August 29, 2002
The day before yesterday, I promised a link to the charitable-cause bonus strip. Then yesterday I pointed you semi-randomly at the Altbrand MDA 2002 Webcomic Telethon, where the strip first appeared around 4pm Eastern Time.Lest any of you miss out, here's a direct link to the strip itself. From there you can link over to the auction, where you'll be given the opportunity to own it, assuming you're willing to donate more to the MDA than anybody else who wants the strip (auctions are like that).
With that out of the way, here are a couple of funnies that are only marginally related:
First, let me relate to you a snippet of conversation overheard at dinner. My 18-month old daughter started hollering for "wallah" (water), which led to a cascade of requests for things to drink from the entire passel o' chillun (there are three). One water, one OJ, and one order from my five-year-old son for "monkey juice."
I was sure he was mispronouncing something, so I matter-of-factly stated it back to him (so that he could correct the error). "You want MONKEY JUICE, do you?"
"Yeah. Monkey juice."
At this point I looked to Sandra for help. She was on it: "No monkey juice. We're having orange juice now." Her handling of the matter was so deadpan I was stunned. It was as if "monkey juice" was not some esoteric secretion, but a horribly ordinary thing I might find in the fridge. I shot her an inquisitive look.
Her: "It's behind you."
Me: "The Tang?"
Her: "Turn it around."
And there, on the front of the can of "Orange-flavored Tang" was a grinning orangutan. Ah. How clever. Orange+Tang=orangutan, which of course, in five-year-old parlance yields "monkey juice." Give the 18-month old some time and we will have some delightfully mispronounced requests for "monkeedoo." Mark my words.
Our second not-related-to-the-MDA-but-related-to-monkeys is an AVI of a chimpanzee doing Kung Fu. Or maybe Kenpo. Dunno. But it's amusing. I have no idea whose idea it was, and the more I ponder that, the more amusing the whole thing gets.
Now, before you email me with pointers on phylogeny, taxonomy, or some other *ology, let me state that YES, I know that neither orangutans nor chimpanzees are monkeys. They are RELATED to monkeys, though, just like I said. And so are you (distantly, I hope).