NHL Playoff Itch

Round 2 of the NHL playoffs are upon us. In fact three of the four series have already had their first game. The first round was absolutely amazing. Sure I was happy the Red Wings took care of the Coyotes so quickly but four of the series went all the way to 7 games. It was exciting stuff and I’m excited to see what else is coming.

Brandon 4/29/11

Brandon was happy last night as Tampa pulled the upset and won their first game against the Capitals. I got the disappointment of an overtime loss to the Sharks. San Jose deserved that win though, their offense was relentless last night and the score does show how lopsided that ones. Just like Rinne’s performance in net made the first Nashville/Vancouver game look close; when in reality the Canucks owned that game. But all that talk was just about game one. I’m hoping all of these series go the distance again. The Boston Philadelphia game is on today at 3. Nashville and Vancouver have their rematch tonight at 9.

Ken 4/29/11

We can’t forget about the Playoff Beard Challenge! As you can see it is still in going strong. The itch is on too, but I think I’m just about beyond that part. The Magic are out of the play offs here in Orlando, that’s good because I mentioned before they were trying to do a play off beard thing too. I had to tell a bunch of people I wasn’t doing it for the Magic. Regardless of who is moving on to round three we’ll have another beard update at the end of round 2.  I'm not sure whose beard is coming in better, but Brandon wins for better photography.  Next time I won't take my picture at work.

Flash Friday: McDonalds Again?

Happy Flash Friday everyone! Just when you thought you were done eating chicken nuggets and checking back every week for Flash toys McDonalds is at it again. It isn’t more Young Justice toys; instead we’re getting a second wave of Batman the Brave and the Bold toys. It seems weird that we’re getting more toys from a show that even if all the episodes haven’t aired yet, is pretty much finished. I may be saying that though because I didn’t want it to end.

The Golden Arches are switching things up a little bit this time around. Every Brave and the Bold toy set actually has three pieces to it. Some times it’s two people and a car, other times it is just three people. There are two sets that will be of interest to Flash fans. The first one we’ll look at is the pack of Batman, Robin, and Gorilla Grodd. Just from the picture you can see that these things are going to be pretty small and the paint apps will probably be pretty scary. I do really like the Grodd design in Brave and the Bold though, but I already have a fantastic version of it with Action League figure that came out, so I’ll probably pass on this.

Next up is Batman, Sportsmaster, and the Flash. Before I even talk about the figure I’d like to point out how Flash fans get the shaft here. The set that Aquaman comes in contains Black Manta; so Aqua fans are set with just one set. The split the Flash characters between the two sets and it makes me sad. Again you can see how simple the paint apps on these guys are, Flash’s belt looks like it may be molded on, but it is unpainted. Of course he is in a running pose, in a figure with no articulation that is the way you’d want it I suppose. I want to say I won’t spend my days tracking this little guy down; but I most likely will.

No, there isn’t a Black Flash happy meal toy; I would spend days tracking that down. I just wanted to ramble for a moment. I’ve been going through some stress at the work place, everything will be fine in the long run, just hit a rough patch in the status quo. So my state of mind hasn’t been as upbeat as always. Yesterday I was wearing my Black Flash shirt. As I’m waiting for the elevator a guy walks by and says, “Hey, Flash Gordon.” We’ve talked about that pain before, so I managed a weak smile and said “hey” back to him.

Three hours later I’m walking out of the toy isle in target and they guy working there says, “Cool Black Flash T-Shirt, I’ve never seen one of those before.” I froze in shock and when I recovered we stood around talking a few minutes about the Black Flash storyline. The guy didn’t know it, but he managed to make the whole day better. I probably should have told him.

Hangover Thursday: Personal Brewery

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? I was at the bar last night watching the Lightning game so I’m dragging a little this morning. Today we’re going to be talking a little bit about home brewing. I’ve always thought about home brewing, but it seemed like a lot to do when I could pick up a six pack at the store. But that idea has always lingered in the back of my thoughts; I would love to someday hand someone a bottle of F’ing Monkey beer. And then I found the WilliamsWarn Personal Brewery and fell in love.

