On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we dive back in to the treasure trove of Artificial Intelligence with a talk on the state of A.I. (part 2). This time around, we talk about some of the newer events unfolding with AI. We cover the music being generated by AI, which uses the exact voice of actual singers. That’s going to be a legal mess, as will digital actors doing things they may not approve of. We also talk about the rights not just of humans but of AI itself—if it gets advanced enough...
Jul 06, 2023
On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we explore the skies of the land down under and talk about the Westall '66 Encounter. Also called Melbourne 350, this is a strange UFO sighting. Why is it strange? Well because there were 350 witnesses including 5 local pilots from a flight club who were chasing it in the sky. It is also strange because all the reports sent to the government or the media seemed to have vanished, and there were straight up Men in Black on the scene within 30 ...
Jul 04, 2023
On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the greatest authors and popular culture figures of all time, Kurt Vonnegut. With the release of his 1969 book Slaughterhouse Five, Vonnegut became an overnight sensation. He was something we lack today—a celebrity author who was witty enough to dominate late night and literary enough to be studied by scholars. One of the key moments of his life was being captured the Battle of the Bulge in WWII and then surviving the firebombing of ...
Jun 20, 2023•1 hr 43 min
On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the Mad Gasser of Mattoon. A few weeks after D-Day in Mattoon, Illinois, some families smelled a sweet gas that either paralyzed them or left then nauseous with swollen mouths and faces. Within a couple days, there were even sightings of a tall thin man with a long coat and tight cap prowling the neighborhoods. Once it hit the newspapers, dozens of people were similarly “attacked.” Some were mundane, some downright bizarre. But the townsfol...
Jun 02, 2023•1 hr 27 min
On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the life, twists, and scares of Alfred Hitchcock. Considered the greatest director of all time by many film rankings, this legend spawned entire genres of film. He was a true auteur, overseeing every bit of the production. Hitchcock was an interesting man filled with unique horrors and a wicked sense of humor. If you like the macabre in film, check this one out, and dial H for Hitchcock! Visit Our Sources: https://www.biography.com/movies-tv/a...
May 30, 2023•1 hr 47 min
On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the creator of The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling. Serling was a visionary who changed the very medium of television. He survived some of the worst warfare in the Pacific theater in WWII, and when he returned home, he was a changed man. He wrote of justice and dreamed of worlds without war, racism, and the worst that humanity had to offer. But it was the 1960s, so the only way to do it was to hide it all in the guise of science fic...
May 29, 2023•1 hr 52 min
On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we shine a light on the Mole People of Las Vegas. No, they aren’t some hybrid cryptid, but they are thousands of people who live in the 400 miles of drainage tunnels underneath Sin City. In 2007, a book called Beneath the Neon was written about these people. In the years since, there has been explosion in population thanks to Covid and inflation. Drugs are rampant there, as are murders, and death by drowning, but most of the residents love t...
May 16, 2023•1 hr 19 min
On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about The Walled City of Kowloon. Also known as the City of Darkness, Kowloon was part of Hong Kong, but it went unregulated by either the British or the Chinese. With no laws or regulations, the Triad gangs took over in short order, and everything from construction to factories were done for maximum efficiency, not government guidelines. It had the densest population on Earth, 30 times more dense than the city right now! So, how did the Triads t...
May 12, 2023•1 hr 21 min
On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the dark side of the classic toy from the 1960s, Sea Monkeys. This is a tale of brine shrimp, a conman who hit the big time, millions of comic books, the Aryan Nations, false identities, and weapons deals. It all hinges around a man named Harold Von Braunhut. He dominated popular culture with Sea Monkeys, X-ray Specs, and other toys marketed directly to children. But when he developed Kiyoga Agent M5 Spring Whip, things went da...
May 09, 2023•1 hr 21 min
On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the worst atrocities of World War II: The Rape of Nanking. Nanking was formerly the capital city of China, and as Japan invaded parts of the country before they officially entered WWII, destruction of Biblical proportion fell upon the city. Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek ordered the military to withdraw to fight later on, and the Japanese went nuts. They burned most of the city, killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers a...
