We're eagerly anticipating the return of our favorite kinky cabaret duo, The Wet Spots, as they pop into town as part of a mini-East Coast tour. If you happen to find yourself in either NYC or Washington, DC , be sure to check them out and count the experience as one major pay-back for battling weeks and weeks of steamy humidity.
Until then - and for everyone else - enjoy a breezy bit of their tropical humor:
Rachel Kramer Bussel, whose previous literary offerings, He's On Top/She's On Top graced the swag bags for the CineKink kick-off party back in February, has a brand, er, spanking new opus available...Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica. And, with her finger ever on the pulse of the latest publishing trends, she's just put out a trailer for the book:
Well, sorta. We're still caught up in processing a long, hot weekend of cavorting in the woods with a bunch of kinksters at Leather Retreat.
For a rough approximation of how we spent our time off - and to while away the yearning moments until our full return - enjoy a nice revisit with Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal's 'Caligula,' briefly available again on YouTube and good research fodder the next time you require a costume for a Roman orgytoga party orgy:
From the Brighton Port Authority, the music video for Toe Jam, featuring a little David Byrne, some Dizzee Rascal, lots more 1970s aesthetics and inspiration to hire a choreographer for our next sex party!
The recap from the network: As American celebrates the bicentennial, Susan and Bruce Miller move their family to an affluent Chicago suburb. They are not only welcomed to the chick (sic) neighborhood, but also the social and sexual revolution prevailing throughout the decade. They find out that their neighbors share more than a view of Lake Michigan. Initially bewildered by their new surroundings, Susan and Bruce come to realize that their promiscuous neighbors present a tantalizing offer that may provide the excitement their marriage craves.
Indeed. There's nothing that spices things up like a few promiscuous neighbors, so take a gander - and then discuss!
What do you get when you mix madcap Jewish humor with the Superstars of Seventies porn?
Find out when CineKink proudly sponsors a Kinky Jews presentation of A Touch of Genie, director Joe Sarno's long-lost tribute to a boyhood spent at raucous Lower East Side comedies (and an adulthood spent writing and directing some of the finest adult films to ever grace a grindhouse screen).
From the After Hours Cinema description of their recently restored classic: "Poor Melvin! His meddling mother is making him nutz. His only relief is the covert afternoons he spends at New York's notorious Times Square porn theaters. One day, Melvin discovers a genie in a bottle. What does he wish? To become his favorite porno superstars and indulge in wild sexual adventures with the sexiest women in sex film."
Starring Doug Stone as Melvin Finkelfarb and Ultramax - the First Lady of New York Porn! - as his yiddishe mama, along with over-the-top performances by porno greats Harry Reems, Tina Russell and Eric Edwards!
So, while we're of course enraptured by the right-minded arguments of equality and fairness that surrounds this crucial advance, and there are many videos that might bring us to the edge of sincere choked-upped-ness, given that afterall, this is all really about the basic and simple ability to be publicly and legally joined with the a person you love, we'd also like to say, with this clip from the gay wedding episode of Party, Party - welcome to the freak show!
We're still feeling a little jet-laggy and discombulated from our trip west and subsequent weather flip-flops. But our recent time back at home sorting through the family archives (aka clutter in the basement) triggered the recollection that one of our very first television idols was Batman. And for a time, we even had his picture tacked to the wall above our bed.
What this might mean in terms of early fetish imprints, we can only begin to speculate - see also The Sound of Music - but the thought did provide impetus to spend a good chunk of a rainy Monday morning procrastinating amongst the nostalgic offerings on YouTube.
Herewith, our early girl-crush, Batgirl, in her introduction to the series - along with the bemused wondering why our childhood Halloween rendition of her didn't somehow incorporate purple latex.
Many congratulations to CineKink alum Audacia Ray, whose new sexuality blog, Naked City, debuted this week at The Village Voice. While Audacia predicts that the blog will evolve over time, one feature that's already up and running is Naked City TV, a weekly video show intended to "document and explore the personal and professional lives of people for whom sexuality is central."
This week's episode, a profile of Porno Jim (CineKink '08/Hookin' Up) and his live, porn-clip show, manages to capture both the engaging frenetics of Jim's evangelistic presentations - and a few graphic moments of live-action Smurf-on-Smurf pornography:
Snagged from Viviane's Sex Carnival, a jolly and forthright presentation on the benefits and how-to of regularly checking for testicular cancer, as demonstrated by the host of the UK programme Embarrasing Illnesses and a freshly scrubbed rugby team. (Yes, there are naughty bits!)