Ian Williams and Ander Warn are two visionaries from New Zealand. They spent 6 ½ years working on the product you see above. Before we get into the “how”s and the “why”s here, seriously just look at that thing. I want to hug it, lick it, and whisper sweet nothings to it. The design of the Personal Brewery is done so well that it just looks impressive. It should look impressive though, it’ll cost you $4, 558. I think that places it just outside my price range.

So we know it looks good, but what does it do? First the stainless steel pressure vessel allows to the beer to be carbonated in the first day of fermenting. It holds that carbonation the rest of the brewing process. This pretty much combines two separate steps in homebrewing and saves you some time. The entire system is temperature controlled, so the beer will be exactly where it needs to be in each step. The sediment removal system lets you remove the yeast and other sediment without transferring the beer to another tank.

There is also a built in clarification system that makes sure all that beer haze and left over yeast get pushed down to the sediment removal area. To make sure the beer doesn’t go flat after you start pouring them, the Personal Brewery has a gas dispense system. So your last glass from the batch should taste just as fresh as the first. Speaking of pouring, the tap is flow controlled so you can adjust it to pour at the correct speed for the type of beer you’re making. That will stop you from getting a glass of foam.

Pretty damn neat isn’t it? They are mainly selling it in New Zealand right now, but plan to expand to those countries where it isn’t easy for people to buy beer. These guys are doing good work and we here at F’ing Monkey salute them.

In non-beer related Hockey talk. Both the Red Wings and the Lightning are moving on to round 2! Playoff Beard pictures will be taken tonight, expect to see them on Saturday’s update.

Game of Thrones Beat Down

Are you enjoying HBO’s Game of Thrones? Has the intricate plot possibly caused some healthy debate with your friends and family about what is going to happen next? If so there really are only two things you can do. You can wait a week to see the next episode, or you can go out and buy the books. Fandom loves the second option because then you can act like you’ve been a fan for years and turn your nose down at people just discovering it!

Oh, I forgot about the third option. When arguing about Game of Thrones you can also take a swing at the person you’re talking to and then throw them out a window. According to the Smoking Gun that is what Michael Podniestrzanski did to his cousin Joshua Ross. The two got into a fight about "who was going to win" and then Ross was thrown out a window.  Michael has been arrested for misdemeanor domestic battery and as of 4/25/11 was in the county jail.

Podniestrzanski and Ross are more then just cousins, they are also roommates. So it may have been about Game of Thrones or this could have been months of built up aggression over their roommates other annoying habits. Regardless I think they need to update the rules to the Game of Thrones board game to include fisticuffs and defenestration.

For the record, I've have the first Game of Throwns novel in my nightstand for a year and a half.  So far I've made it to the fifth chapter.  I'm sure it's good, I just haven't "gotten" it yet.

Tales from the Brain Jar, #13

Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the internet, Tales from the Brain Jar has returned! It has been far, far too long since we’ve done this and there are some of my favorite sketches coming up soon. Today’s sketch marks the first time in my sketch book that an artist has a second entry. That artist is Chris Moreno.

This one might need a little more setup then the others. We’ve already established there was a comic full of awesome called Monkey in a Wagon vs Lemur on a Big Wheel. It was incredible, that is 100% fact. A sequel book was eventually put out called Monkey in a Wagon vs Lemur on a Big Wheel: Crisis with Infinite Critters. The cover picture you see above was shamelessly stolen from mycomicshop.com, you should check them out too. In Crisis with Infinite Critters there are pages that show in different worlds animals different then Monkey and Lemur are at war. One of those panels depicts one of my favorite designs ever, the Gorilla in a Submarine.

So when I saw Chris at the FX in 07 I knew I hat to get a Gorilla in a Submarine sketch. I don’t know what draws me to him. Maybe it is that giant body shoved into the smallest part of the sub. You can imagine the little legs dangling in there. It could be the massive arms that actually hang down past the sub itself. Regardless of why, it is fantastic. You can see my enthusiasm for Gorilla in a Submarine in Chris’ quote of, “To Ken, Happy now?” Yes Chris, I’m very happy.

