padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Barty said he went to one and all his old dinner ladies from school were there :)
yeah it's like nudists, it winds up being way less sexy than you'd imagine

the invite-only stuff is usually of a higher order but then there's a kind of elitism - physical, and sometimes socioeconomic as well - being practiced, so by definition less middlebrow
 

luka

Well-known member
Reynolds says he thinks of Barty as one of these English sex comedy larrikins from the 1970s

 

thirdform

pass the sick bucket
It's always struck me as either really grubby or very exotic, exquisite rich people's stuff. I can't really imagine like the BDSM equivalent of Radiohead.

the afterparties at historical materialism conference new york, i have heard will fulfill thatneed adequately.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
public stuff doesn't have an expectation of participation, curious people just show up to check it out, etc

I'm sure it depends on the party, but in my (limited tbf) experience it's not too different from a typical night out - awkward small talk etc - just with random sexual stuff happening in the background

whereas the private events there's definitely an expectation, tho I'm sure what exactly again varies by event

it's not really my thing, so I never pursued it beyond those times I went cos someone else asked me to
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
have definitely never seen anything remotely close Eyes Wide Shut

that scene very much comes off like the work of someone who's never been to a sex party or participated in group sex

it actually feels and looks more like high production value soft porn - i.e late 90s Cinemax or something - than anything else

that entire film, if you're talking about middlebrow cinema, is right up there
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
middlebrow is tied to and invokes middle-class mores, norms, attitudes

safely transgressing those mores from a position of relative privilege - that is, safety - strikes me as the most middlebrow thing of all

especially when contrasted with unsafe transgression, which is a part of many marginalized people's existence
 

version

Well-known member
not sure if i told this story already but:

i was invited to an “art performance“, together with a friend and a friend of him. we didn’t have any info. when we arrive we realize the address is just a regular apartment on the ground floor. we ring the bell and a girl wearing a white toga opens. she scans us and slams the door shut again. we wait a bit, not sure what to do and after a few seconds she opens the door again and tells us we are allowed in. the apartment is completely white, everything, from walls to ceilings to furniture. there’s about 15 people inside and they are all wearing these toga’s, but they’re half naked, boobs and genitals everywhere. they are all young and beautiful. one of the girls tells me to sit next to her, and she then starts to tell how she had a mental breakdown some weeks ago in the supermarket and it was then that she met a guy called “papa“, who helped her and took her into his family. at one point they all sit down in a circle and start singing a song about this “papa“, they all know the lyrics perfectly. they don’t have names but call themselves by the letters of the greek alphabet (alpha, beta, gamma, etc). i wanted to roll a cigarette but was not allowed to use my own tobacco and had to use theirs. well, it goes on a bit longer and more of them tell me stories about “papa“. i thought it was all a joke then one asks me if i want to meet him. i was like sure why not. so a girl takes me to the corner of the room and it looks like they just drilled a hole in it, a ladder is going down into a basement. it’s dark but there are some candles spread around. she takes of her toga and is now completely naked. then she takes of my shoes, my socks, pants and so on. until i’m naked too. she doesn’t say a word during all of this. actually i don’t know why at that point i didn’t say or do anything. curiosity maybe? she then blindfolds me. she takes my hand and guides me through the basement, we stop and she washes my feet and hands with warm water. she then puts her arms around me and is doing some sort of breathings exercises. i’m sweaty and a bit afraid. we move further and at one point she tells me to sit down, i do and she sits herself behind me and gives me a massage. then i suddenly hear a low male voice, asking me “who are you“. i’m guessing this is “papa“ (i’m still naked and blindfolded). well i’m really a bit frightened now and he’s asking me some more questions until he says i’m ready for the ritual with the candle. tells me i can pick any of the family members to help me with this ritual, i tell him i forgot their names but would prefer if one of the girls could help (no intention, i’m just thinking about my safety, i’m not the strongest). so another girl comes down, takes my hand and we move further inside this basement until she tells me i can take of the blindfold. in front of me is an altar with a painting of a guy (i guess “papa“?), the room is lit by about hundred candles. well the story is a bit of an anti-climax because i’m now being told i can do a wish, carve the first letter of that wish into a candle and light it. i’m escorted to the ladder again, put on my cloths and go up. in order to not look like panicking i stay there for another fifteen minutes before i sneak out.

the whole thing lasted around two hours, not a single person laughed, or blinked or gave me any hints that this was theater. i didn't know what was real or fake anymore, i thought i was the crazy one.

:eek:
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
that's what I was trying to get at above

I love the Velvet Underground but "Venus In Furs" is the most tame, staid, middlebrow thing they ever did
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Did you read yyaldrin's story about 'papa' in the EWS thread?
no I hadn't seen that

I don't doubt people get up to all manner of things

the EWS orgy is ridiculous to me b/c 1) the hamfisted occult overtones 2) the mechanical, inhuman nature of all the sexual activity (where's the sweat, lube, etc?)

tho tbf it's meant symbolically rather than literally I'm sure

there was an equally ridiculous sex party for ultra rich dudes scene in S2 of True Detective
 

craner

Beast of Burden
Craner is like that. He made me and Jim watch a film with a naked woman impaled pn a stake in the jungle and we had to go turn this shit off you fucking creep

I just want to put on the record that this never happened. The film was Umberto Lenzi’s Nightmare City, which does not include this scene.
 
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