I was surfing around and saw a story about March 20th being “Wear A Sweater Day” in honor of what would have been Fred “Mr.” Rogers’ 80th birthday. If you’re one of those people who thinks they’re all cool by deciding there’s something creepy about Mister Rogers, piss off. But anyway, check out the topic of today’s rerun show:

Episode for
Wednesday, February 27, 2008:

Mister Rogers helps with the fear of vacuum cleaners and learns about wolves.
(#1623)

I wonder if show #1624 is about fear of wolves and learning about vacuum cleaners…

A cat who long ago was my cat too has passed. Uma was an extremely good kitty with the fur of an extremely soft rabbit, and at one point learned how to play fetch with those little cellophane wrapped pieces of candy. I never saw her as an old lady cat but I’m sure she continued to be good company, as she was an all-star great cat.

Another of my reviews by “Chap Gmunderson”. Enjoy.

Self Matters: Creating Your Life from the Inside Out by Phillip C. McGraw

11 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

Disappointed for the First Time by Dr. Phil, sad, January 27, 2005

By Chap Gmunderson

As a longtime Dr. Phil and Oprah fan, I got this book with the highest of expectancy. However, I find it to be full of advice which if followed, would not be as effective as that in his previous tomes. Obviously we create our lifes from the inside out. How else would this happen? Outside-in is just backwards and leaves a hollow person like one of those chocolate rabbits that aren’t as good as the solid ones and ruin Easter. This is the type of obvious logic which runs rampart in this book of Dr. Phil. The lack of input of Oprah is also sorely lacking, and may be the reason for my disappointment. Normally I find his “get real” Phil-osophy (get it?) to be a breath of fresh air, but here it is “over the edge” – when he cites an example of a man being unsure of how to paint his car and despondent over his losing of a job and his girlfriend turning out to be underage, Dr. Phil is uncharactericly harsh, and his advise consists of “get over it”. Get over it? Dr. Phil, I may be “over you”, which makes me sad because some of the best times of my life has been reading your advice, watching your shows, watching you on Oprah and the fireworks between you that are close to heaven’s ardor, reading your cookbooks, eating your snack bars, and watching you on other talk shows talking about how you look like Jeffrey “Hey Now!” Tambor and revealing your good humor about that embarassment, and how you even occasionally say “Hey Now!” to people to raise their spirits. These things I hold dear, and I hope in the future you stick to what you know best, good “get real” advice, and stay away from life-creating; that is God’s work, I hope you know.

Here’s another comic from my upcoming second “if-a-tree-falls-in-the-forest” print-on-demand book, this time collecting Flung #1-#3 with some extra stuff. This, again, is part of the extra stuff – it’s a story I wrote back then but drew just recently (finished it yesterday, actually) about a conversation between a friend and I about someone I was seeing at the time. It takes place around the time of the events depicted in Flung #3. (By the way, “bonding elements” was a phrase my friends and I tossed around when talking about dates, for a little while – you’ll see where it comes from if you read this story from Flung #3.) Anyway:

My birthday is in a few days and that has me thinking about time passing and all of us getting older. So I thought I’d mention that today, February 8th, Gary Coleman turns 40. Okay, actually, that’s all I have.

For the past couple years I have occasionally written reviews under the name Chap Gmunderson, mainly to amuse myself. Mr. Gmunderson is a big fan of Dr. Phil and Oprah. I will occasionally post one here, hopefully for your amusement. Enjoy!

The Oprah and Dr. Phil Connection: Their Lives, Career, and Philosophies on Successful Living by Gary J. Fuller

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Behind the Scenes of the best!, January 26, 2005

By Chap Gmunderson

I thought I knew most of the facts about Dr. Phil and Oprah, but I was wrong until I settled down in front of my space heater with this book, which details their connection all the way back to their first awkward encounters and subsequent fireworks (Dr. Phil and Oprah). In addition to pointing out that “Oprah” is “Harpo” spelled backwards (we learn that her parents were huge Marx Brothers fans, and that her little brother “Ohcuorg” felt the naming tradition was a stigmata), we learn about how their meeting took place at a Beef trial, and the rest is history, but is spelled out in the book in pleasurable detail and with aplomb. Although they have never been married, the rumor that Dr. Phil is actually Steadman is quickly “put to rest” by this book (and in addition, they both have mustaches but Dr. Phil’s predates Steadman’s by six years!). I really liked being taken behind the scenes and touring the backsides of these great storied individuals. Hurrah for this book! I heartily recommend it for your reading pleasures.

