Presentations, Porn and Parties: God I Love This City.

In less than 7 days the 2012 Feminist Porn Awards are on, which means Toronto is about to get flooded with a lot of sexy, smart people.  I’ve been trying to sound bite it down.. but you know what?  There’s just way to much going on.  So, blog post it is.

If the word feminist is a turn off for you; I challenge you to push past your prejudices for a moment and read on.  Maybe even hit up Thursday night’s Porn screening to see exactly what passes as ‘feminist porn’; I got $10 that says it’s not what you think.

(Heads up; not everything on this list below is ‘part’ of the FPA line up.  There’s just  a LOT of cool stuff happening next week.)

Tuesday April 17th – Comes As You Are brings in the Sex Geek herself for The Dance of D/s; which is all about using body language and tone to enhance your power dynamic.  Check out this descriptor tidbit:

This class will explore the use of body language and protocol to reinforce your dominant/submissive dynamic, focusing on grace, subtlety, confidence and attentiveness for both dominants and submissives.

Wednesday April 18 – Sexing the Transman, doc and talk with Buck Angel.  This is being held at U of T and if you’re a SDS or Cinema student you’re in for free.  I have no idea when this will be playing again in town, so I’m jumping on my change to see it this week.  Tickets available in advance and at the door.  Over on the East side of the city the Triple ‘s’ (subs, slaves & switches) Discussion Group is having it’s monthly gathering.  If you live or play on the bottom side of the kink scale you should be taking advantage of this fantastic local resource.

Thursday April 19 – Public Provocative Porn.  Hit up the new Bloor Hot Docs theatre for the year’s best in feminist film followed by a Q and A with Erika Lust, Buck Angel, Nenna and N Maxwell Lander (click here and scroll down to read about them. Tickets available in advance and at the door.

Friday April 21 – Feminist Porn Awards.  Welcome to the big event.  If you scored a VIP pass for the weekend you can head in early to mingle before the doors open to the public at 9pm.

Saturday April 22 – Learn hard by day; play hard by night.  In the afternoon Tristan Taormino will be showing different ways you can open up your relationship – and yes, it is geared to people in relationships.  And that night?  SWITCH PARTY!  And since it’s the FPA edition, Aslan is pulling out the stops with live porn shoots, bondage performances, pole dancing, and as always, the lovely playground of Oasis.

Sunday April 23 – Dirty Talking and Fat Sex. At Good For Her,  Tina Horn is guiding you in the world of Dirty Talk.  From flirting to seal the deal to using dirty talk to get in touch with those desires you may not even be ready to admit to.  Over at Come As You Are Courtney Trouble (perhaps fresh of a FPA win?) is talking Fat Sex,  Skip the theory and get straight into a discussion about  body positivity, self esteem politics, fetishization/ hyper-sexualization, erotica/performance, and tips, tricks, and techniques for having fat sex!

So; what are you going to?

Please – Restrain Yourself!

Today – well, yesterday at this point – The Toronto TNG hosted our first non-munch event of 2012; and our first ever skill share!

We ran the skill share in Open Space format – and yes.  Yes.  I’m just going to stop arguing this point.  Yes.  It’s like a GrUE — except shorter, and more focused.

If you aren’t familiar with open space at all; let me give you the quick and drity:

Take 1 group of people who are into creating an experience for themselves.  Give them a chunk of time to come up with things they want to talk about, and what they want others to talk about.  And there you go.  The key factor in open space is that you’re responsible for your level of engagement/participation, so if you find yourself not into what’s going on around you, you need to take yourself to something you will be engaged in*

The topic of today’s skill share was: Restraint.  A nice broad topic – covers everything from corsetry, to chastity, to mental bondage…. Ropes, cuffs, gags, masks, pallet wrap  we went with a wide birth.

We were a small but engaged group today.  It was a good mix of experienced, intermediate, and novice kinksters, and I do believe that everyone walked away with something they didn’t know before today.  Ironically though, it may have had less to do with restraint and more to do with water sports – but hey, who doesn’t love the occasional tangent?

