frglee

Canadian Military Valentines Day Dive

2012-02-17T00:01:00.004-08:00

Jubilation! I'm able to see clearly again, and I got up early to test my new 'optical equipment' and waste no time YouTubing interesting stuff including this new vid, featuring Aga Divator toting miltary divers from Canada ,with an interesting camera viewpoint!

Ready for Your Operation?

2012-02-10T06:12:00.001-08:00

Another bout of eye surgery next week - this time to have the right eye fixed. I can personally testify that if you ever have to have cataracts done there is little need to get uptight about it. It's a doddle...a lot less unpleasant than having a tooth removed for sure! Apart from the fact that it is becoming increasingly common in younger people,this is a condition that practically all of us get in time,but usually don't start to notice until we get older. Certainly I was the youngest person in the waiting room at the opthamology department! But it did come as a bit of a shock last summer to suddenly realise that my vision had suddenly deteriorated rapidly. "When life hands you lemons",says Polyanna,"make lemonade!" So I try to enjoy being the centre of attention,at least in the O.R. and just let them get on with what they have to do. It's all about trust I guess,like so many things in life,and I have only the highest admiration for the medical staff doing my op,even if one of the nurses last time had obviously graduated from the Rosa Klebb charm school! But as I got to know her better she seemed less intimidating and more professional. I guess my presence is maybe perhaps a tad disruptive to their routines! But it set me wondering about guys with a medical fetish and whether I might be counted as such. Years back I knew a kink orientated senior male nurse who I often met at a leather pub in London. I was actually in awe of the guy,but more than a bit frightened of him,so we never had a scene. But I listened to quite a few descriptions of his play sessions,enough to know that he was one of the big boys kinkwise and I was not in his league. When a story in the media surfaced,about that time, of a male nurse who had managed to steal so much equipment from a hospital that he had built himself a full operating theatre in a spare room in his house,I wondered if it might have been him. [Rubber gloves I could understand,but how do you smuggle a hospital examining couch and lights under your mac as you leave work? The mind boggles] Having a medical gas fetish myself,as described in a previous post here,I managed to construct quite a few fantasies around it and have certainly been to some pretty strange places in my head when I'm alone in my bed. Seems to have a lot involved with pain and control along with fear and trust. Which maybe is not dissimilar to the rationale of BDSM scenes. Top = surgeons,Bottoms = Patients. So by consenting to be a patient [and even filling in a consent form saying you don't object to anything they see fit to do to you!] you are putting yourself in a very submissive position and trusting the surgeon. And the surgeon is placed in a position of trust where he promises not to go beserk and start killing people! For that is pretty easy...a wrong cut a few centimetres here, an incorrect dosage there and pretty soon you're toast! Surgeons always had an air of menace about them,probably because in the old days they could be and often were the last person you ever had dealings with. And there were always plenty of mad surgeons about in fiction and film. These days they are a lot more civilised,and even make an effort to get to know you and reassure you before the surgery. Not mad at all. And many even have a more benign attitude to patients,regarding them less as just being a piece of meat to play around with. But there is still something a bit frightening about a guy in surgical gear,masked and gloved. Even one or two rubber ones on the scene! And as has been observed by philosophers like Georges Bataille,the connection between death,fear,pain,sex and pleasure is a strong one. Why? because we are just perverse little monkeys? Quite possibly,but maybe it has a lot to do with quite normal human behavior such as powerplay,fear,trust,domination and
submission - and these things are part and parcel of our makeup,just as sure as we are evolved from monkeys and have inherited their behavior patterns. Eye surgery is a very delicate and precision piece of work for the surgeon. But it also needs very obvious people managing skills with the patients. Relax them,stop any pain,reassure them. The relaxing bit is done by the ward nurses, with a chat and cups of tea and biscuits! The pain killing is done by masses of eyedrops to stop feeling and inflammation,even to the point of 'switching off' the eye by squirting a bit of anesthetic behind the eyeball to send the optic nerve to sleep. So all goes black in that eye for a bit. Weird! "Probably for the best",as I was told the first time, "You wouldn't want to see too closely all the stuff they are doing" [with needles,probes and suction tubes to the front of your eye].Laid on a operating table,covered with a green cloth with a hole in it for the eyeball all you feel is a bit of pressure,tugging and fiddling around and presto! The new hi tech plastic lens is installed! Takes about 20 minutes. And if you need reassuring there is a nice male nurse to hold your hand during the procedure. How did they know that's just what I wanted? A distraught friend phoned me up a while back terrified of a forthcoming major operation the next day. I hope I calmed him down a bit trying to be 'witty',even if he was not too appreciative of my comments that as a serious BDSM player,he might actually enjoy certain aspects of what he was about to endure with the right frame of mind. He asked me not to mention fetish stuff to him again in this context. Oooops...had to apologise,but was glad that all went well for him in the end. Fear of death and pain is ever present with medical procedures. Not all people can find easy ways of coping with it. Diazepam was the only way I could cope with having a tooth out recently! I got so worked up about it! btw The beautiful drawings here are from a Chinese manga 'Team Medical Dragon' by Nagai Akira and Nogizaka Tarou,that features a very heroic and hot doc![Buy here!] If all docs looked like this I think I'd never eat an apple again in case I kept the doctor away!

Calder House Pup Night

2012-01-27T07:27:00.001-08:00

If you are into puppy play and associated gear,you might enjoy this event [Details here] being held in The UK's West Cumbian area [Lake District] in May,which I am hoping to be able to attend,maybe even combine with some diving nearby the venue. It looks like it will be a very friendly and memorable event,in a beautiful area ideal for a Spring weekend break,in a very gay fetish friendly environment, of which I have heard some amusing stories! Always happy to promote events like this and I know one of the organisers, who is a very enthusiastic player with a bondage,furry, rubber,biker and puppy bent,pictured above! Whilst I've never had a pup of any description,I've often fancied owning one,[they can be so cute!] I spent a very amusing afternoon once with a master and his two pups a few years back...even being invited to try out an electric training collar,which believe me,is very effective! But most puppies are very well behaved indeed,not needing such treatment!

Fetish Week London 2012

2012-01-21T09:24:00.000-08:00

Thanks,Recon for this stylishly horny rubber photoshoot to promote the forthcoming Fetish Week London 2012 in July. Some great gear and some very horny models,especially ScottySkin. Me like!

Shipwreck

2012-01-20T05:02:00.001-08:00

Very affected by the Costa Concordia disaster at Giglio in Italy and have been following the news assiduously. Remembering that dozens of people have been killed in this dreadful accident,and many others frightened out of their wits as they escaped,I still have been astonished by the difficult rescue efforts by Italian divers and other rescue staff who have had a very hard time on this enormous ship [vids of them here ,more here and here ,photos here]. A sad reminder of the 1912 Titanic disaster. But I'm looking forward to seeing the new Titanic museum in Belfast when it opens this Spring. I'll be using our new ferry service from SW Scotland,a route that had its own disaster in 1953. I love travelling by ship,but will not be taking onboard safety quite so much for granted in the future,I think.

Underwater Strangeness!

2012-01-09T02:21:00.000-08:00

Finnish frogmen mucking about vid amused me so thought I'd share it! Very much enjoyed the BBC's 'To Boldly Go : Down' last night about the physics of diving by Dr Kevin Fong ,who seems a very nice guy , but he is also an expert on the medical side of space and diving as well...The lucky dog seems to get a chance to try out all sorts of interesting divegear and breathing apparatus! Nice to see a scientist getting so involved with his work!

