Web Log Archives: June 09, 2002 - June 15, 2002
Thursday, June 13, 2002
Wai Wai reports on the latest Japanese dance craze, the Paco Paco Dance, which originated in the nightclubs of Nagoya. "Shukan Jitsuwa sent its hacks to Nagoya to check out the poop on the Paco Paco. They were greeted with a woman who bent over backward while thrusting her pelvis skyward. Her female partner stood in between her spread legs and they ground their crotches together. Nearby another pair of women drove their pelvises into each other and leaned back as they rocked away to the heavy beat of the music. This is apparently the most popular form of dancing the Paco Paco but other variations include riding on top and doggy style. Hundreds of women split into pairs to perform the dance, while men scream, rant and cheer into megaphones as they watch."
LA Times porn correspondent P.J. Huffstutter looks into the rising American popularity of Japanese hentai, "a genre of triple-X cartoons that explores the sexual frontiers in an incongruously childlike format." Huffstutter covers the history of hentai in Japan; the current proliferation of "more exotic and strange sub-genres, from alien hentai to demon and robot hentai"; the companies importing and distributing hentai videos in North America; and the question of whether hentai featuring childlike characters would run afoul of "virtual child pornography" laws. (Registration required now for LA Times articles.)
Slash writer Jezebel Slade has written six stories featuring Steve Jobs having sex with Bill Gates. Wired describes the series and notes qualms expressed within the slash subculture. "Compared to most of the dull material published about Jobs and Gates, these stories are a rip-roaring read. But while the stories are clearly parody, Slade's choice of using real people is controversial. Slash purists insist only fictional characters should populate the canon." Read the Jobs/Gates stories at Slade's website.
Jesse Hamlin profiles the rollicking Fat-Bottom Revue, a "fun-filled burlesque show featuring women of size" led by dancer/activist Ms. DeMeanor. "They shimmy and grind as they peel off leather, lace and boas to expose a bounty of flesh, while keeping certain vital zones covered and left to the imagination. Sometimes they get up close to willing men and women in the crowd, who pop dollar bills -- occasionally proffered from the teeth -- into undulating undergarments. 'We're having a good time and affirming our sexuality, which has been unaffirmed and made negative in the popular culture,' said Ms. D., a lively woman with a wide-hipped mermaid tattooed on her ample right thigh." (Thanks, Vann.)
This story makes me mad: A Milwaukee judge has sentenced a 49-year-old woman to thirty days in jail and five years probation for "keeping a place of prostitution." She worked as a dominatrix out of her well-equipped basement dungeon under the name Madame Venus Du Plaisir. OK, it's illegal and she got caught, but there's no reason to give jail time for a purely victimless crime, especially since this woman is raising two young grandchildren.
Gabriel García Márquez gushes over Colombian pop star Shakira. "Despite her phenomenal musical talent and marketing savvy, Shakira wouldn't be where she is today without her extraordinary maturity. It's hard to understand how such tremendous creative energy can be present in a girl who changes her hair colour every day: black yesterday, red today, green tomorrow." Damn, I don't feel so bad about all the Britney links now.
Mario Vargas Llosa reviews The Sexual Life of Catherine M., which he finds intelligent and valiant but also cold and depressing. "The book is neither a sexual stimulant nor a processed imagery of erotic ritual but an intelligent reflection, crude, unusually frank, that at moments adopts the clinical prose of a medical report. The author approaches her own sex life with the icy obsessive detail of miniaturists who build ships inside bottles or paint landscapes on the heads of pins." Vargas Llosa's ruminations on sex and literature are fascinating in their own right. (The LA Times now requires one-time free registration.)
The Supreme Court of Canada today will begin hearing a landmark case involving the banning of three children's books about gay and lesbian families. A British Columbia teacher brought the books into his classroom in 1997; the local school board banned the books after receiving complaints from some parents.
Wednesday, June 12, 2002
Lynda Barry's canine slam poet Fred Milton laments his lost testicles. Hey, Lynda Barry sells original artwork on eBay!
