Giving sex a good name since 1995
Catullus is not current or sexy. And he not only wrote – he wrote poems, which is a bit naff. Plus, he’s dead. Thankfully, Daisy Dunn is here to save the day. She adores this ancient verse-maker, and now, since reading her first books – published concurrently – so do I.
Allen Jones does not allow us to objectify her body and what she represents. Each image realises her as an individual person. The maîtresse may represent your utmost fantasies and she may wear a mask of sorts, but she is also a strong and a highly accessible representation of a sexually powerful female figure.
Sorry: How to Choose a Partner won't necessarily help you if you're trying to determine whether a prospective partner is going to be a good lay. It's not going to literally tell you how to choose a partner, either. But it could be massively helpful in suggesting why you've got it right (if your partnership works OK) or why you keep getting it so terribly, terribly wrong...
Fans of the cerebral and weird Being John Malkovich will be familiar with screenwriter and director Charlie Kaufman’s fascination with puppets. Before Kaufman had to contend with using real people as the puppets, now he’s a real puppet master. It’s almost a shame to give even the premise away, as seeing the story unfold is a pleasure in itself. Kaufman is a master story teller although you can feel like he’s dragging it out a little. But the intricate nature of the stop-still animation is enough to keep you quite comfortable in your seat. For those who relish the thought of being at the mercy of Kaufman’s genius: stop reading here. For those you need more convincing, read on.
The prominent theme running through this tour is of seeing the erotic in relation to culture. We can recognise an erotic power/status shift, which is made more dramatic the further we look back. Reality had become ultra-reality to the Romans as the female body is depicted nude in Classical sculpture. Only the goddess Venus would regularly be seen nude in the art and get away with it due to her divinity
Maestra is hotly tipped to be the next Fifty Shades of Grey but with the merciful addendum that it’s been written by L.S.Hilton who can write brilliantly. And with Amy Pascal’s production company handling the film adaptation, you can be sure that this’ll be a proper blockbuster. Move over Anastasia, there’s a new Queen of kink in town… and she knows what a butt plug is.
Ex-girlfriends are creepy enough without being dead. But if you're going to run with the metaphor of the end of a relationship being death, make the ex properly dead. Make them look like the Corpse Bride as in Nina Forever. Over-emphasise the weirdness of the physical presence of exes by having them take part in an awkward threesome with their ex-partner and said partner's new boo, as they do in Nina Forever. Highlight the pain of finding the old flame's stuff by having them appear and smear blood everywhere, as they do in Nina Forever. And make it sexy as hell, as they do in Nina Forever.
Some might call it an unusual choice for a Valentine’s day date: a one-man naked performance of The Tempest. Shakespeare’s last play is not renowned for its romance: critics tend to focus on the usurped Duke Prospero, who manipulates the various traitorous family members and friends who have washed up on his island; his daughter, Miranda’s eventual union with Fernando (his nephew) is just another strand in a plot concerned with reconciliations and renunciations. So Theatre North’s decision to treat the play as a love story in Mirando: The Gay Tempest, had me intrigued. My date was game; we went.
Pornography is going mainstream. From the titillating advertising of Poldark to the release of KNKI, the “kinky Tinder”, and Gaspar Noe’s Love using actors performing real sex (in 3D no less), the stiff upper lip of the British public is being teased into submitting. The third wave of feminism has taken sexual liberation by the balls and globally spawned a revolution in pornography and the objectification of women in adult cinema. And shining brightly in the Feminist porn movement is Erika Lust.
One of the many perks of life at Erotic Review is the occasionally atypical things one receives in the post. On returning home last week my front door was stoppered by a heavy package: this’ll be something tax-y, I thought gloomily, as the paper came off.