Archive for September, 2010

BDSM Exposed - Society’s Secret Subculture

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

BDSM can be described 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, rational 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 performance 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.

Sphere: Related Content

What is Abstract Art?

Wednesday, September 29th, 2010

Abstract Art is a vast movement in American painting that was first seen during the late 1940s and then was a dominating trend in Western painting during the 1950s. The leading American Abstract Expressionist painters were Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Mark Rothko. Contemporaries 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 those worked, lived, or had exhibitions in New York City.

While it is the accepted designation, Abstract Expressionism is not a correct description of the body of art created by those artists. Indeed, the movement comprised several different painterly styles that were different in both technical application and quality of work. Despite this variation, Abstract Expressionist paintings also share many general characteristics. They are basically abstract — in effect, they depict forms which were not assumed from the outer world.

They furthermore push unrestricted, spontaneous, and individual emotional expression, and they exhibit considerable freedom of technique and method to create this goal, with emphasis focused on the exploitation of the variable physical texture of paint to call upon expressive qualities (for example, sensuousness, dynamism, violence, mystery, lyricism). They lay a similar emphasis on the unstudied and intuitive use of that paint in a type of internal improvisation like the automatism of the Surrealists, with the likewise purpose of demonstrating the strength of the creative unconscious in art. They demonstrate the conscious ignorance of regularly structured composition built up by use of discrete and segregable areas 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 allow these aforementioned visual effects both monumentality and engrossing might.

The leading Abstract Expressionists had two particular forerunners: Arshile Gorky, who painted suggestive biomorphic forms by using a free, intricately linear and liquid paint process; and Hans Hofmann, who used dynamic and harshly textured brushwork in his abstract but conventionally constructed pieces. Another early and particular influence on nascent Abstract Expressionism was the arrival on US shores in the late 1930s and early forties of a group of Surrealists and important European avant-garde artists who escaped from the rise of the Nazis in Europe. These artists greatly stimulated the native New York City painters and privileged for them a more intimate view of the vanguard of European art. The Abstract Expressionist movement itself is now regarded as having been initiated with the painting style by Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning through the late 1940s and early 1950s.

While acknowledging the variety of technique in the Abstract Expressionist movement, three broad approaches can be isolated. One was action painting which is recognised by a loose, rapid, dynamic, or forceful handling of paint in sweeping or slashing brushstrokes, and in techniques largely dictated by chance, i.e. dripping or spilling paint right onto the canvas. Pollock first practiced action painting by dripping commercial paints onto a raw canvas building up complex and tangled skeins of paint into thrilling and suggestive linear patterns. De Kooning employed extremely vigorous and expressive brushstrokes to build up richly coloured and textured images. Kline specialised in mighty, sweeping black strokes on a white canvas for starkly monumental forms.

The following field of Abstract Expressionism is represented by numerous varied styles going from the lightly lyrical, delicate imagery and fluid shapes of paintings by Guston and Frankenthaler to the more clearly structured, forceful, almost calligraphic works of Motherwell and Gottlieb.

The remaining and least emotionally expressive field was that of Rothko, Newman, and Reinhardt. These painters made use of large spaces or blocks of flat colour and weak diaphanous paint to achieve quiet, subtle, almost meditative works. The premier colour-field painter was Rothko; the majority of his works consist of large-scale combinations of soft-edged, solidly coloured rectangular fields that tend to shine and resonate.

Abstract Expressionism had a wide influence on both the American and European art worlds throughout the 1950s. Indeed, the movement denoted the change of the creative centre of modern painting from Paris to New York City throughout the postwar time. In the time of the fifties, the the movement’s younger participants increasingly came under the trend of the colour-field painters. By the 1960s, those younger participants had commonly drifted away from the highly charged 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.

Sphere: Related Content

What is an Online Gift Register?

Monday, September 27th, 2010

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

Where a commercially run gift registry is different 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 selected instead. Items are compiled and prioritized into a list, which is then mailled to the chosen company. Upon buying an item on the registry, the registry is updated to be examined 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 accessible information for what items the giver should gift. If managed by a retailer, it means that they only have to go to one store in order to buy a gift.

It prevents people purchasing the same or unneeded gifts, which is beneficial for both the purchaser 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.

With contemplating 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 gifts on the list must be ones available from the store operating it. If you feel you do not want your guests to needlessly go through a variety of stores, this can be seen as an advantage. Retailers will also usually have professionalstaff 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 convenience, more variety and instant communication between persons. They can be used for a variety of uses, can choose a larger variety of items 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 in your inventory. However, most websites offer their registries at cost to the host, and great caution 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.

Sphere: Related Content