Auto game. The first character is a Ukrainian mobster named Tarzan who owns a strip club called Porky’s (named after the classic 80’s movie) and who used to be an enforcer for the Gambino crime family. Additionally, the second character is an elite car and power boat salesman/thief/grifter from Miami who starts to sell black market military equipment from Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. The third character? A member of the Cali Drug Cartel named, who is considered violent even among cartel members. What do they have in common? Well, for one, the rapper Vanilla Ice. Next, they love to make money and do illegal things. Additionally, they are pretty awesome. They try everything from selling Russian military helicopters to impersonating Pablo Escobar to trying to buy a Soviet era submarine to sell 40 tons of cocaine per trip. The characters are unbelievable. The story even more so! Visit Our Sources: https://www.wsj.com/articles/operation-odessa-review-soviets-subs-and-lots-of-cocaine-1522358096 https://www.thedailybeast.com/strippers-cocaine-and-murder-the-crazy-true-story-of-two-crooks-pursuit-of-a-soviet-submarine https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tiller-russell-operation-odessa-chasing-down-ludwig-fainberg-juan-almeida-nelson-yester-operation-odessa/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Fainberg https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/operation-odessa-how-a-russian-mobster-tried-to-sell-a-russian-sub-to-coke-smugglers-10218893 Film: Operation Odessa.

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the murder of Brian Wells, also known as the Pizza Bomber. This is a strange one. It involves an innocent pizza delivery man who is held at gunpoint as he delivers his pizza. A bomb is strapped around his neck, and he’s given directions to go on a scavenger hunt to keep the bomb from boing off. One stop on the scavenger hunt? A little bank robbery using a shotgun made to look like a walking cane. Here, the cops catch Brian Wells, and the bomb goes off and kills him. But as the backstory unfolds, this turns into a tale of hardened life-time criminals, murders, a potential female serial killer, and bodies stored in freezers. Oh, and Brian Wells may have been in on it all along! Want to know more? Give this one a listen! Visit Our Sources: https://allthatsinteresting.com/brian-wells-evil-genius-marjorie-diehl-armstrong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Brian_Wells https://pizzabomber.com/faces-from-the-case/ https://www.mcall.com/news/police/mc-pa-collar-bomb-death-04042017-20170404-story.html https://www.goerie.com/news/20180828/brian-wells-participant-and-victim https://www.goerie.com/news/20180828/15-years-later-where-are-pizza-bomber-characters-now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63tQ7yGmsmI

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at the life and imagination of Ian Fleming. Fleming was of course, the creator of the iconic James Bond and author of a dozen Bond books, but he was also a key figure in British Intelligence during WWII. In fact, many people say his depiction of Bond is one of the most accurate depictions of what a spy was like during the war. His own exploits involve trying to steal an Enigma Machine, training one of the most important commando-spy units in Great Britain, and even helping draft the key elements of the CIA in Washington, D.C. He was a drinker, a womanizer, an adulterer, and a spy, and the world was made better for him. He was born to a very wealthy family. His grandfather was the founder of a bank, and the family had deep pockets and strong political connections. His father died in the trenches in WWI, and he grew up a smart and inquisitive child (though not one who cared for school work). Eventually, he was sent to a boarding school in Austria where he could train to join the Foreign Office. He applied for work there, but he failed to land a job. So, his mom got him a post as a reporter, and he traveled extensively, even coming close to an interview with Joseph Stalin. When the war started, his mother got him hired as the assistant of Admiral Godfrey, head of Naval Intelligence. From there, Ian Fleming had a sterling career. He wrote a thing called the Trout Memo, came up with plans to steal an Enigma Machine, trained the 30th Commando and worked with the SOE. His men were the epitome of British Intelligence officers, trusted by the Navy, and responsible for securing plans for things like the V-2 Rocket and the Messerschmitt Me 163 fighters. He was also close with Wild Bill Donovan, who was the chief liaison between British and American Intelligence during the war. In fact, the two of them wrote the blueprints for what would become the CIA. After the war, he went back to being a journalist, but was bored to tears by it. His job allowed him three months of vacation every year, and he built a house in Jamaica, called Golden Eye, which is where he would stay. Eventually, one of his long time girlfriends/affairs, was left by her husband (she and Ian were having an affair while also having affairs on each other…). They married, and before the marriage, he was challenged to write Casino Royale, the first Bond story. So how was this book received? What did his friends think, and why did the publisher decide to print it? Where did he get the name James Bond from? What spies and events were his novels based on? How much did he smoke and drink each day? How many affairs did he have? How did the movie deals come to be, and why is JFK key for the success of James Bond? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2018-featured-story-archive/ian-fleming-the-man-behind-the-most-famous-spy.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Fleming https://www.ianfleming.com/ian-fleming/ https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/travel/09Jamaica.html https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/11/extraordinary-letters-between-ian-fleming-and-wife-to-be-sold https://www.famousauthors.org/ian-fleming https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cIcFSDa79Y https://blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/bid/290676/book-collector-s-tidbits-ian-fleming-and-james-bond

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we cover the true crime roller coaster that was the trial of Amanda Knox. She and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were arrested for the murder of Meredith Kercher. This case it had it all. Promiscuous college students, rough Italian cops, bar hopping, Americans, Brits, and an international cast of characters. The case gets crazy as they two get convicted, released, and then arrested and convicted again due to crazy loopholes in Italian law. Amanda Knox was born in Seattle and was a normal child and a good college student. Since childhood, she had a love of Italy, and she got a chance to study abroad while she was getting a degree in linguistics. She moved to Perugia, Italy, to finish her studies. Perugia is a small town known for its colleges (and college students) as well as some pretty crazy murder cases. Amanda Knox was not the only wild murder in town. There was a case there of an Italian Prime minister allegedly murdering a journalist and another case of a band of Satanic Masonic serial killers! In Perugia, Amanda found a flat with several roommates. One was Kercher. Knox got a job at a local bar and eventually started a relationship with Sollecito. She stayed the night at his place, and on the morning of November 1st 2007, Knox found Kercher’s door locked but there was blood, and she wasn’t answering her phone. The cops came, and according to Knox were immediately hostile toward her. Plus, they were postal police, which apparently is a thing in Italy, and had no real business putting together a murder case. Either way, the trial was wild. They got convicted, even though they had leads on a better suspect. Then, the case was overturned, and they were acquitted. Once Knox was back in Seattle, however, the Italian court called the case back on, and she was being tried all over again in a horrible Italian justice yoyo. So, how did the case ultimately end up? Who did they finally claim the murderer was? What happened to him? How much time did Knox spend in prison? Why did she get in a twitter war over the US presidential election? What motivated her to try to help the founder of the sex cult NXIVM to get out of jail? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/amanda-knox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Knox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Meredith_Kercher https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/21/us/amanda-knox-wedding-prison-uniform-trnd/index.html https://nypost.com/2020/11/04/amanda-knox-says-next-4-years-cant-be-as-bad-as-her-study-abroad/ https://nypost.com/2020/12/06/man-who-killed-amanda-knoxs-roommate-freed/ https://filmdaily.co/obsessions/true-crime/amanda-knox-tweets/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and look at the king of all swashbucklers, Sir Henry Morgan. Morgan was a privateer (paid by the crown, so not a dirty pirate) who single handedly changed the face of the Caribbean and the war between England and Spain. In the 1600s, he was known for his cunning tactics (such as using the nuns and priests as a human shield), and he’d fight on land or at sea. He was one of the leaders of Jamaica, beloved by the people of England, and the scourge of the Spanish fleet. Yes, he helped England, but often at the end of a cutlass, with his men torturing their captives, taking slaves, and burning entire towns to the ground. Nothing could stop him. Born to a humble farmer, Henry Morgan longed for adventure. Two of his uncles served in the British Navy, and he wanted to as well. At a young age, he worked his way to the Caribbean and Jamaica, though nobody is exactly sure how he got there. It was very expensive and dangerous to make the voyage, and many versions of this tale exist. What is known is that within a short time, he was not just serving in the navy, but was given his own ship and a group of fellow privateers and buccaneers. Their mandate was to cause as much trouble for Spain as possible. They sank ships and sacked towns as long as England and Spain were at war. Which was always. As he grew in wealth, stature, and infamy, so did his navy. He was eventually named an Admiral and started to sack major towns along the Spanish Main. Some of his exploits made more money than the entire export of Jamaica. Others didn’t make much. But his amazing mind for tactics and his ruthlessness on the battle field and in the cities he sacked made him a legend. He was so feared by the Spanish, entire armies would sometimes abandon their posts if he was coming. He was so beloved by England than even when he broke the law and illegally attacked a city, he was knighted and made Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. This is like Pirates of the Caribbean but rated R and on steroids. And yes, the Captain Morgan rum guy was based on this awesome buccaneer. Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.thoughtco.com/captain-morgan-greatest-of-the-privateers-2136378 http://www.thewayofthepirates.com/famous-buccaneers/henry-morgan/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Morgan https://www.historynet.com/henry-morgan-the-pirate-who-invaded-panama-in-1671.htm https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofWales/Sir-Henry-Morgan/ https://pirates.fandom.com/wiki/Henry_Morgan http://www.thewayofthepirates.com/types-of-pirates/buccaneers/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look into one of the most famous cases of a haunting to come out of the UK, the Enfield Poltergeist. This is the story of a single mother living in government housing trying to support four kids when some very strange things started to happen in their house. One night in 1977, she went upstairs because her kids were freaking out, and she saw the chest of drawers move several times amidst knocking inside the walls. What came next was a series of hauntings that ran for 18 months--or a series of hoaxes if you think the daughters were up to no good! So on the night of August 31, 1977, Peggy Hodgson saw the chest of drawers move and ran next door with all of her kids. The neighbor went to investigate the now empty house and heard bizarre knocking in the walls follow him around. He went back home and called the cops. They investigated, and the officer saw a chair move on its own. She tried to find out how but could see no logical explanation. Since nobody was in danger and there was no crime, the cops left. The family called the local reporters, and that’s where the investigations started. Graham Morris of the Daily Mirror investigated with an eye for skepticism and was convinced something strange was happening in the house. So too were members of the Society for Psychical Research, Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair. These three investigators as well as a BBC reporter experienced thousands of unexplained phenomenon, and they even caught the girls faking it a few times. Their ultimate conclusions, however, was that something very strange was happening in this house. What is the story of the girl named Janet levitating in her bedroom? What made grown men think that the gruff voice coming out of the girl’s throat was genuinely not her own? What facts about previous home owner did the children seem to know? What was strange enough to make natural skeptics still believe, even when they saw a few instances of fraud? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/01/the-enfield-poltergeist-a-skeptic-speaks https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4GjC93L35KcswfsR13Gvj8F/what-it-s-like-to-meet-a-poltergeist https://people.com/movies/inside-the-real-story-that-inspired-the-conjuring-2/ https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6023279/enfield-poltergeist/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfield_poltergeist https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2054842/Enfield-Poltergeist-The-amazing-story-11-year-old-North-London-girl-levitated-bed.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvraq3KfP6w&t=6s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poltergeist Voice Recordings: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p063w9vj https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p063w9py

