If you’re looking to flirt I double-dog dare you to find a better two-page article about this ancient art of interpersonal play then Erik and my “Flirt Tips-From Flirt To Sex…In One Night?” in issue number 6 of Von Gutenberg magazine (see it’s not all just about the latex and the girls!). We run the gambit in our suggestions from ‘Stimulate their mind: Inspire for more’ ‘Imitating: To copy what he or she is “doing”’ and the ever dangerous but oh-so-effective ‘Flirt with others: Seek out your intended’s friends’.

According to the almighty Wikipedia flirting is “…a playful, romantic, or sexual overture by one person to another subtly indicating an interest in a deeper relationship with the other person, and can involve verbal communication as well as body language.” I just know it is a damn well fun way to spend one’s time and might lead to a little bumpy-bumpy at the end of the night if one plays their cards right and keeps to our rules.

The way Erik and I see it, Cosmo and Vogue can dispense their top ten lists like “How To Be His Wild Harlot In Bed” and the “5 Things Men Really Wish You’d Do With Your Mouth” so why can’t we offer our own Von Gutenberg advice, lists and questionnaires, as we did so in issue 5 with our “How Kinky Are You?” test? We view Von Gutenberg magazine, as much as we do all the various sites, like our kinky event listing Fantasy Event List and everywhere else within the brand as maintaining a high marquis water-mark in the lifestyle and want to entertain, inform and always maintain a dialogue with you our close friends and loyal readers.

So pick up issue #6 here http://www.vongutenberg.com/shop, get your flirting groove on and thank Erik and I when you’re not knee-deep in more dates then you know what to do with!

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In the wonderful text of our wonderful issue #6 (and I can say it’s wonderful as I had a direct hand in the text of issue 6) we have covered a lot of ground with our studies and even fiction centered round all things comic-al. We have M. Christian and Midori weighing-in with non-fiction ruminations, a couple of stories featuring the same characters-a continuing comic story without pictures-(one by me solo and another in collaboration with Tom Kennedy) and lots of other stuff that speaks to our theme (not to mention the sketches by Chainsaw Chuck, Armando Huerta and others).

We also have a little look-see page and blurb from the recently released Steampunk Gear, Gadgets and Gizmos: A Makers Guide to Creating Modern Artifacts, by Thomas Willeford. What’s Steampunk, you ask? Well culling a definition from the website http://www.steampunk.com we learn Steampunk is a ‘subgenre of science fiction and fantasy that includes social or technological aspects of the 19^th century (the steam) usually with some deconstruction of, reimagining of, or rebellion against parts of it (the punk).’ In Steampunk stuff, as you will find readily in Mr. Willeford’s how-to book, there is a goodly amount of attention paid to clothes and gadgets, something we in the lifestyle are well aware of, and a certain swashbuckling-dare I say-sensibility, that fits in well with our comic’s issue.

We are tickled pink to include a piece about this McGraw-Hill paperback in Von Gutenberg #6 and you can buy the book here: http://www.amazon.com/Steampunk-Gear-Gadgets-Gizmos-Artifacts/dp/0071762361 as well as grab a copy of Von Gutenberg #6 here: http://www.vongutenberg.com/shop

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Miss Mischief is another one of our lovely marquis women featured in our new issue #6. Resplendently ‘tatted’ this North American native is one of those ladies who invests the very space around her with her good humor and unique beauty to a point where you almost don’t notice the kinky stuff she might be wearing…almost.

I recall the shoot with the inimitable Miss M. as quite the fun one-I know I have written about this before-as she brought down a couple of friends to help out and the guys were just as much fun as the lady was, though not as much fun for me to look at (sorry, I am hetero). Every time I roll through Miss Mischief’s pics, where she’s wearing designers Deadly Couture, DawnaMatrix, Cinched Tight and Fetasia Latex, I recall a wonderful time with the beautiful lady at the center if it all.

I’m not sure what exactly makes our magazine-if it ever is just one thing-the photo essays on top latex designers, the amazing writing (pat on back), the round down of kinky events and parties in the past few months, our one-of-a-kind artwork or our featured ladies but I can tell you for sure that working with Miss Mischief made my day for sure.

Meet Miss Mischief at: www.iammischief.com

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The kinky endeavors of pirates sailing on this sea we call life to bring a little sparkling naughtiness to their day leads one to many a diversion and…to be blunt, it’s about all anyone of us can do to get-off these days! Especially if one happens to be tickled by latex, if leather and lace spikes your libido or a tight-fitting gas mask on you or your lover (or one for each of you) is going to do it, you might have to search a bit to get your groove on. We try here at Von Gutenberg to explore our lifestyle’s needs but who is to say what is specifically arousing to you, what might be the one kinky event or party of the year that’s going to get you up off the couch and dressed, what designer is going to just happen to make the outfit you have to have or what story or essay you read is going to set your tail feathers awagging?

