Show Prep 89

Greetings and Salutations, people! - This golden radio voice is never going to rehab, because rehab is for quitters…I am Craig Dodge, and this is Vertically Striped Radio on the Fake Radio Network

Tweet of the Week:

indecisiviously
Waiting for the audio version of Snooki's book, because I think she should probably read it before I do.

Today on VSR – NFL Divisional playoffs are here, and we are coming to you live as the Steelers and Ravens are doing battle in Pittsburgh. The Broncos have made a coaching hire, and Trace Smith will be calling in to give us the scoop on John Fox. Trace is a Panthers fan, and his initial report to me was glowing, so we should hear from him and hopefully he’ll give me some hope for a speedy rebuilding process. I am going to attempt to break Canadian law on the show today, And of course, after a week’s delay, the He-Man movie watchers club will be discussing the Paul Newman’s epic flick “Cool Hand Luke”

Give out the phone number - (646) 716-6831 OR 6-HOP-1-MOVE-1

To contact VSR via email:
Email address: radio@verticallystripedsocks.com
Twitter: @socnorb777

Let’s get to the news… (Play News Music – Clip 03)

Let’s get to the news… (Play News Music – Clip 03)

BEIJING (AP) -- A Chinese court announced Friday it will retry a farmer sentenced to life in prison for evading highway tolls after a massive public outcry over his heavy punishment.

The court in central Henan province had sentenced Shi Jianfeng to life imprisonment for fraud for avoiding highway tolls that added up to more than 3.68 million yuan ($560,000), the official Xinhua News Agency reported. He was also fined 2 million yuan ($302,000).

Shi mounted fake military license plates on his two trucks so they could avoid paying tolls more than 2,300 times between May 2008 and January 2009 when he ran a business transporting gravel. Military vehicles don't have to pay highway tolls.

News of the verdict triggered an uproar among Chinese who argued in online postings and commentaries that shorter sentences were given out for the more serious crimes of rape or murder. The comments also strayed beyond Shi's case to popular complaints that highway tolls are too high, especially for a farmer.



ROSCOMMON, Mich. (AP) -- A northern Michigan woman has put her own spin on Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" by making a replica out of laundry lint.

Laura Bell of Roscommon collected lint from her dryer and fashioned it into a 14-foot-long, 4-foot tall reproduction of the Italian Renaissance painter's masterpiece.

Bell says she needed about 800 hours to do enough laundry to get the lint, and 200 hours to recreate the mural. She bought towels of the colors she wanted and laundered them separately to get the right shades of lint.

Her artwork has caught the eye of Ripley's Believe It or Not! The company plans to put it on display at one of its museums.

Ripley's says it also has Last Supper replicas made from a grain of rice, a dime and burned toast.
 

BERLIN - (Reuters) - Two would-be thieves called in their own crime to police in Germany after they could not escape from a broken-down elevator over the weekend, police said in a statement.

"This sounds really dumb," one of the thieves told police in Cologne over the elevator's emergency phone, "But I'm afraid that we wanted to break in and the elevator has gotten stuck."

When police arrived they found the two thieves aged 31 and 37 stuck in the elevator of an office building.

The thieves allegedly broke into the building and were attempting to reach a higher floor when the elevator became stuck, the police said.

They decided to phone for help when one thief injured his hand attempting to pry open the door.

Firemen eventually freed the men and they were arrested.


I’m Craig, and that’s the news… (Play News Music – Clip 03)

Rex Ryan – Foot Fetish Video Audio (Clip 24)
Wes Welker Press Conference – 11 Foot references in 9 minutes (Clip 26)
Working on getting Ken Karcher, the guy who played quarterback for the Broncos during the 1987 NFL strike.

William Shatner: CeLo’s F You song on The George Lopez Show

Dick Van Dyke singing Dick Van Dyke show theme: (Clip 79)

 

Craig’s letter to the Cap’n Crunch HQ:
Regarding the Military Status of Cap’n Hook

Hello,

I have a question of the utmost importance that I was hoping you, the good people at Cap'n Crunch, could assist me with.

You see, my name is Craig Dodge, and I host a weekly podcast called Vertically Striped Radio (found at www.blogtalkradio.com/verticallystripedradio) and a while back we were unveiling our list of the Top 7 Pirates of all time, and the good Cap'n made the list at number 2. I was then contacted by a listener who informed me that Cap'n Crunch was in fact not a pirate, but rather was a Naval military officer.

Well, I don't have to tell you that this sent my world spiraling into a muddled existential quandary. I had lived my entire life under the impression that our fearless leader Cap'n Crunch was in fact a pirate. I was not sure then, and still weeks later I am still not certain now that I am prepared to live in a world where my beloved Cap'n is not a pirate.

