Wow. I can’t begin to describe how busy these past few weeks have been. But, they have involved playing with a chimp, so it’s all good. We went to the Poppy Festival in Lancaster, CA, where Ranger Rick was on the main stage with his Amazing Animals. Cody REALLY liked wearing my Bengals knit cap. He pulled it over his entire head and then proceeded to go nuts. Sable the chimp borrowed my wife’s shoes. We got some good shots for the website, and generally had fun. (including deep fried artichoke hearts, and Aleks finding a five dollar bill).

The new site for Amazing Animal Productions is really really close to being done, and I can’t wait to take it live. It’s going to be amazing. We’re off to another very busy couple of weeks, which will hopefully involve me getting to write again at some point.

I am on a roll for finding odd things online as of late. First Yanni turns abusive, then Calista Flockhart admits to an eating disorder, and now… this.
I think this may be an example of product placement or brand extension gone too far.
There is a baseball player named Coco Crisp.
I kid you not.
No, he doesn’t follow Count Chocula in the lineup.

If he ever gets involved in a brawl, as he charges the mound, I think fans should shout “Barney! My Pebbles!”, to which the opposing pitcher could reply “Gotta run, Fred!” while leaping out of his uniform and running through the crowd in fruit-covered boxer shorts. Do you SEE what Saturday morning cartoons and advertising have done to my brain?
(Also, I realize this is a mixed cereal metaphor, with Flintstone being the spokesperson for Cocoa Pebbles, and not Cocoa Krispies – which is Coco the Monkey – but Coco doesn’t shout anything cool like Fred.)

See the profile:
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/player/105617

This is unbelievable. Words cannot describe my amazement at this report.
Calista Flockhart, seen here:

has admitted in an interview that she was “undernourished”.

WHOA!!! I know! The world is full of surprises and shockers.
Read more here:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,191324,00.html

Imagine a drunken version of THIS coming at you in the wee hours of the morning throwing punches and cursing like a sailor.

That’s right, Yanni got caught. According to the police report, Yanni used language that would make Metallica’s James Hetfield blush. According to the initial police report, during the course of an evening, he called his live-in love a “whore”, a “c*nt”, and told her to pack her things in garbage bags, because she was garbage. You can see the whole report here:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0307061yanni1.html
One thing about that Yanni, he takes a heck of a good mugshot.

So… the most shocking thing to come out of all of this? Yanni’s real name is John Christopher. That’s right. With a name like that, it’s clear that our Greek hero may have hatched from the same alien eggsac as John Tesh, which would explain the musical style and odd facial hair. Here I was thinking Yanni was 100% exotic new age chanteur to the core, but alas, dreams are shattered every day…

But take heart! At the end of it all, as we here at Monkeywright.com knew all along, our man Yanni is innocent as Cottage Cheese (and I don’t even know what that means.)
The official word – http://www.yanni.com/news/

Note: no monies changed hands. Take THAT Michael Jackson! That’s right, fool! Yanni is straight up innocent, which means in this case, the idea of domestic violence is indeed funny!

So, there shall be a detailed report coming soon, but in the meantime, know that my trip to Vegas included a detailed grilling over why my wife needed a spa 300 miles from home, the males not winning any money while the females did quite well, a singing stuffed monkey, a lot of walking the strip, a scary filthy hotel, and ultimately, a minor brush with the law (well, casino security), in which I was accused by a (VERY) drunk gentleman of stealing his f@$%ing wallet. The upshot: we got $50 in meal comps for our trouble, and I get to write a very interesting blog.
Also, it reminded me that I need to get my write-up of my month riding the LA buses online. Sorry for the delay…

It has been an exhausting few weeks of web design, but educational and fun. The site will launch within the week (barring any major bugs), and you’ll be the first to know.
We’re off to Vegas this weekend to relax and see my parents, and then the following weekend will be another animal photoshoot, and on and on! We’re really busy all of a sudden!
I finished the short film script and will deliver that within the week, and Adam and I are moving closer to a test reading for our pilot scripts.
I’ve got more websites lined up to do, including a certain photographer’s site, Adam Meyer’s, some hairdresser, possibly an artist, and more if my wife keeps this web-for-barter thing up.

Fun!