Confessions of a Gas Addict

2012-01-04T08:54:00.000-08:00

It's hard to write an article like this. Don't want to appear to be encouraging doping or bc,nor do I want to seem like an old nanny mithering. Maybe the best thing to do is pass on information and let people make their own choices. I want to help people and pass on my own experiences too. For sure there have been scrapes in my own rubber life where I have been a few seconds away from suffocating and even had to rip off and damage expensive rubber masks and hoods in panic. Somehow I am still here. Others aren't. If this article saves one guy from doing something stupid then it has been worth it a thousandfold. Experienced players understand this and play safe.Now,I don't do chems,really.. Don't smoke these days and don't even drink much. I had a few LSD experiences when I was in my 20's,usually linked to rubber and leather scenes,and though I never really like being out of control,it never frightened me...I just became a big kid for a day. And yes,I've had more than a few joints [and inhaled!] in my time and enjoyed them when the stuff was mellow and sweet,rather than the chemical sledgehammer it has become today. Many other things I have never tried because I am afraid I would like them too much. But nitrous oxide is something else. I became addicted to it from the first hit...as a very frightened young lad at the dentist. Not only the sweet honey smelling gas but also the rubber equipment that was used to deliver it,viz a large black rubber mask,corrugated rubber hoses,breathing bags and an evil looking chrome gas machine on wheels by the dentist's chair. I was actually paralysed by the gas and quite insensate but conscious,eyes open,in a kind of grey slippery netherworld for the whole procedure,so I recall it well. The second time I had gas, it was also incidentally,the first time when an adult other than a relative hit me! [A frustrated dentist angered by my struggles to escape this rubbery oblivion ...there was to be no escape from the mask as I was held down and forcibly gassed - a traumatic thing to do to a 10 year old!] So gas anaesthesia has a bit of history with yours truly. As a kid I sucked in air through a rubber footcup of a dive fin,and later as a teenager I used to play with gasmasks and rubber tubes fantasising about being gassed by a man in a white coat,as well as many other things,most often frogmen and rubber booted workmen. Nowadays the dentist's coat in that fantasy is white rubber and the guy is also fully enclosed in latex,masked and wearing waders and shoulder length rubber gloves,but same difference.For many years I collected rubber gear and masks and it was pretty soon that I also discovered poppers...the real stuff then,in glass ampules that you popped under your nose making your brain explode with pleasure. Later came bottles of Amyl; strong and pungent that still used to make you feel like you were seeing Jesus, though with aftereffects like headaches and nostril burns. It used to pong up the place and would fast grow stale and rancid,making you cough,if you forgot to put it in the freezer or left the lid off. I had many poppered rubberscenes trying to duplicate my gas experiences as a kid!Much later came Ethyl Chlori de [EC],such a mellow huff that made me feel warm and relaxed,then ether which is stronger and cruder by comparison,and which I'm a bit frightened of. Rediscovering Nitrous Oxide in whippet cylinders 15 years back,I got a bit addicted to it for a few years,sucking up that gas as if there was no tomorrow...For many players this has turned out to be literally true,especially when they combine it with BC play - Pure Nitrous Oxide is not a breathing gas. It has no oxygen in it which we need to live. It actually suppresses the suffocation reflex,so as you breathe it you get high and start to suffocate without overly noticing it. Many nitrous addicts give themselves blue lips when using it,unaware they are slowly dying. Oddly the stuff is not toxic and was even oddly described as 'safe',though massive usage can cause vitamin deficiency and nerve damage. [A 'House' episode - S01 E12 'Sports Medicine' dealt realistically with nitrous abuse] The stuff really should be used with oxygen for safety,entonox being a 50/50 mix often used for people about to give birth or in pain after accidents. At a dive show in 2004,I breathed entonox for an hour as a volunteer for a very interesting diving medical research experiment studying responses when gassed.Why? Nitrous Oxide and Nitrogen Narcosis effects are very similar. Maybe one reason why I like diving...Narcosis always hits me below 29m down! As a Nitrox diver I had access to oxygen and tried [fairly unsuccesfully] to make up mixes with whippet nitrous to breathe in breathing bags. You need a machine for that really. It's kind of specialised life support stuff. I had to stop using nitrous oxide anyway. I liked it far too much. It was beginning to take me over.Poppers continued for me though, as a major hit,but as the stuff changed from Amyl Nitrite to Butyl Nitrite in the eighties,then from Butyl to Isopropyl Nitrate in the noughties I grew a bit less keen on it.. In fact [gasp!] I have hardly used any in the last 18 months for health reasons. Oddly,I rediscovered recently that I didn't need it to have fun,though it is now well linked to my rubber anaesthesia fetish.
Solo Nitrous or gas play is not particularily safe,you can pass out in seconds and who is to extricate you from your mask, breathing bag or whatever? Neither is solo BC play,even such play with partners....Does your BC or gas buddy have resuscitation experience and equipment? Probably not! I reproduce this little salutory victim list from another blogsite. I knew and miss several of these guys:

1) Apr 2006 Adrian Exley of the UK,play with "experienced" bc top
2) Jun 2006 Gary Leblanc of Massachusetts, US, suicide after implicated in accidental death/cover up of Adrian Exley
3) Jul 2006 Kurby of Washington, US. Solo bc play.
4) Sep 2006 "Burley", rubber bear from Maryland, US. Solo bc.
5) Jun 2008 Yoshio Joseph (JoeyRubber), solo bc scene + nitrous
6) Jul 2008 Dave “Gummidawg” of Seattle, solo bc scene
7) Jan 2009 "Boy" Bruce Brandon of Ohio, US. Solo bc play
8) Jun 2009 David Carradine, actor, solo bc play
9) Aug 2009 David "TiedupUK" Tidmarsh of Cambridge, UK, solo play
10) Apr 2010 James "Bodisama" Hatton of N. Carolina, US, solo play
11) Apr 2010 Alejandro Bulaevsky (BikeRubber), OD while solo cuffed, latex & gasmask
12) Nov 2010 Mike, aka “Spuds”/“Klausbndg” - solo bc, ( + gas?)
13) Feb 2011 Jani, "CBR1100XX", a Finn living in Belgium. Nitrous play, possible with others
14) Apr 2011 Augie K of New York, partner of Gil K, solo Nitrous play

All really sad....And I think often about the people they left behind that loved them. I wonder if doing anything is worth the risk of it killing you? Well,life is a risk all the time and quivering with fear indoors in a sterile environment is hardly the solution.My own view is that chems of all kinds bring some pleasures but a lot of problems,and maybe,on the whole they should be avoided or at least done sparingly. But maybe it's just about sanity and balance. I know I am weak and the pleasure seeking me is stronger,and it's a fight to keep it under control sometimes..
Amazing to think how much we are controlled by chemistry in the brain to seek for pleasure and reward. And plenty of people seek bloody hard for it for it! But some stuff
is way beyond being good for us. And it is easy to get into the trap of addiction,psychological or otherwise.There is obviously an interest on the fetish scene for anaesthesia play with gear suppliers and plenty of gas based 'literature' about,and even a few secretive sites and players. For most It stays in the realm of fantasy,but there are some in the BDSM scene who have explored this area rather more deeply. For the well off,there even appear to be gas sex clinics in Germany! Anaesthetists have a reputation for getting struck off for gas addiction,as did dentists. For the rest of us the equipment,knowledge and materials needed are very hard and very illegal to access...maybe just as well,there are some incredible substances out there,in the way of inhalational anesthetics! Tomorrow, I have to have a tooth extracted. Nice and professional guy though my dentist is,I'm not looking forward to it,mainly the 'deep needles experience' then bone crunchingly ripping a molar out of me with ' dental pliers' with me fully awake. How I wish I could have that rubber mask placed over my face and be told to breathe deeply,and disappear into rubber masked nitrous oblivion...to wake up with the dentist smiling at me and telling me that it's all over!

Happy New Year,Everyone!

2012-01-02T07:18:00.000-08:00

An extremely strange spacesuit gearvid that might raise a smile in the January gloom after all the partying. It looks like it might have been a Scottish spacesuit with that peculiar 'kilt', and space for brawny arms! Certainly, Caber tossing could be a lot more fun on the moon!...But it's a Soviet vid,and they had a rather 'utilitarian' view of space travel...A cartoonist here in the 60's drew their spaceships as recycled boilers with associated pipework! Off topic, I'd also like to pay respects to the artist Ronald Searle who died a few days ago. I'm a huge fan of his work,especially Molesworth and St Trinians.

All I Want for Xmas - is YOU!

2011-12-18T11:15:00.000-08:00

I like this video very much and the story behind it and think it makes a fun 'Xmas Card' from me to you. May we all have a peaceful and enjoyable holiday,and put any worries behind us for a bit! And here is a memorable offering in the way of Xmas past TV! Ho Ho Ho!

Chemical Diving Heavy Rubber

2011-12-04T08:56:00.000-08:00

Like this vid very much....Does rubber get any heavier and hunkier than this? On a personal note,I hope to be able to blog again as normal in a few weeks. Can hardly see right now.... If you are wondering how I can even type this,the answer is 'with difficulty'! Anyway,I'm under the knife on Thursday 8th December,having my first eye fixed...Wish me luck!

Decontamination

2011-11-09T07:41:00.000-08:00

Sometimes YouTube knows exactly what I like and somehow sends it to me...such as the example above!

Temptation and Tribulation

2011-11-04T05:40:00.000-07:00

The temptation part are these fine Westgate wellies [my size!] that have been left for three months in an old deserted farm I sometimes walk through in my Bullseye wellies near me.. Even have a nice quarrymans logo and are in virtually new condition but with a slightly muddy exterior. Yum! They aren't mine ,so despite temptation every time I see them,I have left them there. But they'd sure look good in my collection! The tribulation refers to eye problems,still not resolved which limits my abilty to read and type...and blog [Even a hand lens and blown up type does not do much,sadly]. Sorry about that. Normal service hopefully will be resumed some time in early 2012. In the meantime,here's a few pictures of googled for rubber boots. Lots more favourite pictures on the Home of the Rubber Boots site There's even a nice wellies story wot I wrote here! Enjoy!

Masked Biker

2011-10-06T15:55:00.000-07:00

Another nice bit of YouTubery from Rubberbiker 44 who has several other great horny home movies on his site. Looks like he's getting ready for a hot night cruising the bars,the parks and the reststops!...

Rubber Pig Boys Vid !

2011-10-03T09:04:00.000-07:00

Rather liked this 'ad' for a new book of 'Pigboys' rubber eye candy! Thanks Rubberzone! Sorry I am not blogging too much right now...having eye problems [they did tell me something would make me go blind but I never listened heh heh!] It makes doing anything computerish a bit 'challenging'! But fear not! They can rebuild me,they have the technology! The first 'repairs' take place in 10 days with the second op by Xmas.Then I should have perfect vision again. Looking forward to not feeling like I am in a fogged up gasmask all the time!

Dupont Hazmat & SCBA

2011-09-18T09:01:00.000-07:00

A nice YouTube vid from one mountainbike2.For me breathing apparatus with Hazmat is a huge turn on, and I love the PVC rustling of this suit as the guy moves around! Try to ignore interior decor! Not not seen the second vid before. Taken from a 1986 B film called 'The Vindicator' Looks fun anyway! Nice suits,nice masks!

