2008-09-26 Ha

2008-09-26 Ha, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

This pic started out as a bit of black and white doodling in the CNBC Africa studio.

I was showing some of the crew how the Asus R1E works. I handed the stylus over to one of them, and she drew a few lines. One of the others then took over the stylus, and added a line or two, and the speech bubble.

When I got home, I decided to push it into the world of art.

This is the result.

This painting was made on my Rectron-sponsored Asus R1E tablet pc, using personally paid-for ArtRage 2.5 software.

2008-09-26 -- Mandla Mpahlwa -- Interviewer -- CNBC AFRICA Kaleidoscope

2008-09-26 -- Mandla Mpahlwa -- Interviewer -- CNBC AFRICA Kaleidoscope, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

I made this pic while I was being interviewed by Mandla in the CNBC AFRICA 'Kaleidoscope' studio during our dummy run.

I'm doing live visual facilitation for all studio interviews as of Saturday 4 October.

In our kick-off show, Mandla will be chatting to me about what visual facilitation actually is. Then I'll spend the rest of the show standing at my easel and making artworks based on what people are saying.

The speech bubble here in this pic of Mandla came about when she turned to the huge video wall behind us and reacted with a tiny amount of disbelief.

I knew what she was going to say, so, as she was looking, I drew the bubble, and wrote the words almost as she said them.

The dummy run was a complete success. And we've tested the technology. And it all works spiffingly.

Notice the paper background I've painted Mandla on. If you look carefully, you'll see that it says 'Asus' in a repeated motif.

That's because the computer I'm now doing my visual facilitation on is a sponsered machine.

Rectron South Africa, the guys who distribute Asus here (amongst other machines), have given me a high-end Asus R1E to use on the show, and in my paid gigs. There's a good chance I'll be putting other machines from their stable under the unique pressure I apply to tablet pcs.

I want you to know that I'll be writing commentary about the machine every now and again. All kindnesses I display towards the machine are real. And all negative comments are also real. The fact that the computer is a freebie is not a factor in this.

I've discussed this with Sebastian Isaac, the Marketing Director of Rectron. And I've spelled out that I'll be providing fair comment. He's happy with that. I'm happy with that.

I will continue my habit of transparent attribution whenever I use a machine.

This painting was made live in the CNBC AFRICA 'Kaleidoscope' studio on a Rectron-sponsored Asus R1E tablet pc, running my own paid-for version of ArtRage 2.5.

Peter Boyd responds to my apology... to Edmund Reddy and thank you to Virgin Mobile South Africa

I had coffee with Peter last week Thursday, and he told me that I was
welcome to post his response to my apology. So here it is. He sent it
to me first thing the morning after I posted it.

Hi Roy,

Your note from last night really made me smile. Thanks so much for
taking the time to write it too.
The negative comments are always quick to flow (and nearly always
justified when the consumer is annoyed), but it takes dedication as an
active consumer to write the constructive comments - so a big thanks
to you: it has such a brilliant effect on the team.

As I said in one of my responses to your blog, I am incredibly proud
of the team (though I get very annoyed when things fall short, its got
to be said). As you mention, we are in the process of hiring a new
Head of Customer Services, so I am even more proud of the more junior
team stepping up when and where they can, and appreciate our
consumers' patience as we make the change.

I am also very acutely aware that you are just one consumer turned
'back to volunteer evangelism' from a negative experience, and we have
to work hard to get through the group of our first upgraders (among
them your friends on the blog and twitter), as well as welcome the
newer people who are joining up (in good numbers by the way - the club
is growing nicely!).

Finally, I still want you to take me up on the offer of a coffee this
week - we want to be the most talked about mobile provider (in a good
way!). We know we need to earn it, and I am sure you have some great
tips for us.
The path of the 'giant-killer', as you put it, will always be a tough
one; but it is one we have chosen, and it doesn't mean we can't enjoy
it.
I remember two quotes from university days: the old economist's 'small
is beautiful' and 'whether you think you can or you think you can't,
you're right'!

