Sex Drive Meetup
Saturday, Jan 7, 2006
4 to 7 pm
V BAR
The Venetian
Bar info: http://www.venetian.com/attractions/vbar.cfm
Map: http://www.venetian.com/corp/map1.cfm

Please RSVP so I know whether to call ahead and reserve a table. (But
if you don’t RSVP and then you decide to come, feel free — we’re not
going to be an enormous group and we’d rather have you there than not!)

I have a few sex-tech goodies to share with the first handful of you
who show up. Also I’ll try to remember to lug some SexRev2.0 books
with me in case you haven’t bought yours yet. Special Vegas price of
$10, so I won’t have to carry ‘em back to my truck. LOL.

If you’re in Vegas on January 5, stop by the Venetian at 4:30 for this panel:

Podcasting, Blogging, and Beyond: The latest developments and opportunities in these hot new trends.

Thursday, January 5, 2006
4:30pm - 5:30pm

Podcasts. Blogs. Vlogs. Porn-to-go. These new methods of delivery are rapidly becoming popular, thanks to the video iPod, PSP, and other portable devices. But it’s more than just a new way to distribute content–it’s a brave new world where you can expand your marketing efforts and profit from easy-to-use publishing tools. Our panel of experts will discuss the latest revolutionary trends that have the potential to put a fortune in the palm of your hand.

Moderator:
Kathee Brewer, AVN Online

Panelists:
Bart Myers, GUBA
Jack Mardack, profitLABINC
John D’Addario, Fleshbot.com
Regina Lynn, Wired.com
Sam Sugar, SugarBank.com

What if every decision you make throughout the day had to pass the sex test?

If your priority is great sex, you’d avoid fried foods, drink plenty of water, exercise daily for at least an hour, get enough sleep, floss, and so on. Nothing kills libido as fast as overeating and undermoving, that’s for sure!

A great sex lifestyle means getting outside regularly (although not necessarily to have sex, unless you’re into that). It means hanging out with friends, keeping up with the world, reading interesting articles or books. It means living in your body, not fighting with it all the time.

If I made New Year’s resolutions, mine this year would be to get better at the sex-test lifestyle. (Yes, I admit it; despite my job, I could do more than I am doing.)

Big Brother Is Watching
A senior at the University of Massachusetts doing a research paper on communism filled out a form requesting a copy of Mao Tse-tung’s Little Red Book from the university’s interlibrary loan program. What he got for his trouble was a little lesson in how a police state works. According to The Daily Standard of New Bedford, the student was visited shortly afterward by two agents from the Department of Homeland Security, who told him that the compendium of quotes and speeches by Chairman Mao is on the government’s “watch list.” Also, the fact that the kid had travelled a lot apparently raised a few eyebrows, too. Another nice touch: The student declined to give his name to the paper, or even to be interviewed, fearing repercussions. So the machinery of coercion is working pretty well. Nice little country we got going here. — Tony Long

-[from Furthermore, on Wired.com]

Even Republicans — normal ones, not the Bush cabal — can’t like where this is going. Please, someone, tell me this isn’t something the majority of Americans support? That this doesn’t make anyone feel “safer”? That it’s just a bad dream and I’ll wake up in real America….

Why does it not surprise me that the women quoted in this story are in California?

Fetch! Roll Over! Heel! Now, Let’s Dance! - New York Times

GRETCHEN MAVROVOUNIOTIS considered the theme songs from “Ghostbusters” and “Footloose” before settling on “Can’t Stop the Music” by the Village People. The disco beat, she said, is the best for her dance partner, since it best shows off his forward weave and counterclockwise turns.

“What I like,” she said, “is fast-paced music to keep up his enthusiasm, so he doesn’t get bored and just plod along. I also look for music where you have transitions, where you can put in some of the flashier moves, like back up, turn around and back through my legs.”

Ms. Mavrovouniotis, you see, dances with her dog.

I had no idea dog dancing existed as an official practice. I’ve danced with Jedi since he was two months old, sometimes with a dog towel for each of us to hold (which makes twirls and dips really fun). He comes running when I turn up the music, if the song is fast, and brings a towel if we have one lying around on the floor.

Our favorite is “Wrapped Up in You” by Garth Brooks.

