Flash Friday: For Kelson

Since today is Flash Friday most people reading this will be very familiar with the sites Those Who Ride the Lightning and Speedforce.org. If you aren’t, they are the best places to go online if you want to do a little Flash research. Don’t remember the name of Wally’s third girlfriend or need to see what the Flash looks like in the 28th Century, you can find it on Those Who Ride the Lightning. Want to see what Flash books were just solicited, you can find it on Speedforce.org. They are fantastic sites.

The past two days I’ve been thanking the people who inspired That F’ing Monkey and those who help keep it running. Today I really want to thank Kelson and Devin.  They have almost done more to promote That F’ing Monkey then I have. I couldn’t think of any better way to show my gratitude then to base a Flash Friday around them.

If you follow Kelson’s twitter you can see an almost weekly link here. I know, because you can see his twitter feed on his own site. Then you wait a couple more days and a link back to That F’ing Monkey shows up on the site proper in his Speed Reading post. A lot of traffic comes from those two things. I monitor my website traffic with a zeal that borders on obsession. I can tell the days that Kelson has sent traffic my way. I really appreciate it and just wanted to say thanks. So thank you Kelson and Devin!

Oh and Happy New Year everyone! Have fun tonight as stay safe. Remember if you don’t have a DD tonight most cities offer free cab rides or tow service. We talk a lot about booze here, but be safe out there. Make sure to check in tomorrow while nursing a hangover, we have exciting news. 

Hangover Thursday: For Brandon

Today’s thank you goes out to one of my drinking buddies, which makes it a Hangover Thursday related topic in my eyes. The star of Monday’s posts here, Brandon is my best friend. Sorry to all my other friends out there who just read this, but it is the truth. For years he and I spent every Friday night in this dive of a sports bar drinking liters of Guinness. He and I weren't the only ones there, but for the longest time he was the person that I knew would be there without exception.  There were nights that started at 6pm and didn’t end till after they had locked the doors. We drank a lot. He is currently in Texas and I’m in Florida, so the nights of us hanging out at the local bar every Friday are long gone.

He was probably sound asleep that August morning that I posted to the world that he was my new guest writer and that I expected lots from him. I sent him a text a few hours later to make sure he had read it. I never asked if he wanted to do it, I had just demanded it on the blog and expected him to go along with it. As you can see he did.

What you don’t see on the blog is all the other things I email, text, or call him about. Not just the drunken ramblings either. Brandon hears a lot about the site. A lot. Strange things that I want to do. Promotions that I want to run next year, because it would be too big to try to do this year. He gets emails full of possible merchandise ideas. Calls in the middle of the night about holidays I want to make up and start celebrating. All of that and he was kind enough to start regularly posting things on Mondays when I’m off work.

So for all you do and all you put up with, thanks buddy. And that "buddy" wasn’t like when Han said it to Lando on Cloud City, it was 100% sincere.

For Michael

The next three days I'm doing something a little different.  I'm looking back at the past year and thanking the people who have helped me and That F'ing Monkey. I talked about Michael May a bit ago when I brought up the Kill All Monsters web comic. If you haven’t read that yet, you really need to. Anyway, what you probably do not know is his Adventure Blog is the reason I started That F’ing Monkey.

I had known Michael for a long time because of the forum on Steve Niles’ website and always found it interesting when he had something to say. As the board began to slow a little I saw the link in his signature and followed it over to his blog. I believe it had to do with him reviewing the different versions of Stagecoach. Suddenly a world of mermaids and jungle girls opened up around me. It became something I was checking daily to see what pictures he had to share. Then the thought came to me, I should do something like this.  I have strange things I went to tell the world.  See?  It is all his fault. 

So as we start wrapping up the year I just want to say thank you to Michael May. I continue to look forward to your thoughts, comments, and friendship.

I Miss Def Jam: Fight for New York

I recently mentioned that I had picked up Jade Empire super cheap and was able to play it on the Xbox 360. With a few months to go before Dragon Age 2 comes out, it got me thinking of other old games I’d like to revisit. Sad the one I really want to play, won’t run. That game is Def Jam: Fight for New York.

