November 06, 2009- LES, NYC, NY: 2010 NYC Sex Blogger Calendar Release Party

From the Sex Blogger Calendar Blog:

photo by JC, Stark-Arts (C)

Updated: 10-14-2009 Order of Esoteric Research Discussion Annotation Links

OCCULT USA: Process Church Sabbath Assembly Ritual at Anthology Film Archives, NYC

Paul Karasik presents the Fletcher Hank Experience @ Strands in NYC

Eric Reynolds wrote for the Fantagraphics Books blog: 

Happy Birthday King~!!

Bull to Paper Democrats

WE SHALL CONFOUND ALL THE LISTENERS~! (Invisible Web the Podcast Season 4 Episode One)

Season 4 Episode One – We Shall Confound All the Listeners~!

Pro Wrestling News for May 21, 2009

Tristan Taormino…

I wish a very happy birthday to Tristan Taormino, the writer of Pucker-Up, a long-time column in the Village Voice, and the awesome book, True Lust, which compiles many of the past articles as well as other essays on human sexuality.  The articles and the book brought great joy to my life as it discussed a wrongfully stigmatized subject in western society in an educational yet witty manner the reflects the experiences of Tristan as  explores these usually marginalized worlds and expresses them to readers.

Me, my friend, and Tristan.

Other readers of her works can impart well wishes to her on Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter.

The 25 Meme

An excerpt from my Facebook profile:

“Rules: Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.” -an anonymous Friend

1. Ever since I read The Illuminatus Trilogy! by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea, I have held a special mystical affinity for the numbers 5, 17, 23, and 40. The Chinese people in this note will point out that 40 is a very unclean number. Those hip would know that the man who first told the legendary William S. Burroughs who popularize said 23 Meme, died a vicious death, so there’s more than a 23% chance I will be cursed by this decision~!

3. Even though she is a Myspace and Facebook friend now, I once bore a grudge against Margaret Cho over what I thought to be a racist joke about woks. We’re good now.

4. As an elementary school kid, I thought RuPaul was a fine woman. Then I found out RuPaul was born male. That said, shi has a much better sense of style than me, and I am almost sure shi is the reincarnation of Aleister Crowley. See the Book of the Law for clues (Liber Al Vegis). If anyone can bring the next Aeon for humanity, it would have to be RuPaul.

6. Born in the HK, raised the in the South BX from age 6 months to 15 years.

In the Flesh Returns Jan 15 8:00 PM at Happy Ending Lounge

(C) Molly Crabapple via Rachel Kramer Bussel

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
January 15th, 8 pm – 10 pm
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey or F/V to 2nd Avenue, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676
http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com
With Jeff Mac (Manslations), J.L. Scott (contributor, Nerve: The First Ten Years), Cristy C. Road (author/illustrator of Bad Habits), Diana Spechler (Who By Fire), and podcaster Mia (\\\”I Want Your Sex\\\”). Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel. Free candy and cupcakes will be served.
FREE, 21+
Happy Ending Lounge, 302 Broome Street, NYC (F/V 2nd Avenue, look for pink awning)

Viacom and Time Warner Cable Split

Thanks to Rich Tate of GeorgiaWrestlingHistory.com. Catch my good friends  Ric Gillespie of The Canvas Chronicle and Casey Trowbridge of Combat-Hooligans podcasting for that site every Sunday starting this January.

Effective midnight tonight, those with Time Warner Cable systems will no longer have access to Viacom networks, which includes SpikeTV, the home for Total Nonstop Action’s iMPACT. Apparently a deal between the two companies, which has been negotiated over several months but recently stalled, could not be reached. Among the other networks that will be lost to TWC customers are the various channels from MTV, VH-1, Nickelodeon, as well as Comedy Central, CMT, and TV Land.

Update:  The channels are staying on the air.  See this report on the Wrestling Observer.

In the Flesh 2008 Finale This Thursday December 18, 2008 at Happy Ending Lounge LES, Manhattan

Rachel Kramer Bussel wrote:

This Thursday True Sex Confessions Night is back!