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at one of the worst natural disasters of our lifetimes, the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Responsible for the death of at least 230,000 people, this massive wave gave no warning in most areas, and the level of destruction was unprecedented. Some native peoples in the area knew it was coming due to old folk lore their people followed for thousands of years (and turned out true), but for most, it was a day of horror. First off, before you even listed to this episode, you should make sure you watch some clips on YouTube. The terror of the black wave, the people swept away to nothing, cars filled with people as they get swept aside as if by the hands of giants. It is truly terrifying. The tsunami was spawned by an underwater earth quake that hit on December 26th, 2004. It was said to be the second strongest quake ever recorded and lasted a total of ten minutes of shaking in some areas. The wave was generating from the quake, and due to the holiday, tourists were vacationing everywhere from Indonesia to Sumatra and Thailand, the hardest hit areas of the tsunami. In some places, the tell-tale sign of the water receding and then rushing back saved lives. In others, that never happened, and there was no warning at all. On this episode, we talk about the power of the quake, the height of the waves, and tell stories of survivors who were there. What did they see? What did they do to survive? How many loved ones did they lose? Who thinks this was Satan punishing westerners for drinking wine? Who are the Moken people, and why did none of them die in the devastation? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/tsunami-devastates-indian-ocean-coast https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/2004-indian-ocean-earthquake-tsunami-facts https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-30537152 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/23/world/tsunami-of-2004-fast-facts/index.html https://www.history.com/news/deadliest-tsunami-2004-indian-ocean https://www.efe.com/efe/english/life/miracle-boat-saved-dozens-of-lives-during-2004-tsunami/50000263-3476804 https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/dec/10/indian-ocean-tsunami-moken-sea-nomads-thailand https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sea-gypsies-saw-signs-in-the-waves/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_ZIPrBm3V0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apung_1

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we indulge in some true crime and talk about one of the worst monsters we’ve run up against, Pee Wee Gaskins. Born Donald Gaskins, he was always small (hence the nickname). His childhood ticked all the boxes: absent father, step fathers who beat him, a mother who didn’t care, drinking kerosene, and never even learning his own name. By the age 11, he had dropped out of school and ran with the “Trouble Trio,” where he robbed and gang raped prostitutes. This behavior never stopped, and with a life in and out of prison for endless crimes, he finally found his true calling once he started to kill and discovered his “Bothersome Feeling.” Once Pee Wee was busted for the horrible things he did with the Trouble Trio, he was sent to a reform school. All he learned there was how to be gang raped, and he finally had to sell his sexual services to the “Big Boy” for protection. He finally escaped and joined a carnival, like you do, and eventually he was too old to serve his juvenile sentence. From there, his life was an endless revolving door in and out of prison. He’d rob someone, steal something, or hit someone with a hammer and go to jail. He’d serve time or escape and then be out. He tended to work in garages, tobacco plantations, and carnivals while his low level crime spree kept on spreeing. Eventually, while committing a murder, he discovered his Bothersome Feeling that was only alleviated by killing. Well, killing, raping, torturing, eating the flesh of victims, the whole deal. So how did he finally get busted? What mob boss did he get to know? How many times was he hired to kill? How many victims do experts think Pee Wee Gaskins killed? What happened with the baby, and why is it so utterly awful? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: crimemuseum.org/crime-library/serial-killers/donald-pee-wee-gaskins/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Henry_Gaskins https://www.thoughtco.com/donald-pee-wee-gaskins-973165 https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/research/news_and_pubs/caravel/archive/2014/2014-caravel-pee-wee.php https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/donald-pee-wee-gaskins https://murderpedia.org/male.G/g1/gaskins-donald-henry-photos.htm

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast we tell the story of Robert Durst. This is true crime at its best. Durst was born to a wealthy real estate family in New York, and after watching his mom fall from a roof and die, everything went sideways. He had a rivalry at work with his brother that made them keep lead pipes handy in case of fighting, and then the bodies started to pile up. Or, at least vanish. His ex-wife, his close friend, and a neighbor he met in Galveston. You know the place where he lived in disguise as a woman to escape officials? So, where did this all start? In New York. Durst was born to real estate investor Seymour Durst, and after a tumultuous childhood, he went to UCLA for college. While there, he did scream therapy with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and moved back east to start a health food shop in the early 1970s. Eventually, he met his first wife there and finally went to work for the real estate business. His brother was put in charge, and a rivalry started that got bad enough that peed in his uncles trash can at work. Like you do. From there, he was let go, and a series of mayhem followed the guy. Kathie McCormack, his first wife went missing. Or, he killed her. She had bruises on her face a few weeks before the vanishing, and she showed up in sweat pants and out of sorts at a friend’s house the night before she vanished. Then, there was Susan Berman, the daughter of a mobster who used to run the Flamingo Hotel in Vegas. They were close friends, and a few days after Durst visited her, she was found dead in her house, bullet to the head. Police got a letter that had her name and address and simply said “Cadaver.” While on the run from this one, he killed a man named Morris Black. His body was found in bags floating in Galveston Bay. Durst finally got arrested for this one, and he got a relatively light sentence because it was ruled as self-defense (they couldn’t find a head to prove if it was). From there, he got extradited to LA, where he is still awaiting trial, delayed thanks to Covid. But that’s not all. The HBO documentary The Jinx covered the story and did interviews with Durst, even though his wife and lawyer said not to. In it, a lot of evidence comes to light that no legal team had assembled. In fact, some of the evidence was used in later trials. So what did handwriting experts say about the Cadaver letter? Why do they think he killed several other people on top of these three cases? What name did he go under as he dressed like a woman in Texas? Most importantly, what did he say on the documentary when he was in the bathroom, and his microphone was still hot? Why did it incriminate him even more? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Durst https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/01/us/robert-durst-jinx-murder-trial/index.html https://www.biography.com/news/robert-durst-biography-facts https://www.nytimes.com/article/robert-durst-trial.html https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/drumoorhouse/robert-durst-dogs-igor-murder-trial https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/04/robert-durst-murder-trial HBO Documentary: The Jinx.

