· "Do you want to replace the existing normal?" (we-make-money-not-art.com, via slashdong.org)

· Ocultos: Fundacion Canal (fundacioncanal.com, via Gridskipper)

Previously: Phat Bottomed Girls Make The Rockin' World Go Round, Asses Galore Megagallery: More Than Enough To Go Around, Cu-Cu: The Ass Blog

When "Seduced"—which is erroneously billed as the "first ever mainstream exhibition devoted to sex"—opens this Friday, it will feature everything from classical Roman artifacts to ancient Japanese paintings to modern day photographers like Jeff Koons and Nan Goldin. The moral of the story: Pervs have always been with us, so take care of that copy of "Debbie Loves Dallas" because you never know ... it might be in a museum some day.

· "The art of seduction: sex through the ages, from every possible angle" (story + slideshow @ guardian.co.uk)

Previously: The Best Of Swedish Erotica - In London, "The Naked Portrait" @ Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Touring London's Sex "Theme Park"

"Intimate Encounters" was conceived as way for disabled persons to express their sexuality and more important, show the world that sex doesn't end where a disability begins. Crazy, but true! Based in Australia, Mason-Lovering found dozens of willing participants and worked with them to create individual expressions of the subject's feelings and spirit. Her mermaid was a swimmer at the Paralympic Games in Sydney in 2004 who said she wanted the pictures to prove that she was an independent person, fully capable of taking care of herself and her body and the end result accomplishes just that. Unfortunately, some people still need a reminder that disabled people are still people in every single way, but this series provides that in an beautiful and moving way.

"Intimate Encounters" will be on display in New York until September 16, but you can see even more of the photos at Belinda's website.

· Belinda Mason-Lovering (mason-lovering.com.au)
· museumofse[x] (museumofsex.com)

Previously: "Kink" @ Museum of Sex, Sexy Wheelchair Girls,
Disabled Nudes Calendar

· "The Naked Portrait" (exhibition info @ nationalgalleries.org; see preview gallery here - via sexblo.gs)
Thumbnail: Jane Birkin (1969) by David Bailey

Previously: "Eloquent Nude": Edward Weston and Charis Wilson, World Museum Of Erotic Art, Sweatnapper: Modern Nude Ambrotypes, Touring London's Sex "Theme Park", Old Master Smut By David Nicholson

· A filly may have won the big horse race this weekend, but Michelle Marsh would prefer to be the one doing the riding. Is she hiring stable boys? (dailypoa.com)

· The Australian Government issued a warning to Penthouse for publishing photos that "emphasized genitals," to which Penthouse replied, "Umm ... duh?" (xbiz.com)

· The New York State Bar Association was all excited to have a "sexual empowerment consultant" speak at their divorce lawyer meeting, until they found out she was ex-pornstar Sydnee Steele. What exactly did they think a "sexual empowerment consultant" does? (wsj.com)

· A few museum patrons were quite upset to learn that Marilyn Monroe once posed for naked photos. Wait until they hear about what happened to President Kennedy. (wkyc.com + daytondailynews.com)

· Brooklyn, Missouri, is the little town that could—thanks to four strip clubs, a massage parlor and an adult bookstore that keep the place alive. It's just like the movie "It's A Wonderful Life," isn't it? (stltoday.com)

· What if they gave out adult awards and none of the winners came to pick them up? Can they still put them on their mantle? (adultfyi.com)

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Previously: Morning Wood Archives/Wet Spots Archives

Despite news reports which describe it otherwise, we're not sure if the Amora Academy of Sex and Relationships really qualifies as a "sex theme park." After all, there's no curved-penis roller coasters or a vagina jungle cruise—not even a Tunnel of Love. What it does have is a plethora of sexual exhibits like the Spankometer and the wall of willies, all disguised as an educational center. Think of it as an interactive art museum, complete with dolls that light up when you touch their naughty bits. Amora opened to the public this week in London, and The Sun has put together a preview package with photos, video and what might be the longest article to ever appear in the tabloid. Hey, they take their sex very seriously over there—and so does the Academy—but that doesn't mean you aren't allowed to giggle a little bit at the orgasm face video collage. You're only human.