And this, recently forwarded by CineKinkster's mum, just one selection from an email entitled "What's Under Those Kilts?"
In a comprehensive profile on indieWire about the changing landscape of underground festivals in the US, organizers point to new distribution technologies that make many of the works they showcase more readily accessible - a consideration also looming for kinky film festivals, no doubt. But they also question the nebulous definition of the genre itself:
"What is 'underground' film anyway?" wondered Ed Halter, the former director of NYUFF and one of this year's special curators. "The term 'underground' is problematic because most people are under the misconception that 'underground, is synonymous with 'shock' cinema."
In the comments to the article, filmmaker Ralph Ackerman puts the query in to some historical perspective:
I started making experimental films in 1963 and at that time we called it underground cinema because if we showed our films in the public we were always arrested for being obscene etc... Things are so mild now. Kenneth Anger with his trangressive films faced the coops (sic) often."
We're slowly emerging from our immediate post-CineKink NYC coma, which seemed to descend upon us sometime shortly following the wrap of another fabulous - seriously! - AfterGlow!
A bit more coffee, then stay tuned for news on all of the 2008 CineKink award winners, we promise. But meantime, feel free to amuse withself with just one of the year's festival trailers, the ever-popular Lolita & Boymeat Watch "2 Girls, 1 Cup":
So, as promised to those very intrepid souls who braved a blustery mix of rain and snow to pack the Pioneer Theater - and for the rest of you pussies who stayed home, all cozy and warm - here it is!
Kirby is, of course, a two-time CineKink alum, whose previous offerings with us include last festival's award-winning Do You Take It...? and the very popular Polly Wally in 2005.
Trolling around YouTube on strictly CineKink-programming-related business, we once again found ourselves distracted and set off our course, this time with the latest from our friends at the WGA.
Herewith, Episode #34 of Speechless Hollywood, this one featuring our long-time crush-object, Maggie Gyllenhaal (Secretary, CineKink Tribute/2003), cooling her heels with a couple of other young lovelies, presented solely in the interest of worker solidarity:
As long as we're so busy avoiding resolutions, here's still another, an old favorite. And our best wishes for a splendid 2008, one full of happy surprises!
If we actually believed in making resolutions, we'd likely resolve to make more posts that didn't involve just snagging a video from somebody else's blog, which seems to be our definite MO of late.
But there's plenty of time to be substantive in 2008. Meantime, a little New Year's hair of the dog and still another scantily clad woman - albeit this time cross-dressingly and somewhat gender-bendingly - presented in the interest of selling us something.
Absolutely work-safe and not at all CineKinky, we're just happy to have made it out of the snow and away from O'Hare airport, all settled in to a king-sized bed for the International Film Festival Summit.
We're only into day #2 of the New York Leather Weekend + NYC Poly Pride mash-up - with a near week of events to go - and we're starting to get that tickling in the throat kind of thing that typically coincides with a change in the seasons.
Maybe in addition to our customary vitamin C + echinacea preventative mash-up, we'll power up with a bit of this?
In this latest from CineKink alum, David Quantic, follow the cut-throat auditions for Showbears, just one of several fantastical cinema-to-Broadway offerings in the works:
Once you're there, rummage around David's YouTube for the rest in his series of trailers for the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival - and then be sure to set your sights on the wonders of his Eargasm (CineKink/2005).
Alright, you can stop holding your breath now, your anxious anticipation is over. We're delighted to announce that our anchor event, CineKink NYC, will be moving out of the glutted fall cultural season and leaping into February - yep, it's a leap year - in our fifth annual(ish) appearance.
Get ready to jump along with us, February 26 - March 2, 2008, when we present a specially-curated program of films and videos that celebrate and explore a wide diversity of sexuality. In addition to screenings, plans also include a short film competition, awards, panels, parties and a gala kick-off fundraiser.
CineKink is currently inviting sponsors to come on board for the festival and a call for entries will go out shortly. If you're not receiving our regular updates, be sure to sign up here to get all the latest information.
Meanwhile, mark your calendars... February 26-March 2, 2008 !!!
