I add my voice to those denouncing the Malawian government for the trial and sentencing of a gay couple.

Dear Ms Agrina Mussa...

I add my voice to those protesting the human rights abuses being perpetrated by the Malawi government against the young gay couple currently sentenced to 14 years in prison for their lifestyle choices.

Here is a link to some of the material I've read about this travesty: http://bit.ly/9nMFGZ.

I appeal to you to convey to your president my extreme displeasure at the actions of his government. And I request a reversal of the court's verdict and sentence.

Let people live their lives to the fullest, according to their own convictions.

Yours sincerely
Roy Blumenthal

PS: Please understand that this letter is appearing on my Posterous blog -- http://royblumenthal.posterous.com, as well as my Blogspot blog -- http://schmucknews.blogspot.com. I encourage readers of my blogs to voice their own disgust to you and your government by emailing you at highcommalai@telkomsa.net. (Note to protestors... The email address here is correctly spelled. There is no 'w' in the 'malai' portion of the address.)

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ROY BLUMENTHAL
Visual Facilitator, Illustrator, Writer, Director
Mobile: +27 74 104 6386
Fax: 086 512 2580 (South African calls only)
Email: royblumenthal@gmail.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/royblumenthal
Site: http://royblumenthal.com
Illustrations: http://flickr.com/royblumenthal
Professional member of the Professional Speakers Association of Southern Africa: http://www.psasouthernafrica.co.za/members/resume.asp?ID=264
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I use an Asus R1E tablet pc, sponsored by Rectron South Africa

Al Malnik

Al Malnik, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

Bizarre. Al Malnik, at one time, buddy to Michael Jackson, godfather of Blanket, Jackson's youngest child, and one-time executor of his will is now calling for cartoonists and caricaturists to make a flattering portrait of him.

At least, I THINK that's what he's doing.

I got an email from the folk at Toonpool asking for a pic of Malnik.

This is the request:

"We urgently are looking for very positive (!!!) portraits of Al Malnik (Alvin Ira Malnik), a very rich man."

Malnik is a controversial figure. Sounds kinda loser-ish to me.

Let's hope he likes my pic. I really tried to keep it flattering. Okay. Let's be honest... I didn't REALLLLLLLY try too hard to flatter. Okay... I'll admit it. I didn't try at all.

Mister Malnik... please don't ask your underworld associates to pay me a visit. Thanks.

This painting was made in ArtRage on my Rectron-sponsored Asus R1E tablet pc in the small hours of the night. No Michael Jackson was played (nor played with) in the making of this picture.

Eugene Terre'Blanche, Backstage With The Village People

Eugene Terre'Blanche, Backstage With The Village People, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

I was going to illustrate this. But when I looked for my reference pictures online, I simply HAD to do a montage.

King -- A Quick Moleskine Doodle While on the Phone 23/03/2010

King -- A Quick Moleskine Doodle While on the Phone 23/03/2010, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

So there I was, watching BATTLE ROYALE this afternoon in my home theatre, when a client called confirming a meeting. I wrote all the details down. And as the conversation continued, I drew this blobby little royal nebbish.

Jeff Eitzman -- Uber Dentist

Jeff Eitzman -- Uber Dentist -- Colour (1 of 4), originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

Thanks to @MarkStraw for recommending Jeff Eitzman to me.

Jeff's a brilliant dentist. He takes a lot of time to get to understand his patients' mouths. And then he takes the right, considered, skillfully executed action.

In November, a relatively new filling applied by 'Dentist X' in Fourways fell out. I sought opinions from friends. One bud recommended 'Dentist Y' near Cresta/Northcliff. The filling lasted exactly three days. Another bud -- the aforementioned Twitter-bud, @JackStraw -- gave me Jeff's number.

A good sign is that Jeff was booked up till February. But his mom, who runs the reception at the practice, popped me onto a cancellation list.

When I finally got a booking in mid-December, Jeff spent two hours with me, investigating WHY this problem filling kept falling out. He devised a treatment plan. Lined my cavity with a hardening substance, put a temp filling over that, and told me to come back in two months once the hardening agent had cured.