May 02, 2023•1 hr 29 min
On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we take a look at the State of Artificial Intelligence. We’ve covered this topic before (way back in time), but so much has happened in the past year, and the growth is so stupendous, we thought it was worth revisiting. So, if you want to hear us talk about ChatGPT, Bard, Midjourney, and other commercial AI developments, give this one a listen. We also rap about the exponential curve of technological progress and get into a little bit of AI philosophy. h...
Apr 28, 2023•1 hr 36 min
On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time and look at one of the most powerful females of the ancient world, Hatshepsut. She was one of only handful of women to break with Egyptian law and fully become Pharaoh. And while she did conquer neighboring invaders early in her life, Egypt was a place of exploration, art, and construction under her reign. There is a camp that argues she was a manipulative, evil woman who wrested power with the help of her lover, but m...
Apr 14, 2023•1 hr 20 min
On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the most powerful company you’ve never heard of, Blackrock. Blackrock is an investment firm that was created by Larry Fink, the guy who brought you the housing collapse. After a computer lost his bank $100 million dollars due to an error, he created Aladdin, an AI model that the entire financial market now relies on. With its algorithm, Blackrock manages more money than the GDP of America. Some say it is why nobody can buy a house anymore, ...
Apr 13, 2023•1 hr 20 min
On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at some true crime from back in 1992: the case of the Springfield Three. The Springfield Three refer to three women who went missing on June 7th, the nigh of the high school graduation. After Suzie Streeter and Stacy McCall spent the night partying, they went home to mother Sherrill Levitt’s house to call it a night. When friends called on them the next morning to go to a water park, they were gone. Everything was in place, no signs of theft or s...
Apr 05, 2023•1 hr 32 min
On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the most mysterious disasters of the modern world—The Tunguska Event. Early one morning in the summer of 1908, a massive explosion ripped through the heart of Russia. It was estimated to be around 15 megatons of explosive force that destroyed the land for miles. The common theory is that it was a hard metal asteroid that hit, but the theory loses steam since there is no crater to suggest impact. This leads to massive exp...
Mar 28, 2023•1 hr 26 min
On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about one of the greatest to ever grip a microphone, Jerry Seinfeld. Seinfeld is the comedian’s comedian. He started doing small gigs right out of college and never looked back. He was obsessed with comedy since the age of 8 and became sort of a meta-comic who has learned to dissect comedy and get to its essence. Of course, he blew the lid off of television with his sitcom Seinfeld, but his writing, professionalism, and even Comedians in Cars Get...
Mar 17, 2023•1 hr 38 min
On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the terrorist attack on Paris in 2015. On the night of November 13th, a coordinated assault raged across the city. There were a host of suicide bombers at a soccer match, and there was a car doing some nasty drive-by shootings at restaurants. The worst, however, was an assault inside of an Eagles of Death Metal concert that killed around 90 people. So, who planned this horrible attack? What did they want? What did this have to ...
Mar 16, 2023
On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we tell the unique tale of Koko the gorilla. Koko was born in captivity in San Francisco and became world famous for her use of sign language. She was said to have the vocabulary of a five year old child, and she showed complex emotions, memories, and even a sense of humor through her use of language. She even taught another gorilla sign language, and the two of them made up their own signs. Koko was depressed after her mate died, and they b...
Mar 10, 2023
On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the Guru of Popular Music, Rick Rubin. This music producer took on mythological status by launching Def Jam records out of his dorm room in New York and pioneering hip hop alongside Russel Simmons. But his story doesn’t end there. Over the past 40 years, he has won endless Grammy awards in the genres of hard rock, rap, and country. Every strange (but amazing crossover) from Jonny Cash covering “Hurt” to Run DMC teaming up with Aerosmith wer...
Mar 07, 2023•1 hr 53 min
On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the worst music festival ever: Woodstock 99. This was supposed to be the return to peace and love, but it turned out to be a cash grab of a festival filled with sexual assault, mob violence, and riots. It was hosted on an old, polluted air force base where the temperatures reached 100 degrees on the hot tarmac; there was no water; there were no hotels; and the vibe was violent and hostile the entire time. So who planed this tra...
Mar 03, 2023•1 hr 13 min
On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the queen of Appalachia, Dolly Parton. She is a legend of country music with a fifty year career. From “Jolene” to “I Will Always Love You,” she has written and recorded some of the most important country songs ever. But that wasn’t enough. She starred in smash movies like 9 to 5 in the 1980s, created the mega-hit theme park Dollywood, is a massive philanthropist, and is so open minded about other races and the LGBTQ+ community that she sti...
