While we were more than a little disappointed that the latest Bond installation, Quantum of Solace, didn't feature a reprise scene of a naked Daniel Craig tied to a chair, we at least found that our renowned appetite for men-in-suits was, er, suitably sated.
And additional solace was discovered in the beguiling form of two new Bond "girls." Gemma Arterton as the perkily British Agent Fields, whose - spoiler alert - ultimate denouement is recounted pictorally by Violet Blue. And the sultry Olga Kurylenka who, also via Violet, talks below about her role in the French thriller, The Serpent, and her enjoyment of taking part in the movie's graphic and detailed bondage scenes:
Mazel tov to one of our favorite CineKinksters, Lolita Wolf, for her prize-winning suggestion in Violet Blue's recent competition to determine the best sex-related ad campaign. Lolita's entry, last year's "Dominate Winter" interactive campaign for the Cooper Mini, which featured a cat-suit clad dominatrix encouraging the user to put the car through its paces.
Violet's criteria for the competition were pretty inclusive - by "sex-related I mean just downright sexy and hot, or incredibly clever, controversial, or just plain fun" - and a slew of tasty examples can be found in both the comments to that post and in her follow-up announcing the winners. (Both of which we've bookmarked and will be pillaging far into the future.)
Well, we're not sure how many Aspvik units it helped move. And we're way late for Violet's deadline. But for our money, our all-time favorite sex-related - and sex-positive! - ad continues to be Ikea's Neighbors.
Sincere thanks to everyone who came out for CineKink: San Francisco! It's always nice to sell out a show, but even moreso when the crowd is so enthusiastic and involved.
Rated X-static - Michael Fox, SF Weekly An orgy of celebration more than titillation, the six programs shine a flattering light on real people and real sex, with an endearing splash of art and humor.
CineKink: More Flavor - Flavorpill Whether you're crazy for leather, proudly polyamorous, or you just like to watch, CineKink's popular, perverse film series educates while it titillates.
While we generally prefer to think of Sundance as the PG-13 rated CineKink, we're always a sucker for the sight of our name in print, plus an opportunity to wax rhapasodic about our favorite subject... kinky cinema!
Have Highbrow Porn, Will Travel Violet Blue investigates CineKink, the X-rated Sundance - SF Gate ... they do make good porn; it's just not terribly easy to find amid all the noise and hype, online and off -- let alone the kind of erotic cinema that film fans would dig (or get off to). That's where Lisa Vandever comes in. A producer and consultant with more than fifteen years' experience in film and television, Vandever founded the nationally touring, sexually explicit (and very popular) film festival CineKink in 2002. The festival selects, awards and tours sex-positive, edgy and, especially, arousing film and television selections from mainstream porn to indies, Hollywood and beyond.
Going from CineKink to SXSW to Dark Odyssey has been a bit of a gauntlet - a gauntlet of pleasure, to be sure, but now that we're at the end of it, our body, sensing a respite, seems to be flirting heavily with what is generally known as the common cold. But, dammit, not before we get out this too-long-delayed SXSW recap, even through a Nyquil haze...
You can take a listen to the podcast here, but our panel, The Porn Police: Know The Rules, went off well and we managed to cram a ridiculous amount of somewhat tedious 2257 detail into our alloted hour. In addition toyours truly, the speakers included Violet Blue, deftly illustrating how the regulations play out in the real world and the problems they present for artists on both sides of the camera, attorney Alan Levy, keeping us on track with which part of the law stipulates what - and what that might actually mean in the day-to-day - and director Joe Swanberg seeming to grow increasingly consternated with the realization of how the rules could well apply to his own, er, body of work. (Lascivious display of nudity, anyone?!)
Bottom line - for all media makers working with depictions of sexual conduct, both actual and simulated (what's that?), it represents another area of calculated risk - one that will warrant further discussion in the months ahead. While the danger is probably slim for most, it's still critical to know the rules rather than blithely plowing ahead and hoping for the best.
Film offerings we managed to catch included Bi The Way, a look at the sexual inclinations of the so-called "whatever generation," Obscene, a documentary profile of the colorful Grove Press publisher, Barney Rosset, and the superb Sex Positive, exploring the life of activist Richard Berkowitz and his critical role in the now taken-for-granted concept of safe sex.
