I didn't like Strangers With Candy, the movie.

I loved the show. Own some of the DVDs. Enjoyed the Hell out of it. But the movie just didn't work for me, as I say in the review I wrote for the Statesman.

It couldn't have helped that I saw it at a morning screening with about six people in the theater and none of us, not me, not the Chronicle person, not the girls from the UT student newspaper, giggled more than a handful of times through the whole thing.

Before the review ran, I did a short take on it for the Statesman movies blog and the commenters on it seemed to think I wasn't a fan of the show. Not true. I just don't think the movie works on its own. If you want to love the movie, you'll find reasons, nay, excuses to love it. Go for it. That's cool. That's how many of the mainstream reviewers (New York Times, Entertainment Weekly) seemed to have treated it. They practically apologized for liking the film despite its obvious flaws. Wish I could have been that forgiving.

The truly shitty part is that a week after I saw the film, I interviewed Amy Sedaris. For reasons too convoluted to explain, the interview's not running, not by choice, but because of a miscommunication. I still have my tape of the interview and if I can get permission to do it, I'll just post a transcript here. Not liking the movie completely sucked because I adore Amy Sedaris, think she's brilliant and hilarious and incredibly talent. And she was very nice on the phone, incredibly gracious. I'll let you know if I can post it when it's all transcribed and ready.

There's a new Space Monkeys! comic up this morning, fresh and dewy, like fabric softener sheets dipped in lemonade.

You must scroll down after you read the comic to read my long tale of what inspired it, the $12 island coconut monkey head. It is a sad story, both financially and aesthetically. I give you a visual preview here:



My eyes. They hurt just looking at it.

If reading about someone else's finances bores you to tears, you have my permission to completely skip this entry, because I'm probably writing it for my own peace of mind than to entertain, so...

The ads. There on the right. For buying tickets. Despite their appearance and proximity to the Google ads below, they are not Google ads.

On two separate occasions, someone e-mailed me on behalf of a company that brokers tickets and asked if they could place some text ads on my site.

You have to understand: I've had those Google Adsense ads up on that right rail for exactly one year and I have netted a grand total of $32. They won't even send you a check until you reach $100. My ass is in the Google Adsense game for another $68 and then I'm out. OUT!

So when someone out of the blue says, "I will pay you to run some text ads. What's your Paypal address?" I'm going to be very skeptical until that money shows up. When it did, I was like, "Holy shit! I'm rich!"

No, not really rich. Because Terribly-Happy.com (and before that terriblyhappy.com) has been the least profitable thing I've probably ever done. From day one (October 2000), the site has made little to no dough. It has opened up countless doors, introduced me to awesome people, helped me land freelance gigs. But actual money? Except for $5-$12 here and there that I may get for my Bendy dolls once every few months, the site is a money-suck. I pay about $30 a month in hosting for this site and Actiongravy.com combined. All this new ad money (paid for in advance for a year, one lump sum) is doing is paying for my astronomically bad business sense.

Aside: I find it sad that when tax season rolls around, the government rewards you so well for being a shitty businessperson. Just sayin'.

If I was surprised by that first concert business ad, I was even more surprised when a whole other company wrote me asking if they could put up some ads, too. I thought maybe I was part of some government sting, or a cruel joke. I asked for more money just to see what would happen and was surprised when my quote was met with another nourishing deposit in my Paypal account. Does my site rank highly for mentions of concert tickets? What's the deal?

I don't know and I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth. It's nice that after six years, the site is paying for itself, even if only lasts a year. I'll be up shit creek next tax season, but at least I can say that Terribly Happy isn't a sucking orifice on the ass of the national economy.

So that's the ad story. I hope you like them because they're going to be around for a while.

Hey. If you need some Mary Poppins tickets, I can totally hook your ass up.

It's been kind of a long day at work (at least I'm inside; outside, every breath is like inhaling from a blowtorch), and my co-worker was just playing Lenny Kravitz.

I found myself thinking, "You know what? I think I AM gonna go your way. Just this once."

My review of the excellent game Uno ran in today's paper.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that I play this game more than any other right now.

That Bluetooth headset is making you look like a dumbass.

A bit late to the party I am with this one, but Pocho.com presents The Star Spangled Banner in two audio Tex-Mex flavors: La Bamba and Low Rider.

Wish I'd had these in time for 4th of July.

A new Space Monkeys! strip is up, early even. How early is it? There's even a desktop wallpaper posted that goes with it on the same page.