We really have no clue what’s on any one individual’s mind so we try to cover as many bases as we can without whittling ourselves down too thin and at the same time writing about, photographing, listing in our fantasy event list and offering for sale, stuff that “gets our ghost” as ole P.J. Soles said in the original Halloween. It’s just not possible to be all things to all lifestylers but we hope we can interest as many of you as we can and that maybe a doorway will be cracked open from your reading about a wild party or some naughty event, that you will get off over one of our marquis world renown designers or you will come to fantasize over one of our many models…really it’s the least we can hope for. First and foremost we produce the magazine because we are, like you, interested in all this ‘stuff’ and we just hope that you come along for the ride.

God knows there would be no ride without you!

Really, use the links below to drop us a line from time to time, email us and leave comments too. Erik and I personally respond to every piece of mail that comes through and we do want to know what you think.

We hope you know we are here for you and as such want to hear from you.

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Erik’s email: evg@vongutenbergmedia.com

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One of the many wonderful things about working at Von Gutenberg is being introduced to all the designers working in latex/leather and leather presently. In our new issue #6 especially we have contributions by private designers and bigger firms alike-in the case of Deanna Storm, the lady wore some of her own designs-and one and all these design houses and the men and women who work for them, stepped-up their proverbial A-game (as they always do) to outfit our models and send us over some amazing photo essays making the magazine a truly unique visual artifact.

In our latest issue we feature an 8-page spread from fetish designer Syren. Showcasing the inspired photography of Steve Diet Goedde shooting model Ancilla Tilia we get a good representation of what this designers’ L.A. store carries (and of course what you could order inline). As the world’s premier rubber couturier Syren made Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman suit, Malin Akerman’s Silk Spectre costume in Watchmen and the most recent Rubber Man suit for super scary T.V. show American Horror Story.

Stars such as Britney Spears, Katy Perry and a host of others have worn Syren designs.

See Syren’s world a:t Syren.com

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I have been pushing our just released issue #6 with covert girl MiMi Cherry, story contributions by Midori, M. Christian, great photo essays from Westward Bound and Syren, plus fantasy artwork by Armanado Huerta, Ed Mironiuk and plenty of other stuff from plenty of others filling out the issue. But I hope you have seen, are aware of, or might want to get yourself a copy of our issues 1-5…all unique collector’s editions in their own right.

You can get those magazines here: http://www.vongutenberg.com/shop/ . You’ll see number # 6 pop-up right at the top of the page, with beautiful MiMi, but scroll down to the left hand column under BESTSELLERS for the other issues. Those issues include cover girls like Jean Bardot, fetish superstar Perish in never-before published photos, RUBBERDOLL Jewell Marceau, 2010’s Mister SF Leather (VON Gutenberg’s first male model) and of course all the usual coverage of past fetish events and interviews with scene makers, our models and designers.

So get a copy of issue 6 now and catch-up with the rest of the Von Gutenberg magazines if you don’t yet have them.

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In our resplendent issue #6 we feature an equally resplendent portfolio by UK latex designer Westward Bound. Run by the husband and wife team of Steve and Sarah Beech, the modern day Westward Bound was launched in 1992, when they produced their first retail collection and Conniosseur Collection (sp). You’ll notice I only give you a picture of the actual Westward Bound store here, I want you to open-up a copy of Von Gutenberg #6 to really see the eye-catching, crotch quivering creations the Beech’s continually taunt us with.

And taunt away they will as Steve and Sarah celebrate 2012 in style by premiering their Femme-A-Licious at Montreal’s Fetish Weekend. WB has a continuing collaboration with Bianca Beauchamp (more about this lovely lady as she is featured in issue 6 as well), Jade Vixen and our friend, issue 5 cover model Jean Bardot (as well as many others).

Westward Bound operates a 22 employee operation out of Plymouth Devon England.

Check them out here: www.westwardbound.com

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Canadian performer/model MiMi Cherry graces the cover of our just released issue #6.  I had the great honor of interviewing MiMi at her shoot for the magazine, lent my lubing talents (that’s the kind of guy I am) and learned all about the ‘animations’ MiMi performs, her life ‘up north’, what she really feels about the latex lifestyle…all of which you can read about in her 12 page spread. She is a very open and interesting woman, with a beauty that radiates from within as well as without.

My first foray into actually being present at a model shoot, I was working hard on my apprentice luber status-one of those few things where the practice not only makes you perfect but it just so much fun you don’t care you are practicing-and just being around to let MiMi lean on me when she’d come down off her killer poses in super-high heels, hand her something to drink and manage quick interview moments with her as she got made-up or took some down time.

The thing about all our ladies in issue #6 (and I will tell you about them all as the weeks progress) is that not only were they professional to a  ’T’ they were also great people to be around, fun and smiling, generous with their time and attention to the details of what they were doing and basically lighting-up the Von Gutenberg studio with their good natures and beauty brighter than any lights we were using.

So here’s to our cover girl MiMi Cherry. Find her at http://www.modelmayhem.com/513707 or the Monde Ose’ site www.mondeose’.com  and of course our issue #6 at http://www.vongutenberg.com/shop/.

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Erik von Gutenberg is proud to announce Fine Fetish Jewellery now available from Ben Gould!

