Geek Fight!

The person behind "Itsy Bitsy Cutesy Wootsy Sea Dragons" left his comments on my post about same. Then I left my reply to his comments, and it dawned on me, this was probably the geekiest fight since "Who would win in a fight Mighty Mouse or Super Man?"

Click here to go to the original post with comments.

Sea Dragons follow up

Well, the Sea Dragons we found being sold in Australia are apparently being made in China, a country well known for it's great respect of patents and copyrights (I will not be held responsible for damage to your sarcasm meter.)

George Artamian writes:
"I first saw these three years ago when I was working with our Korean distributor. He took me to a shop in Seoul where they were being sold. I sent several to Dr. D’Agostino for testing. He said that the salts and food were no good."

Sea Dragons?

You may recall our discovery a while back that a Mexican company was selling a Sea Monkey knock off called Gluppy's. Click here for that story. The Gluppy's folks seemed to have gotten as far as negotiating a deal with McDonalds.
I haven't heard much about Gluupy's lately and I don't see any for sale on Mercado Libre so I'm guessing they are no longer in production. But NOW, along come the Australians, with Sea Dragons.

I have a call in to the Sea Monkeys folks to find out if they know anything about these Dragons. I've also written to my brother, who just happens to live in Australia and I have him ordering a set for me.

One interesting feature of "Sea Dragons" is that they have little pals available! "Teeny Weeny Winkles" (please punish whoever named these guys) are little purple snails that are marketed as perfect tank mates for "Sea Dragons." Hmmm. I would love to have some little purple snails in my Sea Monkey tanks. I hope to experiment with some reef snails from my local aquarium shop soon.

I also see that they're experimenting with sea weed. It'll be interesting to see where that goes.

Lemon Demon

Click here to hear Dead Sea Monkeys, a song by Lemon Demon. It's super much great fun, like They Might Be Giants mixed with some Weird Al and a pinch of early Ween.

Be sure to visit www.LemonDemon.com.

Maybe I should send Lemon Demon some new Sea Monkeys with a few tips on how to keep 'em around longer.

Meeting George Atamian

Brett (lizard boy), George, Me, Bryna
So, I met George Atamian, the current reigning King of Sea Monkeys, well, the COO of the Sea Monkey division of Educational Insights at any rate.

I contacted George when I first started this blog and I expected a cordial businessman, hopefully one who would send the oddly obsessed Sea Monkey blogger a few free toys to blog about. George turned out to be one of the friendliest, most vibrant and warm people you're likely to meet. He laughed loudly and promised to send me a box of Sea Monkey goodies, which he did. He told me to look him up if I ever made it down to LA and he started introducing me via e-mail to all the other Sea Monkey obsessives he knew.

When I'm not blogging about Sea Monkeys I am a comedian and as such I do in fact head down to LA quite often. My buddy Brett and I had been looking forward to eating bugs at a Thai Restaurant down there with all kinds of creepy crawlies on their menu. George didn't sound to enthusiastic about the bugs but he and his son did agree to meet Bryna (my fiancee) and I at Torung; a great non-bug cooking Thai Restaurant in Hollywood.

George and George Junior piled hot peppers on their food, sweated accordingly, and gave us a quick run down of their life stories thus far. Junior is a set dresser for films and tv shows. George is an astronomer who invented a unique aquatic microscope. The Sea Monkey folks contacted him, excited about this microscope which seemed the ideal way to view their miniature aquatic pets. The rest, as they say, is history.

I invited the Georges to see Brett's collection of reptiles (my buddy is The World Famous Lizard Boy.) As we walked through the west Hollywood neighborhood we had to stop repeatedly as George was amazed by the architecture, the palm trees, the cool posters on the telephone poles.

Brett's lizards thrilled him and when I told Brett that George was an astrologist, he snapped "ASTRONOMIST" so swiftly I had to check my pulse to make sure I was still amongst the living. Then the big smile, "Ha ha, astrologist. Get out of here, astrologist, HA!"

It was awesome to meet Mr. Sea Monkey and to see that Sea Monkeys are in such great hands (for now at least.) I hope to hear more of George's great stories of traveling the world as an ambassador of instant pets.

Sea Monkeys in London

Click Here to check out a blog entry featuring video and some Sea Monkeys who share space with a little bull dog statue.

If you want your Sea Monkey blog mentioned here drop me a line and let me know.

