Hey, I've earned it! A Vanilla Book Review

Okay then, after three posts in three days I think that I can get away with one tiny little vanilla post; so then, how about a book review?

Oh, and if you stick with me until the bitter end there just might be a vague link to spanking. You never know, eh?

Anyway, the book in question is one of my favourite's, that I've just downloaded to my Kindle; it's "Eight Million Ways to Die" by Lawrence Block. It's ostensibly the tale of an unofficial private eye hunting the killer of a prostitute on behalf of her pimp, but the underlying story is about compulsion, and the lead character's struggle to come to terms with his deepening alcoholism.

That all sounds pretty grim, doesn't it? Trust me, it isn't though. Throughout the novel is enlivened by the world weary voice of Matt Scudder, our hero and unreliable narrator.

I think that the novel probably has more resonance if you've read the four earlier ones (this is book 5 of 17), in which we see Matt's increased dependence on alcohol. It's just part of the fabric of the books; Matt drinks freely but to an increasing degree.

Matters culminate in book 4, "A Stab in the Dark", when Jen, a woman that Matt is seeing, begins to attend AA meetings, and, as a result, seeks to avoid seeing our hero.

"8 Million Ways to Die" begins with Matt meeting a hooker who wants his help in leaving her pimp (the splendidly unusual Chance), and we are casually informed that he has just left hospital, it turns out for alcohol related problems.

Matt helps the girl, who subsequently turns up dead; he suspects Chance, until Chance tries to hire him to find the real killer. We then follow Matt around the city as he pulls at various threads in order to unravel the mystery.

We also see Matt struggling with an urge to drink, and, sometimes, giving in to one; we explore the roots of his need to imbibe what is in effect poison, and, it becomes clear, continuing to do so will kill him.

We also learn more of Chance'e compulsive need to remake himself, Joe Durkin (a New York City cop) and his compulsive need to keep doing his job, and finally the killer, and his growing compulsion.

As with most of these things Matt solves the case, in a fairly realistic way, but, far more interestingly, he also realises his need to heal. On several occasions during the story Matt attends AA meetings, but this is no blind praisefest for the work of the organisation. Matt questions the religious elements, and laughs at the standard phrases members often use.

I found the end of the novel to be quite touching; I do each time that I read it. I won't spoil it for anyone who intends to pick this book up.

Okay than, short and sweet.

Back tomorrow with more spanking.

All the best

Tim

There's also a mid 80's film version, scripted by Oliver Stone, but it's not a patch on the novel.

Ah, the thrill of it....

"The thrill of what?" I hear you whisper, eyes stretched wide with interest. You lean forward in your chair, sliding onto it's edge; a small trickle of adrenalin threatens to light the blue touch paper of excitement, and your breathes come each a little quicker than the last.

See, you feel it too. Anticipation!

Okay, now you probably feel disappointment. "Was that all he was on about?" But, hey, for once, this is a serious point.

Well, a real point anyway.

So a quick question; go on, let's have your gut response. Snap back with how you feel.

Ready? Here it comes?

How much of the excitement that you get from spanking comes from the anticipation of punishment?

That can cut either way; you can get excited at the idea of spanking or being spanked. (I like to try and cover all the bases when I can).

So, what do you think? I suppose to an extent it may depend on how your spanking relationship works, but I suspect, at some point, we all know that a spanking is coming in advance.

Maybe she's frozen your favourite pair of underwear, and you owe her a sore bottom.

Maybe you've replaced the salt for your wife's lunchtime tomato with sugar, and you deserve to be hauled over her knee.

The point is, rather obviously, that in either case, you know that there is a spanking in the offing, and your mind, and body, both react to that.

Me, I fantasize about what's coming; I imagine her slightly girlish laugh when I accuse her, and the shamefaced shuffle of her feet as she looks at the floor, unable to meet my eye. I look forward to walking behind her as she plods upstairs, to meet her doom. I treasure the anticipation of her body bent over my lap, and the tingle in my hand as I raise it for that first stinging slap.

And all of this, of course, leads me to become aroused.

Or, I imagine her coming home, her lips tight with justified annoyance. I feel the flutter of butterflies in my stomach as she reaches down for the heavy carpet slipper, and the involuntary tightening of my buttocks as that pre-spanking anticipatory sting sets in. I can almost hear the whoosh of the slipper as she whacks it down at my bared bottom, the cool air of our bedroom gliding out of its way.