Speak soon,
Peter

Peter Boyd
CEO
Virgin Mobile South Africa

An apology to Edmund Reddy, and a thank you to Virgin Mobile South Africa

Hi Edmund...

Thank you very much for meeting me in Sandton this afternoon. It was
really good to connect with you as one human being to another.

I apologise for my incorrect evaluation of your gesture yesterday.
Thanks for letting me know the reality behind it.

I'm blogging this letter at the same time as sending it to you, so I
just want to fill in the blanks for anyone reading this.

The loan phone Edmund secured for me yesterday was in fact a
top-of-the-range new Nokia N81. I mistook it for an old one. Pretty
much because I was seeing things from a warped and negative
perspective.

Edmund has basically made a huge breakthrough in the way customer
service issues in the cellular phone industry might be dealt with in
future. He says that in all his years in the cellphone business, he's
only once seen a network give out a loan phone. And that was
yesterday.

When I sent my dissatisfied email to his boss, the Virgin Mobile CEO,
Peter Boyd, it must have come across really horribly.

Here I was, this whiney chihuahua, who actually took the phone, and
now was claiming incorrectly that it was old and broken. I must have
looked and sounded like a complete petty despot with a crap attitude.

I'm really glad we met today. Edmund was able to fill me in on his
side of things. And I was able to be heard.

If I've understood Edmund correctly, this is what's happening...

o Recently, there was a change in management at the call centre, which
has adversely affected staff performance and morale. This is being
addressed, and should stabilise soon.

o In addition, a new data system is being installed to make it
possible for call centre staff to engage with customers much more
efficiently.

o The staff members who have dealt with me in this situation are being
chatted to.

o Edmund has listened to the tapes, and will quite possibly come to
find them funny once everyone's senses of humour have returned.

From Peter Boyd's comments on two of my blog posts about this, it's
clear that learnings are being applied...

o They're changing the way customer retention will be handled in
future. The company is two years old, and the first renewals are now
happening. So it's a matter of adjusting something that's not working
brilliantly. It seems that I'm not the only person who wants to just
walk into a store and get my upgrade there.

o And they are paying attention to what people are saying.
Particularly the bloggers and social media networkers. So thanks to
everyone who responded on Twitter, Facebook, and my blog.

o The Virgin website is being revamped. (In my twitchiness and
trigger-happy condition, I pounced on the email address as something
to be reviled: notsohappy@virginmobile.com. Actually, it's pretty
funny, and very cheeky. But yeah. Things do need to change. On the UK
website, mobile numbers and email addresses are freely available.)

I feel very relieved that I've been heard. And I'm more than happy at
the outcome of this whole blowup.

I'm typing this email/blog post on the unbearably gorgeous Nokia E71.
It's brand new, out of the box, and is on loan to me until Nokia
releases the N96 later this year. If I weren't so commited to my
multimedia needs, I'd be offering to buy this baby right now. And I'm
tempted, I can assure you.

Edmund Reddy is the guy I have to thank for solving this. He thought
out of the box. And came up with a way of demonstrating that my needs
had been heard.

Peter Boyd is the guy who allows Virgin to be the fast moving
giant-killer I think it is.

And I'm back to my comfortable role as a volunteer Virgin Mobile
evangelist. My bill is between 30% and 50% lower every month than my
Vodacom Talk 500 package was. And I use my phone more now than I used
to.

And the only time I have ever had bad service was in this upgrade process.

And the reasons for that are being dealt with. I'm happy to remain a
Virgin user.

Thank you, Eddie. I'm sorry I misunderstood you. And I'm sorry I
berated you on my blog and to your boss. I was wrong.

Thank you Peter.

