CineKink

>There’s nothing like a 25-hour trip home through frigid conditions to blur recent memories of a week spent knocking about spring-like Texas, especially when those recollections might have already been made hazy by a week of tequila and BBQ.

After a few days of sleep, however, it’s all starting to come back to us. We arrived in Austin to learn that our panel, Sex Scenes Stay Hard, was being touted as a “must-do” in the local media. It took us several days to tackle our resultant stage fright, but by the time we finally faced a room packed with attendees eagerly anticipating tidbits of uproariously naughty wisdom, our nerves had been reduced to a minor frog lodged at the back of our throat.

We were definitely comforted that the panel also featured other actual experts on the topic of shooting sex scenes – directors Bryan Poyser, Joe Swanberg and John Cameron Mitchell (who coyly avoided any acknowledgement of completely coopting our intended career trajectory), along with producer Lisa Thrasher of POWER UP. You can see a few video excerpts here, but generally the discussion touched upon the frequent conflict between sex and narrative, the importance of making cast comfortable and ensuring a connection between them, and the hypocrisy of a society that seemingly doesn’t question the depiction of violence, no matter how extreme, yet goes into a tizzy fit over the presence of a mere bare breast. As time flew by, the topics of ratings, obscenity laws and 2257 requirements were probably given shorter shrift than they deserve, but we’re just happy we somehow managed to work the word “cunninlingus” into the conversation, since now that we know how to pronounce it, we just can’t seem to say it often enough.

Other excitements at SXSW included meeting up with several in the flesh representatives from the CineKinkster blogroll. We probably spent more time in Austin with the lovely, cupcake-wielding Rachel Kramer Bussel than we’ve ever pulled off in NYC, after she appeared on one of the (strangely?) most controversial panels of the interactive conference, Do You Blog on the First Date? We had the pleasure of finally meeting both Violet Blue and Cory Silverberg, who were speaking on Sex and Computational Technology. (Teledildonics? Now there’s another great word!) And we encountered the delightful Seska Lee, in town for Pay Up! Should Publishers Choose the Porn Path?, whose Seska 4 Lovers was previously unknown to us, but whom we eventually recognized from an episode of HBO’s porn-related something-or-whichever.

And movies? There were marathon days of great screenings, including a few on the CineKink scouting roster: Zoo, a beautifully shot if perhaps overly tasteful retelling of one man’s death from having sex with a horse, and Pretty in the Face, a tender narrative about porn, sex toys and opening up to one’s own sexuality. But for our money, the kinkiest of them all by far was Helvetica, a documentary look at the twisted world of compulsive typography fetishists.

Many thanks to the ever-gracious Matt Dentler – how does he manage to be in so many places at the same time? – and Jarod Neece for the wonderful time and for SXSW’s sex-positive inclusivity. We’re already looking forward to coming back again next year. (Please?!?)

>Many thanks to everyone who braved the wind chill and came out for our premiere screening party at Pioneer Theater. Hot kink and hot pizza!

We were graced with the presence of a sissy gone merely semi-wild, Sissy Stephanie, which may be her weekday mode. And friends old and new packing the house.

Since it was soooo very cold, we spent extra time in the lobby, waiting for folks to arrive.

>Well, not all of them. Last night’s CineKink shindig at the Pioneer was a fabulous time, even if we didn’t have any naked people. That we know of, anyway. And it’s not like we never have naked people at our parties, but…anyway, Saturday night was the big release party for CineKink alum Audacia Ray’s brand new porn opus, The Bi Apple. A party that apparently featured many naked people.

For Audacia, who produced and moderated the panel, The State of Smut: NYC for last fall’s CineKink NYC, the new project represents her move from in front of the camera to producing and directing. As chronicled in her blog, Waxing Vixen, that move included many of the perils and tribulations one might encounter making independent movies of the non-explicit kind – excepting, of course, for all of those naked people. From a recently posted Q&A with her production manager:

This being a much smaller set, I didn’t really have the luxury of sitting around and doing any one thing for any length of time. I had all the bookkeeping responsibilities of a production manager, but when I wasn’t up to my elbows in receipts and model waivers, I was helping the PAs schlep cases of bottled water or holding the ladder for the set designer or setting up the lighting and backdrop for the photographer or installing an air conditioner or ordering lunch or, after several hours of frenetic activity, finding the coolest room in that sauna of a set that I possibly could and sitting with most of the crew in utter silence for an hour or two so that you could make smu.. er, art in a room down the hall. And occasionally bitching at the director for going overbudget.

It’s an interesting, ongoing discussion of the process and you’ll find many of Audacia’s moviemaking experiences of the past year, now moving into the distribution phase, detailed in the blog.

Along, of course, with many pictures of naked people.

>Join us for kink, pizza and beer as the Pioneer Theater welcomes us for a special “Tuesdays@7” presentation…

Tuesday, March 6th – 7 pm

Two Boots Pioneer Theater
155 E. Third Street (@ Avenue A), NYC

“The Best of CineKink”
A special screening of hot shorts deemed the very best of CineKink. The jury-selected awards were determined during the latest run of CineKink NYC, which took place October 17-22, 2006. Program includes:

A beer and pizza reception follows the screening for all ticket holders.

More info and tickets are here!

>Tune in today, Friday, March 2, as the RadioChick takes on CineKink’s Lisa Vandever in a wild game of “What’s My Perversion?!?” (Yeah, yeah – we hear you. Shouldn’t that be “What’s NOT my perversion?!?”)