Here’s what we came up with in our create an agenda/outline/schedule time:

Sessions:

1. Riffing with Rope:  Elements and Aesthetics, Teachincal and other wise
2. Hair Ties (Quickie!)
3. Anatomy for Bondage/Restraints (muscles, nerves, positional and pain vs pleasure)
4. Fashionably Wasited; why bustiers are not corsets, and how you can fix that
5. Handcuffs
6. Roundtable Discussion: Psychological Bondage & MindFucking
7. Objects of Restraint – Ropes & Not Rope.

Wish list:

• Pyschological Restraint
• Bondage Risks
• Bondage Materials -> Pros/cons
• Bondage Furniture
• CBT
• Blindfolds
• Safe Suspension Points

So all in all; not bad for our first swing at this ball.  We’re going to have another one of these in a few months when the weather warms up, the topic?  Impact  Why wait til it warms up?  Because then we can take the whips outdoors to swing    If you want to be sure to you don’t miss out on hearing about this; join the Toronto TNG FetLife Group – all the info winds up in there first anyway.

Hope to see you at the next one!

*But that if you aren’t feeling anything?  That happened to me once, and while it’s not something I’d want to do every weekend, it turned out okay.  But this Open Space stuff?  You really are responsible for your own experience.  If you can’t see yourself dealing well in that atmosphere, it may not be the right experience for you.

Building a Basic Bootblacking Kit – Part 2

Now that we’ve gotten the polish boots taken care of we can move onto the more fun ones; more commonly known as oil tanned­ boots, or greases  (consider that my admission of personal bias).  These boots don’t take a shine, and they aren’t meant to.  Instead they’re kept matte and well conditioned with products like Huberd’s, Obenauf’s, or Aussie Leather Conditioner.

In Canada, this will probably be the harder of the two kits to put together since leather conditioner is strangely hard to come by…but it will double as a care kit for all your leather clothing (and furniture!), so it’s worth it.  And just like with a polish kit, this is something you can spend years building up, so start with the basics and then use very trip stateside to build up your stash.
Speaking of the Basics:

• Saddle soap or pure glycerine soap.
• A small spray bottle.
• A soft cotton towel.
• Horsehair Dauber.  With Grease kits you really only need one to clean with (confession time:  My cleaning dauber for polish boots and grease boots is the same brush)
• Horsehair Shine Brush – this you really do want to keep separate from your polish shine brush.  Polish and grease do not play well together.
• Leather condition of choice.  Huberd’s is definitely my local standard, but bootblacks online seem to be just as happy with Obenauf’s and many with Aussie Leather Conditioner and some with Chelsea Leather Food too.  Pro-Tip So far the only place I know in Souther Ontario that carries Huberd’s is Dimar Shoe Repair in Geulph.  If you know of another – please let me know!
• Dubbin

Again, I’m not going to be able to provide you all the goodness you could pick up by joining your local bootblack community….  but I will say (because my google fu has failed me) , the process of cleaning and caring for your oil boots is much like polish boots.  In fact, the first steps are all the same, but instead of applying polish, you apply a thin coat of grease/conditioner, wipe off the excess with your shine brush, apply a thin coat of Dubbin, wipe off the excess and you’re good to go.

One more thing – although is can be really tempting to clean and condition your leathers all the time because of how good it feels to be running your greasy hands all over them, over-conditioning your gear will actually weaken the fabric and shorten it’s lifespan.  Conditioning should really be more of a quarterly activity.  If you find it getting dirty, clean it, but skip the conditioning step; soap and Dubbin only.

Building a Basic Bootblacking Kit

The first advice I got was to go out to a workshop and bring whatever product I had on hand.  It did not go well.   Heads up a Bootblack will become visibly pained if you put liquid polish in their eyesight.

Luckily, I did learn a few things at that workshop though.  Turns out building a kit could last a lifetime – but gathering the supplies you need to get started on polish* boots?  Easy!

Here’s what you need:

Daubers - always for cleaning, sometimes for applying polish.

