Can't wait to see how it turns out? Friend of Fleshbot Violet Blue had a front row seat for the action, and kindly snapped a few photos behind the scenes. Check out her blog for a peak at what she saw.

· on set for Courtney Trouble's "Bordello" (tinynibbles.com)
· Thumbnail star: Mistress Akira on set, shot by Violet Blue
· Courtney Trouble (courtneytrouble.com)
· Good Releasing (goodreleasing.com)

I am excited about the 30th annual Exotic Erotic Ball, which I will be attending to add a layer of decorum to the debauchery (by wearing a monocle). But, lest proximity to the writhing free love deviants prove overwhelming, I'm also going to be trying out the RealTouch haptic sex simulator, which transmits signals directly to one's junk via specially-coded adult videos.

Will the moistness and friction of the haptic marital aid rival what is available to one in real life, or will one forsake the carbon-based world for Tron-like sterility and Cyberskin orgasms? I don't know; which has better Mexican food?

If you're in San Francisco this weekend, please say hi (you'll know me by my ascot).

Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
Real Touch (realtouch.com)
Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
Real Touch (realtouch.com)
Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
Real Touch (realtouch.com)
Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
Real Touch (realtouch.com)
Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
Real Touch (realtouch.com)
Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
Real Touch (realtouch.com)
Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
Real Touch (realtouch.com)
Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
Real Touch (realtouch.com)
Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
Real Touch (realtouch.com)
Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
Real Touch (realtouch.com)
Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
Real Touch (realtouch.com)
Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
Real Touch (realtouch.com)

This year's edition (theme: "Of Intercourse and Intracourse") promises to be just as exciting as the past two installments; with both io9's Annalee Newitz and Fleshbot alumna Violet Blue on the roster of speakers, we're sure attendees will receive quite a bit of food for thought (and, er, fantasy). Full details are available on the Arse Elektronika website. And for those of you who can't make it out to San Francisco this weekend, never fear: we're sure we'll have more than a few highlights from the event covered right here on good ol' Fleshbot.

· Arse Elektronika (monochrom.at)

Homo A Go Go "Sex Tapes: DIY Porn Showcase" – Seeking Home Made Queer Porn Submissions!

Submission Deadline: July 15th

Requirements:
- All performers must be 18 years of age or older
- Submission must be between 2 and 12 minutes. Longer pieces may be cut by curator if chosen.
- Submissions will not be returned, so please do not send your master copy – send a DVD duplicate.
- Consent of the performers, responsible production, and queer sex-positivity must be apparent in piece.
- All genders are welcome to participate, and any kind of sexual orientation, gender role, or (legal) sexual lifestyle can be presented.

Submission info available at http://courtneytrouble.com/haggsextapes.

In tradition with Homo A Go Go film festivals of past we are happy to announce that there will be a porn program in 2009's Homo A Go Go, set in San Francisco August 13th-16th. Curated by NoFauxxx.Com creator and award-winning pornographer Courtney Trouble, this year's program would like to focus on REAL queer sex, the kind you have in your bedrooms, your bar bathrooms, et cetera -shot by participants or friends on whatever cameras you have lying around. We want your home videos, your leaked sex tapes – taken from your point of view, taken from real moment in your life.

Maybe it's a lo-fi digital file of you and your lover hooking up. Maybe it's a DIY porno project you made with your friends. Maybe it's something you've worked long and hard on, and can't wait to show off. Maybe you're a film-maker, maybe you're not. It doesn't matter! Night vision, car headlights, grainy footage, and real, raw chemistry can be just as hot, if not hotter, than a scripted, professionally-lit porn set. The documentation of our own sex lives is a vital part of the Queer revolution, and we invite you to take part in this very special program.

It's not a contest or competition, but we will be inviting the audience to vote on one thing, "Best In Show." You do not need to be present to be awarded this title, and there are no prizes except your bragging rights for having one of the steamiest, queerest sex tapes ever made.

· Homo A Go Go (homoagogo.com)
· Thumbnail: Queer porn maven Trouble

An adult industry event in Los Angeles or Las Vegas tends to feel - as much as the porn biz is capable of pulling it off - calculated. Not so the Erotic Exotic Ball, regularly turning the state-owned Cow Palace, which historically has hosted livestock shows and rodeos, into a rollicking, seething fleshpit of opportunity.

Perry Mann's Exotic/Erotic Ball turns 30 this year. If you can imagine what a stadium full of leather, PVC, vinyl, boot, feather, nothing-wearing people looks like on any less-auspicious anniversary, think about what Boschian oddities you might see on October 23 and 24, when porn stars, burlesque dancers, lifestyle fetish devotees (which might as well be the voting populace of the entire Bay Area), and every hot university student and professor make their way to this annual human livestock event.

In addition to the two-day consumer Expo during the days, Ball Night will feature "The Blue Room" which, according to Mann, boasts "mattresses as far as the eye can see."

