To Serve Man

Let’s say you’re a member of an alien race with a taste for human flesh. No matter what you do you just can’t escape the taste of long pig. Maybe you cook them; maybe you eat them raw. That’s all personal preference I suppose. Now if you are a man-eating alien you’re going to notice a distinct lack of products produced specially for you and your tastes. Until now that is.

How about this Kanamite Cookbook journal from the famous Twilight Zone episode To Server man? It isn’t filled with actual recipes; instead it has blank pages so you can fill in your own. The journal also says “To Serve Man” on the back cover, so you don’t need a crack team of ciphers to decode the front.

Now I hear you, you’re saying, “sure that journal is great, but what am I going to carry my human sandwich around in?” How about this Twilight Zone lunchbox? Again it features images of the Kanamit from the episode To Serve Man.

The journal will cost you 10 dollars, the lunch box 13. That F’ing Monkey does not condone that actual eating of humans.

Flash Friday: The Deadbeats

Happy Flash Friday everyone! I haven’t been talking very much about Flashpoint (DC's current event) even though I’m enjoying most of what I am reading. I’ve mainly been staying away from discussing it because eventually you have to bring up that once Flashpoint is over, most of what we know about the Flash is over too. While I’m interested to see what Flash’s creative team does I’m still unhappy about the announced changes. The more I’ve been thinking about it though, the more I understand the changes. You see if Flashpoint ended and things went back to exactly how they were before the event we’d eventually have to deal with the fact that Barry and Iris Allen are deadbeats.

To explain what I mean I’m going to have to lay down some Flash History 101. In their 1968 first appearance Don and Dawn Allen were the descendants of Barry Allen. No problems there, the family history is nice and vague and it works. Then DC’s original reboot event (Crisis on Infinite Earths) happened. Don and Dawn were now tied much closer to the Flash mythos; they were actually Barry and Iris’ children! There are a lot of shifting timelines as to exactly when in the future they lived, but we aren't about to go into any of that today.

I know it isn’t a surprise to long time Flash readers but let me continue the history lesson a little bit longer. In the early 80s Barry Allen snapped Professor Zoom’s neck while trying to stop him from marrying Fiona Webb (who Barry was about to marry). This leads to a very long trial process where Barry is eventually acquitted and he finds out that Iris isn’t dead and has been living in the future. I know, I know. Just stay with me here. Barry goes off with Iris where they live in the future. They are there long enough for Iris to become pregnant with twins. While she is pregnant Barry is pulled into the events of Crisis and dies.

Whew, that’s a lot of crazy. I can actually get back to the point I was trying to make now though. Barry Allen is brought back into present day due to events like Final Crisis and Flash Rebirth. Now that he is back alive he and Iris settle into Central City. Barry gets his old police job back and Iris is back to being a reporter. And now we’ve come full circle to my original point. Barry and Iris are hiding out in the present while they have kids to raise in the future timeline.

I have to wonder who is actually watching the kids. Does an older version of Iris eventually go back to the future? Are they left with robo-nannys or something? Why doesn’t Barry want to see his own children? We’ll never get an answer to these questions now since the universe is changing. But when we finally get to that last issue of Flashpoint I’m going to be reading it very closely, maybe Barry didn’t want kids at all. Maybe he is going to shape the new universe so he won’t be getting his wages garnished for future child support.

That’s enough time travel crazy for one day I think. Check back next week’s Flash Friday where we are going to be mixing Flash Friday with another regular column here at That F’ing Monkey.

Hangover Thursday: How to Booze

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? I had a couple beers here and there last night and then finished off with a pitcher of Guinness. It was enough that it made me want to sleep in this morning but not enough to actually give me a hangover. We’ve talked about booze books before when I wrote about the wonderful Old Man Drinks. Today we look at another book that will help you find that perfect drink.

How to Booze: Exquisite Cocktails and Unsound Advice is 224 pages of drink recipes and life advice. Written by Jordan Kaye and Marshall Altier the book pairs events with the proper drink. Going on a first date, there’s a drink for that. Stalking your Ex, there’s a drink for that. Besides the recipes and humor the book also covers the basic skills you need to make a proper cocktail.
The book is damn funny and would be worth reading even without the helpful drinking advice. Check it out if you’re looking to expand your drinking repertoire.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Edition Breakdown

The subject matter of That F’ing Monkey is largely guided by my current obsessions. With that being said it is surprising that it has taken me this long to bring up the MMO Star Wars: The Old Republic. It might be because of the fantastic panels they held at SDCC. It might be because Bioware is claiming that Open Beta should happening in September. Regardless of the reason, the game is scheduled to be released this holiday season and we need to talk about the different editions.