This was not a game aimed at me. I don’t really like rap. I know Run DMC because of Aerosmith, I know Public Enemy because of Anthrax, and so on and so on. So here is a game where 75% of the famous people are complete strangers to me. There are two giant exceptions to that statement; Danny Trejo and Henry Rollins. Trejo plays a villain (of course) and Rollins is your trainer.

The game was the sequel to Def jam: Vendetta and is a brutal fighting game. It was released in 2004. You create your own fighter and pick up different fighting styles like Street Fighting, Martial Arts, Wrestling, Kickboxing, and Submissions. As you progress you can mix styles. As you build momentum you get a special move. Most of them are so over the top they’d kill your opponent in real life.

You earn money after each fight and wow did this game have stuff to spend money on. All sorts of different clothes, most of them from actual companies like Reebok or Sean Comb’s line. You could get yourself covered in ink or go to the jeweler to get covered in diamonds and platinum. These helped with your style, which kept the crowd on your side.

The most amazing thing is the game had a fantastic story. It wasn’t Shakespeare, but it honestly had more going on for it then many of the role playing games I've played. The majority of it had to do with two rival gangs and having to win fights to gain territory. You pick up a girl friend along the way and run into a few plot twists and turns. By the time you fight the final bad guy, you really want to hurt him.

All in all, I’d put the game in my top 20 favorite games, possibly even my top 10. If Microsoft won’t make it backwards compatible maybe they’ll make it downloadable from Anyone know how to make that happen?

The Old People Bar

Well folks due to real life (again) this will be a short post this week. Next week tune in for a post on digital comics and the impact on the market, and of course your normal dick and fart jokes.


This week however I am going to talk about IHOP. Because I had to get to work at 4:00 am this morning and after the fires were put out, I decided to hit up the International House Of Pamcakes. As I was waiting for my grub I noticed something familiar happening around me. Old folks were coming in, looking around for faces they recognize, and razzing the wait staff like old pals. It struck me that these are the same behaviors of the bar fly in the wild. I have done this exact ritual more times than I can count and it just struck me as funny at the time. Now I am sure that this phenomenon happens any place were like minded people gather, but it just felt funny to me at the time....

Let us know in the comments if you have seen this ritual in places that you were not expecting it, because in my sleep deprived state I am finding this rather funny.

Merry Christmas from That F'ing Monkey

I really wanted to post a video of the Riverbotttom Nightmare but I couldn’t find a good one. The below video is still awesome.





So we here at That F’ing Monkey wish you and your family a Merry Christmas.

Flash Friday: Santa Flash

Merry Flash Friday everyone! I was thinking about holiday specials and realized just how right the DC animation teams got it. The part of the Holiday Knights episode with Batman and Commissioner Gordon in the dinner may be my favorite moment with the two characters ever. Then there is the JLU episode Comfort and Joy. If you are unfamiliar with the episode it branches into three parts after the beginning. One about GL and Hawkgirl, one about Superman and Martian Manhunter, and the third is all about the Flash. Guess which part I’m going to talk about!

That jolly man in a red suit, the Flash shows up to an orphanage every year to bring the kids what ever the cool toy is that year. This year it is DJ Rubber Ducky; a dancing, rapping, and farting duck. After he promises to get the toy he finds out it is sold out everywhere. To the point where he actually has to visits the toy factory that makes the toy and they give him the last one.

As he is running back to the orphanage he runs into the Ultra-Humanite who is attacking a modern art exhibit because he doesn’t consider it art. During the fight the Humanite lands on DJ Rubber Ducky and smashes it. The Ultra-Humanite says the kids would have better off with a book. The fight pretty much stops as they talk about Christmas and passing good will to others. The Flash tells the Ultra-Humanite to shoot him, that he couldn't feel any worse. Instead of getting shot he is hit on the back of his head and knocked out.