It’s 2:30 a.m. and I’m doing all kinds of webby things. I’ve added more feeds to my bloglines, including my own, just to make sure it’s working. (ATOM works better, it looks like.) I’ve added “subscribe me” buttons to this site. I changed my nav bars and reorganized my “where’s regina” information.

I even did more Christmas shopping.

All because I had a late dinner at a sushi restaurant and kept drinking the free tea. I’m so sensitive to caffeine, I probably won’t be sleepy until about 6am. And that means I won’t be awakey until, oh, Tuesday.

Why why why?

Meanwhile, the “toy” part of my Doc Johnson HighJoy-enabled iVibe came unglued from the controller/battery pack, and then some of the plastic(?) material started to peel from the shaft. and I have no idea why. I didn’t leave it near anything hot, so it can’t have melted. I haven’t even used it this trip! In fact, it’s only because I’m up in these wee hours — and it’s so rare for me to make it past 11 — that I thought I’d see if the toy would make me sleepy and discovered the damage.

Maybe the cats I’m sitting are expressing their displeasure at my clumsy attempts to care for them. (I’m fluent in dog but not a natural with cats.)

I don’t know why, but this tickled my funny bone. I guess it’s because don’t always bother with pants, either.

ThinkGeek :: Personal Area Network TEC Hat
The TEC hat allows you to still carry your credit cards and assorted bling while you choose to romp around in your birthday suit. That’s right. A hat that can store everything in your wallet so that you don’t have to wear pants. And here at ThinkGeek, we just hate pants.

I’m told my plans to host a Sex Drive salon at 4pm on Friday, January 6, in the Venetian in Las Vegas conflict with a Google mucky-muck speech. And while I know you would all rather hang out with me, enjoying a cocktail and the parade of adult stars walking the halls and whatever swag I can bring with me to give away, you’re probably going to CES for work and your boss might want you to attend what’s-his-name’s talk.

I’m thinking I’ll move our soiree to Saturday. What do you think? What works better for you? Let me know.

It’s raining. Duh.

I love it when I get a ton of email after a column goes live. So much of what I do requires the conversation, the sharing of opinions and thoughts and ideas, and reader mail is one of the most direct forms of that.

But on the other hand, I feel bad when I get behind on answering everyone. (That’s one reason I encourage people to join the forum.)

Nice day in San Francisco. At least, I think so. I haven’t left the apartment yet. I haven’t even brushed my teeth or put on clothes yet — I left the warmth of the down comforter for a minute at 9 a.m. to pee, and other than that, I’ve been propped up in bed with the laptop for three hours, blogging and answering email. Eventually I’ll head out and do something active. (Or at least, I’ll head out to the wifi cafe for a soy latte and a bagel-with-veggies and keep working online for a while.)

I’m tempted to walk to the ocean and rent a bicycle though. Figure 45 minutes to get there, two hours to ride, then hop the bus home….

It’s awful, isn’t it? How boring can I be?

The column is so personal, maybe I don’t have anything left over for a personal blog. Or, rather, nothing I want to reveal to the world. (Hey, a girl has a rep to uphold, eh? Ha.)

Or maybe I’ve just lost the touch of keeping a public diary. Although come to think of it, I’ve never kept a diary blog — my last blog just listed books I read, and sometimes included a review.

At least I got my phone replaced tonight, no charge. Took all of 15 minutes, after I walked from Powell BART to Civic Center and back again (I’d gone the wrong way), and then from Powell to Embarcadero to catch my bus home to my SF apartment. I miss the dog this week - I flew, didn’t drive, couldn’t bring him - but there’s no denying the sushi around the corner rocks my world. Mouthgasms galore.

A producer at SexTV has been trying to reach me all week, but can’t get through on my cell phone because it’s still refusing to do phone calls. (The camera, internet and text functions work just fine.) I’m not sure why she can’t get my landline, but it’s giving her some sort of strange message — probably her international call is coming through as a blocked number and she’s not hearing the message on how to unblock it to connect?

Anyway. It’s looking like I’ll be featured on an upcoming SexTV episode about teledildonics — they’re coming to LA to tour the HighJoy headquarters and looking for a volunteer to demo the system on camera. (If you’re interested, email me and I’ll see what I can do.)

