Details:

Scene Auction – February 6th!!!

by luv2beg about 11 hours ago

Metro Vancouver Kink (MVK) is very excited to announce that we will be holding a scene auction at our February party this coming Saturday the 6th. Have you wanted to play with a certain someone but never had the chance? Or maybe there is a particular activity you have wanted to try but so far have been unable to find someone to help you test the waters. Or perhaps you just want to support a non-profit community organization by opening your wallet and bidding on some brave folks!!!

Regardless of the motive we hope you come out and bid on something that strikes your fancy.

Our scene auction will be a bit different than the typical Master/slave auction in that you are bidding on a scene (two-three options usually) with a particular person.

* Date: February 6th, 2010
* Time: 8:30-9:30pm (during our regular play party)
* Place: Capri Hall – 3925 Fraser Street
* Emcee: The fabulous Lady Kona
* Notes: Opening bids are $20 / Each scene will be on the block for 3 mins max / All scenes are a minimum of 30 mins
* All scenes are to be held at MVK on February 6th (Unless otherwise negotiated between the person who was auctioned and the winning bidder. Please also inform a member of the MVK board.)

Sooooooo want to know who you will be able to bid on and what they are offering??? Well of course you do!!! Below you will find each of the 10 participants, a link to their profile and what type of scene they are offering. (Please also note some of the participants have a caveat attached to their offer.)

All participants will have a negotiation prior to the scene and all limits will be honoured.

Lord Braven – Violet Wand or Needle Play

KinkusErgoSum – Needles, Bondage or Resistance Play

kittenbynight – Impact Play (caning, spanking, flogging), Suspension, Knife Play or Wrestling

River Dark – Rough Body Play (kicking, punching, slapping, resistance play, etc) or Flogging (female bidders please)

ms_Kitty – Over the knee Spanking or Bondage

Tristan – Rope Bondage including Suspension if requested

J and deeva – Impact play (caning, flogging, spanking), Mummification or Single Tail

Elaine – Skill share in any of the following areas – Brat bondage, Topping a novice bottom, Interrogations, Takedowns, Fisting, Role play, Age play, Impact play, Flogging or Caning * This will not be a scene but a one-on-one or one-on-a few workshop where you will have Elaine all to yourself as she teaches you and answers your questions! (Get together with a friend or two and bid on this!!!!)_

Sexncandy – Impact play or CBT or a combination of the two

Skunky – Flogging (female bidders please)

Please arrive at 8pm (when the party starts) to ensure you do not miss the scene you want to bid on! And thank you in advance for supporting MVK, all proceeds will go to the equipment fund

Andie (luv2beg) / President, MVK

Interested? Email me fast! elaine (at) elainemiller (dot) com

Sunday, November 15th, 2009
7:00 – 11:00
$20@ the door
Hastings Steam & Sauna – 766 East Hastings, Vancouver
(A NubianImp.com Project by !Kona and Elaine)

2 sauna rooms
& 2 shower rooms
& video area (dyke porn!)
& lockers & six semi-private cots,

free snacks
& free non-alc drinks
& byo towel & sandals & toys & safe sex gear,

anything consensual+sanitary goes
& you don’t haveta if you don’t wanna
& we don’t care what you wear!

we reserve the right to refuse admittance

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=93829924951

MONDAY, August 3

4pm –> 8pm
Where: Trout Lake / John Hendry Park 3350 Victoria Drive, southeast corner

Highly informal. Free. All welcome.

ALL WELCOME, so long as they’re leatherdyke-friendly.

A bunch o’ leatherdykes are throwing down blankets, laughs, and good company. Come on down, bring your partner/s, friends (kink-friendly), a blanket, food n drink, something to share, chairs, sunscreen…and most importantly, yourself!

(*In good weather only)

http://www.vancouverleather.com/pride2009

STORY LAB for QUEERS

a writing workshop with Anna Camilleri

March 7 & 10, 2009 | Vancouver, BC

Story Lab is a two-session (day-long + one evening) writing workshop intensive that focuses on narrative and scene-based action, and how to weave them to build autobiographically-based/inspired or fiction stories with momentum, pulse, and clarity of voice.
Participants will work with elements including tension, conflict, dialogue, point of view, compressed and stretched time— particular attention will be paid to setting and details, characterization, and structure. The emphasis is on directed writing practices in a supportive group setting, constructive feedback, and focused discussion.
Story Lab is for queer writers who wish to develop in their craft. Arrive with an open mind and leave with a stack of new writing.