When Flash wakes up he finds the Humanite fixing the toy. He even says he is going to improve the toy Flash worries that it is going to explode or something. The Humanite replies with disdain, “Flash, it is Christmas.” Santa Flash and Ricky the Snowman deliver the improved DJ Rubber Ducky. So what does the improved Ducky do? He reads the story of the Nutcracker. The kids love it. As Flash says, “I kinda liked it when it made the poopy noise, but this is good too.”

Since he is a villain and he did wreak an art museum the Ultra-Humanite does end up going to jail. But the Flash is there in the cell waiting for him. He set up a small aluminum Christmas tree in the cell. As the Flash leaves the Humanite clicks on the colored light wheel and watches his tree; you can see Flash peaking through the bars and smiling.

And that is the Flash’s holiday adventure. Very fun and very sweet. In all honesty the Martian Manhunter portion of the episode is probably the best of them. It captures Clark at his best and Manhunter’s exploration of a Smallville Christmas is wonderful even before there is a cookie joke. The end scene with J’onn petting Streaky is just pure holiday awesome.

Hangover Thursday: All the Drunks they were Singing

Some call it overrated, I can’t call anything the Pogues overrated. I couldn’t think of a better song for a Holliday Hangover Thursday.

Today’s post does start the ones I’ve written in advance and scheduled to auto-update while I’m up visiting family.  So hopefully you all see this.  Just wanted to show that I do practice what I preach, here is a picture of my latest winter six pack.

Avengers: Did I really just see that?

Last weekend Disney XD ran the newest episode of Avenger’s Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. After what I thought was a weak opening episode, the show has been getting better and better with every episode. Then just when I wasn’t expecting it, the episode Widow’s Sting comes out and blows me away. Sure Hawkeye is my favorite Avenger and this is a very Hawkeye centric episode but there is more to it. That and a lot of the elements were more risqué then I was expecting out of the show.

The episode opens up with Hawkeye is still on the trial of the Black Widow. After busting up a AIM/Hyrda meeting he gets called onto the Shield helicarrier and dressed down by Nick Fury. You can tell when you really start liking this cartoon, you accept the weird Amalgam Nick Fury. Anyway, don’t mess with Shield business, yadda yadda. Clint does what he does best, gives everyone the proverbial finger and storms off on his own. Only to be stopped by Captain America and Black Panther, they want to help. Then Mockingbird shows up! Clint lets her join up almost immediately and Panther gets the best line of the show joking that they now know Hawkeye’s weakness.

Clint and Bobbi let themselves get captured so they can find the Hydra hideout. They bicker in their cells. Natasha tries to explain what is happening but Hawkeye won’t listen to her. They break out and a huge fight starts. Then it happens. Viper pulls the pin of a grenade with her tongue. Her tongue. Seriously. I rewound immediately and made sure I wasn’t hallucinating. Wow. Readers I have failed you, I couldn’t find a picture of this scene without the Disney XD crap scrawled across it.

I’ve calmed down now, I can keep going. Whew. Cap and Panther join the fight. There is an incredible scene where Mockingbird is about to be killed by Viper and Hawkeye has to make the choice to save her or take down Black Widow. The Arrow goes sailing towards the view and then the camera spins so we follow the arrow head as it passes in front of Widow’s face, through her hair, and nails Viper’s gun. Very, vey cool.

Hawkeye, Widow, and Baron Strucker all end up in a hallway closed off from the rest of the combat. Another seriously well done combat sequence has Hawkeye knocked to the floor where Widow then leaps/straddles him. It is animated to the point where her hair falls across his face. Nicely done and hot…you know…for a cartoon. Strucker is going to kill Hawkeye and Natasha takes him out from behind and then carries the Baron away. The episode wraps with Mockingbird back at Shield, Hawkeye questioning Mockingbird’s motives, and a huge setup that I won’t spoil here.