• Saddle soap or pure glycerine soap.  There are pros and cons to either; personally I’ve found it easier to get a consistency I like with saddle soap, so I use that.  Pro-tip:  choose the colour of soap that matches the stitching n your shoes, and when in doubt?  Use yellow.
• A small spray bottle – easily picked up from a dollar store.
• Polish;  if you have a specific pair of shoes in mind, match the colour to those.  If you don’t know, pick up a tin of black and a tin of neutral polish.  Kiwi is super easy to come by and be found in a grocery store.  If you want more options, visit a cobbler.
• Horsehair Daubers.  You’ll want one to use for cleaning, and you may want one for polish (if you want to keep your hands clean, that is).  If you want to use Daubers to put on polish, be sure to get one for each colour of polish you have.
• Horsehair Shine Brush
• A soft cotton towel – hand towel sized is fine
• A shine cloth.  This can be an old cotton T-shirt, a kiwi cloth – whatevs.  Point is cotton, and the ability to fold it crease free.

Shine Brush

Learning to polish a boot, much like building a kit is both easy to start, and skill  you can spend the rest of your life increasing.  If you’re lucky enough to live in a place that has bootblacks on hand – get out and learn from them.  We’re super lucky to have an active Bootblack Community in Toronto – check out the workshop schedule for 2012 here.  If you don’t have workshops available to you right away, online is a good place to start.  Despite my Google efforts, Fetlife provided me with the only step by step instructions I could find, so I in turn point people this way now.  Bootdog.com helped me increase my knowledge about various products and tools and Ian’s ShoeLace Site has taught me almost everything I know about lacing.

So there you go, enough to get you going on your blacking adventures.  If you have a pair of boots to polish, you’re golden.  If you don’t, hit up thrift stores and pick up a pair to play with – they might make a wonderful gift to someone special one day.

* And by polish boots I specifically mean boots that are meant to take a wax polish, oil-tanned boots require a different process and half a different kit; but that’s another posting.

Toronto Bound

I wanna take a moment to note this is not a TNG event, but you will see some familiar TNG faces there for sure.  If you’ve been curious about Leather or want to keep expanding your kinky experiences, or just want a fun time out with your fellow kinksters/pervs/dirty awesome geeks Toronto Bound is worth checking out.

 

 

TORONTO BOUND 2011 WEEKEND
Friday, November 25 – Sunday, November 27, 2011

Heart of the Flag Federation Inc. / Toronto Leather Pride presents Toronto Bound – Nov 25 – 27, 2011.

The Membership of Heart of the Flag Federation Inc. (HOTFF) / TLP invites you join us for a laid back weekend of celebration, education and play!

Toronto Bound is a Leather/BDSM/Fetish/Kink event for everyone!

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TORONTO BOUND VIP PASS AND WEEKEND EVENTS INCLUDE:

• Friday night welcome party at the Black Eagle Toronto with silent auction & more.
• Saturday informative workshops, demos and select vendor mart.
• Saturday night VIP catered reception with living kinky art
• Keynote speaker: Master Mike Zuhl from Pittsburg, PA
• Full Fetish dance party at The Barn
• Open house at Oasis Aqualounge ; including the use of outdoor heater pool, hot tub, steam room, sauna, dungeon and more.
• 3 different types of play parties on Sunday afternoon
• Surge!  Women & trans only play party (Aqualounge; 3rd and 4th floors)
• Mix it up – party for all (Aqualounge; 1st and 2nd floors)
• The Barracks Black-Out Party; men only (Spa Excess) – includes a demo by Mast R of Master R’s Dungeon Equipment.  Free body shaving and bootblacking services.

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TORONTO BOUND 2011 WEEKEND VIP AND EDUCATIONAL SERIES PASSES:
Toronto Bound VIP Weekend passes on sale to HOTFF /TLP members, and clubs members of The Leather Angels, TORN, Spearhead, TNT, FIAT, Ottawa Knights, Buffalo Bulldogs and The Rochester Rams for the reduced rate of $30.00. Club Members of any of the above clubs may purchase their VIP discount weekend rate pass at the Toronto Bound Welcome Party registration desk at The Black Eagle (457 Church Street) on Friday, November 25th @ 9:30pm.