Feb 28, 2023•1 hr 27 min
On this Classic episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we climb the Mount Everest of podcast topics to look for the tales and truths behind the Yeti. The Yeti, the Abominable Snowman, the Mi-Go, the Yeren; these are all apparently the same creature: a humanoid beast with feet like a man (smaller than a “Bigfoot”) who has been seen in the Himalayan mountains for centuries. Their gods and mythology tie back to this creature, and sightings and folk lore amount local Sherpas are vibrant and updated. So w...
Feb 18, 2023•1 hr 21 min
On this Classic episode of The Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the self-improvement mogul, Tony Robbins. He’s the six foot seven inch motivational speaker who is worth $480 million dollars and holds seminars that cost between two and eight thousand dollars. Tony Robbins was born Anthony J. Mahavoric on February 29, 1960. His father left them, and his mother was abusive to point of chasing him around the house with a kitchen knife, so at age 17, he set out on his own and was such an amazing sale...
Feb 13, 2023•1 hr 34 min
On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about The Man with No Name—Clint Eastwood. Eastwood is the ultimate Hollywood star. He started with the smash hit TV show Rawhide, went on to define The Spaghetti Western, and made some of the best films in the history of cinema. He did action, he did comedy, he did drama. He acted, and he won Oscar after Oscar as a director. Get the behind the scenes on America’s favorite tough man and give this one a listen. Visit Our Sources: https://www.biogr...
Feb 03, 2023•1 hr 25 min
On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we take a look at one of the more bizarre stories in video games—The Tale of Tetris. It is a story of mass piracy, Soviet Secrecy, and murder! Everyone knows this brick stacking game, and most of us have been addicted to it at some point or another. But the story of its spread and development is wild. It was created by Alexey Pajitnov for a group run by the Soviet Union. A colleague named Vladimir Pokhilko first recognized its addictive qual...
Feb 02, 2023•1 hr 30 min
On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we head down under and talk about the baddest Bushranger of them all, Ben Hall. Ben Hall was an epic outlaw of the outback. After his wife left him, he took up with a bad crowd of criminals and soon became the leader of one of the most notorious gangs of the Australian Old West. In just a handful of years, they racked up over 100 robberies. Even better, they did crimes to mock the police and make the citizens like them. At one point, the put...
Jan 20, 2023•1 hr 20 min
On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we look at the towering career of the one and only Shaquille O’Neill. The man is a legend on the court. He was a four-time champion, multiple MVP, won an Olympic Gold metal, and had plenty of beefs with other sports personalities. He was dominant on the Lakers but won championships on other teams as well. But let’s not forget the fun stuff, like is video game Shaq-Fu, his rap albums, his role as a genie named Kazaam, and his reality shows. This man is a ...
Jan 19, 2023•1 hr 34 min
On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we remember, remember the 5th of November and talk about the Gunpowder Plot of Guy Fawkes. If you’re from the UK, this is probably a story you are familiar with. In America, we really only heard about it from the movie and comic book V for Vendetta. Either way, it is a wild story about a soldier (and terrorist?) who tried to blow up Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder, assassinate the king, and put someone else on the throne. The tale ends in torture...
Jan 12, 2023•1 hr 42 min
On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about an American tragedy—the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. The date was March 25, 1911, and a sweatshop in the garment district of New York caught fire. At first, it was thought to be a cigarette in a scrap bin, but the tangle of boxes, oiled down floor, and lack of fire equipment turned it into disaster. The fire escape buckled from the crush of people, the elevator stopped working because so many burning bodies were on top of the ca...
Jan 04, 2023•1 hr 19 min
On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we talk about the films, crash, and rebound of Mel Gibson. Gibson’s career was pure gold in the 80s and 90s. He was the star of two mega-franchises, Mad Max and Lethal Weapon. He was able to do drama, action, romance, and comedy, and he even started winning Oscars for directing such films and Braveheart and the Passion of the Christ. But he hit a hard snag when anti-Semitic rants and alleged abuse of his ex-girlfriend surfaced. Somehow, he avoided gettin...
Jan 02, 2023•1 hr 42 min