And all of this, of course, leads me to become aroused.

There is one difference; I know that spanking my wife will prompt Leopold (as she often calls my dick) to proudly salute, but being spanked is only a physical turn on for me in anticipation.

I suspect that my reactions in this area are a little anomalous. I would guess that most of you, if you are at all switchy, get turned on by giving or receiving. How very fucking even handed of you!

Sorry that I can't join in.

Ah, but I love the anticipation; just typing that paragraph above was enough to tighten the front of my trousers (something my stomach manages to do quite well on it's own, thanks for asking. Are you discriminating against the fuller figure, goddamnit?).

I know that, if my spanking ever took place, I would not get physically turned on; my reaction is much more emotional and mental.

Actually I suppose that could be seen as a double benefit; arousal (which could easily lead to a pleasant wank) in anticipation, followed by the cathartic benefits I experience from the physical act.

Oh, but the anticipation.

A case can be made, I think, for all realistic fantasy to be based in anticipation. It's human nature to think about what is coming. Or what may come. Or what we want to come.

Phew, all of this talk about coming! Oh, hang on, not that kind of coming. I should have realised.

Well, this post that started out sort of serious has now deteriorated into juvenile sniggering entendres (that fail to rise to the level of doubles), so I think that I may pack it in.

Ta ta for now, spanking fans.

All the best

Tim

The attached photos all come from Real Life Spankings - full site review due next week!

Sex and spanking; is there a link?

Well, this is a no brainer, isn't it? I could just refer you back to my infamous "wanking post", of recent beloved memory.

It's not quite that simple though.

Clearly, spanking is a sexual fetish; the vast majority of us (I think I can speak for most of us here - anyone got a problem with that?) get sexually aroused by spanking. Or being spanked. Or some extremely exhausting combination of the two.

Why then is it so notable when someone explicitly links the two things in one video?

Obviously I'm talking about Pandora's somewhat controversial image gallery, "Snip Snip", which features, as

well as the expected corporal punishment stuff, some fairly explicit sexual material. And I don't mean explicit in Hollywood terms. This is stiff dicks and real oral sex!

Leaving aside the set's merits as a spanking production (and there are some, if you will excuse the use of the phrase, quite striking images) it is unusual to find spanking sites that also feature explicit sex.

I know that there are some video examples out there, although largely girl on girl

(Bad Tushy, Northern Spanking and Spank that Brat have all featured a handful each). There just aren't many though.

In fact the only films I know of that have spanking and explicit hard core sex are basically vanilla productions, with a bit of CP thrown in.

Have you ever come across anything else quite like Pandora's shoot though? In our happy little realm of spanking?

I'm not a prude; I absolutely accept that there is, for many of us, an explicit link between spanking and fucking. My wife only likes to be spanked as a prelude to sex.

I have no issue with naked bodies, although admittedly I prefer to look at female ones than male. I have no particular objection to the erect male organ (although I prefer my own, and generally I like my hand wrapped around it. Or my wife's lips. Ah, getting off topic here, a bit).

I've seen sex on film before, although I don't seek it out. Most of the time.

I absolutely respect Pandora's right to produce material that she is aroused by, and to post it on her website. I like that she is prepared to move spanking films in directions that most

CP sites would never consider.

I can't say that Pandora's pictures offended me; but, I would prefer not to have seen them. Some of them, anyway - I love the cut away dress with the markings. Very hot!

I'm really not sure why this should bother me. Pandora's body is a pleasure to look at, and it's lovely to see her experiencing physical satisfaction. D (for a guy) is attractive enough. Maybe it's my repressed sexuality; for fuck's sake I'm English, and we don't admit that sex exists.

Mind you, Pandora's English too. Hmm.

Perhaps I'm just an old fart.

Maybe it's just that my sexual obsession is so hard wired towards spanking that anything showing more conventional sex has no interest for me.

Whatever it is, the clip does make me uncomfortable. I wonder if I'm the only one. I noticed that there was only 1 comment added to Pandora's blog post about it.

In fairness though I have to say that the actual photo set attracted a mass of comments, all of which were favourable.

Go on then, kick my ass for me. Tell me I'm wrong.

Oh, but tell me why, as well. Please. I honestly want to know.

All the best

Tim

All pictures, as I'm a hypocritical dick, are taken from Pandora's Dreams of Spanking

Website Review - Triple A Spanking (or is that AAA Spanking?)

