Archive for September, 2010

BDSM Exposed - Society’s Secret Subculture

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

BDSM is typically defined as a subculture or different lifestyle choices for people with particular tastes toward bondage, discipline, fetish, kink, and sado masochism culminating in consensual power play, pain and pleasure by its participants to enhance an erotic relationship. The term BDSM literally means: bondage and discipline, sadism and masochism.

The dynamics of a BDSM relationship are characterised by its participants adopting the consensual roles of slave or submissive, and surrendering themselves to the domination of a Mistress or Master for erotic gratification between both parties. It is important to emphasise however, that there is a widely recognised and respected code of conduct for activities undertaken within the realms of BDSM and sado masochistic play which is “safe, sane and consensual” at all times during a scene. The basic principles of BDSM require that it be performed by responsible partners, of their own free will and in a safe way which means that everything is based on safe, sane and consensual behaviour of all parties. This mutual consent highlights a clear legal and ethical distinction between BDSM and crimes such as sexual assault or domestic violence.

BDSM encompasses a broad spectrum of activities such as bondage, discipline, slave training, spanking, CBT, nipple torture, electro torture, anal play, strapon, fisting, humiliation, spanking, corporal punishment, slapping, spitting, needle play, hot wax, forced feminisation, sissy slut training, water sports, foot worship, stiletto worship, boot worship, trampling, mummification, to name a few.

Classically, some of the props of the trade are gags, whips, crops, paddles, ropes, cuffs, collars, straight jackets, straps and hoods, and indeed the Dominatrix or Master being the ultimate tool and driver of the kinky scenario.

Until the mid-nineties, the BDSM and fetish subcultures were still largely underground communities, however social acceptance swiftly escalated due to the prevalence of material available via the world wide web. It seems the internet has revolutionized our sex lives and provided us the luxury of exploring our darkest desires in the privacy of our own homes with downloadable BDSM, fetish and femdom movies at our fingertips.

These domination and femdom themed movies are likely to portray men and women experiencing various forms of bondage, discipline, punishment and torture and being consensually “forced” to endure submission, humiliation or sexual slavery by a femdom or master applying various methods of torture, punishment and discipline. Oh and yes, if you’re wondering, statistics show that a lot of people like it. Whether they are physically on the receiving end from their adored masochist or satisfying their individual fetish and kinks by watching BDSM, femdom and fetish movies, chances are there are a lot more people aroused by this secret world than they would openly admit.

The internet also paved the way for like-minded people to communicate not only locally, but world wide which in turn triggered an explosion of interest and knowledge of BDSM, kink, fetish and S & M. In addition, there has also been an explosive demand for traditional sex shops and online adult toy companies to stock fetish toys and fetish fashion, offering leather, latex, rubber and PVC.

Fortunately, the blossoming of websites offering BDSM movies has been a godsend for those curious, shy little creatures with no means of fulfilling their desire for slave training and servitude in the real world enabling them to explore their inner slave. Now they can download a session with an international BDSM Mistress and take all the punishment their little heart desires at a safe distance without those little telltale torture marks that tell their partner they have a penchant for a Femdom Mistress.

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What is Abstract Art?

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

Abstract Art is a modern movement in American painting that was instigated in the late 1940s and became a dominant trend in Western painting through the 50s. The leading American Abstract Expressionist painters were Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Mark Rothko. Some others included Clyfford Still, Philip Guston, Helen Frankenthaler, Barnett Newman, Adolph Gottlieb, Robert Motherwell, Lee Krasner, Bradley Walker Tomlin, William Baziotes, Ad Reinhardt, Richard Pousette-Dart, Elaine de Kooning, and Jack Tworkov. Many of them worked, lived, or had galleries in New York City.

While it is the generally accepted designation, Abstract Expressionism is not the right title of the body of art created by the artists. Indeed, the movement had various different painterly styles that were different in both technical skill and quality of method. Despite this differentiation, Abstract Expressionist paintings also share some general characteristics. They are primarily abstract — that is, they are based around forms that are not taken from the real world.

They furthermore push limitless, spontaneous, and unique emotional expression, and they show wide freedom of skill and application to reach this outcome, with a special importance laid on the exploitation of the malleable physical form of paint to call up expressive qualities (such as, sensuousness, dynamism, violence, mystery, lyricism). They exhibit similar emphasis on the unstudied and intuitive application of that paint in a kind of artistic improvisation in the trend of the automatism of the Surrealists, with the likewise intent of displaying the power of the creative unconscious in art. They demonstrate the conscious ignorance of regular structured composition taken from discrete and segregable effects and their replacement with a single unified, unchanged area, network, or other image that exists in unstructured space. Finally, the paintings fill sizeable canvases to give the aforementioned visual aspects both monumentality and engrossing strength.