There are three versions of the game out there; the Standard, the Digital Deluxe, and the Collector’s Edition. Because we’re here to help, I’ll be going over what all of them include. The Standard Edition is available in both physical and downloadable versions. If you pre-order it you will get a gold Color Stone which will change the color of your blaster bolts/lightsaber to a yellow. After that you get early game access and 30 days of game time, nothing two out of the ordinary.

For 20 dollars more you can get the Digital Deluxe Edition. As the name states this is a downloadable version only, so you won’t be seeing this on the store shelves. You’ll have to go to the EA/Origin store to order this one. It includes all of the items the Standard Edition has and then throws in 5 additional digital items.

Those items are a Flare Gun, Training Droid, HoloDancer, HoloCam, and STAP. With my limited MMO experience I’m going to predict that the STAP will probably be the most useful. Running back and forth across huge zones can be tiring and anything that can speed that process up will be greatly appreciated. Also since I plan on starting the game playing a smuggler I really like the HoloDancer. Given the option I’d have it installed on the control panel of his starship, like one of those little hula girls.

We aren’t done yet though. There is the already hard to get Collector’s Edition. 150 bucks will get you everything in the Standard and Deluxe Editions. It will also get you a Darth Malgus statue, a metal case to put the game in, a Journal, galaxy map, authentication key fob, and a music CD. In game rewards consist of an exclusive mouse droid, access to an in game VIP club, and a store only available to those with the CE.

That’s it for the Edition breakdown. As we get closer to Beta and release date expect to see more Old Republic news here. Did you pre-order? If so what version?

Shark Week 2011

Get your DVRs ready people; Sunday is the return of Shark Week! Discovery’s yearly love letter to the shark starts this Sunday. I’m a little disappointed that it doesn’t happen during my birthday again, but I’m just happy to watch some sharks. As always there are a handful of new shows and a new guest host. This year’s host is SNL/Lonely Island member Andy Samberg. The 7 new shows are listed below.

Sunday. Great White Invasion: Scientists are studying why Great Whites are appearing closer to shore then ever and in places they haven’t been seen before. Jaws Comes Home: Shark expert Greg Skomal documents a 1,200 mile migration of 5 great whites.

Monday. Rogue Sharks: A study of whether sharks can “go rogue” and develop a taste for human flesh. Summer of the Shark: Documents the Australian shark attacks in 08.

Tuesday. Killer Sharks: Talks about the 1957 shark attacks in South Africa.

Wednesday. How Sharks Hunt: The guys from Dual Survival investigate the ways that different species hunt their prey.

Thursday. Shark City: Andy Samberg gets to know a handful of shark species. Presumably hilarity ensues.

That’s the new line-up. Much like last year it looks pretty heavy on the fear mongering and light on the conservation. That makes me sad. I understand that people want to see the big great whites taking people down in reenactments. I’ve probably watched Anatomy of a Shark Bite more times then it’s healthy to, but the important thing to remember here is that shark populations are in trouble. I just don’t know that Discovery is sending the right message anymore. I know that I'll watch all the new shows, hopefully they’ll prove me wrong.

I know I said that I would talk about my current obsession today, but apparently I am a liar. I will however post the video game trailer for your enjoyment.

Next week I will discuss why I am obsessed, I promise.

Also I saw Captain America, and it is awesome. It might be my current favorite Marvel flick and that includes the first Iron Man. Bold words I know. Check it out.

R2-360

There is a surprising amount of video game news coming out of SDCC this year. I don’t consider that a bad thing, I’m just a little surprised by it. The first night of the convention we were already getting new, incredible trailers for things like Arkham City and Saints Row: The Third. Then Microsoft has to go and release a new special edition of the Xbox 360.

I’ve stated in the past that I have a weak spot for astromech droids and I have to say that the R2-D2 edition of the Xbox has me extremely tempted. Let me get the basics out of the way first. The bundle costs 450 dollars. It comes with the slim Xbox, a 320 gig hard drive, a gold C-3PO controller, a white Kinect sensor, the Kinect Adventures game, and the new Star Wars Kinect game. It is a lot of money, but currently the 250 gig hardrive/Kinect bundle is 400 dollars, so you’re getting another game and a bigger hard drive for that 50 dollar difference. If you’re looking to upgrade it is a great deal.