Well, it's been a little while, but here I am, back with a brand new paysite review (and, believe it or not, there will be another one next week!)

A little background information; Triple A Spanking is a UK based site, run by the irrepressible John "The Chief" Osborne. It has been up for approaching two years, and currently has (I think) 75 high quality films available for download.

Membership is available as either recurring, for US$24.95 (£16.74) for the first month, and then US$ 19.95 (£13.38) thereafter, or on a period basis. This starts at US$26.95 (£18.08) for 1 month, reducing quite sharply, for periods of 3 or 6 months, to a best value 12 months for US$99.95 (£67.05).

To log on a user name and password is require, together with a secret word provided each time you log in. These are short words, and provided in an unobstructed manner (not like the horrible Google passwords).

Logging in takes you to the members area home page, and from here you can select where you go next. There are 4 categories of videos presented; domestic discipline, schoolgirl punishments, girl/girl spanking and auditions & first timers.

In addition there are two sets of still galleries; captures from the site's films and additional photo sets & photo stories.

There is also a section described as the Special Bonus Area, which houses a handful of videos from sister sites.

One of my favourite features is the Actors and models bio section; each model is briefly introduced, in very chatty terms, and a list of their work on the site is provided, along with a link to the appropriate page to download the video or stills.

The site uses a good variety of models, including most of the top UK spanking stars; there are clips featuring, for example, Pandora, Leia, Wynter, Kami Robertson, Danielle Hunt and Jean Bradley. There are also a number of lesser known, and in some cases, brand new models.

Several films also feature US superstar Sarah Gregory.

John himself is the chief (see what I did there, eh?) male spanker on the sire, although there is good work from several others, including the massively experienced Paul Kennedy.

I would say that the site has about 85% M/F spankings, with the other 15% carried out by a number of the spanking models on other girls.

The videos themselves comprise a reasonable amount of set up for the spankings (someone does appear to have a thing about dragging girls out of bed to spank them!) and the subject matter is quite varied. There are several quite unexpected ones; my particular favourite is "Revenge of the Geek", in which Kami gets spanked for selling her boyfriend's SF DVDs.

The videos are provided in two formats; WMV and higher quality MP4. The WMV videos are extremely clear and the image quality is very impressive. The MP4 clips manage to improve on these.

The file sizes are quite large (inevitably given the picture and sound quality, which is some of the best that I have come across); in many cases there is the option to download WMV files as several separate downloads. The MP4 files are around 30% larger then the WMVs.

I like the degree of information provided for each film; there are the stars and a synopsis of course, but also the running time is provided, along with the size of the various possible downloads. Links are also provided to programmes that will show the various clip types.

The spankings themselves are reasonably fearsome; unusually many begin directly onto bare flesh. There are a lot of very red bottoms and some tears.

Personally I would prefer to see a few more OTK spankings, as many films feature the spankee lying down or bending over, but that is purely my individual taste.

The overall impression I get is of professionalism; the site is well presented and nicely organised, and, on the whole, the videos feature highly professional models. Performances are good, and the scripts are more than decent.

I particularly like the more relaxed type of clip, of which there are a few, notably the Xmas 2011 one and Cakeboy, which is a lot of fun (and features the gorgeous Leia, of course!).

The site really is tremendous value, with the high quality of the clips combined with some very reasonable pricing options, and The Chief makes for an affable put strict main spanker. I should probably like to see a little more imagination in the storylines of the clips, but that's probably just me (and a recent feature asks members to contribute ideas to an upcoming shoot, leaving room for improvement in this area).

Check out the site; the preview section to be found here is really good, and The Chief's blog here is well worth a look too.

I promise that I'll be back soon.

All the best

Tim

Tim the Tum's 6th Form Adventures (or, Was my school odder than most?)

I attended school in the UK during the late sixties and the seventies, when corporal punishment was still used to bully pupils into line; while I got into my fair share of trouble I never got caned, although I did get a couple of slipperings (one from my female Head of House that I may talk more about in a separate post).

I discovered a joy in spanking before I started senior school; I played spanking games with girls in both Infant and Junior schools, although my interest waned a bit when I was around 9 years old. I've never known what rekindled my love of applying a palm to a female bottom, but when I was around 13 it burst back into my life, and I've never lost interest since.