The RadioChick Show on Free FM

That’s TODAY – March 2nd @ 5 pm

92.3 FM in NYC or listen via the the FreeFM website.

Call in at (866)313-FREE.

>While we still think of her most fondly as Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison from the Prime Suspect series, we’re delighted that this year’s Oscars have brought new attention to the prolific hotness that is Helen Mirren.

Of course, there’s another infamous role that most likely won’t be a topic of discussion when she has dinner with the QE2. Back during that brief era when it was a risque but acceptable move for a “legitimate” actor to appear in an explicit bit of filmmaking, Mirren portrayed Caesonia, wife of the crazed emperor and “the most promiscuous woman in Rome,” in ~~Gore Vidal’s~~ ‘Caligula’.

Perhaps instead they can chat about the bit of video that’s been making an on-again, off-again appearance around YouTube the past year, namely Trailer for a Remake of Gore Vidal’s ‘Caligula’:

From our extensive research, we understand that the trailer, featuring a stunning and good-natured Mirren, is but a spoof (or, “art”, if you really must insist). We’d like to suggest that some savvy investor consider otherwise and step forward with the funding for what could surely be Helen Mirren’s next Oscar-worthy vehicle.

>Our recent take on Black Snake Moan is part of this week’s Carnival of Cinema, over at Nehring the Edge.

Jump in for a great mix of filmic thoughts and reviews.

>We’re counting the days until our return to the Lonestar State and our eagerly-anticipated – by us, anyway – participation in the SXSW film festival panel, Sex Scenes Stay Hard:

Love scenes might be the toughest thing for a filmmaker, actors and crew to accomplish. Under play it, and the audience does not believe there is connection between the characters. Go too far, and you’ll get yourself a NC-17 rating. From behind the camera to between the sheets to behind the scenes, this roundtable will discuss what it takes to get that love connection on film and keep those scenes in the final cut.

At one point in our prior existence as a ~~young~~, ~~enterprising~~ film development sort, we actually contemplated starting our own company, to be deemed “NC-17 Productions,” with the thought of making balls-to-the-wall (so to speak) explicit, albeit narratively sophisicated fare. But then that conniving John Cameron Mitchell stole the idea and totally ran with it. Um, Shortbus … you might have heard of it? Anyway, we’re really not so bitter anymore, all we’re suggesting is that the NC-17 rating – or none at all – need not be regarded as the sign of the beast and might actually be embraced as a badge of distinction. (Then again, we did see This Film Is Not Yet Rated – at last year’s SXSW actually – and we have to concede that either can be a bit of a distribution, er, hindrance.)

It should be a jolly discussion. Moderating will be Bryan Poyser, who, among other things, directed the CineKinkster fave Dear Pillow. Rounding out the panel will be director Joe Swanberg (Hannah Takes the Stairs, LOL) and POWER UP’s Lisa Thrasher (Itty Bitty Titty Committee), along with actor Jay Brannan and director John Cameron Mitchell (yep, him again!) of Shortbus.

We’re up on Monday, March 12 @ 3pm. Drop in if you’re around!

>We were traipsing through San Francisco ourselves when we heard the news that Kink.com had purchased the city’s long-abandoned armory building for the tidy sum of $14.5 million, with the intent of spiffing it up and turning it into a production center for works both pornographic and indie. How lovely!, we thought – then turned our attention back to determining which weekend activities we’d pursue in a metropolis so apparently teeming with sex-positive joie de vivre.

But that sale has, in the words of the New York Times anyway, turned into a bit of a kerfuffle, with a group of neighborhood activists sounding the alarm – “The new owner said they would create jobs. But what kind of jobs are we talking about here?” (It should be noted that the NYT article also mentions that activist challenges, over various concerns, have helped keep the building empty for the past three decades.)

And this week the kerfuffle went meta, as Violet Blue, who, among other things is a sex columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, took on exhibited by her own employer.

From her column this week:

But the most interesting example was the presentation of unchallenged material in the form of quotes from people on the street as anti-porn pundits — with no weigh-in from pro-porn pundits. Protesters were quoted as saying, “This neighborhood is already plagued with enough violence and prostitution as it is” and “Kink degrades the neighborhood, degrades women and offers ‘dead end’ jobs that no decent person would want.” Such statements bracket the piece — with no counter-opinions about pornography — and are presented in such a way that readers could interpret opinions as fact. Kink.com was indeed quoted — but only about their use of the space.“

As to those jobs that “no decent person would want”? A few employees have weighed in on the matter on the Kink.com website’s press page.

>We figured we’d embargo this tidbit until after Valentines Day, but a thought for our gorgeous, smart, talented, witty – and did we mention gorgeous? – younger sibling currently navigating the Los Angeles dating morass… apparently things could get worse!

Enter Cast-a-Date, the “only networking, dating and casting site, exclusively for people IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY.” Seeing where it’s based, that might seem a little redundant, but – not to worry – we are comforted by the fact that it’s run by “real Hollywood Casting Directors!” (Hat-tip Defamer.)

No word yet on an alt sex version, but we’re thinking it will feature plenty of “real” Hollywood producers and supplicant wannabe screenwriters. Hot!

>SxSWing

>Would you like some pizza, little girl?

>We miss all the cool parties

>Best of CineKink @ Pioneer

>Yeah, what is our perversion?!?

>Thank you, mum, may we have another?

>It’s all a whirl

>Oh, yes, so very hard!

>Chronicling a kerfuffle

>Why don’t you have a seat right about… here?!?