Affairs of the Heart....

Hello Cheese Curds!

I think the lesson fug is about to learn here is to NEVER meddle in your mom's AFFAIRS.....
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Regards,
David Jones
Creator of Just Say Cheese

Fug Goes Viral

Fug loves tinkering around in cyber space.  One night while watching reruns of Star Trek, Fug watched a commercial for a dating service, 1 800 HotGals, and decided he could create his very own dating service for the town of Okrapolis.

Click to enlarge the strips.

Thanks again for all the support.  To see the next strip, go to the cartoonist studio and vote.  Vote up to 4 times a day!!!  Registration is easy.

Regards,
David Jones
Creator of Just Say Cheese

Cheese Being Served at Comic Con!!!

Okay Cheese Curds, I have some exciting news! Just Say Cheese's creator David Jones will be a guest at Austin's Comic Con in November! Dave will be drawing Cheese Doodles all day and giving them away for FREE to anyone who wants one.

ALSO, there will be a door prize at the end of each day for a FREE CHEESE SHIRT!*

If anyone wants to set up an appointment with Dave for interviews, syndication discussions, movie offers, or licensing possibilities, please contact Dave at fugcheese@earthlink.net.

The Austin Comic Con will run three days, November 11, 12, and 13, 2011, at the Austin Convention Center.

*T-Shirt sizes are not guaranteed. One shirt per day will be awarded. Winner must be present at time of drawing. Time of drawing is yet to be determined but will be posted at the show on the day of each drawing.

Update on My Characters

The stars of my comic strip are busy in and out of the padded panels of my insane world. The rock band the Okra Pods have announced that they are headed to Nashville next week to record their next studio album, Pod and Country.

Derik and Paulsey sat down with me this afternoon about this new project.

“This is going to be our first parody album containing country music,” reveals Derik Hamm. “We cut a demo of She’s a Sleep Walking Woman and our record company went nuts. They immediately got us in contact with a producer in Nashville by the name of Marty Moonshine O’Rourke. We are told he is one of the best producers in all of Tennessee!”

“The real problem now is that the record company expects us to cut an album in three weeks and we only have the one song written”, whispers Paulsey.

“I know!”, exclaims Derik. “The song is a great parody of She’s a Good Hearted Woman… but that is the only country song we really know. The record company has demanded a parody album of nothing but country songs. We are listening to every Country album we can find. We’re cramming everyone we can into our ears. We’ve listened to Johnny Cash’s catalog last night. Today we listened to a ton of Willie. Tonight we are going for some Merle… and tomorrow Waylon is on our list. We want the raw, hard country for our album.”

When more information becomes available about the new album, you will hear the details first here! Subscribe to this blog for all the latest on the Okra Pods and on my comic strip Just Say Cheese!… “She’s a sleepwalking woman perplexed ’bout her all-over tan…” This is going to be a HUGE hit!!!!

Time to Get Famous!

This is it. Nine months worth of work going out to the syndicates! At least now I know that I tried to follow my dream. If this is as far as I get to being syndicated, so be it. I will continue to just publish online if I never hear back from anyone.

I feel like my comic strip Just Say Cheese has so much to offer over other strips. There is not a lot of depth to some of the current strips. Unfortunately, space is limited and the comic strips that are being published are very good. It has been a long time coming for a strip like mine to get published. The story packs such a punch with the two kids sharing a bond because they have both lost a parent. We watch the two forget about the real world through some crazy, twisted adventures. It starts out dark, but the audience becomes too wrapped up in the mayhem to really dwell on the past.

Who knows. Maybe I’ll be surprised pretty quickly and get picked up. A total of seven syndicates are receiving submissions. Five are pictured here. Two others were sent electronically over the internet. I am very excited about my comic strip finally making it to the syndicates… but I know the chances of ever hearing back are pretty slim! The syndicates receive THOUSANDS of strip ideas per year. I’ll be lucky if I even get looked at!!!!!