Waltham, MA artist Ben Gould is turning scrap metal into fine jewelry.

 His company, LifeCycle, launched Monday January 9th on Kickstarter.com, a creative project hosting website.  What would have ended up in a landfill is now adorning fashionitstas everywhere.

                Gould began collecting trash for his art projects while attending Brooklyn design school, Pratt Institute.  Rather than spend his money on expensive art materials he says “why waste money when Brooklyn has the best trash? We produce so much waste that could easily be given a second chance.”

                Over time, Gould realized that the real problem with using discarded odds and ends is the limit of his supply.  “If I only had one helical augur from a chocolate fountain, then I could only make one ray gun.”

It was at this point that he turned his attention to bike shops.  The interchangeable parts needed to maintain bicycles are frequently the same set of items, including inner tubes and bike chains.  With a constant supply Gould can reproduce his designs without the fear of running out.

With diligence, he discovered a method using biodegradable degreasers that made cleaning the chain possible and Earth-friendly.  After tinkering with the restored material, Gould developed an original bracelet design.  By cold-forging the material perpendicular to its normal direction of movement, he is able to create an accordian-like loop that can expand over a wearer’s hand. Once past the hand, it contracts back into an oval shape, and sits comfortably about the wrist.

Gould hopes to raise support for his project on Kickstarter.com.

Kickstarter.com, recently featured on NBC News and BBC Radio, is rapidly growing in popularity amongst creative minds and creative supporters worldwide.  The website offers innovators an opportunity to present their ideas in a public forum.  “Backers” interested in supporting these creative endeavors are given the chance to donate money.  In exchange for their up-front donations, the creators of each project offer various material incentives including pre-ordered products, photo documentation of their project, or even a personal introduction.

Gould has until February 18th to raise his goal of ten thousand dollars, or Kickstarter.com will cancel all donations, and no funds will be exchanged.  He is offering his bracelets in a range of finishes including an array of colors, stainless steel, and electroplated chrome, silver, and 10K gold.  If successful, Gould hopes that his bracelets will be the first of many products to be sold under the name LifeCycle.  You can visit his project at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bengould/lifecycle-bracelets.

Learn more at http://www.kickstarter.com/.

You know how the classic fans’ defense of Playboy always was “No, I really do read it for the articles!” well with Von Gutenberg #6 we really do present great articles, stories, reporting, text in general (being the editor-in-chief I know of what I speak). I mentioned the talents of M. Christian (as I have plenty before) and his piece in #6 “Breast Plates To Bondage: An Informal Look At Sex In Comic Books and Pulp Magazines” is a great romp through rather recent history that should prompt you to want to look back through some old pulp mags or maybe get out that thin plastic superhero’s cape you have kept in your closet.

Adding to that great text this time out we also have another in our long running series of columns from Midori, this one called “Holy D/s, Batman! Lessons on Dominance & Submission from the Caped Crusader”.  As I have mentioned before issue #6 has a comic theme running through it and Midori’s piece considers all manner of naughtiness from one of our better know comic super stars, stuff I know you had been just thinking yourself.

For those of you who don’t knowand I can’t see how you wouldn’t know-Midori is a writer, speaker, educator based in San Fran-dam-Ciscokid. She has been and we hope will always continue to be a great friend of the Von Gutenberg family and her inclusion in issue #6-as her inclusion in all our issues-really does give our readers the chance to say: “No, I ready do read it for the articles” and not have that be a hollow boast.

Find all things Midori here: http://www.planetmidori.com/

Find issue 6 here: http://vongutenbergcouture.com/

It really does pay to get out sometimes.

Erik V and I happened to spin through the NJ Exxxotica convention this year (as I already reported: http://www.vongutenbergblog.com/fantasy-news/exxxotica-n-j) and while there met quite a few people both he and I knew and made some new friends. Among the new was the artist Fang Ling Lee. Her work, displayed on a high make-shift six-wall ‘gallery’ set on her specific piece of pink carpet was so startling and sexy, and the artist herself about the nicest young woman one could ever wish to meet, that Erik made a decision right then and there to include her in issue #6.

Because this is an issue centered around comics, you’ll find schmushed right there between the pictures of our four models-cover girl MiMi Cherry, Canada’s Bianca Beauchamp, sultry Deanna Storm and the inimitable Miss Mischief-great art from people like Armando Huerta, Ed Mironiuk and Chainsaw Chuck.

And there is this great art from Fang Ling Lee, our new friend here at Von Gutenberg.

Check it all out at http://vongutenbergcouture.com/VG-Magazines.html and the lady herself at: http://www.fanglinglee.com/

So kids, let’s talk about issue #6.

We’re going to be running lots of Facebook alerts, tweeting and twatting, shooting out emails to our friends, designers, the models, writers, and just about everybody else about the fact that our issue #6 is out and about. In time I will try to amass a list of where you might be able to pick-up the magazine in your area. Really, we are so very proud of this issue, from front cover to last, and we want you to see it!

One of our features this time is a great big piece by M. Christian (and we all know Christian has a great big piece, this is why he is so popular with the ladies!) you just have to read his historical overview on comics and pulps and how and steamy they all got way back in the day. His Breast Plates To Bondage: An Informal Look At Sex In Comic Books and Pulp Magazines is a wonderful 4-page spread you have to read to believe. Yes, Von Gutenberg is about all those delicious models dressed in dripping hot latex, and God knows we got them this time around, but if I do say so myself, the text we have in the magazine this time around, M. Christian’s piece one of the shining examples, is exemplary.

So check out our brand spanking new (and I know how much so many of you out there love to be spanked) issue #6 at http://vongutenbergcouture.com/and check our all things M. Christian at his site http://frequentlyfelt.blogspot.com/.

Our biggest, brightest and boldest issue yet, Von Gutenberg Magazine #6 begins the new year with a generous “squirt” of lube, the high retort of snapping latex and just that perfect combination scent of sweat rising off of leather. This being our comics issue we feature the artistry of Chainsaw Chuck, Armando Huerta and Ed Mironiuk once again, designers Westward Bond, Syren and so many others featuring their fantastic and sometimes fantastical frockery and of course our usual array of gorgeous models.

This time out you can feast your eyes on Goddess Deanna Storm, Miss Mischief, Bianca Beauchamp  and over cover girl, Montreal native, the simply sumptuous MiMi Cherry. The outfits our four ladies wear are truly not for the faint of heart…but they are so terribly hot!

There is plenty of good text in issue 6 as well. Featuring our usual piece by the always provocative Midori, we also have M. Christian’s historical overview of naughty pulps and sinful comics and a two part serial of latex and more than a bit of tongue-in-cheekiness from Ralph Greco, Jr. and Tom Kennedy.

With the usual editorial from CEO Erik Von Gutenberg, ads from designers the world over and a copious color-picture round-up of the events that occurred in our community that in the last few months, Von Gutenberg #6 is an issue you simply cannot miss.

VG Shop: Von Gutenberg Magazine Issue 6

As we all know Hollywood typically refuses to produce films with SM/fetish as a major topic, thinking the audience for such fare limited….though if you‘re reading this you’d probably be counted as one of the many who’d like to see a good lifestyle film, right? Yes, there was the more mainstream Secretary a few years back with James Spader but really how often do we get a truly accurate depiction of the stuff we are into? Even the just released The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, boasting a lead character who is more then slightly alternative in her dress and deportment is simply not going to satisfy us who have a need to see someone on screen, any damn screen, wearing a leather trench or some super cool binding boots.

Our friends at the Fetish Film Festival in Kiel Germany were on top of things though. This past October-25th-29th 2011 they held their annual film festival of short films, documentaries, music video and a whole bunch of stuff that ran the gambit between filmed mistress meanders to even some shibari films like Shibari bu Caeser Pink, a bondage black and white (www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrpJx3BzSMQ).

Some of the winners this year: Sebastiano Montresor’s Vigasiosexploitation won best film, Willian Van Noland best actor for his work in Indietro and FourPlay San Francisco won best short film, best actor in a short film (Gary Chason) as well as best Trans-Performance by Paul Soileau. This third edition of the festival also featured a big party, FETISCH-TRAUM and expositions of painter Gotana and photographer Carlos Kella.

This biggest regional film event in Germany featured entrees from filmmakers and fetishists from around the globe (19 films were screened) and the winners were voted on by the audience. Skin Two’s site has a good run down of the event here: http://www.skintwo.co.uk/fetisch-film-festival-october2011-kiel/ or you can enjoy the festivals‘ site here: http://www.fetisch-film-festival.de/.

Ah, the colder weather…at least here on the east coast. Last year I had the good fortune to be in warmer climes almost all of January when the north east-where I live-happened to get slammed with some horrendous wet cold weather (I know other places in the country got hit as well but as I was calling home every day to check on my folks and friends I only really ever heard about New Jersey’s conditions) and was happy to not have to deal. We saw snow the day before the day of Halloween here this year, and right now as I write this we have gone from cold conditions to a rather yucky rainy day, but not so cold.

Makes me think of leather.

Ok, I think of leather a lot, it’s not just the weather that does it and I’m not just thinking about things like we sell at our shop. But with the wind whipping and the temperature dropping this really is the time to wear the leather trench coat…and nothing else. The slushy wet is best negotiated by our high-laced boots and gloves and if you have a thing for fur collars and low hanging hoods, this is the perfect time of year to get-out all your warmest items.

Let’s face it, we’ll wear the boots, snap out the trench and the latex gloves, curl the rabbit-fur collar round our chinny-chin-chins or rub that angora sweater over our bods any season, but with the colder weather upon us, it’s nice to kid ourselves we have an excuse. If you happen to live where I live you know how wonderful it is to feel latex rushing to envelope your cold skin (as delicious as it feels when it’s hot and you are sweating under it) and how good we all look in long coats snuggling our figures.

I’ll miss the warmer weather this year, especially when we hit those dog-days of real cold here where I live, but my clothes will keep me warm and delighted I know.

Unfortunately we are surrounded by too many negatives of sex.

We hear-especially lately-too many instances where one partner is accusing the other of a inordinate amount of time spent engaged in downloading and watching porn. Where hear too often-especially lately-celebrities admitting to sex addictions (from porn downloads as well as other sources). And unfortunately-and most tragically-we hear of kids being taken advantage of to a sickening degree the idea of that kind of abuse boggles the mind and leaves us as depressed as it does angry.
But there is good news on the sexual horizon….

Most of us are not sick and twisted in how we get our sex.

Lots of us are getting sex with a consenting partner or partners.

And those of us engaging in some sort of kink (and it is more people then you could ever imagine) are having a great time cinching into their strap-on harnesses or wearing their masks.

Sex is positive in lots of instances, people are consenting and during the cold days and nights of winter upon us (if you happen to be in areas where winter is cold) lots of folks are enjoying warming-up with their naughty desires and the partner or partners they are being naughty with.

It’s just good to remind one’s self in the face of all the negative reporting about sex, the critique of porn and the terrible rise in abuse cases that sex is a healthy fun activity for most of us. This idea is certainly what we are about here, why we report on the events we do, and why we champion the lifestyle.

So have at it my friends, give yourself a round of applause over all your positive acts and approaches to sex; be safe, be honest and most of all…be yourself.

I know I keep warning about issue #6 of Von Gutenberg magazine, but I assure you this one will be our best yet!

In the planning of the magazine, checking copy as I do, I get to see all the pictures, design layouts-the amazing interviews written by yours truly-and in this new issue especially I got to peruse a bunch of amazing erotic drawings and artwork.

And lots of this stuff is very hot indeed;

I’m not saying I get aroused by ole’ Bugs Bunny (but hey, if that’s what does it for you, who am I to judge?). I’m referring to pencil renderings, airbrushing and Japanese Anime of barely legal school girls made to bend over, their pleaded school-girl skirts lifted-up over their pert bottoms while the man behind them raises a wide wooden paddle with hole…

Sorry, I was lost there for a moment.

From Fritz the Cat, to Michael Manning, to our own Fang Ling Lee whose artwork we will be seeing in issue six (more here http://fanglinglee.com/) there is some amazing artwork out there. We all know that static pictures as well as movies can get us all spunky and aroused (hell pictures are Von Gutenberg’s bread and butter), why can’t animated still shots and movies do it for us as well? The stuff I have been looking over for the magazine are some truly wild images, running the gambit from true fantasy cartoons to more realistic line drawings, but they are all as alluring as the pictures of our lovely models and the amazing interviews written by yours truly.

Getting down now to the nitty gritty of what will be our issue #6, re-reading copy I wrote, making sure interviews line-up, recalling the lubing (yes, the terrible ordeal of lubing, I know I hear you sympathizing!) I realize that in order to even get a handle on just a small piece what latex fashion is about-fashion in general-one must concede that…there is a lot of stuff out there.

There is Deadly Fetish, Dawnamatrix and catsuits by Canadian designer Polymorphe. Corsets by AMF Korsets, boots by Pleasure and of course all those many wonderful items-toys, accoutrements and clothes from San Francisco’s own Stockroom. There are as many places to buy these things-our own Von Gutenberg Couture is replete with one-of-a-kind Von Gutenberg items-as there are outfits to look through and try on.

Then there are the ancillary fun pieces: gas makes and goggles, various medical equipment that feeds the lifestyle so well, and of course those toys, toys, toys… all the wonderful toys. Really, the deeper you get the deeper you want to go.

I know plenty of people who stick to only one specific piece and parcel of the lifestyle, others who dive head first and swim all their days and still others who occasionally drip a toe in, have fun for a weekend or two at any of the many events like we list on Fantasy Event List, then come home to wiggle into A-line skirts or three-piece power suits for their work week. Whatever, however ,wherever and no matter what you wear whenever, really I am reminded time and again, by even the tip of what I am exposed to that yes…there are a lot out there.
And we should be happy there are.

It really is getting to be that time of year…

The last couple of pieces here have been directly related to the holidaze and I have to beg your indulgence as this one is to. But this time I want to hip you specifically to our Fantasy Event List and holiday event-ing (ok, I am hipping you once again to the FEL) but the preponderance of stuff ahappening for kinkters round the globe need really to be searched. Lot’s of events on the FEL are recurring, wild-night happenings every first Saturday of the month etc, and many societies and specific city communities are amping-up for the holidays by adding nights or advertising holiday-themed parties for the next few weeks.

Check them out here: http://www.fantasyeventlist.com/

Us kinky-minded folks don’t really celebrate less or more than anybody else, but like everybody else we are certainly much more comfortable in one another’s company. So you just know there will be plenty of latex catsuits on display, some gas masks covered with tinsel, red and black leather outfits. As it is with Halloween (and arguably more so) we do tend to feel we can get-out a bit more with our freaky frockery during this festive month, share a hot tottie and kisses wherever one wishes to place one’s mistletoe.

