Viva la Vida by Coldplay

All the best things I could find for you in one week, and some things I have forgotten to include for a while now.  I’m a little late this weekend, because I spent a little too much time socializing.  However, in my own defense, against myself, I would say that I have worked 18 hour days 7 days a week for …  what seems like an eternity.  Okay, enough self-rationalization.  I’m late, but no rabbit had to die.  Here is this week’s Good Things List - hopefully it’s a better version than Martha’s.

A Good Blog To Read!

Fanny Lucette is a Ph.D. psychology professor, with M.A. degrees in related fields. She has been a counselor and educator for many years. She recently wrote a guest post for me on Catalina Loves (thank you thank you thank you!!) and she will be joining the new community blog that will launch soon at bestsexbloggers.com.  Her blog is not a sex blog per se, but as she describes it on her page, “All of us have questions about relationships, sexual thoughts or behaviors. My life experiences and professional credentials will help you sort through it all.”  So take a look and hit your RSS feeds because you’ll want to keep up with Ms. Lucette once you’ve started reading.

A Good (Strap On) Dildo

Strap on play.  Three little words, but they can invoke an entire mental scene, can’t they?  Strap-on sex.  Imagine the scene.  Is it a lesbian scene?  Do you see it as a Domme/sub scene?  Is it a loving couple experimenting with assplay together?  It really can be any and it can be all.  The fact is, I have used strapons with women, as a professional dominatrix, and also as a loving wife (even a submissive loving wife, at that).  I choose the Corsette Harness as my new favorite strap on harness because it’s soft, velvety, black, feminine, and (important for practical purposes) it adjusts easily so it’s easy to slip in and out of gracefully.

A Good Podcast

Graydancer’s “The Ropecast” is the new home of the premiere rope bondage podcast.  This podcast talks about kinky sex, consensual adult bondage, and discusses dominance, submission, sado-masochism, and the iniquieties of the square knot in a frank, open, and entertaining way.  (I didn’t write that, by the way, but it is all true and well-written, so why re-invent the wheel?  I copied and pasted from The Ropecast site).

A Good Book

It’s going to become very obvious to you soon, so I’ll just ‘fess up now - I am definitely kissing Graydancer’s ass this week.  Why?  Because I’ve admired him for so long and I practically begged him to be a part of bestsexbloggers.com.  I told him that I would, in fact, kiss his ass, if he would join.  He joined, so here is Graydancer’s book, Nawashi - A Novel of Erotic Magic.  Take a lookee and buy a coppee.

A Good Educational Opportunity

Did you know that you can take free courses online from MIT (yes, that’s the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT).  Well, kind of.  Read carefully, but essentially they make their course materials available online and though you don’t get credit for it, you can learn for the sake of learning.  Now here’s the cool thing, to me, anyway.  I thought that MIT only offered courses in science and math.  I was wrong.  Here is the course description of the course I’m currently taking:

Este semestre la materia combina obras ya canonizadas de finales del siglo XIX y del XX con algunas obras de reciente aparición. De los géneros literarios, vemos poesía, el cuento corto, la novela y la autobiografía. También vemos una película de tema ficticio y dos documentales. El estudiante que se interese por hacerlo puede usar los materiales en la Reserva y en la red para familiarizarse con la historia literaria y cinematográfica de este período. Nuestro enfoque principal, sin embargo, será leer bien y de modo analítico, textos literarios de diferentes momentos históricos y culturas nacionales (e internacionales). Aunque discutiremos analíticamente las tres películas, su interés principal para nosotros será, en un caso, conocer el argumento ideológico de una novela muy famosa e influyente que, por falta de tiempo, no vamos a poder leer en sus totalidad, y en los dos otros casos, para contextualizar una autobiografía y tener un punto de comparación para estudiar cómo se puede reconstruir la memoria simultáneamente individual y colectiva. Otros temas, que se estudiarán en varias obras, serán el bilingüismo (español/inglés) en ciertos escritores hispanoamericanos contemporáneos, y el auge de la novela best seller en la América Hispana.

