Media Smoke Screen

We all know how ugly politics can get. People create diversions or
smoke screens to delude us into believing what they want us to
believe. Well we have just created a site that aims to help clear away
the smoke and reveal some truth.

Is John Kerry just a waffler?
Is George Bush just a monkey in a suit?

Please visit www.mediasmokescreen.com

Thank You.

I Want My Scopitone!

Allow me to introduce you to MTV's grand-daddy, the Scopitone. This little beauty debuted in the early 1960's in cocktail lounges around the world.



According to Scopitone.com, the Scopitone (pronounced Scope-a-tone) was invented in France and built out of surplus WWII airplane parts. The dream was that this odd looking box would replace the vinyl playing Juke Box's with their 16mm film music videos.

Where else in 1966 could a young lad go to see Nancy Sinatra prance around in tall boots and a scandalously short skirt on demand? Nowhere but the Scopitone.

"Hey cool cat, dig my fancy boots?"

And if hot chicks in bitch boots doesn't float your boat, how about geeky brits with mangy mustaches? Yeah? Well then check out these mop-topped, lads of leisure singing Procul Harum's Whiter Shade of Pale.

"My buddies are pouting cause I won't share my cloak."

If your interested in seeing other scopitones, check out the Featured Scopitone and Scopitone of the Day Archive sections of Scopitone.com.

And if your at all curious about these funky machines, check out the Links section. There are several other scopitone archives on the grand ol' internet. Peace baby.

Click the above pictures to see the videos. Have a comment, let me hear it!

Get ready suckers.

That which was lost, has now been Found.

Have you ever found a random note or doodle and thought to yourself, "Man, this lil' doodle should be shared with the world."

Or maybe, "Holy crap! This lil' note gives me such unselfish joy that I have to reach out to my fellow man to deliver it's giddy wisdom."

No? Well lucky for us the folks at Found Magazine have.



They collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework, to-do lists, photos, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, doodles- anything that gives a glimpse into someone else's life. Anything goes.



True, the site may be overtly voyeuristic, but the kitsch value is through the roof! So enjoy the site. And who knows? Perhaps you'll find a little something you never even knew you lost.

FYI: A fewof the notes have a bit of creative language, so buyer beware.

"Tough Crowd," We Hardly Knew Thee.

This post is written to bemoan the loss of one of the most honest programs on television. Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn.

For those not familiar with the Comedy Centrals late night, dirty little secret, allow me to enlighten you. Tough Crowd was a thirty-minute, round-table discussion with 5 comedians on relevant topics that no other program ever bothered to touch. The comedians never pulled any punches when it came to issues such as religion, race or modern society. Colin Quinn frequently place a magnifying on issues that may not mean much to our main stream media, but they meant something to me and the rest of the Tough Crowd fans.

The final episode was extremely heart-felt, funny, and sad. People always say they want to see something different on television, but that's not true. This show was different. This program addressed all of the socially taboo thoughts we all have, but never say, and for that it was cancelled to be replaced by a repugnant cartoon with zero comedic or social value.

Thank you Colin Quinn and company for two years of refreshing comedy that represented the values and ideology of everyone, even those that don't live in the blue states (I'm looking at you Daily Show.) Given more time, perhaps you could have gained the popularity you deserved. Rest in peace Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn.

Let there be light!

Well, I just returned from the land of Disney and I have to say that merriment was experienced by all. I should be back to my normal writing schedule in about a week.


Ohhhhh...pretty.

Talk to me

If you have something you wanna say, say it sucker! I now have my e-mail address below.

And for those of you who may be interested, you can now sign-up to receive Monkey Bandit updates. Lucky you!

Click here for contact info.

Screech and then boom.

So I was sitting down stairs, it's about a quarter after eleven in the evening, when I here the skidding of tires and grinding of metal outside my front door. Out the door I go and well...

Let me just say this; fast car, slick road, 15 year old sans-license.

Not enough, umm; brick wall, cement light post, "my dad's gonna kill me."

More info you say? Well, pictures shot from my upstairs window speak louder than words.



Screech kaboom says the car to the wall.


Whoop, whoop says the ambulance.


It's 11:15 PM. Do you know where your front wheels are?

McDonald's Update!!!

Update to previous article Outrage Under the Golden Arches.

Today I enjoyed a Number 2 meal at a McDonald's across town. THE NUMBER 2 LIVES!!! I do have to drive downtown to get it, but hooray for the two cheesburger meal and hooray me!


Thank you Ronald.
No hard feelings, okay?

The Joy of Firefox.

Okay all you web enthusiasts, it's time for you to switch to Firefox. For those of you wondering what Firefox is, it is a browser that will release you from the mundane MS Internet Explorer. Once you experience tabbed browsing, your world will never be the same again.

The greatness of Firefox lies in it's Extensions. The program is open source which allows people to create plugins that add to your browsing enjoyment.

Here are some of my Favs:

FoxeyTunes 0.61 - Control any media player from Firefox and more...

Image Zoom 0.1.7 - Adds zoom functionality for Windows. (Not overly useful, but very cool.)

Gmail Notifier 0.3.3 - Let's you know when you've got Gmail.

Close Tab on Double Click 0.1.2 - Does what it's called.

That's all for now. Part of the joy of Firefox is finding the extensions that work best for you. Enjoy!

If you try it let me know what you think in the comments section.

Killer TV Series DVD Deals.

Just a quick heads up, Amazon.com has some amazing deals on Season 1 DVD sets. I don't know how long these deals will last so check'em out!

24 - Season One - $14.99

The Simpsons - The Complete First Season $14.99

Futurama, Vol. 1 $14.99

King of the Hill - The Complete First Season $14.99

Enjoy!

