Web Log Archives: February 09, 2003 - February 15, 2003
Saturday, February 15, 2003
Another Valentine's Day tradition in the making: alt-weeklies listing their cities' sexiest people. Here are the sexiest people in Atlanta and Seattle, mostly twentysomethings in service jobs. Apparently I'm not the only person who develops little crushes on coffeeshop baristas.
Maria Rogers explores the booming but shadowy business of penis enlargement pills and herbal sexual stimulants.
Zoo sex tours are becoming a annual tradition at many zoos. "From gay flamingos to fish that can give themselves sex changes, animals and their love lives are giving zoos a hot draw for the slow winter season - adults-only sex tours for Valentine's Day. Zoos across the country are inviting grown-ups for cocktails and racy lectures about mating habits in the wild. The Valentine's Day events are so popular many zoos book weeks in advance."
The Honolulu Zoo runs its own event called Zoorotica. "There are the elephants, which gather around a couple after sex, trumpeting in post-coital celebration. There are the African crested porcupines, which get together in droves just once a year for a massive display of group sex. There are the playful hippos, splashing one another for attention, and the strangely flirtatious male crocodile, blowing bubbles to impress a potential mate. 'There's nothing nasty about it,' said Karen Torkildson, 46, of Honolulu, who attended Zoorotica with her husband two years ago. 'It really was sort of a romantic evening.'" More.
Nina Wu interviews San Francisco Zoo sex expert and penguin keeper Jane Tollini about the sexual proclivities of various beasts. Elsewhere, a nice (though less sex-oriented) profile of Tollini.
Acacia has filed patent infringement lawsuits against 39 internet porn companies. "Acacia's licensing drive is one of the most ambitious Internet patent claims to arise in recent years, even as claims to own rights to basic Web technologies such as frames, hyperlinks and e-commerce shopping baskets have become common. Over the past several years, the company acquired a series of patents its attorneys believe cover virtually all on-demand transmissions of compressed audio and video over the Internet, cable TV lines, satellite and wireless services." Earlier article about Acacia's patent shakedown efforts.
Tristan Taormino explains the basics of butt plugs. "A butt plug does exactly what it sounds like it does. It's designed to slide into your ass and stay put. People in our culture have grown so accustomed to everything having bells and whistles that a basic task-oriented sex toy baffles them. Sure, there are dildos that glow in the dark, vibrators that masquerade as lipsticks, and battery-operated toys with 20 different settings. But sometimes less is more, as is the case with the deceptively simple joy of the butt plug."
The Rietberg Museum in Zurich currently has an exhibition entitled "The Art of Love", containing 230 works depicting love and eroticism from a variety of cultures and historical periods. This review has four small illustrations. (Link snagged from World Sex News.)
William Leith ruminates on lesbian chic in pop culture and advertising. (Link snagged from Evie's Erotic Miscellanea.)
Village Voice porn columnist Johnny Maldoro profiles Joe Gallant, founder of NYC porn studio Black Mirror Productions, subject of the indie documentary Focus on the Dust, and teacher of a Learning Annex seminar on how to shoot porn.
Peter Goddard previews a Toronto "retro porno Valentine's Day" screening of Radley Metzger's Score, providing some good background on the film's production and Metzger's career. "Like the very last silent movies, Score is about the end of one era and at the start of another. The 1927 release of The Jazz Singer, the first real talkie, made everyone forget the 1927 release of Wings, a silent classic which went on to become the first Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards. So it was with Score and the brave new world of sex films in 1972. The release of Deep Throat and its graphic triple-X acts made a mockery of Score and its soft-core brethren." More on Radley Metzger. (Link snagged from World Sex News.)
Friday, February 14, 2003
Oh! My! God! Daze Reader is up for two Nude Bloggies! It's an honor just to be nominated, thank you, I love you all.
The New York Times Magazine ran a long feature about research into parasomnias, "defined as unwanted and involuntary behaviors during sleep." Not all that much sex, but fascinating reading.
Susan Block writes about her lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department after a SWAT team raided her TV show based on an anonymous bogus tip.
Thursday, February 13, 2003
As part of a Blogwhore challenge, Uffish has created the What kind of sex toy are you? quiz.
This quiz brought to you by Uffish Thoughts and Blogwhore 2.
Tonight on CSI: "Grissom connects two murdered male escorts to dominatrix Lady Heather." Unfair portrayal of misunderstood subculture, or campy, sleazy fun? I'm guessing both.
Betty Dodson criticizes The Vagina Monologues both for its misrepresentation of her own Bodysex Workshops and for its pervasive anti-sex ideology. "That's the main problem with 'V-Day': Women end up celebrating sexual violence and not the creative or regenerative pleasures of erotic love. Ending violence is a worthy cause and I'm all for it. But consistently equating sex with violence offers no solution."
The Baltimore City Paper runs a great interview with Hanne Blank, "Baltimore's grande dame of erotica." "People are always trying to figure out how I got into sex work from being an opera singer. And really, they're not all that different." (Thanks, Lem.)
From 2001: National Geographic profiles the annual Valentine's Day Sex Tour at the San Francisco Zoo, in which a zoo guide explains the courtship habits and sexual peccadillos of different animals. "A tortoise has a spade-shaped penis . . . I think people are really interested in that for some reason." The smooching prairie dogs are very cute. Also check out the fascinating sidebar article about "panda porn."