When I was 14 or 15 years old, I was a School Librarian, and this lead to me finding a number of occasions to spank several girls from my year. These were pretty jokey beatings, with the girl usually bent over a desk while I administered 6 or so smacks to the seat of her skirt.

None of the girls I spanked ever took it badly; they generally just faked rubbing a sore bottom, and our conversation would continue where ever it left off.

There was also the dark room incident, a lightly fictionalised version of which has already appeared here (as The Perils of Photography).

I was 16 when I entered the Lower Sixth, and my world changed hugely. I attended a Comprehensive school in a fairly poor neighbourhood; it had 1500 pupils, a 6 foot 7 inch Irish Headmaster (he was one of it's main assets actually) and very little interest in academics.

The Sixth Form had around 50 members, 30 in the Lower, with the remainder in the Upper Sixth; this latter group was blessed with their own study area, and individual cubicles shared by 2 scholars each. For the first time I was among a group who had chosen to be at achool; this was bliss.

I had never really interacted with the year above mine, and I was startled to find that there were several lads almost as keen on spanking as I was. One guy in particular, who was going out with a girl in my year (let's call him Paul Judge) was clearly obsessed; he took every opportunity to put Jayne (his girlfriend obviously) over his knee, often in front of virtually the whole Sixth Form.

Whilst Paul was the keenest spanker there were several others, and, in the Upper Sixth, a number of girls seemed to, at worst, have become resigned to having their bottoms smacked. Often they seemed eager to egg on the boys, in order to get spanked.

And, joy of joys, they extended this to any Lower Sixth boys who showed an interest.

I think spanking may be virally based, because this also spread to many of the Lower Sixth girls, who had never previously exhibited much interest. There were 16 girls in the Lower Sixth, and by the end of the year I'd spanked 14 of them (1 of the others I had spanked when she was younger, but she had grown up tough and rather scary; the last one I finally got at a party the following year).

At the end of that first year the Upper's left (the king is dead, long live the king) to be replaced by my year; of course this also meant an influx of younger girls into the Lowers, and we weren't slow in introducing them to the firm smack of discipline. They took it remarkably well.

Not long before the Uppers left, Paul had his 18th birthday; a bunch of us pooled our resources and bought him a bull whip, from a stall in the local market. Of course, none of us knew how to wield one, but it didn't stop us trying. That was a painful day at school, believe me. Funny too, when the Head of the Sixth Form walked in on Nick trying out the whip on Paul.

I sometimes wonder about the teachers who were based in the Sixth Form Block; in addition to the Head there were three others, and they must have been aware of the spanking that went on, but no one was ever censured for it. There were no shortage of edicts issued about behaviour (in particular the noise and the somewhat heated card games), but no one ever said that the spanking must stop!

I think maybe they quite enjoyed watching it.

Thinking back now my mind is alive with sixth form spankings; virtually all over the knee, over skirts and with the hand. These are often my favourite type of spankings now, so I guess it's easy to see where that comes from.

I can only remember two spankings that lasted more than a dozen or so smacks; I gave both during my Upper Sixth year. One was at a house party (there seemed to be one of these at least every couple of weeks; every one turned up with a bottle of wine, or a four pack of lager, or, every now and then, a bottle or two of whisky or vodka, and we pumped up the stereo and had a good time).

A girl in the Lower Sixth spilt some beer on me and when I threatened to spank her if she did it again, she did so, only on purpose. I pulled her over my knee, and swatted her 10 or 12 times; then I stopped, expecting her to get off. She muttered something about being comfortable, and a naughty girl, and stayed there for an hour or so.

I naturally occupied the time with little bursts of spanking, while carrying on the usual slightly drunken conversations with everyone around me, until I had to reluctantly move her so that I could go to the loo; when I returned she had wondered off. Ah, happy days.

The spanking I remember a bit better (because it was at school and I was sober) was one I gave to Jules, the captain of the school hockey team. She was fairly attractive but solidly built, and not a girl anyone would push around.

One afternoon I found myself on a free period, and the Sixth Form was empty except for Jules and I; we were making coffee, and she put a sugar in hers, while looking guilty.

"Sugar?" I asked, with raised eyebrows; Jules was notorious for her healthy eating.

"Um, yeah. Naughty pleasure. I shouldn't really, but I just fancied one."

"How dare you! You need a good spanking" I said this, tongue in cheek; it was a bit flirty but not intended to go any further.

