Books To Jump Up and Down Over
The Call by Yannick Murphy: The always interesting author of Here They Come and Signed, Mata Hari returns with a novel that whips up a worldview from a rather quirky set of limitations: namely, the call logs that a veterinarian maintains as his son is unexpectedly put into a coma and an unforgiving economy denies him work. What emerges is a surprisingly optimistic, often funny, and very moving account on how one family uses acceptance and forgiveness as a way to atone for hard knocks. (Bat Segundo interview with Murphy)
Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber: Forget Franzen and Eugenides. If you're looking for a social novel that counts, Diana Abu-Jaber is the author you're looking for. Building from the free-form exploration of consciousness and identity in Crescent and the gripping procedural structure of Origin, Abu-Jaber's latest novel is her finest, equally fluent with gutterpunk culture and smarmy real estate men. It has been suggested by The Washington Post's Ron Charles that you will likely gain some pounds while reading this novel. This is certainly true. Abu-Jaber's description of food is so precise that it often made me want to do more cooking. But I very much admired the way in which Abu-Jaber presents all her characters as unwitting victims of rough capitalism, which permits them some dignity even as they perform terrible acts.
The Last of the Live Nude Girls by Sheila McClear: This memoir isn't so much about the decline of the Times Square peepshow, as it is about one young woman's efforts to pull herself up by by her bootstraps when presented with few economic options. Filled with self-introspective candor and a quiet dignity, McClear's story is one that might befall any of us in these volatile times. While McClear does get back on her feet, her book leads one contemplating the terrible fates of other young women now moving to New York and falling into deadlier vocations. (Bat Segundo interview with McClear)
Sex Archive
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Review: Wolke Neun (2008)
Posted on August 11, 2009 | 1 CommentMy first instinct was to dismiss the silly second half of Andreas Dresen’s Wolke Neun (Cloud 9 for Yanks), which wallows in childish dialogue (“That’s just so mean!”) and betrays... -
The Geeks
Posted on June 18, 2009 | 1 CommentThe geeks in the upstairs apartment moved out. I called them the geeks because I always heard the guy drilling holes into the walls at odd hours — the working... -
Love Transformer
Posted on May 1, 2008 | No CommentsLove and Sex with Robots David Levy HarperCollins, 334 pages, $24.95 Review by Erin O’Brien Let’s start with the RealDolls. Actually, it’s not the dolls I want to dwell on,... -
Rosebud 2.0
Posted on January 11, 2008 | 11 CommentsI lean into my computer screen chin on fist, eyes leveled. Before me, a woman lies face down on an unremarkable bed. A man moves the woman’s hands behind her... -
A Rose for Norman
Posted on November 27, 2007 | 1 CommentCNN has announced that Norman Mailer is the first posthumous winner of the Bad Sex Award. (via Jeff) -
Wait a Minute, I Thought Bad Sex Was the POINT of “On Chesil Beach!”
Posted on November 23, 2007 | 2 CommentsThe longlist for this year’s Bad Sex Awards has been revealed. (via Complete Review) -
There’s a Little Thing Called Statistical Distribution
Posted on August 17, 2007 | 5 CommentsThree sex partners on average for a heterosexual woman? This can’t be right. And a mathematician says this is logically impossible. UPDATE: More from Janet Hardy, one of the authors... -
The First 10,000 Are Always the Hardest
Posted on May 13, 2007 | No CommentsMy name is Tania Derveaux. I am the leading NEE party senate candidate in Belgium. And due to popular demand, I will give 40,000 blowjobs to anyone who requests one... -
This Isn’t the Kind of Seduction Baudrillard Had in Mind
Posted on May 7, 2007 | 1 CommentWTKR: “A Syrian-born airline pilot allegedly tricked a schoolteacher from Haverfordwest into having sex with him by pretending he had to administer ointment on the end of his penis, a... -
Or Maybe These Bozos Just Lack Basic Humility
Posted on May 3, 2007 | No CommentsGreta Christina: “It’s hard to know what exactly is going on with these guys. Is this some macho thing — the men get freaked out because men are supposed to... -
The Ten Strangest Mainstream Sex Scenes
Posted on April 23, 2007 | No CommentsIn my view, one of the greatest cinematic sex scenes of all time was in Michael Mak’s 1992 film Sex and Zen (alas, YouTube fails me!), where the actors commit... -
From the Folks Who Gave Us the Judaswiege
Posted on March 26, 2007 | No CommentsScientific American: “A new German study, however, has found that, when practiced correctly, a method of periodic abstinence known as the sympto-thermal method (STM) leads to an unintended pregnancy rate... -
Bringing New Meaning to Exterior Rollover
Posted on December 4, 2006 | No CommentsZeenews: “Krause’s team (spraykondom.de) is developing a type of spray can into which the man inserts his penis first. At the push of a button it is then coated in... -
So Now That the Sky Isn’t Falling, Will the Fundies Listen?