It's not that there is any shame in being a naval captain, however, I found there to be a certain Je ne sais quoi in believing Mr. Crunch to in fact be simultaneously pitching a delicious cereal and also endeavoring in heroic feats of piracy.

I bring up this excessive back story in order that I might ask a simple question as well as make a simple proposition.

The question: Can you settle this question and bring peace to my troubled countenance once more...Is Cap'n Crunch a Navy captain or a pirate.

The proposition: Would you consider allowing Vertically Striped Radio to be the official podcast of Cap'n Crunch cereal, in return, we will gladly make Cap'n Crunch the official cereal of the show.

I thank you for your dedication to deliciousness, All Hail the good Cap'n and his delicious cereal. I'm a big fan of the Cap'n's work.

Sincerely,

Craig Dodge
Host, Vertically Striped Radio




VANCOUVER (Reuters) – Canadian radio station have been warned to censor the 1985 Dire Straits hit "Money for Nothing," after a complaint that the lyrics of the Grammy Award-winning song were derogatory to gay men.

A St. John's, Newfoundland, station should have edited the song to remove the word "faggot" because it violates Canada's human rights standards, according to ruling this week by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.

A unnamed listener to OZ FM in the Atlantic Coast province complained to the industry watchdog last year after hearing the song, which features Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler as well as Sting.

The council said it realized Dire Straits uses the word sarcastically, and its use might have been acceptable in 1985 when the best-selling "Brothers in Arms" album was released, but said it was now inappropriate.

"The decision doesn't really relate to the Dire Straits song at the end of the day, the decision relates to the word in question," Ron Cohen, the council's chairman, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

OZ FM argued unsuccessfully that the song has been played countless times since it was released more than 25 years ago, has won various industry awards, including a Grammy in 1986, and remains popular with listeners around the world.

The ruling comes in the wake of an uproar sparked by a U.S. scholar who decided to publish an edition of Mark Twain's novel "Huckleberry Finn" that would remove the N word to make it less offensive to some readers.

Although the Dire Straits ruling only sanctions the St John's station, it means other Canadian radio stations could get in trouble it they air the song without censoring it.

The Broadcast Standards Council is a non-governmental industry group that administers ethical standards established by its members, Canada's private broadcasters

Play Dire Straits – Clip 31 (Money for Nothing)

Toilet Paper: Crumple or Fold?

What would be the scariest animal if it turned into a vampire?
Vampire Walrus
Band Name of the Week: Vampire Walrus

Wells Fargo has an odd business plan: Just got my free iPod Shuffle, and I’ve on two separate occasions gotten 50 bucks from them just for opening a checking account.

Peter Cook – Sketch?

Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? – Egregious omission.
 
He-Man Movie Watchers Club:
Cool Hand Luke

Division of Corrections, Road Prision #36
I read that Luke's prison number (37) is a reference to the Bible - Luke 1:37. ("For with God nothing shall be impossible."), but I think it has to do with him being determined to be better than the prison.

In the "road-tarring" sequence, the actors actually blacktopped a mile-long stretch of highway for the county.

The opening scene, where Luke is cutting off the heads of parking meters, was filmed in Lodi, California. After the filming, the city did not replace the meters, and for many years afterward, you could go there and see a block long row of metal posts, sans meters.

Although she played his mother in the film, Jo Van Fleet was only 11 years older than Paul Newman.

Mom Scene: (So well written we get a whole amazing back story on Luke without much of the details being directly stated in less than six minutes of screen time.)

-She still loves Luke even though he has broken her heart.
-Luke has screwed up, and feels guilty about it.
-She is dying
-Luke’s dad left her so young Luke never knew him.
-Luke tried to live a normal life, but he wasn’t good at it.
-He had a good job and a wife, but she left him for another man. Very likely what drove him to drinking and what made him cut the heads off of parking meters
-He has a brother named John who seems to resent him, likely because his mom loved Luke more than him.
-Luke’s mom never loved John as much as Luke
-The family has trouble expressing their emotions.
-John never wants to see Luke again. (Gives him his banjo and says, “Now there ain’t nothin’ to come back for.

A Southern prison camp was built for this movie just north of Stockton, California. A dozen buildings were constructed, including a barracks, mess hall, warden's quarters, guard shack, and dog kennels. Truckloads of Spanish moss were shipped from Louisiana to the set in California to hang in the trees around the prison. While passing by the prison camp set, a San Joaquin County building inspector thought it was a recently constructed migrant worker's complex, and posted "condemned" notices on the buildings for not being up to code.




Vertically Striped Music Recommendation:
OAR – This Town

Shalom and Good Evening to you all!















