| 10 Jan 05 | IC.2 and the weekend | (10 Jan 05, 8:28 AM by Tanos) |
| lili and I did get out a bit this weekend, but most of
it was spent working on IC.2, an update to the IC system
that will probably go live in the next week or two. [more...]
|
| 7 Jan 05 | "Jerry Springer, the Censorship Campaign" | (7 Jan 05, 10:12 AM by Tanos) |
| My last weblog post of 2004 contained the fear that
religious conservatives now feel emboldened to mount
more campaigns to censor ideas they don't want to see in
the media. This seems to be happening again, with the
orchestrated complaint-writing campaign to force the BBC
not to broadcast "Jerry Springer, the Opera" on Saturday
(Sat 8th Jan, BBC2, 10pm, 120mins) [more...]
|
| 21 Dec 04 | Religions and censorship | (21 Dec 04, 1:37 PM by Tanos) |
| Yesterday saw the cancelling of the play "Behzti" in
Birmingam. This is billed as a black comedy, but deals
with real issues of abuse of power. It involves a rape
in a fictional Sikh temple, was written by a Sikh
playwright, and Saturday's performance (along with the
children's play "The Witches" in the same theatre
complex) was disrupted by a violent mob - following
several days of peaceful protests by local Sikhs it must
be pointed out. Obviously, I don't like the idea of
theatres backing down in face of violent demends for
religious censorship, but that's not what's worrying me
about this whole [more...]
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| 19 Dec 04 | Party, Take II | (19 Dec 04, 9:28 AM by Tanos) |
| Fourteen people this time. Cellars open for the second
time. Lots of Christmas food. Chatting with old friends
- some that I've known in the scene for 7 years. Being
persuaded to put Cell TV on. Seeing the limits of
cheekiness, brattiness, ropes and cold, hard steel... |
| 18 Dec 04 | More cowardly dirty tricks in the scene | (18 Dec 04, 4:49 PM by Tanos) |
| According to Matt, Violate's Edinburgh event planned for
Friday has had to be cancelled due to dirty tricks by
someone within the local scene. It appears that the
anonymous individual contacted MSPs, local newspapers
and national tabloids to whip up problems for the venue
which then had to cancel the event (they receive some
public funding.) [more...]
|
| 15 Dec 04 | David Blunkett resigns | (15 Dec 04, 10:44 PM by Tanos) |
| Blunkett, who you may remember was conspiring with US
Attorney General John Ashcroft to ban BDSM pornography,
has resigned over a second "nanny visa for his lover"
scandal. The former Methodist lay preacher and adulterer
has been replaced by Charles Clarke. It remains to be
seen whether Clarke will turn out to be one of our
enemies too.
|
| 13 Dec 04 | Kinkfest and London | (13 Dec 04, 2:17 PM by Tanos) |
| What a success! 500 people came to the workshops, stalls
and stage performances at the Conway Hall on Saturday.
Most of the meeting rooms were full with people having
to be turned away (and we were using just about all of
the rooms Conway Hall has.) The cowardly threats to
disrupt the event didn't materialise. Everyone there
seemed good
humoured and positive about the subject matter, and it
really felt like people coming together, and leaving the
petty politics and empire-building at the door. [more...]
|
| 10 Dec 04 | Kinkfest is tomorrow! | (13 Dec 04, 2:16 PM by Tanos) |
| So the big day is almost upon on: Saturday 11th at the
Conway Hall in central London,
and then Stunners for the party. More details at
www.unfettered.co.uk [more...]
|
| 6 Dec 04 | The Gas Man Cometh | (6 Dec 04, 5:47 PM by Tanos) |
I've just had the gas meter in my cellars read for the
first time in ages. Preparation and subtle misdirection
pays off.  |
| 29 Nov 04 | SM Pride and Kinkfest | (29 Nov 04, 11:08 PM by Tanos) |
| Last night saw the EGM called to decide the immediate
future of SM Pride, with the voting result announced
today. And final preparations for the (totally separate)
Kinkfest day of BDSM demos and workshops in London on
11th December are underway. Both of these developments
are positive for the BDSM community in the UK, in my
opinion. [more...]
|
| 17 Nov 04 | Jon Jacobs, 1945-2004 | (17 Nov 04, 11:42 PM by Tanos) |
| I've just heard that Jon Jacobs died on Sunday, 14th
November (as reported in
Gloria
Brame's weblog.) It's no secret that I had public
disagreements with Jacobs in his later years, and
misgivings about his mentorships, but I don't want to
talk about that here. [more...]
|
| 14 Nov 04 | This weekend | (15 Nov 04, 9:23 AM by Tanos) |
| A very busy weekend. Club Lash, the Manchester Munch,
shopping, the Couch Club and lots of friends old and new.
Mostly good news, but a couple of sour notes in amongst
it all due to human nature, all the same. [more...]
|
| 12 Nov 04 | Nua in Manchester and sex shops on the BBC | (12 Nov 04, 12:07 PM by Tanos) |
| I was going to write something today about Nua, a female
orientated shop that opened in Manchester a few months
ago. But as I was looking through today's BBC News
Online just now, I've spotted a story which says a lot
of what I was going to say. [more...]
|
| 8 Nov 04 | LifeStyle/Subversion | (8 Nov 04, 10:49 AM by Tanos) |
| lili and I went to the Lifestyle munch and the
Subversion party on Saturday (ie the original Subversion
in Manchester, not this new Subversion club that's
opened on the same night in London.) [more...]
|
| 5 Nov 04 | US Election and the death of Theo van Gogh | (5 Nov 04, 10:19 AM by Tanos) |
| This week has seen two news stories which make me worry
about the future, both as someone committed to the
ideals of liberal democracy and as someone practicing
BDSM. It's becoming increasingly clear that both stories
are really about religious conservatism, and its clash
with the modern world. As part of a minority with an
"alternative" sexuality, we're part of that modern
world, and "sadomasochistic perverts" are easy an target
for such groups. [more...]
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| 31 Oct 04 | An open letter to people who write open letters | (31 Oct 04, 8:03 AM by Tanos) |
| "Open letters" directed at me by name (usually attacking
me in some way) are one of my major dislikes about this
site. They're almost always posted without the decency
to email me (as if I read the weblogs every day) so I
often don't find out I was being attacked or lied about
until days or weeks later. [more...]
|
| 24 Oct 04 | Party | (24 Oct 04, 4:33 PM by Tanos) |
A dozen people. Lots of party food. Halloween pumpkin.
Chatting about BDSM. Squirming at Insex videos. Trying
out cages. Playing Big Brother via CCTV with the cell:
"Three submissives, what happens next, the others
decide."  |
| 18 Oct 04 | Painting cellars | (18 Oct 04, 7:56 PM by Tanos) |
| lili and I spent a lot of the weekend downstairs
painting my front cellar and the staircase area. Due to
the fumes from the oily damp-resistent paint in the
enclosed space, it's been a bit of a marathon, but well
worth it.
With the front cellar cleaned up, I've now got 300 sq ft
of play space down there in total. [more...]
|
| 10 Oct 04 | The Manchester Scene | (15 Nov 04, 9:18 AM by Tanos) |
| I still can't get over how much is now going on in
Manchester. Late last year, we seemed to go through a
"near death" experience, with Lash closed after
harassment from religious conservatives on the council. [more...]
|
| 7 Sep 04 | Photographing my Cellars | (7 Sep 04, 10:04 PM by Tanos) |
| I think it's true to say that the harder forms of
bondage are my favourite type of physical BDSM: steel
and leather restraints, handcuffs, chains, shackles, cages
and cells. [more...]
|
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