A few moments with Hank the Cat:

I’m kind of fascinated by this “From The Jam” outfit that’s currently touring. They’re arriving in Seattle this weekend and are playing The Moore Theatre, a grand old Vaudeville house which seats around 1,400 peeps. So, will 1,400 people really pay $25 each to see the drummer and the bass player from late ’70s British band The Jam play the hits without the lead singer and primary songwriter, Paul Weller, with his parts covered by two unknown replacements? And it gets better – they plan to go into the studio and record new “Jam” music! From an article on Billboard.com:

While Foxton says it’s “premature” to guess what the group’s original songs will sound like, he notes that “it’s not that dissimilar from (the Jam) from the rhythm section department” but notes that Hastings and Moore will likely bring some different influences and sounds to the mix. “It’s experimental,” Foxton says. “When we go into the studio, that’s when we’ll really see what we’ve got.”

I suppose it IS “likely” that the two ringers will “bring some different influences”. And I don’t blame the original members for wanting to cash in on what I had no idea was a fairly high demand for someone other than Paul Weller to sing Paul Weller songs. After all, as bassist Bruce Foxton said, “There are a lot of cover bands out there playing Jam songs, so why don’t we get out there with two-thirds of the original band and play these songs? It’s more credible, you know?” Much more credible.

Their official MySpace profile is even more fun. The promo text at the top proclaims “THE POLICE, GENESIS, CROWDED HOUSE, JAMES, ALL REFORMING FOR 2007 AND NOW BRITAIN’S MOST CHERISHED BAND “FROM THE JAM” TOUR THE U.K TOGETHER FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 25 YEARS!” There have been many beloved bands in British history, true, but none more cherished than “From The Jam”.

If it didn’t reek of “tribute band” enough, check out the bio of the pseudo Paul Weller (from MySpace):

RUSSELL HASTINGS (born 7th July 1965, Sussex England) has been working with Rick Buckler since November 2005. A musician/vocalist in his own right Russell has shocked audiences nationwide this year with his authentic and passionate interpretation in performance (vocals and guitar) of The Jam’s back catalogue. Russell grew up on The Jam and this is evident in his attention to every detail, from the Rickenbacker to the Marshall 4×4 everything as it was and should be.

Well, sort of as it was.

Anyway, this seems like a trend lately, these bands with a few original members but not the original singer/songwriter. Let’s see, we’ve had “The New Cars”, with TODD RUNDGREN (wha?) on lead vocals. “Creedence Clearwater Revisited” – featuring original members Stu Cook and Doug “Cosmo” Clifford – have gone so far as to release a double live CD with “authoritative” versions of all the hits as sung by, um, some guy named John Tristao. (How many less-than-astute casual fans have been to see them at state fairs across the country and to this day think they saw “Creedence”?) There’s “Alice in Chains”, playing all the hits as sung by William DuVall (new studio album coming this year!). And let’s not forget “The Doors of the 21st Century”, featuring Ian Astbury from The Cult in the role of not-dead Jim Morrison. So, I have to wonder who’s next. I vote for “From Devo”, featuring original drummer Alan Myers. I guess if a videotape of Elvis can tour with a live band and fill concert halls, anything is possible…

I’m working on a collection of the first three Flung issues plus some extra stuff. This is part of the extra: it’s a short section I cut from the main story of Flung #2. It comes near the end, and I’ve included the panels from right before and right after for anyone who has the comic so you can see where it would have gone. If not, during the story, I end up in Vancouver, B.C. with some cruise ship musicians and we end up talking to some women working on the street, and hilarity ensues. No, not quite. Anyway, this takes place the next morning, right before we drive back down to Seattle:

…and on to the rest of the story as published. I cut this because it really was extraneous and didn’t advance the narrative, but it’s fun to let it see the light of day anyway.

One from the archives…back when Guided By Voices was going through drummers like Spinal Tap, I (being a drummer-type myself) decided to campaign by mail for the position. After handing Bob Pollard a tape in person at a show, I later mailed a video of some friends and I playing some GBV covers, a CD, and the original (!) of this comic: