Sunday, August 25, 2013

Quickshots- Lust on the Prairie



Play Fallout New Vegas, don't watch bad TV, partner!
Recently while looking at the options on late night cable I came across a listing called Lust on the Prairie.  Fondly remembering Bikini Roundup, I decided to record it and give it a shot.  I was hoping for, nay, expecting boots and spurs and horses, and dare I say it even a sixgun or two?  Alas, I was disappointed.  The majority of the movie took place in living rooms, just like… well, every other movie on late night cable (*ahem*, not that I would know anything about that).  I essentially fast forwarded through the entire thing, and while I think I saw a stable blur by, every “action” scene took place on a sofa.  Really?  Sofas are just bad ergonomics. 

Lust on the Prairie?  More like Lust in the SuburbsBikini Roundup is back on rotation on Showtime, though!

Thank you, Belinda Gavin, for making dreams come true!

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Meditations of a Mountain Man


When I close my eyes and take a deep breath I often find myself high in a forested mountain with fresh, clean air.  Sometimes it is in an ashram1, meditating in lotus2, senses turned inward to my breath and heartbeat, third eye3 blazing.  Sometimes it standing near a beaver pond, senses turned outward, listening for Bugs Boys4 or Old Ephraim5, with my trigger finger on my Hawken6 ready for the chance to make meat7.

Inside me there is a vegetarian yogi who practices pranayama regularly and is concerned about his meditation, because sometimes it’s too easy to get lost in the Atmamya kosha8 and hard to come back.  He’s often at odds with the big bearded buy who reads and writes westerns, romps around the woods, kayaks and runs and knows way more about guns than he should.

Yesterday I left my weekly advanced yoga class, where I really started getting the hang of handstand and arm balance basics, and walked out to my car9 barefoot and blissful.  When I started up the radio came on and this was the song that was playing:



For once, the two sides got along great.

And now for the footnotes:

1- Forest academy, a place for spiritual or religious contemplation
2- Cross legged seated position
3- Place of focus related to the pineal gland
4- Blackfoot Native American tribe
5- Grizzly bear
6- Muzzle loading rifle favored by fur hunters
7- Hunting for game
8- Inner veil the reveals connectedness to the universe and all living things
9- Subaru Forester, of course

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Zorro- Z for Zexy!



I was reading old blog posts this morning and reread the Midnight Theater post on Zorro. Curious, I googled The Erotic Adventures of Zorro, the “first movie rated Z!”  I found that not only is there a NSFW trailer on youtube, but that you can order it from Amazon.  I look forward to writing my review soon.



Sunday, August 18, 2013

Eroticism of the Rope; or, 50 Shades of Cowpokes



I was reading through my semi-completed novel today and two things struck me.  First, it’s not nearly as bad as I remember.  There are some really good bits in there.  I told Mrs. Slap today that between the campfire sex scene and the gunfight at the dam I wasn’t sure which was my favorite chapter.  On the same note I’m struggling to figure out what publisher would pick it up.  It really is cowpoke on cowpoke, which fits a lot of the stuff published by women’s erotica e-publishers, but it’s got a couple of gunfights and a scene that is a little more twisted than the typical erotic romance publishers put out.  Maybe a publisher for gay men?  Very limiting market, though.  If there is still a market for Laurel K Hamilton, whose books have descended to wall to wall fucking and gore, then there may be a place for me.

The other thing that struck me was one exchange between the two main characters after one of the fights:

“May I ask why, if you carry a pistol on your belt and a Winchester in a saddle sheath, did you go at Big Mo with a lasso?”

“Not really sure,” Johnny said, scratching his head.  “It’s a pretty rare occasion that I actually ever draw a gun, but I use the lasso all the time.  Just was natural, I reckon.  Good thing, too.  I don’t want any more blood than necessary between our brands.”

“So you are good with a rope, too, Sir Cowboy?” said Antonio, moving his eyes across Johnny’s form.  “My imagination runs wild.”

“Ease up, there, buckaroo.  We’ve got miles to go and a judge to meet.”

I had a group of friends in college that were largely obsessed with bondage, so much so that when I got out of college the idea that people didn’t just sit around and discuss the advantages of silk scarves vs nylon cord or the best time to take off the blindfold was kind of weird.  None of them could afford all the crazy gear, but one dorm mate made special trips to the local K-Mart with his girlfriend to see which cutting boards made the best paddles.  Everyone I knew read Anne Rice’s The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty. 

The world of BDSM, with all of its whips, ropes, and leather chaps, looks surprisingly like a western.  For the most part you just have to trade the shiny black leather for worn brown, swap the zipper mask for a cowboy hat, and move the scene from the abandoned Berlin factory to a Colorado ghost town. 

A couple of years ago an adult film studio made a film from Zane Grey’s To The Last Man.  The studio, Raging Stallion (how awesome is that name?), specializes in exceptionally manly men with muscles and beards doing exceptionally manly things with other exceptionally manly men.  Alas, I have not seen this film, but I have read about a controversial scene where a cowboy is tied up and sexually assaulted by two gunhands riding for another brand.  There are some interesting chat board discussions that focus just one this scene; some think it is disgusting, but just as many think it’s the hottest scene in the movie.

Despite their occasional similarities, this gets to the difference between traditional BDSM literature and what you find in Westerns.  BDSM is a safe place in fiction.  We can feel the anxiety of the bottom while knowing that, ultimately, they will come away relatively unscathed.  Behind every red bottom spanking there is an open palm of love, so they say.  In Western fiction, the world is harsher, without guarantees of safety. 

Take Lonesome Dove, for example.  Early on Lorena, the town prostitute / main love interest for several characters, is kidnapped by an Indian outlaw, Blue Duck.  Sounds like the start of some kind of erotic bondage romance?  Anyone familiar with Lonesome Dove knows that part of the story is neither romantic nor erotic.

Not fun
 
Fun




















With its whips, chaps, ropes, and masks, there’s a lot of room for kink in westerns.  Just don’t always expect that warm, fuzzy, “he tied me up because he loves me” feeling.
 
(Note about the title- in my 20’s I read all of the classics of erotic bondage- Story of O, 9 ½ Weeks, Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, etc.  By the time the 50 Shades phenomena hit I’d had my fill.  50 Shades of Yoga, though, now that’s fun.)

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Blacksmith Wanted, Clothing Optional



Have I posted about Barry Denton yet?  Shame on me if I haven’t.  Not only is he a great photographer of westerns and pinups, he apparently also rents out his Arizona ranch for other photographers and brings in models.  One of the photographers seems to have a thing for dirty, half naked blacksmiths.  Seeing the results, can you blame him?  Thank you, Floyd Harris, for sharing these great shots.