The International House of Mojo

First, if you're reading this on Mojo, go here for the rest of the update to make (more) sense.

Well, it's not quite 2015, but The SCUMM Bar is back. I mean, like, really back. Not just for pretend or April's Fools or wanting your money or anything like that. We have relaunched the longest running Monkey Island mainly as a Tales of Monkey Island and The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition resource site, but plan to expand it quite a bit in the future.

So, what's new? First, the news section. Instead of just posting the same news Mojo is posting, which is slightly redundant, we are now literally posting Mojo's news, by hooking into their news system. If you want to post a comment, you will be taken to Mojo and will have to sign up for an account there to post.

"But what's the point of reading The SCUMM Bar then?!" you may ask. There are plenty of reasons! First, we have put together some large, and ever growing, resource sites for Tales of Monkey Island and Special Edition. And look over on the right there (you're reading this at The SCUMM Bar, right?) -- you can see the latest updates from the Telltale blog, as well as the latest Google News updates for Monkey Island. Want a Monkey Island specific RSS feed? You got it! And... Well, we're keeping it small to start of with, but some fairly major features will be launched over the next week.

Anyway -- The SCUMM Bar is rocking it again. Just pretend like we never left!

The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition? Old news!

All the hipsters know that Curse of Monkey Island, or "CMI" in cool-speak, is where things are really "at."

Point your browsers to our Secret History article to rediscover this classic game (or perhaps find out what you've been missing).

Thanks a lot to Jonathan Ackley, Larry Ahern, Chuck Jordan, Bills Tiller and Eaken and Dominic Armato for their thorough behind-the-scenes talk, everyone who sent in a reader review, and to Paco Vink for the spaztastic header art.

Update: Larry Ahern very kindly got back to us with an interview ages ago, and I forgot to include it!! I've since put it into the article, so you can all read it now. Interesting titbits and anecdotes about LucasArts abound. Thanks a lot, Larry!

The CMI article will be published very soon, which means we're ready to take reader submissions for the Grim Fandango retrospective. All of you had best be sending in one, and remember we're also willing to take full-fledged editorials if there's a particular aspect of the game you want to write an entire piece about.

Viva La Revolucion!

Through some clever molding and a lot of time, sculpture artist Iain Reekie has created what we all desire: Grim Fandango action figures. The Manny figure comes complete with skeleton bird and sausages Robert Frost, while Glottis looks straight out of a Tim Burton animation.

Not available in stores unfortunately, as that would prove God existed and so therefore he wouldn't. QED.

Source: Iain Reekie's website

We're probably getting pretty close to finishing that CMI article, so if you have any Reader Opinions (or anything else) to submit and haven't yet done so, you might want to get on that sooner rather than later. Kay thx.

Hey guess what? We need your reader opinions and/or editorials for the next Secret History article, which is, of course, about The Curse of Monkey Island, which in case you didn't know is pretty much single-handedly responsible for the entire LEC fan explosion in the mid-to-late 90s. Oh, how I pine for those days.

Anyway, send your stuff in, and get to replaying the game if you haven't done so in awhile. Relive the delights of Murray the demonic skull (Hey! He became our star rating!), El Pollo Diablo (Hey! He became the name of our retired polls!) and friends, all of whom comprise the cast of one of the best graphic adventures of all time. (Even if Elaine's accent is still perplexing.) Yargh!

More important than your sisters birthday and more exciting than a weekend with Barack Obama, it's... LucasArts Secret History!!

This week we're looking at The Dig, or "--HISTORY DELETED--" as it's known at LucasArts.

Find out about thrilling meetings with Spielberg, explosive development teams, and more mysterious alien forces than you can shake a decapitated hand at! Behold... The Dig!!

Thanks a lot to Dan Lee for the header art, to Sean Clark and Bills Eaken and Tiller for their informative answers, and to everyone who wrote in with their opinions and memories.

The Dig article is only...a relatively short amount of time away from publication, and that's why it's imperative that you send in your Reader Opinion if you haven't already. I don't want to suggest that your contribution is as significant an event as an asteroid on a collision course with Earth, because in fact it's way more significant. Hurry up!

After a brief hiatus, Mixnmojo's thrilling article series, "LucasArts Secret History," is back! *Cue explosions, rock music and scantily clad dancing women*

What better game is there to mark our glorious return than Full Throttle?

If you haven't played this gem yet, it's time to find out what you've been missing out on -- and for the rest of us, join us for a drive down memory road. Let the throttle out and fly.

Thanks to everyone who contributed -- especially Peter Mc. and Colin Panetta.

Edit: Colin has updated his blog with an entry on how he made the header art. You can also see a making of entry for his Day of the Tentacle header.

Edit 2: Larry Ahern kindly got back to us with a brand new interview about his time working on the game.