Posted on November 1, 2006 | No CommentsScientific American: “The team of researchers, led by Kaye Wellings, a professor of sexual health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, analyzed nearly 200 studies on demographic... -
Your Tax Dollars Telling You What to Do as Adults
Posted on October 31, 2006 | No CommentsUSA Today: “Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs, which include millions of dollars in federal money that will be... -
Where TERA Meets MDMA?
Posted on October 31, 2006 | No CommentsPodcasting News: “Belucci specializes in house music. Topless djing may not be mainstream yet, but based on this video of Niki Belucci in action, it may not be far off.” -
How Ozzie & Harriet Had Fun
Posted on October 29, 2006 | 1 Comment“Dear John: Although I can’t write a good letter this is a note to let you know I’m your little twelve year old spanking girl.” (via MeFi) -
By the Light of the Subliminal Moon
Posted on October 25, 2006 | No CommentsScientific American: “Even when such pictures were actively canceled out, subliminal images of female nudes helped heterosexual men find the orientation of a briefly shown abstract shape.” -
Bringing New Meaning to Autofellatio
Posted on October 20, 2006 | 2 Comments8 Films Illustrating That Oral Sex and Cars Don’t Mix (via Cinetrix) -
Bringing New Meaning to “Culminating Experience”
Posted on October 5, 2006 | 1 CommentCTV: “Women with graduate degrees are more likely to reach orgasm than their less educated counterparts, a new Australian study suggests.” (via Feministe) -
Why Islam Isn’t for Me
Posted on October 5, 2006 | 3 CommentsYNet: “Deliberate masturbation during the month of Ramadan renders a fast invalid, Iranian Supreme Leader Sayyid Ali Khameini has ruled.” -
Against the Stereotype
Posted on September 19, 2006 | 3 CommentsNow here’s a preacher to get behind (if you know what I mean): “Why can women be multiorgasmic and men not? Well, I’ve decided God just likes you better!” Southern... -
Transmissions
Posted on September 13, 2006 | No CommentsBenjamen Walker’s Theory of Everything offers another strange and compelling podcast — this one involving a couple, both recently infected with gonorrhea, who meet through an online personal site devoted... -
Three Words: AOL Security Breach
Posted on September 5, 2006 | 1 CommentMy Black Book: “Be one of the very first to use this revolutionary technology and design to keep records of your sexual history. Put your mind at rest with knowing... -
Well, Someone Has to Chronicle It
Posted on August 9, 2006 | No CommentsA history of amateur porn (NSFW) (via Bloggasm) -
“Carried Away By the Moment” is the New Buzz Term for “Wild, Out of Control, Animalistic and Quite Possibly Gratuitious Sex Thrown In To Boost Ratings”
Posted on August 9, 2006 | No CommentsBBC: “The sex scene, broadcast on 1 August, showed actors Kellie Shirley and Joel Beckett ripping off each others clothes and having sex on the floor of a nightclub….Ms Harwood... -
A Vlog Along These Lines Had to Happen Sooner or Later
Posted on August 3, 2006 | No CommentsDr. Gabriele: “Dr Gabriele, a German psychologist and filmmaker, is discussing and demonstrating different aspects of erotic powerplay, erotic roleplay, consensual bdsm, fetish play etc.” -
Roundup
Posted on August 3, 2006 | 1 CommentDanielle Torres offers this intriguing guessing game: Which author slept in which house? But I don’t think the game is entirely fair. Where are the garrets? The leaking faucets? The... -
With That Title, One Can Only Imagine How Green Berets Perform Cunnilingus
Posted on July 31, 2006 | No CommentsSeattle Post-Intelligencer: “Though romance writing remains an almost exclusively female vocation, some men have ventured into the field. Former Green Beret Bob Mayer, who has written many non-romance books under... -
So Older Audiences Have Sex and Like Romps. This Warrants a 1,200 Word Story?
Posted on July 20, 2006 | No CommentsNew York Times: “Since [Heading South] opened July 7, theaters have been packed with women about the same age as the ones on the screen. Some bought tickets in groups...