Are you a Dark Odyssey virgin?

We're excited to offer the possibility of a first-time Dark Odyssey adventure to a lucky pair of CineKink fans!



As a participating group, we've been given TWO extra tickets to the sexy organization's next event - Winter Fire - taking place February 26-28 in Washington, DC.

One of our favorite gatherings, you can expect:

* An amazing line up of nationally-known presenters, including sex educators, BDSM masters, top-notch Tantra teachers, relationship experts, and award-winning authors, activists, and community leaders
* Over 60 unique, dynamic workshops on identity, sex, relationships, swinging, polyamory, BDSM, Tantra, spirituality, and lots more
* Special events including a banquet dinner featuring the fabulous The Wet Spots, nightly parties, incredible vendors and, of course, a huge, fully equipped dungeon and other intimate play spaces.

All taking place in the comfort and luxury of a beautiful host hotel located in the heart of downtown Washington, DC - and we'd like to give you the chance to be in the thick of it!

To qualify to win, you must:

* Never have previously attended a Dark Odyssey event

* Be a current CineKink Updates subscriber (if you're not one, you can sign up right here! )

* Send an email to cinekink2010 at cinekink dot com, with "I was a DO virgin!" in the subject line.

* Include preferred email address and/or phone # and/or Twitter name for us to contact you via, should you be a winner.

All entries must be received by 11 pm (et) of Friday, January 29th.

UPDATE: deadline extended until 11 pm (et) of SATURDAY, January 30th!

Winner will be selected at random and receive TWO tickets to the event. Travel, hotel, meals and any other expenses are not included.

And if you're not a virgin? You can still get a slightly discounted rate by selecting CineKink as your participating group when registering!

Ah, yes... Happy New Year!

With so many distractions, completely lost track of the time... even though it's right there on the wrist. And there. And there!

Oh, you didn't notice the watches?



Here's to a 2010 filled with pleasurable pursuits and diversions... Happy New Year!

It's not that complicated. Well, maybe kinda... but still.

More polyamory in the mainstream of late. First up, on Parks and Recreation, Leslie meets April's boyfriend... and April's boyfriend's boyfriend. He's gay for him, but straight for her and well, you know.


(Hat-tip Practical Polyamory)

And next, writer Jenny Block, author of Open: Love, Sex and Life, introduces the concept of polyamory to a less accepting (and real-life) audience. Wearing a brazen red dress, she appears at a Texas church--and holds her own--discussing the relationship she has with her husband and girlfriend on "Nightline Face-Off: Born to Cheat?"

Forget Kanye...'I'm Polyamorous' on MTV!

Slightly lost in the ongoing hub-bub over Kayne West's outburst on the Music Video Awards, this week MTV True Life premiered an episode, "I'm Polyamorous," that follows young polyamorous sorts in both NYC and the Carolinas.

Diana Adams, one of these sorts, writes of the experience:

The decision to share my polyamorous life with millions of people on MTV is scary because being non-monogamous is taboo. I don’t think polyamory is right for everyone, and I respect monogamous relationships, but I’ve found that having more than one partner is really right for me. I am telling my story so that young people will realize that there are many choices in relationships, love, and family style. Breaking the rules about what love should look like and sharing that with the world is risky, but being fearlessly open to the world also feels incredibly freeing!




Shortly available online, the episode will be airing on MTV throughout the month and posts from those featured in the show will appear on the blog for the series. Take a look, leave your comments, share with the world what's worked for you--or not--in polyamory!

A return to core values

Between last week's visit home with family and the past few days indulging a consuming fetish for national politics, we've been too distracted to think much about sex and/or movies.

Time to put a stop to that! This weekend we'll finally catch up with Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the latest from Woody Allen and, from some of the buzz of it, a likely candidate for the next CineKink Tribute. Or, at very worst, a little time spent in the dark watching pretty people making out in pretty places:



Also on deck for tonight, the next-to-last installment of Swingtown, the series that seems to get better and better with each episode, even as fears of its imminent demise continue to swirl.

Granted, that's a lot of laboring for one weekend, but hopefully we'll get through it!

Buy the book!

Rachel Kramer Bussel, whose previous literary offerings, He's On Top/She's On Top graced the swag bags for the CineKink kick-off party back in February, has a brand, er, spanking new opus available...Spanked: Red-Cheeked Erotica. And, with her finger ever on the pulse of the latest publishing trends, she's just put out a trailer for the book:




And if you're looking for some other hot reading to toss into the beach bag, be sure to check out Tantra for Erotic Empowerment from Mark Michaels and Patricia Johnson (CineKink NYC/08) and the very latest on consensual non-monogamy, Tristan Taormino's Opening Up: A Guide to Creating and Sustaining Open Relationships.

Update 7/21: Vimeo removed Rachel's original trailer, so we've replaced our links for the version available on YouTube.

