You Call That A Flag? That’s Not A Flag

I see that Sleestak, the part-time patriot over at Lady, That’s My Skull, is making a feeble attempt at showing his support for the red, white and blue.

Are we supposed to believe a puny pin worn on the lapel conveys support for this great nation of ours?

When the iSplotchy makes a patriotic statement, it’s with a capital ‘P’ and an italicized, bolded capital ‘S’.

Behold!

Vote iSplotchy for President in 2008 — the only candidate with an enormous flag sticking out of its pipe.

Presenting the Geography Pop Quiz Mix!

Volume 8 of the Green Monkey Music Project has been completed, and is available for download!

If the participants of this mix want to discuss their own selections, please feel free to do so! We’ll put a pointer on this post if you end up posting about it on your own blog (or you could always just add comments here, I suppose).

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GEOGRAPHY POP QUIZ!
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Rules and Theme Details

The Participants Discuss Their Selections:
Chris!
DGuzman!
Beckeye!
Manx!
Johnny Yen!
Gizmorox!
Bubs!
Moxie!
Splotchy!

The Songs:

Get the mix in chunks!

Zipfile of Songs 01-07 (All of Chris’ songs)
Zipfile of Songs 08-14 (All of DGuzman’s songs)
Zipfile of Songs 15-21 (All of Beckeye’s songs)
Zipfile of Songs 22-26 (All of Manx’s songs)
Zipfile of Songs 27-33 (All of Johnny Yen’s songs)
Zipfile of Songs 34-40 (All of Gizmorox’s songs)
Zipfile of Songs 41-47 (All of Bubs’ songs)
Zipfile of Songs 48-54 (All of Moxie’s songs)
Zipfile of Songs 55-61 (All of Splotchy’s songs)

No thanks, I’ll just pick at the songs!

01 – Joe Williams – Goin’ To Chicago Blues [chris]
02 – Guster – Amsterdam [chris]
03 – Donovan – Sunny South Kensington [chris]
04 – Fats Domino – Mardi Gras In New Orleans [chris]
05 – Lionel Hampton & Oscar Peterson – Indiana [chris]
06 – XTC – It’s Nearly Africa [chris]
07 – John Linnell – Michigan [chris]
08 – Fats Domino – Walkin’ to New Orleans [dguzman]
09 – Bangles – Going Down to Liverpool [dguzman]
10 – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Lodi [dguzman]
11 – Glen Campbell – Wichita Lineman [dguzman]
12 – Michelle Shocked – Anchorage [dguzman]
13 – Missing Persons – Walking in L.A. [dguzman]
14 – Tony Bennett – I Left My Heart in San Francisco [dguzman]
15 – John Hiatt – Memphis in the Meantime [beckeye]
16 – Bill Janovitz and Crown Victoria – Florida [beckeye]
17 – Juliana Hatfield Three – Feelin’ Massachusetts [beckeye]
18 – Mason Jennings – New York City [beckeye]
19 – Billy Joel – Allentown [beckeye]
20 – Duran Duran – Rio [beckeye]
21 – The Bogmen – Mexico [beckeye]
22 – Do Make Say Think – Chinatown [manx]
23 – Stereolab – Outer Bongolia [manx]
24 – Pink Floyd – Grantchester Meadows [manx]
25 – Tortoise – Eros [manx]
26 – Sufjan Stevens – Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught in his Hair [manx]
27 – Lloyd Cole and the Commotions – Charlotte Street [johnnyyen]
28 – R.E.M. – (Don’t Go Back to) Rockville [johnnyyen]
29 – Brook Benton – Rainy Night In Georgia [johnnyyen]
30 – Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska [johnnyyen]
31 – Red Rockers – China [johnnyyen]
32 – Paul Butterfield Blues Band – Born In Chicago [johnnyyen]
33 – The Blasters – Hollywood Bed [johnnyyen]
34 – Ben Kwelller – Commerce, TX [gizmorox]
35 – Okkervil River – Savannah Smiles [gizmorox]
36 – Pedro the Lion – Arizona [gizmorox]
37 – Wilco – Via Chicago [gizmorox]
38 – David Bowie – This is not America [gizmorox]
39 – Simon & Garfunkel – Only Living Boy in New York [gizmorox]
40 – The Clash – London Calling [gizmorox]
41 – Tom Waits – Singapore [bubs]
42 – Bob Dylan – Mozambique [bubs]
43 – Marty Robbins – Streets of Laredo [bubs]
44 – Elvis Presley – Viva Las Vegas [bubs]
45 – Bill Monroe – Blue Moon Of Kentucky [bubs]
46 – The Pogues – Wild Cats of Kilkenny [bubs]
47 – Lyle Lovett – That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas) [bubs]
48 – Nellie McKay – Manhattan Avenue [moxie]
49 – Peter Gabriel – Mercy Street [moxie]
50 – Dixie Chicks – Lubbock or Leave It [moxie]
51 – Led Zeppelin – Going to California [moxie]
52 – Erasure – Blue Savannah [moxie]
53 – Marc Broussard – Lonely Night in Georgia [moxie]
54 – Train – Mississippi [moxie]
55 – Bob Haggart & Ray Bauduc – Big Noise From Winnetka [splotchy]
56 – Bob Dylan – Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again [splotchy]
57 – The Ramones – 53rd & 3rd [splotchy]
58 – Magnetic Fields – Come Back From San Francisco [splotchy]
59 – Tom Verlaine – Stalingrad [splotchy]
60 – Wire – Map Ref. 41N 93W [splotchy]
61 – Tino Contreras – Brazil [splotchy]

It is our great honor to award Green Monkey Master Badges to Manx and Beckeye!