Want to see more of Chris’ work? Check out Super Frat! I don’t think I’ve ever run the full-sized picture he did of Brandon and me. That was a convention commission. You know I don’t think I ever mentioned that Chris is mostly responsible for giving Brandon the Cake Fucker nickname. I’m just dropping all sorts of strange trivia today. Seriously, if you’re at a convention on the West Coast and Chris is there, you need to sketch. You won’t regret it.

Bah!

Being extremely short-handed at work is driving me insane. So this will be another short post due to RL.

If you have been paying attention to my "Reading this week" section at the bottom of my posts you will notice that I am reading alot of books from The Black Library.


This is the publishing arm of Games Workshop, the makers of Warhammer 40k and Fantasy. Say what you will about the company, games, and expense of said games, but the background and writing is quite fun. On the fantasy side I would recommend the Gotrek and Felix series and I am currently reading the Horus Heresy series for 40K. Good, fun, and relatively quick and easy reads. With my busy schedule lately, that is what I need.

Quick Hockey Update.

Go Bolts tonight as they fight to stay in the playoffs, a loss tonight and they are all done.

The Wings brought out the brooms and swept the Coyotes and stopped their playoff hopes for the second straight season.
Beard update coming soon...


Reading this week - "Legion" by Dan Abnett

L.A. Noire Pre-Order DLC

You’ve probably already seen the commercials for Team Bondi’s game L.A. Noire, the 1940s mystery game coming out on May 17th. Obviously I’m excited. If a game is going to let me follow in the steps of characters like Phillip Marlowe and Mike Hammer I’m all over it. Instead of being a private dick though, you’ll be playing Cole Phelps who works for the LAPD. My pre-order is already in. If you haven’t pre-order yet and plan to, let me help you out a little bit. Because there are numerous pre-order bonuses out there, I’m listing all ones I could find.

Gamestop
"The Naked City" Vice Case
In this bonus case from L.A. Noire’s Vice Desk, detective Cole Phelps investigates the supposed suicide of a stunning fashion model. Can you help Cole unravel the truth in a city blighted by drugs, corruption and greed, where the death of a beautiful woman is never as straightforward as it seems.

"Badge Pursuit" Challenge (include Button Man suit)
Hidden around L.A. Noire's beautiful recreation of 1947 Los Angeles are 20 police badges to find and collect. If you can find all 20 of these badges, the dapper Button Man suit will be unlocked which provides extra ammo for all weapons. Each badge also provides 5 additional XP which will help further unlock Intuition Points – special credits that can be used to give Phelps a key investigative insight when you need it most.

GameStop PowerUp Rewards members: The Chicago Piano Exclusive Gun
The Chicago Piano, used by both law enforcement officers and criminals, was favoured for its reliability, ergonomics, compact size, large 45-round cartridge, and high rate of automatic fire. This bonus weapon will be stored in the trunk of Detective Cole Phelps' car throughout L.A. Noire, ensuring that extra firepower is always close at hand.

Amazon
The Broderick Detective Suit
This unlockable detective suit boosts your fist-fighting capabilities and resilience to damage. Throughout L.A. Noire while working cases, you'll encounter quite a few suspects and persons of interest who prove to be resistant to arrest. Your hand-to-hand fighting skills will be called into action on these cases – the Broderick suit with its enhanced fighting abilities may be that edge in helping make that collar.

Walmart
"A Slip of the Tongue" Traffic Case
"A Slip of the Tongue" is a bonus case from the Traffic Desk in which a seemingly run of the mill car theft ends up sparking an explosive investigation into the largest auto fraud racket the city has ever seen. With the stolen cars piling up and questionable characters at every turn, can you help Cole Phelps crack the biggest case so far in his career?

Best Buy
"The Sharpshooter" Detective Suit
The Sharpshooter unlockable detective suit enhances your aim with rifles and pistols. Always a worst case scenario for any detective working a case, there are of course those occasions for Cole Phelps when pursuing a suspect escalates to gunfire. In these tense shootouts, the Sharpshooter suit provides that extra aiming precision to take the criminal down.