The Details:
$100 (non-refundable) fee includes materials
Saturday March 7 from 11am-5pm and Tuesday March 10 from 6:30-9pm.
Limited to 15 participants.
Registration and pre-payment at Little Sister’s 1238 Davie Street # 604-669-1753
Location: Alliance for Arts and Culture | Suite 100 – 938 Howe Street
Please direct inquiries to Anna Camilleri at reddressproductions@gmail.com

Registration and Inquiries:
Email: reddressproductions@gmail.com | Web: annacamilleri.com

Anna Camilleri is the Toronto-based critically acclaimed author of I Am a Red Dress, editor of Red Light: Superheroes, Saints and Sluts, co-editor of Brazen Femme, and co-author of Boys Like Her. Her writing has been described as “potent, fresh, and imbued with powerful imagery” (Quill and Quire starred review), and “brave and necessary” (Books in Canada). Anna has performed widely over the last fifteen years in Canada and the US, and she leads workshops on various aspects of cultural production. Her book works have been selected for inclusion in the University of Toronto’s Fisher Rare Books Library Queer Canadian Literature Collection, and upcoming engagements include a guest lecture on femme identities at Queen’s University, and a feature reading at the Queer Literary Kinships Conference in Ghent, Belgium. www.annacamilleri.com

http://www.annacamilleri.com/bio.html

Registrations are on sale now.

CREATIVE LICENSE:

Writing Bootcamp for Queers | Vancouver

a day-long workshop intensive with Anna Camilleri

Sunday October 26, 11am-5pm (w/ a 45 minute lunch break)

Do you want to write but are having trouble breaking through the “noise”?

The initial stage of writing can be frustrating and lonely, and just the mention of the “first-draft” may inspire a litany of Bs: blank, blocked, and bland. Creative License is a one-day intensive workshop for all queer writers: beginning, experienced, and stalled.

Designed to offer participants tools for entering writing with curiosity, Creative License is based in a series of directed writing practices in a supportive group setting. The emphasis is on generating new writings, mining our imaginations, experimenting with voice and form, and working with story elements for fiction and creative non-fiction.

Arrive with an open mind and leave with a stack of new writing.

The Details
$65 (non-refundable) fee includes materials
Sunday October 26, 2008 | 11am-5pm | wheelchair accessible | max 15 participants
Registration and pre-payment at Little Sister’s, 1238 Davie Street, #604-669-1753
Location: The Roundhouse, Room A, 181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver

Please direct inquiries to Anna Camilleri at reddressproductions@gmail.com

What Students Have Said
(Direct quotes taken from evaluation forms, which is why they’re anonymous.)

“Anna has a wealth of experience, which she shared with clarity and generosity.”
—Participant, Blue Shoes: 6-week Memoir Writing Workshop

“I learned so much about the writing process, and ways to develop and distill my stories.”
—Participant, Blue Shoes: 6-week Memoir Writing Workshop

“Anna is a warm and relaxed facilitator, making the process of participation a pleasure.”
—Participant, Blue Shoes: 6-week Memoir Writing Workshop

“I’ve gained many valuable strategies and approaches; my Blue Shoes notebook has provided me with several pieces to re-visit an craft.”
—Participant, Blue Shoes: 6-week Memoir Writing Workshop

“I enjoyed the combination of writing practices, partner and group work, and notes/insights/discussion. Excellent balance.”
—Participant, Blue Shoes: 6-week Memoir Writing Workshop

“The exercises Anna developed and guided us through were imaginative and challenging, and she went into great depth in terms of defining memoir and the entire creative process.”
—Participant, Blue Shoes: 6-week Memoir Writing Workshop

“Anna led us through practices that gave us concrete tools to access our stories . . . couldn’t have been better.”
—Participant, Creative License: Writing Bootcamp for Queers (one-day intensive)

“Anna created a very comfortable space for all. I chose the workshop because of Anna’s experience as a writer and artist, and because she works in an anti-oppression framework.”
—Participant, Creative License: Writing Bootcamp for Queers (one-day intensive)

“Anna encouraged participation but didn’t pressure us either. Great balance.”
—Participant, Creative License: Writing Bootcamp for Queers (one-day intensive)