Featuring Rachel Resnick (author of the memoir Love Junkie), Neal Boulton (editor of Bastardlife.com), Kiki T. (astrosexologist for TheFrisky.com), playwright Christen Clifford (reading from (What I Know About) My Parents’ Sex Life), and blogger Rex Sorgatz (Fimoculous.com). Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Dating Drama columnist, TheFrisky.com, Editor, Best Sex Writing 2009, Spanked).
Happy Ending Lounge, 302 Broome Street, NYC (B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey or F/V to 2nd Avenue)
FREE, 21_

2009 dates:
January 15, February 19 (with Susie Bright!), March 19, April 16, May 21, June 19, July 17, August 21, September 18, October 16, November 20, December 18

Also I\’m DESPERATE for someone to tape this. Pay is $100, which I will bump up to $125 if 2 videos can be uploaded by Monday, payment on delivery. Email me at rachelravenous@gmail.com if interested.

Go here for my Top 10 Reasons to attend:

http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-10-reasons-why-you-want-to-come-to.html

Is that Horus the Avenger and an Intacto review?

No.

My aunt lent me the movie Intacto and I have to say it is not something of my interest. Perhaps as someone who is investigating and researching the occult, I do not totally leave things to luck or think of chance as much as probability, synchronicity, and CHAOS.

On that note, a car was about to hit my side head-on as it was turning a corner at Yellowstone Blvd in Forest Hills, Queens, NY as I was crossing the street Monday night. A similar incident occurred in the nearby vicinity as I was walking off the curb when a car literally drove parallel to me inches apart. Thus a warning to travellers to Forest Hills: the culture of Forest Hills drivers expecially in my vicinity are prone to reckless driving.

Fox News and NewsBusters Attack Margot Adler

The Wild Hunt Blog reports on an attack by sanctimonious FOX News on a friend of the site and previous guest Margot Adler (my interview with Margot is here):

It just seems like yesterday that I was discussing the smear job on NPR reporter (and fellow Pagan) Margot Adler by the “liberal media bias” watchdogs at NewsBusters.

“It seems that Graham’s biggest problem with Adler is that she isn’t a conservative Christian, that an atheist was hanging around when she recorded the report, and that she didn’t talk to some conservative Christians. Oh, and she didn’t find a (Christian or conservative) protester to talk to in a completely unrelated story.”

It seems that the folks at Fox News loved that dish so much they asked for seconds!

“A pagan priestess runs into the president of the atheists in a phone booth in New York. No, it’s not a joke — it’s the start of a controversial report from National Public Radio — and your tax dollars may have paid for it. New York City officials this fall launched an art project called “Public Prayer Booth” … To cover the story, NPR sent reporter Margot Adler, a Wiccan priestess and author of two books on paganism. Lo and behold, she happened upon the president of the New York City Atheists, Ken Bronstein, an outspoken opponent of public religious displays.”

Again, note the emphasis on Adler’s religion, as if being a Pagan was a strike against her. Luckily, it seems the NPR spokesperson has got Adler’s back.

“There’s no bias in this story and to imply that there is because of a reporter’s religious beliefs is absurd,” said Anna Christopher, an NPR spokeswoman. “[Adler] spoke with several different people with several different viewpoints on the booth.”

Christopher also debunked the notion that NPR operates “on the government dime”.

“Less than two percent [of NPR's budget] comes from competitive grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts,”

As for Adler running into the president of the New York City Atheists, it seems far more likely in New York where the “unaffiliated” outnumber the “evangelicals” by 5%. But I suppose the notion of coincidence is unthinkable for Fox News, especially when it involves a prominent Pagan running into a prominent atheist. Maybe they would have accepted it if a Catholic reporter ran into an evangelical pastor? Imagine that happening on the “government dime”!

Original post here.