When I got back to his chair in mid-February, just before my bithday, he got to work on the real business of giving me a lasting filling. He completely reconstructed my tooth, using about four separate layers of material, including strategically-placed metal screws that he embedded in some of the substrate.

This filling is incapable of falling out. Furthermore, he constructed it in such a way that it does NOT trap food in the crevice. Previous dentists who botched this tooth also botched the crevice.

The tooth is still sensitive. But every day it's settling down more. The reason it's sensitive is cos the cavity was so deep that the drilling went very close to the nerve. Jeff's treatment philosophy begins with 'First do no harm', followed by, 'If we can save the nerve, we'll do that', followed by, 'The natural tooth material is the best material for your mouth'.

The dude is a sculptor. I recommend him fiercely.

These four pics started out as black and white drawings in my PaperBlanks Moleskine-substitute notebook. I drew them while Jeff was working in my mouth. The colour-work came later, in PhotoShop CS3.

Graeme Sacks snaps Roy in Killarney -- after Roy appeared on eNEWS CHANNEL live

Graeme Sacks (@AfricanABC) popped into Mugg & Bean in Killarney. He took this pic of me demonstrating ArtRage to an interested-party.

I've been uploading pics I made live on-air this morning at eNEWS CHANNEL. They had a special to celebrate 100 Days To The World Cup, and I was invited to do on-the-spot visual facilitation of the event.

These are the pics I made:

Pagan Pentagram Perimeter Protection

Pagan Pentagram Perimeter Protection, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

Mounted this to our wall on the morning of 31 December 2009. It's a handmade pentagram using branches from several different plants.

It's designed as part of our set of tools to keep us safe in this new year.

It's filled with white light stretching out to wherever our loved ones are.

Here's wishing you a safe and love-filled 2010.

Pate de foie Manto

Pate de foie Manto, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

Liver as a main course. With a whole bunch of stuff to make a collapsed liver even worse. And some stuff to kill a nation.

A fifth of all South Africans have HIV or AIDS right now. And that's just the cases that are known about.

Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and her AIDS denialism are responsible for South Africa having such a big problem.

Now she's dead. Can our country recover?

Made in ArtRage 3 on my Rectron-sponsored Asus R1E tablet pc.

If you'd like to use this pic for any reason whatsoever, go for it. It's released under a Creative Commons 'Attribution, Share-Alike' license.

Manto Tshabalala-Msimang Dead Dead Dead

Manto Tshabalala-Msimang Dead Dead Dead, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

She's dead and gone now.

Maybe it means South Africa has a chance to recover from the mistakes she made botching our ability to solve the AIDS crisis this country is sinking under.

Verbose? Hey. Not as verbose as Manto. The alcoholic, thieving, incompetent buffoon.

One liver transplant wasn't good enough for her. She had to continue drinking. Just had to do it.

And the first liver transplant was a stolen liver. She jumped the queue.

And the second liver that was scheduled to be given to her? Stolen too. Another jumped queue.

Am I sad that she's gone? Nah.

Am I worried that people will think ill of me for saying bad things about the dead? Nah.

Am I happy that the country might be able to get back on track? I truly don't know. I think there's a lot of evil going on in this place. Our politicians are as corrupt as it's possible to be. I think we're screwed, actually. But hey.

This pic was made in ArtRage 3 on my Rectron-sponsored Asus R1E tablet pc.

If you want to use this pic for any reason whatsoever, please go ahead. It's released under a Creative Commons 'Share-Alike, Attribution' license.

South African Santa

South African Santa, originally uploaded by royblumenthal.

A while back I had a speaking engagement for a bunch of MENSA types.

One of them... John Hofmeyr... called me a week or so after, and asked me if I'd illustrate a poem of his for a charity publication.

I agreed to do that. And this is the resulting image.

If you have a need for a unique Santa pic, please feel free to use it. It's released under a Creative Commons 'Attribution, Share-Alike' license.

I made this pic in ArtRage 2.5 and PhotoShop CS3 on my Rectron-sponsored Asus R1E tablet pc.