I’m really impressed with how they designed the console though. When I heard Star Wars Xbox I imagined pictures of Darth Vader plastered all over it; or the Star Wars logo covering every free inch. Instead they went really subtle with the R2 panel design. It looks fantastic. When the unit is powered on or the disc tray is opened it also makes R2 noises. Having just got the 250 gig/Kinect bundle at the start of this year I’m not really in position to upgrade right now, but I’m envious of anyone who jumps on this.

Flash Friday: Professor Zoom

Happy Flash Friday! As I posted earlier this week, all my plans on redoing my Flash display fell through when I found out the Detolf cases at Ikea are out of stock. Luckily there are still plenty of Flash related topics out there to talk about, including the Eaglemoss Professor Zoom figurine that arrived on my doorstep Wednesday evening. The Eaglemoss Gorilla Grodd I talked about recently had been out for a long time, Zoom on the other hand is one of their newest releases.

Incase you’re unfamiliar with Eaglemoss figures they are made of lead and hand painted. Zoom is no where near as heavy as Grodd was, but he still has some heft. When you pick him up you know you aren’t picking up plastic. The lightning pointer in his hand makes it very obvious he was sculpted after Flash Rebirth. It’s too bad for Eaglemoss that he hasn’t really used it since that series. The magazine he came with was extremely up to date too. It didn’t cover Flashpoint, but it did cover his most recent origin issue.

Ignoring the pointer for a moment, his pose is a pretty dramatic one. When you put him next to the Eaglemoss Wally you can also see that he is just a bit larger. I thought it was just the pose, but even the head on the Zoom figure is larger. You really have to study them side by side to notice it though. There is also a tiny bit of sculpting on the back of Zoom’s foot to make it look like he just rushed up at super speed.

At this point the Eaglemoss Flash collection consists of Jay, Wally, Captain Cold, Gorilla Grodd, and now Professor Zoom. I won’t lie; I’m a big fan of the line. A Captain Boomerang is scheduled to be released in January.  The current rumor is that the series is going to end with its 100th release. Hopefully that isn’t the case, I can think of a lot more characters I’d like to see them tackle. The above picture was me hitting the button on the camera by mistake, but even with the blurriness it looked too evil not to include.

Oh yeah, it looks like we’ll be getting a new Flash related Action League two pack. This one will be Professor Zoom and Flash. I can’t wait. Until then…Kapow.

Hangover Thursday: Whisky/Whiskey

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? I spent most of the night rolling dice myself, during which I may have had a drink or three. Today I want to revisit the topic of last week’s Hangover Thursday, Whiskey. It took me a long time to write the article last week, not because of what it was about but because of how it is spelled. You see depending on whom you ask, Whiskey and Whisky are not the same things.

That F’ing Monkey celebrates geek-ness in all forms. We all know the comic fan who is still outraged that in Action Comics 382 Superman is portrayed as being left handed instead of right (to that type of person, please note that I made that example up. I have no idea what is inside that actual issue). There is some poor cosplayer out there who is both angered and depressed that people keep calling his Cyrax costume Scorpion. So if the whiskey/whisky thing enrages you, we get you.

When the whole to “e” or not to “e” spelling was first explained to me I was told, “Scotch is Whisky and everything else is Whiskey.” I’m primarily a beer kind of guy, so I stashed that information away in my brain and happily accepted it. Later on I read something that stated it was a little more involved that that. Scotland, Canada, and Japan used Whisky while Ireland and the United States used Whiskey. By the time I had heard that much, I was ready to do my own research and not just listen to bar talk anymore.

Now here is the amazing part…drink up, it doesn’t matter. And I don’t mean that it’s just a silly spelling argument, I mean that both spellings have been used in places where it is supposed to definitively one or the other. Ireland produced both Whiskey and Whisky, although most smaller distilleries went belly up in the 70s and the big remaining ones used the Whiskey spelling. Both spellings are used in Scotland and Canada too. So spell it how you want and just smile at anyone who tells you are using it wrong. Besides more time should be spent drinking it then debating its spelling. Cheers.

