I'm a lucky guy, blessed by good friends. This weekend has been a prime example of it!

After work yesterday I hooked up with Dustan, Lupie, Wolven and Anon prior to the Blue Moon Festival's Saturday night event, the music/fashion combo that whilst poorly rigged for sound was filled with exciting people and creative movements. From trippy bohemians to austere and beautiful Victoriana-era goths it was a feast for the eyes, the kind of event that strikes me with my creative naivete.

Was great seeing people like Clay Bear again, and catching Dustan (a contributor to the fashion on show, a good one at that) up there with others from the Newtown crew modelling and making it an even better night. Props to Smacky and crew for their gothy fabulosity, as well as Angel Kitty for being his usual straddling-the-line-between-fiendish-and-elegant self.

Fast forward to today and the culmination of a group bday present (thanks to everyone who contributed) in which Aussie Husky, Temba and myself went to the Capitol Theatre to see Wicked (after being so kind as to shout me to lunch at a lovely Japanese place nearby by the name of Yumei)! A review might come later, but to put it simply the main cast sung beautifully, comedy was balanced with an intelligent plot, the costumes were detailed and rich, the set was constructed well and suited for the tale being told...

And it somehow made me appreciate Bert Newton (who plays the Wizard of Oz). Craziness I know! Now I'm back at home, happy to see Zwabbe back and seemingly content with his reprieve from voyages to sea, and hearing a great bit of trance from Weasely.

I'm surrounded by creative and generous people, without whom I'd be a very unhappy person, so in this glow of warm and girly glee I'd like to say thanks to you all!

 

Our reporter, Jay Horatio Fear, went undercover at this epicentre of sin and lust to bring you a scathing report...

With transport for the night disturbingly punctual and easily found, your writer found himself at the Manning Bar, the location of the aforementioned bacchanale, earlier than expected at around 8:30pm. Upon meeting up with British rubber fur Gaz, your writer and local latex correspondent atpaw we entered the facility.

With ample space and a large and relatively well organised changing/storage room provided, the perverted participants were quickly able to don their devilish disguises and discard the trappings of their 'normal' lives. In the interests of better intergrating with the crowd, this reporter wore PVC boots, a latex top and collar, leather cuffs and PVC pants, solely for the sake of infiltration of course.

Some reported the music as 'sick' with occasional 'phat beats' being reported as having been dropped by the more knowledgable participants, though the decently affordable alcohol may have clouded their judgement. Volume levels were loud but with a large venue and fairly sized balcony there was space to retreat.

Interesting videos of previous or alternative fetish events were displayed on multiple screens throughout the night, with regular shows of fetish and alternative fashion from some notable names in the hive of sin. GOMU especially, with catsuits designed for breathplay or for use as straitjackets, was one to keep an eye out for, and was featured in an amusing stage show later in the evening.

Though the fashion on the show floor was nowhere near as notable as the fashion in the field, and it simply can't be left out. So, we encountered:

• Latex ponygirls with TENS machines and saddles
• Rubber superheros, wearing jackal masks!
• Several full body catsuits
• The Wild One's stunning model Madia(SP?) showing off their newest designs in PVC, thanks again for the interview "Patrick and Dave are such wonderful guys, a lot of fun to work with"
• Stunning and colourful latex pieces from UK designer Libidex, with notables being flesh toned/pattern suits and semi-translucent materials for a more... earthy look
• A group of women who managed to cross regal stable owner with S&M queen
• The queen of goth, Amaya of Fiend Magazine, as a tightly corseted gothic geisha
• And... gimps, geeks, soldiers, nurses, bears, queens, kings, bulls, monsters, masters, mistresses, amazons and many more who deserve more but can't be provided for in this article

Notorious members of the fur community, like Harley Coyote, were also spotted at the event, as were commonly caught figures in the fetish community. As should be expected... perverts... sin... evil... wrooooo--- *AAAGGGGHH*

Screw the reporter style, it was fanfuckingtastic. It was like someone grabbed me by the throat and stuffed sex down my throat until I couldn't have anymore. A union of music and craziness mixed with eccentric fashion and the comingled creativity and sexuality of several hundred people, the coaliton of all the redeeming qualities that human sexuality has to offer, a reminder of why the hell I put up with living in this soul-draining, polluted and overly-expensive city.

The fun of striking up random conversations with people about their clothes or who I was hanging up with was paralleled by the almost pioneering thrill of seeing new and disturbing concepts in fetish clothing. Getting snapped by a photographer for the Sydney Star Observer with other rubber boys was amusing, as was the feeling of sympathy that one gets when seeing someone ELSE not able to walk in their bloody overly large boots.

It's rare I go to such events and not have any regrets or grumbles and I can safely say that save for maybe not being able to stay awake and out longer, that I have none of those aforementioned negative sentiments.

So yeah, hooray for that. I hope you're all well, I need to go collapse now.

Most people who know me would be surprised to know that I'm rather fond of modern gothic apparel. As someone tragically lacking in fashion sense and not prone to spending much on clothing, I don't exude much passion for it but I am particuarly fond of the Elegant Aristocrat style. It's been popularised in the west through most contemporary vampire fiction, and in the east through bands such as Malice Mizer and in anime along the lines of Trinity Blood.

It harkens to a somewhat imagined Victorian England, where the rapid development of industry and technology unveiled a world where anything was possible, a morbid but wistful world in which death and the new, cruel reality of commercialism weighed heavily on people's minds. So much so that this blend of the macabre, intricate and beautiful merged to form the infinitely complex gowns and dark but fanciful menswear that we associate with the style.

It is with this in mind that my inner geek is somewhat heartened to see that in the newest iteration of the Soul Calibur series (a game to be released on the PS3 and XBox 360) there is a very unique addition to the cast, one that's a nice change from the under-dressed stereotypical dolls that round out the female characters.

Behold Ashlotte!

I write this while drunk, which disturbs me because this means that I've spent 7 nights out of the past 14 inebriated, a very bad habit indeed. Last week wasn't major, I did go to a lovely fashion event by the name of Lunamorph in Newtown's Carriageworks Centre for Contemporary arts, which is a great old rail maintenance centre turned into a gallery/theatre. Part of a big art/fashion initiative called Flaunt It, really cool, goth, dark, and alternative fashions with some performance art, I liked it, saw some friends and some weirdness, got outta the apartment... All good! I spent the weekend with friends, mainly master_flea and Harley the coyote, as well as Auri linsang and Alex otter, saw Pawz for a while. THIS week however is scaring me, lots of school work and articles to write... and I don't know if I can deal with it. I'm just burning out and I don't know what to do, it's not like anyone at work or TAFE will care, I can crash and burn and life will go on. I thank god I have friends at times like this, even if I feel bad about my conduct with some recently. I hope everyone is well and things get better soon.