An Onion classic: the Valentine's Day Kids Page.
National Geographic: "It's that time of the year when romance is in the air and people everywhere are planning where and when to plant the perfect kiss: after a candlelit dinner at a fine restaurant, during a waltz on the dance floor, or in the privacy of their own home. But one thing lovers have little control over is how they'll turn their heads when they go in for the kiss. Chances are they'll turn their heads to the right, according to a German psychologist who observed the head-tilting preferences of 124 kissing couples." Personally, I consider February one of the least romantic times of the year, holidays notwithstanding.
Wednesday, February 12, 2003
Libida has three articles about sexual fantasies by Petra Zebroff and Kelly Wanika. Part One deals with some basics; a related piece offers suggestions for exploring fantasies (mostly involving products Libida sells); and Part Two takes up the issue of disturbing fantasies.
More reality TV dirt from The Smoking Gun. "Evan Marriott's brief career as an underwear model wasn't a problem. And 'Joe Millionaire' contestant Sarah Kozer's starring role in dozens of bondage and fetish films also was of no concern to Fox Television. But the network has bounced an 'American Idol' contestant because the woman once posed nude for an Internet porn site. Frenchie Davis, the 23-year-old singer canned by Fox, was a fan favorite and had been tabbed last week by Entertainment Weekly as one of the program's leading six contenders. According to a TSG source, Davis posed topless (and appeared to be masturbating) on 'Daddy's Little Girls,' a web site that purported to feature naked underage girls (which, of course, would be illegal)." Found via this Metafilter thread.
At GirlPunk.Net, Morgan Suicide writes about becoming a member and later a model at Suicide Girls. "I never imagined myself being a member of a porn site. I have no qualms with the concept of pornography, but as a feminist most of what is on the market today does not interest me at all, or even disgusts me. But after exploring SG for a while, the site seemed so different from typical porn sites to me. The girls looked real and there were many unique personalities and body types amongst them. Reading the journals were like getting a real glimpse of each girl's personality: there were tough girls, girls with attitude, kind girls, sweet girls, poets, artists, musicians, and they each shared a little of themselves and their thoughts in their journals and profiles. They weren't the kind of journals you see in 'Playboy', written only to fulfill the fantasies of the men who buy the magazine. (You know the type: 'My name is Cindi. I am 19 and I like horses and I just LOVE to give blowjobs') As a bisexual girl I also found the sets and the girls extremely appealing in their diversity. I felt an aura of real respect for the models, which is not what I expected on a porn site."
At the Spectator, Anthony Petkovich peeks into the sex lives of the rockstars via Bill Wyman's coffeetable book Rolling With The Stones and Snoop Dogg's new video Snoop Dogg’s Hustlaz: Diary of a Pimp.
At Clean Sheets, William Dean talks to travel author Dave West for a global guide to sensual vacations. A sidebar piece surveys the erotic offerings of modern Berlin.
Rachel Kramer Bussel interviews pornstar Chloe. "I have been referred to as the Linda Blair of pornography, and I take that as a compliment."
Debra Hyde writes about her visit to MoSex, with detailed and enthusiastic descriptions of notable exhibits.
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Catching up on recent stories in Wai Wai, the Japanese tabloids review.
Schoolgirls selling panties open avenue of danger. Mail order sounds like a smarter business model.
Gorgeous guys in miniskirts prowl in search of kinky johns. An intrepid straight male reporter decides to test out the illusion.
Chewed up cherries blossom again. Hymen restoration surgery is all the rage. Could this catch on in the USA with the "secondary virginity" nitwits?
Schoolgirls playing filthy game of orgy roulette. "I've heard it's just amazing. Now high schoolkids everywhere are into it (Russian Sex Roulette). It's basically just an orgy with the same number of girls and guys, but the object is for the girl to have unprotected sex with every guy there to see if she gets pregnant or not. I'd like to have a go, but I'm a bit scared." OK, Wai Wai is clearly starting to just make shit up for titillation value. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Cool kimono making a comeback -- with men! "Women had clearly been storming back toward the kimono in droves during recent years, but it's now become apparent that they're dragging the blokes with them, too. More men now see the kimono as being a chance to express themselves and some are even forgoing Western garb to wear their Japanese threads every day." Sounds comfy.
You gotta fight for your right to peddle your ass. Labor organizing among sex workers. "In the vanguard of the fight to organize those whose job it is to give jobs is Yumi Sakaguchi, a stripper who once served in Japan's pseudo military and who has since earned herself as a literary performer."
No sex blogger will ever be short of material as long as Wai Wai stays in business.
Entertaining animated guide to adventurous sexual positions from an Australian condom company.
The Palm Beach alt-weekly has a feature article about ex-pornstar Bianca Trump's nasty feud with her neighbors. (Thanks, Slay.)
The Village Voice has a special Valentine's Day "sex in the first person" section with pieces by three dozen writers.
Another nude anti-war protest, this time involving several hundred Australian women. (Just for the record, Daze Reader will happily link to nude pro-war demonstrations if someone comes across one.)