So, in case you can’t tell, that’s an advanced Spanish literature course.  Who knew I could brush up on my primary field of study with free online courses from MIT?!  I just found out recently, but I’m on it!  The Catalina Downer Disclaimer:  You might have to buy books and don’t forget that books are not free.  Ever.  So, though the courses are free, you can’t necessarily say that you can take any class you want for free.  Sorry.  But this is about as close as you can get!

A Good Corset (and lingerie)

Mio Destino is located in Europe, but delivers worldwide and has a domestic office.  Their corsets are undeniably quality.  You’re not buying an ebay corset, this is the one you’ve been saving up for.  They aren’t so horribly expensive that you can’t afford it unless you’re married to a very wealthy international finance attorney, however, they’re not cheap either.  The selection is unbelievable - corsets by designer, shape, by fabric, corsets to wear out, bridal corsets, underbust corsets, and corset skirts.  They are the way to go if you’re in the market for that special one.

A (PERFECT) Album

Viva la Vida by Coldplay is amazing.  Brian Eno produced it, so when I first heard it, I rejected it stating simply, “I’m not interested in listening to another U2 album.” What a bitch!  Now, I come back with my official opinion - “This is the best Coldplay album yet.” You must listen to it through headphones.  That’s my only caveat.  It sounds good over speakers, and it sounds great in the car, but there is something special about listening to it in the headphones, like being able to hear Chris quietly count off.  Also, I own the official album and then I also have the special Marky D. Sade found this two weeks before it was released version.  The difference is that I have two extra tracks - Lost (acoustic) and Lovers in Japan (acoustic).  The trick is that you have to listen to the album, looped, without the two extra tracks.  Let song 10 fade into song 1.  I won’t give it away here, but just do it.  It’s neato.  I think my favorite song right now is Strawberry Swing.  It’s a great way to start the day - Chris Martin telling you it’s such a perfect day.

"Catalina's Penthouse Bondage", Rigging and Photography by Ms. Nikki Nefarious

This week’s Good Things List is packed full of as many good things as I could find for you.  Some are free, some are not.  Everything on here I hand-picked myself and I recommend.  It’s not bullshit, it’s not clever advertising, it’s just that I’m an opinionated person and I think that people should know about the good things that I find.  That’s all.

A Good Blog To Read

Naughty Secretary writes a very hot blog.  She is a natural born writer, it just pours out of her and what she ends up with is eloquent and perfect every single time.  She caught my attention and now we are close.  I consider her my Naughty Secretary, as she has taken on the position willingly.  I’m not just sending you there because NS is fucking hot, nor am I sending you there just because she wrote this post about me, but it certainly didn’t hurt her case either!

A Good Dildo

I’m way into glass / pyrex dildos these days.  I talked before about the Cyberglass Felicity.  This time I’m recommending the Pleasure Bump.  They are a really nice quality for a really nice price.  I was going on and on about the Cyberglass Felicity with a friend of mine who said, ” I love that glass dildo.  Most glass products are so expensive, but this one is inexpensive, yet feels like some of the higher end glass dildos.” So there you have it, two kinky women agree these dildos are the way to go!

A Good Quickie

Mz Berlin is a friend of mine, as you know.  She’s sexy, she’s intelligent, she’s dorky, she’s funny, she loves Lolcats, and sensory deprivation with her Dom, The Mad Scientist.  She also has a little clips store that is well worth your time.  Of course you can see porn for free, duh.  I’m not stupid.  I know this.  You can also eat for free if you want to dumpster dive.  This is the equivalent of eating in the restaurant rather than digging through the scraps.  Take your pick and give a click.  It’s a mixture of content from her younger days and also current content that she creates herself.  And as she says, “I made it just for you.”

