He Looks Like a Monkey, and he Smells Like One, Too!

Happy Birthday King Kong! As Hugh Hart reports on Wired magazine's blog (link below), yesterday, April 7, was the 77th Anniversary of the original King Kong movie's release. Banana cupcakes for everyone!

http://tinyurl.com/y8zvk45

The Monkey Bar - NYC

I was lucky enough to attend a cocktail party at the Monkey Bar, which is Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter's latest restaurant venture. The atmosphere in the bar and dining room is overall very soothing and exquisite. Some say the mood reminds them of being on a luxurious ocean liner. Perhaps this effect was enhanced by the fact that the bar staff wore very ship-worthy uniforms as they poured our libations. In addition to the dark wood and warm lighting, there are delightful monkey-themed murals and fixtures all around the bar room, which I was able to snap a few photos of to share with you! On display in the dining room is a large mural featuring various stars from old Hollywood and modern literature (Fred Astaire, Dorothy Parker, Zelda & F. Scott Fitzgerald, etc.) painted by Ed Sorel. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find the name of the artist who painted the monkey murals, but I am very curious to know. Until a later post, here are the pictures:

Monster monkey dolls at toy art show

These monkeys were designed by Bianca Panzram.

I went to the MF Gallery opening of the 2009 MF Toy Show last night in Brooklyn, NY. There were lots of crazy toys designed by talented artists. I wanted to take everything home. Some of it was gross, some was cute, some was weird, but nothing was conventional, and everything was inspirational.

These simple striped monkeys by Bianca Panzram were my favorites.

Artists and studios included:

MF Toys

Cupco! (fun site!)

Jenny Harada

Moses Jaen

Ed Repka

Bianca Panzram

Aaron Tomkins

Bastet2329

Elmer Presslee (bonus monkey on the front page of the site)

EatYourChildren

Sara Lanzillotta - - - Monkeyhouse Toys

Aya Kakeda

Steven Lopez

Jaz Harold

Tyson Summers

Ciou

Fernando Carpaneda

Nikki Taylor (did I find the right artist here?)

Mary Doyle (bonus chimp on front page of the site :)

I'm thinking of heading back to buy a piece or two. I highly recommend it if you are into toys, in the toy industry, or just need to be inspired by some wicked art.

Man-Ape bottle topper

Gorilla-face bottle topper at Royale, a bar in Brooklyn.

One happy hour while enjoying a tasty martini at Royale in Park Slope, Brooklyn - NYC, I spotted this ape-man or man-ape bottle topper. Is it a bigfoot? Is bigfoot a monkey? So much to ponder.

Smoking monkey

A cigarette smoking monkey at Forbidden Planet.
[identified as Frank Cho's Monkey by Isaac Bidwell]

I make a point of stopping in Forbidden Planet every time I'm near Union Square in NYC. I don't know who the character is, but this vinyl monkey with a cigarette in his mouth was in one of the display cases.

Mecha Kong or Kong's mechanics

King Kong's skeleton.

The original armature of the original King Kong (from the 1933 film) has sold at a Christie's auction for 121,250 pounds. Why, that's over 60 tons! ;)

Link to the Kong skeleton story at Australia's ABC.net.

When my friends get rich, can you buy this for me?

Angry T-shirt

Saw this poorly drawn version of the Family Guy monkey on a T-shirt at the Union Square Market in NYC this summer.

Gorilla Goes Ape for Christmas

Here's King Kong and the Rockettes celebrating the opening of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular atop the Empire State Building on Tuesday (11.17.09). I hope he's been practicing his high kicks!

Gothamist Link.