Between the shopping, the eating, the hanging-out, the gift-giving and maybe hitting a few of those happenings listed in the FEL it is certainly a busy time of year, I agree. But it is also a fun one and while we all know this can be ba-humbug-y Grinch-y time if we worry too much about the crowds shopping, too much eating, rushing to hang-out, and not having enough money for the gift-giving maybe if we hit of few of the happenings we might be able to stave-off the stresses.

Ok, so you saw all that crazy Black Friday stuff: people sleeping out in tents at local electronics stores for the early Friday opening? (I caught one report of a guy dressed in an adult Tigger outfit waiting outside a Best Buy from Wednesday night and instantly thought of our friends the plushies); the lines round the big chain retailers with people chomping at the bit to get in and the many lines inside where folks waited hours to buy various different products. It was madness as it always is but at least this year I didn’t hear about anybody getting trampled.

For those of us wanting to get online to buy there was cyber-Monday a few days later.

What this all comes down to is, we are consumers through and through (at least here in the U.S. from where I write these weekly missives) and this time of year makes us nuts (as I mentioned in my last column).  The retail business numbers were up, so that’s a good thing and whether anybody really got what they needed or got out during those early am hours of Friday just to be in the fray (which I know for a fact many folks did) I just hope everybody got to shake of the tryptophan enough to enjoy themselves.

Me, I was sleeping.

Whether you serpentine through your local Target or are even logging-on to check-out our Von Gutenberg Couture, take a nice deep breath, buy only what you can afford and make sure you get a grip on all the consumer madness. Especially in these economic times we don’t need to spend anymore then we really need, but I understand wanting some games for your gaming system, hoping to catch a great deal on a flat screen, needing a new latex corset. I’m not saying not to buy, I am just saying buy that which you know you really need or will really be giving as a gift.

Remember kiddies, spreading holiday cheer can be as much about giving a ten dollar item with lots of thought behind it as it can be sipping nog with someone we like and spreading them upon us.

This time of year, besides being a wacky holidaze mess of people shopping, noise-a-noising and bright lights lit and or popping-out can be like Halloween, quite kinky. Naughty little female elves parade around in short cotton red skirts (at least they do at my house), Santa’s act all daddy-like checking if you’ve been naughty or nice (hopefully both), people into ponyplay can act like reindeers all they like, we can light our menorah with our violet wands (not really but get into the spirit here with me, ok?), tinsel and garland can be used in Shibari bondage scenes as much as for trimming the tree and all that extra sugar frosting and sprinkles will do us well covering our lover’s naked body.

So have at the holiday I say and get yourself up, wild and crazy with your bad-ass self or a partner. Avoid shopping for one night, madly clicking around online for deals and free shipping and have some sex. Keep out of those traffic jams, jet on over to your fuck-buddy’s house, secure that mistletoe over specific spots of your body you want most to be kissed and licked. Go beyond your normal office holiday party snuck moment with that guy or girl you have had your eye on for so long and end up making-out at the copy machine with after a few totties. Get out the whips, the leather jerkins, the cookies and cream.

Search out a happening our two on our Fantasy Event List (there are plenty popping–up during the month of Dec.) and really make the most of this holidaze season. Really, just give yourself a break from the grind of what can turn out to be a quite stressful time of the year by indulging in your everyday normal kinks. It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

Erik von Gutenberg announced the Cyber Sin Party from Eric Paradis in Montreal December 2 with DJ Kommandant!  A great fetish party announced here on the Blog! See you there!

Once again I feel I have to warn you about the dangers of growing addicted to Facebook…

Just this week a Trevor Jones went to rob a home in Atlanta, as one is want to do every now and again, while the home’s owner went out for a walk. Expert criminal that he is, ole Trev left his car running in the driveway, the car windows open and his wallet inside. To add insult to injury (at least to Trev), the homeowner returned and realizing she was being robbed reached into Trevor’s car, grabbed his wallet and while watching him rob her home from a location down the street called the police. Jones broke into another house-and this is where it gets really good-and with even less sense (if you can believe it) found a computer in the 2nd home and logged onto his Facebook account while there!

You got to love a burglar with lots of time…

As you might notice I try to prompt you from time to time to go to our shop, check-out the Von Gutenberg Fantasy Event List and tickle your mouse and eye across our Facebook page (just as I am doing now). But as much as I want you to participate in what we got going-on online, am anxious to have you see issue #6 when we get it all finished I hope you get out and about to share a cup of coffee with friends every now and again.

If you are into dressing in a corset and having at or having someone have at you in all manner of nasty ways, do more than just leave missives about your desire on your wall or in a tweet; go do it, man! Life passes us by fast, before you know it you are on the other side of 50 and the more time you spend not doing but texting, tweeting and Facebooking the more you will surely you miss….especially that good nasty stuff. Really, I know you ache for the ex and your kids’ pictures are just too cute not to put up for grammy to see, but Facebook now, really? All the time? To the exclusion or in place of flesh-and-blood encounters?