And, not quite sex, but about as close as you can get armed only with a Handywipe, we enjoyed reprised BBQ revelations at Iron Works and - well worth the trek out to Driftwood - Salt Lick!
As part of SXSW, CineKink’s co-founder and director, Lisa Vandever, will moderate a panel about the various regulations on sexually explicit content and how they may apply to all types of media producers.
It may seem like sex is everywhere in film, television and online, but sexual portrayals are surprisingly restricted - and getting more so everyday. Already draconian federal regulations on the depiction of sexually explicit conduct were recently expanded and signed into law by President Bush, and now apply to an even wider class of media makers. Not just pornographers, but anyone creating and working with explicit imagery of even simulated sexual conduct - bloggers, webmasters, narrative filmmakers, documentarians - needs to know the rules and the risks. This session will touch upon: * Overview of 18 U.S.C. 2257 & 2257A record-keeping requirements for actual and simulated sexually explicit material * New wrinkles introduced by online access/distribution of materials * Resources for additional information and advocacy support
(Because the "*" in f*ck totally makes it work-safe, right?)
Well, anyway... busily pulling together next month's presentation of CineKinky wonderfulness, we realized this weekend that two major award shows were suddenly descending.
And maybe next year you can be among them? Pondering how, with so many possible categories and sub-categories, we're unfamilar with so many of the winners - Best Sex Scene in a Foreign-Shot Production? Seriously?!? - we point you next to Violet Blue's recent column, "How to have sex like a porn star," including a few techniques from the pros:
Porn performers occupy the small end of the gene pool: They don't look anything like you or me, and that's why they got the job. They don't need to cuddle before or after sex, they are extremely limber and can withstand holding difficult positions under hot lights for extended periods of time. They wax their balls, asses, vulvas, chests and backs. They get surgeries you've never even heard of to plump or sculpt everything from labia to breasts to calves. They have sex with total strangers every day, and the successful ones make it look like it's not a job.
More of Violet's illuminations on the subject are found here.
But you'd better get cracking. Just 363 days to go, now!
It's perhaps not the same level of trepidation that used to descend as the teams were divvied up for sixth-grade slaughter-ball, but we had a wonderful time at SXSW last year and we'd love to ensure our return in 2008. To that end, we've suggested a panel discussion for the festival, inclusion of which will be partially determined by the results of the SXSW Panel Picker, which is live and online now! (Pick me, pick me!)
Inspired by the cheerful oblivion to current and pending restrictions on sexual content demonstrated by most non-porn media makers, we've proposed:
The Porn Police: Know the Rules Already draconian regulations on depictions of sexually explicit conduct were recently revised and now apply to an even wider class of media makers. Not just pornographers, but anyone creating and working with explicit imagery, bloggers, webmasters, narrative filmmakers, documentarians; need to know the rules and the risks.
Last year we noted SXSW's sex-positive inclusivity and the possibilities for this one again look promising. While you're in the picker giving us your vote, also give a nod to:
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 what she sees as an anti-porn bias in mainstream media - including that recently exhibited by her own employer.
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.
Fresh from our final, sell-out screenings at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, we're finally back from San Francisco with some great memories, a few new friends, several extra pounds - and a nice batch of blurbs for the collection:
"More like Wild Kingdom than Girls Gone Wild, the CineKink 2007 series ...neutrally observes sexual transgression: the forms it takes, the relief it offers, and the privacy it (often jubilantly) breaches." - Sara Schieron, San Francisco Bay Guardian
"CineKink's entries are often injected with a refreshing dose of camp and playfulness...Equal parts raunchy and sexy, the festival succeeds because it never loses sight of sex's potential for absurdity and transcendence." - Nirmala Nataraj, SF Weekly
"Seeing all those body parts at the AVN expo is analogous to the separation between sex and sensuality evident in AVN's typical lineup of winners. We're only going to find sexual authenticity and really hot porn when we reconnect those parts to actual people, like those behind the indie efforts found at CineKink." - Violet Blue, SF Gate
(And there's more. Speaking of yours truly, CineKinkster ourselves, Violet Blue also deems us a "...superlative blog." We're totally blushing!)
Thanks for the kind words. And thanks to YBCA, film/video curator Joel Shepard and all of you who came out for the SF screenings, for such a fabulous welcome.