Past years have featured entertainment by George Clinton, Snoop Dogg, and Thomas Dolby, and this year's "surprise" guests will be booked later this summer. In the meantime, event organizers are pimping (let's be frank) an excellent Hotel/Ground Transportation/Expo package that includes VIP access to the Ball with celeb meet-and-greets for $669.

30th Annual Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
30th Annual Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
30th Annual Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
30th Annual Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
30th Annual Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)
30th Annual Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)

Large pictures: the delicious NoName Jane (formerly Violet Blue) gets painted and crucified.

· 30th Annual Exotic Erotic Ball (exoticeroticball.com)

Join us as we make sense of what jealousy is, how it impacts our lives, and how we can gain the upper hand. Whether you're experiencing jealousy on a regular basis, in love with someone who does, or just afraid that jealousy might rear it's ugly head, these two calls promise to give you a wealth of information!

Since jealousy is as old as human relationships, Mihalko's "Day of Jealousy" on Tuesday, June 9, will be conducted using the historical curiosity the telephones. Yes, you will have three chances during the day (with three different panels) to call in and benefit from the sage advice of professional polyamorists, cuddlers, bottoms, tops, switches, bitches, and imps.

Mihalko notes that reservations must be made for the conference call and that donations are appreciated. The calls will also be recorded for later broadcast, just in case Tuesday finds you busy Facebook-stalking your ex.

But you should tune in if you can; to talk with Nina Hartley is to be assured that everything is going to be just fine provided one's heart (and parts) are in the right place, which is usually up where everyone can see them.

· Nina Hartley (nina.com)
· Reid's Day of Jealousy (reidaboutsex.com)

· Meet Gina (babysinead.com)

· The Naked Clown Calendar (nakedclowncalendar.com)
· "Naked clown calendar — now that's scary" (contracostatimes.com)

You can access the Fleshbot Calendar at any time, but following this link and keep sending your events to calendar at fleshbot dot com.

. . .

Fleshbot: So what's a Twittergasm?
Carol Queen: A Twittergasm is a post to your Twitter profile indicating that you just had a real orgasm. You can use the codes ICSW (I came, so what?) and JOSW (jacking off, so what? related term to indicate you are jacking off), and we'll track, count and include your Twitgasms — though you can also add and create your own LOLTwitgasms if it gets you hot. By typing the character string: ICSW to your Twitter profile, you say with pride: I Came! Prudes of the world will be forced to realize once and for all, that no one really cares what adults do with themselves, and everyone does it. It's a way of coming out of the closet as someone who masturbates by posting to your twitter profile whenever you come. A secret handshake of sorts, only others who follow the Twittergasm profile, or who have read about the campaign will know, so your prudish friends will be left alone until they, too are enlightened.

We will be using the popular service Tweetscan to track Twittergasms in May and we will publish the results on the Masturbate-a-thon.com site and related blogs and social network sites. Twitterers can participate in national masturbation month in several ways.

(1) Become a follower of one of these profiles:
http://www.twitter.com/jackingoff (the profile off the masturbate-a-thon.com)
http://www.twitter.com/thebiggesto (a profile that tracks the orgasms of twitterers)

(2) Use this code on your twitter profile to indicate whenever you have an orgasm:
ICSW or JOSW when you jack off. (Hint: multiple orgasms can be indicated by using a colon and a number to indicate how many: ICSW:3) No faking!

(3) Ask your friends and Twitter followers to pledge to donate a certain amount to the Center for Sex and Culture for every orgasm you have in May. Visit www.masturbate-a-thon.com/twitter.php to register your twitter profile for participation in National Masturbation Month (May 2008) and send emails to your friends to ask them to make a pledge on your behalf. Send a link to that same page where they can sign up to donate as much as they chose for each time you come. Donors do not have to be on Twitter to participate.

Fleshbot: Can't we just fake it ten times in a row so we can hang out with all the cool kids?
Carol Queen: No, never! There are three very good reasons why you should never, ever fake a Twittergasm:

(1) Because faking orgasm — and Twitgasm — robs you of pleasure. It's a sign that pleasure-seeking (masturbation or other kinds of sex) is winding down, and orgasm isn't happening, you're not going for it, and you're not really telling anybody else you're not going for it. Not only that, you're not even admitting any of this; you're sending a false signal of "I'm done"-ness, when you could just as easily be authentic and say, "You know what? I'm done, let's go do something else."

(But some of you might protest that it's not romantic or sexy to just say you're quitting before the true Tweet of satisfaction. Maybe, but see Reason #2, and actually, authentic sexuality IS sexy. Plus, faking teaches other people to pleasure you the wrong way. If you're doing it while masturbating, you're teaching *yourself* to do it the wrong way: to give up before you're discovered real satisfaction. That's just not a good message to send. Instead, decide to use the energy you expend with a bit hot fake come to get a little more into your body, learn a little more about sex and arousal, fantasize about the things you *really* want to, and resolve to respect pleasure more.)