The first Abstract Expressionists had two iconic forerunners: Arshile Gorky, who painted sensual biomorphic images by using a free, intricately linear and liquid paint procedure; and Hans Hofmann, who had dynamic and harshly textured brushwork in his abstract but conventionally constructed works. An early and important influence on nascent Abstract Expressionism was the arrival on the American shores in the late 30s and early forties of a host of Surrealists and other European avant-garde artists arriving from the Nazis in Europe. The European artists powerfully influenced the native New York City painters and gave them a more detailed insight of the vanguard of European artwork. The Abstract Expressionist movement itself is generally regarded as having been initiated with the painting style by Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning during the late 40s and early 50s.

Without disregarding the differentiation of techniques in the Abstract Expressionist movement, three general approaches can be distinguished. The first was action painting which is signified by a loose, rapidfire, dynamic, or forceful handling of paint in sweeping or slashing brushstrokes, and in techniques in large part dictated by chance, for example dripping or spilling the paint straight onto the canvas. Pollock initially practiced action painting by dripping commercial paints onto raw canvas to create complex and tangled skeins of paint into stimulating and suggestive linear patterns. De Kooning used extremely vigorous and expressive brushstrokes building up richly coloured and textured images. Kline utilised powerful, sweeping black strokes onto white canvas to create starkly monumental forms.

The next area within Abstract Expressionism is demonstrated by numerous varied styles going from the more lyrical, delicate imagery and fluid shapes of paintings by Guston and Frankenthaler to the more clearly structured, forceful, almost calligraphic pictures of Motherwell and Gottlieb.

The last and least emotionally expressive area was that of Rothko, Newman, and Reinhardt. These painters took large areas or dimensions of flat colour and weak diaphanous paint to create quiet, subtle, almost meditative works. The top colour-field painter was Rothko; many of his paintings consist of wide combinations of soft-edged, solidly coloured rectangular blocks that tend to shimmer and resonate.

Abstract Expressionism created a particular influence on both the American and European art circles in the fifties. Indeed, the movement denoted the change of the creative centre of modern painting from Paris to New York City in the postwar era. In the time of the 50s, the the movement’s younger artists increasingly came to the trend of the colour-field painters. By the 1960s, its practitioners had commonly moved away from the hot expressiveness of the action painters.

If you’re looking for discount art supplies online including art canvas and easels, talk to the Discount Art Warehouse.

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What is an Online Gift Register?

Monday, September 27th, 2010

A gift registry is a type of managed wish list made for a special occasion where gifts are customary, the most common of which are for weddings and baby showers. With the increased use of the internet however, gift registries have diversified into abundant categories, such as honeymoon or charity registries.

Where a commercially run gift registry differs from a typical recipient-run wish list is that the registry is managed by a third party; this can either be by a retail store, or increasingly gift registry websites are being used instead. Items are compiled and prioritized into a list, which is then sent to the chosen company. Upon buying an item on the registry, the registry is updated to be seen by other guests wishing to purchase an item on the list. This offers many benefits for both the givers and the receivers of the gifts:

It provides valuable and easily accessed information for what items the giver should purchase. If managed by a retail store, it means that they only have to go to one store in order to buy a gift.

It prevents people purchasing the same or unwanted gifts, which is great for both the buyer and the recipient. It saves the family the time and hassle of updating the registry. Registries usually keep the purchaser of a gift anonymous, reducing the negative social interactions that can result from competitive gift purchasing.

When deciding whether to use the services of a specialized retailer or to use a registry website, several aspects of each should be considered. While using a retailer for your registry is generally free, the items on the list have to be ones available from the store operating it. If you feel you do not want your guests to needlessly comb through a multitude of stores, this can be seen as an advantage. Retailers will also usually have trainedstaff that can assist you in a variety of issues related to the registry, such as gift ideas or return policy.

Online gift registries on the other hand, offer the ability to shop at home, more variety and instant communication between persons. They can be used for a variety of occasions, can choose a larger variety of products from multiple stores (known as a Universal Registry), plus simple cash registries are available if that is what you want.

Some websites even offer discounts on sponsored items if they are included on your list. However, most websites offer their services at a price, and great care should be taken in making sure both the registry service and the listed gifts are legitimate. Thoroughly research the reputations of websites that you may be contemplating about using, to avoid both confusion and heartbreak.

For some great gift ideas including an online gift registry and online event organiser, visit wippygifts.com.

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