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and look at the first tech giant in American history, the one and only Thomas Edison. Edison was credited for almost 1100 patents in his life (400 of them from just a short 8 year period!). He is known for inventing the light bulb (it already existed, but he perfected it), and he rolled out the phonograph, motion pictures, car batteries, chemicals, medical devices and anything you could think of. He’s also famous for having a huge ego and for going to war with Nikola Tesla about electricity. He was born to a typical family in Ohio, and was a very smart child. He learned the best on his own, so he was home schooled, even though it kind of meant just sitting back and watching him learn. He read constantly and even did science experiments in his own house. When he was 12, he was was allowed to sell newspapers on the train route, but he was too clever for that. He got the scoop on what was happening from train passengers and telegraph operators and started printing his own newspaper, which was often more up to date than the city’s main paper. From there, his life as an idea man started. A 15 year old Thomas Edison saved a kid from being crushed by a train, and his parents befriended him and taught him to use Morse Code. Within the year, he was a telegraph operator. He traveled the county taking different jobs with the telegraph. He went back home to find his parents and family financially ruined, and he started working to make them money. He created an improved stock ticker which he sold for $40,000, and his career as an inventor was born. He built a telegraph machine that could send a signal down both sides of the wire, and it made him enough money to open his famous Menlo Park research facility. From there, he hit his stride and his own golden age of invention. He became rich, he became famous, and he changed the face of the nation and the world. HE battled other companies and was a bit of an egomaniac. He famously had a war between DC and AC electrical current between Nikola Tesla and Westinghouse. But aside from his inventions, what made him unique was his presence. The world would watch with baited breath as he would do another tech demo, the Steve Jobs of the steam age, the master of branding and building. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/inventor/thomas-edison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/thomas-edison https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/thomas-edison https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/7-epic-fails-brought-to-you-by-the-genius-mind-of-thomas-edison-180947786/ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/edison_lo.html https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/thomas-edison.html https://www.edisonmuckers.org/fun-facts-about-tom/ https://www.energy.gov/articles/top-8-things-you-didn-t-know-about-thomas-alva-edison https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/05/18/nikola-tesla-wasnt-god-and-thomas-edison-wasnt-the-devil/?sh=570924f31a21

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the greatest failures and cons by any tech startup in Silicon Valley, the lies and deceit of Elizabeth Holmes. Holmes started the tech firm Theranos from Paulo Alto, California, home to all the tech giants. She idolized Steve Jobs so much, that she even wore his same black turtle neck and posed for photos that he himself had already been in. Her big idea was the Edison blood test, a test that would use the power of the internet to scan just a pinprick of blood live time instead of taking vials and sending them to a lab. But it didn’t exists. She was a liar and a fake who cost investors hundreds of millions of dollars and the suffering of patients. Elizabeth Holmes grew up in a wealthy family in Texas (son of an Enron exec) and eventually got accepted to Stanford. After a short time, she dropped out since they couldn’t teach her anything anymore, and she used her college fund to create her company, Theranos. Her goal was to make a world changing blood testing tool, and she brought a whole helluva lot of people along on her ride. Her first investor big was her boyfriend (soon to be number two at her company and nineteen years her elder), Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani. They got her set up with other investors and eventually had hundreds of millions of dollars from Rupert Murdoch, the Walton Family, The Devoss Family, and even the Mexican billionaire, Carlos Slim. She assembled a major board of directors including prominent members of the government. In no time, her company was valued in the billions, and she was a media darling. She was on the morning show circuit, doing Ted Talks, on the cover of Forbes, you name it. Problem is, her tech was a lie. She made deals with various hospitals, government organizations, and even Walgreens and Safe Way that were worth hundreds of millions of dollars. More lies. In fact, once a reporter named John Carreyrou scratched the surface based on a whistle blower, everything just fell apart. It turns out that their labs just used the same tech as everyone else, from other companies. Their miracles were frauds. So, how did she convince so many people to invest in her big idea? Is fake it till you make it really this powerful? Did Elizabeth Holmes actually think her inventions would someday work? What legal battles face her, and what is she worth now? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.wsj.com/articles/theranos-has-struggled-with-blood-tests-1444881901 https://www.businessinsider.com/theranos-founder-ceo-elizabeth-holmes-life-story-bio-2018-4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Holmes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87SWZ0Pna8k&list=PLLRsCVyaQ3o_17XMdxutVIJdPJvCk41Rl&index=5 https://www.forbes.com/profile/elizabeth-holmes/?sh=7c9da63447a7 https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/02/inside-elizabeth-holmess-final-months-at-theranos https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/02/inside-elizabeth-holmess-final-months-at-theranos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theranos

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at a strange case of a missing child from Texas and the Frenchman who assumed his identity. This is the story of Frederic Bourdin. When this professional imposter was on the run from INTERPOL in Spain, he learned of a missing boy in Texas named Nicholas Barclay. Though he was much older, he took on the persona and moved in with the boy’s family. This story gets crazy and involves a TV crew, a private investigator who is on to him, and a possible case of murder! Even after this one gets cleared up, Bourdin takes on more personas, even passing himself as a 15 years old Jr. High student while he was 31 years old! Born to a single mother who wanted nothing to do with him, he was raised by his grandparents. There were claims of him being sexually molested by a neighbor, and he started acting up, drawing disturbing cartoons, lying to people, and stealing from neighbors. His bad behavior got him locked up as a child, and he moved from group home to group home. Eventually, he ran away and perfected how to become a “child in need” and get taken in by complete strangers. He’d be taken in by hospitals, foster homes, orphanages, families, it didn’t matter. Bourdin would con his way into a place where he’d find attention, hot meals, and maybe even love and then bail when the façade started to crumble. Eventually, he got busted by the media for acting like a mute adolescent, and he was now on the wrong side of the law. This was when he learned of Nicholas Barclay in Texas. But that wasn’t all. He also acted as Francisco Fernandez, victims of terrorist bombings, and any number of other identities. He claims over 500 false personas over the years. So, why does he do it? What happened in Texas that go him busted? How did he convince a Texan family that their blond haired blue eyed boy was a dark haired dark eyed Frenchman? Why do people think there was a murder in Texas? What is wrong with Australian 60 Minutes? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://allthatsinteresting.com/nicholas-barclay-frederic-bourdin https://www.history101.com/disturbing-true-story-nicholas-barcla/ https://medium.com/@brenmar71/justice-for-nicholas-barclay-19ea332bd309 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pUiHjg_thc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Bourdin https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/08/11/the-chameleon-annals-of-crime-david-grann

