Tuesday, September 11, 2018

(215) Murphy's Manor: Computer Sex is Safe




I hardly know where to start commenting on this strip, which suggests the computer as a means of avoiding AIDS (HTLV-III).

It's so outdated -- but if you swap a flash drive for the 5" floppy disk, and 64 kbits for 16, the story stills holds up.

But conspicuously absent is the internet!

The one cutting edge technology I had that is still cutting edge is the "input-output" booth. As in 1986, the imagination boggles at what that could be. Some kind of virtual reality setup?

No doubt the booth would be a marketing opportunity. You think Star Wars, for instance, revolves around merchandising now? How about a Star Wars Play Station VR sex module? Just for starters.

With the booth's internet connection,   Microsoft,  Amazon,  Google, and Facebook would track a complete record of your VR fantasies.

How safe does computer sex look now?





Monday, May 7, 2018

(214) Murphy's Manor -- The New Saturday Night Orgy

Panel 2 was my favorite part of this strip -- though it puts the reader a little off balance for the panel 4 punch line. 

Did gay Saturday night orgy clubs really exist, or were they just an urban legend? I think they did, but were not very common. I can only say I was never invited to one, and that's for the best.


Sunday, April 8, 2018

(213) Murphy's Manor - TV Spreads HIDS

When you were a kid, did your mother get after you get off your butt, turn off the TV,  and go outside for fresh air and exercise?

Turns out, she was right!



Thursday, March 8, 2018

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

(210) Murphy's Manor - Jeff Sorensen, Professor of Safe Sex

Nice work if you can get it.

Actually, being a "Safe Sex Educator" was a genuine position, usually in Health Departments or social service non profits.  Jeff's dreaming about giving live demos would have been viewed as ... unprofessional.

Sorry, Jeff, but you're going to make do with a banana and a condom.



Tuesday, March 6, 2018

(209) Murphy's Manor - "The Blind Lead the Blind"

Dark glasses were de rigueur for cruising. They make the wearer look cool, and keep the wearer from seeing what he's going to spend the night with.


Friday, February 23, 2018

(208) Murphy's Manor "Standing on the Corner, Watchin' ...."

"You can't go to jail for what you're thinking," goes Frank Loesser's original lyric.

Wanna bet?

In the 1970s, Rapping Paper listed Toledo's hot cruisy areas. I think one was outside the entrance to JC Penney's at Franklin Park Mall. Is this really the same Toledo I live in?

It's fun to joke about, but most cruising sprung from an active imagination. But if this post finds you admiring the pulchritude at JC Penney's, please tell us all about it!

But fer ghodssake, lose the binoculars!


Friday, February 16, 2018

(207) Murphy's Manor - Gustav Mauler

Sometimes the Murphy's Manor characters raise philosophical discussions without really meaning to.

Meanwhile,  I invite you to picture the wrestling match as descibed. I think it tops any gay wrestling vid you might find on Youtube. (If not, send links!)


Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Monday, February 12, 2018

(205) Murphy's Manor - "The Medium is the Message"

For all the good his sexy body, good looks, and outgoing personality do him, even Jeff has problems attracting guys. So he tries a gimmick. Actually, he tried a lot of gimmicks, each sillier than the last.

Historical note. I guess this will date me, but I kind of liked cute guys wearing half length shirts. Yes I know it's so 1970s. Don't get me started about current men's swimming suit designs...



Saturday, February 10, 2018

(204) Murphy's Manor - Kinkiness Has its Limits!

Buck up, Jeff. I never even got invited to THAT kind of a party!



(203) Murphy's Manor - Mayor Meg Keeps the Baths Open

Hey, remember this is fiction. Rebranding themselves as health clubs that promoted safe sex is actually what a many of the gay bath houses did.

Bear in mind that in Ohio, the mayor of a municipality does not have the power to (directly) take the action that Meg did.



Saturday, January 20, 2018

(202) Murphy's Manor - No Sex till they Cure AIDS

Boy did Jeff have a long wait. Boy does Jeff still have a long wait. How long has it been? Long enough for VHS tapes to become obsolete in favor of DVDs. Long enough for DVDs to become obsolete in their turn to Blu-Ray videos. And long enough for Blu-Rays to become obsolete in favor of whatever high technology comes next? 

That's two generations of video technology and counting. If our society put as much research toward curing AIDS as it does into home entertainment, would AIDS be obsolete by now? 

Hasn't it been long enough?