Hope your Christmas was truly merry… we all had fun here in Wheaton. Well, sort of. Actually, the Monday after Thanksgiving my wife Lisa wound up in the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. While she was in surgery, our youngest daughter Sydney was diagnosed with pneumonia. Whee! Fun times! I ended up bouncing in between my wife in the hospital and my daughter laid up at home. By the time they both recovered, I had come down with a nasty head/chest thing that put me in bed for a few days. So we got our tree up just in time to throw some presents under it and open them a few days later. I'm still sniffly, but on the mend, and will hopefully have my voice back in time to record the next veggie project late next week in Nashville. (If Bob sounds a little hoarse on the next VeggieTales live show, you'll know why.)
My book detailing my adventure with Bob and Larry and Big Idea Productions, Me, Myself & Bob, can't be found in stores until January 9th. Well, that's only partly true. Actually, my dad called me about 10 days ago and said, "I just bought two copies of your book!" and I said, "What?!? It isn't on sale yet!" Turns out the books had arrived at his local Christian bookstore, who, in their great excitement, failed to notice the books were not supposed to be sold until January 9th. Apparently this isn't the only store to set them out ahead of time, because I've gotten a couple emails and my mom has bumped into a few folks who have also already picked up, and, in most cases, finished reading the book. Several said they read it in one sitting, complimenting it as a "good read." They laughed, they cried… it moved them, Bob. (Okay veggie fans, which video is that quote from?)
So you may or may not have to wait until the 9th to get your hands on what is sure to be the best telling of the life and death of a vegetable-based ministry ever committed to print. And I mean it when I say that.
Check it out. You can still preorder from Amazon or Christianbook.com. Oh… and Happy New Year. 2007 will be a very interesting year for me and Jellyfish Labs. Trust me… it's going to be fun…
I pre-ordered the book from Amazon.com as soon as I saw it mentioned on your blog, and I didn’t expect to get it till after january 9th. Imagine my surprise when I arrived home from Christmas travels to find Me, Myself, and Bob waiting for me in an Amazon.com box! I have not read it yet, only because I had five suitcases to unpack and a toddler to feed, bathe, and convince that it really was time to go to sleep. I think I might end up giving this one as a gift, though, and buying another copy. π
My husband bought me a jellyfish t-shirt as a Christmas present. It’s a great color, and really comfortable. Good job with the shirts, whoever chose them!
The quote is from “Dave & the Giant Pickle.”
Yeah, Amazon just sent us confirmation on our pre-order, and stated it would be delivered on Jan.2. I thought it must have been a glitch in their system…but I guess not.
Happy New Year!! Oh…and you might want to pick up some Echinacea. π
A friend of mine saw your book in a Christian bookstore in Syracuse, NY.
Just Saying: the quote “They laughed, they criedβ¦ it moved them, Bob.” comes from Dave and the Giant Pickle, it was said by Larry-Boy (his first apperance).
SEE YA (and happy new year!!!)
The quote is from “Dave and the Giant Pickle” I glad you and your family is doing well. I look foward to reading your book and hearing more from you from Jellyfish and Big Idea. Happy New Year!!! π
aww Phil sounds like you had a hectic time, I hope you are all recovering well, sounds a little like mine, my mum has been ill for most of this year, went into hospital on my brothers birthday dec 10th and had an operation, and also got a post op infection, I arrived home from Uni dec 22nd and my mum still wasn’t so good, on Christmas eve she went back into hospital and was also diagnoised with hyperthermia, but she is back on the recovery and seems to be doing good, hopefully a few more weeks and she will be good as new. I shall be getting my Christian book shop to import your book for me as soon as I get back to Plymouth. Happy New Year. Take care.
I purchased Me, Myself & Bob the day after Christmas. I saw it on the shelf at my local Christian bookstore as I was shopping with a Gift Card I had received. I started reading it that night at about 11:00pm. I finished that morning around 5:00am. I have not been captivated by a book in a long time, especially so much so, as to pull an all-nighter reading it. What starts out as just an inspiring underdog story turned to success becomes a series of unfortunate events leaving Phil wondering about God, “I knew he had the capacity to catch me – to prevent my accident from happening. Yet he didn’t. He just stood there, watching me tumble down the stairs.” The accident Phil refers to is the collapse of Big Idea Productions and its ultimate bankruptcy. Ultimately Phil asks the big question, “What kind of God would do that?” The next 30 pages are Phil’s answer and a reminder that we serve a truly good God! Thank you Phil for showing us God’s working in your life. May this book encourage everyone to cease striving, to be a Jellyfish that only moves in God’s will.