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we discuss the mystery of the Toynbee Tiles. Part art, part graffiti, part philosophy, part political statement, part crazy, these tiles have been appearing in the blacktop of Philadelphia (and eventually, many states and South America) since the 1980s. The classic tile reads "TOYNBEE IDEA IN MOViE `2001 RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPITER." The tiles express the creator's desire to terraform Jupiter and fill it with recreated molecular copies of all humans who ever died through the history of the earth. For starters. This American street art is as interesting as its creator is mysterious. Much of the research done on these tiles were done by Justin Duerr, an artist and the maker of the documentary called Resurrect Dead. He does a deep dive on the subject and comes to his own theories of who this person is and what the message means. Most people break the message down to be a statement that involves the great British historian Arnold Toynbee, and a connection to the story arc of Arthur C Clarke and Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey, and maybe a connection to a Ray Bradbury story called “The Toynbee Convector.” Whatever it is, it is shrouded in mystery. Some people think a man calling himself James Morasco was behind the tiles due to a series of phone calls he’d make to late night radio shows that included the odd statements on the typical tile. Others think this is an alias for a man named Severino "Sevy" Verna. Whoever was behind them, there are now copy cats such as the more sexually explicit House of Hades who started to appear in 2006. So, what are the tiles made of? How were they placed in busy streets in major cities with nobody seeing them? How were they made to stick to the asphalt and last for years with traffic driving directly over them? What is their connection with South America? What does it all have to do with pirate radio and TV signals? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/toynbee-tiles http://www.toynbeeidea.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toynbee_tiles https://www.wesa.fm/post/look-down-how-toynbee-tiles-invaded-and-disappeared-pittsburgh-streets https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6112129 https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/the-reappearance-of-the-toynbee-tiles-what-does-it-mean https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_J._Toynbee Film: Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we do a true crime dive and look at the case of a missing paper boy named John Gosch. This one starts a simple missing person case and then gets pretty strange, delving into child sex trafficking, a mysterious man named Sam Soda, and a possible connection to the infamous Franklin Child Prostitution Ring. It gets even more strange when an adult John Gosch shows up for a brief visit with his mother, all the while waiting for permission to speak from the man who accompanied him. The basics of this one are, well, basic, but the details added by his mother Noreen really make it a next level case. On September 5, 1982, twelve year old John Gosch got up early and started his paper route at 5:45 in the morning. He always went with his father, and asked his dad if he could go alone that morning, and he was told he could not. Either way, John woke up, got his trusty dachshund to go with him, and did the route solo. His father John Sr. and his mother Noreen were woken up to multiple phone calls from customers who never got their papers delivered. John’s dad walked the neighborhood and found his son’s wagon, full of papers and abandoned. They called the cops, who wouldn’t start it as a missing person case for 72 hours, and in the meantime clues rolled in. Neighbors and other paper boys saw a creepy man in a blue car talking to John and asking around for directions. The paperboys said John was scared of him and planned to go home. But he never made it. The family assembled a 20 person search team to look through the woods, but the police showed up and dispersed the crowd claiming there was no missing person. Cut to a couple of years later, and a private Detective named Sam Soda contacted Noreen. He said another paperboy was going to be abducted in August, and he was right. On August 12, Eugene Martin went missing on his paper route. Sam Soda also got a pedophile busted and fired from the local newspaper. And then there sighting of kinds in other cities claiming they were John Gosh, a dollar bill with his name written on it, and strange writing on a wall in Colorado. The case takes a strange turn years later, when Noreen claims a 27 year old adult John finally made his way home, talks to her for a while, and leaves to never see her again. Oh, and then there is Paul Bonacci who showed up and claimed he himself was an abducted child turned sex worker who knew John. He was the one who initiated the famous Franklin Child Abduction case involving a credit union and a sex ring. So, if you like true crime, mystery, and conspiracy, you’re in the right place! Welcome to the Sofa King Podcast! Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Johnny_Gosch https://medium.com/the-true-crime-times/the-twisted-unsolved-tale-of-the-johnny-gosch-disappearance-part-1-a52496d1887f http://charleyproject.org/case/john-david-gosch https://owlcation.com/social-sciences/The-Tragedy-Of-Johnny-Gosch https://www.ranker.com/list/what-happened-to-johnny-gosch/anna-lindwasser https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/10/16/Fired-newspaper-worker-They-said-dont-talk/6783466747200/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we look at the infamous Moscow theater hostage crisis. Also known as the Nord-Ost Siege, this horrible event saw a Russian rescue attempt become far more lethal than the terrorist hostage-takers. The terrorists were Chechnyan and were there to get Russia to cease hostilities in the war against their country. It was around 50 people, men holding assault rifles, women strapped down with body bombs. When Russian special forces arrived, the final assault involved a mystery gas that killed around 120 hostages and vast majority of terrorists. In the second act of a popular musical that was put on in a theater close to the Kremlin, a bus filled with Chechnyan terrorists parked and emptied. They ran into the theater firing guns and took the entire place hostage. Some actors escaped out the back window and called the cops, but the rest were there for the duration, roughly 850 of them. It was four crazy days. There were negotiations between the terrorists and media personalities as well as government officials. Some hostages were let go, mostly foreigners and pregnant women. A couple of times, big headed Russians snuck past the police barriers to either try to get the hostages to rebel or to look for relatives who were in the theater. Those didn’t end well. Eventually, the Spetznaz and local and federal Russian police decided to storm the building. But the choke point getting in was a murder zone, and the terrorists had explosives and booby traps. Someone decided the best way to assault was to first pump gas into the theater. A mystery gas was released (later discovered to be a more potent version of fentanyl), and people collapsed asleep (or dead) as the invasion took place. As the gunfight died down, the media and the world watched in horror as the bodies of the living and the dead were piled in the street and then crammed onto city busses to get them away from cameras. So, what was Putin’s reaction to this event? What did they get as end up being, and who found out? Who was to blame for the deaths of the hostages? How many hostages were killed by the Russian government instead of the terrorists? Why did so many die after the gas, during the evacuation? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/moscow-theater-hostage-crisis?mediatype=photography&phrase=moscow%20theater%20hostage%20crisis&sort=mostpopular https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hostage-crisis-in-moscow-theater https://www.history.com/news/opioid-chemical-weapons-moscow-theater-hostage-crisis https://apnews.com/article/256605b7679d4a61bde9a8eac8906ea9 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/yearbook-of-international-humanitarian-law/article/moscow-hostage-crisis-in-the-light-of-the-armed-conflict-in-chechnya1/3572BDBF09EC73BEDE4EBB8317625296 https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/10/the-dubrovka-theater-siege-in-moscow-a-decade-later/263931/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the man named the greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, the one and only Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix was a virtuoso by any measure. His first album almost toppled Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club from the charts, and his four studio albums forever changed rock and roll as well as thoughts on what you could do with a guitar. And this was all by the age of 27! Jimi was an interesting and complex man, a drug addict to be sure, and a violent drunk. But when he died due to drug use in 1970, he left the music industry a different place than he found it. Born to a 17 year old mom and a G.I. serving in WWII, Jimi had a rough upbringing. He was often raised by relatives and his grandmother, and when he was born, they had to lock his father up in the brig, so he wouldn’t go AWOL to try and get to the birth. His mom and dad eventually divorced, some saying his mom abandoned them. His father worked hard to put food on the table and eventually helped Jimi buy his first electric guitar. (This after he walked around his school with a broom, pretending it to be a guitar all year…) Once he got his guitars, he started obsessing and self-learning. He had small gigs almost immediately, but his music career was detoured by a (court mandated?) enlistment in the Army as a paratrooper. He was by all accounts a bad soldier known to sleep on duty and ignore orders. He was honorably discharged, but only after meeting Billy Cox, who would go on to play with him for years to come. Jimi toured the south in what was then called the Chitterlin’ Circuit, and he eventually started to get noticed. He toured with some bands and did studio work for everyone from Tina and Ike Turner to Little Richard, B.B. King, Sam Cooke and the Isley Brothers. But his showboating and tendency to take center stage made them not want to work with him. Eventually, he moved to New York and met Keith Richard’s girlfriend. From there, he made enough contacts to head to London and form his seminal band, The Jimmi Hendrix Experience. His first album was a runaway success in the UK, and eventually, he was a star in the US and globally. He infamously lit his guitar on fire at the Monterey Pop Music Festival, played the Star Spangled Banner in the rain at Woodstock, and was a pioneer of psychedelic music. He defined the 1960s in ways nobody else could. So, how exactly did he die? What did he do that made Paul McCartney think was the biggest honor of his life? What happened the time he got kidnapped? Why do they say he was a mean drunk? Was “excuse me while I kiss this guy” on purpose? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/musician/jimi-hendrix https://www.jimihendrix.com/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Hendrix https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jimi-hendrix-mn0000354105 https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/09/how-jimi-hendrix-london-years-changed-music/616399/ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/517664/10-fast-facts-about-jimi-hendrix https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/entertainment-articles/how-much-was-jimi-hendrix-worth-when-he-died/#:~:text=New%20recordings%20released%20over%20the,and%20died%2049%20years%20ago.