Nice Book!

2011-09-08T11:36:00.001-07:00

Happy to recommend 'Benson at 60' just published,which I just got through Amazon. Think I knew the author a little,years back, and have greatly enjoyed his 'Benson' novels - the [semi autobiographical] story of a young gay man growing up in the Sixties. [the second book even has some rural Wales S&M content!] Here,in the fourth book of the series,we encounter our homo hero again,nearing 60, trying to give up the booze,partnered with a strict bike test examiner in Wallasey, near Liverpool, and learning to ride his Honda CG125! It's a clever and thoughtful book,really quite funny too and has a lot of stuff about complicated lives,sex,relationships,gay bikers,huge dicks,resolving problems and striving for happiness that I could identify with. Great fun to read as well! Even a happy ending! A nice interview with the author here and another here

Kinda Fun!

2011-09-01T04:27:00.000-07:00

Had a chance to do a wetbell dive a decade back but the FWUC barge crane had a problem that day sadly,so no dive. Anyway this vid is great! Nice boots too! Thanks to Bikerwolf59 for leading me to it!

Diving into the Murk

2011-08-27T08:17:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd share a few higher-def diving pictures of me this time.[click to enlarge]. Was looking at them thinking about the great divetrips I have had over recent years. And wishing my friends at the 2012 Divegathering in Ohio a great time this weekend ...I'm very sorry that I have not been able to join them. But maybe I try for 2012?

Some of the pics I do not think I have published before. Seems I was wearing my heavy Gates 1500 drysuit for all of them. They were taken at Wastwater,Lake District,UK; Portage Quarry dive lake ,Ohio,USA, and Tobermory on Lake Huron in Canada. The final pic here was during a decompression stop on the line at 6m from the 'Niagara' wreck in Lake Huron [video here]. For a drysuit that was bought for a song from 'Cover Up' a decade back,I have had a lot of fun in it. It was supposed to be a 'second' but any notions that there might be something wrong with it were dispelled a long time ago. I even had the boots changed at the manufacturers and they were unable to tell me why it had been sold as a second in the first place!Certainly a friend who recently bought one of 'Thor' heavy black rubber drysuits from Cover Up has been very surprised by its quality and value.This was also sold as a second and 'not for diving' though,why,seems unclear. Maybe he will find out at 35 m down! I'd be very surprised if there was anything wrong with it though. It looks part of a batch made for commercial use and seems they were either unused or used very little.Maybe not being new,they cannot be insured for Commercial diving. But with a Thorsuit going new for something like £1200 these are being sold for around a tenth of that price and must be one of the best bargains around in gear right now. I quite fancy an orange rubberThor suit...I could hardly keep my eyes off it when I visited a dive shop in NL recently.[want one,want one!] It kinds of hurts a bit that I've not been able to dive recently...ironically this is more to do with being unable to drive [because of eye problems-soon to be resolved] than inability to dive. What,me worry? Keep calm and Carry on! Wandering around in a misty foggyness is not something I am unused to...any British diver will have plenty of experience with fogged up masks and iffy visibility underwater! It's just above surface it can be a little irritating. But I'll survive I think! I'd like to say thanks to the guys who took these pics of me.Sweatdiver and Exodiver mainly.

Manchester Pride Fetish Lineup

2011-08-20T11:59:00.001-07:00

Always happy to promote Manchester Rubbermen supported events here! There is hot rubberlife outside London,believe me!

Another Rubbery Superhero!

2011-08-17T06:27:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Rubberzone posters for the info re a new film called Griff the Invisible,a preview here, and some 'best bits' here. Look forward to seeing it! Being a superhero fan I quite liked a couple of pics from a recent Smallville episode I found featuring the rather offbeat-self publicising-enterprising-superhero-made-good ,Booster Gold [a very nice leather suit for a change from the more usual superhero lycra and rubber outfits] I also found a pic of The Blue Beetle which I thought was quite hot.[in the Smallville tv episode,a guy trapped in a mad robosuit he can't control very well,something that maybewe all can identify with after a few drinks,I am sure!] At the moment it looks like I am about to have a few cybernetic implants installed myself! Well,not quite,though it feels sometimes I am being slowly replaced bit by bit! [Gentlemen,we can rebuild him,we have the technology!] Having eye problems at the moment which has rather limited my plans for this summer and leaves me a bit marooned at home. Cabin fever,anybody? Having two operations for new plastic lenses to be implanted into both eyes over the next few months. This should return my eyesight to normal,if all goes well. No x-ray vision or heat vision,sadly,and I probably won't be able to jump even small buildings with a single bound,but it'll be nice to see clearly again.

More Hunky Spacemen!

2011-08-07T04:00:00.000-07:00

Continuing the spaceman theme, I was emailing a friend and found a nice YouTube link for him to the great British Gerry Anderson scifi 'UFO' series of the early 1970's. It's kind of dated a tad,but still very watchable and the gear images hit me right between the eyes as a kid,much as they do now. Sadly affordable VHS recorders were still a decade away, so as a teenager I 'recorded' it in my brain for later replay,usually after lights out! Embedded below is part 1 of Episode 6 'Survival' [one of the best episodes from my perspective] which takes place on the rather British but quite stylish futurist Moonbase. Into spacesuits and spacemen vids? This is a 'must have' episode to download. The rest are all on YouTube or at your local DVD store...The 'actor of colour' [Harry Baird] here certainly fills his spacesuit well for sure! But the alien's spacesuits [shown in this episode] were also pretty horny too,with a kind of green goo that they 'breathed' I realise there is maybe a whole generation out there who have never seen these episodes,and if they can just suspend belief a bit especially in the model based non CGI FX,they may actually enjoy them too. But for gearheads this stuff is as good as any gay porn! Anyway,ENJOY! And let me know what you think!

It's a Soaraway Life!

2011-07-31T10:15:00.000-07:00

Off topic,but I am a great fan of Fry and Laurie and this very prescient and witty reworking of 'It's a Wonderful Life', from a long time back relating to Rupert Murdoch,who I am definately not a fan of. To make up for it,here is a link to Ikarie XB1, a very geary Czech scifi film,which has some of the horniest rubbery spacesuits ever seen! I posted the best bits vid a few years back,but the full English language version is downloadable here in 9 parts as well. Thanks to SCAPE #703 who runs the great Hazmatloverssuit of the Year site for this! And what would we ever do without YouTube?

Tribute to A Jay

2011-07-23T12:19:00.001-07:00

Way back,when there was no internet,fetish and BDSM gay men had to buy magazines to find out what the fuck was going on. This was difficult as in many countries certain 'lifestyle' magazines were banned,ostensibly to protect public morals but in actuality to stamp out the growth of the gay movement worldwide.Like a tide this was,and still is inexorable,so it was a waste of time. 'Drummer' magazine,being both gay and leather BDSM based, was something doubly illegal in the UK,so the only way I ever got to see it was when someone smuggled it in,or managed to get it past the 'international mail interception' department of our Post Office who opened a lot of magazine mail entering the UK,right up into the 90's on the pretext of stamping out filth. A friend subscribing to Drummer here lost half his magazines,but some did get through. I like to think the others entertained many a bored postal censorship operative before being consigned to the flames. Ah,life in a 'free' society! Amongst the many charms of the long gone - but highly collectable 'Drummer' was a cartoon strip by a Jewish gay San Francisco based comic artist,'A.Jay' [Al Shapiro] called 'The Super Succulant Adventures of Harry Chess' or just 'Harry Chess' as most people called it. Al's Harry Chess toons evolved from pre Stonewall days where they'd first appeared in secretive late 60's gay magazines. Unusually funny and sexy at the same time with frequent leather/BDSM/bondage references and artwork,the cartoony style with stylised big dicked muscly guys[sigh] and political comment re 70's America that confused me but always entertained and certainly the pics turned me on! [FULLSIZE CLICK!]Loved some of the catch phrases used ['Be still my beating heart' and 'I wonder if I still have George Maharis's phone number?' etc.] You might think it strange that I mention the ethnicity of the artist,but Al made some play of it in his comic strips and I even once found an Israeli site celebrating his work! Some of the toons were stolen for UK publication as well but had to be cut a fair bit. Amazing to think that a funny cartoon should be regarded as obscene and highly illegal at the same time,but such are the knots that censors get into. Can you believe we have a coverall criminal charge here of 'conspiracy to corrupt public morals' once used against gays? But I guess dicks,even line drawn ones were fair game at that time for the censors. A lot of Tom of Finland's work entered the UK tfrom the 70's, but also heavily censored. Curiously enough Al did a fair bit of more straightforward erotic art such as the pics below. Still quite stylised for sure,but demonstrates he was quite an impressive artist in his own right.But a lot of gay historians think that A Jay's comic strips are actually quite important in a history of Gay Liberation,giving gay men a sense of self esteem,fun,sexiness and,well,'normality' that was missing in much of the daily life many experienced at the time. For gay men nowadays that do not like reading anything 'political',Gay Liberation activists,[of which I am proud to identify with] formed movements working for social justice that changed the world so they can live an admittedly still imperfect, but a relatively sane life in the 21st century. Congrats to the first New York gay married couples btw!Harry Chess was the first mainstream gay cartoon and the first one that was cheekily sexy and quite devoid of guilt or shame. Al Shapiro's work was great fun,and although some of the stuff looks a tad dated now,some of the stories and toons are still great fun to read. So much so,that I have added a link to downloadable files in the artwork section of my site. [more here and here] Got any more of them? I'd love to complete my collection,so let me know! I won't begin to describe the general anarchy that hid the plots,though 'The Man from Uncle',Mission Impossible' ,seedy leather bars ,gay saunas ,torture chambers and Barbara Streisand seem to be all in it there somewhere. Well,you can work it out for yourself! I'm still a fan decades later of the great,sexy and funny artwork of A Jay! If you're interested in an interview with Al Shapiro written shortly before he died in 1987, it's here.

