O is an accomplished photographer, sophisticated fetishist and passionate seeker of a master worthy of her total surrender. Captivated, Steven is determined to possess her totally at whatever cost, little knowing how dear that cost might be. Set within the universe of modern Los Angeles, a cast of colorful characters act out a dramatic tale of erotic power at once familiar and exotic.
It’s been nearly twenty years since the affair happened, sixteen since it exploded in 1998. For too long Monica Lewinsky has been tied to the Clintons and the blow job. It’s time we recognized that she deserves a life as something other than a political football — perhaps even as a human who is much more than an ill-advised affair she had while she was in her early twenties.
Monica Lewinsky is back, and on her own terms, in an essay for the magazine Vanity Fair. It took us a long time to get here — the relationship she writes about, with former U.S. president Bill Clinton happened in 1995, when she was 21. It’s been nearly twenty years since the affair happened, over fifteen since it exploded in 1998 — what’s she after? More importantly, is that the right question to be asking?
French-born photographer Ingrid Berthon-Moine likes to look at men “the way they look at women.” She took her lens to the museum to explore the work of classical Greek sculpture, which focuses so heavily on anatomical detail and found herself drawn to to the scrotum. Berthon-Moine titled her series, which focuses entirely on the testicles of statues Marbles, cropping them to produce an effect somewhere between medical imagery and landscape portraiture.
We are the star stuff we’re made of. We are the genes in us and the society that raised us. We are our relationships, good and bad. We are our joys and our trauma. We are our inspiration and our fears. When we walk through fire — and make no mistake, divorce, like any loss, is a furnace more life-altering than even love — what are we doing if not participating in a rite of passage? Would you tell a young Samoan who just got his pe’a that he’s being dramatic about becoming a man?
This fall, Finland’s postal service Itella Posti Oy will showcase gay bondage in a series of stamps celebrating the “confident and proud homoeroticism” of the pornographic artist Touko Laaksonen, better known as Tom of Finland. Despite living in a place celebrated as the land of the free and the home of the brave, I’ve never seen anything like it — and in association with the postal service? It’s enough to make Anthony Comstock roll in his grave.
Every company on the planet has jumped on the lucrative charity bandwagon, and porn is no different, though the industry’s contributions are not always received with the enthusiasm enjoyed by mainstream companies. A couple of years ago, the National Education Association refused a donation from the studio Assence Films, for instance, so it comes as no surprise that the tube giant PornHub is focusing on an initiative that won’t easily turn them down: saving the planet.
A few days ago, the adult online destination Wood Rocket announced it was casting for a Doctor Who porn parody, due out sometime in May. The media jumped on the story, but from AV Club to io9, it seems the axiom “you never forget your first Doctor” doesn’t extend to porn. This isn’t the first time the long-running popular BBC show will make an adult detour. But who was the first porn Doctor?
Sander Reijgers, a fashion designer from the Netherlands, takes that “reuse” part of the green living mantra very seriously. His 2009 Mama Anders collection featured a line of jackets made out of blow-up dolls — you know, the kind typically used for sex (or, face it, access to the carpool lane). “I customize existing tracksuit tops with parts of the blow-up dolls,” the 36-year-old explained. “These dolls are so ugly and vulgar that turning them into something beautiful has become a challenge for me.”
On April 2, the Labor and Employment Committee of the California State Assembly voted almost unanimously in favor of Assembly Bill (AB) 1576, which would mandate condom use, testing protocols and require adult companies to keep detailed health records of performers. The bill was sponsored by assemblymember Isadore Hall III. Tomorrow, it goes to the Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and Internet Media Committee for a vote. If it passes, it will head to the Appropriations Committee, then hit the state legislature floor.
