Jammin' in the Nostromo...

Made me chuckle.


Reading this week: Still on "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin

Cartoon Season Sets

The details for Young Justice’s first DVD release have recently been released. Season 1, Volume 1 will be coming out on July 19. The contents of the disc have also been released; we’re getting a whole four episodes. I’ve been trying to keep things pretty positive, but this just pisses me off. Why do cartoons have such horrible season sets? Look at all the crappy three episode Justice League DVDs that came out before Warner Brothers got off the crack and gave us proper season sets. Are they really going to pull that bull again?

I can’t just say it is Warner Brothers either. The first two DVDs of the Avengers cartoon recently hit the shelves and they weren’t any better. The first disc had the five mini-episodes that ran for free on the web and then two actual episodes. The second disc has six episodes on it. Why isn’t this just one set?

There are arguments that these shows are skewed for children, so they want lower price points. I’d totally get that if it wasn’t for Disney. Every time Disney pulls one of its movies out of the vault it throws a couple adjectives like Diamond or Royal onto that release and charges 20 to 30 bucks for it.

Here is another one; we just talked about Mystery Incorporated. Each disc has four episodes. Four new mysteries my ass; the mystery here is why can’t you put multiple discs in one box like every other fucking DVD release on the planet. I’m disappointed. I want to support the things I like. I don’t want these shows to go the way of past awesome things like Megas XLR. Actually, where the fuck is my Megas XLR DVD? Seriously Cartoon Network, do you want me to buy it from the bootlegger at the next convention I go? Because I will, they already forced my hand with B.J. and the Bear.

Flash Friday: Captain Cold, Television Star

Happy Flash Friday!  Tonight lots of comic fans will be returning to the television show Smallville.  What could be causing all this excitement?  It was one image, a group of shadowy figures sitting around a table.  Two of the figures were so iconic though, it was obvious who they were supposed to be; Captain Cold and Black Manta.  Now since this is Flash Friday you can probably guess we aren’t talking about Black Manta, I’ll leave that to the excellent people over at the Aquamanshrine.

The Prophecy episode airs tonight, so I can’t talk about how good or bad that was.  But I can talk about another live action appearance of Captain Cold.  How about his appearance from the 1990 Flash television show?  The episode was cleverly titled Captain Cold.  As always the full episode columns tend to run a little long.  So keep reading to check out how Michael Champion did in what I believe is Captain Cold’s first live action television appearance.

Hangover Thursday: Blended Not Stirred

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? Personally I have more of an overtime headache then a booze related one, but that is a post for another day. Today is Cinco de Mayo; bars everywhere are heavily stocked with Corona and Dos Equis. The Margaritas are being prepped in both the regular and frozen varieties. Here at that F’ing Monkey we’re celebrating by talking about milkshakes made with Guinness.

T.G.I. Friday’s is currently running this menu promotion called “Better with Brew” where they use booze as a cooking ingredient. I was expecting the normal beer battered items and maybe some beer cheese soup. I was not expecting a milkshake made with Guinness. Beer, chocolate syrup, and vanilla ice cream are not things I normally would have put together, but once I saw it I knew I had to give it a try.

So how was it? Pretty damn fantastic actually. The chocolate syrup is there, but I think it also pulls a lot of the chocolate taste out from the stout itself. The beer is not hidden at all; you know it is there from the very first taste. It isn’t overpowering though and the whole thing is still very sweet. With it already feeling like summer here in Orlando, I think this is a recipe I’m going to be adding to my own kitchen. Although I do think I’m probably going to add some caramel to the mix, I mean how could that be bad?

Also I have VERY, VERY IMPORTANT DRINKING NEWS. You may not know it, but May 29th is the one year anniversary of That F’ing Monkey. I’d like to go out and have a celebratory drink and if you’re in the Central Florida area I’d like to have that drink with you. Where is the great meet up? I don’t know, you tell me. Drop your favorite choices in the comment section. I’m up for going most places, but I’d like to find something central for anyone who wants to go.

Mystery Inc

I don’t think I’ve talked about how much I love the newest version of Scooby Doo. Mystery Incorporated is a show that gets how to handle a cherished property right. The gang is back to high school age and the monsters are all people in rubber masks. There is a lot more too it then that though. The biggest change up is there is an overall subplot mystery that the group is working on besides whatever else happens in each individual episode. Then there is the new art direction, I’m constantly impressed by the character designs and the backgrounds.

The writing seems like it is written for a slightly older audience then the last couple Scooby Doo projects. Again, when was the last time there was a series spanning subplot in a Scooby Doo cartoon? Not to mention the deeper character relationships. The series is crammed full with homages to the earlier shows. Classic Scooby villains showing up as displays in a Crystal Cove attraction is just the start. A careful eye is always picking out something. It is obvious that the writers have a deep love for the different versions of Scooby in all his previous versions. Hell they even had a Hex Girls episode, so even the newer stuff gets a Mystery Inc spin.

