From the monthly archives:

February 2007

0010 Matinee Soup ‘Woof’

by Roy Blumenthal on February 24, 2007

The Illustration Friday topic this week is ‘Communication’.

So what better than miscommunication to illustrate it?

And what better for me than killing two birds with one stone? An illo for Illo Friday AND a Matinee Soup specimen, all wrapped into one.

Wednesday was my second seminar session at Wits. Groovy once again.

Last Saturday was my birthday. Big three nine. And J made it a pretty damn special day. She arrived at my place at 8:30am sharp. I leapt out of the shower, shook myself dry like a cute li’l dog, and we set off for a mystery destination.

And arrived at Woodlands. For a massage and a reflexology session. Followed by some naked steaming together. Followed by a naked jacuzzi session. Followed by a cool lunch. Followed by a drive back to my place. Followed by. If you know what I mean.

A wonderful time was enjoyed by all.

This painting was made using ArtRage 2.2 on my Toshiba Tecra M4 with the processor running at 74 degrees celsius, and the harddrive at 57 degrees celsius, with J looking over my shoulder seeing how I work, and massaging my shoulders every now and again, and bringing me tea. Stuff like that.

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0009 Matinee Soup ‘Why tails?’

by Roy Blumenthal on February 16, 2007

It’s been a pretty cool week. Valentine’s day was intentionally quiet for me. No dates. Made up for that with J last night. Hehehehe.

The film role fell through. My agent called me to say, ‘The production company phoned to say they have to lower the agreed fee from R8000 per call to R3000 per call. I told them I’d discuss it with you, but that it’s unlikely. I mean, it’s partial nudity, and a violent role. What do you feel?’

‘Walk away from it,’ I told Shane. ‘If it were a more substantial role, and not just a bit part, I MIGHT have considered it. But the fact that they’re changing things at the last minute indicates that they might be in some kinda trouble.’

I think the production company needs a tail. Or maybe they already know their asses from their elbows?

Last Saturday I screened THE SECRET for a bunch of my buddies. And on Sunday I’m screening it again for the people in my AACA group. (AACA stands for ‘Al Anon Adult Children of Alcoholics, and I attend the regular Monday meeting.)

It’s a pretty potent film. Well worth seeing.

And AACA’s pretty potent too. Have you seen my list of ‘Characteristics of Adult Children of Alcoholics‘?

People who’ve seen WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW!? probably know the premise of THE SECRET:

Under ‘The Law of Attraction‘, what we ask for, the universe provides. It’s just that we often don’t realise that we’re asking for things we DON’T want. So, people focussing on ‘getting out of debt’ or ‘losing weight’ are actually giving energy and focus to the debt and the weight, and so, they ‘get what they ask for’… more debt, more weight.

They should, instead, ask for what they WANT… abundance, not debt, healthy slimness, not weight loss.

I don’t rate WHAT THE BLEEP at all. It’s a crap film, with highly faulty quasi-science. And a pretty syrrupy storyline to deliver the message. However, THE SECRET seems to have pared out all the pseudo-science, and delivers a coherent framework with which to change your life for the better. I’m pretty certain that it’s not saying stuff you haven’t heard before. But it certainly packages it in a compelling and life-changing way.

For a while now, I’ve been affirming that I’ll finally ‘have my degree’. And that’s manifesting pretty beautifully. On Wednesday I attended the first seminar of my
Masters in Digital Arts
. The course was created by Prof Christo Doherty. And it cooks.

Part of our Wednesday morning was devoted to watching the avant-garde groundbreaking piece of cinema… THE MAN WITH THE MOVIE CAMERA, made by Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov in 1929. It’s pretty much the best film I’ve ever seen. Bar none. It’s literally as good as a film can possibly be, plus some. Wow.

Because I haven’t completed my two undergrad degrees — I have half an Electrical Engineering degree through Wits, and 8 out of 10 credits of my Literary Theory degree through Unisa — I’m being allowed to register for this Masters in stages. Right now, I’m an ‘occasional student’. If I do well in this course, I’ll be able to go for the full masters, utilising ‘recognition of prior learning’.

I’m feeling pretty damned stoked about it. Very stimulating indeed. Wow.