I bought it yesterday and I’m almost done! It’s well-written, and as an aspiring filmmaker, I enjoy some of the “technical mumbo jumbo” (but don’t worry everyone… It’s kept to a minimum and is easy to understand). This book has also reminded me that animation is more than just zeros and ones. It takes a real artist to take those zeros and ones and turn them into something that moves people. I’ve been seriously considering a career in computer graphics for sometime, so I found this book fascinating. I’d highly reccomend it.
Happy New Year Phil!
I’ll be praying for Sydney and Lisa, ok? (I wonder where you got the name for the pig… hm…. π )
And I can’t WAIT to read me myself and bob!!
What a story — ! I cried more than laughed (not that that should deter any potential readers — there’s just a lot in there that a child of divorce can relate to), and the ending was so uplifting and humbling and true that I dissolved into a weeping mess (but the good kind of weeping mess). Thanks for writing that out.
I only wish there were more in there about the halcyon days at “Big Idea.” The story went so quickly from rise to fall. I was hoping for more funny stories along the lines of what is revealed by listening to the audio commentary from the 10th Anniversary DVDs. But, that wasn’t the point of this book.
P.S. Where do I enter the code from the end of the book?
I’m missing it, somehow . . .
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Hi Phil,
Thanks for writing the book…………it is a wonderful read for anyone who finds themselves ‘caught up in a dream’…..as it has very well happened to all of us.
I can relate to that, can name that tune in two notes.
phil… i picked up the book at barnes & noble on 1/3/07. read it on a plane in one sitting. fantastic read. you were so vulnerable and accessible. your story edified my faith tremendously. thanks for writing it.
ps… i’ve bought all the veggie tales movies, much more for myself than for my 4 kids, even though they loved them too. i’d stay up late at night grooving to them. your work touched many and i’m sure will continue to do so.
God bless.
You had me at “Evelyn Schauland”. It’s been a long time since Mr. Bogardo’s class (and others). Funny how God works, huh. When I was about a 1-year old believer I saw your name in the “Rack, Shack & Benny” credits and said “Nawww, couldn’t be!”. But then you did have a quirky kind of genius that I figured would come in handy someday. Congrats that you have touched thousands of kids and parents lives for Christ. Your ministry ha been a staple in our Childrens ministry and my house ever since! Thanks for the hairbrush.
In a world and in churches where we want to blame everyone and everything else for what happens and why it happens, your honesty and placing the “blame” on yourself is very refreshing and encouraging to read! Thanks for being so honest, open and Biblical! The Lord has used you, Phil, in many ways to help and encourage me in my ministry and I thank you for being used by Him once again! I too have had dreams go away in my ministry and realize that all that is important is that I am faithful to God, no matter what I may or may not be doing for Him! Continue to listen and follow, my brother in the Lord and provide me with the materials I need in my ministry with kids! By the way, I was one of those 3500 childern’s pastors who heard and was moved by your sharing at Willow Creek 2 years ago. I ran up to the bookstore right after the session and bought the CD of your message and played it over and over on the drive back home!
I will echo my inability to find out where to enter the code from the end of the book. I throughly enjoyed it, and found it very inspiring. Thank you for sharing your story. I beleive God will use is to help many.
I received a galley of the book a few months ago. If you’d have had this blog up then I’d have probably written a thesis about it. My wife and I were a couple of the college student Christian bookstore workers that you credited for VeggieTales’ breakthrough success. I almost never finish a book. It’s embarassing how many books I have started over the years and didn’t finish. That said, I read most of the book in one setting. I have never done that. I hear people say that all the time and until now I figured they were lying. Anyway, thanks for providing such a well written, thoughtful, revealing and vulnerable account of a truly fascinating story. And thanks for being willing to share your own mistakes and failures to encourage others not to do the same. The wisdom you imparted that bigger is not always better and the like was truly a refreshing viewpoint that we too often lose sight of.
I finished it the day it was supposed to come out–I guess my book store didn’t get the word either.