A Good Calling Card

I really need to have new calling cards made.  Badly.  So does everybody I know.  Lately it’s been the topic of conversation amongst my friends.  When Thursday’s Child suggested Moo Cards, I instantly knew I had to pass that site along in the Good Things List this week.  It is definitely where I am going to order my cards from (payday…  payday…)   Oh, by the way - I get nothing from them for saying this - I just think their site is very cool.

A Good Deed

Now you can do a good deed and get off at the same time!  It doesn’t really get better than that.  Seriously.  Take a look at “Adopt a Child” by Sinless Touch.  I’m not affiliated with them, but I saw a press release on AVN (Adult Video Network) recently and looked into it and it’s the real deal.  It says on their site:

During checkout, you have the option to round up your purchases and donate electronic “spare change” to a charitable cause.  One of the reasons that people don’t donate is because they don’t have enough time, so we have tired to make it easy for you.  During your checkout you decide how much to round up your total, and the donation is included in your payment.
With your generous donations, we have committed to adopting children worldwide. We will maintain a profile of each child and their life for all to follow and see how we are all making a difference.

A Good Rigger

A rigger is a bondage artist.  S/he ties knots intricately for BDSM scenes using Nawa Shibari as well as other bondage art techniques.  Professional riggers are employed by companies like Kink.com and often are themselves players in the scene (take Claire Adams, for example).  Some are just there to tie up the willing victim.  Some are there to create bondage art for bondage art photography.  Ms. Nikki Nefarious was voted the #3 Rigger in the 2008 Bondage Awards.  That’s right, my Nikki, the genius behind Altered Aperture, the award winning rigger ties up Catalina all the time.  How fucking lucky am I?!?!  Nikki’s recent separation from Social Kink has made her more available for freelance work.  Now’s your chance!

A Good Way To Distract Yourself

I might be the last one alive to have signed up already for Twitter, my profile is CatalinaLoves, but I’m now officially addicted.  I even have the little Twitterfox plug in for Firefox and now I can play with all my blogger friends and fellow kinksters and perverts all day long while I’m supposed to be working!  If I could figure it out, I would add a little Twitter widget to Catalina Loves, but I haven’t figured it out yet.  I could also, apparently, get updates on my cell phone, but again, not quite that cool.  Funny, I can tell you how to write code, but I can’t get Twitter technology to work.

Well, that’s about it - anything more and I’ll just be looking for good things.  These are all good things that I’ve found, stumbled upon, or was pointed to.  I’d rather have a short list of good things that are really good than a big long list of crap I hunted for on Friday night at 9:33 pm (the current time here in Charlotte, NC).

Just a little shameless self-promotion — I’d like to think that my blogs are all good things, so just a little reminder to take a peek.  I also just started writing at Trufetish.com and I will contribute on the blog at Into The Attic as well.  Soon all of the best sex bloggers and erotic photographers will collaborate on a very big project I am managing - so keep an ear out for news about that!  And now, it’s time for my date with MDS.

This week’s Good Things List is brought to you by the letter V (for valium) and the number 10 (for the dose)… and readers like you!  (PS: JOIN FETLIFE!)

A Good Blog To Read

Narration by D is this week’s blog pick.  D is the counterpart of another of my favorite blogs Thursday’s Child.  It says in his profile: “From the male perspective, the exploration of a young married couple beyond vanilla sex.”   D is in my BILF list.  His wife is also in my BILF list.  They as a couple are in my BILF list.  Now we just have to figure out how to get into the same state and city!

A Good Toy

I have just gotten my new shipment of toys to review for Vibe Review and I haven’t even formally reviewed it yet on my blog, but so far I can tell you that I adore the Cyberglass Felicity.  I have just recently gotten into glass/pyrex dildos and this one is a perfect starter because of the low price.  You can warm it under some hot water in the sink or you can cool it in the refrigerator for a while (it comes in a nice case, by the way!).  You can use either end, you can play with it vaginally or anally.  I just love it!  Vibe Review happens to be a great company to do business with - a classy online toy company that has a good reputation.  That matters!