Not having tried is worse than being shunned after trying.

0048 - Happy New Year! Time for things to get serious...

Just Say Cheese had a huge run last year! In its first year on the internet, Just Say Cheese was a HUGE hit on Facebook gathering a cult following of nearly 2100 fans. The strip continues to grow as much as 15 to 20 or more fans per week!

I am now in the process of submitting my concept to the 7 major syndicates in North America. Just Say Cheese is also being entered into a HUGE contest by the Cartoonist Studio where the winning strip gets a developmental deal with Creators Syndicate. The next 6 months should be the biggest months of my life! It is "make or break" time! It is as exciting as it is scary!!!!

However this turns out, I do not plan on giving up. My main goal is to make people laugh and enjoy my warped sense of humor. I am not here to make money... just to make a living! If I never get syndicated, I will be happy to just take it slow and post a strip every week... but being paid to do it every day would be so frigging COOL!!!

Follow this blog to see the latest strips and latest news about my comic strip Just Say Cheese. Also, become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/stripcheese

I apologize for neglecting this blog. I put all my efforts into the Facebook page. Now that Wordpress has improved with the tab functions, I am going to drop my other blog on Blogger and focus on Wordpress and Facebook.

Here is a quick look at the finale from the series that was started a while back.
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0047 - Name That Fan

I think it is time we gave the fans of "Just Say Cheese" a name!

In the past when comic strips hit their prime, their fans where hailed by nicknames tagged by the strips' syndicates or marketing groups. Well, I've got squat so I am doing this myself. I have come up with a list of names for my diehard fans.

I took two elements of my strip and expounded upon them. The elements are Cheese, Hamm and Okra. Wait, yes... I mean three elements. Cheese come from the main character's name Fug Cheese. Hamm comes from the name of Fug's friend Billy Hamm. Okra comes from the rock band the Okra Pods who move to town and starts the strip going.

Here are my suggestions...
1. Cheese Wizzers
2. Hamm Bones
3. Cheese Doodles
4. Strip Cheesers
5. Okrapolytes
6. Hamm Hocks
7. Cheese Louise

If anyone cares to vote on one, please do. If anyone has a better suggestion, please let me know.

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0046 - The Fine Print

I have been advised by my legal council to make a few disclosures concerning my comic strip, Just Say Cheese. Upon testing the strip on a focus group and studying the effects my humor had on the volunteers, a few unfortunate side effects were recorded and analyzed. The following is a list of potential harmful results.

1. Weight Gain - The study showed that in some circumstances the parietal lobe would swell and result in the retention of excess fluid within the body. The brain has to work extra hard in order to comprehend the sometimes hidden humor of this panel strip resulting in the swelling.

2. Bladder Splatter - On rare occasions this strip is actually very funny... VERY funny. The unexpected surprise has been known to release the fluid stored in the body from reading too many of the extremely bad strips which causes the parietal lobe to swell as mentioned above.

3. Blindness - Some readers have been known to gouge out their eyes rather than be forced to read another Just Say Cheese strip.

I have also been advised to alert everyone that reading of my strip should only be attempted by readers during their own allotted time. Please do not read these strips if you are at your place of employment during office hours.

Now that I have all the notices out of the way, here is the latest slice of Cheese!

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0045 - El Hijo Loco Collapses

It was rumored that El Hijo Loco injured his back at a show in Lubbock last night. It appears this injury is just a work because El Hijo needs time off for some personal issues. The eight time OWW Extremely Heavyweight Champ will be returning to his hometown of Okrapolis later in the week.

A report on the internet by someone in attendance at last night's show states that El Hijo Loco was attempting a moonsault off the top rope when the turnbuckle snapped under the weight of his girth. El Hijo Loco fell out of the ring, landing on ring announcer Sal E. Mandor and wrenching his back. Sal E. Mandor is currently in critical condition after being squished by the tragic fall.