(2) It's not nice to fool people, but it adds to everyone's misinformation and fucked-upped-ness about sex and pleasure when we fool people re: orgasm. Because that affects other people's sexuality as well as out own — it means that partners are misled as to our sources of optimum pleasure (how self-defeating can you get?), it robs others of the intimacy-building experience of going REAL orgasm-hunting with us, and it misleads other people about what's real about sex.

(3) Twitter is a social networking endeavor, and like society itself, these only really function well when citizens are above-board, real, and express their real needs and experiences. Otherwise the whole entity will be flooded with fakeness, and people's initial desire — to be connected — is sullied. Besides, it wastes airspace that can better be used to send around genuine sentiments... and Twittergasms.

· Masturbate-A-Thon: Wankblog (masturbate-a-thon.com/wankblog)
· Twitter: jackingoff (Masturbate-A-Thon profile, Twitter.com)
· Twitter: thebiggesto (Twittergasm tracker, Twitter.com)
· Masturbate-A-Thon: Facebook (facebook.com)

See also:
· Masturbate-A-Thon (official site, masturbate-a-thon.com)
· Center for Sex and Culture (sexandculture.org)
· Carol Queen (carolqueen.com)

. . .

· "Family Friendly Sex Club" (current.com - thanks Ada)
· Power Exchange (powerexchange.com)

The seventh annual event comprised three days of activities, including a gallery show, a public play party called "Club Enslaved," and the Ball itself, which took place at the massive Regency Grand Ballroom and capped the weekend.

What surprised me was that I didn't see all the same people at each event; the gallery show was a little more subdued, Club Enslaved attracted a crowd more comfortable with public flogging, and the Ball was, well, like Halloween has become everywhere mixed with a feeling that the City Council had mandated everyone celebrate it.

One highlight was Saturday's fashion show, featuring outfits from Syren and Stormy Leather, Madame S. Leather, and Stockroom. While I didn't understand everything that was happening thematically, I was convinced of gas masks' use as erotic items in a way I was dubious of before.

While there is some overlap between the porn world and the fetish community, Porn Valley fetish always seems darker and more menacing than what unfolded in San Francisco, where people actually smiled through the pain.

· San Francisco Fetish Ball (sffetishball.com)

Read about the "Mortified" phenomenon after the gap.

. . .

"As much as we know it runs our adult lives, sexuality is the number one thing kids write about," said David Nadelberg, creator and founding producer of a series of stage shows called "Mortified", in which brave (or terminally narcissistic) adults share their adolescent journal entries, poems, lyrics, videos, and comics in cities across America. "(Sex is) this thing they're not having, and when they do have it, it's this thing that makes them miserable."

While the content of the nine stage shows, two books, and "Mortified Shoebox" webisodes is not limited to sex, that subject is the river that runs through the often poignant, hilarious, and cringeworthy true-life tales of "Mortified"'s contributors, from summer camp crushes, straight and gay blowjob primers, real sex with the football coach to porn fantasies featuring Duran Duran and the foiled masturbatory imagery of Tori Spelling and Anna Nicole Smith (writes contributor MCC, "When Anna Nicole Smith didn't work, I knew I was gay").

And when the teen crush is unrequited (as it most often is) or when things go horribly wrong (as they most often do), readers and viewers can take comfort in the fact that the author has lived to tell the tale. In that way, Nadelberg said, "the happy ending is built in."

But confessional isn't the only criterion, said executive producer Neil Katcher.

"If it isn't both funny and fascinating," he said, "we can't use it."

Local producers solicit and develop submissions from authors who've rediscovered their freshman diaries or shoeboxes of Bon Jovi tickets. Some find their way to the web, stage, and page, and others are best suited for just one medium.

"Some people are natural performers," Katcher said, "where others are shy." Still, Nadelberg said, 85 percent of the books started on stage.

Nadelberg and Katcher also make sure no one "jokes the joke", undermining the efficacy of the tender source material with too many adult asides. "We have to preserve the tenderness, and the humor is a byproduct," Nadelberg said.

"I thought girls had two holes; one for urination and one for sex," reads Leonard Hyman from something he wrote at age 12. "Wrong! The vagina!"

The Mortified stage show launched in Los Angeles in 2002 and was followed by counterparts in San Francisco, New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Austin, Portland, Chicago, and Malmo, Sweden in the next five years. The most recent Mortified book, subtitled "Love Is A Battlefield", was released this month.

And the demographics are not restricted to the Livejournal generation. While contributors are mostly in their 20s and 30s, Mortified boasts both performers and contributors in their seventies, and the appeal spans gender and sexual orientation.

"We've seen some amazing and heroic coming out stories," Nadelberg said, pointing out that straight men aren't big contributors of journals, often preferring power chord rock lyrics instead, "but the gay guys are diary-happy."

Katcher added that, while Mortified is often a "manly show", what with its many stories focusing on late 80s/early 90s heavy metal and hair bands, "I am aware that I am involved in the girliest project of my generation."

This does not stop monthly sellout crowds of diverse and delighted voyeurs at the Mortified stage shows, sharing a little bit of the performers' triumph.

"They made it through the rain," Nadelberg said.

· Mortified (getmortified.com)