On the babe front, J is doing surprise things for my birthday tomorrow. (J is the gal who went with me to the American Consulate General’s home for the poetry reading at which I called for the American public to impeach his holiness, George ‘I caused World War III’ Bush. That was our first date. And I think it can be counted a success. hehehehe.)

Also on the babe-front, J is open to my being polyamorous. Which is cool. Cos I’m really wanting to explore it more. I’ve been attending the monthly South African polyamory film evenings. And I’ve been following the adventures of a poly family in America. Their blog — THE HERON CLAN — is a candid account of what polyamory can be in what’s known as a ‘V’ triad. That’s where one person has two committed love partners. The two partners are committed to that person, who forms the point of the ‘V’. This is the formation I’ve been in, and it really worked for me.

On the button shop front, my buttons are causing a few ripples on Prickie.com. I’ll know at the end of this month how many I’ve sold. I know that the shopfront has been getting hundreds of hits from my links. Which means it MIGHT be getting lots of hits from other sources that I can’t measure.

I don’t REALLY care too much whether or not the buttons sell. I care that the politics they espouse creates ripple effects.

Right. Time for me to swallow my last mouthful of JB Rivers bran muffin and head off home for an early night. J told me to have a swimming costume with me when she picks me up at 7:45am tomorrow. (It’s mid summer in South Africa, if you’re wondering. And my car’s roof is most definitely down. And my hair is in a bun, held by one of those gigantic hair clamps that looks like a radioactive crab. Cos the back of my neck is getting overheated these days.)

Oh. One last thing. I’ve done test prints of some of my pics at Silvertone. They’re on 100% cotton rag, 100% acid free, using 100-year archive quality inks. And they look unbelievably awesome (to me, at any rate; but I’m biased, being their ‘father’). Look out for ‘for sale’ buttons next to my prints. I’m currently setting up the e-commerce backend to be able to send them around the world. Yay!!!

This strip was made on my Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc, using ArtRage 2.2, in JB Rivers, Hyde Park. See all of the cartoons in the series on my Flickr set: Matinee Soup — a weekly cartoon strip. I do not receive ANY form of compensation for any of the software, hardware, or eateries I mention in these entries. The babe count in Hyde Park more than makes up for any money I spend here. Tonight it’s a full five stars out of five. Oh yeah.

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0008 Matinee Soup ‘French Kiss a Bulldog’

by Roy Blumenthal on February 9, 2007

It’s Valentine’s Day coming up.

And I thought Bambi would like to acknowledge romance in some oblique way. Without being mushy about things.

Seems like she wanted to go the mushy route. I couldn’t stop her.

Have a happy V-Day!

This painting was made using ArtRage 2.2 on my Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc. I’m sitting in Nino’s in Rosebank. Nesbert, my waiter, has been to my table four times in six hours. He gave me a teacup that was FILTHY. I wiped brown stuff off the rim with a serviette. He’s NOT getting a tip. But the place has been buzzing with babes.

One or two of my lapel badges are pretty romantic. Sorta. In a perverted kinda way. Go get some.

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2007-02-03 Illustration Friday — Spur Rot: Sprout Proust

February 4, 2007

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2007-02-03 Illustration Friday — Sprout Proust, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.
It’s Illustration Friday time again. Even though I’m posting this at 1:30 am, basically the small hours of Monday morning. And I should be sleeping. Cos [...]

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0007 Matinee Soup ‘Light Breakfast’

February 3, 2007

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0007 Matinee Soup ‘Light Breakfast’, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.
Yup. Sometimes, Bambi can’t resist a pun. It’s true.
When I first wrote this one, I had the lines reversed. But that breaks a comedy rule… you need [...]

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A conspiracy-theory night out with the South African leftwing poets and the American consulate staff

February 1, 2007

So now what exactly IS a conspiracy theory? When a whole bunch of seemingly random events all tie together with an underlying ‘obvious’ pattern, is that conspiracy?
I’m in the middle of one.
Here’s how it looks…
1. Roy makes a few inflammatory ‘anti George Bush-USA’ lapel badge designs.
2. States in his Flickr gallery that he hopes some [...]

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