Blue skies
Love
Roy

--
------------------------------------------------
ROY BLUMENTHAL
Visual Facilitator, Illustrator, Writer, Director

Professional member of the Professional Speakers Association of
Southern Africa: http://snipurl.com/psasa-profile

Mobile: +27 74 104 6386
Fax: 086 512 2580 (South African calls only)

Email: royblumenthal@gmail.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/royblumenthal
Blog: http://schmucknews.blogspot.com

Visual Facilitation: http://snipurl.com/visualfacilitation
Illustrations: http://snipurl.com/SchmuckGallery
------------------------------------------------

Fwd: Feedback and time to chat/meet

Hiya Peter...

Sadly, this saga continues. I think it must be pretty tough being in
your shoes right now. Virgin Mobile can't be the easiest place in the
world to run with your people continually dropping the ball.

Eddie phoned this morning, and left a message letting me know that
there were some exciting options he'd like to discuss with me. I was
shooting my promo at the time, so was only able to get back to him
much later.

When I spoke to him, he made the very kind offer of letting me have a
loan N95 until the N96 is released later this year.

That sounded generous and awesome, and I was pretty chuffed about it.
We arranged for me to pop round the Virgin Mobile office later in the
day, and he'd give me the phone.

When I got there, I realised that I didn't know where to park. So
Eddie suggested I just wait outside the building. Which I did. He then
came down and met me at my car. He had a phone and charger with him.

The phone is an N81.

I feel like I was rushed and pressured into taking a phone I have
absolutely no use for. I was in traffic. And there were cars coming
and going. And Eddie even pointed out that I was blocking the exit for
a car. He pretty much shooed me off.

He handed the phone through the window, and pointed out that the phone
was damaged -- scratches on it, and a cracked top-right corner. I
signed the release form. I have to say that in retrospect, I have no
idea why I even allowed it into my car.

I drove away feeling as though I'd just taken part in a Hillbrow drug deal.

Before I even got home, I was emailing Eddie from my current phone,
saying I'm returning the phone tomorrow.

Peter... I don't know what's happening with your company. Either you
sanctioned Eddie's handing me an old, cracked, N81, or you didn't.

If you did, then I don't know what to say to you. Except that this is
not a solution to the shoddy service I've received in this entire
rigmarole.

If you didn't sanction this, then your people are pretty much doing
their best to shut your business down. And I imagine that you're
probably spitting mad right now. I hope so.

My instinct right now is to cut my losses with Virgin Mobile, and just
go elsewhere. But my girlfriend says sense must prevail. You went out
of your way to take control of this situation. You did so on a Sunday.
And I owe you the respect of honouring your intention.

But Peter, this cycle of poor attitude and poor service and corner
cutting has to stop.

I'd also like answers about what happened with Mark Jackson. Why
didn't he contact me over the weekend? Why didn't he call me back to
give me a solution to getting my phone on Friday already? Why did
Na'eem not get back to me? Why did Eddie give me a broken old phone
when he promised me a Nokia N95?

I don't know that I can trust your company. And I'm mystified at how
this nonsense can be happening.

This email to you is also going straight to my blog. My modus operandi
is to work with as much openness as I can.

Thanks
Roy

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Roy Blumenthal royblumenthal@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:33:24 +0030
Subject: Re: Feedback and time to chat/meet
To: Edmund Reddy Edmund.Reddy@virginmobile.co.za

Hi Eddie...

Thanks for the N81. But dude... It's useless to me. I'll be bringing
it back tomorrow morning.

I've got a meeting in Rosebank ending at 10. So if you're in the
office around 10.30, I'll pop round and hand it back.

Eddie... This phone isn't even close to a top of the range Nokia. It's
an old, cracked, last generation phone. No, dude. This leaves a quite
a bad taste. Let's sort this out properly.

If you're going to give me a loan unit, please make it an N95. Or
let's call it all quits. And I'll go to another provider.