“I found this workshop extremely helpful in opening up my writing practice. It was playful and fun, and took the pressure off of writing.”
—Participant, Creative License: Writing Bootcamp for Queers (one-day intensive)

“It was amazing—great variety of exercises, group work, and writing structures.”
—Participant, Creative License:  4-week Writing Workshop

“I learned tones of stuff I didn’t know and will retain it because of the way it was taught.”
—Participant, Creative License:  4-week Writing Workshop

“Anna was always prepared—we never did the same thing twice, and she was generous with comments and created a comfortable space.”
—Participant, Creative License:  4-week Writing Workshop

“Anna knew the material really well, and she also addressed questions that came up in the group in a thoughtful and knowledgeable way.”
—Participant, Creative License:  4-week Writing Workshop

“I like the diverse exercises/practices; made it possible to write and learn without simplifying.”
—Participant, Creative License:  4-week Writing Workshop

“As an established writer, Anna brings her gifts and experience to the course.”
—Participant, Creative License:  4-week Writing Workshop

“I found the course well-structured, coherent and fun. Anna ran it with authority, respect, and compassion.”
— Participant, Anthology Incubator: From Pitch to Print

“From idea to publication, Anna covered it all.”
— Participant, Anthology Incubator: From Pitch to Print

“Thorough, current, and useful!”
— Participant, Anthology Incubator: From Pitch to Print

“Very in-depth, and creatively presented.”
— Participant, Anthology Incubator: From Pitch to Print

“The content was very focused, excellent hands-on activities, useful discussion about publishing industry.”
— Participant, Anthology Incubator: From Pitch to Print

“Provided practical information and activities that an emerging/beginning writer wouldn’t know to consider.”
— Participant, Anthology Incubator: From Pitch to Print

“Comprehensive—covered everything from defining concept, to calls for submissions, contracts, publishers, press . . .”
— Participant, Anthology Incubator: From Pitch to Print

“To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect of the course . . . I’ve gained both inspiration and practical tools for helping my practice along.”
— Participant, A Road Map to Art Making for the Independent Working Class Artist

“The course was more workshop/lab than a lecture. Anna made sure that everyone had opportunities to speak/ask/present.”
— Participant, A Road Map to Art Making for the Independent Working Class Artist

“Excellent handouts, heaps of information, inventive activities. I’ve gained many new tools for moving forward as an artist.”
— Participant, A Road Map to Art Making for the Independent Working Class Artist

http://bykedykes.vancouverleather.com/

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Sunday, July 27th — Dykes on Bikes pre-parade BIKE WASH

1:30 — 4:30pm
2304 East Georgia St
http://bykedykes.vancouverleather.com for details….

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Saturday, Aug 2 — The DykeMarch

http://www.vancouverdykemarch.com/

Gather 11:30am at the west wide of McSpadden Park.
Starts at noon.

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Sunday, Aug 3 — the Pride Parade

For those starting on the East Side (Oh, the joys of the queer-women
biker gang run through the heart of the city…) Commercial and 3rd Ave.
Between 10 & 10:30 arrival, leave the east end for the west end at 11 am.

Parade starts at Robson and Thurlow this year!

http://www.vancouverpride.ca/parade/parade_route.php

Offical start time is noon… bykes arrive at Robson &
Thurlow at 11am (or earlier, or later).
Go to the head of the parade. No paperwork required.

=================================================

Parade Guidelines:

Wear your helmet to travel to the parade start, but *you* choose whether
to wear it during the parade. Often a float vehicle hear the front will
volunteer some space to hold your lids while en route.

Keep it slow, both on the turns and the long straightaways! Fast riding
scares the moms with toddlers sitting on the curb, and some of our
riders have less experience than you do, hotdogger. And the cops can get damn snarky at high-speed riding. Also, you want everyone to be able to see your sexy self on your hot machine — not just a blur with a bug-spattered grin.

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If you haven’t already…. Join the BykeDykes mailing list!

http://bykedykes.vancouverleather.com/

See the BykeDykes gallery, including some past year’s Bike Wash events

http://elainemiller.com/gallery/bykedykes/

Take Pictures! Get your mom to take pictures!
Send ‘em to elaine@elainemiller.com (with notes about attribution if
necessary) and Elaine will whip ‘em up onto the gallery.

WHY
You know you wanna look all purty in the Gay Pride Parade. Also, it’s nice to be admired for your shiny machine at every other place in town.