 


Yellow:


Green:


Red:




Magnificent 7 – Seven Songs that define you
-Falling for the First Time – BNL
-Ana Molly - Incubus

Podcast Power Rankings


Audio: Arrested Development
Sword of Destiny (Episode 15 Season 2)

Gob: Michael, I've been looking for you.
Michael: Looks like you're looking for dragons... In the future.
Gob: I wouldn't mock the Sword of Destiny, Michael.
Michael: Careful with that Gob.
(Gob sticks the sword into his side)
Michael: Bleeding?
Gob: Nope.... Yeah, that's blood.
Michael: ...But I can't. I have to teach George Michael how to drive.
Gob: Michael if I make this comeback I'll buy you one hundred George Michael's you can teach to drive.
Michael: You're losing blood aren't you?
Gob: Probably. My socks are wet.
Michael: I'm sorry.
Gob: You'll be sorry! Wait that doesn't work after his line.

-Okay. You know what you do? Buy yourself a tape recorder. Record yourself for a whole day. I think you're gonna be surprised at some of your phrasing.




 
NEW YORK -- Tom Fenton was getting a haircut and planned to watch the Rangers game Thursday night from his couch. He got a better seat than that.

When Phoenix Coyotes No. 1 netminder Ilya Bryzgalov came down with the flu shortly before facing New York at Madison Square Garden, the team didn't have time to call up a goalie from the minors. Coyotes head of pro scouting Frank Effinger scoured the area for an amateur goalie and came up with Fenton, who lives in Purchase, N.Y., and coaches hockey at Manhattanville College. Effinger lives in the same area.

"My phone rang, I didn't pick it up," Fenton, 26, said, according to the Coyotes' website. "I eventually saw who it was so I picked it up after the haircut and called them right back. They basically said I have to get my butt down to MSG as soon as I can."

The Coyotes signed Fenton to an emergency contract and gave him jersey No. 35. He hadn't played since his senior year at American International College in Springfield, Mass., in 2009. He went 1-12-1 with a 3.60 goals-against average that season.

Fenton said he felt a little shaky when he took the ice for warmups, but he did make one observation.

"Good ice," Fenton cracked, according to the Coyotes site. "I wasn't expecting that, to be honest with you. It was great. This whole place was electric. I know we always say that cliche, but once you're out there, it's a totally different experience. Words can't really describe it."

Fenton spent the game -- a 4-3 Rangers' win in a shootout -- on the bench, but there was a point he thought he might get in.

"There was one point Barbs came across and made a pretty good save and he was kind of favoring his groin and I immediately started sweating on the bench," Fenton said, according to the Coyotes site.

"Goaltending's a little different. Just seeing these guys shoot in warmups was pretty spectacular. A lot of the guys can really wind up the puck. I don't know about [Marian] Gaborik coming down on me or anything like that."

Fenton was asked if he knew how much money he'd make for his NHL appearance.

"Oh, I don't know. I just signed the paper," Fenton said, according to the Coyotes site. "I don't care if there is anything involved there. Great story just to go home with for Christmas."

He did get one thing. The team let him keep his jersey. Oh, and another thing ... he can always say he was on an NHL team, if only for a night.




Are you uncomfortable entering Wal-Mart? We have a greeter at my local Wal-Mart who makes me super deluxe uncomfortable when I walk in.







(Clip 50) Onion News story about the Hamburglar.

Magnificent 7: Top Seven McDonalds Characters
7. Birdie the Early Bird - She was the first identifiably female character, introduced in February 1980 to promote the company's new breakfast items. She is a yellow bird wearing a pink jumpsuit and flight cap and scarf. In the ads she is frequently portrayed as a poor flyer, and somewhat clumsy in general. Birdie's origin is explained in one old commercial: a giant egg falls from the night sky into McDonaldland, and Ronald McDonald decides to show the egg love.

6. Ronald McDonald – The original Ronald was actually Willard Scott.

5. Uncle O'Grimacey - He was created in 1977 and even appeared in 1986 for an advertising narrative of McDonald's both in celebration of Saint Patrick's Day and to mark the annual appearance of the Shamrock Shake. O'Grimacey is the Irish uncle of the character Grimace and is a variant of the Grimace-design in that he is green instead of purple, sports a frock coat covered with several four-leaf clovers, and carries a shillelagh. His design motif is not unlike that of a stereotypical depiction of the Irish folkloric leprechaun. O'Grimacey resides in his home country for eleven months of the year and visits his nephew Grimace in March, bringing with him his "incredibly delicious" shake. Uncle O'Grimacey is no longer used by the chain for its promotions of the shake.
4. Fry Guys - They are characters used to promote McDonald's french fries. When they first appeared in 1972, they were called Gobblins and liked to steal and gobble up the other characters' french fries. Accompanying them was the "Keep Your Eyes on Your Fries" jingle. Their name was later changed to the Fry Guys in 1983, then the Fry Kids in 1987, as female characters (the "Fry Girls") were introduced. They are differently-colored, shaggy, ball-like creatures with long legs and no arms, almost resembling a pom-pon with legs and eyes.