Thanks. Roy

On 9/15/08, Edmund Reddy <Edmund.Reddy@virginmobile.co.za> wrote:
>
> Hi Roy,
>
> I have just tried to call you on your mobile, thought I might have some
> luck with getting hold of you. I must really apologize for the
> experience you have encountered whilst trying to get another mobile.
>
> After having a chat with Pete, I can say that we do have some options
> for you regarding the new handset.
>
> Pete has been kind enough to get you a loan unit, most likely one of the
> top handsets in the Nokia range, that you can use in the interim as the
> Nokia N96 will only be available towards the end of this year.
>
> I can however arrange the Nokia N95 and will be more than happy to get
> it to you by close of business today. I certainly do hope that we can
> mend the relationship with you.
>
> Regards,
> Edmund Reddy
> 0116765500
------------------------------------------------
ROY BLUMENTHAL
Visual Facilitator, Illustrator, Writer, Director

Professional member of the Professional Speakers Association of
Southern Africa: http://snipurl.com/psasa-profile

Mobile: +27 74 104 6386
Fax: 086 512 2580 (South African calls only)

Email: royblumenthal@gmail.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/royblumenthal
Blog: http://schmucknews.blogspot.com

Visual Facilitation: http://snipurl.com/visualfacilitation
Illustrations: http://snipurl.com/SchmuckGallery
------------------------------------------------

2008-09-15 Roy Blumenthal & Mandlakazi Mpahlwa -- CNBC AFRICA -- Kaleidoscope

2008-09-15 Roy Blumenthal & Mandlakazi Mpahlwa -- CNBC AFRICA -- Kaleidoscope, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

Mandla is the presenter of Kaleidoscope on CNBC AFRICA. As of the 4th of October, I'll be a 'co-host' on the show. Mandla will do the interviews. And I'll be interpreting the interviews in pictures. Live. In the studio.

This pic forms part of a promo we're creating for the show. We'll be shooting the whole day today (Monday). And I'll zap the finished promo online once the editors have sunk their fangs into the footage.

This pic was made in ArtRage 2.5 on my Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc.

The only customer feedback address on Virgin Mobile South Africa is 'notthathappy@virginmobile.co.za' -- lots of unhappy clients?

Seems as though Virgin Mobile in South Africa knows something about the way their clients perceive them.

The email address for Customer Feedback, as shown on their site, is 'notthathappy@virginmobile.co.za'.

For anyone struggling to see the words, I'll just break them up, making them easy to read...

Not That Happy.

Which is an understatement, really. I'm a lot less than happy. And it seems from the email address and all the Twitter responses that I'm not alone in feeling this.

Virgin UK -- Fwd: Please see my blog post about why Virgin Mobile South Africa is losing my business

Hiya Simon and Jo...

I've just blogged about some intensely shoddy service I received from Virgin Mobile in South Africa. Someone commenting on the blog post found your details on the UK site. So I thought it would be appropriate for you to know what's being done to your brand here in South Africa.

It mystifies me that the people I've been dealing with have been unable, unwilling, or unmotivated to escalate my trouble up to a level of competence, where it could have been dealt with.

This started out with my girlfriend switching to Virgin thanks to me. We both went in-store to purchase new Nokia N95 handsets. She was able to get one there and then. I was told I had to do the deal with Virgin Mobile Telesales, since I was already a customer. The rule, as it was explained to me, was that I could only buy a phone instore if I were willing to take a new contract, with a new phone number.

Strike one against Virgin Mobile South Africa.

Then I went through the exciting process of ordering a phone via telesales. Creason assured me the phone was on its way. A week later, and I was told that Creason didn't submit the order.

Strike two against Virgin Mobile South Africa.

Yesterday, I had a phone conversation with Mark Jackson, apparently the head of customer complaints. I asked for my phone to be delivered yesterday afternoon by close of play. He promised to get back to me with confirmation of that. And didn't.

Strike three against Virgin Mobile South Africa.

The final straw came with this morning's incompetence with one of the call centre supervisors -- Jacob Lesufi. He steadfastly refused to contact Mark Jackson at my request. And has effectively lost Virgin my business.