A Good Photographer

Erocrush.  Melvin Moten, Jr. is Erocrush.  His work is special to me.  He is special to me.  I consider him a very good friend.  He allows me to use his images all the time on my blogs.  I know that you have enjoyed them.  Like Lochai, who I’m in love with, Melvin isn’t shooting for the porn content market.  He shoots fetish and erotic art that he enjoys.  With real women, that he enjoys.  With real couples.  One thing I noticed about Melvin’s work is that his models obviously feel so natural with him that they forget he’s even there.  It’s as though you’re actually there, in the scene, a voyeur.  I love Melvin.  I want Melvin to shoot me.  With any luck at all, this fall, he will.  Then I will have my way with him!  If you click on the (perfect) image in this post (by Erocrush) it will magically take you to his site.  Fear not! It will open in a new window and you won’t lose the Good Things List!

A Good Pay Site

Inescapable Bondage is January Seraph’s new content site.  She has been shooting their own content like crazy.  She and her hotter than hell partner-in-crime, Smutty, have been violating all kinds of men and women.  This is Brand Spanking New!  January isn’t, of course.  She’s got a great reputation as a top model and actress already, but this site is so new that you’re probably the first one you know to see it! 

A Good Blogger Resource

The Week In Kink.  Duh.  I sat here and tried to think about this one for a while and then I realized, if you’re a good blogger and you have good posts, then you should send me a little note.  Each week I go through blogs that I like and pick the hottest posts and then publish them on TheWeekInKink.Com.  I just want to be clear that I’m not trying to compete with Sugasm.  It’s not a democracy - it’s just a list of my top favoritest, hottest, made me want to masturbate posts.  :)

A Good Group

It’s widely known that I love FetLife.  I’m an official greeter there now, which makes me feel extra special.  What makes me feel super, duper special, though, is starting a new Charlotte Kinksters group (it’s called Charlotte, NC - The Queen of Kink, since we are the Queen City!)  If you join FetLife you can join the Charlotte Kinky group.  The idea is that we could all get together for informal gatherings and have a little community here that isn’t quite as formal as CAPEX.

A Good Alternative Education Resource/CommUNITY Source

This is the place to go to find professional alternative educators, presenters, event planners, vendors, dm/security/medical, legal, volunteers, and more.  Everybody claims to be a sex educator, but this group is truly respected within the commUNITY as the leaders in their fields.  Now, you can learn from them.  Oh, it’s no coincidence you’ll find Lochai there.  Wouldn’t you die to take a bondage class with Lochai?  Oh my…  You can also take classes with people like Claire Adams.  OMG.  I’m in heaven. 

In My Dreams!!! Even January Seraph puts on her Martha Stewart look for this week’s Good Things List.

The Good Things List actually has a new (temporary FEMA home) at TheGoodThingsList.wordpress.com, but I thought I’d paste it here for those of you who feel like the extra click is just too… much… to…. bear…. :-)

A Good Blog To Read

Emerging On The Other Side is the blog written by an overeducated skank (former slut) who is proud of it.

A Good Toy

The Black Label Liberator Wedge/Ramp Combo is the best! It seems like a just a pretty little strategically cut out piece of foam with a cover, but it’s sooooo much more! It’s great for people (like me) who have back problems and can’t tolerate a traditional hands and knees position for longer than three minutes. I never ever feel pain (except for the good kind!) when we get out our Liberator set.