Force Unleashed 2 Endor Pack

We’re going to be talking about Star Wars Force Unleashed 2, specifically about the DLC that was released on December 14. So if you are fan of the series and want to avoid spoilers about the Endor pack, you probably don’t want to hit the link to the rest of the article. If you’ve already played it or don’t really care about spoilers hit the link below and we can talk about one of the more surreal things I’ve seen in a long time.

Spoilers after the jump

Quick Tron Legacy Review

Due to the fact that I am crazy busy at work this week, this post will just be a quick review of "Tron: Legacy". Tune in next week for a much better post...for now courage.

Much like the first Tron this sequel is more style than substance. The "story" if one can call it that is plodding and pretty much nonsensical. The real world scenes are really just "hey do you remember Sark?" and stuff along those lines. Once it gets into the Grid it looks fucking gorgeous, but then you get bogged down by the visuals and that feels like what the film makers were going for. No time is really spent with silly things like character development. All in all I would say to see it in the theater if you care about the 3-D elements (which work in this flick as it was shot in 3-D and not post converted) if that ain't your deal then wait until you can get it on Netflix.

The Guardian Project

This year’s NHL All-Star game is going to be interesting. I always like the skills competition, usually more then the game itself. This year the game is going to have the captains picking teams instead of just dividing the league down the middle. Oh yeah, and they’ll be debuting the 30 characters of The Guardian Project. What is the Guardian Project? 30 NHL themed superheroes. Each hero will represent a NHL team and its home town.

It seems the NHL and Stan Lee have teamed together for this one. If this takes off I’m sure we’ll be getting comics, cartoons, books, and any other merch that they can think of. Imagine it now; Dad takes son to the Lightning game. They get some hotdogs, Dad grabs a beer, and the son gets the newest Captain Lightning action figure. Captain Lightning would have lightning powers and secretly, the power to break Brandon’s heart.  Of course I’m making things up, we don’t know who the heroes are yet or what their powers are.  Captain Lightning is not the Tampa heroes name...unless it is...then I'm a genius.

I like this idea. I think it could work. I’m very interested in how they will adapt some of stranger team names into superheroes. Red Wing man needs an octopus sidekick, seriously. Just like Panther man needs to fight giant rats. Seriously, hockey + superheroes is a very F’ing Monkey topic. When the characters are revealed we’ll probably break them down and do one division a day until we’ve talked about them all.  We may have to save Southeast and Central for last, since those contain our favorite teams.  There is some kind of announcement coming next week. Hopefully it’ll be before I head out on vacation and the site switches to auto-updates.

It would be wrong of me to put all this out there and not admit that I am a little worried. Stan Lee is no doubt partly responsible for some great superheroes. More recently he is responsible for Stripperella and Lightspeed. Not to mention the NHL has had a cartoon before. It had something to do with duck aliens or something…

So I guess you can call me cautious, yet hopeful. I mean how bad could a superhero sponsored by a major league sport be? Anyway, check out the site at http://www.guardianproject30.com/ and see it for yourself.  Trust us, when there is more info on this project, you'll see it here.

Flash Friday: JLU Barry, Rogue Quiz

My toy collection grew again, just in time for Flash Friday. While braving the holiday shopping crowds I found the Justice League Unlimited Barry Allen figure on the shelves. Now I’ve skipped a lot of this line, I don’t have a Weather Wizard or Mirror Master. So the thought did go through my head, do I really need another Barry figure? Turns out that answer was yes, yes I do.

I have two or three Wallys from the line and the maquette with the same sculpt, but I didn’t have a Barry. When the show first started there were debates as to who it was under the cowl, Batman outs everyone in Starcrossed (it was one of the better Bat moments in the series). This figure replaces the white eyes with visible blue yes, the V-belt with the straight across belt, and dark red for a lighter shade.

And it was the correct symbol. The Animated Justice League Flash had a simplified lighting symbol. I liked it, but the geek in me always knew it was wrong. Now that Wally has adopted the use of that symbol in the comic I can rest easier at night. But adding the correct symbol went a long way in me deciding to pick up the figure. That and they gave Barry blue eyes. It is such a minor detail, but one that will make Flash fans happy.