Foundation

2011-07-17T15:02:00.000-07:00

A film of Azimov's magnum opus is apparently in the planning stages. This vid is really quite beautiful,full of spacemen,robots,futurism and astonishing artwork galore. Nice music too...Enjoy!

Old Dive Calendar Slideshow

2011-07-11T15:27:00.000-07:00

Something nice I found from Doug Elsey,a great underwater photographer for a Canadian Military Diving supplier,...[On YouTube of all places!] This year's calendar is here in screensaver form.They've been doing these for years under the Carleton name...I'd love to find the older ones. Can anyone help?

Welliesbiker

2011-07-10T06:49:00.000-07:00

This is one of those images I return to again and again. It's in Johnny Stuart's Rockers Book [which I also frequently scan through and worth every penny of the Amazon price for the pics alone,and I finally just bought the new 'Or Glory' Rockers book too,great pics!] But I had seen this image earlier somewhere. Looks quite an old pic, seems a pretty authentic early 60's British biker,but I wondered if this is just too fetishy to be true? The pose,the ancient pvc pants [with a hardon hidden in one of the pvc folds?]The muddy and worn Bullseye wellies and the carefully studied scruffiness that this guy carries off beautifully. Then I wondered if it was Johnny Stuart himself when younger,but maybe not. Wonder who it was? Someone knows! It's a great fetish picture,for sure and testimony that it doesn't take £1000+ bike leathers to make me happy,nice though they are! Click pic for higher def!

Asian Superheroes

2011-07-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

The Far East has kept a very distinct cultural identity despite globalisation,and nowhere better can this be seen in the popular culture of comic books and kids tv series from Japan,Korea and China. An almost alternate universe with a very different anime style of artwork and very different cultural heritage exists,which can make crossovers to the west a tad difficult. But as a kid I watched the rather strange [and badly dubbed] Marine Boy and Astro Boy on British tv,then later on stuff like Power Rangers,aware of how very odd it was compared with western offerings. One thing it was not,was boring. Confusing,maybe;but never dull. Full of action and colour. I had superhero addiction badly when I was a kid,even down to secretly having a costume and going on secret 'patrol' at night [The men in white coats with large nets never managed to catch me for a spot of reprogramming,fortunately]. But my superhero fantasies and cosplay stuff were pretty conventional when compared to the kind of superhero stuff coming out of the Far East that I only relatively recently discovered. Got to say a lot of it still looks pretty wierd to me,but is not uninteresting. And there appears to be a whole generation in the Far East who love superhero cosplay. Only logical I guess

Often incredibly bright and vibrant costumes combine with a kind of obsession with zentai lycra and fetishy plastic including masks based on insects,or incredible steel warriors,influenced by armoured warriors and martial arts. Asian computer games also have their own characters as well, bright,bizarre,violent and full of energy.And sexy? Well,kind of but there never seemed to be the obsession with the steroidal musclebound hypermales and trunks with bulges. And few faces. Asian superheroes not only seemed to be masked,but also covered with head armour as well. A lot of it with a kind of bug theme! Certainly the baddies costumes were even stranger with the bug theme manifesting itself very strongly too! Plenty of great Asian Superheroes from Ultraman to Kamen Riders and Guyver. [more here]But quite a few asian guys like more western-ish look in cosplay superheroes,and there seems even to be a Japanese version of Spiderman and Batman. Plenty of cosplay asian Supermen as well judging from the gearfetish galleries. One original superhero I like very much is the Thai Boltman,who kindly let me use a couple of his great images here [left and above],which demonstrate great imagination and spirit. Just wish I was able to create such beautiful images on my photoshop! Also interesting are asian superheroes in western media .[full list here] Not too many of these about until recently...we often forget how 'white' Marvel and DC comics were up until the 70's. One of my favourite sidekick characters,Thomas Kalmaku was an inuit assistant to Green Lantern with the rather unfortunate nickname of 'pieface' [something the later storylines had him objecting to btw] but it is interesting to see how a rather stereotypically passive character grew to become rather more dynamic. Rather amusingly like the Green Hornet TV series lead character being rather upstaged by Kato played by Bruce Lee. I make no secret of a liking for masculine asian guys here at frglee - [a result of a long time Japanese fuckbuddy years back] Is this a fetish? Objectifying people? Or is it just a 'preference'? Not really; I like everyone! If anything I've always found differing ethnicity and race a plus rather than a negative. Its not an exclusive interest or one born out of 'dinge' [a not so nice expression about some [usually white] guys who desire to be humiliated by people of colour or ethnicity that they regard as inferior] I have some great asian and other guys of colour as friends who I like and respect a great deal. I've always hated discrimination,probably because I have been a victim of it.And I really wish some gay friends would avoid casual racism in conversations....it's just so tacky these days. Just like homophobia. A message for UK Gay Pride Day,2nd July 2011!

Royale and Men in Uniform

2011-06-23T03:43:00.000-07:00

I was sent a large collection of vintage gay images recently. Stuff that I last saw in the late 70's in magazines like the British 'Men in Uniform'. A lot of the images come from a lot earlier,even as far back as the secretive 1950's where gay men made do with muscle mags and curious gear-based photosets of sailers,soldiers,sportsmen and bikers that you could buy from P.O. box numbers in London.. Very much copying the American 'Physique Pictoral' idea. In that you could get away with this stuff as there was no actual sex,dicks or groping going on. 'Art studies' maybe? Studios in the backstreets of central London worked overtime printing photo sets to be delivered in discrete plain brown paper envelopes which no doubt the discrete postie had a pretty good notion as to what was enclosed. In a sense these magazines and photosets allowed a gay movement some sense of connection and self worth that had not been experienced since before the war.Whilst the 1920's and 30's had been a time of liberalising of attitudes,the 1950's became a particularily brutal time in the UK for gay men,with witchhunts,beatings,blackmail,imprisonment and police raids commonplace. Homophobia was rampant in that generation - my father's vicious bigotry had been a particularly unpleasant surprise when,at 18,I was outed to my family in 1972. Again,things have changed a lot in the intervening years here,not to say that such ignorant intolerance and hatred does not still go on in families,and gay children still grow up being bullied and in fear of schoolmates and the people that are supposed to love them and care for them.. The UK authorities always did their best to 'root out filth'and gay magazines here were pretty strictly controlled right up until the internet days in the 90's. Now there are hardly any left anyway.Strange how innocent these pictures seem nowadays,but then maybe the secret to good porn was always to let people use their imagination rather than being too explicit.On that level these images work pretty well,I think. Perhaps full colour, hi-def naked imagery these days gets a bit too,erm,'biological' and leaves nothing much to the imagination,which is a shame because the most potent sex organ we have - the brain,seems rarely to get much of a workout with this kind of stuff.Strange that corporal punishment was so popular here in early photosets. But beating or 'Le vice Anglais' seemed to be part of the fabric of most British boy's lives back then,whether it be from a 'loving' parent,a dutiful schoolmaster or caring priest,or even as part of regulation 'military discipline'. Public physical punishment was commonplace. I saw a schoolmate being beaten at a state school I attended on a stage by a headmaster in front of 300 students as late as 1967! Oddly,images of CP seemed to be ubiquitous in the UK, but the authorities rooted them out of sex magazines after the 70's. Bondage imagery seemed always frowned on too here.From about 1970 dicks began to appear instead! But then us Brits have always had such repressed notions of morality. I grew up in a world where violence,horror images,war comics and films full of gore were quite acceptable,but show a dick,bum,boobs or a fanny and people started passing out and reaching for the smelling salts. The Royale Studios produced photo sets of all kinds of interesting guys with some very odd takes on gear and scenes by modern standards. Sailors and soldiers,muscleboys,footballers and bikers... Many of the models were pretty ordinary guys,although there were a few bodybuilders and professional models like Anton Saxon who looked very good indeed,even by modern standards. One curiousity is to look at the endless reuse of props and gear. Spot the tight white shorts is one amusing game,along with the same boots and jackets being endlessly recycled for photoshoots. There's more pics and an article about Royale here. And it's Nice to see artists like Mitch emulating the style and spirit of the Royale stuff.[ blog here] At 19, when I first saw some of the images of leather boys from Royale I nearly stopped breathing! But many of them were already very dated,I knew that then,but thats all there was until I came across Tom's work and the BDSM /fetish magazines from continental Europe such as 'Toy' and 'Mr SM' - very illegal here,so had to be smuggled in. But so much of what I emulated outside the divegear fetish,and many of my fantasies,self image and role models came from these images taken in some drafty London studio half a century ago.