Detolf

Last Friday I mentioned my Flash display was going to be undergoing some renovations. In just over a year, I had outgrown the current setup. The biggest change to the setup I wanted to make was to add another display case. I even went down to the local Ikea store on Saturday to pick up a brand new one. The only problem was once I had gotten there, they didn’t even have the display model on the floor. When I asked different staff members about it I got conflicting answers. One said that it may be discontinued and the other said it was out of stock. It wasn’t just my local store either, it was all of them.

While I’m sure I scared some collectors out there, others are probably asking what the big deal is. The Detolf is a ridiculously good bargin. The almost all glass case has four shelves and comes in either black or “beach effect”. Besides being stylish, the Detolf comes in at under 70 bucks. Standing just over 5 feet tall, Ikea says each shelf can handle up to 13 pounds. The top of the Detolf is also put together so it is easy to add lighting to your display.

Hoping to get more information, I’ve contacted Ikea, but I’ve yet hear anything back. After checking out collector’s forums I got a little bit more information. From what I’ve seen they started getting scarce around March. Ikea has responded to some requests saying that there was a manufacturer’s defect in the Detolf and that has caused them to run out of stock. The last note I had seen said it may take a couple weeks; that was almost two months ago. I’m just hoping the Detolf comes back, if I get any more information on them, you’ll see it here.

Does anyone else have Detolf’s? What do you have in yours?

Shirt Update, F’ing Site Updates

It took almost 2 months longer then it should have, but the That F’ing Monkey store now has Girls’s Tees in stock. I did the initial order based on a poll I had up on the website, so there are a lot less of the Girls’s then there are of the normal Tees. So if you’ve been waiting for one, it’d be best to order sooner then later.

Men’s shirts are also still available in most sizes. You can always get to our store by clicking the “F’ing Store” button in the upper right hand corner, or you can click right HERE. These are professionally screen printed shirts. The men’s shirts are 50/50 and the girl’s tees are 100% pre-shrunk cotton.  The store site will probably get update pictures soon.

In other site news, we’ll be in auto-update mode August 5th through 9th. There should still be content going up but it may consist of shorter articles. Most articles I’ve scheduled to auto-post have gone up without an issue, so as a reader you shouldn’t see any difference. Between some family obligations and my birthday, my access to email will be limited during that time.

Last but not least, I’ve been thinking about adding updates on Sunday. I’d like to do something web comic related. If there are any artists out there looking to get something started let me know.

So This Exists...

Damn this real life crap. Due to being understaffed (anyone want a job in TV?) I only have this video today. Not to worry though, because I believe it has won the internet. I don't know what to say besides AWESOME!

Not sure why a Baseball Fury and Jareth from Labyrinth are hanging out, but it just makes my day that much better.

Next week I will discuss my current obsession - Warmachine.

Once Upon A Monster

I know this is making the rounds on the internet but I figured some of you haven’t seen it yet. Watch beloved game developer Tim Schafer pitch a new game to a very powerful executive.

I know Once Upon A Monster is a kid game but I have a feeling it will eventually end up at my house.  How can you not want to hang out with Cookie Monster?

Flash Friday: Take a Giant Step

Happy Flash Friday everyone! A few months back we looked at the 1967 Filmation cartoon, The Chemo-Creature (you can check that article out by clicking here). Today we look at the second episode, Take a Giant Step. Giant Step is the first Flash cartoon to include Kid Flash, although Filmation also used Wally in their Teen Titans cartoons.

As with all the write ups, this one is a little long.  Hit the link to keep reading.

Hangover Thursday: Whiskey Stones

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? Despite Thursday being our day to talk about all things alcohol, I’ve been drinking on random days lately. I only had a few beers last night, so I’m relatively hangover free. Today we’re going to be talking about soapstone. I realize that soapstone probably sounds like a strange topic for Hangover Thursday but keep reading and all will make sense.

Let’s say you enjoy a glass of whiskey. Maybe you want it chilled but don’t want to drop ice cubes into your cup because eventually those cubes are going to melt and water down your drink. Whiskey Stones were made for just that purpose. These squares of soapstone can be frozen and used to chill the whiskey without adding any additional water.

That’s all well and good, but you ever have a piece of ice slide from the bottom of your drink and hit you in the mouth? That’s annoying, now imagine it with rocks. So someone out there thought that instead of putting soapstone into our glass, why not make the glass out of soapstone? The only problem with the ones pictured above is that they are only shot glasses and not highball glasses.