Meanwhile, back in Okrapolis, Billy is still meeting Fug's pets.

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0044 - More Trouble for the Pods

Stars Derik Hamm and Dave Jones of the comic strip Just Say Cheese were on the radio again today, this time in Miami, complaining about their new record label Mow Town Records.

"It is getting so frustrating," comments Dave. "I have three awesome new parody songs written but this new record company thinks it is best to use parody songs based on songs no one has ever heard of or to songs that just plain stink. They insist we write a parody of Toto's song Africa. There is no way in heck that anyone can make that song funny."

"We've decided that if we do complete this doomed record, we will name the album "What In Pod's Name?!?" because that title fits best with the emotions we have felt during these last few weeks," explains Derik.

Below is today's strip!
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0043 - Mounting Tensions

Well, the rock band who star in my comic strip seem to be having issues with their new label, Mow Town Records. The Okra Pods are a parody rock band that poke fun at popular classic rock songs.

The Okra Pods released their first album under this new label last month. The new album, Drawn Together, featured a parody of Cheap Trick's "He's a Whore" twistedly entitled "Dudley Moore". The band pleaded with the label to allow them to release a parody of this not-so-recognizable song. The gamble paid off as this song has become the most popular track from the album.

This morning band members Dave Jones and Derik Hamm were on the air in Boston promoting the new album and trashing the new record label. Derik reveals that the label was so impressed with the popularity of the parody of "He's a Whore" that they have demanded ALL of the tracks for the next album be parodies of not-so-popular songs.

"The jerks have even given us a list of songs they want us to parody!," complained Dave. "I do not write like that. Songs just pop into my head. Plus we are already three-quarters of the way through the recording of a really great album. We have to shelve this for now."

"Plus the songs they want us to parody are really terrible songs," adds Derik.

The label Mow Town Records, which doubles as a lawn care business, had no comment today. Everyone was out cutting grass or trimming hedges.

Here is today's strip!
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000042 - Possibilities are Endless...

Everything is possible... Hell indeed can freeze over. David Gilmour and Roger Waters can still play nice together!!! I am a HUGE Pink Floyd fan after being introduced to the band back in high school by some hot chick who will leave as nameless so she doesn't have to admit that she stooped so low as to go out with me, the geekiest guy in high school... Women have always been a huge influence on my musical tastes for some reason.

Where am I going with this blog???

Oh yeah, so even a hot girl will date a geek... so anything is possible. With this logic I know that one of these I am going to get my comic strip syndicated. It is just a matter of time and karma.

I am now going to travel back in time for the next month and polish up the earlier strips. Enjoy the conclusion of this week's episode!!!

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000041 - Wonder Woman in All Her Glory!

All of us comic book geeks are either excited or dismayed over Wonder Woman's new look. Yes, yes, this is a nerdy blog today. I prefer to see Wonder Woman in "all her glory". By that, I mean that my preference is to gaze at Diana in her old, PATRIOTIC costume. DC Comics has forgotten the Amazon's roots when they redesigned Wonder Woman's new costume.

My take is that the “American Flag” design of her original costume was key to her character and the loss of the patriotic look saddens me. Diana embraced her new homeland and proudly carried the red white and blue in her costume as she paid homage to her adopted homeland. It spoke loudly for who the amazon was deep in her heart. The new look just says, hey I’m hot and cool all at the same time… which isn’t bad but just does not sell me on the fact that this character is the true Wonder Women from tales of old. Maybe it's just ME who is getting old... or a sign that this awesome country of ours has a lot of people who have lost sight of the majesty and freedom that is the United States of America.

Happy Fourth of July! Here is another strip...

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000040 - Comfort Cheese

I finally feel comfortable drawing these strips! I think this Knight Owl series is looking pretty good if I do say so myself. The first three weeks are horrible by comparison. When I started this Facebook page for Just Say Cheese, I wanted to post a strip EVERY day. Problem is that with work and personal commitments, I had maybe two hours to draw, ink, scan, assemble, and color. I was rushing a four hour process... a process that I was not even starting until 10:30 every night.