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the life, adventures, and death of one of the UK’s greatest explorers, Ernest Shackleton. Shackleton was on a quest to be the first person to reach the south pole starting as a teen ager. He made several of the dangerous, years-long expeditions down there until he was able to command his own ship, the expedition. What happened on that voyage is one for the record and history books. For over 497 days, he and his crew were at sea, either on their ship which was frozen in ice or on life rafts. The most amazing thing is that he managed to save all 22 crew members and then went on to serve in WWI and try to go back to Pole yet again! Ernest Shackleton was born in Ireland, and though his father wanted him to follow the family footsteps and become a physician, he didn’t. At age 16, his grades were good enough that he was able to be done with school and join the merchant marines. He skyrocket in rank due to his charisma, intelligence, and endurance. Eventually, he was placed on the ship called Discovery where he and Captain Scott traveled to the lowest latitude any human had reached. Shackleton fell ill, however, and the captain sent him home on a resupply ship, although his motivations for that are very much in question. After several years, Shackleton was able to fund his own ship, the Endurance. The South Pole had already been reached by another explorer, but Shackleton decided his new quest was to cross the land mass of Antarctica. When they got there, they had a hard time establishing a base and soon found their ship frozen in an ice floe that would keep them in their grips until the following spring. By the time spring came, however, the pressures on the hull were too great, and the ship started to sink. The men had to survive on life rafts and hopping from chunk of ice to chunk of ice for almost two years. Eventually, Shackleton was able to head out in a modified life raft and mount a rescue for everyone. He returned to England a hero, and immediately volunteered to join the Army to fight in WWI. He was sent as a diplomat instead and eventually found himself training British troops for war in Russia during the Russian Civil War. This man won every award an explorer could ever win and had a dedication to discovery that nobody could ever crush. If you want some inspiration, listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our sources: https://www.biography.com/explorer/ernest-shackleton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Shackleton https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/business/leadership-lessons-from-the-shackleton-expedition.html https://www.south-pole.com/p0000097.htm https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackleton/1914/timeline.html https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/s/rs/people/fst00000549 https://www.chimuadventures.com/blog/2016/04/top-ten-ernest-shackleton-facts/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we take on some ancient Norse mythology and talk about Odin, the Allfather. The myths surrounding him are amazing; his impact on Viking culture was second to none; and his rapidly growing worship today ranges from heathens to white supremacists. This is a god of war, death, poetry, magic, and wisdom. People would sacrifice humans in his honor before battle, and he was always ready to do battle in the final war, Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Gods! Odin was born to a god and a giantess and became the king of a race of gods called the Aesir. This group (Thor, Loki, Baldur, Heimdall, Frigga, just to name a few) went to war with other gods call the Vanir and with the giants who would one day rise and end the world. Once mature, he and his brothers forged the earth out of the bones of a giant, and he was made king of the gods. But he wasn’t a normal god king, one who was worshipped by the masses of the Norse world. They saw him as the king of gods, but spent most of their time worshiping other gods. Instead, Odin preferred the elite, and that was who worshipped him—kings, warriors, scholar/poets, and sorcerers. Odin’s will would make or break a battle. Whichever side gave the best sacrifice would get the best results in the battle. And either way, Odin won. Because his shield maidens—the Valkyrie—would ride in and take all those slain in honorable combat. Half would go to him, and they would train for all eternity fighting and dying every night only to be reborn in the morning until Ragnarok. But Odin was also the god of knowledge. He gave up his eye for magical sight, and he hung himself in a tree as a sacrifice to learn the mystical runes. This Allfather of the gods was abandoned for Christianity around the year 1000, but he has recently made a comeback with religion of Asatru. It is a heathen worship of the old Norse gods, and it is the fastest growing religion in Iceland. However, it was co-opted by white supremacist groups who see the Vikings as pure white conquerors, and the real religion is now in a spiritual conquest against the skinheads to be the true worshippers of Odin. Visit Our Sources: https://www.ancient.eu/odin/ https://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/the-aesir-gods-and-goddesses/odin/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin https://mythopedia.com/norse-mythology/gods/odin/ https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asatru https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/11/asatru-heathenry-racism/543864/ https://icelandmag.is/article/11-things-know-about-present-day-practice-asatru-ancient-religion-vikings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_theTA2kgM https://norse-mythology.org/tales/why-odin-is-one-eyed/ https://norse-mythology.org/tales/ragnarok/

On this True Crime episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the infamous case of the serial killer known as the Boston Strangler. Between the years of 1962 and 1964, thirteen women were found killed and strangled in the Boston area. Most were over the age of 60, and no real suspects were being tracked by the police. Meanwhile, a man named Albert DeSalvo was on a spree of serial raping through the area, posing as a repair man or a man from a modeling agency. How do the two things tie together? Why does DNA evidence make officials think DeSalvo is the Boston Strangler, but many experts doubt he did it? Albert DeSalvo checks all the serial killer boxes. His father was a drunk who knocked every single one of his wife’s teeth out and bent all of her fingers back so far they broke. He’d sleep with hookers in their house and force his Albert to watch it. Needless to say, Albert grew up troubled. He tortured and killed animals and was first arrested for robbery and assault at the age of twelve. He was in and out of juvenile detention until he joined the army and things seemed to settle down for him. But, once he was an adult, he took on the persona of The Measuring Man and the Green Man. These were disguises and acts he’d put on to get into a woman’s house and sexually assault them. One source says he assaulted as many as 300 women this way. He did some jail time, got out, started again, and got arrested for it again. Meanwhile, the Boston Strangler started killing people. They were strangled with panties or silk stockings, and they were left on their beds to be discovered. The police had no reason to link DeSalvo to the murders, but in jail, he told another inmate all about it. This inmate, George Nassar, told his lawyer, and eventually DeSalvo confessed to all the crimes with a great degree of detail. However, there was no physical evidence, so he went to trial for the rapes and other charges. So, why do people think he was the Strangler if there is no actual evidence? What lead a member of Whitey Bulger’s Winter Hill gang to kill him in prison back in 1973? Why does an FBI profiler doubt he was the Strangler? Why do some think the Boston Strangler was Nassar, who DeSalvo first confessed to in prison? What did DNA evidence prove about the murders? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/albert-de-salvo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Strangler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_DeSalvo https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/12/us/dna-evidence-identified-in-boston-strangler-case.html https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/19/boston-stranger-dna-test-albert-desalvo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkCYM2bzBPc https://historydaily.org/boston-strangler-facts-stories-trivia

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the interesting history and massive success of the Japanese gaming giant Nintendo (and we might just look at little red plumber who jumps on psychedelic mushrooms and hides in pipes while we’re at it). Nintendo didn’t start like you think it did. Well, if you thought it started a hundred and twenty years ago by printing playing cards on tree bark for Yakuza gambling dens, then you thought right. From there, a maintenance man named Gunpei Yokoi was discovered to have created a toy to keep himself entertained at work, and the company president happened to see it. This became a massive success called the Ultra Hand and sold millions of units. Nintendo was officially in the toy biz. Yokoi developed several hit toys, including the hugely successful Game Watch, which was the engineering and spiritual successor to the Game Boy. But everything changed when a game designer named Shigeru Miyamoto created the game Donkey Kong with its popular hero Jumpman. Ultimately, renamed Mario, he went on to the best the star of the show for Nintendo, headlining every game system, creating a (horrible) 80s TV show, and becoming the first of many icons for Nintendo. Their systems ranged in ability and success from the Famicon (aka the Nintendo Entertainment System or NES) to the SNES, N64, Wii, Game Cube, and of the course different generations of the Game Boy, all culminating in the Switch. Nintendo found success by always doing exactly what other video game companies did not do. It even survived the video game crash of 1983 that destroyed world-leader Atari. They also clung to their intellectual property and used them very wisely: Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Donkey Kong, Princess Peach, Zelda, Link, Metroid, Mario Kart, Smash Brothers, Animal Crossing, and more. They all have been substantial successes for this little upstart card company from Japan. Visit Our Sources https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsKyquWWl-s https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Corporate/Nintendo-History/Nintendo-History-625945.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Nintendo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/48606526 https://interestingengineering.com/the-extraordinary-and-surprising-history-of-nintendo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shigeru_Miyamoto

