Sex Feed AND Craigdarroch Castle, Victoria, BC, Canada

Me and Vicky in a staring contest.

I'm still working on Sex Feed while I'm away and today I had New info study in which 1300 Guatemalans were infected with STDs  and Chaz Bono  to be on Dancing with the Stars. Never watched the show but since he'll be on it, I'll get on it.

Speaking of Chazes we love I'm writing my stories across from Chas Martin who is writing his stories, so it's 1984 at the Valencia paper all over again. Chas is not only one of my most beloved friends, he's also interviewed in Crazy Little Thing: Why Love and Sex Drive Us Mad. I've been quoting Chas for years; finally I formalized it and put his warmth and brilliance, at least some of it, in print.

I'm staying with Chas and his wife Heather in Victoria, BC Canada, for an extended, refreshing break and  can't think of the last time I said "I"m soooooo happy," this many times in a day. The weather is perfect (sunny and between 55-75 degrees F every day), the company stellar, the beer and food have been so good I've often become mute with pleasure (the fish & chips Fairfield's today were especially worth shutting up for) and there seem to be at least 200 or so flowers everywhere I look. Today we went to Craigdorrach Castle, built by Vancouver coal magnate Robert Dunsmuir between 1887-1890 and a more bewitching example of Victorian living (the period and the city) I can't imagine. Tons of photos...here are a few highlights.

For someplace as David Lynchian as Craigdarroch (as Chas points out, he must make a movie here) there aren't, from what I understand, many tales of hauntings there. And yet here we have a headless maid serving lunch. In order to present the idea of people and servants, and to present the clothing they wore, the proprietors have made the interesting decision to use mannequins, most of which are headless, but those with heads are always facing away from the viewer, giving you a seriously Norman-Bates'-mom sense of the creeps.

The full dance card of a Victorian lady.

I love the stone pillar of the castle with the window out to the modern city. I'm so happy.

Neanderthals and bull semen - Happy Friday

Today on Sex Feed: Your ancestors did it with Neanderthals which makes you the shining example of health you are today and a bull semen spill closes a U.S. highway which makes you laugh.
What else is there to say?
Happy Friday!

Sex Feed: Circumcision patient gets cut off; how clean is a $3k hotel room? Not very.

      It may only happen as often as a hurricane comes around but I'm caught up!!! So far I've blogged all my SeXis magazine Sex Feed posts to date, just in time for Irene to hit and probably knock out the electricity (hopefully I didn't just curse all of Florida). Anyway, my favorite posts this week were:

EEEEWWW! How much body fluid should you be able to find in the carpet of a $3 hotel room? (like I'll ever stay in one and will have to care), and....oh this poor guy....I mean the patient.... Surgeon not liable in KY penis amputation trial

But there was a lot more where that came from, including.....
All the single ladies...where are they?...
Wedding Shop Refuses Lesbian Bride-to-Be
Guard the womenfolk! Driller STD's are comin'!...

Navy commander reinstated after making raunchy videos...

Joe Francis arrested...

Adam Corolla's anti-gay rant...
Revenge on 'the other woman' goes horribly wrong....

Girl shows rainbow butt tattoo to prove she's not violently homophobic...

Guy looking for a Rick Perry scandal, any scandal will do....

Fairgrounds tragedy prompts challenge on same-sex marriage law

        Now in preparation for Hurricane Irene I'm going to do exactly nothing. If I wake up in a tree or something, I'll let you know. 

It feels like I've been so serious lately....well, there are a lot of serious, scary, hurtful and ooky things in the world that merit attention, but after awhile it can just get to you. So this week in SexCult I decided to tackle something I wasn't even sure, at first, was a serious question...and answer it in SexCult: Why Bernie Doesn't Need to Get Married.

Today SeXis magazine's Sex Feed is getting even more color than we usually have in the text by welcoming cartoonist  Jerry King who will be illustrating the Sex Feed column for us every day! Jerry has worked for Playboy for many years so hopefully he'll feel happily at home with us and I'm glad to say that  my post on sex-and-stress got his first illustration...check it out here:Stress: How not to let it kill your sex life.
Also today we had, so far...
Jane Fonda credits testosterone for lively libido...
and Teen model's parents suing over use of Urban Outfitter's use of image...
Plus since I'm still playing catch up, a few more from last week, including....
Gay zebra finches stick with their partners....
LA group seeking ballot initiative to vote on condoms in porn....
Bank of America call goes to foot fetish line....
A vibtrator with 16 gigs of memory....
and one of my favorites from last week, a TARDIS-inspired corset. Police box, indeed. To see pics, go directly to Mayfaire Moon here.

Cheers!

On Sexis Magazine's Sex Feed today and this week....first things first....the BUGNADO' what looks like a funnel cloud from afar but turns out to be an insect sex party! Click the link for more info and link to video.

Plus - I love this - it's NATIONAL GO TOPLESS DAY on SUNDAY AUG. 21! You have to wait til Aug. 28 if you're in Canada...but if you're close enough to the border you could probably attend both, you greedy little sneak.

Also, since I'm playing catch-up (which I must really like since I seem to be doing it all the time) a few other things from today and the past week...