I have to admit most of my whiskey drinking is done in shot form, but when I do actually sit down with a glass I’m a heathen and usually drop an ice cube and splash of water in the glass. That’s how I normally do it, how do you take yours?

Professor Genki’s Hyper Ordinary Pre-Order Pack

Two weeks ago I wrote about Saints Row: The Third and ended the entry with saying that I was sure that we’ll be hearing about pre-order incentives soon. It’s only been two weeks and now we can talk about Professor Genki’s Hyper Ordinary Pre-Order Pack! Genki hosts the Super Reality Climax Show that will have all sorts of crazy games. The Pre-Order Pack gives you a chance to spread some of his madness.

The pack gives you three items; Professor Genki’s Super Ballistic Man-a-pult, Professor Genki’s Octopus Cannon, and Professor Genki’s Leisure Stunt Suit. I realize that is a lot of strange words put together. What you’re actually getting is a car that can suck up and shoot people into the air, a gun that shoots baby octopi, and a costume with a giant cat head. As a die hard Red Wings fan, I can’t wait to hit people with octopi.

The video above gives you a better look at all the items and is seizure inducing. Seriously. You’ve been warned. In other Saints news, their uber collector’s edition will come with a headset that can be set to Auto-tune. Saints Row: The Third will be out on November 15th, I’ve already got my pre-order in.

Understanding Milk and Cheese

Yesterday I gushed that Milk and Cheese were being collected by Dark Horse in a hardcover book. I realize not everyone is familiar with Evan Dorkin’s manic children, so today I’m going to talk a little bit about the strips and why I love them so much.

Each M&C strip usually falls between 1 and 3 pages. The standard strip layout has them in circles above the title. The pose and what they’re saying changes in each one, usually reflecting what the story is going to be about. Most of the stories are pretty simple; M&C get angry at something/someone, drink a lot, yell even more, and then cause carnage and destruction.

The violence sometimes develops into a montage. The page gets filled with little circles and each circle is another stabbing, beating, or berating. The example above is pulled from two different strips.  Over the top does not begin to even describe it; no one is safe from their rampages. Also, it’s very loud. Sure it is just words printed on a page, but when you read them yelling, there is something about it that you can hear them yelling.

There are quieter moments. There aren’t many of them, but they are there. In all that mayhem there is usually a drawing of the two that can only be described as cute. Looking at the picture above it isn’t hard to believe that a lot of people approached Evan about turning M&C into a cartoon. The way I’ve heard Evan tell it at conventions, a lot of people had no idea what they were pitching to him because they wanted to make a kid’s cartoon out of it.

I almost forgot one of the other things I love about the strips. In the margins and under panels a lot of the strips have little doodles or messages. Some of them comment on what is happening in the strip, others seem to just be randomly placed there. A lot of it has an almost Mad magazine feel to it.

That’s it for more look at Milk and Cheese. I realize a book about a pair of hyper violent dairy products on murder sprees isn’t going to be for everyone. But personally just hearing the phrase, “Gin makes a man mean!” makes me smile.

Booze Up and Riot, Milk and Cheese Gets Collected

Brandon has the day off due to a rough work week, so I’m updating the site. It was just announced that on December 21st, Dark Horse is going to be releasing a 240 page, hard cover collection of Evan Dorkin’s Milk and Cheese called MILK AND CHEESE: DAIRY PRODUCTS GONE BAD. Evan Dorkin gave even more information about the book here. The book will contain every Milk and Cheese strip made from 1989 to 2010 (only the 1988 M&C/Pirate CorpS! strip from Munden’s Bar Annual #2 is excluded).

The book will include over 80 pages of comics that have not been collected before. There will be a 24 page color section featuring all the color Milk and Cheese strips, a cover gallery, pin-ups, merchandise art, trading cards, etc. There will also be a 24 page B&W supplemental section featuring pin-ups, t-shirt designs, and other art, etc. The book will include the rare 1997 M&C Special Edition 16-pg mini-comic featuring the expanded "Darth Vader Overdrive" strip and extras.