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the murders of a man who the FBI says is one of the most prolific serial killers in American history, the little known Doctor Michael Swango. Swango killed patients under his care by poisoning them with either legit poison or prescription drugs they may have already been taking. He also poisoned landlords, girlfriends, co-workers…pretty much anyone he could. He was eventually arrested and convicted of four deaths, but some estimates place his killing as high as 60 people. This killing spree ran all over America, down to Zimbabwe, and would have landed in Saudi Arabia if he wasn’t finally arrested. So, he had a childhood that may not have had the typical serial killer abuse boxes to be ticked off. He had a loving mother, but there was no evidence of anything crazy. He had an alcoholic Vietnam Vet for a father, but who didn’t in the 70s? He was an excellent student, graduating valedictorian of his high school and getting into a college to study music. His girlfriend dumped him and broke his heart, and it seemed to utterly change the man. He quit playing music, dropped out of school, and joined the Marines. He served for a few years and finally found his way to medical school, where he almost didn’t graduate due to lying to the school. From there, he interned in a hospital where strange deaths were reported when he was on shift. Nurses knew and reported it, but they were ignored. Eventually, the deaths got bad enough that the hospital let him go, but nobody ever pursued him legally. He worked at an ambulance company where he poisoned his co-workers with evil doughnuts. They set a trap for him with a pitcher of tea, and he couldn’t help but poison it as well, and he was arrested. He did five years after the police found a treasure trove of poisons in his house. You would think that this back story would keep him from practicing medicine. But then there was the forgery. He forged papers about his prison time, his good behavior, and his standing in the medical community and got more jobs in medicine, often under false names. And he killed more people. Eventually, the American Medical Association caught on to him, and he was fired and had a permanent mark put on his record to every teaching school in the nation. So, he moved to Zimbabwe to kill more freely. Like you do. So, how many did he kill in Zimbabwe? What happened to his longtime girlfriend? How was he finally arrested, even though he fled the country? What was his sentence? How did end up in a super max prison? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Swango https://www.thoughtco.com/profile-of-joseph-michael-swango-973127 https://murderpedia.org/male.S/s/swango-michael.htm https://unsolvedmysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Michael_Swango https://www.oxygen.com/license-to-kill/crime-time/michael-joseph-swango-house-horrors-murder https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1118552/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the life, awards, career, and films (lord, how many films!) of Steven Spielberg. And buckle up folks, this episode is a record-setting two hours long! With his very first movies being Jaws, Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Arc, and ET, you can see that this man was destined for greatness in Hollywood. Many of the stars and producers who met this young 20 something genius back in the 60s said the same thing. He was the youngest director to ever get a directing contract with a major studio (just 21 years old at the time), and he has won countless awards. His films have made over $10 billion dollars total, and I’d bet good money that if you sat down and made a top ten list of your favorite films, at least one of his is on your list. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to a concert pianist and a computer engineer, and though he moved around a lot, he had a love of film even at a young age. He won a merit badge in the Boy Scouts for a short film he directed (to get his still photograph badge). He started making films as a teen with an 8MM camera, and some of them even started to win local awards and make a tiny bit of money at the box office (well, a dollar, actually). After graduating high school, he moved to LA and tried to get into USC (along with film legends like George Lucas), but he was denied due to low grades. He got in to a different school, but ultimately dropped out because he was starting to get work. He started with an unpaid editing internship at Universal, and the gave him a chance to use their equipment to make a short film. He made Amblin’ (which his production company is called to this day), and it impressed studio execs enough to give him a contract directing TV episodes. In short order, this led to him impressing the likes of Rod Sterling and others. They gave him a chance at a first big budget film, a little thing about a shark. Jaws redefined what a block buster meant, and he followed it up with Close Encounters. If you look at the film list of Spielberg, it will astound you. It’s like every four or five films are what a typical director would be known for in their entire career. But then, there is another and another, and most of them are masterpieces. From Saving Private Ryan to Ready Player One, Amistad to Schindler’s List, and rounding it all out with Jurassic Park, his genius and ability to tell stories has not diminished. If you like film, then give this one a listen. If you don’t, then in the words of Conan the Barbarian: “The hell with you!” Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/filmmaker/steven-spielberg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberg https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000229/ https://www.forbes.com/profile/steven-spielberg/#b58d2c3228a7 https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/steven_spielberg https://time.com/43618/george-lucas-steven-spielberg-star-wars-bet/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firelight_(1964_film)

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and examine the largest famine in human history, The Great Chinese Famine. Known to the Chinese government as “Three Years of Difficulties,” this famine is unique since it is blamed almost entirely on human governance, not on nature. How bad did it get? Estimates are that 45 million people died in only three years. Most of this was starvation, but much of it was people being killed to keep the famine a secret. This one gets ugly. People eating bark, people eating poisonous mud, parents eating kids, kids eating parents, some villages simply killing any travelers and eating them. So what was the cause of this horrible disaster? People blame Chairman Mao’s “Great Leap Forward.” Mao wanted to propel China forward to catch up with production levels of Britain and the US, so he shifted his focus from agriculture to the manufacture of steel and goods. He even went so far as to move people off of their farms and made almost everyone mine their own minerals and smelt them in ovens they built in the backyard. Never mind they had no idea what they were doing, and made crap metal that couldn’t be used for anything. And never mind that they were no longer producing food. But that wasn’t all that caused the famine. There was a lack of accurate information coming from scared local government leaders. There was a flood of the Yellow River. There was a drought (which the Chinese say was the main factor, but virtually every scholar says this didn’t make a dent). There was a campaign to kill sparrows which led to massive swarms of insects. And there was a cover up. Everyone who talked about the famine was disappeared by secret police. People who wrote letters to government were sent to labor camps or murdered after they were tracked down. In one instance, some teenage girls asked local governors for food, and they were dragged to a lonely mountain to die of starvation. A lot of the details of the Great Chinese Famine came to us recently from a very brave journalist named Yang Jisheng who secretly wrote the book Tombstone about this famine while working for the state news service. From government cover ups to cannibalism, dead sparrows to Communist leaders eating like kings while the peasants died by the millions, this one has it all. Visit Our Sources https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1127087/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/01/china-great-famine-book-tombstone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojOmUWLDG18 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chinese_Famine https://www.npr.org/2012/11/10/164732497/a-grim-chronicle-of-chinas-great-famine https://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/pyared/papers/famines.pdf https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/2014/9/cj34n3-2.pdf

On this episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we put on our tinfoil hats and talk about what might be the most important alien abduction case of all time, the story of Barney and Betty Hill. This story, straight outta 1961, has everything you want in an abduction story. Missing time? Check. Lights in the sky? Check. UFO? Check. Project Bluebook Investigation? Check. Human experimentation? Check. “Gray” aliens? Check. Missing memories and hypnosis? Check. And most importantly, anal probes? You betcha! So, this story is the tale of Barney and Betty Hill. They were a rare mixed race couple in the early 1960s, and after a year and a half of marriage, they drove to Niagara Falls and Montreal for a late honeymoon. On their way back, their world changed forever. They were racing home to beat a storm coming in, and at one point that night, they stopped for gas and food. While there, they saw lights in the sky. They checked with binoculars and ruled out normal aircraft. They got back on the road, and suddenly, the lights started to follow their car. What happens then gets pretty crazy. They remember seeing a disk-shaped vehicle filled with people in strange uniforms. Barney grabbed his gun, they both thought they were going to be captured, and they drove as fast as they could. The disk stayed above their car, and suddenly they heard a strange buzzing and zapping sound hit their trunk. They heard it a second time, and realized hours had passed, and they were 35 miles away from where they thought they were. Missing time in full effect. After they got home, they were having trouble sleeping, were filled with anxiety, and suffered psychological trauma. They finally got help after a psychiatrist suggested they go through hypnosis. Nobody thought they were abducted by aliens, but the experts did think something happened to them that caused them trauma. They met a hypnotist named Simon realized they had very similar memories of the event. They spoke with NICAP (a UFO group), and though they wanted to avoid publicity, a story leaked out of Boston, and they were suddenly famous. So, what memories were uncovered through hypnosis? What did the Air Force say with their Project Bluebook investigation? What did the aliens look like? What is the Star Map, and why do people think it points to Zeta Reticuli? What physical examinations did Barney and Betty Hill go through and what hurt worse than the anal probe? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_and_Betty_Hill https://www.history.com/news/first-alien-abduction-account-barney-betty-hill https://www.library.unh.edu/find/archives/collections/betty-and-barney-hill-papers-1961-2006 https://astronomy.com/bonus/zeta https://science.howstuffworks.com/space/aliens-ufos/hill-abduction.htm

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the life of the African-American drug kingpin Frank Matthews: The Black Caesar. Matthews went from stealing chickens to running a numbers game in the back of his barber shop to being the top non-Mafia drug importer in the nation, in just a couple of years. He organized small drug dealers to take on the Mob; he ran the control of cocaine and heroin to 21 states; he was the first person to tap into the South American drug cartels; he went to war with the Black Mafia. He disappeared at age 29, having already formed a drug empire that bested everyone from Al Capone to Pablo Escobar. He was born in North Carolina and raised by his aunt when his mother died. When he was only 14, he formed a gang to steal chickens from local farms and sell them locally. A farmer caught them one day, and Matthews beat him. With a brick. A year later, he was out of prison and started running numbers. Eventually, he moved to Philadelphia and then New York and did his numbers racket out of the back of a barber shop. However, this wasn’t enough for the ambitious Frank Matthews. He wanted in on the drug trade. He tried to get friendly with some of the big Mafia families, but they all declined. So, he forged his own way. He befriended "Spanish Raymond" Márquez, who put him in touch with "El Padrino", Cuban Mafia godfather of New York. This contact allowed him to get the drugs directly from Corsica, the same supplier as the mob used. And Matthews was now an international player. He started to make so much money he would forget that he gave someone a million dollars, and he ran out of room to store his stacks of cash. He would fly to Vegas to have the casinos launder his money. He saw the potential to really move things, though, and he called a meeting in Atlanta with all big drug dealers cut out by the mob. They created a network, and the drug game changed for America thanks to Matthews. However, he got sloppy, and eventually there were federal and local warrants for his arrest. He was pinched in Vegas and extradited to New York where he silently slipped away on bail. He was never seen again. So where did Frank Matthews go? Why does one author thing this has to do with the CIA? Why did mob boss Carlo Gambino put a hit on him, and what made him retract it? Who was Major Coxson, and what did he have to do with the Black Mafia? Why was he so much more powerful than Jemeker Thompson, Crack Queen of LA? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Matthews_(drug_trafficker) https://themobmuseum.org/blog/did-frank-matthews-get-away-with-it/ https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/community/durham-news/dn-community/article10277654.html https://ganglandgazette.com/what-happened-to-drug-lord-frank-matthews https://www.ozy.com/true-and-stories/the-black-godfather-who-rose-fell-and-vanished/82420/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Coxson