Nickel Plated Pistol
The Sharpshooter pre-order also comes with a Nickel Plated Pistol


That’s all the bonuses I know of at this moment. There were rumors of a PS3 exclusive DLC, but all mentions of that have been wiped away. I’d expect a “surprise” announcement about it as the game’s release date nears. Also if you don’t want to jump on the pre-order bus, it has been said that all the pre-order incentives will later be available as paid DLC.

Flash Friday: Imaginext

Happy Flash Friday! I ended last week’s Flash Friday with a mention that Target was not packing the Flash, Hawkman, and a DVD in with the Imaginext Green Lantern jet. After spending two days talking about the DC Super Friends cartoon on the DVD, I figured I was pretty much done with the topic. You see I had pulled out the DVD, but everything else had still been left in the package. It’s been a busy week and I just didn’t really have much time to really look at it. Once I got him out of package I knew I had to write about him, even if it wasn’t a very long article.

We’ll get the “which Flash is it” portion out of the way before we go any further. This little guy is sporting dark red, white eye lens, a more V styled lightning belt, and the simplified lighting design. Considering his behavior in the DC Super Friends cartoon I’m going to say you could safely call this Wally. There are no bio cards or anything with the packaging though, so honestly you could call him what ever you wanted.

The thing that surprised me about the Imaginext Flash is the amount of articulation it has. The shoulders are done with ball joints so the arms have an impressive range of motion. Both legs seem to be made of one piece, so kicking up one leg raises up the other. Besides that he also has articulation at the neck and wrists. Not that this is a Hawkman review or anything, but he wasn’t articulated at the wrist; I just thought that was interesting.

As a Flash fan the other thing that stuck me as odd was the way the belt is applied. I’ve got a ton of different Flash figures and I don’t think any of them have a belt that stops at the hips. My picture doesn’t really do it justice here, it stops the lightning from really being a belt and is more like a piece of decoration hanging out on his waist. It goes just far enough around that you can’t tell if you are looking at it head on.

That’s it. I told you it’d be a short one. I’d find something else to add to this, but my life outside of That F’ing Monkey has been kicking my ass this week so I haven’t had a lot of time. You didn’t see it affect the site much because I had some things written in advance. Oh yeah, I almost forgot....Kapow!

Hangover Thursday: Drinking Around the World

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? Today we’re going to be talking about Drinking Around the World. For those unfamiliar with the Disney setup here in Orlando, Disney actually has 4 theme parks (not including the water parks). One of those parks is Epcot. Epcot is split up into two sections; the back half of the park is called World Showcase and that is the one we’re talking about today. Drinking Around the World is when you walk around the World Showcase and get a drink at every stop. 12 stops, 12 drinks, it should be fairly easy. The past Saturday was my first attempt at this and while fun, it wasn’t a success.

So today is going to be a long one. I’m going to talk about what beer is available at each country, other drinks are available like Margaritas and such, but we’re focusing on the beer. Not only will I cover what is available but I’ll also make a note about where the F’ing Monkey team went wrong with our attempt.

DC Super Friends: Joker’s Playhouse Part 2

Yesterday we looked at the first half of DC Super Friend’s episode The Joker’s Playhouse. All of the heroes were in trouble. Today we’re going to finish the episode off. So if you haven’t read part one, click here. I got the episode on a DVD packed in with the Green Lantern Jet but you can also find it on Fisher-price.com if you go to their Imaginext section of the site.

DC Super Friends: Joker’s Playhouse Part 1

As I had stated last week Target has a bundle exclusive to their store that packages Green Lantern’s jet with the Flash and Hawkman figures. They also included a DVD of something called The Joker’s Playhouse. I had no idea what to expect. Turns out DC and Fisher-Price had this awesome homage to the old Super Friends made to help promote the Imaginext line. They use music and sound effects from the old Super Friends show and the narrator does his best to sound like Ted Knight. We’re going to take a look at the entire thing, so this is going to be one of the long articles. I’ll let you know up front though, this thing is far better then I had imagined it would be.

Bring me the box of Ferrets! or Random Thought Download.

I am going to continue the trend from last week and make this just a random stuff in my craw post.

First up is the Cal McDonald Detective Tales book from Bloody Pulp Books.