· "'Sex theme park' first ride" (thesun.co.uk)

Previously: Disneyland Paris Orgy Video, Splash Mountain Flashers

Alas for anyone who'd like to pick up a Bettie Page ashtray in the gift shop to take home, the World Museum of Erotic Art only exists in the virtual world—which is probably a good thing since no one really wants to stand around and look at dirty pictures as a tour group of senior citizens walks behind you. Other than that, it's very much like a real museum with exhibits and collections of paintings and illustrations from throughout history, proving that sexual art didn't begin when the camera was invented. In addition to the free "museum," they also operate a set of companion sites devoted to video, vintage photography and other assorted odds and ends, though you'll have to pay for membership to enter those halls. (You won't get away with sticking a quarter in the "suggested donation" box.) Still, this is clearly a labor of love from folks who appreciate that idea that just because a painting has some pubic hair and the occasional exposed penis, that doesn't mean it can't be good art. Others might say that's a prerequisite for good art, but we'll leave that argument to the scholars.

· World Museum of Erotic Art (ameanet.org - and don't forget to send a postcard!)

Previously: 100,000 Years of Sex, "Kink" @ Museum of Sex, Prague Sex Machines Museum, Michele Capozzi: "Pornology", "Eros in Modern Art", Art Boobs, "Peeping, Probing and Porn"

While we've always loved checking out the exhibitions at New York City's Museum of Sex, we have to admit that our visits there have often been frustrating, what with all of those antique sex toys and skin mags tantalizingly displayed just out of our reach behind the plexiglass walls of their vitrines. So we're especially eager for the opening of guest curator and social anthropologist Katherine Gates' hands-on "KINK: Geography of the Erotic Imagination" in February, which according to the press release "will allow visitors to try on fetish costumes, climb into bondage furniture, and play with kinky props, all the while learning about the larger narrative themes that bind all human eroticisms together, from the most 'vanilla' to the most kinky." Whether or not it will also allow visitors a taste of the delights of cannibal fetishism remains to be seen; in any case, we hope they budgeted enough for plenty of antibacterial wipes and rubber gloves to last them for the duration of the show. Take it from us—that bondage furniture isn't always as easy to keep clean as you might think.

· "KINK: Geography of the Erotic Imagination to open" (artdaily.net; also spotted @ sexblo.gs)
· Museum of Sex (museumofsex.com)
· Katherine Gates' "Deviant Desires: Incredibly Strange Sex" (Amazon)
· Thumbnail via the inimitable Muki's Kitchen

Michele Capozzi is, by all estimations, a dirty old man—and we mean that in the best way possible. Despite having lived in New York for more than twenty-five years, he maintains his Italian accent as well as a mostly Italian website. You might not know who he is, but Michele knows everyone ... and has plenty of delightfully incriminating stories to tell about them too. His 2005 movie "Pornology New York", screening at the Museum of Sex in New York tonight, is like a pervy love letter to the city and its denizens. If only all dirty old men were as charming as Michele, they'd have a much better rap. Just be careful that you don't wind up in front of his camera someday unless you don't mind the rest of the world knowing what you were up to in the back of that club last weekend ...
- AR

· Michele Capozzi (official site @ michelecapozzi.org)

Previously: The Films of Tinto Brass, "The Vanessa Del Rio Collection", Berlin Porn Film Festival, "Psychopathia Sexualis", New York in the 70s, Rated X Panty Party: The Return

Since nothing whets our midday appetite like a nice helping of art-versus-porn ambiguity, we're glad to see that the Swiss at least seem to have the distinction down pat with the new Eros in Modern Art exhibition at the Fondation Bayeler in Basel, which opened this weekend and runs through next February, when it will move to the Kunstforum in Vienna. With more than 200 works on display from the collection of eminent collectors and gallerists Hildy and Ernst Beyeler, the show aims to portray "(a)n involvement with all forms and facets of eros—love, passion and lust, desire and sexual union ", with artworks that range from Egon Schiele's fetishy proto-upskirt drawings to Jeff Koons' sculptural ... er, whatever they are. And hey, they use the word "eros" in the title—so it must be art!