Once the Knight Owl series is completed, I am going to redraw week one. Then we will move on to a new episode. I may go ahead and introduce Zana Blanks next or I may introduce Fug's pets. Both of these episodes are historically introductions and will change the direction of my strip. Zana will explore a more human side of Fug. The pets Floyd the Dragon, Willie the Mammoth and Spazz the Unicorn will add a spark of magic and zany fantasy to my strip.

Some say I have too many characters in my strip. Oh well! My strip is about the town of Okrapolis and there are just a ton of cool people living there. Plus, I know my readers are smart enough to follow the twists and turns of the long and winding road that ravels through the history of Okrapolis!

Here is another strip.
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!

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000039 - Peeled Okra

I have had a lot of fans asking about Billy's shirt. This week, Billy is wearing a concert front from his dad's 2008 album Peeled Okra. The album's only hit was the parody of Jackson Brown's "Running On Empty" called "Running All Gimpy". We will feature other concert shirts later in the series so that the Okra Pods get a little free promotion.

If you have not checked out Billy's dad's band, the Okra Pods, go to their Facebook page. All 63 album covers are posted. You can also find a lot of their lyrics to there large selection of parody songs including "Swede Mauled by a Panda", "The Wrong John", and "That Woman Knew Taekwondo".

http://www.facebook.com/okrapods

Here is today's strip!

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000038 - Gulf Coast Fish Oil

Being a Gulf Coast native here in Houston, the Gulf Coast disaster hits very close to home. I see so many other cartoonists blogging and drawing strips about the crisis. I have wrestled with the idea of using my strip for pushing my own political views as well as my feelings towards disasters like the one crippling the fishing industry in the Gulf of Mexico... but... I am afraid my point of view on things may tick someone off. As a struggling cartoonist, I need all the fans I can get.

On Facebook, I list my political view as 20/20. It just sounds funny. It doesn't have any hidden meaning. I do not want to be known as the crazy cartoonist who took a stand on this or that... or who stood up against him or her. I just want to be known as the cartoonist that was only concerned with making his readers laugh and escape the events of our world. That is why I created Okrapolis.

Okrapolis is the town where my characters live. It is a small, Southern town where everyone knows everyone... no one ever has to concern themselves with locking their doors at night... where the only drug busts that occur are when Old Man Winters has to smash open his migraine pill bottle because he can't figure out that child proof cap. Some say this is a simple town, but they are actually very wrong! This little town is the most complicated communities ever depicted in a daily comic strip series.

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June's Album of the Month - Make It Greasy

It was a cold February in a New Jersey bar when Derik Hamm accidentally hit on Joe Walsh’s girlfriend. A brawl broke out between the two resulting in Joe Walsh breaking Derik’s jaw. During the confrontation Joe Walsh had declared how much he hated Derik’s parody music, insisting that none of the Okra Pods had any talent whatsoever.

Derik worked very hard over the next few months on parody songs based on classics by the Eagles. In Derik’s mind, this would be the ultimate last laugh. The two wrote a total of 26 songs, and… after picking the best of the best… they recorded and released “Make It Greasy”.

Later in 2006, Derik ran into Joe Walsh after a concert in Dallas. It was then that Derik realized the guy in the bar was not Joe Walsh. After thinking about it, Derik remembered that he was pretty smashed and that “Rocky Mountain Way” was playing on the jukebox. Ends up that Joe Walsh actually likes the parody songs by the Okra Pods… but Joe DOES really think the guys lack any talent whatsoever. Joe actually described them as a glorified cover band with a twist.