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we crack wise about the greatest comedy trio to have ever been put on film—The Three Stooges. Their short films were so popular that they single handedly saved the genre from dying for years and years. They poked fun at Hitler in the 1940s, and were so good at it that they made his personal death list. Though they started as a small vaudeville act in New York, they became the biggest game in comedy for multiple studios and for several decades. The keystone of the Stooges was one family—the Horowitz brothers. Shemp, Moe, and Jerome (aka Curley) Horowitz were all high school drop outs who had a love of acting and theater and quit school to pursue it. Shemp and Moe did various small roles, worked at the theaters and movie companies, and paid their dues. Curley hung out where they did, learned the business back stage, and did his own thing as well, such as studying dance. Eventually, a childhood friend named Ted Healy created a successful vaudeville show, and he needed stooges. He would play the straight man and try to sing and talk to the audience, but three bumbling stooges would come out and interrupt him. Though, it was a rotating cast, Shemp and Moe were the best at it. They hired a violin player named Larry Fine, and the rest was history. As they became more and more popular on stage and some small film roles, Shemp quit because he hated Healy. They added Curley to the act, and they blew up. Their films became so successful, that the movie companies could force theaters to take on B movies and stinkers they made or hold back the latest Three Stooges films. When they were at their peak, however, Curley had a series of health problems and strokes (that some think came from the beatings he took on set). He had to quit, and Shemp came back from a very successful solo act. It was a wild time in Hollywood. Healey was found dead, likely beaten to death by one of Lucky Luciano’s men. Larry at one point had to get paid more for fear that someone would bomb their stage acts. And their horrible producer screwed them out of millions of dollars by permanently convincing them that their movies weren’t making any money. When Shemp suddenly died of a heart attack, they considered quitting, but their evil producer held them to the final four films they had to make. So, how did this lead to fake Shemp? What was Joe, and who was Curley Joe, and why weren’t they the same person? Why did Larry live in a hotel until middle age? What were our personal experiences watching them as we grew up? Listen, laugh, and learn. Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Stooges https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaudeville https://www.threestooges.com/ https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/three-stooges/ https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/curly-howard-grandson-three-stooges-tells-all https://www.mentalfloss.com/view?id=three-stooges-facts-mm&src=facebook https://screencrush.com/didnt-know-about-three-stooges/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moe_Howard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curly_Howard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shemp_Howard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Fine

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look into the horrible history of Florida’s school for juveniles called the Arthur Dozier School. It opened in 1900 and ran until 2011. It was the subject of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize winning book The Nickel Boys. The Dozier school was (in)famous for housing children who often did nothing worse than smoke a cigarette at school, be truant, or run away from home. But as punishment, they endured life in leg irons, torture, illegal restraints, beatings till they bled, rape, and even murder. Estimates are that there are a total of 98 bodies buried on the site, and one group alleges there is a cover up by the local and Florida investigation teams. So, based on a law in the late 1800s, this school found funding and opened a couple years later. It was a large 159 acre campus with several buildings. It was segregated, so half the facilities were for black inmates and half for white. It was renamed a few times, and it switched hands as far as what governmental agency ran it. It was built to house 104 boys, aged 13 to 21. But that expanded to as young as 9, and at the height of its population, there were over 500 crammed into this space. It as a place of tragedy and dark history. A fire killed several boys and staff. Almost a dozen died to the Spanish Flu. And in its first remodel, they built a structure that the boys called the White House. It was where they took you if you were going to be beaten. Or tortured. Or raped. Because apparently in the 1950s and 60s, the people who ran the place were sadistic. Hundreds of boys who call themselves the White House Boys came forward in the 2000s to report their bloody beatings (lashed hundreds of times till their underwear was interwoven in their flesh, and they passed out—at the hands of an ominous one armed man), their rape, and even dead boys they saw from time to time. The White House Boys tried to get restitution or legal justice, but the statute of limitation had run out on any abuse they suffered, so it was shot down. But there were hundreds of them, so word must have gotten out, right? It did. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement ran an investigation which said they could find no forensic proof of abuse and no witnesses who would talk. The White House Boys think this might have been a cover up. And an article called “For Their Own Good” that came out of St. Petersburg kept it in the nation’s attention. Eventually, the Department of Justice and the and the University of South Florida each did their own investigations with rather different results. So, how many bodies did they find? What did the surviving boys recall of their tortures here? Why did nobody ever get in legal trouble? What finally got the victims a chance to legally exhume bodies of their relatives? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.npr.org/2012/10/15/162941770/floridas-dozier-school-for-boys-a-true-horror-story https://www.tampabay.com/investigations/2019/08/18/they-went-to-the-dozier-school-for-boys-damaged-they-came-out-destroyed/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_School_for_Boys https://www.abandonedfl.com/arthur-g-dozier-school-for-boys/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/08/16/boys-were-beaten-abused-florida-reform-school-now-colson-whitehead-fictionalizes-that-history/ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/22/a-type-of-justice-florida-reform-school-yields-evidence-of-more-graves https://dartcenter.org/content/for-their-own-good-0

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we take a look at the very interesting life of a man named Roald Dahl. You may think you’ve never heard of him, but we promise that you have. For one, he was a world famous and beloved children’s author. He wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and many other stories. What you don’t know is that he was an adventure-starved, globetrotting, WWII fighter pilot ace. He survived a crash, shot down enemy aircraft, and was eventually stationed to Washington where he met Ian Fleming and did work for the spy agency MI6. Roald Dahl was born in Wales in 1916 to Norwegian parents who were wealthy. His father died when he was young, but his mother opted to stay in the UK because that’s where the best schools were. So, he attended school there, getting kicked out of one or two and being beaten by a headmaster here and there. He was also behind the Great Mouse Plot of 1924 which involved a dead rodent and a jar of gobstoppers. He eventually got through school, and when his mom said she’d pay for him to attend Oxford and be anything he wanted, he declined. He’d rather see the world. And see the world he did. He hiked around for a while and then got a job for an oil company in the Middle east. While there, he was drafted by England to help round Germans up in the city of Dar-es-Salaam where he was stationed. After that, he joined the Royal Air Force, and soon, his country was at war. After extensive training, he was given a really bad and outdated aircraft. Once, while piloting on his own, he was given the wrong directions and crashed in the middle of the desert. He sustained major injuries and was temporarily blind, but the kept on. Eventually, he fought in several dog fights, including the Battle of Athens, but he had to quit flying because of the injuries from the crash. He was such as smooth talker, however, that he was sent to Washington DC to be a diplomat and try to get the US into the war. While there, he doubled as a spy, meeting people like Ian Fleming and doing tasks directly for MI6. During the war, his friends got him to start writing, and people loved his work. He began with short stories and a tale about his own air crash, but he soon drifted to the fantastical children’s stories he is so beloved for now. He wrote James and the Giant Peach first, and the rest was history. His books were hits. He wrote 19 in all, saw several get adapted to film, and he even wrote the scripts for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and You Only Live Twice. There isn’t much bad to say about this man. He was a war hero. A national patriot. He is beloved by children all over the world. Even Queen Elizabeth considered him one of the most influential people in British culture. Oh, but he was an anti-Semite, so there is that. Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/writer/roald-dahl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Dahl https://www.famousauthors.org/roald-dahl https://www.notablebiographies.com/Co-Da/Dahl-Roald.html#:~:text=Roald%20Dahl%20was%20born%20September,himself%20skilled%20at%20finding%20trouble. https://www.roalddahlfans.com/about-dahl/dahl-biography/ https://www.roalddahl.com/roald-dahl https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/kids-club/entertainment/books/roald-dahl-facts/ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/roald-dahl-words_n_57d74c2de4b09d7a687f6b35?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANNqHUXwNhr2kYfOLAqioxTzln2hiR0gtJSVg8E4wN2pWc677atsmGGp1F8J7guUwxDTauiMAjzHnlH4LXX7bxhUvNaQ8cyS9rsGGMx1E3HNBukSFzUiJ4glE6iFdWmjl9ihTwuf3NTLV9tT-BCrbTFg7QHYxY_l3b01AEYw6XNG https://qz.com/779365/six-of-roald-dahls-made-up-words-have-been-added-to-the-oxford-english-dictionary-to-celebrate-his-centenary/