About SexTV:

We are a program that respectfully explores sexuality and gender - around the world - in an intelligent, thought-provoking, and cutting-edge way. We were one of the first television shows in North America to explore gender and sexuality from a liberal socio-cultural perspective in the mainstream media.

Now in our eighth season, we have interviewed hundreds of well-renowned authors, academics, doctors, filmmakers, cultural critics, artists and interesting people throughout the world. It is our hope that we open people’s minds to the full range and complexity of sexual expression so that we gain a greater understanding and tolerance for humanity in all its diversity

I guess it’s time to hit the gym in earnest, as we’ll be shooting in early February and I’ve been l-a-z-y of late …

I’ve gone from being the last person in my world to get a cell phone to being totally impatient that LG does not provide troubleshooting information in its phone manuals, nor does it have user support forums online. The customer service lady was polite but clueless — and I couldn’t find a tech support line.

So, on the eve of a 7- to 10-day business trip, I’m without a phone. I can take photos, I can send and receive text/video/picture messages, I can see the incoming calls and even check my voicemail from another phone. But my VX8000 has no audio now. I make a call and can’t hear the ringing or the answer, if someone answered. Or I receive a call, answer it, and hear only deadness.

Grrrr. I don’t have time for this.

In the meantime, if you’re trying to reach me, send a TXT or just email me instead.

Here’s the MP3 of my conversation with Ric Allen and Doran Barons on Digital Village radio.

Digital Village is KPFK’s weekly show about technology, computers and the Internet, hosted by Ric Allan and Doran Barons.

Rather than endless product reviews, we focus on how the technology is changing the way we communicate.

We talk about connecting using the internet and mobile technology, why technology is not a replacement for human touch, and how tech can be “a gateway to love” (as Ric so eloquently defined it).

What else? Email as foreplay, cybersex as a precursor to face-to-face chemistry, the Freudian Send, the worries people have about the “dangers” of technology and how I address that. Letter-writing is not dead. Write even if you worry that you’re not “A Writer” (So what? Express yourself anyway. Email has reduced the fear of writing, because it feels more casual than Writing A Letter.)

How do you know the person you’re talking to online is really who they are? The answer to that is simple, really.

Remote interactive technology to add the sense of touch to your communication. And voice changing technology to introduce a level of fantasy - or deception. Or play!

The moral of the story: It’s about opening up options, not about forcing people use things they’re not comfortable with.

And we ended with a shout of appreciation to the Sex Drive forum.

I made sure to follow the guidelines from Jaz, the engineer, especially since he was so kind as to tell me I looked pretty. I didn’t use any of the seven dirty words, although I noticed, listening to the MP3, that I say “absolutely” a lot.

And yet again I realized just how much I love radio. I’ve always been interested in DJing as a career — and yes, a podcast will come, when I have the tools and the time to do it right, so watch Wired.com in January — and joining professionals like Ric and Doran in the studio is truly a highlight of my job. (Hint: Guys, any time you want me back, just call. Heh.)

I liked the movie. I did. But it suffers from the same failure that the first Harry Potter movie did. Hey look, it’s Narnia! the movie cries. Well, yes, we know that — it’s in the title, we’ve read the books, that’s why we’re at the theater. So why all the swelling music, the wide eyed staring around at the snowy wood? Why not move the story along like the book does? The director wastes so much time repeating the same “oh isn’t it wonderful” moment.

It reminds me of Christian rock music, where the song is actually a perfectly decent song until they get to the part where they just have to cry out something about Jesus saving. You really don’t have to put that in every song. It just makes them all blend, all bore, until it completely undermines the genre. Creed managed fame outside of Christian circles because they wrote rock songs around Christian themes without hitting you over the head like all the other Jesus songs.

The Narnia director seems to think we still live in a world where children want to sit there and watch the on-screen children ooo and ahh over the same scenery a dozen times.

And speaking of children watching, I appreciate that they didn’t go fully into action movie. Scenes that in a grown-up movie would go on much longer and be much scarier — remember crossing the frozen river with Mr. and Mrs. Beaver? — instead had one big moment of scary, and just enough “eek” to tremble, and then it stopped.

Yeah, I cried. So what?

Overall, worth seeing, and hopefully a prelude to better sequels (again, a la Harry Potter). I also realized that it’s been long enough since I last read the series that it’s time to re-read them. Perhaps I’ll take them home with me over Christmas.