WHO
Dykes with bikes, women with motorcycles, genderqueers with scooters, and all those queer folks who admire ‘em and/or wanna offer polishing help.

WHEN
Sunday, July 27th, 1:30 — 4:30pm
(in any weather except violently inclement)

WHERE
2304 East Georgia St
(1 block west of Nanaimo St)
Look for the pirate flag and the array of motorcyles.

HOW
We’ll provide buckets, a few rags, a garden hose, and some ordinary soapy stuff.
And ice. And a cooler or so.

Bring whatever you’re drinking, a few more rags or sponges or toothbrushes, plus any polishing compounds and the like.

WHAT ELSE?

Join the BykeDykes mailing list!
(even if you did a few years ago, because a webserver crash ate the list a while back)

http://bykedykes.vancouverleather.com/

See the BykeDykes gallery, including some past year’s Bike Wash events

http://elainemiller.com/gallery/bykedykes/

BONUS: Dykes on Bikes Pride Weekend planning cheatsheet:

Saturday, Aug 2 (DYKEMARCH): Gather 11:30am, West side of McSpadden Park

Sunday, Aug 3 (PRIDE PARADE):
East End—> Commercial Dr at 3rd, 10:30am, head downtown @11
West End—> Robson and Thurlow, 11am-ish., Parade starts at noon.

You coming to help celebrate?

I have a mild sprain of my right wrist — I’m gonna need help giving volunteer passers-by my birthday spanks.

http://nubianimp.com/sweat/

Start Time:
Saturday, February 9, 2008 at 9:00pm

Location:

Send me an email at ryansbday (at) elainemiller (dot) com, and I’ll shoot you the location. It’s a private, rented space in a bar in the West End.

Come and celebrate Ryan Coke’s Birthday.

Costumes, prizes, and performance!

Theme: PIN-UPS, PIMPS, and PORNSTARS!
(DRESS TO IMPRESS)

By donation upstairs before 10:30, $5 downstairs after 10:30.

** This is a private party, so friends of Ryan (and me!) and your dates only, please!

All proceeds benefiting transdude.com

Look forward to seeing you there!

http://afuwa.com

July 19, 2004
Vancouver

The 2005 LeatherDyke Calendar Launch & Party
Vancouver-based calendar goes into worldwide distribution
Thursday, July 29th, at The Roundhouse.

This launch event celebrates the advent of Vancouver’s first-ever LeatherDyke calendar with a well-hung installation of the original images by Shaira Holman, international photographic artist. Chosen during the leatherdyke calendar contest thought up and run by Pat Tucker, Ms Vancouver Leather 2002, the women who grace these thirteen fabulous photographs will be helping dykes all around the world keep their dates organized for the next year.

Shaira Holman is perhaps best known for her renowned photo-based work G.I.D. … Gender Identity Disorder or Girls in Drag, which was exhibited at The Helen Pitt International Gallery, the San Francisco Public Library, the Advocate Gallery in Los Angeles, the Soady-Campbell Gallery in New York City, as well as at Studio Q, the Vancouver salon that Holman founded and operated.

“I’m excited and proud to be working on this project,” says Elaine Miller, LeatherDyke calendar designer. “There’s still a shortage of imagery in the outside world that reflects our queer lives and desires. In this decade, this is the only LeatherDyke calendar in all of North America, possibly in all the world. It’s good to help put quality images of leatherwomen out there.”

The 2005 LeatherDyke Calendar launch shares space with the Pride in the Written Word event, a night of Readings by local queer writers during the Pride in Art Exhibition, which brings the queer arts under one roof at Pride. This diverse exhibition is a place for celebration and self exploration of Vancouver’s GLBT community. All are welcome.

The 2005 LeatherDyke Calendar Launch Party
July 29th, 7 pm ?
As part of Pride in Written Word during Pride in Art
Roundhouse Arts and Recreational Centre
181 Roundhouse Mews
{East Foot of Davie Street)

The LeatherDykes Calendar is on sale now, both online and, in Vancouver, at Little Sister’s Book Emporium. Partial Proceeds from the calendar sales go to the Little Sister’s Defense Fund.

More information may be found at http://leatherdyke.com/calendar/

Or, for additional information or to arrange interviews please contact:
Shaira Holman, Photographer: 604-254-5869 shaira@sdholman.com
Elaine Miller, Designer: elaine@elainemiller.com 604-650-6867

?30?