My 12-year old is reading “The Giver” for school, and was thoroughly enjoying it, but at some point she told me, “Daddy, I don’t want to read this any more.” Having read it a few days ahead of her, I knew why, but I was able to say, “Oh, but in the next chapter, things get better…”
After I started getting into “Me, Myself and Bob,” I suddenly realized how she felt. I loved it, but I knew what was coming, and part of me didn’t want to read any more either. But taking my own advice I plowed on… and sure enough, it got better!
Great stuff.
Hi Phil,
I’m a major Veggies fan, have been ever since I started working in a Christian bookstore in Melbourne, Australia. I was, and still am, one of those young adults you refer to in your book who gets to look after the kids section, who doesn’t have any kids.
I too, read the book in pretty much one sitting. Quite something for someone who mainly reads kids’ and youth books. Thank you for your honesty in the book. In particular your reference to being faithful to God really struck me. I’m in the process of writing some kids/teen novels (which deal with kids going through the divorce of parents), thus I’m also in the process of trying to find an agent or publisher for the material. It occured to me that even if that doesn’t happen, all I really need to be is faithful and obedient to God. The reminder was so timely, it was like a “message from the Lord!”
Hey Phil,
I work at one of those Christian bookstores where they must not have gotten the word. π I was putting away stock when my hands fell on a single copy of your book. It never made it to the shelf. π
I didn’t read it all in one sitting, as many other people appear to have done. I am a student, after all. π But I have to say, after finishing it, that everything you said about dreams is hitting home, quite hard. It’s unbelievably relevant to me right now. Thank you so much for saying what you did. God didn’t literally put your book on my stock cart, but you know what I mean, and I sincerely mean it. π
Phil,
Loved the Book. Loved the lessons. Thanks for being open and letting all of us be part of your journey. Reading the book was like walking and talking with an old friend.
I think I want in on one of those shoulder rides…
I just finished Me, Myself, & Bob, and I want to say that I’m so glad I read it. First because I’ve loved Veggie Tales since my then 2 year old begged to take Silly Songs 2 out of our church Library, and was very concerned when I read the blurb in the paper about Big Idea being sold. So to read the first hand account answered a lot of question I had about what happened. And secondly, because the stuff at the end? About God being enough? I needed to read that.. So thank you for being willing to write the book, and thanks for being transparent.
Phil: YOU ARE A WINNER (in response to all the “failure” references)! How many other people have learned the lessons you have by age 40? God’s power is being perfected in your weakness…, 2 Cor 12:9. Big Idea would have just been some big company a man made, instead of one God made. Remember that a seed has to die to give life.
Phil (sorry, I just feel like you’re my friend since you “bared all” in the book), God has given you a gift of story telling! What’s so precious about this book is that gift isn’t limited to children: this was a wonderful object lesson you gave us adults. Thank you for your humble testimony and being so transparent! My children have grown up along with the VeggieTales (our first son was born in 1995, and we received VeggieTales on his first birthday ). My boys know all the characters, songs, stories (as do we parents). You guys are so talented, we just can’t stand it π !
I loved your “Thing I learned #7”! Yes, do hire those that share your vision. You’ve got to look into C12 group companies and other Christian companies that look at their businesses as ministry. They also don’t just hire Christians; but they do ask questions to determine if the person’s heart would be in alignment with “kingdom business” It would be such a blessing for you to be able to meet with like-minded CEOs!
Finally, I LOVED the whole book, and would have read it in one sitting if it weren’t for my 5 kids. But I have to tell you what particularly ministered to me was: the “you deserve it” trap, and the clarification on Proverbs 29:18. That is revolutionary to know the Hebrew actually meant, “Those without ‘revelation’ perish…” instead of the word ‘Vision’.
Oh Phil, how exciting to see what God has in store for you!!!
P.S. Forgive me for meddling; but you didn’t say much about your family. I believe they must be very special, and you can be so grateful they hung in there with you! I pray you all are even closer than before.
Oh gosh, Phil, there was one other thing I wanted to tell you. I told my eldest son about your book and some of the lessons you learned. He mentioned, “Do you know that every Christian and non-Christian kid I know has VeggieTales videos”. I thought, “Wow, what a success!” And that’s out here where we live in “Sin City” Los Angeles! Bravo Phil!
Hello Phil-
I’m a little over halfway through the book…thank you for sharing your story. I’ll be in touch.
Mark
BTW- I’ve never seen a VeggieTales video