Ok, so maybe you want a nice big HDTV to watch all your porn on blu-ray. Personally, I’d much rather be doing than watching.

Now, I don’t give product endorsements lightly. Some products just don’t deliver when put to the ultimate stress test of use. Oh sure, a concept may look amazing, but when it doesn’t deliver the “hands free” excitement that it promised, I feel cheated for laying out big bucks. (Yeah, I’m looking at you We-vibe.)

So the following recommendations have been tested, and approved, by yours truly. I will be bringing in more recommendations than just this one, but I wanted to start off with the best, most affordable, most bang for your buck of this year.
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So today Graydancer, the ninja sex poodle and ronin of love of  Ropcast.net fame, posted a rant in his podcast that I’ve been waiting for since Sunday night of Black Rose.

You can find said “rant” HERE.

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I think “rant” I think Denis Leary and Lewis Black, not a well reasoned observation and conclusion to be responsible about what one teaches. So, on the “rant” front, kind of disappointing.

I’ll give you the Cliffs Notes for context, but you should listen to what he has to say on your own. His basic thesis is this: General Pansexual Kinky Events – such as Black Rose, TES-Fest, Dark Odyssey, etc – are not the place to teach suspension.

He gives several supporting evidence for this, such as poor control as to making sure that the people who come to the 2nd half of a class go to the 1st half. Another notable observation he makes is that people who don’t even know if they like rope at all are going to these classes, completely skipping over 101 and going right to grad school (my phrasing, not his).

Where I disagree is that the answer is (for him) to not teach rope suspension at these events at all.

My first reason for disagreeing is this – often these events are the only exposure people get beyond their tiny local scene to people who REALLY know what the fuck they are doing. It is REALLY difficult for the much group in the middle of Armpit, Virginia to afford the travel, lodging, and expenses of bringing out a BIG name to teach an all day suspension workshop. So individuals from those areas go to the big weekend events to learn all they can to bring back to the community. (more…)

This was my 10th Black Rose event (there was none in 2005). It’s special for many reasons. Black Rose was the first big conference I taught at in 2000. Also, Black Rose 1999 is where I met my life partner. Yes, for those counting, that means this was our 10th anniversary.

You may now make with the “Awwwwwww”s.

We celebrated in style – there was dancing, flogging (he taught the 101 and 201 classes), shopping (new whip from Victor Tella) , rope suspensions (courtesy of the Ninja Sex Poodle and Rodin of Love, Graydancer), and yes, of course, sex. (Well, in our room. This is a non-public sex event).

This year, I taught 3 classes – 2 classes on my own, and one class with my partner and Scott from Big Head Studio.

The Classes were as follows: (more…)