Outrage Under the Golden Arches

I am FLABERGASTED!!! That's right, FLABERGASTED!!!

Ronald McDonald is a fiend, and he is not to be trusted. He is a thief; a no good sneaky thief. He has stolen something very precious to me, and no, I am not talking about my former waifish figure.



On a recent journey to my local McDonald's, I was shocked and appalled at a vicious menu change made to the value meal lineup. There is no more number 2. Now before anybody starts making doodie jokes (tee-hee, I said doodie), the number 2 on the value meal contained two cheeseburgers, a medium fry, and a medium beverage. It was the one meal I enjoyed at McDonald's, and now it is gone...GONE!

Now the quarter-pounder meal occupies the space where my beloved two cheeseburger meal once resided. The QP was promoted from number 3, and it's big brother the double-quarter-pounder is now in it's former residence.

I don't know why they did this, but they could have at least given the elegant number 2 meal the proper respect, and retired it's number. Seriously, I want to see an 'In Memory of..." place holder for the two cheeseburger meal.

Perhaps I am over-reacting. I mean, it seems harsh to refer to Ronald as a thief. Besides, it was most likely that shifty-eyed, Hamburgler bastard.

Triple threat.

Okay, sorry for the delay on an update but here ye go. My sis and I went to go see the Beastie Boys in concert a few weeks ago and the show was amazing. The show contained tracks from every album which is always a hope at any concert, but is especially important for a group like the Beastie Boys.

"Why so important Jeff?"

I'll tell you why, there is usually about a three to four year gap between albums, so at the concert the audience had fans in their early-teens to their mid-thirties. While the younger folks went nuts for Intergalactic the old folks got giddy for Paul Revere. As for myself, my favorite was when they came out in baby blue tuxedos and played Lighten Up.

Anyway no matter what your age is, if you like the Beastie Boys you have got to check out this new album by DJ Green Lantern, Beastie Boys: New York State of Mind.

.

This DJ has created a "mixed tape" using Beastie Boys tracks spanning their entire catalog with alternate background music, and sometimes alternate rappers to create a brand new B-Boys experience. Again this is for Beastie Boys fans only. There is a bit of creative language on some of the tracks, so beware.

Slick Wheels.

The first thing I have to say about the following link is that the video is faked, but a very cool concept.

"Draw a straight line on top of the car, lift the pen and the car shoots off in a straight line. Draw a circle on the car and the car starts wildly spinning around. Draw a complicated squiggle and the car spirals in and out."



"Sketch-a-Move allows you to explore the unique relationships between small surface doodles and actual physical movements. It creates a new engaging space for play amongst children of a wide age group and is appealing to boys as well as girls, and even adults!"

This toy is very cool, and I want one, but they don't exist which makes me sad. See what it would be like if this toy did exist, check it out!

Anybody else want one?

Cheese Flavored Fun.

Do you remember Combos? You know, the snack that appears to be for dogs but is consumed by people. I was at school today waiting in line to purchase a jug of Mountain Dew (the preferred beverage of Jeffrey's who want to stay awake during lengthily lectures), when suddenly there I was face-to-face with the a snack I had not sampled in ten years; Combos.

You may be wondering; "What exactly is a Combo?" Well I'll tell you. A combo is a Tube-shaped cracker or pretzel that is "filled with a delicious cheese-flavored filling." Oh yes, it is as glorious as it sounds.

Don't be afraid to try this mystery snack. If my endorsement is not enough, the back of the package states;

"The official Cheese-Filled snack of NASCAR."

If NASCAR has claimed Combos as their cheese-filled snack of choice, shouldn't you? Shouldn't you?

If you can name a better mystery-filled snack please do so in the comments section.

Kiss my shiny metal...

I just picked up the final season of Futurama on DVD and it's awesome. Season Four has several of the funniest and sweetest moments that ever occurred in the series such including the introduction of Leela's long-lost mutant parents.

Leela was raised in an orphanage because her folks didn't want her to grow-up with the stigma of being a sewer-dwelling mutant. They decided she looked normal enough to pass as an alien which is far better than being a mutant. The episode ends with Leela embracing her mutant parents which is followed by a nice montage of moments in Leela's lonely life where it is revealed that her parents were there for her the whole time without her even knowing it.



And if you're even a mild Trekkie you'll love the episode, Where No Fan Has Gone Before. Much of the cast from the original Star Trek
series came on the show and voiced their own characters. Before the end of the episode the Trek crew is forced to battle with the Futurama crew by a gaseous being who has brought them to his home-planet for his entertainment. Good stuff.

When crossovers go wrong.

Crossover Comic books are not uncommon. DC Comics and Marvel have had many crossover plots that utilize their biggest stars such as "Spider-man Vs. Superman." Often these comics are not overly interesting and do not merit discussions, but I think I have found one that deserves some attention...

The Punisher vs. Archie

I assume most everyone is familiar with the Archie Comics. If you have ever waited in line at a super market with your mom or dad, chances are an Archie Digest was at eye level. However, you may not be familiar with The Punisher, but I am sure you can guess the type of comic it is by its title. The Punisher is a comic book series about a guy who punishes criminals by violently killing them.

So with out further delay, here are a few of the panels from The Punisher vs. Archie

Is the Punisher here to kill the Archie gang?


Or is the Punisher here to protect?


If you said protect, and by protect you meant that the Punisher mentally scars the kids for life by gunning down all the bad guys in a ruthless, bloody, rampage at the kids high school dance...
YOU WERE RIGHT!!!

There's a new blog in town...

Well here it is the new blog in town. Prepare thyself for the Monkey Bandit!