Poly on the red carpet

Putting in plenty of face time at all of the past year's award shows, Tilda Swinton has also put a new spotlight on non-monogamy, as a regular companion on the red carpet has been her boyfriend Sandro Kopp - both seen here in a picture snagged from the British Independent Film Awards - and not her long-time partner, John Byrne.

Rather refreshingly in these past weeks of scandal upon scandal, the fact that she's part of an open relationship has been directly acknowledged, along with the tidbit that Byrne stayed behind in Scotland to mind their twins while Swinton was scooping up her Oscar.

In Wedded to Variety, a Chicago Sun Times article triggered by the high-profile arrangement, polyamory activist Anita Wagner observes that "Tilda's relationship situation is exactly like the relationships of many people I know. Except for the fame and money."

Yes, except that!

We are on!

We'll check in again with even more detail on this year's wham bam program schedule for Cinekink NYC, but here's an overview to get you salivating:

Tuesday, February 26
8:00 pm - Kick-Off Gala & Opening Night Screening

Wednesday, February 27
7:00 pm - Shortbus Tribute Screening
9:00 pm - New York Stories

Thursday, February 28
7:00 pm - Triple X Selects: The Best of Leszploitation
9:00 pm - Viva

Friday, February 29
7:00 pm - Call Me Troy
9:15 pm - Susan for Now
11:15 pm - Sex Mannequin & Superfreak

Saturday, March 1
1:00 pm - Lust, Animation!
3:00 pm - Chick Flicks
5:00 pm - Women Behind the Lens
7:00 pm - Mix, Match & Mingle
9:00 pm - Give & Take
11:00 pm - The Three Trials

Sunday, March 2
1:00 pm - Annie Sprinkle's Herstory of Porn
3:00 pm - Sunday How-To Sex-O-Rama
5:00 pm - Silken Sleeves

6:30 pm - Awards Celebration
8:30 pm - AfterGlow!

Overwhelmed by indecision in the face of so many kinky cinematic possibilties? Give yourself over to our CineKink NYC All-Access Pass and prepare to submit completely!

WGA three-way!!

Trolling around YouTube on strictly CineKink-programming-related business, we once again found ourselves distracted and set off our course, this time with the latest from our friends at the WGA.

Herewith, Episode #34 of Speechless Hollywood, this one featuring our long-time crush-object, Maggie Gyllenhaal (Secretary, CineKink Tribute/2003), cooling her heels with a couple of other young lovelies, presented solely in the interest of worker solidarity:



Who knew it would end like that?!

Ready for that twelfth day present yet?

Same as with the vanilla version, The Twelve Poly Days of Christmas goes on a wee bit too long, but all in good fun.

If you'd like to cut to the chase, Viviane's got the lyrics.

(hat-tip Polyamory Weekly)

Um. Boobies?

We're still in Portland and still in the midst of a manageable-but-taxing family medical situation, so the blogging's been definitely few and far between.

But, mayhaps we can distract you with a video tribute to breasts from self-proclaimed "boobiesexual" and sultry-voiced creator of the podcast Polyamory Weekly?



We certainly enjoyed the distraction!

CineKink-at-a-Glance

We've had so much going on in our New York calendar lately, it's been hard for everyone (especially us!) to keep on top of where we are when. And October's looking especially hectic...

Friday, October 5th - 9 pm
CineKink's "Bite the Apple!" @ New York Leather Weekend

Saturday, October 6th - noon
CineKink scopes the scene at NYC's Poly Pride Day Picnic
(and, energy permitting, Poly Pride dance that evening)

Sunday, October 7th - 2 pm
CineKink @ New York Leather Weekend's Street Fair

Tuesday, October 9th - 7 pm
CineKink @ Pioneer - LIBERTY IN RESTRAINT

Thursday, October 11th - 8 pm
NEW! Save the date for a special CineKink appearance by The Wet Spots!
More info coming soon...

O-O-Oprah...

The talk show maven who regularly bashed the viewing of pornography and seemed perplexed by the purpose of various sex toys seems to be turning over a new, er, leaf. Last year she welcomed swingers into her midst. Lately she's been sporting a whole new cheerful moniker for referrring to her genitalia. And this week's show, Let's Talk About Sex, did just that, opening the gates to the consideration of sex for older women, the possible enjoyment of pornography erotica by women in general and, truly mixing it up, a look at committed, open relationships.

A computer programmer and a stay-at-home mother, the couple profiled for the show, Greg and Hollie, appear to be - bless the producers! - aggressively "normal:"

Hollie enjoys reading, playing violin and knitting. Gregg's hobbies include reading, hiking, camping and fencing. They love their two children, and their marriage, they say, has never been better. But there's one thing about Hollie and Gregg's life together that's a little more unconventional.

Like 7 percent of women and 14 percent of men who answered a poll on Oprah.com, Hollie and Gregg say they have an open marriage.

Starting with lots of talking and a bit of outside dating, the discussion of how their particular arrangement transpired is continued on the show's website. Along with pages and pages of viewer comments - many of them, presumably, from the percentile of Oprah's audience not in an open relationship. Not yet, anyway.