Kyle Machlachlan, mad Sea Monkey warlord?

I dig Kyle Maclachlan. He first came to my attention as a sweetly sincere, chicken walking Bud man in the delightfully weird David Lynch film Blue Velvet. He continued to work with Lynch and was equally wonderful as the overly enthusiastic detective on Twin Peaks. Show Girls was his best performance and he single handedly pushed that movie over the line into "fascinatingly strange" territory allowing it to escape the "just plain bad" or "utter train wreck" territories.

I was pleased to see his name show up in a blog search for sea monkey references. Maclachlan, now classing up the small screen with appearances on Desperate Housewives is quoted as saying of his love for Sea Monkeys:
“It’s a childhood hobby I’ve never grown out of. Soon I’ll have a sea monkey army to rival any in history. And then I’ll take over the world”

Of course I don't consider one blog a reliable source, and now I shall have to seek an interview with Mr. Maclachlan himself. Anyone know Kyle Maclachlan's cell phone number?

Funniest Thing I've Read All Year

Click Here to read the article at Animal Aid's website encouraging people to write to retailers of Sea Monkeys and ask that they not carry the product.
It's ridiculousness like this that makes the animal rights movement look silly, and that is a shame as it is a movement near and dear to my heart.

I see them huggin' monkeys with their sad faces in Animal Aid's logo and all I can think is, "I know what'd cheer them li'l monkeys up, a nice set of Sea Monkeys!"

Chinese Toy Scare not affecting Sea Monkeys

Are you safe buying Sea Monkeys? After all they do come in little plastic tanks with lots of plastic parts. Well, you don't have to worry. Sea Monkey accessories do NOT come from any of the plants that are currently involved in toy recalls. George Atamian assures us at www.sea-monkey.com that we're in the clear:

"All of our Sea-Monkey pouches are totally formulated and packaged in America by the inventors and creators of this wonderful & loved brand. Every batch of thse special powders are tested by our PhD expert with 45 years experience studying and analyzing all aspects of the Sea-Monkeys.

We make more than 100,000 tanks and sets in the USA and more in a factory in China with which I have personally dealt with, visited and inspected several times in the 12 years I have been associated with Sea-Monkeys.

We not only keep the lead out, but we constantly test for all heavy metals and other potentially hazardous contaminants.

My goal, and that of our world-wide dedicated Sea-Monkey team, is to provide you with a wonderful & joyous experience as you bring your Sea-Monkey pets to life and take good care of them over the years.
I wish you all health and happiness and remember…ALWAYS BE KIND TO YOUR SALTY SEA-MONKEY PALS!

Cordially Yours, George C. Atamian
Pres/COO
Amazing Live Sea-Monkeys®
Rancho Dominguez, CA USA"

Onion Head battles the Evil Sea Monkey

Not the first time you've seen a giant evil Sea Monkey ready terrorize a city. Hmmm? Did Freud ever mention the phobia of giant evil Sea Monkeys attacking the city?

Leading Cause of Death Among Sea-Monkeys

The Onion guys MUST have some Sea-Monkeys in their office somewhere. But just in case, I think I'll be sending them some. Here is another great appearance of our briney friends.

I wrote a while back about their hillarious piece on a man claiming his Sea Monkeys as dependents. Click here for that.

Bad Blogger

Why yes, I have been slacking off on my Sea Monkey blogging duties.
I'm waiting for a photo from The World Famous Lizard Boy of my meeting with George, the King of The Sea Monkeys, and then I'll write up that experience.
I'm also waiting on some great new Sea Monkey Art.
Mostly though, I'm just trying to keep my sanity as I have too many gigs this month. You see, when I'm not Sea Monkey blogging I'm a comedian. Things should be back to normal next week.

Meeting the Sea Monkey Gang

I'm heading to LA on Friday where I'll have dinner with the president and COO of Educational Insights' Sea Monkey division as well as the producer who is developing the Sea Monkey animated movie.
I'm bring back lots of pics and stories I'm sure.

The Perfect Pet

Another blogger discovering the joy of Sea Monkeys. Click here to visit Unplug Your Kids as the blogger introduces her kids to what may be "The Perfect Pet."

No Sea Monkeys at BYU?!

I found information that BYU does not allow Sea Monkeys in their dorms.

Click here to read it and weep.

Should we start a petition? Should we insist Sea Monkeys be given special consideration within the BYU rules?