Ya, Monday, March 15th. See y’all there?

The Book being Launched: Exact Fare 2.
The Publisher: Anvil Press http://www.anvilpress.com

The Name of My Piece: Follow That Bus!

The Launch:
Date: Tues. Dec. 9th, 6:00-8:00
Where: The Cottage Bistro, 4468 Main St. (at 29th)
Vancouver, BC, Canada

There’ll be about 6 readers, and a band is coming on a little after 8:00.

I dunno yet which band, or which other readers, but I’ll post the info at

http://elainemiller.com/blog/

for the terminally curious.

Do come by if you have the chance…

-Elaine

ps: The CBC picked up on my piece, and it’ll apparently go up on its website by Friday (Dec 5)

Radio 3 website http://www.cbcradio3.com

Hooray!

_______________________________

> Elaine Miller wrote:
> MIsspelled spam coming in under your name? This will ruin your business before you ever manage to get off the ground…. FYI.
> -Elaine

>
> ——- Forwarded message follows ——-
> Return-path:
>
> To: website@elainemiller.com
> Subject: Better Than Pay Pal

_______________________________

and the reply came back:
_______________________________

On 4 Nov 2003 at 15:10, info wrote:

>
> Thanks for the comment Elaine. As for the spam allegation. We subscribed to a mailing list of opt in email addresses. If you never subscribed we apologize. Please simply unsubscribe.
>
> Ken

_______________________________

So I wrote again, because I’ve got a bee in my bonnet about spammers.

_______________________________

Damn, your poor thing.

If you subscribed to that supposedly “opt-in” list, you were snookered, and you’re building a huge wave of bad feeling in the online community even as we speak.

The address the original came to was an old one, listed on a webpage on my site — I’ve never used it for any other purpose, and I spam-filter it now, since it got picked up by spambots and disseminated over the known universe.

Sorry to hear about the bad start-up.

-Elaine
_______________________________

But wait, there’s more! (laughing)
Seconds after I sent the first note about the spam, and before I got Ken’s reply, I noticed that the links in the email all said uniclear.com but pointed to a different scrambled-letter domain. I thought it was another company fucking with them, and I thought I’d give ‘em the heads up (because of the afore-mentioned soft spot for Canadian start-ups) — so I resent the spam copy with a cryptic note…

__________________

> Elaine Miller wrote:

> had another look… active fraud attempt
>
> -Elaine
>
___________________________________

And Ken, probably the janitor-in-residence when all the polite people went home, wrote back:

___________________________________

On 4 Nov 2003 at 15:14, info wrote:

>
> Hardly. You should be careful when you make such allegations Elaine. Do
> your homework carefully before jumping to such foolish notions.
>
> Ken
>

___________________________________

And so I retorted:

___________________________________

No, Ken, actually, I was taking it for an attempt on the part of another site to hijack your images and front page, and sucker users into signing up, with all their financial info, with the rival company. (It happens to PayPal all the time…)

I was warning you that someone was trying to defraud *you*. You know, in that friendly Netizen kinda way that’s going out of style.

That…. because I couldn’t imagine a company that would depend so much upon consumer trust and name recognition making such a foolish move as to spam potential clients.

However, now that I know that your company (1) rents spam lists for marketing purposes and (2) won’t respond in a polite and businesslike tone to correspondence, I’ll be sure to refrain from using your services, and advise my clients and friends of the same.

A good day’s work for you today, hmm?

-Elaine

___________________________________

and now I’m afraid that search engines will pick up this blog page when “uniclear” and “fraud” and “spam” are typed in the same search box.

Hmm.

Fancy that.

If anything else comes in, I’ll keep y’all posted…

As an extra funny, this appears on their uniclear.com website:

Important Notice
At no time will UniClear send you any email other than to inform you that you have new messages waiting in your iMail inbox (in your account). Should you receive any email saying anything else that appears to be from UniClear, delete it immediately because it is fraudulent. The only exception is a response from info@uniclear.com to a message you have sent us first.

-E

—————————–
Update September 15, 2005

Okay, something extra-extra funny: I got hatemail about this long-forgotten posting. It came in through my webform. I see that Uniclear has one loyal customer — or employee?

Here’s what I got:

You are a stupid bitch! You know nothing of Uniclear as they are a reputable company. I deal with them on a daily basis.

Take a dirt nap bitch.