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we take a look at an infamous case of Cannibalism, the crash of Uruguayan Flight 751. In October of 1972, a plane crashed carrying 40 passengers and 5 crew. As the plane bounced off the side of the mountain, it lost its wing, then it’s tail, then it’s other wing. All the while, people fill out and littered the snowy mountain side. Much like the Donner Party, after several weeks, they were out of food and lost on a glacier. Over two horrible months, they resorted to cannibalism and had no hope of rescue. The scene: October 13th, 1972. An amateur rugby club from Uruguay headed to Santiago, Chile to play a match. They rented an air force plane to take them there, and they had extra seats, so friends and family could come along. The co-pilot was put in charge of the flight, and he got lost in the fog and reported the wrong position. He crashed. While he was trying to pull up and avoid the mountain that suddenly emerged from the fog, it was too late. Uruguayan Flight 751 tore itself apart as it struck the summit of the mountain, until finally the fuselage slid down the mountain for over 2000 feet. They stacked the dead outside of the fuselage, and they sorted out the food. There was hardly any because it wasn’t a typical passenger plane, and the galley had broken off when the tail fell away. On day eleven, the search was called off. It was just them on a mountain with no vegetation or animal life. They were all starving, and people were dying every few days. There was a blizzard. An avalanche killed more of them. They finally made the horrible decision to eat human flesh even though most thought it was a sin. Eventually, Roberto Canessa and Antonio Vizintin decided to make the trek across the deadly mountain. They were hit by another blizzard and thought they weren’t going to make it. Eventually, after days of climbing and hiking with no snow gear or food, they found civilization. How many survived? How many refused to eat flesh and died of starvation? What is a muleskinner, and how did it help them get rescued? How long can one chocolate covered peanut last a man? Why didn’t they just radio for help? What did they discover the best way was to eat human flesh? Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguayan_Air_Force_Flight_571 https://historycollection.com/how-the-uruguayan-air-force-flight-571-crash-drove-a-rugby-team-to-cannibalism/ https://www.npr.org/2019/06/09/731044367/story-of-the-1972-andes-plane-crash-in-out-of-the-silence https://historydaily.org/uruguayan-air-force-flight-571-cannibals https://america.cgtn.com/2017/12/20/survivor-roberto-canessa-relives-1972-plane-crash-in-the-andes https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/04/160403-andes-uruguay-rugby-cannibal-plane-crash-canessa-ngbooktalk/

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the creation of South Park and the many movies, awards, and plays of Trey Parker and Matt Stone. From trying to show Mohamed on TV in spite of death threats (5 times…) to going in drag on acid to the Academy Awards, these two push every boundary they can. And somehow, they manage to make a show that has become a touchstone of global popular culture. In fact, they make the show in as little as four days, usually sending it over satellite the night it is due to air. Love them or hate them, their vulgar humor somehow manages to wow critics who credit them for their intuitive ability to say exactly what needs to be said in any given moment. The creators of South Park are Trey Parker and Matt Stone. They met in college at the University of Colorado, and though Trey had already pioneered his cut out animation style on previous projects, the two of them kept using it in small pieces they rolled out on VHS. In fact, one of these, called Jesus Vs. Santa, was one of the first truly viral videos on the internet. The two of them started a production company and produced a musical about a cannibal which was eventually bought by Troma Entertainment and rebranded as Cannibal! The Musical! This was the start of their entrance into Hollywood (and the start of their love for musicals). After a couple of failed pilots they pitched at Fox, they finally landed on South Park. It took them three months to film the pilot with crude cutouts and stop motion animation. Comedy Central picked it up, and it was an overnight success. South Park made Comedy Central go from being a small time network to a major television presence. Parker and Stone had a rough couple of seasons at the start of the show, and they were signed to do more if they agreed to make a movie. They did. It almost won an Oscar. They made more shows, and they made hundreds of millions of dollars in merchandising alone. Then, one time, they decided to write a musical play. They did. It won the Tony for best play as well as 8 others. They win Emmy after Emmy and a Peabody Award (somehow) using the most crass and often offensive comedy on all of television. If you want to know more about their background, what they did before South Park, their insane process of creating episodes, or just the truth about why Chef left the show (was it Scientology?!?), give this one a listen. Visit Our Sources: 6 Days to Air Documentary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trey_Parker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Stone https://paleymatters.org/20-years-of-south-park-a-raunchy-retrospective-d15e555160b0 https://screenrant.com/south-park-facts-trivia/ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/65262/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-south-park

On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we go back in time to World War Two and look at the outstanding story of the 761st Tank Battalion. Known as the Black Panthers (no, not those Black Panthers), they were the first ever all black tank battalion. They met with racism and even a race riot during training the states, but they won a Medal of Honor, 11 Silver Stars, and just under 300 Purple Hearts. This group was created to help get more troops in tanks, but rules at the times said that African Americans couldn’t integrate with white troops. So, the 761st was created to be led by white officers but have no white soldiers serving on the front lines with them. They trained Louisiana where the baseball legend Jackie Robinson got in trouble for refusing to get to the back of a bus while he was in the battalion. Their training went so well, and they had such high marks that General Patton wanted them as part of his fighting force. He famously gave them a very inspiring speech about the need for African American troops and how important this was for their race, but then he also famously turned around and said that blacks were too slow witted to be good in a tank. But they excelled. They helped the troops of the 101st Airborne in the Battle of the Bulge. They liberated a concentration camp. They inflicted 130,000 German casualties. The 761st had epic soldiers and tank commanders in their crew from Ruben Rivers who won the medal of honor to John Long and Roy King who helped liberate a city. And the star of the show as a man named Wayne Crecy. He won the silver star for a particular day of combat, but the group historian estimates that he killed between 300-400 Germans in their push to Berlin. So if you want to learn what earned this man the title of “the baddest man of the 761st” or just have a love of World War Two, give this one a listen. Visit Our Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/761st_Tank_Battalion_(United_States) https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/crecy-warren-gamaliel-harding https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/warren-crecy-baddest-man.html https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/black-panthers-761st-tank-battalion https://www.benning.army.mil/armor/earmor/content/issues/2014/Oct_Dec/GunnersSeat.html https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/41821/Crecy-Warren-Gamaliel-Harding.htm?c=aw http://www.blerdsonline.com/2017/02/black-captain-america-sgt-warren-gh.html

On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we discuss the comedy, drama, acting, drugs, life, and death of the one and only Robin Williams. He was said to be funny since childhood, and as he grew, so did his personality and laughs. He blew up with the once-in-a-lifetime hit Mork and Mindy in the late 1970s, and he moved on to a series of massive hit films. From Popeye to Dead Poet’s Society and Goodwill Hunting to Aladdin, his scope and range won him three Oscar nominations and endless awards. And don’t forget the standup. His insane half improved comedy routines were stuff of legend, and according to one story, they are the reason David Letterman got out of the stand-up business. He was born to an upper class family in Chicago, and his family moved around a lot. After an early retirement, they settled in Tiburon, California (where he still owned property when he died). He went to a couple of colleges to study acting, and eventually found himself at the world famous Juilliard School. After a few years, he was told he should leave the school because there was nothing left for them to teach him—not accents, not drama, not comedy, no methods. He was just that good. After college, he started doing standup in San Francisco and LA. He was discovered while on stage in LA and started doing small appearances on TV. Eventually, he was called in to play the alien Mork in a really bad episode of Happy Days, and he turned it into such comedy gold that he got his own show based on the character. It exploded as one of the most popular shows of the 70s and 80s and put him on the map. From there, he jumped to feature films with Popeye and spent decades doing amazing comedies and devastating dramas. All the while, he still did stand up and released comedy specials. Oh, and he did drugs. A lot. He quit and went back to them and quit again, but all the cocaine is said to have started his health decline later in life with heart problems. After four decades of hits, Robin Williams ended his own life on August 11, 2014. The common belief was that he battled from secret depression. His wife, however, revealed that he had Lewy Body Disease. The Lewy Body proteins in his brains were the worst his doctors had ever seen, and they made him miserable, paranoid, depressed, and anxious to the point where he could no longer function. After his death, he still released several films, so we like to think he’s actually alive and well and living on Tupac Island. Listen, laugh, learn. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/actor/robin-williams https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Williams https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/05/robin-williams-death-biography-dave-itzkoff-excerpt https://n.neurology.org/content/87/13/1308 https://www.investopedia.com/articles/wealth-management/010516/look-robin-williams-net-worth-and-what-happened-his-estate.asp