In the Flesh returns Thursday October 16, 2008

IN THE FLESH READING SERIES ORAL SEX NIGHT

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16TH at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey, http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676

Celebrate the joys of giving and receiving-—head, that is-—with the first Oral Sex Night at In The Flesh Reading Series, featuring readings from host Rachel Kramer Bussel’s latest anthologies, Tasting Him and Tasting Her. Readers including Tasting Him and Her contributors Tish Andersen, Heidi Champa, Emerald, Tsaurah Litzky, Michelle Robinson and Donna George Storey (author of erotic novel Amorous Woman) as well as Daniel Maurer (author of Brocabulary) and Fiona Zedde (author of Hungry for It and A Taste for Sin, among others), who will also read oral sex-themed work. Books will be available for sale and signing. Hosted and curated by Rachel Kramer Bussel. Free candy and cupcakes will be served. For more information about Tasting Him and Tasting Her, visit http://tastinghim.wordpress.com and http://tastingher.wordpress.com.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city’s best erotic writers sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and will make you lust after them and their words. Since its debut in October 2005, In the Flesh has featured such authors as Laura Antoniou, Mo Beasley, Lily Burana, Jessica Cutler, Stephen Elliott, Valerie Frankel, Polly Frost, Gael Greene, Andy Horwitz, Debra Hyde, Maxim Jakubowski, Emily Scarlet Kramer of CAKE, Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Edith Layton, Logan Levkoff, Suzanne Portnoy, Sofia Quintero, M.J. Rose, Lauren Sanders, Danyel Smith, Grant Stoddard, Cecilia Tan, Carol Taylor, Dana Vachon, Veronica Vera, Susan Wright, and many others. The series has gotten press attention from the New York Times’s UrbanEye, Escape (Hong Kong), Flavorpill, Time Out New York, The L Magazine, New York magazine, Philadelphia City Paper, Gothamist, Nerve.com and Wonkette, and has been praised by Dr. Ruth. This is not Amanda Stern’s Happy Ending Reading Series.

The New York Times’s UrbanEye says:

“Writer and host Rachel Kramer Bussel welcomes eroticism of all stripes, spots and textures to the Happy Ending lounge on the Lower East Side.”

“Take these sexy tales home and let your imaginations loose during your own read-along for two while you and your partner share your wildest sexual fantasies. This is one event that will literally knock your socks off.” — Dr. Ruth

“We’re sure Bussel will only be satisfied if you come again and again.” — Flavorpil

More from Rachel here.

Upstate NY (Orleans County) vs the Church of the SubGenius Next Act

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for all your support over what has turned into years since this case began in December 2005. I’m sorry to have to intrude in your inbox again, but my ex is starting the custody case up again. This time, though, it might not go so horribly awry. Let me start at the beginning:

It has been a little over a year since August 2007, when I was finally allowed to return to Georgia with my son. Judge Punch reinstated himself on the case and removed custody from my ex after he was arrested for felony DUI. Although we were allowed to return home last August, it took us until last December to put our home back together more or less as it was, just in time to welcome home our newest family member,Valentine Bevilacqua! He was born a few weeks before Christmas and is nine months old now and full of rambunction. I usually spend my days stopping him from taking things apart and putting them in his mouth, as well as helping Kohl with his homework, and working at my job as a freelance corporate transcriptionist, and finding time once in a while to blog.

I have a pretty busy schedule, as you can imagine, so I was glad when in February we finally received a finalized Order from Judge Punch which, for the first time in these eleven years of strife, did not explicitly retain jurisdiction over future matters with Orleans County. This means that I have a shot at getting the jurisdiction of future cases changed to Georgia, the “home state” of the child in question. This is what normally happens when parents live in different states, but for eleven years Judge Punch chose to exercise his legal prerogative to keep the case in his jurisdiction. I won’t speculate on why, but last August he changed his mind and decided he would no longer keep the case in Orleans County.

Changing the jurisdiction of the case to Georgia would mean that my ex could no longer hold the threat of filing frivolous petitions over my head, as he has all these years. He would have to be serious enough about the matter to travel to Georgia to file. Changing jurisdiction would mean that any time there is a dispute, I wouldn’t have to give up my entire life, leave my husband and home, and go to a remote county in Upstate New York and stay until the matter ends, even if the case goes on for years. Also, any time the court had a question about Kohl’s schooling, home life, social life, health care, etc, all the evidence [doctors, teachers, friends, coaches] would be right there at hand. Basically, this jurisdictional change would be a huge weight lifted off our family.