Non-club members can buy their VIP weekend pass at the door on Friday night at the Black Eagle or throughTICKETWEB on our website at www.torontoleatherpride.ca for $45.00 plus TICKETWEB processing fees.

Educational Series day pass can be purchased for $20.00 at the following locations:

• The Toronto Bound Welcome Party registration desk at The Black Eagle (457 Church Street) on Friday, November 25th @ 9:30pm.
• The front door of Goodhandy’s (110 Church Street) or The Zone at Crews and Tangos (508 Church Street) on Saturday, November 26, 2011. (Please see website for workshop start times)

Catered VIP Reception, Awards Ceremony, Key Note Address and Just Dance tickets can be purchased for $20.00 at:

•  The front door of The Barn Nightclub (First Floor) (418 Church Street) @ 8pm – 9pm.

 

Individual Oasis Aqualonge Open House Party, Play Party and Barrack Black-Out tickets can be purchased at the following locations:

•  Oasis Aqualonge Open House Party tickets may be purchased for $10.00 at the door starting at 3PM at (231 Mutual Street) Includes entry into one of the play parties and use of facilities.
• SURGE! and MIX IT UP! Play Party tickets may also be purchased for $10.00 at the door of Oasis Aqualounge starting at 5PM.
• The Barracks Black-Out Men’s Play Party at the front door of Spa Excess (105 Carlton Street),  Regular entry fees apply.

FOR A COMPLETE LISTING OF TORONTO BOUND OFFICIAL WEEKEND EVENTS PLEASE CLICK HERE
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LEATHER BRUNCH RETURNS:
Join us on Sunday, November 27, 2011 from 11 am – 2 pm @ O’Grady’s on Church (518 Church Street) for the return of Toronto’s famous Leather Brunch at its new location. Your host’s for brunch will be Gary Major – MRT 2012, Tarna -BBT 2012 and Alex Canning – MLT 2012. Additional Cost – Open to Everyone. Please link here for more details -http://torontoleatherpride.ca/events/leather-brunch/
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WHO IS TORONTO BOUND FOR?

Toronto Bound is for everyone in the Leather/BDSM/ Fetish/Kink (sexual minorities) community. Toronto Bound is presented by Heart of the Flag Federation Inc., a membership based not-for profit organization centred on the core beliefs equality, openness, education and pride. Read the About Us section for more info.

 

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More information at www.torontoleatherpride.ca
Contact us:   president@torontoleatherpride.ca
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Change change change…

Tonight’s munch is last the TNG munch that Roopurt and Itami will attend as organizers.  Roo ages out late this month, and Itami early the next.

If you’re one of our newer members, you may not realize that these gentlemen are a big part creating the TNG.  Roo is one of the original founding members, and Itami stepped up to the plate when another organizer was needed.  Seriously; I doubt the TNG would be as successful as it is today without the work of these gentlemen.  Also?  I’m pretty sure Roo hasn’t even missed a munch in seven years!

So come out to the munch tonight; or make plans to join us at the send off party October 14th and be sure to say thanks for all they’ve done.  Or don’t come out to either and drop them and e-mail instead.  Either way, makes sure you take a moment over the next month to say thanks – they deserve it.

And yes… this does mean we’re looking for new people to step up!  Right now we’re looking for some friendly faces to serve as greeters for the munch.  Basically, we want you to help us welcome people.  How is that different from any other night?  You’ll get a special sticker… or button… or… something.  You know how we are with details

Happy Seven Years to us!

Seven years and bigger than ever – now with a shiny new website format.

Consider this website an on going work in progress as we continue to update our resource section, event reviews, and hopefully manage to coax more people into contributing to the website.

At this point  we’d love your feedback on what you think of the new site, especially your thoughts on what should be added!