The funniest thing about the figure though is the card back doesn’t make any adjustments for this being a different Flash. It reads, “In a bizarre twist, Lex Luthor’s body was taken over by an embedded microscopic copy of Brainiac. Bound together, they concocted a plan to take over the universe. The Justice League tried to stop them, but the Brainiac upgrade made Luthor quite formidable. As the last man standing, The Flash needed to hit with enough force to take down the villainous super-powered combo!”

In non-toy news I had been joking about making a quiz for my wife to see just how much comic knowledge she had picked up after living with me. She did decent with some DC Geography, could pick out Iron Fist’s on again/off again love interest Misty Knight from a line up, and she nailed a line up of cat themed characters when I asked if they were DC or Marvel. Then I asked for the real names of the Rogues. Not so good. I included the picture above so you can see what I had given her. The only one she got right was Len Snart. After the test she asked me why the Golden Glider wasn’t on the list. How awesome is that?  Yeah, she’s a keeper.

Hangover Thrusday: Winter Beer

Get ready for the Holiday parties. This weekend should be thick with them since next Friday is Christmas Eve. Now you could just run by the store and pick up a six or twelve pack of your favorite brew or you could look for something more seasonal. Winter beers should be thick on the shelves right now, or where ever your beer seller of choice likes to stash the things that aren’t Bud or Coors. The best thing is to find a place that lets your build your own six pack, if that isn’t available, grab some friends and have everyone pick up a six pack of something new.

Stouts are very popular during the winter. But most stouts have the same alcohol content as light beers. If you want something with a little more kick to it, you want an Imperial Stout. So you get all that great stout taste and a punched up alcohol content. Brooklyn Brewery has a Black Chocolate Stout that makes my very nice list. You can’t go wrong with either Stone Imperial Russian Stout or North Coast’s Old Rasputin Imperial Stout either.  Besides a great tasting beer you get to sound all bad ass when you're telling people you're drinking an Imperial Stout.

Not a fan of Stouts, how about a Winter Ale? Winter Ales or Strong Ales tend to be darker, have slight fruit taste, and sometimes with a bit of spice. You may also see them listed as Barleywine. Don’t be afraid of that term, it is good stuff. To be honest thought the term is getting thrown onto a bunch of different brews not that don’t always fit the mold. Brooklyn’s Winter, while tasty, might be a little tamer then what you’re looking for. Victory Brewing Company’s Old Horizontal is a great one if you can find it. St. Bernardus makes a Christmas Ale, you should drink it.

Blog Updates!

As we get closer to the end of the year we’re getting pretty deep into the holiday season. Next week I’ll be making a journey up North to stay with the In-Laws. What does that mean for the blog? From the 23-29 the site will be updating normally, I have the ability to queue up posts to post at later dates. Many of these will be shorter updates, but there will at least be some content up here. Brandon should still be updating on Monday, he knows what happens if he doesn’t! The 29-31 will be special, but that’s all I’m saying about those.

I’m having some truck issues again; sadly this may impact me finishing my beer list by New Years. It won’t stop Hangover Thursday posts though. What is the New Year bringing? Well, as long truck repairs don’t bankrupt me I’m going to the local screen printer and looking to have some shirts made up. The below picture is just a mock up, but I think the design is pretty finalized. There will be more info on this probably late January.

Next year we should also start to see some event planning.  Unfortunately it will mostly be centered around the Central Florida area.  Got to start with those baby steps, then we’ll move on to bigger and better things.

2011 Video Games

The VGA awards were this weekend. Having watched the VGA awards before, I DVRed it this year so I could fast forward through all the stuff I didn’t want to watch. There were some nice moments buried under all that Dane Cook-ness but for me there was only one “Holy Shit” moment. And if you know my gaming habits it should be very easy to guess.


Mass Effect 3

Earth!! Finally, we get Earth. Who didn’t try to land there in ME1? I can’t wait. The end of the video had me cheering. With it a year out I’m hoping we’ll get one or two more DLCs like Lair of the Shadow Broker. I’ve been holding off replaying ME2 for the fourth time, but I don’t know how much longer I’ll hold out.