She looked me up and down; I stood 5 foot 8, and she was a good 4 inches more than that. She had on a pale yellow cotton blouse, and a multicoloured cotton skirt, that fell to about knee length. It's surface was quite rough.

"Well, you might be right."

I was taken aback by this; mind you, I was also very excited. I was conscious that, standing there in front of her in skin tight light blue drain pipe trousers, my interest was soon going to become apparent.

I reached out and seized her wrist.

"You better come here then."

The kitchen area was just outside the Head of Sixth Form's office; through a narrow passage was a more spacious area, with seating around three sides. It overlooked the entrance to the school, but no one could see into it.

I started towards it, Jules dragging behind me. I knew that there was no way I could force her to come with me if she wasn't willing; she was bigger and stronger than me. Nevertheless, along she came.

We emerged from the passage into the deserted sitting room, and I smartly made a path to the nearest seat.

"Come on then, over my knee" I said, seating myself. I gave a subtle tug on Jules's wrist, and she descended across my thighs.

The skirt pulled tight against her well muscled bottom, and, raising my hand as high as I could, I began to spank her, laying on a stream of firm smacks. Jules didn't react, lying unmoving over my lap.

After a minute or two my arm began to tire, and my hand stung, so I slowed down my blows. After a couple of minutes more the spanking had degenerated to a series of pats, and I was wishing that there was some type of smacking implement to hand. Sadly there wasn't, but I continued manfully on for at least another five minutes.

After a while Jules struck up a conversation; something about an upcoming Charity Walk that a bunch of us had agreed to do. I carried on spanking.

After a bit longer she said, in a voice filled with real curiosity

"Do you even remember what you're smacking me for?"

"Um, everything you've ever gotten away with until now?"

"Good enough. You'll need to make sure you catch up with me when I'm naughty in future though."

I gave her a few more smacks, but then we heard the door to the Sixth Form open, and Jules wriggled to her feet, my arm that had been lying across her back as a restraint having no appreciable effect at all. She smiled at me, and headed for the Upper Sixth area.

I sat, somewhat dazed, and placed a nearby newspaper on my lap, whilst I awaited some subsidence.

There is a sequel to this story, but that's for another day, and a different blog.

So, did anyone have similar experiences during their school days? Or did my school have a monopoly on our kink?

All the best

Tim

All of these lovely photos appear courtesy of AAA Spanking (look for a full review of the site soon)

Is this a popularity contest, or what?

Oh fuck it, I'll apologise in advance. This is going to be a bit self-pitying, and probably whiny, but I've had a fucking shitty week, and that's how I feel.

I've just noticed that my blog has been nominated as one of the candidates for "Blog of the Month" on the Spanking Bloggers Network; looking back I see that the nomination was made by my good friend Secret Spanko.

I appreciate his enthusiasm, but I'm afraid it's not shared by his fellow bloggers, as, at the time of writing, there have been 26 votes cast, and I have 7.69% of them. That's 2 votes, for those who lack an arithmetic mind. And one of them was mine!

I'm not running down the other two candidates; The Pink Report is one of the classic spanking blogs, and seems to have been around for ever, whilst Bright Bottom is a smart entertaining blog that I enjoy a lot.

It's just that I don't think my blog is particularly likeable somehow; oh, don't get me wrong, I know that I have a number of loyal fans, and I really do appreciate their continuing readership, but I, in common with a lot of bloggers, put a lot of effort, and quite a bit of themselves, into producing a blog, which seems to have no tangible impact on anyone!

Perhaps that's as it should be; blogs are personal, to express the writer's feelings and views, but if we didn't want others to see and be affected by them, we'd just write a fucking diary.

I think that maybe I try to hard; I've produced interviews, reviews, semi-reviews, model appreciations, short stories and (I hope) humorous pieces. Maybe that's too wide a canvas to paint on; I suspect that, to most readers, my blog has no identity.

If I wasn't fed up none of this would get to me.

So, crying in my beer, and it's really a bit too early to be drinking (I'm not by the way; that's just a metaphor which I could replace with crying in my coffee, I suppose, and at least that's alliterative) I've decided to take a few days off; actually as this is only my second post this week I don't suppose that anyone will notice the difference!

I have several interviews at different stages, mostly though at the "what the heck shall I ask?" point, and I'll spend some down time prepping those and emailing them to the very kind interviewees who have consented to be quizzed.