This is their third time participating in GMMP, which now makes them Green Monkey Masters.

Congratulations, Beckeye and Manx!

Splotchy’s Contribution To Geography Pop Quiz

Here’s a discussion of my selections for Chris’ Geography Pop Quiz, Volume 8 of the Green Monkey Music Project.

View Larger Map

Bob Haggart & Ray Bauduc – Big Noise From Winnetka
I think I first heard this song when my dad played it for me eons ago. Some music he would play for me I’d like, some I wouldn’t like. I really dug this song. You might recognize it from the Martin Scorsese film Raging Bull. It was used there, but only briefly.

Bob Dylan – Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
Off the great album Blonde On Blonde. I find myself often singing the chorus aloud (“Ohhhh mama!”).

The Ramones – 53rd & 3rd
Another classic Ramones tune, written by Dee Dee Ramone, supposedly about his time as a male prostitute, trying to earn some money to score drugs. Sadly, Dee Dee is no longer with us. Perhaps he’s hustling in that big street corner in the sky now.

Magnetic Fields – Come Back From San Francisco
A nice pretty song from their enormous collection, 69 Love Songs (hey this damned monkey mix is only 8 shy of that!).

Tom Verlaine – Stalingrad
This is a really nice song by the singer/guitarist/songwriter from Television. He has an odd but compelling voice. Off the otherwise unspectacular solo album The Wonder.

Wire – Map Ref. 41N 93W
Oh, I’m so clever! I’m using a song that has map coordinates in its title. This is a strange, catchy pop song off their third album, 154. The location of the map coordinates is about twenty or so miles southeast of Des Moines, Iowa — I don’t know what the significance of that is.

Tino Contreras – Brazil
Brazil is one of the best damned songs ever written. It’s just absolutely wonderful. I don’t know of a definitive version of the song, but this one is damned tasty.

Thanks again to Chris for guest-hosting this volume. I’m looking forward to other Green Monkey Masters also getting their opportunity to host a mix.

Freaky Frights On Forest!

Hi folks,

I just want to put in a plug for a very wonderful free event that starts next Friday in North Riverside, a near-western suburb of Chicago.

I was very lucky to have learned about it last year, and now I’d like to share the info with all you fellow lovers-of-Halloween.

Around Halloween-time of last year, Tim and I headed over to Dream Reapers, a very popular haunted house in Melrose Park, to see what all the billboard advertising for it was all about. It’s supposed to be a great haunted house, but we never actually got in.

When we arrived it was about an hour before the place closed. The line to get in literally stretched for blocks. We stayed in line for about twenty minutes. Dream Reapers had some people monstered up going up and down the line to keep the people waiting entertained. There was one creepy nerd who was picking his bloody nose, and who kept on getting close to people, wigging them out by attempting to wipe his bloody nose-pickin’ fingers on them.

As entertaining as the bloody nerd was, the line wasn’t moving much. We decided to give up. Tim had mentioned he wanted to stop by to look at a house near mine in Brookfield. It was a house with some nicely done decorations — a creepy, eerily-lit graveyard with skeletons and ghouls, some skeletons standing out front, some small smoke effects, etc.

We walked over there and were looking at the ghastly tableaux when the owner of the spooky house walked out. He was a really nice guy, and explained how he put some of the stuff together. He also mentioned that some people in North Riverside put on a similar kind of thing, except bigger — it stretched over two blocks.

So, what the hell! We headed over to North Riverside. It was really fantastic. Many of the houses on a two-block stretch of Forest Avenue had something spooky or disturbing in their front yard. There were a lot of things triggered with motion sensors, there was gushing blood, strobe lights, etc. It was inspiring, all the more because it was done by people out of sheer enthusiasm for the spooky and the creepy.

The opening day for this year’s festivities is next Friday, October 19th. I encourage you to visit, and leave a donation if you can.

Visit their website for more details: Freaky Frights

Geography Pop Quiz – Track Listing

Track Listing Complete!