While you are robbing a house? 

Our friends over at NY’s Rubber Ball just bounced in with some exciting news about their 2012 event.

For those in (and out) of the know, NY Rubber Ball/Miss Rubber World is a social event for the world rubber lifestyle, fetish and fantasy scene. It is a get together where rubberists from all over the world come to socialize, dance, play and shop and is also the home of the Miss Rubber World pageant.

Next year’s event, happening over three days on 3/23 to 3/25, held at the Affina Manhattan on 7th Ave, just announced a Miss Rubber Ball Prize Pool now over $11, 800! The list of this years’ sponsors is growing all the time with over 2 dozen designers already on board making-up that hefty prize package. Sponsors/designers for the 2012 event include Demask, Pjur Erotic, The Baroness, Lovely Latex, and Zuss, to name a few.

FetishMovies.com just signed as a sponsor this past week as well.

Of course we are listing the ball in our calendar events section and will keep you abreast (or two well-encased ones) of the NY Rubber Ball and every other kinky event happening in the US and abroad…cause that’s just what we do here at Von Gutenberg. But with such a hefty prize package to be split between three lucky winners, the 2012 NY Rubber Ball/Miss Rubber World will prove to be the event to attend!

For more into visit: www.nyrubberball.com.

I think when it comes to sex we’re all pretty much fascinated, can be extremely voyeuristic, want to hear, see, smell and read everything we can even if the sex in question is not of a nature we have had any experience with or interest in.  We realize this here at Von Gutenberg and coddle the constant hope that not just the latex lifestyle-minded will check-out the magazine or our store. Not that everyone’s going to hop on board but God knows we wish they would, if even just to check stuff out enough to be repelled by it.

Rest assured that just about everybody you know is into something. As I have opined in the past, sexuality can run the gambit from the mild to the wild and most likely those seemingly solid respectable couples are anything but when you take a look round their bedrooms. In the end, other than the specifics of what we get into the fact that we are all getting into something makes us really pretty equal regardless of what that something we get into might be.

And why not cross an interest or two at times, or at the very least have a discussion over coffee or twitter about what you may or may not have tried? Why not indulge our more prurient curiosities and every now and again to get to know how the other half lives? What can it hurt? In fact, you might just learn a little something about something you have never tried and or a little more of a something about yourself when you do.

Now wouldn’t that be something?

Do you ever wonder where your sexual lifestyle might lead you? From wearing a latex Catsuit, to maybe wanting to lick someone’s shoes (whether someone is in them or not) to wanting some 19 year-old cutie to sit in your bed wearing your Star Trek PJ’s eating Oreos by not twisting them apart…ok, sorry, that’s just me. Seriously though, do you ever wonder if a sexual kink you court, a fantasy you feel a’bubbling, a little flicker of an itch you find yourself mentally scratching with increasing zealotry could be akin to a gateway drug?

And do you care?

I think what it is with us all; lifestyle-minded, vanilla-sex partners, full-blown spanking aficionados, everybody and anybody, is that when you cultivate an interest in something-especially something as all-encompassing as a sexual interest-you enter into a pact with a community even if you never get out among them. You can search for clothes in our shop, look through the parties from our list and you’re on your way even if you really don’t buy another outfit or even get out to a party. Especially seeing how much facility we are afforded with the net, we could more or less enjoy any kink and never even leave the house and rally a whole bunch of folk around us who will hip us to the latest trends and how to do what we want to do with even better results.

But is even looking-up an interest on a website, indulging your kink with a buddy, maybe building a sex life with your interest the beginnings of something you’ll never be able to retreat from, something you will need to increase consistently?  Do you truly have a fetish? Do those delicious hand spankings have to lead to a paddling in order to get you off after a time? Does the slight sweet restrictiveness of a corset need to lead to full head-to-toe rubber body mummification?

Can we really just eat one Oreo?

I’m not really sure of the scientific evidence of gateway drugs as I really don’t know where our sexual interests lead but I’d have to venture a guess that as in all things we need to take everything on a case-by-case up-to-the-individual basis. So it’s for you to judge really how much wider the nozzle gets each time, what material the tethers are made of and if you go for the regular or the double-stuffed. But does wanting a little increase, a slight change-up, something tighter/harder or shinier mean you have fallen into the spinning-wheel mud ditch of a gateway sexual interest?

Damned if I know, I got to go get me some milk.

I warned you I’d have more to say on the past weekend and all Erik and I got into at Exxxotica…

I just found out that with 28,000 people attending those 3 days the convention reported a record-setting weekend! Nice to know all these sex-minded people could make my NJ home proud. For me personally I enjoyed, as I always do, the diversity of the crowd; from what I reported previously to meeting Digital Playground contract girls Stoya and Riley Steele, to the famous wrestler, now adult performer Chyna, to Erik making his way to some of the contacts he knew, like convention sponsor HotMovies.com, to making new friends we hope will figure into the Von Gutenberg world and our shop someday soon.