Before jurisdiction could be changed, however, someone had to file in the old jurisdiction and then someone would have to put up a jurisdictional challenge at that time. You can’t just switch it automatically, I tried. Predictably, I didn’t have to wait long for my ex to file a new petition in Orleans County. Just six months from the final filing of the order, on August 19, 2008 I received a summons to appear on September 5, back in Orleans County to answer yet another handwritten petition from my ex, alleging violations of the order. Since February, Judge Punch has retired for health reasons, and the case is now going before Judge Michael Griffiths, who has no knowledge of the long and painful history of the case and may or may not agree with Punch’s decision to let it go to Georgia.

Although this new petition didn’t explicitly mention the SubGenius, neither did the original petition in December 2005. Anything can happen in Orleans County, so I was very frightened at opening this up again after only six months of respite. I passed the summons on to Mr. Mattingly, the “weapons grade lawyer” who got us this far, but he replied that he couldn’t represent me anymore, since, although I make payments to him when I can, I still owe him $32,000 from the case that ended in February.

When I first found that out, I seriously panicked. I only had about two weeks to find a new lawyer and come up with a retainer fee! I knew I couldn’t use a court-appointed lawyer, because the last time I did that, back in 1999, my appointed lawyer agreed not to tell me about a hearing they held without my presence, because Judge Punch didn’t want me to know he had switched custody. He felt I was a flight risk and it would be better to let me ignorantly come to New York for a Christmas visit, and then have sheriff’s deputies show up to collect my then-3-year-old son. So, I need a lawyer from the big city of Rochester, or Buffalo, not another one from Orleans County.

After a lot of exhaustive internet and phone research, I was able to secure some concessions from the court, such as a postponement to September 26, 2008, to give me more time to find a lawyer, and permission to testify by telephone rather than in person. Further, I was able to locate a lawyer who is a civil rights crusader, Mr. R. Brian Goewey, [GO-wei], who is not only available on the 26th, but is also willing to represent such a degenerate artist as myself, and who is willing to do it for half of what every other lawyer has quoted me! Truly the Luck Plane tilted my way when I found him.

We’ve made it so far from the days when I lived in a 10 by 12 box apartment crying myself to sleep every night, never knowing how my son was, never knowing if I would ever get him back. We’re so close to being free from the threat of being compelled to return to Orleans County, which has hung over our heads since my son was a baby. All we need is $2,500 to get started, with a full retainer of $5,000. Of course, if things go badly, it could run into another $80-$100,000, but I’m focusing my slack waves on the thought that this new Judge Griffiths is going to be reasonable and let us go. If everyone who receives this email donates just $10, it would easily cover Mr. Goewey’s fees. I realize this is the worst possible time to ask for money again, with gas prices and food prices and unemployment the way they are, but I can’t raise more than about $1,500 on my own, not by September 26 anyway. I’m forced to once again appeal to you, who’ve helped our family so much in the past, for one more push to finally get free.

Thank you so very much for everything you’ve already done. I apologize for asking for more; I know I already owe you a debt of gratitude that I could never repay. When my son was taken from me, the pain was unbearable, too much to take, and it went on and on, seemingly forever. My mind will always carry those scars, and if it had gone on much longer I’m sure it would have broken me. How can I thank you for helping save me from that? Words can never express the emotions in my heart when I think of how friends and strangers from all over the world came together to help my family, so please just know that you helped someone out of a living hell, and it mattered and made a difference, and someone’s life is so much better now, because of your compassion.

Thank you!!! May the Luck Plane always tilt your way.
-Rachel Bevilacqua
[Please donate here. Background at metafilter, boingboing, Wikipedia, modemac, Church of the SubGenius. - Trevor Blake]

Original Post here.