The interesting thing about all of this is not the loss of my business. I'm sure I'm a VERY small cog in a very big wheel. My business is surely trivial in the scheme of things. What's interesting is that I have shared my experience on Twitter and Facebook and my blog. And it appears as though Virgin Mobile in South Africa is now finding itself in the centre of a feeding frenzy.

The trouble with characters like Jacob Lesufi and Mark Jackson is that they really have no idea how potentially damaging an interaction can be. In today's networked, connected, instant-chat world, the sphere of influence of one individual is a lot more widespread than one might imagine.

I'm hoping that contacting you will do two things:

1. Prevent Virgin Mobile South Africa from losing my business (though that's VERY doubtful; my mind is pretty much made up -- the treatment I've received is shoddy, to say the very least, and actually infuriating).

2. Give you some insight into what's happening with the Virgin brand here in South Africa. I'm sure you'll want to take steps to prevent this kind of debacle from happening again.

It's telling to me that your names, email addresses and mobile numbers are freely available on your website. Whereas the South African website simply offers a fax number, a generic email address, and the call centre number. Not a good sign.

Thanks for reading this. And I wish you a happy weekend.

(By the way... if this situation is to be resolved, it really has to be done today (Saturday), or tomorrow. I'm not available on Monday, as we're shooting a promo for a weekly continent-wide business television show that I'm co-anchoring as of October 4. The show is called Kaleidoscope, and it's on CNBC AFRICA.)

Blue skies
love
Roy

PS: I haven't even received an automated confirmation email from 'notthathappy@virginmobile.co.za. Shoddy? Yeah. I reckon.

PPS: Enclosed is a screen shot of some of the responses I've received on Twitter.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Roy Blumenthal <royblumenthal@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 10:22 AM
Subject: Please see my blog post about why Virgin is losing my business
To: notthathappy@virginmobile.co.za

Hiya Folks...

Please see my blog post about why Virgin is losing my business.

http://schmucknews.blogspot.com/2008/09/virgin-mobile-south-africa-incompetence.html

Three people are primarily responsible for this mess:

• Mark Jackson for not keeping his promises.
• Jacob Lesufi for refusing to call Mark.
• Creason for not placing my original order.

The blog post names and shames your people. And outlines the chronology.

I've had THE most shocking lack of customer service from you guys. It mystifies me. Completely.

I will be ending my relationship with Virgin as soon as I've sorted out a deal with another provider.

Blue skies
love
Roy
--
------------------------------------------------
ROY BLUMENTHAL
Visual Facilitator, Illustrator, Writer, Director

Professional member of the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa: http://snipurl.com/psasa-profile

Mobile: +27 74 104 6386
Fax: 086 512 2580 (South African calls only)

Email: royblumenthal@gmail.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/royblumenthal
Blog: http://schmucknews.blogspot.com

Visual Facilitation: http://snipurl.com/visualfacilitation
Illustrations: http://snipurl.com/SchmuckGallery
------------------------------------------------

--
------------------------------------------------
ROY BLUMENTHAL
Visual Facilitator, Illustrator, Writer, Director

Professional member of the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa: http://snipurl.com/psasa-profile

Mobile: +27 74 104 6386
Fax: 086 512 2580 (South African calls only)

Email: royblumenthal@gmail.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/royblumenthal
Blog: http://schmucknews.blogspot.com

Visual Facilitation: http://snipurl.com/visualfacilitation
Illustrations: http://snipurl.com/SchmuckGallery
------------------------------------------------

Virgin Mobile South Africa -- incompetence exemplified

1. I've been a Virgin Mobile customer for two years. (Was with Vodacom for 12 years prior.)

2. I want a new phone. A Nokia N95, to be precise.

3. Virgin REQUIRES me to purchase my new handset through their call centre, if I want to retain my phone number.

4. So, I order one. From Creason. I go through the whole process, and he says it'll be with me in 5 working days.

5. The days pass. I call to find out where my phone is.

6. Whoops. Creason didn't PLACE the order for some reason.

7. Noone can help me. They can't explain why it happened. They refuse to escalate my problem.

8. Eventually, I'm told that the head of Customer Complaints, Mark Jackson will call me at 8am the next morning (Thursday September 11).