I happened by Mistress T, a famous dom in NYC and an old friend (she and I had first met at this very convention when I first attended 3 years before reporting for RadioDentata) and I once again saw the ridiculously buff and hung Mr. Marcus, the booth for L.A. Models, not to mention all the local strippers Exxxotica employs to dance in various cages, on swings and ride a seesaw with dildos on each end (not something I recall from my school yard).

This year the convention did not let press in any earlier than the rest of the rabble, which served me better as I wasn’t walking around for hours waiting for people to set-up and even with NJ Friday afternoon traffic, trying to keep my appointment with Jennifer and her Digital Playground ladies and all I knew Erik and I had to get to, we still managed to get in our carousing-personal and business-a solid three hours and were out of the place by 8.

Erik and I meeting our buddy Jeff at a good ole Jersey diner for a yummy dinner, the waitress’ wide smile and some classic freshly made cheesecake made the day perfect.

And I think that’s all I have to now say about that.

And by the way, the quick shots you see here (and in the last blog) were all taken by Erik

This is the first of what I feel will might be a few quick reports about the NJ Exxotica convention that happened this past weekend (11/4-/116) down at the Raritan Center in bucolic Edison NJ. Littered with strippers, porn-stars, doms and quite a bit of business people plying their wares, Erik V (CEO of this adventure) and I made our way to the big cement building in mid-Jersey to catch a glimpse of some of the mayhem, get me a few interviews and take some pictures.

First-up we visited a truly great Von Gutenberg friend, Rubber Doll, attracting picture takers and fans to her huge space in the center. As well as offering her DVD’s, T-shirts and other goodies for sale (not to mention posing for pics) the lady also had the issue of Von Gutenberg magazine she appeared in clearly displayed and for sale…and we can’t thank her enough for that.

I doubt anybody can wear latex nipple covers better then Rubber Doll!

We made our way round to the XXX van, happened by some toy sellers, past the super cool car round-up the center always allows in with this convention-making the space seem not so cavernous-gave a wave to Ron Jeremy and basically walked the pink-carpeted floor for two hours.

Sometimes you just have to get out and about, ya know?

I promise more reporting from the Exxxotica convention, for now I just wanted to tickle you.

I know I have been on about this before, but…

Von Gutenberg Magazine Launches New Event Promotion Website:

Fantasy Event List – www.fantasyeventlist.com

Dear Promoters,

Von Gutenberg Magazine, the leading Fantasy, Fashion & Lifestyle magazine offers a natural extension to its global reach with the new  www.fantasyeventlist.com. Offering all promoters the possibility to promote their monthly local events, and kinky travelers the ability plan months ahead Von Gutenberg’s Fantasy Event List is the one stop on the web for us all.

Interested in sin-o-matic in Boston, or a global event like Montreal Fetish Weekend? Are you making plans to attend Torture Garden in London or the German or Japan Fetish Ball? We offer the dates and links to the event home pages, constantly updated with information you can rely on.

Fantasy Event List is the unique and only place where the Fetish Event Fan can go to look up his or her favorite event, recommended and vetted by a leader in the  Lifestyle community, Von Gutenberg Magazine.

Please send your event info and dates and flyers and banners to:

events@fantasyeventlist.com

We also offer specially highlighted advertising possibilities within the Fantasy Event List. Please see the advertising rate sheet available at the website www.fantasyeventlist.com .

We are excited to offer this new service to all Fetish travelers worldwide and will continue to report on the best events in Von Gutenberg Magazine and our website. We are looking forward to your participation in this lifestyle community venture.

Fetish Greetings,

Erik von Gutenberg

So by happenstance-more like an unusual dump of snow we got on Oct 29^thhere in NJ-I spent the next day, my b’day (yes I know I am a ‘Mischief/Goosie Night’ baby) not really going anywhere, staying in and simply writing for my b’day…and I couldn’t have been more content. I had managed to get my regular writing work done early, thanks to the writers in my employ working diligently to hand-in their work under deadline for this ‘special’ week and had the entire day to goof-off and to get into writing that was what I still consider my work but the pleasurable part of what I do…like this blog for instance.

I remember reading a piece by the great Isaac Asimov, premier grand-daddy of science fiction writing who said that his wife never understood how he didn’t want to take a vacation, go out to dinner or meet with friends because his vacation, his fun, his leisure time activity happened to be his work…I feel the same way. There isn’t much else I’d rather be doing then writing (ok, maybe a few things, you naughty little monkeys, probably with a girl or two wearing some of the stuff you can find at VG Couture) but generally if I am not writing I want to be and if I am I want to just keep doing so.

See, I understand desire because I have found my desire in life (at least what I desire professionally) and I know how it is to have something on your mind, no matter what it is, 24/7, to want to do that one thing, whether it be writing, gardening, or lacing-up a corset to the exclusion of all else that you define your life and yourself around your passion. I get it loud and clear how an ache can lead you to often times some crazy wild happenings (and you can find some here FantasyEventList) or to want nothing more than to stay in on a cold second-to-last day in October, the day you were born no less, tickling your keyboard and be perfectly content doing so.