It came in the mail on Saturday. It comes in an evidence bag with what seems to be the date that your book was sent out, mine is 4/9/11. For some damn reason I thought this was fucking awesome, it is just a random detail that sticks out to me. As for the contents of the book, I like to call it "bite-sized (pill sized?) Cal". Why you ask? Well let me tell you. It contains 2 short stories - The "Y" Incision and Nocturnal Invasions. These stories are able to be read in about 15 minutes. I have only read The "Y" Incision so far and it is a great read. Mr. Niles has a gift of description, especially when that description is straight up disgusting. When he writes about disembowelment you feel like you are looking at the entrails pouring out right in front of you. That is of course a complement to his writing. There is a point in the story that had me flashing on Invader Zim, which is fan-damn-tastic when put into the context of Cal's world. I would HIGHLY recommend picking this up before it is gone, plus it is only five bucks. I personally can't wait until the next one comes out.


Now for your Hockey playoffs update. The Lighting tied up the series with the hated Penguins on Friday night with a 5-1 trouncing after a sad showing the game before with a 3-0 loss. The next game is tonight. My 6 game Lightning win is still in effect. Tonight's game is being played in Tampa.

Detroit on the other hand is looking to repeat last years effort of crushing the Coyotes hopes of moving to the second round. The Wings are up 2-0 in the series and are not looking to let up as they move to Phoenix for game three tonight.
Stay tuned next week as Ken and I update the playoff beard situation.

Finally I was going to talk about the premiere of "A Game of Thrones" last night. However because I do not have HBO and my totally legal search of the interwebs produced nothing for me this morning, I can't talk about it yet. This makes me sad, so if any of you fine folks watched it let me know what you thought in the comments.

That's it for this week, as always Let Your F'ing Voice Be Heard in the comments or facebook page!

Reading this week: Descent of Angels by Mitchell Scanlon and Cal McDonald Detective Tales by Steve Niles and illustrated by Kelley Jones

Lightning in a Cup

You may have noticed by now that I love movie tie-in merchandise. Not that I buy much of it, but I’m fascinated by the things that spring up when the big blockbuster movie hits the theater. The more random the object seems the funnier I think it is. Thor is coming out in May and the toy isles are already full of plastic helmets and hammers. Today though I’m not talking about the toy isle, I’m highlighting a different kind of Thor product.

Blue Lighting Blast Slurpee. If you’ve been in a 7-11 lately you’ll see they’ve been taken over by the Norse god of thunder. They are selling lenticular cups in both the fountain drink and Slurpee variety. Not to mention the plastic strays with little tiny people on top of them. The highlight of this marketing of course is the Slurpee machine.

As you can see by the picture above Blue Lighting Blast is “A Thunderous Blend of Raspberry and Tangerine.” It is the same blue as Windex, which made me pretty reluctant to try it. Actually I pretty much stick to the Coke flavor of Slurpee so I’m pretty reluctant to try most of their off the wall flavors. The wildest I’ll usually get is layering some cherry into the Coke. Well I’ve poured rum into them before too, but that is a different story.

So how does it taste? I’m surprised to say I liked it. I’m not a big raspberry fan normally, and I include both real raspberries and the sugary raspberry flavor most candies use. I do like tangerines though, so it is possible that cut of citrus was enough to make me enjoy it. Your mileage may vary, but I may even get another one before 7-11 moves onto its next movie flavor.

Flash Friday: Decorations

Happy Flash Friday everyone! I’ve been covering a lot of strange merchandise this week for some reason and figured I’d continue with that trend today. Have you been walking around your house or apartment and been thinking to yourself that you need giant representations of your favorite superhero staring back at you? If so then today’s article is definitely for you. If not, read it anyway and marvel at the strangeness.

Advanced Graphics is a company best known for its cardboard stand ups. You’ve seen them before, the Star Wars characters or the Elvis and Marilyn Monroe stashed away in the corner of every Spencer Gifts. Apparently they decided to jump aboard the superhero train. Pictured above is their Flash stand up. Considering he is a pre-order at the online retailers I’ve seen I’m amazed this isn’t Barry. Now instead of always asking DC where Wally is, you can take him home!