9. Mark Jackson calls me mid-morning of Thursday, while I'm doing a visual facilitation. So I can't take his call.

10. I call back at 1pm, but he's at a function. So I speak to Na'eem.

11. Na'eem apologises for the mess-up, and asks me to speak to Eugene, a sales rep. I tell Na'eem that I want the phone the next day. He says he'll sort it out with the courier company they use, and that they'll expedite the delivery.

12. Eugene processes my NEW order, and tells me that it'll take 5 working days to get the phone to me.

13. I say that Na'eem is arranging to have it expedited. Eugene says that he'll just confirm that, and will get back to me within two minutes.

14. Thirty minutes later, I call back. I ask to speak to Eugene. He's on lunch. I ask to speak to Na'eem.

15. Na'eem apologises, confirms that the order has been placed, confirms that the delivery will be expedited, and assures me that he will call me first thing in the morning on Friday morning to confirm that delivery will take place that day.

16. At 11:30 on Friday 12 Sept, I call Na'eem. Whooops. He's waiting for confirmation from the courier company and will get back to me within half an hour.

17. Na'eem doesn't get back to me within half an hour. I call back. He's not there.

18. I speak to Mark Jackson. Mark tells me that Na'eem has gone on a team building exercise. He apologises for the fact that Na'eem has dropped the ball, and promises to deal with the situation.

19. I tell Mark that I would like to have the phone by close of play that day, as promised. He tells me that it's in the hands of the courier company, and that he'll follow up with them, and come back to me before close of play on Friday with confirmation from them that I'll have my phone. He promises to follow it up on Monday if he can't get it sorted on Friday.

20. I say that Monday is too late, and that I'll be terminating my dealings with Virgin if he can't sort something out. He understands, and reiterates that he'll call me back on Friday afternoon with an answer.

21. Mark Jackson doesn't call me back. He's dropped the ball.

22. Saturday morning, 8:50am, I phone the call centre. I speak to Zizi. She's not authorised to make a decision. So she puts me through to Jacob Lesufi, her supervisor at the call centre.

23. I ask Jacob if he's in a position to make a decision about how to retain me as a customer. He asks me for details of my question before he can answer. Good call on his part. I explain the situation to him. I say this: 'Jacob, the only way Virgin can retain my business is for me to have a Nokia N95 in my hands by 12 noon today. I don't mind going to the Sandton store to pick it up. Can you make a decision to make this happen?'

24. Jacob loses the plot completely. He starts explaining to me that the courier has the phone, that he can't do anything about it, that I'll have to wait till Monday.

25. I tell him that he doesn't need to explain anything to me. That he just needs to put me through to someone who CAN make it happen.

26. He tells me that there's noone in the office today, that it's a Saturday, that he's the most senior person there, that I'll have to wait till Monday.

27. I ask him who his boss is. It's Mark Jackson. I ask him to put me on hold, phone Mark Jackson, and patch me through to Mark.

28. He tells me it's impossible to do. I ask him why. He tells me it's because I refuse to listen to him. And I eventually give him a count of ten to put me on hold. Which he doesn't do. I end the call.

29. I phone the call centre again. And I speak to a call centre operative with a garbled name. I say, 'Please can you call Mark Jackson on his cellphone, and ask him to call me back within ten minutes.' She says, 'Who is Mark Jackson? Does he work here?' I say, 'He's your boss.' She says, 'Oh. Mark Jackson.' She agrees to give him my message. I say, 'It's now 9:11. Please ask Mark to call me back by 9:21.'