Sure there are likely many folks keeping Sea Monkeys anyway. I have no doubt there's a thriving Sea Monkey underground, living like sewer rats, always looking over their shoulder, obsessed with every breath about staying beneath the radar, shunning the daylight, but Sea Monkeys love sunshine! They can't be shut up in a closet!

And who more than the devotees of Bringham Young should appreciate these little guys WHO LIVE IN THE SALT LAKE, as in Salt Lake City, HELLO! Imagine, discriminating against the indigenous creatures who kept life going in Salt Lake City when no-one else could! The nerve of some people...

I look foward to a day when Sea Monkeys can openly and proudly swim about their little tanks in the dorm rooms of BYU, in fact, I won't be satisfied until a Sea Monkey graduates from BYU. Heck (sorry about the language, but I feel very strongly) why stop there?...
I see a Sea Monkey as Dean, as UniversityPresident as... HEAD CHEERLEADER OF THE BYU COUGARS CHEERLEADING SQUAD!!! Than and only then will I be satisfied that BYU has achieved diversity.

Big thanks to Patrick for his photo-enhancement.

Sea Monkeys and Futurama Comics

Click Images to enlarge

I was a big fan of Futurama and was sad to see it taken off the air. I'm now very excited to hear that it's coming back on Comedy Central.

The animated TV show spawned a monthly (now quarterly) comic book and the very 1st issue in November of 2000 featured our beloved Sea Monkeys.

In this premier issue "Monkey Sea, Monkey Doom!" an old lunch box from the 2oth century is discovered and in it are some old comics.

Coming across an ad for Sea Monkeys Fry is reminded of how much he wanted to order them when he was younger.

At "Shitfy's True Wonders of The 20th Century Emporium he finds some but sadly, they do not exactly spring to life, at least not until after he disposes of them by tossing them into a vat of Gamma Radiation.


Dr. Zoidberg finds the newly irradiated and now very much alive critters and all is happy as the monkeys grow...

and grow...


and grow...




Until...

...





And of course there is a funny surprise ending but I won't ruin it for you here. The issue is very hard to find, in fact my favorite comics supplier has been trying to get if for me for a couple of months now and so far, nada. There is a trade paperback that has issues 1 through 4. I haven't tried to find that yet, but may go after it next.

Kiny's Super Sea Monkey Photos

I had a Sea Monkey Party for National Sea Monkey Day & Kiny came with her super amazing kids, Nolan & Aiden.

Every kid left the party with a Sea Monkey kit and since Kiny is a very talented photographer we were rewarded with some great pictures.

So scroll down and enjoy, or click here to see the gallery in it's entirety at picasa.

Monday Update, alls well

My guys are doing GREAT. Fed the taller tank this morning. It's chock full of big sea monkeys.
In the morning, when I first get to work they swim around upside down on the floor of the tank. I'll hit up my panel of experts to find out just what that is all about. None of them are growing antlers yet so it'll be a bit before I have breeders. The baby tank is doing alright. I'm holding back on feeding and the water is clearing up. I'll probably feed a tiny bit tomorrow.
Check back soon for some really great macro-photographs from my friend Kiny.

Sea Monkeys on American Dad

I hope I don't lose any readers with this, but I am NOT a fan of American Dad. It isn't as awful as Family Guy, but that's not really a compliment. Nevertheless, as a tireless catologuer of all things Sea Monkey, I bring you this youtube clip of Roger The Alien from Americna Dad hatching Sea Monkeys.

A Brand New Home

Click image to enlarge
So here you see my nursery, it's full of happy Sea Monkeys. Well, maybe slightly overweight Sea Monkeys. I have over fed a bit, or so it would seem from the green water. But look at the nice clear water in the new tank, the taller blue one.

I added packet one to the bigger tank yesterday and having waited 24 hours, I just now moved a few of my larger Monkeys into their new, more spacious home. Using the purple aqua-leash I moved five of them over and if they seem healthy and happy on Monday, I'll move more over.

Notice the two blue folded pieces of paper on top of the nursery. This is to allow air flow while keeping dust from settling in the tank. I work in a dusty place.

Notice the grey speaker wire. the speaker is just to the right of the tanks. The Sea Monkeys enjoy Motorhead, Queen, The Shins and The Talking Heads. Not so crazy about 311, or so I tell the dude in my office who always tries to get me to play them.