01 – Joe Williams – Goin’ To Chicago Blues [chris]
02 – Guster – Amsterdam [chris]
03 – Donovan – Sunny South Kensington [chris]
04 – Fats Domino – Mardi Gras In New Orleans [chris]
05 – Lionel Hampton & Oscar Peterson – Indiana [chris]
06 – XTC – It’s Nearly Africa [chris]
07 – John Linnell – Michigan [chris]
08 – Fats Domino – Walkin’ to New Orleans [dguzman]
09 – Bangles – Going Down to Liverpool [dguzman]
10 – Creedence Clearwater Revival – Lodi [dguzman]
11 – Glen Campbell – Wichita Lineman [dguzman]
12 – Michelle Shocked – Anchorage [dguzman]
13 – Missing Persons – Walking in L.A. [dguzman]
14 – Tony Bennett – I Left My Heart in San Francisco [dguzman]
15 – John Hiatt – Memphis in the Meantime [beckeye]
16 – Bill Janovitz and Crown Victoria – Florida [beckeye]
17 – Juliana Hatfield Three – Feelin’ Massachusetts [beckeye]
18 – Mason Jennings – New York City [beckeye]
19 – Billy Joel – Allentown [beckeye]
20 – Duran Duran – Rio [beckeye]
21 – The Bogmen – Mexico [beckeye]
22 – Do Make Say Think – Chinatown [manx]
23 – Stereolab – Outer Bongolia [manx]
24 – Pink Floyd – Grantchester Meadows [manx]
25 – Tortoise – Eros [manx]
26 – Sufjan Stevens – Springfield, or Bobby Got a Shadfly Caught in his Hair [manx]
27 – Lloyd Cole and the Commotions – Charlotte Street [johnnyyen]
28 – R.E.M. – (Don’t Go Back to) Rockville [johnnyyen]
29 – Brook Benton – Rainy Night In Georgia [johnnyyen]
30 – Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska [johnnyyen]
31 – Red Rockers – China [johnnyyen]
32 – Paul Butterfield Blues Band – Born In Chicago [johnnyyen]
33 – The Blasters – Hollywood Bed [johnnyyen]
34 – Ben Kwelller – Commerce, TX [gizmorox]
35 – Okkervil River – Savannah Smiles [gizmorox]
36 – Pedro the Lion – Arizona [gizmorox]
37 – Wilco – Via Chicago [gizmorox]
38 – David Bowie – This is not America [gizmorox]
39 – Simon & Garfunkel – Only Living Boy in New York [gizmorox]
40 – The Clash – London Calling [gizmorox]
41 – Tom Waits – Singapore [bubs]
42 – Bob Dylan – Mozambique [bubs]
43 – Marty Robbins – Streets of Laredo [bubs]
44 – Elvis Presley – Viva Las Vegas [bubs]
45 – Bill Monroe – Blue Moon Of Kentucky [bubs]
46 – The Pogues – Wild Cats of Kilkenny [bubs]
47 – Lyle Lovett – That’s Right (You’re Not From Texas) [bubs]
48 – Nellie McKay – Manhattan Avenue [moxie]
49 – Peter Gabriel – Mercy Street [moxie]
50 – Dixie Chicks – Lubbock or Leave It [moxie]
51 – Led Zeppelin – Going to California [moxie]
52 – Erasure – Blue Savannah [moxie]
53 – Marc Broussard – Lonely Night in Georgia [moxie]
54 – Train – Mississippi [moxie]
55 – Bob Haggart & Ray Bauduc – Big Noise From Winnetka [splotchy]
56 – Bob Dylan – Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again [splotchy]
57 – The Ramones – 53rd & 3rd [splotchy]
58 – Magnetic Fields – Come Back From San Francisco [splotchy]
59 – Tom Verlaine – Stalingrad [splotchy]
60 – Wire – Map Ref. 41N 93W [splotchy]
61 – Tino Contreras – Brazil [splotchy]

Yes, the iSplotchy Can Make You Tron

The unwarranted and slanderous attacks on the iSplotchy have increased recently.

This comes as no surprise to me, because despite its very late start in the 2008 Presidential campaign race, the iSplotchy is already pulling far ahead of both the failed iSplotchy hacker Doctor Monkey Von Monkerstein, and the combined IQ of 70 that is the Zaius/Gregarious ticket.

The latest smear comes from Germaine Gregarious, who attempts fearmongering tactics to imply that being in close proximity with the iSplotchy can turn you into Tron.

Let me attempt to unravel the latest lies Ms. Gregarious has foisted on the naive public.

Falsehood #1: Proximity to the iSplotchy will turn you into Tron.
Not true! The iSplotchy has the capability of turning its owner into Tron. This does not happen without the consent of the user. It is also possible to de-Tron using the iSplotchy. In short, it’s a feature, not a side effect.

Falsehood #2: Being Tron is a bad thing.
I quote from Ms. Gregarious’ ill-informed post:
“Seriously, if [handsome man, pictured above] can be turned into a digitized tool of the Master Control Program, what hope have you got?”

Ms. Gregarious, are you even familiar with the story of Tron?

Tron, played by heartthrob Bruce Boxleitner, is the program that topples the Master Control Program (MCP)! He speaks truth to power, not for it!

Falsehood #3: Germaine Gregarious is Open Source.
Really, Ms. Gregarious? You expect us to believe that?

Why have you incorporated? What are you hiding?

***

I apologize for once again taking time from my daily work on nanoenhancements for the iSplotchy product you know and love.

However, you must understand that baseless attacks made by Ms. Gregarious and her ilk will be answered swiftly and aggressively.

iSplotchy in 2008!

jung vf fcybgpul?