Songbird in leather

Celebrities strutting their stuff in fetish gear pop up constantly in the gossip rags (example case in point). The shot below is a little different. Eagle eyed readers may recognize the lady on the right. Yes, it’s Barbra Streisand in leather and brandishing (well limply holding) a whip.

You can see more shots from the same sequence in this article. It was taken in 1970 and was shot for a prop used in a movie called The Owl and the Pussycat. According to the article the prop was only used briefly, but they still seem to have shot an awful lot of images of Barbara posed a ‘cycle slut’. I guess I might have done the same given the chance.

Barbara Streisand in Leather

The million eyes of Sumuru

Based on its imdb page, the million eyes of Sumuru was a pretty terrible movie. Despite that, I have a soft spot for these kind of cheesy 60’s exploitation flicks. They’re impossible to defend on an artistic, cultural or political level, yet hard for me to resist when I stumble across them late at night with a drink in my hand. I love the over-the-top poster below, and I’m guessing that a lot of my readers might enjoy this clip from the movie.

SumuruYou can see the trailer for the movie here. In typically culturally sensitive fashion, the ‘asian’ Sumuru was played by the wonderful but very non-asian Shirley Eaton (famous for her role in Goldfinger)

Still Alive

I think this must be the longest I’ve ever gone without a post in 3+ years. No major problem I’m happy to report. Just stuck in the wilds of British Columbia for the weekend without an internet connection. And when I say the wilds, I mean a house on a beach with a hot tub, grill and well stocked fridge. For me any accommodation without high speed internet and room service is akin to 19th century arctic exploration.  Fortunately I wasn’t compelled to eat any traveling companions, although several bottles of red wine were sacrificed.

I’m afraid I’ve no kinky fun to report. It would have been the perfect place for this kind of outside leash play. There were plenty of chains around, I just lacked a lady to hold the end of it.

Chain Leash

Dubious decor

No matter how long her whip, or how sternly she points, I don’t think I could take any scene seriously when surrounded by that decor. She’s undoubtedly an attractive lady in a hot outfit. And I’m all for getting away from cliched dungeon shots. But that carpet, floral wallpaper and short chaise lounge remind me too much of my grandmother’s parlor. I’d never be able to relax. I’d be naked, vulnerable and constantly expecting a small old lady to pop in and ask if we’d like a cup of tea and a slice of cake. Oh, and were we really sure that was hygienic? Well just as long as your nice new friend has washed her hands dear…

Interesting Decor

The image is originally from the Only Tease site. I found it via the darksehnsucht tumblr.

The flip side

Over the last couple of years I’ve written a lot of posts about positive experiences of professional domination. That’s not a matter of selective editing. From my perspective, as a client playing with independent dommes, my experiences have been overwhelmingly positive. However, I think it would be remiss of me to not feature articles that show a less positive side of the profession. One such article is ‘The Commercial Dungeon Experience: Abusive Management And Exploitation‘ hosted by the Tits and Sass site. It features four dommes who experienced some fairly horrendous treatment in commercial houses.

I may post some follow-up thoughts tomorrow, but for now I’ll just offer the link as reading material. If you’re at all involved in sex work (on either side of the transaction) then the Tits and Sass site is generally well worth reading. Although if you’re on the client side of the equation I strongly suggest limiting yourself purely to reading, and not butting into the discussion.

The image below is by the photographer Susan Meiselas and was taken at NYC’s Pandora’s Box in associated with the Nick Broomfield documentary Fetishes. Note that I’ve no idea where the four dommes in the article worked and I’m not implying a connection between the article and that particular house. It just seemed a suitable image to use, given that it’s one of the most well known houses in NYC, and the documentary is one of the most well known representations of a commerical BDSM house. This was from back in 1995.

Image by Susan Meiselas from her book Pandora's Box

Comic Con

The latest San Diego Comic Con just wrapped up. I’ve never attended but I would like to at some point. Spending a few days wallowing in that density of pop culture seems like it could be an interesting experience.

One of the new films being featured there was Sin City : A Dame To Kill For. Frank Miller has become (or revealed himself to be) a deeply unpleasant person with some of his later work and comments. Yet I still have a soft spot for his early work. The new movie looks par for the course, with ridiculous hard boiled dialog, lots of violence, brooding men and femme fatales in slinky outfits. Watching it will doubtless be a guilty pleasure.

The Comic Con articles I always enjoy most are those feature Cosplay. I’ve no desire to dress up myself, but I do love the effort and imagination some people put into it, as well as the obvious fun they have. The io9 site has some good photographs from this years event: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and final round-up.

The image below is actually from the 2011 Comic Con, but I liked it so much I just had to feature it. That’s Adrianne Curry as the evil commander holding Vader’s leash. If she’d been in charge those hippy Jedi wouldn’t have stood a chance. I’d certainly have signed up at the nearest Empire recruiting office.

Adrianne Curry — Comic-Con 2011

Sometimes you get the bear…

I find this image deeply disturbing, although I’m not sure I can express exactly why. Given the attractive lady and amusingly bound bear it should be both hot and cute. Yet somehow it’s kind of freaky. Of course YMMV.

Bound Bear

The model is Lucy O Doll and the photographer is Charles Parks. I found it via the Alternative Femdom tumblr (always my go to choice when I’m traveling and need an interesting image to feature).

Magnificent Maleficent

The latest Disney fairytale, Maleficent, has been getting some pretty mixed reviews. Fortunately, while everyone might not like the movie, there has been consistent praise for Angelina Jolie’s take on the character of the evil Queen from Snow White. Watching great actors ham it up as bad guys is always a guilty pleasure. Think of Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber, Antony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter or Heath Ledger as the Joker. I’m sure Maleficent will not be troubling the Oscar committee, but watching Miss Jolie tear it up as an twisted sadistic fairy in a leather catsuit promises to be particularly rewarding.

The image below is older one, taken (judging by the background) at a Comic Con. She’s one celebrity who can really rock the leather look. Kinky sites always seem to feature the scene from Mr and Mrs Smith, but I always thought she looked better attending the premier to that same movie.

AngelinaJolie