Maybe the animated style is more your thing. Advanced Graphics has you covered there too. In fact they have you double covered because you have your choice of two different animated Flashes. I’m having a hard time figuring out why they felt they needed to make two and then pick such similar poses. The background is obviously taken from the same image, they just moved over a little. Look closely at the buildings, they are identical.

I hear what you’re saying. Sure cardboard stand ups are nice, but haven’t you found something I can stick directly onto my walls? I sure have. Fat Head is a company that makes giant vinyl wall stickers. They are primarily known for doing sports figures but as you can see above they have superheroes pretty well covered too. The Flash kit will run you 90 bucks. The dimensions on the site list the height at 6’4”, so that Flash is absolutely huge. The site calls them low adhesive and claims they can actually be pulled off the wall and used more then once. I don’t really want the full set but my Flash wall would probably benefit from the logo and one of the symbols.

They also have a Justice League set. It includes the JL members you see in the picture up above. This one seems like they missed out on a lot of potential. Instead of doing one set they should have done two; mixing heroes and villains. Then you could pretend your wall was a giant colorform set and stage an battle between everyone. I’m also surprised they don’t have a set that is just made up of all the superhero symbols.

I’m breaking from today's theme to let everyone know that the Imaginext Green Lantern stuff is hitting Target shelves. The Oa playset is adorable with its B’DG and Kilowag. The item that will interest Flash fans though is Target has an exclusive package that bundles the Green Lantern jet with Flash and Hawkman minifigs. It also comes with a DVD of the cartoon Joker's Playhouse, if you haven't heard of it check back next week because we'll be reviewing it on Tuesday.

That’s it for this Flash Friday. Hopefully you enjoyed the look at some of the home décor stuff. Next time we come around to this topic we’ll cover all the Flash lights that are out there. I mean Flash themed lights not flashlights, but you probably already figured that out.

Hangover Thursday: Spooky and Strange

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? I had a fantastic night of drinking cheap beer and watching some amazing hockey. Some of the games went the way I wanted them to; others did not. Much like yesterday was a bunch of small, random things. Hangover Thursday is going to do the same, but all the items are going to fall into the Spooky or Strange category.

Spooky: Tuesday I mentioned that I had checked out the new changes to Disney’s Haunted Mansion. For those not obsessed with the goings on of the Magic Kingdom; the queue line and hitchhiking ghosts have just been totally redone for the Mansion. I think both updates are big improvements, but the coolest update is pictured above. Drink a toast to our friend Ken. Fill your glass and don’t say "when.” It was like they wrote it just for me. I wonder if they’ll let me put my ashes behind it when I die.

Strange: Smurfette on a flask. I know we’re about to be buried in Smurf merchandise with the movie coming out, but this just seems weird to me. Now I realize anything could be put in a flask, but when I see one I think of hard liquor. They hold so little that you have to fill them with the most potent alcohol don’t you? Slapping a cartoon character on a flask just seems strange to me. I’m not offended or anything, hell I’m not even against the idea, it just like an odd marketing choice.

Spooky: TShirt Bordello is selling these amazing glasses. The Winchester Tavern glass is a pint glass and the Overlook Hotel glass is a pilsner glass. Having one of these in your possession will make you look stylish as you fight off zombie hordes or get driven mad in an empty hotel. These things look amazing. I love when you can subtly geek out. The Winchester one is probably in my future.

Strange: Superhero pint glasses are cool. I don’t have a lot of them, but I’d love to have a nice collection. Superhero shot glasses are even better, all the coolness but easier to store. What happens when you have a bunch of people over and they all want to drink out of Spiderman shot glasses? Well if you have the Spiderman shot serving tray you can serve yourself and seven friends with ease! This thing is so strange that I’m having a hard time writing this and I’ve know about it for a few weeks. I would have loved to have been in the marketing meeting where someone came up with this. Despite all my confusion, if there was a Flash one I’d buy it in a nanosecond.

Randomness Roundup

There are days where we have a few things to talk about, but those individual items by themselves aren’t enough to make a full update. Today is going to be one of those days.