Allies wanted to dose Hitler with estrogen, create Her Hitler....
There she is...Miss Penitentiary....
Jann Wenner divorces...

Coming Soon...Possible Cure for Premature Ejaculation...

More sexual equality means more sex....
Guy thinks handcuffing himself to girl is good courtship, ends up in court....
Gay/Transgender wedding symbol of change in Cuba...
Modified HIV virus good at killing cancer cells....
Rick Perry flip-flops on abortion, gay rights, women's health...
Perv gets arrested at Disney water park....
Gay rights issue chart shows GOP in lockstep (except for one guy...)

Dating site for people who can't/won't have sex...

Happy Weekend!

Amy Winehouse's life and lyrics shimmered with the glories and agonies of love and she once said she drank because she was in love and botched her relationship. How many of us cover up romantic problems with other chemicals and then never learn to cope with the love stuff very well?
    This week in Sexcult: Self-Medication in SeXis magazine I looked at love as a gateway drug and got to interview Dr. John Sharp of Dr. Drew's Celebrity Rehab, Dr. Joseph Shrand of the CASTLE Adolescent Rehabiliration Unit at the High Point Treatment Center in Brockton, MA and cultural anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher.

     Brian Alexander, author of America Unzipped: In Search of Sex and Satisfaction who was nice enough to give me a quote for the piece, said that  "on the more general idea that some people are predisposed to "addictive" (I prefer brain-rewarding) stimulations and resulting behavior, I do believe this is true and I do bleieve it accounts for why some people have ultra intense serial love affairs  that peter out and why some of these same people may turn to other activities or substances taht can provide similar stimulation like cocaine, booze, public performance, body modification and so on. It's also possible that one is not always, or necessarily born with this predisposition genetically speaking but that it can be acquired through experience."

     Since I started looking more deeply into why we do what we do in my upcoming book Crazy Little Thing: How Sex and Love Drive Us Mad, the subject has fascinated me. And as someone who is as artful at avoidance as an octopus, I wonder how it effects us to hide rather than confront. Is it always bad? 

      Thanks to everyone who helped me with the piece! Hope you enjoy it!

      

Seeing sex

Today on Sex Feed at SeXis magazine I had some VERY cool stuff especially brain scans of women's sexual arousal......man denied Medicaid for breast cancer because he's a man...."going down" on a plane...and how many people snoop into their partner's private emails and texts?

Sex Feed: Sex on the Moon rocks & giving it up for your phone

Today on Sex Feed in SeXis magazine I found a fun story of crime, romance and sex on the moon (kinda), and a survey about phones that included, among other things, the stat that a third of people would rather give up sex than give up their phones for a week. They must have an app for that.

Other stuff from this week: Miley Cyrus' pro-gay-marriage tattoo, sexy ads in the UK vandalized by teens on religious grounds and a website that hooks sugar daddies up with college girls who need a way to pay their tuition.

OMG! That's me FINALLY up to date! Now I can look forward to falling behind again next week. ;)

Sex Feed: Woody pastimes at the Playboy Mansion

In Sex Feed today Hugh Hefner tries planking for the amusement of his lady friends and I get to make a Monty Python joke, plus...
The benefits of the new rules about free birth control...and since I'm still catching up with myself from last week....a $350,000 lawsuit over herpes...help for men with unwanted breast tissue...a newly discovered essay by Rosa Parks reveals a heretofore unrevealed near-rape and no matter what crazy-ass gender bending games you're trying to play chances are that how you Tweet reveals what sex you are.

And a Monty Python sketch to go with my Monty Python joke:

Sex Feed: Pop the champagne!

Fabulous news - there is some sense and sanity left in Washington as evidence by the Department of Health and Human Services decides that they're going to accept the recommendation of the Institute of Medicine and decide that contraception and certain other other preventive health care should be available to women with no co-pays. You know I was worried about this issue - promoting pregnancy prevention is an important thing and not because it's a pretty alliteration, but because nearly half of U.S. pregnancies are unintended. Half! So I was concerned this would get derailed by the crazy train. I'm encouraged for both the mental and physical health of the country that it went through.

On an entirely different and repellent note we have audio tapes of Warren Jeffs instructing young girls how to please him sexually played in court and FDA warnings about a counterfeit morning-after pill.

Some Sex Feed stuff you may have missed from last week:
Photographer's copyright suit against Rihanna moves forward...a swinging church....the SCAR project promotes breast cancer awareness through black and white photos of survivors....Dan Savage makes an offer to Rick Santorum

And because you're gagging for a little fun, Rihanna, S&M: 

Sex Feed: Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang

Lately I've been forgetting to post Sex Feed right away but was too weird to sit on, and it's not often I say that: a company in Alabama is now offering to make bullets out of the cremated remains of your loved ones.

Here's a few more I missed posting last week:The Milk-prevents-PMS ads no one laughed at,, the NY Times reports on great new potential for male birth control, the 'gay men's penis size' study does matter and wasn't government funded, the first day of legal gay marriage in NY, and Adrianne Curry's booty gets her booted out of Comic-Con.