Tracks
01. Twitchy Woman (aka Witchy Woman)
02. Wife’s Got A Migraine (aka Life in the Fastlane)
03. Ted is So White (aka One of These Nights)
04. Make It Greasy (aka Take It Easy)
05. The Wrong John (aka The Long Run)
06. Peepholes in the Ceiling (aka Peaceful Easy Feeling)
07. Hit the Lotto (aka Desperado)
08. New Shorts Turned Brown (aka New Kid in Town)
09. I Can’t Zip My Fly (aka I Can’t Tell You Why)
10. Giant Thighs (aka Lyin’ Eyes)
11. Ho Smells Like an Onion (aka Hotel California)


Twitchy Woman
Parody of "Witchy Woman" by the Eagles

People stare as Rhonda trips
Straws are barred when she sips
Eyepatched socket shades her sight.
She's a nervous seamstress with an awful plight.

Wooo hooo twitchy woman
See her eat this pie.
Woo hoo twitchy woman
She jabbed a spoon in her eye.

She has a boyfriend, his name is Mike
He wears goggles to protect his sight
She grazed his retina with the kitchen broom
As she shoved it accidentally
When she swept the room.

Woo hoo twitchy woman
See her kiss her guy.
Woo hoo twitchy woman
She jabbed her tongue in his eye.

Well Rhonda once blew her cover,
Her pants were her brother’s.
She didn’t know she had to tie the threads.
And when she tried to turn around
Her sweatpants hit the ground.
Her can rocked and twitched at the wrong time
And her face turned red.

Woo hoo twitchy woman
How did her pants come untied?
Woo hoo twitchy woman
She showed her moon to the sky!

000037 - History is Made!

June 1938 saw the first appearance of the man of steal, Superman. May 1939 saw the first appearance of the caper crusader, Batman. August 1962 saw the first appearance of the amazing, web slinging Spiderman. And... June 2010 now sees the first appearance of...

...the Knight Owl!!!

Every classic strip has reoccurring situations, themes and off-the-wall cameos. One of Just Say Cheese's reoccurring cameos will be by the superhero known as the Knight Owl. This week introduces the fowl cowled freedom fighter and a few of his super partners.

Come on, you know when you were a kid that you dreamed of donning a cape and kicking some super criminal's behind!!! A few people in Okrapolis are just crazy enough to slip on the spandex and fight for justice!

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000036 - What a Nice Pair!!!

We end our two week look at El Hijo Loco and Lucardo with today's strip. The two characters make for a great pairing. You have an abrasive, over-the-top wrestler who hates kids teaming up with a kid who worships and idolizes his luchador uncle. We'll see both later on down the road.

Next week we start exploring the main characters of the strip, Fug Cheese and Billy Hamm. The next month or so will focus mainly on these two guys. We'll also throw in Zana Blanks, Fug's dream girl. Zana is kind of like Superman's kryponite. Fug has such a huge crush on Zana that he cannot function when she is around. Pretty funny stuff taken right from my own horrible early dating experiences!!! I lived it so it was SO easy to write!

I have nearly a year... heck maybe more... written and ready to draw. The problem is, I have written storylines that will not make sense for a few years. I have a ten year outline of twists and turns and I write whatever pops into my brain. Sometimes the tales are after Fug and his... oh no you don't! I am not giving this epic away that easy!!! You all will just have to continue reading and watch the world's greatest comic strip unfold!!!!!!!!

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000035 - Wrestling With My Thoughts

Every character in my strip is an actual reflection of my own character. Each of these stars reflect a personality or passion that resides within my overactive brain. As you can tell by my strip's luchador character, El Hijo Loco... I love wrestling and food. I do not love food as much as El Hijo, but I admit that I do alright at a good buffet line.

There are some characters that are molded after good friends from my past... whether they like it or not. It just makes these characters more real to me and in return, I hope, more real to my readers.

I have so many more characters to introduce. Keep reading over the next few months for Holly Peňo, Zana Blanks, Spazz, Willie, and Floyd the dragon. Meanwhile, let's continue with our study of the wrestling legend El Hijo Loco.

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