Xbox Live is going crazy with sales this week. From April 12-18th there are tons of deals. The most notable are the critically acclaimed Braid and the crazy platformer Splosion Man. Either one of them will set you back 5 bucks. For the same price you can also pick up Snoopy Flying Ace. It may sound kiddy, but if you’re still pining for Crimson Skies you could do worse.

Even more impressive is the sale going on April 15th. Limbo, Castle Crashers, Shadow Complex, Trials HD, and Monday Night Combat are marked down to 600 MS points each. Limbo of course took a slew of awards this past year for being incredible. If you haven’t picked up Castle Crashers or Shadow Complex by now, this is a perfect opportunity. I’ve sank a sickening amount of time into both of these games.

The NHL playoffs start tonight and to kick it off Versus is showing a double header. Phoenix at Detroit starts at 7pm and Chicago at Vancouver starts at 10pm. The other games tonight are Tampa at Pittsburgh, the Rangers at Washington, and Nashville at Anaheim. Obviously team affiliated local channels will still be showing the games, I know that the Sunshine network will have the Lightning games.

A very big thank you to everyone who has given their feedback about shirt sizes. As stated before, I’ll be talking with the printers on Monday and should have more information sometime next week. The poll will stay up until Monday morning and these numbers will help me determine how many shirts I need and of what size.  You’ll be seeing a store button on the site as soon as the shirts are ready.

We’ve been resting on Sunday. Not for religious reasons or anything, the site originally didn’t update on Sunday and Monday because those were my days off from my paying job. Brandon took over Mondays leaving F’ing Monkey’s only day of rest on Sunday. I’m not content being the internet version of Chik-fil-A. I think I’d like to run a web comic on Sunday, but I need an artist. The pay is……well nothing. But if you’re interested hit the “F’ing Email” button and drop me a line. As always your comments and emails mean a lot to us. Thanks for reading.

Playoff Beards: Round 1, 2011

It is going to be a hockey heavy week here at That F’ing Monkey. As Brandon pointed out yesterday that playoffs start this Wednesday. The hockey season is so long that it is usually broken up into three parts; the season start, post all-star game, and then playoffs. Obviously the playoffs are the most fun to watch. We will be rocking the beards this season to show support to our favorite teams.

Brandon 4/10/11

How this is going to work is pretty simple. You’ll see the starting pictures in this article. My picture was taken Monday while at a trip to Disney (had to check out the new Haunted Mansion changes). The last time I shaved was Sunday Morning. Brandon’s picture was taken Sunday. After each round of the playoffs is completed we’ll take pictures of the beard progress until our team either wins the cup or is eliminated. I’ll be representing the Red Wings and Brandon the Lightning. If you’re interested in showing your beard growing prowess and want to support another team drop me an email.

Ken 4/11/11

I realize there are probably some non-hockey versed readers out there wondering just what all this beard talk is about. The New York Islanders started the practice in the 1980s and won the Stanley Cup four times in a row. Only Montreal has a longer consecutive cup streak with 5. The Islanders rocked the beards but after that the idea just seemed to be forgotten. Ten years later, in 1995, the New Jersey Devils brought it back though. After that the flood gates were opened and the NHL firmly embraced the playoff beard. In 09 Detroit even it as part of their playoff marketing. Not all players do it of course, some don’t believe in the superstition and some just flat out can’t grow a beard. I think it’s a fun tradition through and seeing some of the normally clean cut guys turn into Grizzly Addams is always good for a laugh.

I don’t like the fact that the Orlando Magic has jumped on the playoff beard train. I have to admit I’m not a basketball fan in any sense of the word. Regardless of that, I like to see the Magic do well. I feel for them.  Orlando is a hard on its sports teams. Most Orlando residents come from somewhere else and bring their love of their own home team here with them. So while there are die hard Magic fans, they are far outnumbered by the fair-weather ones. I understand that, while I like to see Tampa Bay do well, I was born up in Detroit and stay loyal to the Wings.  So the Magic have to battle to keep the town intrested in them.  I get they want to drum up some local support, but please lay off the beards guys, leave it to the hockey players.