Diver Breathing Bag

2011-06-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

Yes,more YouTubery...In 3 decades of diving I have never heard of this bizarre technique,probably for a very good reason..I'd imagine panic would set in very fast! Kind of fun,though. I like the wetsuits and the other vintage gear! In the good old days of diving, careless frogmen seemed to endlessly be getting trapped underwater,whether it be by being grabbed by a giant octopus or stepping in a giant clam, caught in nets or having things fall on them [rocks,sinking ships etc]. Whilst it makes for good drama,it doesn't really happen much,in my experience! We do all watch out for nets though! By way of a psotscript,a couple of unrelated vids I have been enjoying this week: Firstly one of a Chinese guy who wore his Iron Man suit to work and secondly,a film excerpt 'Cool Leather Biker' [from 'Torque'],that is so gay and geary that the YouTube poster left the bit with with girlies at the end of the clip,just in case our str8 friends were getting confused. But nice guys,nice smiles,nice leathers and great bikes!

Hot Hazmat!

2011-06-09T05:23:00.000-07:00

If,as a gearhead,like me, and you keep your collection of web images and photos in some semblance of order,you may very well have a folder in 'My Pictures' called 'Hazmat'. This is an old interest of mine and kind of links to an interest in PVC/plastic as well as a liking of being sealed in and sealed off from the outside world. Recently I got to play again,this time outdoors,in an Auer suit which was great fun. It might have been even more fun if I'd managed to use the compressed air supply to it,but the cylinder I had was a bit too big for the size of suit/size of occupant.Can't be helped and I am grateful to frogman59 for the chance to wear the suit. Worn over my Zodiac suit, the resulting effect,even on a very warm day,was very pleasant indeed. I particularily liked the solidity of the Auer ... It really felt thick,heavy and,well,'protective'. A lovely smell of PVC and sweat too from previous occupants and a great feeling as I began to warm up and sweat freely myself,inside the Zodiac. Loved the plastic creaking and rustling sound too...As well as the feeling of being turned into a huge green powerful 'spaceman' exploring a new planet! I had planned to wear my latex catsuit undeneath as well but maybe that would have been pushing things a bit on a hot day. It did not take very long walking around fully zipped to get very stuffy in there and I was pretty soon begging for air. The zip in the suit is quite solid and takes some effort to open,so I needed help from my buddy to do this.But for a little while I was wandering around the forest,posing for pics and sporting a great grin on my face and a bulge at my crotch! And I greatly enjoyed the chance a few years back to try the orange one as well,courtesy of Ncapsul8 ! Wearing the Zodiac suit on under the Auer was a kind of tribute to the great pics by the German hazmat gearmeister,Rubbboot,[site sadly closed right now]who seems to be a regular particpant in the BerlinerTruppe meetings of hazmat enthusiasts that have been going on now for a decade in the surrounds of disused industrial premises in eastern Germany,a bunch of guys in hazmat and protective suits spend an enjoyable weekend bedecked in thier favourite gear and testing equipment with buddies exploring the deepest and darkest reaches of the facility. Years back I tried to participate in an event but there were communication difficulties due to my German being very poor. But several friends have expressed an interest in visting one of these meets too. I might have been a tad underdressed anyway bearing in mind the image galleries I have seen of these meets...I have a Zodiac,a yellow PVC splashsuit and a light hazmat suit for wearing over BA systems,both from 'Cover Up' for a great price and still used a lot many years on.But these guys obviously have huge collections of all sorts of hazmat gear,even unusual stuff from Russia and China built up over the decades.Play outdoors is great,but wandering around the house so attired can be fun too,especially over latex gear. It's fun is to do a little hazmat 'exercise' outdoors at night. Whilst I never quite went the full hog and wore such gear to the more 'sophisticated' outdoor cruising areas in London,I have always known plenty of quiet places in the countryside to play in where I would not create mayhem,because no one in their right mind would be where I was,say, a forest in the middle of nowhere at 2 in the morning. Fun as well,was visiting clubs such as Vagevuur and their various great industrial gear nights years back in full gear. Unsatisfied at the limited time I could spend breathing air from a cylinder,I took to taking a second tank and changing over. A lot of hot and sweaty work,getting in and out of suits and back into something else as well.. then back down the stairs to investigate the backroom action,fully protected and fully sealed off from any chemical or biological hazard! Even wore a fully functioning dive rebreather a few times as well as an 'oxygen candle' rebreather that produced prodigious amounts of pure oxygen so that the tubed breathing loop valve seem to vent off continully. I tried to stay away from people smoking on that occasion! But plenty of people like playing in hazmat gear minus BA systems...a gasmask tube out of a gap in the zipper is a common safe way to play,though some suits have venting valves that can be adapted as well.Just the feel,look,smell and noise from PVC is a turn on to many.Two guys wrestling about in thick yellow splashsuits in wellies,gloves and gasmasks is a favourite fantasy of mine! There are some great vids and galleries around from some of the usual suspects on Gearfetish and Rubberzone [you know who you are!].Wolfhazmat is a great doorway site to the hazmat scene. Some nice stuff on the Hazmatdiving site too. I like heavy gear best of all.Something very nice watching a guy in multilayered hazmat gear hardly able to move groaning in delight in enclosed fun. I'm very fond of pics of hazmat guys wearing silver fire retardant suits over their hazmat suits ending up looking like some humungous spacemen! Some nice vids of couples playing around too,as well as some outdoor stuff which is always great fun to watch.Like divegearheads,hazmatgearheads have plenty of innocent videography around to turn them on. Many of the emergency services have regular drills in hazmat gear and often they end up on YouTube as well! As well as unoffical drills such as here and here! There is even a great Yahoo Groups 'Hazmatlovers of the Year' club,where you can vote for your favourite pics. Masses of imagery to google through and build up your own galleries and even xtube vids of guys playing in hazmat gear..... So,you like Hazmat and protective suits but have no gear and want some? There are a few retailers of new and used gear around,notably Cover Up in the UK and Gehrotex in Germany,both 100% reliable.Regulation and Expectations shops in London do sometimes sell gear like this,but many people buy from friends and even off ebay. In this respect you just have to search and be lucky. Auer and other manufacturers sell their own gear,as do their dealers of course,but usually only to recognised groups. I once read a post by an experienced hazmat worker in the Chemical and biological defense industry bemoaning people wearing these suits without qualifications and experience,and of course he has a point,there being serious training done by professionals on using these suits. But we aren't talking about playing in hazardous environments or fighting fires here...Just fulfilling a few fantasies,watched over by a buddy ideally. The point might be made that solo play in such a suit can be a recipe for disaster...thickly gloved hands make it difficult to get out of some of these suits in a hurry,and if you zip yourself up in what is essentially a huge thick plastic bag,you'd be quite surprised how fast the CO2 builds up and how uncomfortable it gets in there. One consequence of such suffocation can be to induce panic and whilst these suits are fun to wear,there is only a limited amount of fun to be had [for most of us] from suffocating to death in a state of desperate panic in a hazmat suit by yourself. And of course the reaction of family and friends when they find your body..
For the real enthusiast who wants to take the hazmat experience as far as it will go,then breathing apparatus is a must.And hazmat makers usually design SCBA dedicated kit for their suits. I like wearing BA a lot...even if my BA is little more than adapted dive kit...fairly easy to rig up a connection from a dive regulator into a gasmask. Whilst this might offend a gear purist,it certainly does the job pretty well,giving me nearly an hour of air completely sealed in. Most experienced divers will have no problem with this,and whilst it is possible for anyone to strap on a breathing mask and strap on a cylinder in a harness on their back,some element of understanding of compressed air equipment is needed,and I could only suggest that a novice either try to get some dive training or find someone experienced to establish some ground rules and basic safety knowledge. Bondage scenes in hazmat can also be fun,under the watchful eyes of a facilitator of course.Finally,outdoor photoshoots can be fun too but remember that paranoid police and security organisations in some countries might regard someone unauthorised wearing hazmat gear as a signal that something highly illegal is going on. Something that might be hard to explain to humourless security operatives. So watch it! Hopefully in your country,you might just be regarded as harmless eccentrics! ps,More nice stuff on an earlier hazmat post,here!

Bondage Vids

2011-05-27T15:13:00.000-07:00

Amazing how you look at sites every day and miss things. I wasn't aware until recently that the great EckieBondagfan site has videos included [you might have to join to see the vids].The one with the still above by SkinboyDK is pretty hot and I know suspension bondage is very hard to get right,especially in gear. As well as the great flightsuit adding a simple BC system of a bubbler attached to a gasmask adds a certain something...kink added to kink added to kink. Several more of this calibre there. Other sites I like are the M2MBC site which sadly is something of a lottery to use these days as the daily bandwidth allowance is so low. Bondagegate isn't bad,even better if you are a fit and adventurous young lad with serious dreams of being tied up in reality by an experienced and extremely well equipped bondage master,I'd guess. A few more on YouTube and Xtube for sure. For the solvent gentlemen around us there is a great paybondage site...But there is more than enough there to keep the rest of us paupers amused and interested for half an hour there...and some great photos and articles. There seems to be dozens of str8 examples of such paysites but very few decent gay fetish commercial BDSM video sites around.

