Documentary: “The Making Of Succubus”

// September 13th, 2011 // Comments Off // Featured // Featured

Award-winning mainstream documentary film maker, David Pilot (“Saving Manhattan”) from NYC spent many days on location with The Wasteland and Evil Motion Picture crew  filming the creation of this film.  Shooting on vintage wind-up film cameras in 25 degree (Fahrenheit) cold weather with these ancient cameras was a bit tricky (they kept literally freezing up), but, beyond all obstacles, David and his crew managed to capture the essence of this remarkable project, its cast and crew.

You can purchase this movie at EvilMotionPicture.Com or watch it at Wasteland.com

 

 

Tops – Bottoms – Switches

// August 30th, 2011 // Comments Off // BDSM Articles, Featured // BDSM Articles, Featured

One perception that some people can have, looking into the scene from outside, is that people are either tops or bottoms. Either you like to dominate, or you like to be dominated. And sometimes novices become confused, because they’re excited by _both_ possibilities.

The facts are, everyone is different, and everyone has their own preferences. I personally greatly enjoy topping my girlfriend, and also greatly enjoy submitting to her. Some people _are_ tops in every play situation, just as some are bottoms in every play situation–but I know people who top men but bottom to women, people who sometimes switch roles multiple times within one date, and every other spectrum of possibility!

People who top are called “tops,” people who bottom are called “bottoms,” and people who switch back and forth between topping and bottoming are called “switches.” A switch can be a top in one scene and a bottom in another. Some people switch back and forth often; others switch only between scenes, but retain one role throughout any individual scene; others switch only very seldom with people that they trust very deeply; and still others never switch at all.

If you do switch, and you’re not sure which role you want, you can play with that question in itself. Whole scenes can revolve around the “who’s on top?” question. Maybe you can have a wrestling match, and the person who gets pinned first will wind up being tied up. Maybe you can set a timer, and when the timer dings, it’s time to switch positions! There are as many possibilities as your imagination can dream of!

Then again, maybe only one side of the balance holds any appeal for you, and in that case, you’ll want to play with folks who have little desire for _your_ side… it takes all kinds, and all kinds are out there.

It is also the case that there is no necessary relation between whether someone is dominant or submissive in everyday life and whether they are a top or a bottom. Some of the most domineering executives secretly love being abased and abused… it’s a chance for them to lose control, to give up responsibility. And some of the most quiet, meek, shy-looking people you’ve ever seen turn into demonic geniuses of pain and pleasure when given someone to play with.

It’s not at all unheard of for someone who’s done only one thing (for example, bottoming) to one day start feeling the urge to top, or vice versa. People change, preferences change, it’s nothing unusual. This, though, leads into the next question….

Reprinted with Permission ~ Wasteland.Com

TEN Visits Wasteland

// August 14th, 2011 // Comments Off // Featured // Featured

Wasteland welcomes back Shibari Master David Lawrence and this time he brought with him the beautiful “Ten”.  In this Behind-The-Scenes footage, you can see some of David’s Intricate tying techniques.  This is unusual footage as it was taken by one of the cameramen on the set just prior to the start of an incredibly hot scene.  For the full movie, please visit Wasteland.Com.  The name of the movie is, you guessed it, “TEN”.

 

Structuring a Scene

// July 28th, 2011 // Comments Off // BDSM Articles // BDSM Articles

The mention of  ritual in Dungeon play, or what is commonly referred to as “the scene” set me to thinking.   Consider that the word scene, “scenario”, denotes a very structured activity.  A scene is like a chapter in a book.  It is a  critical part of a whole story, one step of a journey from initiation to conclusion.  As a species, it has been said that with no compulsion to do anything else, we would prefer to spend most of our time absorbed in stories.   For the reasons why stories are so compelling, one is referred elsewhere, but for now, let us look at how structuring a scene one way rather than another may result in a radically enhanced experience for the players.

A while ago we talked about the expectations that might be set for a party.  Now let’s  look at one of the scenes that might occur at that party in a similar way.  What expectations to the participants bring to it?  Let’s imagine the case of a submissive woman and her non-playing but supportive partner.   She wants to be tied and flogged while her partner watches, so she can escape into a private fantasy which she knows will bring her to an ecstatic climax.  For the time being, her partner must become an actor,  must be able to sustain the fantasy that is being projected upon them. An amateur theatre production might for example thrust a man upon the stage with a black eye-patch, a stuffed parrot in one hand and a wooden cutlass in the other.  The sound system scratches out a non-descript shanty and someone chucks a bucket of water over the set.  Wanting to believe in the story being told, the audience settles back to await a rousing tale of swashbuckling and kidnapped maidens.  Incidentally, directors know how important the kidnapped maiden bit is.  But I digress!

This woman’s partner may be required to be a cold observer of her humiliation or a helpless wretch unable to save her from her plight.  Her fantasy is her own story, and the others in the scene are her supporting cast   We enter into the realm of participatory ritual theatre.  Our task is easier than it is for the Mummers or the presenters of Passion Plays.  Easier even than for those engaging in demonstrations of  dungeon techniques for an audience, since we have only to create the experience for ourselves and not be concerned with the communication of  the experience.

Starting with the conclusion and working backwards we know that we want the submissive to achieve her earth-shattering orgasm.  She may wish it to occur within a particular  physical and psychological context, such as betrayal by her loved one at the height of her physical pain.  Thus the scene will end with her partner passionately embracing another woman just about the time she reaches the limit of her tolerance for the flogging.  The flogger then, will be going for overload and stress, rather than an endorphin high.  The position assumed for the flogging will also be such that the subject will be able to get herself off.  A rolled towel between her legs, perhaps enhanced with the insertion of a butt plug,  can provide sufficient stimulation, if she has freedom to wriggle.

Now we come to the “why” of the story.  How has she ended up in this predicament in the first place?  If her story tells that she came blindfolded, naked under her dress, the toy already filling her bottom, then that is how the evening should start.   But we still don’t know  the “why” of it.  Perhaps she has been a silly, frivolous girl, always whining for more, unappreciative of what she already has.  In order to punish her she has been brought to the dungeon where her humiliation will be witnessed by amused strangers.  Now we have the key to the rest of the scene.  There must be an entrance, an air of formality and inevitability about the proceedings.  In the spirit of consensual non-consensuality  she must be able to believe that she has no choice other than to go along with what is to be done to her, and to create the necessary level of excitement, she must be afraid of what is going to happen.  Her expectation that she will be taken beyond her limits must be fulfilled, although it is important to point out here that we are talking about perceived limits, not real limits, for it is in the unexplored territory between where the true essence of dungeon play is found.  To go beyond a real limit is senseless brutality and does nothing but damage both the top and the bottom physically, mentally or both.

With the broad structure in place there are many details of costuming, props, narrative and environment that support that structure.  Next we will get into the details that work on the human psyche to develop and enhance fantasy.  Think about all the ways that folk have devised to ritualize their lives from the Goth scene to conservative Catholicism.

Until the next time,

May all your black clothes make it back from the cleaners,

SB.

Reprinted with permission from Wasteland.Com

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