Julie Wiskirchen reviews a great book fair find: Burt Reynolds' 1972 novelty book Hot Line: The Letters I Get ... And Write!. The book collects lusty letters from mostly female fans followed by Burt's "pithy, double-entendre-laden responses," along with sixteen pages of photographs (many reproduced here for your retro beefcake pleasure).
Spanish experimental theater group La Fura dels Baus has a new show called simply XXX. The Guardian's Giles Tremlett writes, "XXX, as its name suggests, is about sex and, in true Fura fashion, it is unrelenting, in-your-face, graphic, hardcore, banned for the under-18s and, one suspects, would have serious problems making it into a British theatre."
Rose starts her summer vacation off right by going to a sex party with Mr. Tall.
Bazima recalls how she ended up handling a penis for the first time.
Tuesday, June 11, 2002
Ben Scuglia hobnobs with director Wash West about what makes a great porn video.
Danny at Puuba relates his amazing adventures at Erotica-LA 2002.
I've finally finally found an "almost" real doll. The only problem is it just felt so fake. The breast felt like it was full of air balloons. Like if I played too hard, the doll would explode. Or better yet, I'd smuggle crack in the breast, take her to prom, have nine silicone children, and then they'd explode. That would be a gajillion times better. I know somewhere out there, there is a hardcore breeder, with miles and miles of vast cloning fields and harvests of green-haired Jango/Bobba babes, but this was luckily not their day. Because let me tell you, on that terrible day, masturbation will then be a thing of the past.
The Washington Post has a great op-ed piece by Deborah Roffman, a longtime sex education teacher and author of Sex and Sensibility: The Thinking Parent's Guide to Talking Sense About Sex.
The [sexual] revolution had promised to liberate not only people, but the whole issue of sex, from centuries of negativity and ignorance. Sex would finally be seen as a positive, life-enhancing part of our humanity. It didn't happen. . . . If we want our children to come to think of sex as a meaningful and value-laden part of the human condition, we'll have to complete the work of a well-intentioned but long-stalled revolution. . . . We'll have to learn to articulate clearly the specific kinds of situations and relationships that we consider morally acceptable (or not), and why. We'll have to be able to spell out the specific kinds of moral values -- such as honesty, caring, responsibility, privacy, respect, mutual consideration -- that we expect them to bring to any sexual relationship, from first kisses to intercourse in its various forms.
MTV News interviewed R. Kelly about the allegations in early May, weeks before his arrest.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is investigating the parents of the then-14-year-old girl at the center of last week's sex-tape indictments against R. Kelly. Specifically, the agency has renewed its probe into whether the teenage girl's parents allowed her to have sex with the singer.
Monday, June 10, 2002
Yale Daily News sex columnist Natalie Krinsky discusses blow job etiquette, specifically the "spit or swallow?" question. Very funny piece.
First, there was the question of sweet things like care and tenderness. "If he makes you swallow, he really doesn't love or respect you." This is all fine and good, but quite frankly, when was the last time you hooked up with someone who respected you, much less loved you? High school?
A close friend of mine stated, "I spit because whenever I swallow it goes up my nose. Can you talk about that? I bet I'm not the only one with that problem." Actually, I hate to break it to you honey, you are. We are all stupider for having heard that statement, I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
Also fascinating to learn that the Yale Daily News has pop-up ads for credit cards. (Not that I'm passing judgment on other sites' advertising.) (Link snagged from Peace Dividend.)
Harvard has its own end-of-term nude run tradition known as Primal Scream. On the last day of reading period (a study week before final exams), students run a naked lap around Harvard Yard. (Link snagged from Sensual Liberation Army. Pagan Moss rocks!)
The Chronicle of Higher Education looks at college sex columnists. "Sex scribes -- almost all of them women -- often become instant celebrities on the campus. But there is scrutiny, too. A young woman who is independent, outspoken, and sexually confident might be seen as following in the hip footsteps of Carrie Bradshaw, the fictional sex columnist in HBO's Sex and the City. Or she might be scorned as sophomoric, a slut with a pen." Unfortunately, this article doesn't link to any writings by the sex columnists mentioned.