Tour Postscript

2011-05-21T04:54:00.000-07:00

Having just returned home from NL with a bastard of a cold,which my host got too - I guess we both got it on our daytrip to Amsterdam,someone sneezing in the hydrofoil perhaps? Next time, biohazard protection needed! Could do with one of the above new British gasmask/BA systems. Maybe that 'drug lab' looks a bit like the place that made my Amyl Nitrite? Nice vid ! Best bit starts at 1m47s

frglee on Tour - part 2

2011-05-16T00:44:00.000-07:00

Yet more travelling,but this time in the general direction of home.After a beautiful week by and in Lake Geneva and a chance to do one last set of frglee photos in gear taken by frogman59 [the one above is using his great old military Fenzy collar BC] and vice versa ,I headed north to Bezancon via the very impressive old French Alpine route RN5 out of Geneva [pic above on zigzag road up to the col north of Geneva/Fernay] for another nice night at an ETAP motel there,and a chance to shop in vast American style mall nearby. Got a nice pair of size 47 vibram soled walking boots half price in a sale. [We like 'occasions' and 'soldes' in France!] Then on the next morning to Luxembourg in a violent thunderstorm. Very pretty land and I drove south to north on a vast empty autoroute much of the way through rolling green quiet countryside. Thence through to Antwerp,a city I know well and used to have truly great times in.To Roosendaal next day,a smallish Dutch border city filled with 'coffee shops',staying at an affordable little hotel,and on the next morning to the underwater camera shop to pick up the new housing for my camera [£205],so I can take photos and vids underwater. Afterwards I slowly drove north via the astonishingly pretty and historic small port of Willemstad and then onto the magnificent mediaeval Dutch city of Delft for a walk around. One scene that might amuse...me ordering tea in a Dutch pavement cafe,chucking out the dreadfully weak 'Pickwick' Dutch teabag and substituting an English teabag I keep in my wallet for such emergencies! To a little town near Haarlem to visit with Exodiver,an old friend and a great diver for a few days diving and stuff.A chance also to see some other contacts including fundiver and his new bike,as well as a very sweet guy [WizardEHV] from Eindhoven who loves diving but does not dive yet [soon change that!]who wanted me to have a look at his 'old drysuit from ebay' which turned out to be virtually new and worth a small fortune! Not exactly challenging stuff underwater but very relaxing and a chance to try out my new underwater digital camera housing. The plan was pics on day 1 and vids on day 2. Grevelingen in Zeeland is a nice divesite,despite a steep climb over the seawall from the carpark...It's in brackish salty water on an oyster bed filled with crabs and lobsters as well as colourful sponges and weed. Very unusual dive for me,never seen this underwater ecosystem before. My Aga mask was working faultlessly and I pretty soon relaxed and got into the dive next to my Viking suited buddy. On to Haarlemerbos in the afternoon. An unusual underwater landscape formed by a flooded quarry with the supports of a building stuck into the lakebed to explore. Lots of stripy perch again but so cold below the thermocline at 8m. The following day diving at the dive lakes at De Belvert where the visibility resembled that of thick vegetable soup and diving accomplished by following endless ropes everywhere. Could not help laughing out loud when down at 17m in the cloudy cold [6c] opaque water. 'We do this for fun?' Adventures in advanced masochism perhaps? Anyway,it was a useful reminder that diving can be hazard prone and I was pleased to find,despite rotten conditions,that I was quite happy wandering through the murk at the bottom of the lake. 'What does not kill us makes us stronger' and bad dives can be learning experiences and good for dive confidence. A lovely fourth dive with Exodiver and Hornyfrogman [who was!] at Vinkeveen Lake. Exploring a new bus sunk in the lake made a good site to do my own first ever underwater video with my own gear. 33 minutes of footage later reduced to the 5 minutes above by careful editing by exodiver [Thanks!] later on that day. The result I am quite pleased with. And one more day visiting Amsterdam by hydrofoil waterbus to have a wander round one of the most attractive cities on the planet. Anyone who cannot enjoy this city really needs their head examined! Maybe I do not get so excited by it as in years past but the happy memories of times past as ghosts of old friends and nights in leatherbars wander through my mind. How sexy and amazing were those days,two or three decades back,and how magical the city was then when new to me. Visits today to the great Lambeik comic shop,as well as the usual trawl through Blackbody[where I bought genuine Amyl Nitrite!] as well as Robs [Nipple Clamps heh hehe] and Mr B ...Ah well,tomorrow,the Hook of Holland ferry and back to my beloved little cottage in Scotland,in the middle of nowhere by a forest near a castle....

frglee on Tour!

2011-05-08T13:38:00.000-07:00

For once,I am not blogging from rural SW Scotland,but from the French side of Lake Geneva,where I am visiting an old buddy,frogman59. I drove down here over 4 days,a distance of some 1000 miles,avoiding the autoroutes for peage and fuel economy reasons,and a chance to see a bit of the real France on the way down. The magnificence of 'La Belle France' can only really be seen this way. Huge vistas of beautiful quiet,scenic and generally empty countryside.Tiny sleepy villages stuck in a timewarp,forgotten little towns and a rural road system that Stanley might have found harder to navigate than wander through Central Africa! I speak some French, which is always useful for an Englishman here,and although a lifelong vistor- my first trip was when I was 9 - I can now properly appreciate France through an understanding of the delightfully old fashioned 'formal informality' that characterises a very gentle and polite culture despite traditional but unfair Anglo Saxon prejudices in this direction. Crossing the Channel and international motoring round Europe these days is a piece of piss,although as a single motorist the customs authorities targeted me for a thorough search at Dover and on the Swiss-French border. No bottom inspections at least! Some rather nice vistas of Lake Geneva in Switzerland around Vevey and on the French side where I am staying which I make no apologies for including on an otherwise fetish based blog! . First things first...immediately I got here I was in the water for a quick snork. Wanted to test out my wetsuit as well. I've done a bit of diving here before and nice to be back. It's mostly.pretty shallow stuff really that we do here,as we are doing more gearhead stuff,although there are deeper boat dives avaiable and even wrecks to visit....but we are not diving much deeper than 15m in Lake Leman,though it is a very deep in places. Lots of stripy perch in the water and I even had a chance to try them cooked;a local delicacy it appears,and at a price to match! But the main thing is the chance to ease my way back into the discipline needed for diving after 10 dry months and make sure all my gear is working. Like riding a bicycle,it seems you never forget,and my dives have been enjoyable and trouble free. Frogman59 knows the lake here very well,and the divers even better,so plenty to see. And lots to see on the gear front as well,as he has added greatly to his collection of divegear in recent years,including a brand new KM Stainless Steel Superlite dive helmet,which I will get a chance to dive very shortly. Lots of wetsuits too,which has come in handy giving some of the local lads a chance to have their first trydive. We did this yesterday,with myself as surface cover and frogman59 as accompanying instructor diver...really very nice to see the grin from ear to ear when the lad surfaced after his first ever trip beneath the surface! But plenty of other stuff to do. Meeting my host's friends and acquaintances and being well wined and dined! Exploring Geneva on the train and on foot. Going to a Thai Boxing match. Driving through the mountains. Enjoy the views of the lake from the patio..Resting and relaxing a bit as well. A nice trip to Chamonix to ride the cablecar up Mont Blanc which takes you about 12,000 feet [nearly 4000m]where the air is pretty thin and about the highest and most magnificent place I have ever been to in my life,despite the breathlessness and giddiness! Nice pic of Frogman59 at the top of the world testifies to the awesome scenry with vertical drops of 1000m in places. Vertigo anyone? The cablecar was pretty awesome too,with the usual heartstopping moments where it thuds over the tower wheels hundreds of feet above rocks! But there is another thing to look at on Mont Blanc ...Lots of good looking young guys in ski gear and mountaineering boots especially.Took a lot of pics for my collection but maybe add some of them here in the future too. I like ski boots a lot! Interesting to watch the guys looking so immaculate in their mountain gear,in little groups where the price of social acceptance is wearing exactly the right gear and brands of clothing! But French guys always had plenty of 'savoir faire' when it comes to looking good,though I tend to think it is overdone a bit sometimes! I can't really imagine a scruffy skier though.
And a chance to play in an Auer suit as well,of which I am a great fan,especially when worn over my Zodiac suit! It was pretty warm and I got pretty sweaty in there...the original plan to wear a latex suit under as well was luckily not followed up!We did some outdoor pics,such as the ones above. I'll add some of the others of this set to frglee at a later date. Today had a nice dive with frogman59 giving him a chance to try out my Mistral twin hose reg mated to my British Navy mask,which he quite enjoyed despite a minor hassle with his drysuits neoprene hood and the full face mask.Seems full face dive dive masks always work better over latex hoods. The noseclip is an old feature used with this mask,though maybe really just for true diving masochists! Ear clearing using the valsalva maneouver just by swallowing in a special way obviates the need for clips really,essential for divers to learn,but not all can do this so easily. The Aqualung Mistral was a bold experiment that technically did not quite work out,and is now out of production,though I still think it is a very nice piece of kit,and certainly a must-have for any divegearhead collection. It does work very well at depth,but shares some of the faults of older designs in the shallows. A few more days of diving planned here the off back north in the general direction of 'the filling station country', Luxembourg [where petrol is only £1.19 a litre] and then to The Netherlands. It's a shame I did not have my new underwater housing for my camera ready for this part of the trip,but I will have it next week for the second part,wherein frglee visits the Low Countries and dives some more! Vinkeveen,near Utrecht,I am certainly looking forward to doing again...It's a great dive lake!