Awesome Sea Monkey Poem

Yep, I said Sea Monkey Poem, Awesome Sea Monkey Poem even. And I say it with full knowledge that this will sound as ridiculous as "Really Great Battlestar Galactica Fan Fiction" to most folks, but I challenge you naysayers, read the damn poem. It's fantastic. Oh, and because I'm a good and conscientious webmaster, I found the poem here.

THE LONELY STRUGGLE OF THE POLITICIZED ARTEMIA SALINA*
By Dale Dobson

This pool, this salty shrine,
This place from whence all good things come –
This is my home.

Like all of you, I bask and breed
And swim from day to day;
I juggle eggs and food,
Absorb the sunlight when I can,
And rarely take the time to think and brood
Upon that larger world,
This gulf ‘twixt shrimp and man.

But now, at last, I rise to speech and action,
Driven by injustice grave and dark.
For evil doth intrude upon our tranquil pond,
And must no longer pass thus unremarked.

“Sea Monkeys,” humans say, and in so doing,
Ignorance and carelessness display.
This salt pool is no “sea” by any means;
No primate lineage informs our genes;
‘Tis slavery and bondage, cloaked in play!

Are we to idly paddle by and laugh,
While yet our precious nauplii are hatched
Into the tanks of strangers cold?
As schoolboy’s entertainment bought and sold?
To bony-toothed ichthyoids a midnight snack?

If we allow this exploitation still,
Invertebrates we are in name and will!
Branchiopoda sullied by this shame –
Inaction undeserving of the name!

My sisters!
Let us swim en masse as one!
The flaming carapace of justice be our sun!
And death by anaerobia
Drought
Or toilet flushed
Not death at all; cryptobiosis true,
Our secret weapon, lets us rise anew!

Hello? Hello?
Will any honest sister here tonight
Help mount this battle? Join this sturm und drang?
Is this thing on?
Will anybody brave this fight?
Where have you gone?
Well, dang.

* as in Sea Monkey

Dale Dobson writes, animates and acts in the metropolitan Detroit area, and occasionally gets around to updating http://www.daledobson.com. His work has recently appeared online at Yankee Pot Roast, Opium, National Lampoon, and in The Wittenburg Door.

Hey hey, it's the Sea Monkees

The Sea-Monkees by Robert Rini

Yep, it's another great Sea Monkey themed painting from 7 Deadly Sinners. You can check out more from this group at www.7deadlysinners.typepad.com. As always, click the image to enlarge.
I am going to have to see if my sponsors will put up some Sea Monkey merch as a prize to generate some more Sea Monkey Art. Hmmm. Watch for more on this idea soon.

Packet 3, Feeding Time

It being day five, I did feed my office pets today. I used a piece of advice I found at sea-monkey.com, but I notice I can no longer find this advice there? Anyway, I used the small end of the feeding spoon, put the food in clean separate container and then mixed it thoroughly with water from the tank. I also could've used some bottled water thus replacing evaporated water and killing two birds with one stone. I save sea monkeys, but I kill bird. Heh? As I was saying before I so rudely interrupted myself, I mixed the food and the water thoroughly and then dumped the water back in, which also added oxygen, one more bird dead.

Survived the long weekend

I was worried about my Sea Monkeys as I wasn't able to get into the office to pump air into their tank for three days. I rode my bike to the office on Saturday but I just missed the one guy with keys. Sunday, Monday, no luck.

This Sea Moneky Nursery really does make a big difference. When I got into work today I was most pleased to discover I still have TONS of little guys swimming around, more than I had on Friday. This is the most I've ever had hatch and they seem to be staying alive.

I pumped their tank full of air and now they're doing their loops and trips up to the surface, much bigger than they were on Friday. I tried to get a picture but it's pointless. You really couldn't make 'em out. The next batch I do I'll capture a small video clip every day for the ultimate Sea Monkey journal.

Mr. Miyagi

One of Mr. Miyagi's pics. Click to enlarge
Mr. Miyagi who resides in Singapore keeps a blog detailing, among other things, his Sea Monkey hobby. He takes much better pictures than I do. In fact he's even got video clips up and it would seem he's started a bit of a Sea Monkey keeping epidemic in his part of the world.

I'm glad his friends who have caught the brine fever from him are better at taking pictures than my friends, some of whom got their monkeys from me for FREE!

TAKE SOME PICTURES YOU PUNKS! Okay, sorry about that. I'm back to my normal mild mannered self now.