So what other games are I excited for? Check it out after the jump…

I Love Scotch, Scotchy Scotchy Scotch

As much as I enjoy a good beer I have found that here lately I have been ordering a nice Scotch more and more. Now even though I find Scotch to be quite tasty I also understand that it is an acquired taste that not everyone can handle. If you can get past the initial fear of it though you might just find that you enjoy it.
 

Now you will hear from everyone that drinks Scotch that there is only one way to drink it. That all depends on the speaker however. You will hear that you must drink it with ice, that ice is the devil, a splash of water, neat straight up, in a special glass, ect... It is true that there is only one way to drink, the way that YOU like to. Personally I like a single malt neat. With just a few months under my belt I have not been able to try as many varieties as I would like but so far I like Glenlivet 12 year (15 when my walet is feeling heavy).

I feel that Scotch is more of a social drink, when you just want to go out have a drink and bullshit instead of getting blasted. Of course you can get quite drunk on the Scotch just as easily, if not more so, as with beer. However you do tend to drink Scotch quite a bit slower than beer so that helps with the social aspect as well. Also anybody that has seen "Mad Men" will know that you just feel and seem damn classy with a glass of Scotch.

The Internet Was Right, I’m Outraged Now Too

Last month it was announced that January’s issue of Thor: The Might Avenger by Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee will be the last. Just about ever comic related site I go to reacted with shock and horror. Numerous people claimed it was the only Marvel book they had been picking up, or that Marvel was canceling their best book. I was sympathetic, but except for two titles, I had moved from single issues to trades. I didn’t know what the furor was about.

This week has changed things. A trade containing the first four issues has come out and everything the internet has said is correct. Between Langridge’s writing and that amazing Samnee art I can’t tell you the last time I smiled this much reading a comic book. It makes super heroes fun. The character relationships have heart. I can not recommend this book enough, I loved it.  It hurts to know it is canceled.

So the book ends in January with issue 8. The subplots were meant to wrap up at issue 12. Is it still possible to save the book? There are Twitter and Facebook groups out there you can join, but my guess is the only way to really save it, is with your wallet. I’ll be buying the remaining individual issues. That first trade would make a fantastic present for any Thor fans in your life. Actually you give this book to non-Thor fans and you’ll convert them, so give it to any comic book fans in your life.  Full on...all the way.

Flash Friday: The Secret of the Flash Beanie

It got cold this week. Sure depending on where you live cold is a relative term, frost on the ground in Orlando is enough to call it cold here. Other states I lived in I didn’t start calling it cold till there were snow flurries and the TV news was warning about the dangers of black ice. As a side note I firmly believe there should be a villain somewhere named Black Ice.

Anyway, because of that drop in temperature it has given me a chance to wear my Flash jersey around and to bust out one of my most recent purchases. The Flash beanie! A black hat with the symbol in shades of grey is a little strange for the hero that usually is all about the bright red and yellow colors, but I dig it. I’d probably get a shirt like that too if they ever did one. I know what you’re thinking; I’ve seen a Flash beanie for sale, but I haven’t seen that one.

You probably have seen this beanie for sale, you just didn’t know it. Flip it inside out and you have the image above. While nice looking, it definitely falls into that “not for me” category. Because it shows the character I had passed on the hat a few times. I’ll be going to Chicago soon though (more on that next week) so I need something to keep my bald head warm. That’s when I noticed the hat would show the simple logo if you flipped it inside out.

I do think DC is missing out on a prime merchandizing opportunity though. Everyone is talking about how cold this winter is going to be. Where is the official Brighter Day Captain Boomerang Beanie?

Flash Friday: Quick Note! Check out the Flash/Tron piece Juan Salcedo did for the Comic Social Club. How amazing is that? I just found out about the Social Club this week and have been blown away by some of the art on it. Go see it for yourself.