2011 Divegathering

2011-04-23T12:05:00.001-07:00

Been sent this little poster as a reminder to divegearheads that the 2011 Divegathering is being held again this August in Ohio. More info here . Highly recommended! Would certainly love to go myself again,it's been three years since I last went,and I really enjoyed it both times. I'll see if I can save up some money for it! In the meantime I am off on my travels touring round Europe soon,and look forward to seeing a couple of old gearhead friends,and doing some diving with them as well! Pictures to come....

When Only the Heaviest Rubber Will Do

2011-04-04T22:51:00.000-07:00

Just as knights of yore wore enough shiny metal plate armour to be almost immobilised,even to the point of having to be winched on and off horses with a crane,many industrial workers,hazmat gear wearers and commercial divers wear enough rubber and PVC to be seriously limited in their movements. Divers especially can often end up with something like 40-50kg of gear to be carried around![One diver described it as 'Like having to carry a fridge around on your back!'] Whilst this is weightless underwater of course,above the surface it makes for seriously hard work to walk around in. I can remember many delightful shore dives which were spoilt by the hassle of actually getting into the water from the kitting up spot and the drag back to the car from the water after a long dive. Trips to the waterside to carry gear back and forth just seem to stretch out the hard work! But there is a great lure in heavy rubber for me,as mentioned before,because of the way it bulks up men and reinforces masculinity and the 'hypermale',as well as linking to jobs that seem to be the preserve of the bravest an strongest of men. The gear itself seems to have a great visual appeal,not least in the shiny rubber or plastic look with ripples and folds of material exacerbating the effect in the light. 10 years on I still remember a heavy rubber pair of chest waders I once met in a backroom shining in the half light,the folds and ripples being about the most erotic thing I had ever seen. Though I have long since forgotten who was actually in them! Being up close to the heavy stuff there are other erotic markers too,such as the smell of warm rubber and how scuffed and used they are! For me old gear works better than new gear,I guess the imprinting of my rubber interest when I was a kid was linked to muddy scruffy roadworkers rather than pristine gear worn by models.
Heavy rubber fanciers in the fetish scene seem to be a minorty withing a minority and a minority....viz there are not that many of them about. The ones that are are keen devotees of course. Many of them see no reason why they can't wear their gear as everyday apparel,especially if they live in the countryside. Protective gear seems de rigeur for agricultural workers anyway,and they are not going to change out of it every time they have to vist the village shop for a pack of cigarettes! So quite a bit of muddy booted and suited eye candy for me where I live! Heavy dive gear much the same. In one location in western Scotland I know a small pier where the dive boats put in for lunch and where dry suited divers wander unselfconsciously around the village in the rain walking up to the burger bar or the village shop to get a tea with a pastie or a burger...Outnumbering and quite taken for granted by the locals! The local pub draws the line at having divers inside though they happily supply the odd pint for thirsty drysuited divers as long as they stay out of the bars! A rather surreal sign seen at The Diver pub in Tobermory on Mull a few years back...'No Divers!' And there are the dedicated fetishists of course,such as Rubberfrogmn from Belgium,[pics left and above] whose idea of fetish,like mine,revolves around heavy rubber. The old Vagevuur used to hold quarterly heavy rubber and industrial gear parties in Holland. People came from all over the EU to attend these[including yrs truly,natch!,and for me they were some of the happiest times I have ever had in any rubberclub!]. Wandering around in two layers of latex inder a rubber drysuit waering compressed breathing gear or even a dive rebreather I seem welded into rubber,fully enclosed and hermatically sealed off from the other people around me...even unable to talk to them! Sometimes the pressure and heat became almost intolerable, but luckily there were cold showers in the club to stand under and cool myself down! The most gear I ever wore to a club was the above as described and a full yellow hazmat suit on over. The heat built up over an hour until it was almost unbearable. Masochism AND a great night out! Interesting I sweated so much in these suits,I hardly ever needed to piss at all no matter how much I drank...I filled my boots or rubber socks full of sweat though after 4 to 5 hours! btw,I'd love to know who makes these all enclosing heavy rubber suits in orange and black...And now I do,as I was told by a kind American rubberman that they are made by Studiogum in Vienna..D'oh I should have known that as they are linked here in the shops section. I should use my own blogsite more often!!

Getting Back to Work

2011-03-13T08:51:00.000-07:00

After a while out of work,I suddenly find myself dealing with the demands of 2 jobs,sadly both temporary! But it's better than nothing and at least it means no more visits to be interrogated with rubber hoses by Ms Pugh at the infernal frikkin Jobcentre.... The money will be welcome for sure,and there are bills to pay and several things I need to get for a.the house and b.for me! [new Underwater Camera Housing for one] But it's kind of nice being part of a team again and saying hi to all the other workers each day. I kinda missed that. Living up here in the middle of nowhere, where days can pass without seeing anyone,I am pretty self sufficient when it comes to company,but I am not that self sufficient! [Cue Ms Streisand! ] Travelling around the largely rural area I live in each day is kind of fun too,if not just to scope and mentally record [for later use!] all the road workers in hi viz gear and boots each day. And there are plenty of them right now for sure. The roads round here resemble the surface of Mars right now,after a spectacularily cold winter in Scotland [worst for a century] where it got down to -18c and has really bust the roads up. And as I write,another snowfall reminds us that Winter is not quite over yet,despite the daffodils starting. So lots of guys filling holes and resurfacing roads kitted out in filthy hi viz suited and muddy or tar stained boots and [occasionally] wellies. But readers of this blog know that this has been a 50 year love affair for me - even before I was old enough to understand why I got a nice warm feeling watching the guys by the road trenches with spade and shovel. The old pic above,for which I make no apology for reusing here - really does remind me of how roadworkers actually looked here over half a century back! Not much evidence of hi viz there,or indeed safety equpment...but plenty of warm gear and enough of interest to make any gearfetishists heart beat a tad faster...In Summer they usually stripped off down to their pants,so again more homoerotic stuff to delight a gay kid,sweaty mens torsoes covered in mud.... Funny I can even remember the smell of their tea which was made,army style, in a large billy can over a fire...ingredients:half a pack of tea,two gallons of water,a large tin of evaporated milk and about half a pound of sugar poured in at once and stirred whilst boiling until it had stewed to strength 5. This produces a hot strong sweet thick beverage, supped in metal mugs and completely unlike anything normal people drank! Bemoaning the lack of thick industrial wellies these days and the surfeit of plasticy looking rigger boots [which often are not very waterproof thus defeating the whole point of workboots outdoors] But rigger boots can look pretty cool...For one thing they give a spindly callow youth the look of a man with size 12 boots on,almost like a kind of characature of a guy in which the feet are oversized. But maybe even more,I notice how young guys almost seem to swagger in their workgear sometimes,as if suddenly realising they are not kids anymore,but men! Which is kinda cute. First image I really like,from Mirkbike,with thanks for use. Others googled for.

Bikers of Yesteryear

2011-02-19T09:23:00.001-08:00

Nostalgia is a funny thing. Some people reckon it's an unhealthy emotion,almost a refusal to move forward in life,instead wallowing in the past. Others think it is a positive kind of thing reminding us of the best times and the best things we experienced...whether it be places,people,films,tv series,cars,devices,music or clothes and even food! Have you ever looked at how very elderly people dress? Often in the clothing styles of the times they were happiest in,even if this means they appear half a century out of date. On the gear front I guess I am still very attached to the way young guys dressed when I was a kid. Seems the British have always had a thing with a kind of 'anti-style',even if it ends up looking pretty stylish. Love the Ogri lookalike on the left! In truth British bikers copied many influences such as pilots gear and American police kit,even army stuff. Other long lasting looks thrived,such as the mod,skinhead and punk look which ended up being copied worldwide. For me the earliest 'look' I ever noticed.other than rubber clad frogmen and wellie wearing roadworkers,were British bikers.And I get nostalgic about these guys and their 'look' nearly 5 decades later. Rough and nasty,shiny and dirty,sexy and outlawish...hehe,well,most of these guys led pretty ordinary lives at home with their parents probably, working in shops or factories. At weekends they'd be off on their elderly yet shiny BSAs and Triumphs with their mates having fun 'terrorising' seaside resorts by,erm,riding up and down the main strip obeying the speed limit. In Britain several US films of the time were banned [eg 'The Wild Ones'] in case they incited teenagers to make more of a nuisance to society than they were doing already [usually 'outrageous' things like wearing tight jeans and studded leather jackets or drinking milky coffee in an expresso bar whilst listening to the juke box and,erm,talking!] Life in the early 1960's Britain was pretty quiet and conformist. Anything that broke the silence seemed pretty shocking! Our newspapers loved to report how deckchairs had been thrown around by teenage gangs 'rampaging' through seaside resorts such as Hastings,above. There were some gangfights to be sure,such as the 'mods and rockers' punchups, but in the end bike clubs [other than a few 'gangs'] were usually just about normal bikers having a peaceable social life with other bikers. The most famous bike club in Britain was and still is the 59 Club,who even had a rather famous and much loved biking vicar,The Reverend Bill Shergold ,shown below:

But in the end, the images I have of leather clad lads having fun of their oily old bikes puttering and rorting about on the roads still thrill. And there are more than a few people these days who recreate the runs to the Ace Cafe and Brighton on beautifully restored vintage British bikes in [highly expensive] Vintage British leather...Far from the lads 50 years back who were mostly broke and often put upon,who were just trying to have some fun with their mates and enjoy life in a rather dull postwar world that was Britain in the early 1960's. As for gay content in the above,there was not much in those repressive times,demonstrated by the angst and guilt shown in the British biker film 'The Leather Boys'[bit of the film here]. But things would change soon enough with the cultural,musical and fashion explosion that was mid 60's Britain, which would influence the entire world.