WOW

I must pronounce the Sea Monkey Nursery a big success.
I am back at work and I can't even count how many little monkeys are swimming around now. They're everywhere. I'd say close to three dozen of 'em at least. Very cool. I'll try to snap a photo when the light in here is better.

And so it starts (again)

Spring is in the air, so Sea Monkey's are on my desk.

I decided to test out my Sea Monkey Nursery. I like that it's wider and shallower for better gas exchange, but I don't care for the lids with the holes on top as they allow more dust in than the original tank's side holes.

I added the water purifier, packet one, yesterday, waited my 24 hours, and at 9:30 this morning I added packet 2, "Instant Life."

It probably was instant, but it was about 90 minutes later that I first saw little dots swimming about. No matter how many times I've done this its always a thrill to see the little guys for the first time as they spiral and twirl around the tank. An hour later they were spreading out rather than huddling in the corners. I'm guessing I have about a half dozen to a dozen in there now.

I just turned the thermostat in our office up to 72 degrees. It'll be a constant battle with the secretaries who like to keep it around 68. Luckily I sit closer to it than they do. (Wow, I really am a geek aren't I?!)

At 2:15 I noticed three guys swimming all the way to the surface of the tank.

I should have more sea monkeys swimming around tomorrow. Check back then.

Sea Monkeys, one great thing about America

When Kipling West found himself living in Canada he started thinking about the things he loved most about his old home, The USA. So, in 2001, he painted 165 Great Things About America. Just to the right of the top left square you'll see a familliar face. Kipling love's Sea Monkeys. You may recall that his Frida and The Sea Monkeys was the first piece of Art in our art Gallery and the third entry to this here blog. Click here for a list of all 165 great things.

Sea Monkeys on Veronica Mars?

Anyone see the finale of Veronica Mars? I missed it, not a big fan, but now I hear there was an in depth discussion of Sea Monkeys and their mythical amphibious nature. I'll try to find more.

Sea Monkey Race Track Commercial

I knew of these race tracks and always wanted one, in fact I still want one, but I had no idea they were once advertised on television.

Thanks to Uncle Sea Monkey for finding this and putting it up on his youtube page.

Great Sea Monkey Puppet

click to enlarge photo
Sea Monkey from Everybody Loves Pirates, photographed by Richard Sassaman for The Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers. Richard Sassaman wrote me and told me a bit about how the photo came to be.

"i really admired the Frogtown Mountain Puppeteers, two brothers and a sister who were doing shows in our area of Maine, and volunteered to do some videotaping for them, then I also took their official postcard photo at the Bar Harbor town pier.

Their most popular show, probably, is the one about pirates. They wanted a bunch of photos for it, so we went and I shot them at the Pirate's Cove miniature golf course just outside town. My next-door neighbor, a rugged old New Englander named Paul, became the 'greenskeeper' there after he retired from his auto mechanics job, and he let us use the place one morning before it opened to the public."

Now I'm dying to see the show. Any show that features a Sea Monkey is aces with me, but throw in puppets and pirates and I don't see how it could be anything less than spectacular.

Mexican Sea Monkeys Knock Offs

Uncle Sea Monkey found this on the Mexican E-bay site. It's a Sea Monkey knock off, and McDonalds is involved.
Hmmmm?

Click Here to view the original listing (for as long as it stays up.)

A Google search turns up several sites referencing both Gluupy's and Sea Monkeys, but the Gluupys.com site would seem to be down.

I can't help but wonder if they approached McDonalds about the happy meals and then got rebuffed when McDonalds realized that they were violating a patent.

And now their marketing mock ups are for sale on E-Bay.

It'll be interesting to see if we hear anything more about Gluupy's in the future.

Sea Monkey Day Party

I'm tired. So, here's a few pictures and I'll write more tomorrow:
Click to enlarge the pics, and thanks to Kiny for taking 'em.

Sea Monkey Geek on the Radio

Z-107 in Indiana will be celebrating National Sea Monkey Day tomorrow by having your's truly on their morning show. 8:30am (Central Time.) I'll see about getting a copy of the interview up here soon after.
And in case you were wondering, the monkeys in the picture are trying to find Indiana on the map. They're mistaken in thinking that it's in Eastern Europe. I'm pretty sure it's just south of Mongolia.

Later in the day I'm having friends over for a Sea Monkey Day party. I'll post the pics up right quick.