30. At 9:30, I call the call centre. My call is dropped three times in a row.

31. I get through on the fourth attempt. It's Zizi on the other end of the line. I ask her if Mark Jackson has been given my message. 'No,' she says, 'Jacob decided not to phone him.' I say, 'Well then Jacob is responsible for Virgin losing my business if I don't get my phone in my hands by 12 noon today.' She says, 'No, he's not responsible--' I say, 'That's fine. I'm blogging about this as we speak. And it's all going online. Please do the following... put me on hold, and have a discussion amongst yourselves... and all you have to do is decide whether or not you will phone Mark Jackson and let him have my message. That's all you have to do. So... put me on hold, have your discussion, make your decision, and come back to me with your answer. I'll wait.'

32. I'm on hold for ten minutes.

33. Zizi comes back to me. 'Thank you for your patience. Mark says he will be phoning you back.'

34. I say, 'When will Mark phone me back?'

35. Zizi says, 'I can't give you a time frame.' I say, 'It's now 9:40am. Please ask Mark to phone me back by 10.' She says, 'I can't give you a timeframe.' I say, 'Zizi, you don't have to give me a timeframe. I'm asking you to give Mark MY timeframe. Please ask Mark to call me back by 10.' She says, 'Okay. I'll give him that message.'

36. It's now 10am. No word from Mark Jackson. I wonder if he thought I meant 10 tonight?

VIDEO: Keith Wilmot Coca-Cola -- Roy Testimonial

VIDEO: Keith Wilmot Coca-Cola -- Roy Testimonial
Originally uploaded by royblumenthal

Yesterday I did a second visual facilitation session for Coca-Cola.

Hosting the sessions was Keith Wilmot, the Global Director: Insights, Ideas, & Creativity, The Coca-Cola Company.

He and his team (John and Enzo) were impressed with what I contributed to the sessions.

And Keith gave me an audio testimonial which I recorded on my cellphone.

I made a sketch of him. Coloured it in ArtRage. Popped it into CrazyTalk. And with a whole bunch of intermediary programmes, I got the audio from my phone into the animation tool.

I exported the animation with a green-screen background.

This allowed me to create captions in Photoshop CS3, and pull them into my editing package...

Adobe Premiere Pro was the tool I used to pull everything together.

Creating this little 20-second testimonial video took about a day's worth of work.

Work that I believe is fully justified. Cos it's given me the workflow to be able to make animated video testimonials of all of my visual facilitations.

I hope you enjoy it.

2008-09-11 Zuma Assumes the Position

2008-09-11 Zuma Assumes the Position, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

Sometime during the course of Friday the 12th of September 2008, Jacob Zuma will learn his fate.

Along with him, South Africa will also learn its fate.

If Zuma has his corruption charges dropped (like his trousers), he will become the next South African president, and the next African despot.

If he faces trial, South Africa gets a brief reprieve from certain calamity. It's brief because the man might still somehow evade justice on some or other technicalities.

This cartoon is based on an idea tweeted to me by Gustav, a Twitter bud. I'm not mentioning his surname, cos his version was a lot less inflammatory. And I simply don't want HIM getting killed by mad Zuma supporters thanks to MY crazy over-the-topness.

The other influence for this cartoon comes from the recent Zapiro editorial cartoon in the Sunday Times in which he shows Zuma getting ready to rape Justice as she is held down by four of his cronies in the ANC and SACP.

Zapiro took some serious heat for that cartoon. I'll take almost no heat, cos I simply don't have the same viewership as he does. Still... I hope this causes at least a slight tremor.

This pic started off as a sketch in my Moleskine notebook, after I interpreted Gustav's Tweeted suggestion. I then scanned it, and brought it into ArtRage 2.5. I coloured and manipulated the pic slightly. All on my overheating Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc.

We Have to Walk Our Talk to be Unleashed

Unleashed, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

Boniface showed us a Covey video from THE EIGHTH HABIT. In it, there's a dude called Max. And a dog called Max. The video concludes by showing the parallels between Max the dog and Max the dude.

Made in realtime during a workshop on my Toshiba Tecra M4 tablet pc using ArtRage 2.5.