3. Hamburglar

2. Grimace - Grimace is a large, purple character who was first introduced in November 1971 as the "Evil Grimace". In his first two appearances, he was depicted with two pairs of arms with which to steal milkshakes and sodas. "Evil" was soon dropped from his moniker, and he was reintroduced in 1972 as one of the good guys. In 1974, he was redesigned, going from two pairs of arms to the single pair he has today. His role continued to grow, and by the mid 1970s, he was a major character in McDonaldland. Commercials and merchandise generally portray Grimace as a well-meaning simpleton whose clumsy antics provide a comic foil to Ronald McDonald.

1. Mayor McCheese - Mayor McCheese was an enormous cheeseburger who appeared from 1971–1985, he has a burger for a head, and sports a top hat, a diplomat's sash, and a pair of pince-nez spectacles. He is portrayed as a giggly, bumbling, somewhat incompetent mayor.
BERLIN – Newly discovered documents have revealed a bizarre footnote to World War II: the Nazis' dogged obsession with a Finnish mutt who gave not a howl, but a heil. And, just as absurdly, the totalitarian state that dominated most of Europe was unable to do much about the canine's paw-raising parody of Germany's Fuehrer.

In the months preceding Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union, Berlin's Foreign Office commanded its diplomats in the Nazi-friendly country to gather evidence on the dog and its owner — and even plotted to destroy the owner's pharmaceutical business.

Historians were unaware of the scheme until some 30 files containing correspondence and diplomatic cables were found by a researcher in the Foreign Office archives.

Klaus Hillenbrand, an expert on the Nazi period who examined the documents, called the episode "completely bizarre."

"Just months before the Nazis launched their attack on the Soviet Union, they had nothing better to do than to obsess about this dog," he told The Associated Press.

The Dalmatian mix named Jackie was owned by Tor Borg, a businessman from the Finnish city of Tampere. Borg's wife Josefine, a German citizen known for her anti-Nazi sentiments, dubbed the dog "Hitler" because of the way it raised a paw high in the air, much like Germans greeting the Fuehrer with a cry of "Heil Hitler!"

In one photo, Borg, a jovial businessman known for his sense of humor, appears with Jackie by his side wearing a pair of round sunglasses.

On Jan. 29, 1941, the German vice consul in Helsinki, Willy Erkelenz, wrote that "a witness, who does not want to be named, said ... he saw and heard how Borg's dog reacted to the command 'Hitler' by raising its paw."

Borg was ordered to the German Embassy in Helsinki and questioned about his dog's unusual greeting habits.

The businessman denied ever calling the dog by the German dictator's name, but acknowledged that his wife called the dog Hitler. He tried to play down the accusations, saying the paw-raising only happened a few times in 1933 — shortly after Hitler came to power.

Borg assured the Nazi diplomats that he never did anything "that could be seen as an insult against the German Reich," according to the documents.

The zealous diplomats in Helsinki did not believe him and wrote back to Berlin that "Borg, even though he claims otherwise, is not telling the truth."

The ministries involved — the Foreign Office, the Economy Ministry and even Hitler's Chancellory — meticulously reported all their findings about the hound.

The Economy Ministry announced that the German chemical conglomerate IG Farben, which supplied Borg's wholesale trade with pharmaceuticals, agreed to cut all ties, which would have destroyed his business.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Office was looking for ways to bring Borg to trial for insulting Hitler. But in the end, none of the witnesses were willing to repeat their accusations in front of a judge.

So, when on March 21, 1941, the Foreign Office asked the Chancellory whether to press charges against Borg, the reply came back: "Considering that the circumstances could not be solved completely, it is not necessary to press charges."

There's no evidence Hitler, who owned a German Shepherd named Blondi, was ever told of the case, even if it made it all the way to his Chancellory, Hillenbrand said.

Finland cooperated with Nazi Germany during WWII, and Helsinki was one of the few European capitals the Nazis never occupied.

As for Borg, he and his company survived the war unscathed. He died in 1959 at age 60; his wife Josefine passed away in 1971.

Borg's company Tampereen Rohduskuppa Oy went on to become Tamro Group, the leading wholesale company for pharmaceuticals in the Nordic countries.

And Jackie, the Hitler-saluting canine, also died a natural death, according to Tamro spokeswoman Margit Nieminen.

She said the company was not aware of the dog's place in history until the recent archive discovery.