· "Eros in Modern Art" (beyeler.com; also spotted @ sexblo.gs)

Previously: "The Dirty Show", "Negative Exposure", "Peeping, Probing and Porn", Hot At Large, EroticArtists.org

Italian film auteur Tinto Brass might be best known to North American audiences for his directorial credit on the much-maligned 1979 star-studded porn disaster "Caligula", but since the early 1960s he's been creating glossy erotic mini-masterpieces that generally don't get seen much outside of Europe. Visitors to Venice's Museo d'Arte Erotica can now enjoy a space dedicated to Brass and his "poetic and cinematic world", which we're told focuses mainly on "extolling in all its glory, the human bottom" and which includes previously unseen clips and behind-the-scenes photos from some of the most important works in his oeuvre. In case you can't make it to Venice or find such signature Brass works as "Monella" and "Snack Bar Budapest" at your local Blockbuster, the illustrated videography and generous stills galleries on Brass' official website will help you get an idea of what you've been missing all these years. Maybe it's time to give "Caligula" another look? (Actually, scratch that—it really is as bad as we Remember. Sorry, Tinto.)

· Tinto Brass (tintobrass.to, via sexblo.gs)
· "Tinto Brass's hitherto unpublished work now displayed in the Museo d'Arte Erotica" (museodarteerotica.it)

Previously: Francesco Vezzoli's "Caligula", 70s Spanish Film Posters, "Caligula" Gallery

Everyone knows that if you're not picky about context, a great place to see a lot of boobs is an art museum. They're cheap (sometimes free), plentiful, and no one will think you're creepy for staring too long at a nice Picasso. Heck, they might even think you're "cultured" or something. If you're not big on leaving the house, however, we suppose you could find the online equivalent at Art Boobs, a blog devoted to the finest in fine art - provided it features a nice pair of naked female breasts. As the site says, history has always looked more favorably upon nudity that's hung a wall than nudity in real life, so this is a place to celebrate that tradition and see some nice paintings as well. Soon everyone will be impressed with your knowledge of the great masters, and no one has to know where you learned it.

· Art Boobs (artboobs.blogspot.com)
· Image: Éduard Manet, "Blonde Woman with Bare Breasts" (1878)

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Previously: Ray Beldner: Porn Art, EroticArtists.org, "Peeping, Probing and Porn", Paintings by Jaroslaw Kukowski, Art by Francisco Guerrero

· Big sticky love and congrats to our own Violet Blue, who has just been named the new sex columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. Hate to pull rank in her hour of celebration, but remember: we saw her first. (tinynibbles.com)

· Some defective boob tape reveals 1/100th of an inch (all figures are approximate) of Beyonce's areola. So close, yet so far away. (hollywoodtuna.com)

· Always looking out for our filthy interests, Lifehacker puts together a greatest hits package with the best tips for surfing the web privately and anonymously. We're totally sending them a Christmas card this year. (Lifehacker)

· Forget hair gel and suntan lotion, but personal lubricants - a.k.a. "sex grease" - are once again safe to carry on airplanes. You'll need the whole tube just to squeeze two people into one of those bathrooms. (Wonkette)

· A brothel in Sydney, Australia, is offering gas discounts to draw in customers. When you're paying more for a tankful of regular than you do for a blowjob, that's when you know times are tough. (news.com.au)

· South Korea discovers the phenomenon that is the adult trade "sexpo." You never forget your first booth babe. (chosun.com + times.hankooki.com)

· What's the newest vile threat to our children? Art museums. Yes, exposing your kids to culture may also expose them to paintings of naked ladies, so perhaps you should go back to letting the TV raise them. (houstonist.com)

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Previously: Morning Wood Archives/Wet Spots Archives

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when it comes to all things perverse and pornographic, the Japanese do it better than almost everybody; based on what's on display in the Museum of Sex's current exhibition, we're reminded that they've been doing it longer than almost everybody as well. "Peeping, Probing and Porn" looks at shunga prints from the Edo period (1603-1868) and traces the evolution of erotic imagery in Japanese visual culture from the 17th century through today's sexy anime and hentai; if we haven't already called your attention to the long and illustrious history of tentacle smut on Fleshbot, this exhibition is the perfect place to start your exploration.

· Peeping, Probing and Porn: Four Centuries of Graphic Sex in Japan (exhibition info @ museumofsex.com, via sexblo.gs)
· "Lecherous Octopi - Japanese woodcuts: Sex and the Floating City" (exhibition review @ villagevoice.com, via imomus.livejournal.com)

Previously: Shunga Netsuke, Eropon: Bondage Sculptures, Upskirt Manga Figurines, Japanese Shunga Prints, More Japanese Shunga Prints, Kanamara Matsuri Penis Festival