Otherwise I think I'm going to give this business a miss for a bit; I honestly have had one of the crappiest weeks that I can remember, and a bit of quiet mourning may do me good.

Sorry (again - whoever said "never explain and never apologise" was a dick), this has been depressing and not about spanking, and without even any pretty pictures to distract you, but it's all I can muster up today.

All the best

Tim

Spanking Star Interview - Thomas Cameron

When I first thought that I'd like to do a series of interviews with participants in the Scene, I decided that it was important to talk to people who had contributed in a number of ways.

It's pretty routine to interview models (although I still wanted to do that, as they do have a unique perspective; wonderful people like Leia and a couple more upcoming posts certainly show that), but I also wanted to speak to some of the behind the scenes people (like Clare Fonda's Cameraman) and some of the scenes commentators (my recent interview with Secret Spanko, a relative new

comer, and an upcoming interview with one of the giants of spanking blogging). I also wanted to interview someone who has functioned solely as a top, and, having read his comments on my blog, Thomas Cameron who has worked for Dreams of Spanking, Firm Hand Spanking and Northern Spanking was my first choice.

1. I've come across a couple of your Northern Spanking shoots now, so you've obviously been around the scene for some years. I have to ask the obvious question first; when and how did you first get into spanking?

I became aware of my interest in it through a combination of literature, and
growing up in a place where corporal punishment was still normal. I was raised
as an Evangelical Christian, so once I became consciously aware that it was
a sexual fetish of mine, I spent a number of years suppressing the drive as
a perversion. Once I left that religion, I started to practice what I had
always felt as 'normal' for me, both with kink and with polyamoury.

2. A bit personal this one, but have you only ever topped? I did for years before recently getting interesting in switching, but I do wonder if one becomes a better top for having experienced the other side. What do you think?

It's certainly a persuasive argument. I am a Top, pretty much to the core;
control is a basic identity function for me, and being deprived of it would
seriously erode my sanity. I also have a couple of experiences in my early

life which lead to what can only be described as berserk responses if anyone
tries to restrain me, so switching is not really possible for me to try safely.

3. I don't mean this as an insult but your look is delightfully old fashioned; you look how I picture the traditional Victorian squire. Is this a conscious thing, and do you think that the air of authority it gives you makes you a better top?

It's partly conscious; I like to dress up, I'm an historian by academic

training, and I have an enduring love of the Victorian and Edwardian
dress styles. Elegance for men has become a lost art.

Does it affect my topping? I subscribe to the school of thought that my
dominant power comes from inside rather than from the tools and trappings,
I'll happily top in bunny slippers if that's what I happen to be wearing. (I'm looking forward to seeing that shoot!)

4. Can one learn to be a good top?

One *must* learn to be a good Top. Instinct will only ever carry someone
so far; technique, philsophical understandings of things like consent,
psychology and implement effects, and all of the other aspects of how we
use bodies to mess with minds are crafts, and need to be approached with
the same resepct and deliberate attention to detail as any other complex
skill-base. Experience is invaluable.

5. I find that administering a spanking is always sexually arousing; is this your experience? If so is this a problem when shooting videos?

Control of the self is the first step to control of the environment and of
the Bottom. Part of that skill, for me, is detachment; sexual arousal and
physical response are by no means the same thing. But beyond that, while
acting in a good film is always going to be hot (or the product would not
be), like any professional actor one has to be able to carry contextual

reality as well as character immersion constantly in mind. The models with
whom I work are (with one or two notable exceptions) not people who would
ever be interested or available as sexual partners, so sex isn't what we're
there to do.

6. In a comment on my blog you said that it was more important for tops in videos to be good actors than spankers (I agree actually); how hard is it to top in a video, and how does it differ from filling the role in real life?

To run a good scene, a Top needs to be able to use tools (including eyes, hands, voice, rope, implements, or whatever else is needed) effectively, understand pace and the psychology of the situation, and be able to control all of the above.

To be able to carry the power of the scene that is happening in real life through the lens to a secondary observer, there a whole set of specific techniques which are identical to those Anthony Hopkins or Judi Dench would use on a mainstream film. Ability to remain still; awareness of where one's head is relative to frame, not blinking on camera, voice projection, and so on and so forth.

Sometimes, what would be perfect in real life does not carry well on film;
my personal battle with this cross-over is against lowering my voice too much.
Quietness often conveys more controlled power than a shout, and I sometimes
drop my projection too much for the microphone to pick up!

