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I'd say this is a story of the writer's dream: knock out something clever, have millions of people read it, enjoy it, and pass it on to their friends. However, the writer in this case is either dead or refusing to acknowledge authorship. Until that minor detail gets taken care of then the chance we will ever see a movie adaptation is practically zero.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Just in case you have been under a rock, were on a secret deep space mission, or recently awoke from a 20-year coma, you really need to read this hilarious story called I Like Monkeys.
First and foremost: I did not write I Like Monkeys. I'm just the schmuck who decided to put it on his website - a simple act that has generated considerable email and called the provenance of I Like Monkeys into question. I point this out in bold because, well, some people shouldn't be allowed to send email.
Quite a few Internet old-timers remember reading ILM in 1995 in one of two places.
Earliest Usenet Post - Nov. 14, 1995
Earliest Usenet Post - Jun. 11, 1995 sans paragraphs
Earliest Slashdot Post - May 18, 1995
In 1996, W. E. Miller wrote a story analysis which claimed:
"I Like Monkeys" is a short story of daring insight and wit written by one of this generation's most brilliant authors, Charles Groom.
Which was refuted by Charles Groom, himself:
Of course, since we go to Swarthmore, Wayne just had to write a literary critique of the story (n.b. I didn't write the damn story in the first place).
On Nov 19, 1999, Mark Bakalor's posted this reminiscence:
I found myself at deja searching for a story I sent out to a few friends about five years ago. To make a long story uninteresting: Many of you who have known me at least this long will remember "The Monkey Story" that I used to tell. I received a copy of this monkey story, not long after first sending it, from someone who had no idea that I was the one who sent said story out in the first place. Not long after this, it was obvious that the story had propogated itself around the world and was soon a hit body of text to forward to friends. I smile a proud smile every time I received it. So today when I searched for newsgroup postings of the story I was amused to see that it was still in popular circulation. Just two weeks ago it was posted to a Backstreet Boys discussion group. I'm glad to see this work in such a distinguished forum. It's slightly bothersome to see how the story has become modified here and there. Why does this bother me? Oh well. I like monkeys.
Note he never uses a procreative term describing his relationship with the story, yet there is a minor implied flavor of ownership.
Subject: I Like Monkeys Written By: jiminy on 04/09/05 at 6:07 pm In The 00s I Like Monkeys by Mark Bakalor
Mark Youngren researched and aspires to make it into a movie.
Sarah Goodman claims Greg Nebres
Here is a summary of the history of I Like Monkeys as I know it. Names have been abbreviated to somewhat protect all mentioned individuals.
I first encountered I Like Monkeys in late 1995 while working at a dot-com startup. Do you remember 1995? It was like the dawn of time - text editors, Mosaic, SLIP accounts, dial-up modems, and Clinton. In 1995 honestly funny web pages were a rarity. One such page was the I Like Monkeys story on MB's website. As the years progressed I Like Monkeys spread to thousands of other websites, newsgroup posts, and mailing lists.
I'm not saying that MB wrote I Like Monkeys, I'm just saying I saw it on his site first. Other I Like Monkeys scholars who have corresponded with me remember MB's site as their first exposure, too. BTW, number of I Like Monkeys scholars I have corresponded with: 2. Number of I Like Monkeys fans I have corresponded with: 52.
In 2005, SG wrote me that she was sure that her friend, GN, wrote I Like Monkeys. In fact, she said she received a hand-written copy of I Like Monkeys directly from GN in 1995. She told me that GN wrote several "I Like..." songs. Unfortunately, the hand-written copy was in her mother's basement and SG has yet to find it.
Later in 2005, MK sent me a terse email that her husband, JT, was "the sole author of this story, which was illustrated in its original form by his friend."
I didn't bother to reply to MK because I was too tired at the time to explain the whole thing. Maybe she'll read this.
So, depending on who you believe, I Like Monkeys was written by MB, GN, or JT.
[update June 13, 2006] - IN comes forward and points the finger at GN, too. I have located GN and have sent him a message asking him to illuminate me.
Read what's below for action-packed monkey goodness. Skip to the bottom to read about the questionable authorship of this piece. This page's formatting and spelling are from I could find!
Contact: - (c)opyleft 1995-2009 Matthew Lewis Carroll Smith - Creative Commons Licensed