This announcement makes me so happy I actually have a hard time expressing it. Milk and Cheese came out right when I was exploring indie comics. I thought I was so edgy leaving the comic shop with M&C and Poision Elves tucked in between my superhero books. When I did my giant long box purge, my Milk and Cheese books were part of that small group I kept. At Heroes this year I replaced the Milk and Cheese lunchbox that was stolen from me a few years ago. If you’ve never read Milk and Cheese before, come back tomorrow and we’ll be talking about the actual strips. If you’re already a fan, get your pre-orders in at your local shop, because this book sounds fantastic.

Womanthology

Hey everyone, I'm running Saturday's update early because of how important it is.  This was schedule to post tomorrow but I didn't want to wait any longer. There is a very cool project out there that we need to talk about. Womanthology is an anthology made up of women writers,artists, and inkers/colorists who wanted to show off the talents of female creators. Not only does it look like it is going to be an amazing book, the profits are going to the Global Giving Foundation. So as a consumer you get a book put out by extremely talented people and you get to help a charity that funds smaller charities all over the world. That sounds pretty win-win to me.

Womanthology does need your help though; they need to raise the printing costs for this. IDW has already stepped up in a big way and said if they raise the money they will print and publish the book. So this is where you come in. They’ve set up a Kickstarter website. They are trying to raise 25,000. The minimum pledge is a dollar. Some of the higher pledges have some pretty cool rewards attached to them so check it out.

I’m sure this is a book I’m going to be talking about again, but check out the Womanthology website to get all the information from the source.

Flash Friday: Grodd

Happy Flash Friday everyone! Writing about the Flash every Friday can be a strange experience. Sometimes I’ll have two or three weeks planned in advance, while other times I’m scrambling to come up with a topic at the last minute. Today’s Flash Friday has been planned since last Saturday. I went to an anniversary sale at my local comic shop and came home with today’s topic, Gorilla Grodd.

More specifically it is the Eaglemoss Gorilla Grodd lead figurine. I’ve talked about how much I like the Eaglemoss figures in the past when I talked about their Wally, Jay, and Captain Cold figures. Although Grodd is new to me, he has been available for a long time. So what took me so long to pick him up? The standard figures from Eaglemoss usually only run about 15 dollars, Grodd is a deluxe figure and costs double that amount.

So the price had kept me away from the figure, but that is only because I’ve only seen it in pictures. The first time I picked Grodd up my opinion had changed. Eaglemoss figures are made of lead and Grodd uses up a lot of lead. He has some heft to him, I believe he weighs in around 3 pounds. There is no reason why something being heavier makes it seem like a better deal, but in my mind it did.

Like the other Eaglemoss figures, Grodd comes with a magazine detailing his history. The quality of these always surprises me. Grodd’s magazine talks about his origins and summarizes the big stories he’s been in. In addition to highlighting the big Grodd story arcs they also devote a couple pages to the other famous primates in the DC Universe. Anytime Sam Simeon shows up I’m a happy monkey.

So even though I was able to pick up Grodd at a discount, I do believe he is worth his full price tag. If you collect the Eaglemoss figures but have been holding off on the big ones, I say go for it. And just because I haven’t done it in awhile….KAPOW!

Hangover Thursday: Beercandy

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? My new, even earlier, work shift has made if difficult to drink too much on Wednesdays, so I’m more tired than anything right now. I did get out to the bar last night to have a few beers though. Which is good because today we’re going to talk about beer, actually we’re going to talk about Beercandy.

The creator of Beercandy, Steve Casselman, has been involved in homebrewing beer since 1985. The story goes like this. In 1991 while trying a few beers with friends someone commented that “You can’t do anything with that beer.” Steve took it as a challenge and made lollipops out of the sour brew. Beer and hard candy are difficult to combine though and Steve started experimenting with other kinds of candy.

Steve found that beer did make really great soft caramel. Since the caramel was so soft he used a dip in chocolate to help them keep shape. And that is how we have Beercandy. There are four flavors of caramel; India pale ale covered in white chocolate, lager covered in milk chocolate, raspberry lambic in dark chocolate, and a stout in a dark chocolate. They are sold out of the stout right now, but you can get it in their sampler pack.

If caramel isn’t your thing there are taffies made with IPA and Stout. Although they are currently out of stock, Beercandy also has made something called Hopdrops. Called a marriage of bitter and sweet they are flavored with real hop oil. The bag has two flavors, American Cascade and British Fuggles. So if you’re looking for another way to enjoy a beer, check out Beercandy.