7. This is going to sound pretentious. In a book I was recently reading the following statement appeared:- "No one should ever impose their own perception of fulfilment on anyone else". Do you think that this can be applied to the spanking scene?

As a Top, my practice is that I am manipulating the Bottom's state of mind. The physical manifestations of that process are, however enjoyable, tools to that end. If I am to do that well, I first need to read and understand the mind as it already is, and then work with that. As a result, to do my job well, I must first (through negotiation, empathy or any other tool) understand what experiential journey will be fulfilling for the Bottom, so that I can manipulate

and, if necessary, subvert it.

8. You mentioned to me that you had shot a video with Firm Hand Spanking, which has yet to appear. They're US based. How did that come about and can you tell us anything about the clip? Are there any big differences between shooting for a US site and for a UK based one?

While Firm Hand shoot to American legal requirements and usually do so in the
States, the site is operated by a Briton, and the shoot I was actually on
took place over here. The story sequence I filmed features Leia-Ann Woods
and Amelia-Jane Rutherford, in a quasi-military context; I suspect that's
all I can say at this point! I thoroughly enjoyed working with Firm Hand;
the differences between that shoot and others were mostly of the sort that

will always evolve between different directors and producers. There's a very
clear house style and directorial requirements for a Firm Hand shoot, and I
found them very easy to work with.

9. Dreams of Spanking lists you as it's principal cameraman; do you have any technical training?

I sincerely hope it doesn't! I've shot stills on one shoot and done a
small amount of in domestic scenes, but I'm not usually *behind* the camera,
I'm mostly in front of it. The most frequent videographer is probably either Pandora herself or Jimmy Holloway. (Sorry, my mistake; I saw you listed as "cameraman" and jumped to the wrong conclusion).

I don't have any formal training in either video or still photography, but

I've learned a great deal from working with people who do, and am now starting to work seriously on learning to shoot stills; video will come with time.

10. Do you find production duties harder when you're appearing in a video?

Directing from in front of the camera is definitely complicated, though

it's much easier on a shoot with a full crew. I mostly end up directing in scenes where it would be difficult for Pandora, because directing from the Top is certainly easier than doing so from the Bottom.

Pandora is the producer; I am sometimes involved at the writing stage, but I've

not done any actual production work in the traditional sense.

My best experience so far as an actor/director was on a project we shot for

Roue called Lost Causes, which they funded well enough that we could operate with a full crew and equipment, a story-board, and an experienced DOP. That made my life very much easier, and the end product was quite special.

11. Many of the DoS scenes run quite long; how much of the filming is done in one shot? Is a lot of editing involved in getting the videos ready for release?

We are steadily moving towards shorter shots as time goes on, partly in adjusting to the limitations of single-camera shoots and partly because the scenes are getting more ambitious. We relatively rarely (I think only

once, in fact) use a single static camera for a scene.

Pandora edits her own material, and is doing more of that than anything else lately!

12. I am always interested in sites that produce image galleries independent of their films. Why do you do this on DoS? And, as I've always wanted to know, are the spankings in these shoots real, or merely staged?

One of the joys of artistic still work is that you can really capture marking
in full glory, so the spankings are definitely real. We shoot photo-stories as
well as video for several reasons. It begins from Pandora's vision of quality
porn as being compositionally and artistically evocative, as well as the action
captured being erotic.

Still work provides for a different kind of gaze, and a different
interaction with the viewer; I for example watch very little video when it
comes to, shall we say, personal use, as I often engage better with photographs
or drawn art than with film. Photo-stories allow us to generate images that
would be very difficult to produce on film without spending big-budget levels
of money, and they allow more complex and artistic lighting and composition.

It also forms part of the general ethos of Dreams of Spanking to provide

content which breaks the assumptions of the scene; audio stories, M/M
content, and all the other things that many mainstream spanking sites
have avoided. This is experimental, but it seems to be working so far.

13. This is another personal question; I know that you support Pandora in incorporating M/M and F/M scenes within the site, but do you yourself find them arousing, or interesting in any way beyond the purely technical?

Partly because of being in so much of it personally, I'm very unlikely to
make intimate use of most of what we publish on Dreams. M/M (and, indeed,
F/M) films are not part of my sexual taste, but that doesn't prevent
me from responding to power and emotional engagement on the part of the
participants, or from recognising aesthetic and artistic quality in them.

