“You’re not Morgan Freeman!”
The winning caption was written by Dale of Passion of the Dale, a fellow Canuckian, I might add. No, I didn’t “fix” it. I’m not that patriotic.
And those that didn’t win, not to mention those that didn’t enter the contest (shame on you!), can get a copy of Natalie d’Arbeloff’s “The God Interviews” by clicking Here.
Congratulations, Dale! I know you’ll love “The God Interviews”.
As will any cats you read it to.
Random song for the Day: “Opera Singer” – Cake
Do you remember when I blogged about receiving an autographed copy of Natalie D’Arbeloff’s book of cartoons, “The God Interviews”?
Well!
A funny thing happened….
My Betchiest of Betches, Cardiogirl, was going through some tough ol’ crap at about that time. I had this idea that reading “The God Interviews” would cheer her up. So, being the groovy-cool broad that I am, I bundled my copy up, all lovey-dovey-like and sent it to her. As a loan, as I was careful to strongly impress upon her in the post-it I stuck to the cover.
The plan was for me to pick it up when we finally meet for coffee. It would also act as somewhat of a guarantee that we would meet for coffee, wouldn’t it? Yes, it would.
I didn’t tell Cardiogirl any of this – I wanted it to be a big surprise in the mailbox.
But –
Shortly after I handed the package to Nice Post Office Lady, well… I sort of kind of already missed my book. It got worse once I got home…
I sat in my comfy chair and turned on the Ugly Lamp. Sheikh, the big, old, fluffy, orange, sneezy cat that owns me, took his cue and crawled up on my lap, snuggling down expectantly.
“Well…?” he asked.
“Well, what?” I asked back.
“Aren’t you going to read the book to me?”
How to tell him? He had sat with me, checking out those wonderful drawings, listening to me perfect my “Natalie voice” (and let me tell you that is one difficult voice to “do” – I’m still working on it), and watching intently as I turned the pages, sniffing at them.
I didn’t know what to say…
“You lost it, didn’t you?” he snorted, disgusted with me.
“I didn’t lose it.”
“Check under the laundry.”
“I didn’t lose it! I… ummm… loaned it.”
He raised his eyebrows at me.
“To who?”
“Whom,” I reprimanded, stalling.
“Don’t give me that crap. Where’s my book, Shet-bag?!” (‘Shet-bag’ is Sheikh’s new favourite word.)
So, I told him the whole story…
“Buy another one,” he said.
“Why? I’ll get it back in a couple of months!”
“I can’t wait that long. Buy another one and let Cardiogirl have the first one. I need to smell God.”
I agreed, finally, but only because I’d been thinking of doing so already. It’s not like Sheikh runs me, or anything. I mean… after all…
He’s only a cat.
So, I bought another copy, asking Natalie to send Cardiogirl one of her really wonderful self-designed postcards, letting her know that she could keep the one I’d sent her. And Natalie emailed back….
To let me know that Cardiogirl had read my original “Natalie” post and bought herself her own copy of “The God Interviews.” Behind my back.
I’d say “long story short” at this point, but I guess it’s too late for that.
We now have an extra copy of “The God Interviews”. Autographed, even!! So, with Natalie’s permission we are going to run a “caption contest” here, Where the Walls are Soft, and Over There at Cardiogirl’s place.
See that cool cartoon at the top of this post? That’s one of the panels in Natalie’s book, and she was gracious enough to send us the “uncaptioned” version, for you all to play with. Think up something cool, profound, funny, spiritual, sad…. what goes with that pic?
Leave a caption in the comments (yes, I know my comments can be a little buggery – if you get that nasty “error” page, hit refresh and it will tell you off for trying to post the same thing over again – don’t worry – I’ll get it.) Then click on over to Cardiogirl’s place and write a different one in her comments if you like. Then come back tomorrow and do it all again.
But for certain ( and for certain!) click over to Natalie’s and see what you could win (Autographed, even!!)! We will choose three finalists and the rest of you can vote for the winning caption on March 1st.
Put your Thinking Cap(tions) on!
Random Song for the Day: “Punk Rock Superstar” – Marcy Playground
I’m VERY late with this post. It is in part, a “thank you” post, and also an answer to a request.
Just after Christmas, I received from the UK, an autographed copy of Natalie d’Arbeloff’s incredible book of cartoons called “The God Interviews”. Along with it, Natalie sent a personal note on a post card she’d designed herself.
I wish I could call Natalie a “friend”. In truth, I am still too much awed by her to say such a thing. She is the epitome of “Artiste”, in my eyes. She’s doing many of the things I’m doing… except that I don’t throw my stuff out there with quite her panache. Sad to say, I’m not throwing much out “there” at all, yet. That’s soon about to change, as my comfort level of my so-called privacy expands – which it is doing, in leaps and bounds, and much more quickly than I ever believed possible.
Natalie is a writer, a cartoonist, a poet, a painter, a movie-maker, a Woman of Maturity with the Mind of a Child (that’s probably the part of her that I’m most in tune with). Most of all, to me, in everything she “puts out there”, she is A Story-Teller. And that’s how I would like to be remembered as – ummm… once I’m gone… in, oh, say, another hundred years or so. No, better make that two hundred – I have a lot left to say and do. I want to be remembered as a great Story-Teller. 😉
We have had a few email exchanges about her work and how much I admire it. Natalie is one of those “great” Artistes that seems to have an instant rapport with her fans, of which I am one, and every time she replies to a comment I’ve made on her blog, or visits mine, or sends me an email, I get just a little more star-struck. She’s a wonderful spirit, and I hope very much to meet her one day.
Now, about the request….
When my book came, I was, of course thrilled to finally hold it in my hands. I’d seen the cartoons before – she published the book from her web-published cartoon panels, after all, but to actually get to read it by flipping pages instead of clicking a mouse, well… I guess that just makes the experience more tactile. Is that an odd thing to think, Natalie? Somehow I think you would laugh out loud and say “Ex-ACT-ly!!” in that warm, rich voice you have.
I immediately emailed her to tell her I’d got it, read it… (twice already, and once to the cat) and that I was going to carry it around with me in my kitbag until I’d got it out of my system. She emailed back, pleased that I’d received it, and touched that it meant enough to me to carry it around. And she asked that I blog about it.
So, of course, I immediately set about taking pictures of the book sticking out of my kitbag. And Hilary Federwhore (the whore that she can be) just refused to cooperate, and she wouldn’t do justice to the cover at all.
So, now, late – argh, I’m blogging about it and suggesting very strongly that you all visit Natalie’s blog and take advantage of the deal she is offering for an autographed copy of “The God Interviews” which will be available until February 1st. Clicking on the photo caption of the cover, or the link in that first paragraph above will take you to Amazon if you’d like to purchase an unautographed copy.
Spend some time on her blog and click a few links to Natalie’s other work. I guarantee you a fascinating experience.
So, again, Natalie – thank you, thank you, thank you! I still love, love, love, the book (as does the cat), and I’m looking forward to purchasing more of your work in future. I still hope to see a print of your “Apples” become available – it was a great thing, watching that take shape as you created it.
Random Song for the Day: “Out of Space” – The Prodigy