Seanbaby reviews the absoludicrous and extraordinarily unsexy 1988 instructional video Learn the Art of Dancing Dirty. (Link snagged from Supah.)
Blogger Eric Raymond at Armed and Dangerous explores why "most of the vast amounts of pornography available on the Internet leave me feeling more repelled than aroused"; examines the porn he does enjoy to determine what sets it apart; and asks "Why is there so much bad porn out there and so little good stuff?" Interesting, thoughtful essay.
Sunday, June 9, 2002
UNLV's Donna Beam Gallery currently has an exhibition by Amy Adler entitled Centerfold, which features five large-scale self-portraits in centerfold-style poses. This review describes Adler's novel technique. (Dead link removed. Apparently Las Vegas CityLife doesn't keep arts articles online after the next week's issue comes out.)
It would have been easy, and terribly obvious, to simply set up the visual world of the centerfold and shoot it with the artist as stand-in, a la Cindy Sherman (such a project would likely be dismissed as derivative of Sherman and numerous other photographers who theatrically reinvent themselves in their lenses). But what Adler has done is to take her self-portraits, then create intricate, detailed chalk-drawings based on them and rephotograph those drawings, producing a glossy cibachrome print that is rendered unique by destroying both the original photographs and the drawing. This way, Adler has it both ways: the end result is clearly an art object, the skilled cross-hatching on Adler's skin proclaiming itself as the work of a hand, while the surface and color has the feel of a magazine photo spread, a mass-media image.
An exhibition of kitschy 70s erotic art entitled "Ebisu Hiho-kan" ("Ebisu House of Secret Treasures") is on display in Tokyo. Japanese museums traditionally used "secret treasures" as euphemism for their erotic art collections. In the 1970s, many resorts created their own tacky "Hiho-kan" to lure tourists, and collector/curator Kyoichi Tsuzuki revives one such display at his gallery. (Link snagged from World Sex News.)
Lawyer Anthony Comparetto recounts an incident last weekend demonstrating the dangers of trying to make your own Girls Gone Wild-style amateur porn videos.
This past Saturday night in Ybor City, a known Tampa party spot, a 33-year-old photographer approached a girl and offered to pay her $50 to pose nude. This young woman not only agreed to the photos, but also allowed the man to videotape her and another woman having sex.
The problem was that a day later the girl's parents found out about the video and immediately called the police. The photographer arrested works for Dream Girls, an adult film production company in Tampa. The photographer then made things worse by speaking with the girl's mother and stating that he didn't know the girl was underage. The company then tried to get the parents to sign a release and then give the video of the girl to the parents.
A lawyer representing Dream Girls then called the parents and arranged a meeting with the girl's parents. The attorney offered to destroy the tape if the mother signed a release. The problem was that this woman was not the girl’s mother, but an undercover policewoman. The attorney was arrested on charges of possession of child pornography and sexual performance by a child. The police stated that the tape was felony contraband and the attorney should have turned it over to police.
Comparetto runs a site called Adult Site Law. . . . UPDATE: The St. Petersburg Times has a story about this incident with slightly more detail.
Cultural conservatives are protesting the Nickelodeon cable network's upcoming special about intolerance toward kids with same-sex parents. Linda Ellerbee hosts the special entitled "My Family Is Different," which was produced by Ellerbee's own Lucky Duck Productions. The show "features a segment in which Ellerbee talks to a panel of young teenagers, some of whose parents are same-sex partners; others whose parents are heterosexuals openly opposed to homosexuality; and still others who are the children of heterosexual parents who are not outspoken on the subject.... Also appearing with the kids is Rosie O'Donnell -- the gay parent of three adopted children -- as well as a gay New York City firefighter with kids of his own and a gay Minnesota school principal." Hatemongering cretin Jerry Falwell blasts Nickelodeon for trying to "to invade the minds and hearts of children," even though he appears in the program himself.