A Good Great Photographer

Lochai is not only a good photographer, but he is a great artist! He is the photographer responsible for the image at the top of this post! I recently did an interview with Lochai on Catalina Loves. This bit is From his bio on his website Kirinawa.com:

Lochai is an award winning photographer who’s work appears on gallery walls as well in fine art publications & coffee table books. He “shoots for the walls & not the computer screen”. Presently he has his work on display at the Leather Archive & Museum in Chicago, for sale in brick & mortar galleries from Key West Florida to Cyber fine art galleries based out of London as well on many private collectors walls. His images, rope art & interviews have been published in The British Journal of Photography, Secret, Skin Two, Bizarre, Prometheus, Cherry, A Magazine, Fetish Anthology, Extreme Anthology, New Times and in his own fine art books. His work can also be found on numerous websites from around the world. He is one of the founding directors of PAG, the Photo Artisans Guild, in West Palm Beach Florida. He as also the co-founder & co-curator of the Traveling Erotic Art Show which spent 2 years touring the US.

He feels that the best stories to tell come from the heart and everyone has something hidden that is bursting to come out. “I feel I can touch something inside the heart & head of each person who views my work. For me, I see the real person when I create my images. The real person comes out thru their alter ego.” Starting in Mid June he will be teaching along side David Lawrence & Bobby Knight 3 day intensive workshops on the art of fine art fetish photography. For more information go to http://prophototours.com/

Being an educator & student of bdsm and fetish, Lochai knows how to bring out the look of hidden desires in his models & shows “real” emotions to his audience. He is considered an advanced rope artist who tours the country teaching rope bondage to kinksters from all walks of life & both rigs his own models for his photography as well as for some of the top photographers in the world. “The Art of The Art” is how he looks at his bondage images & he loves to share his knowledge.

On the Bondage side… Lochai has been a student of Japanese inspired rope bondage since a very early age. He has been educating the rope bondage minded in South Florida for the past 8 years as well as across the country for the past 12. He is one of the founding members of the Traveling Rope Troupe comprised of riggers and bottoms who perform theater style aspects of their bondage art as a lead into a series of hands on classes. He can be found on occasion binding beauties and creating living art at local fetish events as well as major exhibitions. “I use the body as a canvas & rope as the medium in creating my art”

A Good Band

I’m partial to this band because it’s my very good friend’s band. Your Dirty Habit is club/dance music and it never leaves my playlist. On their site at Myspace.com/YourDirtyHabit, you can grab the Live Summer 2007 Live Mix - DO IT! I love it!

A Good Pay Site

Backdoor Bondage is the site that belongs to Sgt. Major. His scenes are some of the hottest I’ve seen, ever. Maybe it’s because I’m such a fan of Claire Adams and I’ve seen two scenes with her it them - one where she was being punched in the ass and another where she’s completely suspended upside down being erotically choked. Either way, yum yum.

A Good Webmaster Resource

Kinky Dollars is Kink.com’s affiliate program. We have had great success monetizing our blogs with Kink.com. Click on the little link and you can sign up for your own account.

A Good Non-Sex Science Tattoo Blog

My friend, Zetar, passed this blog along to me and I just have to share it with everyone else. I normally don’t like tattoos, but these tattoos are right up my alley. Nerds meet Ink - Ink meet Nerds. It’s Carl Zimmer’s Science Tattoo Emporium. Frequently when graduate students finish their doctorate (or even Masters) they get a commemorative tattoo. No, not an “I love Betty” tattoo, but cooler. Take a lookee.

A Good Corsetry Site

By now everybody knows that I love corsets. love Love LOVE them! My dream is to have a corset custom made by Isabella Corsetry. Here is some information from her about page:

Isabella Corsetry makes corsets for women, men, and even children (no waist reduction of course), as well as custom bridal gowns, vintage inspired dresses, costumes, and undergarments.

Each corset made by Isabella Costumiere is individually patterned to each customers own measurements . Since no two bodies are exactly the same this means you will get a corset that fits YOUR body. I use a rather long list of measurements and double check each pattern to insure the perfect fit. For long distance customers I can construct a muslin mock up of your corset and mail it to you to try on in the comfort of your own home to make certain your corset is just right. These are inlcuded with every overbust corset.

Well, there you have it - a few new Good Things for you to check out. I’m getting such a backlist that I’m considering doing The Good Things List twice a week instead of just on Saturdays. What do you think?