Tales from the Brain Jar, #16

Just when you were distracted with holiday weekends and court trials, Tales of the Brain Jar is back!  We are taking another look back into my brain jar filled sketchbook. Today’s sketch was done by Jeremy Haun at the FX convention back in 08.

Jeremy did this sketch of Mid-Nite Hour for me, a character from the Image mini-series Battle Hymn. The series was B. Clay Moore with Jeremy doing the pencils. If you haven’t read Battle Hymn, it’s a story mixing superheroes, the government, and World War II. Every review of it I’ve read brings up parallels to Watchman, The Golden Age, and Ultimates; and I see that to a point. It is a darker more realistic look at politics and superheroes; everything is colored in shades of grey. That being said I think Battle Hymn stands on its own and is worth tracking down.  In fact I just read it again last night and am still impressed with the story.

Mid-Nite Hour looks a little bit like the Hellboy pulp hero Lobster Johnson. The trade paperback that collects the story actually mentions this. Mid-Nite Hour existed for a long time before the Battle Hymn book and went through a few different costumes.  I can only imagine the horror of having designed a character only to see his spitting image show up in another comic book. Regardless of that, Mid-Nite Hour was my favorite character from Battle Hymn so I was thrilled to have Jeremy do a sketch of him. 

 

If you read the Heroes Con interviews you’ll remember that we talked to Jeremy. He is working with Top Cow doing art duties on Artifacts and will be working on the Darkness. We should be seeing his Pilot Season project announced around SDCC. Jeremy is also a writer. I’d highly recommend his book Narcoleptic Sunday.  I really can't say what it is about without giving it away, it is one of those kinds of stories.

Mass Effect 3 Update

Last month we talked about all the extras that the Collector’s Edition of Mass Effect 3 is going to include. The information said we’d be getting alternate appearances for Ashley Williams, Kaiden Alenko, James Vega, and Liara T’Soni. The image for the Collector’s Edition even showed off a tiny picture of James and Liara.

Thanks to the power of the internet, we now have a full picture of what appears to be all four alternate appearances. While it is possible that the Ashley and Kaiden pictures aren’t the alternate appearances, the James and Liara are the exact same image used in the earlier picture.  So while I can be 100% certain, this certainly looks like all 4 alternate appearances.

Thankfully Ashley doesn’t looks cross-eyed like she did back in ME2. In other ME3 news Casey Hudson has confirmed that players can change their Shepard’s appearance. He also stated that they have been able to improve existing hair options and have added new ones. On top of that, you can set your helmet to on, off, or on except for conversations. Also a new novel titled Deception will be coming out in the fall. Bioware apparently is going to have a big presence at SDCC, so we should see more ME3 news after that.

Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July to all of you that don't have to work today from That F'ing Monkey!



The answer to the question of when Itchy and Scratchy make it to the fabled fireworks factory.

'Merica!!! Fuck Yeah!!

Versatile Blog

Writing on the internet can be a very strange process.  Not having face to face contact with your audience can make it seem like you are throwing your ideas out into an abyss where no one will ever see them.  Because of that, I really want to thank everyone who has commented on an article or liked something that has been put up on the F’ing Monkey Facebook.  Along those lines, Michael May, who I’ve talked about before, was recently awarded the Versatile Blogger award for his Adventure Blog.  Not only did he get it, he passed it on to five other blogs including That F’ing Monkey.

Needless to say I’m very happy that the site got any kind of award.  Specifically being called out for writing about all the things you like instead of just one is even better.  Per the rules of the award I have to tell you all 7 random facts about myself. 

1. I prefer the original Mighty Joe Young over King Kong.
2. My wife was dressed as Lady Jaye from GI Joe the first time I met her.
3.  The song 99 Redballons (Nina or 7 Seconds versions) always puts me in a better mood.
4.  Hammerheads are the best sharks.
5.  My first game system was an Atari 2600 that I won in a McDonald’s scratch off ticket.
6.  I really want to write a Wild Dog mini-series for DC.
7.  I have a picture of John Wayne hanging above my desk because it was my Grandfather’s.

I’m also supposed to pass this on to other blogs.  Sadly, I don’t read many other versatile blogs and Mike’s was the one that started this off in the first place.  I do read a lot of blogs, but they are really focused on one subject like Speedforce, Joel Caroll’s art blog, or web comics like Raising Crazy. 

Everyone have a good weekend.  Play safe with the firecrackers.