The first episode of Mystery Inc’s second season played last night and it is one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a long time. The team goes to the Mystery Solvers State Championships where they meet up with the cast of the Funky Phantom, Jabber Jaw, Captain Caveman, and Speed Buggy! I had gone into the episode without any spoilers and was so happy I was yelling at the television. And it just isn’t the sidekicks, the entire teams are there. I won’t spoil anything, but obviously the human characters take a backseat to the sidekicks, so there isn’t much Teen Angel action.

The story gives each sidekick something to do, so they all get a little spotlight action. By the way, I freakin love Speed Buggy. I really want a revamped Speed Buggy cartoon from the same team. Captain Caveman was great in it too, I kept expecting him to have a power failure but he never had one. The episode just aired last night, so I’m sure if you check your local listing it will be repeating many, many times. If you’re a fan of the old school Hanna Barbera shows you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Incoming Space Ships

Like every other sci-fi fan I have a handful of spaceships that I consider my favorite. When I was growing up I loved the toy for the Slave 1, but I think a large part of that was it had a handle on it, so flying it around the house at full speed was much easier then even trying to pick up that massive Millennium Falcon toy. Once built in handles were no longer important though, I fell in love with the X-Wing. A few years ago I bought Code 3’s massive diecast X-Wing.

This is just a brief glimpse, because in all honesty I could do an entire article on just how impressive this model is. It was not cheap. But my thinking was sound, I’d buy the best representation of the X-Wing I could find and then I could overlook all the lesser versions. Sure I’d spend money then, but I’d save money and shelf space in the long run. And much like Scrooge, I kept my word. From that day forward I kept Christmas in my heart all year long. No, wait… From that day forward I resisted buying any more X-Wing toys.

It looks like I’m about to break that deal I made with myself way back in 03. In July they are releasing a plush X-Wing. It may just be too cute to resist. And it’s only like 12 bucks; I could easily field a whole squadron of them. Okay, well I won’t get that extreme. The little plush X-Wing will be coming out with plush versions of the Millennium Falcon and an AT-AT also. We can only hope that a couch sized Star Destroyer in the works.

Moving outside of the Star Wars universe, my new favorite ship is seeing its first replica released in October. From the Mass Effect series comes the Normandy. To be even more specific this is the Normandy SR2 that was used in Mass Effect 2. From what I’ve read it will technically be your ship in Mass Effect 3 too, but after a series of upgrades they decide to call it the Normandy SR3 in that game.

The replica will run around 35 dollars and is 6 ¼” long. I couldn’t find any information on what it is made of. Is it resin? Is it plastic? Is it die-cast? I have no idea. I’m going to guess the flight stand comes with it, but I might be assuming too much there too because that isn’t mentioned in any of the product descriptions I’ve found online. I still pre-ordered it though; because I am weak when it comes to resisting all things Mass Effect. For the record, I’d buy a plush Normandy too although I’d prefer a plush varren.

Lanterns go to War.

So because of my crazy work schedule as of late I have not had a real chance to get my comics, let alone read them. However I am getting some information on the current Green Lantern storyline "War of the Green Lanterns".


Now I have talked briefly before on the muddled mess that is the emotional spectrum. I have not gotten into the other side effect of Blackest Night, the Alpha Lanterns. The Alphas are hybrids of the Manhunters, the Guardians' original try at bringing order to the universe, and living Corps members. They are mostly made up of the "Lost Lanterns", the Lanterns that Hal Jordan rolled though on his way to becoming Parallax. I did not really talk about this background story much because I did not enjoy it and was hoping that it would resolve during Brightest Day and we would be done with it. It however did not and now the Alphas are the focus of the current story arc. Now we all know that the Guardians are kinda annoying blue bastards that only really think of themselves, but who knew that they also have a super short memory for immortals. Of course the Alphas are going to turn on their masters, apparently the blue fuckers are too busy being assholes to read derivative Sci-Fi. That is the first rule...Robots Always Turn.

("How the fuck should I know?")

So yeah, I am not a fan.

The GL books seem to have lost focus after the Sinestro Corps War. That story felt like the opening salvo of an epic story. It had a bunch of awesome non-earth based lanterns that seemed to have great stories to tell. A lot like the old GL Corps book that delved into tales from all over the galaxy not just background aliens that support the four earth Lanterns. Now it just seems that it is going back to 90's story telling - all spectacle no substance.

Also this...


Yeah, that is John Steward. The man was a Marine for fucks sake. At least in Green Lantern Mosaic he kept his damn dignity.



Reading this week: "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin (finally)