14. How heavily are the scenes scripted? Is it the case of just supplying a basic scenario and letting the performers get on with it, or do they have actual lines to learn?

This has varied. We've done some work that was almost scripted properly, though that doesn't tend to work well at all during actual punishment scenes, which need the flexibility of improvisation to flow well. Some scenes have written themselves as they went along, while we all watched helplessly (and often giggling).

One of our core operating principles is that many scenarios are written
by our actors, because that produces dreams of spanking that we often
would not have thought of, and tends to produce really intense performances
from the authors.

In most cases we discuss scenarios in detail with everyone involved,

so we can identify important story beats or concepts (or names!) clearly
in everyone's minds, in order to be able to reproduce them when necessary
for re-shoots.

15. How are the performers on the site selected? The ones so far have been exceptionally good. Is there anyone we're likely to know to be featured soon (that you can tell us about)?

Pandora has cast her films from her experience of shooting for other sites
while we put Dreams together, so many of the actors are people we've worked
with before. Others are discoveries of her own, including Jimmy Holloway and
Sebastian Hawley.

With regard to juicy gossip, yes indeed! We have just published a debut
appearance from Ludwig of Rohrstock-Palast, in 'Psychic Weapon C', and will
shortly be unveiling the first scene we made with Hwyel Phillips of Restrained
Elegance in front of the camera. That one is a four-hander with myself, Pandora
and Amelia-Jane, and was rather a lot of fun to make!

We're in pre-production negotiations for a shoot some time in the next couple

of months with Dana Kane and Mike Stryker, and we're also negotiating with Nimue Allen of Nimue's World, Danielle Hunt and Clover Rock. Watch this space! (I'm a big fan of these models, especially Danielle, so this is really something to look forward to!)

16. Dreams of Spanking seems to have gotten off to a good start. Where do you see the site going?

Anywhere we find interesting!

More seriously, we're on a bootstrap path which leads ever onwards to more ambitious work. As we can upgrade the equipment we're shooting with, and
afford fuller crews, the production values and attention to detail should
steadily improve towards the mark set by Elegance Studios, who're probably
the highest-quality producers we've worked with.

Creatively, we've never been short of ideas; it's time and money that are
difficult to find. We have all sorts of concepts we want to develop into
products as soon as we can build up the skills and the budgets to deliver
them well. Though with some of the ideas, it's really hard to wait...

17. Pandora seems to generate a huge amount of goodwill within the spanking community, both from professionals, like Amelia, and from fans like myself. You know her as well as anyone; to what do you attribute this?

She engages as a real and fully-featured person. The Spanked Not Silenced blog
is a big part of that, as it has presented a view of her evolving politics,
kink and personal life over a period of years. The fans (and fellow-
professionals) who have engaged with her through that blog now 'know' her,
in a very real sense; this is a person, not a marketing image.

Also, she's really sexy when spanked, which definitely helps.

I have a couple of follow up comments here that Tom sent back to me; I think that they're worth including.

I've learned a lot from your comments (not least that I don't always read stuff carefully enough - sorry about the principal cameraman thing) especially about the nature of topping. No one seems to talk about how that works (or at least not to the same degree as bottoming) so I think it will be a very welcome viewpoint to read about.

There are some quite good books out there, but you're right, people don't
talk about it much. I tend to attribute this to some kind of odd sense of
mystique; that if they talk about how topping works and why, people will
somehow see through their act and it'll stop working. This, for me at least,
is simply not true; I take considerable enjoyment in being able to show the
audience how a magic trick works and then *still* being able to fool them,
as it were. My dominance doesn't rely on the sub not understanding me; it
relies on them understanding me as well as possible.

I think this may also be an artefact of Tops gaze in the blogosphere; more *personal* blogs are written by Bottoms than Tops. Professional and marketing blogs, the equivalent of the blog at DoS itself, are to me in a different category from personal blogs (like Pandora's SnS, or Adele's long-famous Spanking Model Speaks). The former category are frequently written by Toppy male producers.

Very many thanks for taking the time to do this, and for taking it so seriously.

The core of my kink is psychodrama; I take it pretty seriously and enjoy
talking and thinking about it. Hitting willing girls with sticks is a
bonus :)

Sorry to rush out of here but I think the kids are getting up.

All the best

Tim