Didn't manage to nab one of those cool Maniac Mansion posters Star Wars Shop was selling recently? Would you instead like to pick and choose your poster from some of the best cover art to ever grace computer games (and the best games too)? Steve Purcell, William Eakin, Drew Struzan?

Well, intrepid community member extraordinaire Laserschwert has been busy creating a line of dreams downloadable posters to allow you to do just that.

Check it out right now, and weep openly. Is it too late for a calendar?

Well I'll be a Cocytan's uncle, we're ready to start accepting reader opinions for our next Secret History article, which of course centers around The Dig. Send in your reader opinions for us to put in the article, and replay the game while you're at it to get in the mood while waiting for the big retrospective to get published!

Additionally, if you happen to be a huge fan of The Dig and would like to write some sort of editorial about an aspect of the game for us to put in the article, let us know! We're always open to that sort of thing.

The Full Throttle Secret History article is coming your way soon, so I figured now would be a good time to point out that any last second Reader Opinion submissions will be accepted now, if you hurry.

Update by Kroms: A little something from Graham Annable.

We at the International House of Pancakes Mojo wish you a very Merry Christmas!

First let us rise for our National Anthem, then we finish by taking a good hard look at our traditional festive image:

Merry Xmas Everyone!

Update by Kroms: Woo! I've been waiting to talk about these: Steve Purcell has been posting some awesome Christmas paintings he did over the years! They are:
Marley (Sam and Max)
Father Christmas (Sam and Max)
Cratchet and Son (Sam and Max)
Picnic (Ernie and Suda)
Sleigh Ride (Ernie and Suda)

And finally there's two new pages a day of The Visitor, another comic featuring Ernie and Suda. From what I can tell, it's also sadly the last.

Update by Jason: And let's not forget Autumn Moon's card!

...and not just any old book -- Rogue Leaders: The Story of LucasArts is packed full of glossy, never seen before concept art, shocking behind-the-scenes development stories, and is probably the coolest thing you'll ever have on your coffee table. Check out our glowing review here if you haven't already done so.

What do you have to do to win a free copy of this fabulous book? Simple! E-mail me with your version of a history for a LucasArts game.

Rogue Leaders is full of stories about how the games were made, and most of those stories are true; but for your submissions, you don't have to bother with things like truth or facts. For instance:

"Monkey Island was originally thought up when Tim Schafer came into my office acting like a monkey," recalled Ron Gilbert musingly. 'Unfortunately, we later found out that his behaviour was caused by a brain hemorrhage, and he had to have an operation to have part of his brain removed. Later on, the evil monkey part of his brain made its way into Tim's Siamese fetus twin, and that later led onto the famouse Double Fine baby logo."

...right, that was a crazy example, but you get the idea. There's no limit on the length or subject matter, or number of submissions, and they can be as serious or weird as you like. But please include your name and e-mail address at the bottom of each entry as Mojo Mail sometimes eclipses these out.

The closing date is 23rd December (Christmas Eve Eve). Have fun!

Also, thanks a lot to Chronicle Books for giving us a copy to give away!

Edit: in case you weren't sure, anyone in the world is allowed to enter this competition (we draw the line at Martians) -- and we'll ship the book over to you.

Me! Max. Me! Max Max Max (Me me me!)

You're such an adorable urchin, Max.

...But more on that story later.

For now, feast your balls (your eye-balls, that is) on our latest look-back extravaganza, featuring art from the talented Paco Vink and Junaid, interviews from Stemmle, Clark, and Purcell, and of course (possibly) the funniest game LucasArts ever made!

"I hope there was nobody on that bus."

"No-one we know at least."

You’d think that one day they’d learn, but no – The SCUMM Bar is at it again. It would seem that the same site that lied about shutting down back in 2004 just to get Tim Schafer to write something on their forum feels it didn’t rack up quite enough mortal sins upon its soul. In its latest act of supreme class, the inactive Monkey Island fansite is now extorting money from its oft-manipulated readers, insinuating that it will re-open its doors after three years once sufficient Paypal donations are made.

What a damn shame.

There's really only one way that your life will have been worth anything when you die, and that's if you send me your reader opinion on Full Throttle for our next (next meaning, the one after the one we still didn't publish) Secret History article. Furthermore, we are as always open to reader-submitted sections for the article if there's something particular about the game that you're obsessed with and have to inform the world about, provided you give us a heads up.

Oh, and play AVS too.

Do you have a copy of the Full Throttle hint book? If so, does it have a narrative walkthrough in it? If so, do you have a scanner? If so, could you drop me a line? Thanks.

Dude, you're not waiting for the Sam & Max Hit the Road Secret History article - it's waiting on you. If you haven't already, please send us your reader opinion for inclusion in the article, which will be up before you can say "Bruno the Bigfoot" without a larynx.

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