Rubber Kink on YouTube

2011-02-06T15:45:00.000-08:00

Some postings on Rubberzone recently about rubber vids freely available on dear old YouTube. Seems as long as there isn't any actual sex and not too much rubber dick stuff,men in full latex are quite permissable these days for YouTubers. And for me,the fuller the coverage the better,which is why I like the vid above so much.There's another great one here too, I've just discovered...Seems being visually interesting helps overcome the censors too. Pretty soon though, there is often a complaint from a member of the 'Anti-Smut league' [who must spend LOTS of time searching for it!] and off it goes. But there is often a gap between posting and banning,so plenty worth ferreting about for. One vid I mentioned on Rubberzone involved a very funny and well made video of a domme teasing her rubber male victim on the floor with bc and stilettoes. It had been up on YouTube for ages and within a few days of my drawing attention to it,down it came,[sigh]. But for us rubber afficionados,there are still masses of great stuff,such as the vid by Rubberskin below [Move full screen anticlockwise - yum!] And more here and here . We are not worthy,O Rubberskin! That's the nice thing about being into rubber and other fetish gear...The items of your attentions don't need to be showing any 'naughty bits'. But as one of the late great Peter Cook's characters noted: "Do you realise that under their clothes,Dud,everyone is completely naked! It's disgusting!"

Got Milk?

2011-01-26T11:27:00.000-08:00

Always have plenty of milk in,in case this guy visits,for sure!

frglee and the Media!

2011-01-17T03:27:00.000-08:00

As I was on national radio this week [see below] I thought I'd write about my media! Like most people these days,I get my entertainment from a vast number of sources,namely online,radio,TV,graphic novels,books and cinema. I have resisted the temptation to get into gaming as I know how addictive it is,and of course I have lots of hobbies so occasionally pick up a magazine related to films,diving,trains or biking.I'm quite a fan of Viz as well.Online,far too many sites dealing with sex and kink for sure,though a lot of my main pleasures are fairly innocent,such as saving YouTube vids of divers,bikers,bodybuilders and stuff. Maybe you can work out for yourself why I like vids like the one above! Forums and torrents,galleries and blogs....these can keep me very happy indeed for hours at a time. Televison viewing has declined enormously in recent years in the frglee household,and the box is often off for days at a time. I do still watch stuff from tv but 'on demand' through various iplayers. Greatly enjoyed the new US version of 'Shameless' this week,for example,as well as the new comedy series here,'Episodes',which tells of the dangers of rewriting British TV for an American audience.. Cinema I go to from time to time,but the nearest one is rather old fashioned,and I can't help feeling that a Multiplex is desperately needed in this area.A great fan of the Si lver Age DC Green Lantern comics,I was pleasantly surprised to learn that there is a major film excursion for this superhero this year.The preview looks great! I think the costume is pretty cool too and Ryan Reynolds certainly fills it well.....Green Lantern's alter ego,Hal Jordan, was apparently modelled on Paul Newman. I always liked Hal,he was always portrayed as a nice guy,a kind of 'everyman' using his willpower and imagination to deal with evildoers everywhere. There have been several reboots of the GL character,Kyle Rayner being especially good, even so,I think Hal will always be my favourite. I kind of grew up with him. I'll go to see the new Green Lantern film in the summer for sure,and I hope not to be disappointed by it as I have been by a few of the superhero genre films. The 2012 Spidey offering also looks as if it will be very entertaining too,starring Andrew Garfield with a grittier rebooted take on the story and possibly another take on the costume too. I rarely miss a chance to see muscled superheroes in lycra and rubber! Spiderman has become quite a perennial favourite for gay superhero cosplay fans in recent years,many suit designs being available off the peg,even including an awesome rubber version seen on the amazing Rubberskin [who even makes his own spidey movies!] and has an interesting personal site.
A few months ago I contributed to a BBC forum as regards the most memorable trip to a cinema. Not the film itself so much,but the day around the actual film. Schoolday memories surfaced and I wrote about a trip in 1968 to see 2001 : A Space Oddysey in fabulous Cinerama A few weeks later a BBC producer got in touch asking me if I'd be free to record what I'd written for a radio programme on BBC Radio 4 about going to the cinema over the last 100 years. I duly went down to a local BBC studio, a high quality studio line was set up to BBC Radio in London,and I rabbited on for half an hour about Cinerama and film going. This was edited down a fair bit,but my contribution was broadcast on a programme called 'Going to the Flicks' with Barry Norman on the 15/1/11 I thought it went fairly well, if you want to hear my contribution,it can be found here about 32 minutes in. So frglee has had his five minutes of fame on national radio! I could have done without the cold when I recorded the programme,makes me sound very gravelly...though the producer seemed to think I had a good voice for radio. And I got paid for it too! All future radio work accepted!

A Tribute to Jim Boyd

2011-01-06T05:39:00.000-08:00

I can't begin to express how sad I was to hear of the passing of Jim Boyd [AKA 'James Bond']. Some amazing and very touching tributes from his friends and acqaintances to him here. Jim had been a contact of mine since I finally went online six years back,though I knew of him a lot earlier from some of his imagery in various fetish and bondage magazines. I first met him about 5 years back when he invited me to attend the NEDEG meet at Willow Springs Dive Lake in Pennsylvania. I was a tad nervous about going,mainly because I was pretty desperate to dive the gear he and his mates let vistors trydive,but I didn't want to appear too desperate! Jim calmed my nerves and made me feel really welcome and introduced me to everyone at the beginning of a great weekend. I did my best to help out,acting as support diver,and got to try out a lot of gear that I had hitherto really only dreamed about,though I had dived various commercial helmets before. The guy was surely an extrovert,a bit mad but quite fun,a determined eccentric and 'one off'. He came into his element with groups of people,especially at the restaurants after the diving each evening. He was really good at mixing with people and mixing people too,encouraging us all to talk and laugh together,and generally have a good time. But Jim was at his very best with the dive meets which he helped organise with enormous energy and enthusiasm. He'd be working hard at the events all day,setting up,helping others,manning the panel,teaching people,taking photographs and getting divers to pose properly [of which he was masterful at] and generally keeping things running swimmingly. He'll be sorely missed there.

A long time member of various bondage groups for many years,Jim was also known to me as I riffled through gay fetish and bondage mags over the years. Like me he loved breathing equipment and fully enclosed rubber. But was also the first person I came across who was into scenes in divegear,often involving bondage in full commercial divegear with compressed air breathing systems! And what a lot of pictures there were over the years from his cellar in upstate New York! Divers in gear tied to bondage tables being 'administered 'to by other fully enclosed black rubber drysuited divers! Intensely bound commercial divers submitting themselves to JB's treatment! It blew my head away,I had never seen stuff like this before. Obviously a great believer in the 'don't dream it,be it' school of gearplay and bondage,Jim's considerable photographic and videographic skills were put to great use. He even took pictures and vids of underwater bondage scenes,which some might think a bit over the edge...but I guess with a team of experienced divers around there was probably very little danger of any kind of accident. And Jim certainly took bondage safety seriously.
Jim had a career as a railway photographer of which he reached some celebrity,also appearing on TV. One of the amazing coincidences of his life is that he managed to combine and interest in diving and railways...The dive lake at Willow Springs,PA, being an old flooded quarry complete with railway track,buildings and even the odd wagon and coach,such as the caboose [brake wagon] parked underwater by the shore for divers to swim through.[If you are brave enough to not mind the clouds of silt within!] I guess JB must have explored every inch down there from both railway buff and dive enthusiast viewpoints! He certainly had an encyclopeadic knowledge of divegear and railways,something we had in common. Mutual friends warned me not to start him off on railway stuff as you would be there the whole night! But any conversation with Jim was a pleasure. Although I never got to play with him [made enough hints,hehe,but maybe not his type] I did experience a bit of breath control at his hands which I still wonder was deliberate or accidental. At the end of one of dive days as Willow Springs I had been the last diver to get out of the water in a superlite rig. We were running a tad late and most of the dive dressers had left leaving me with a few less experienced guys to get me out of the helmet. The procedure is to leave the umbilical air feed on whilst removing the baleout cylinder. There was some fumbling going on with getting my helmet off. Jim then turned off the compressor and disconnected my pipe from the storage cylinder. Suddenly I had no air in the helmet. Sitting on a chair with two guys unable to get my dive helmet off without air was not exactly the correct procedure. I waited a minute or so holding my breath,but was really getting very uncomfortable...Finally in desperation,I discovered that by sliding a thumb under the neoprene neckseal dam I could get some air in...finally the helmet was removed... but I admit it had been a close thing,and I was on the verge of panic. Jim smiled at me when he discovered that I'd been a bit distressed by the situation and noted that I'd pushed the dam out of place,but it was easily rectified later. So many friends of mine will miss Jim,and his pictures of them in diver hero mode,such as my old buddy frogman59 [ above,left] and myself [right] will proudly adorn their collections for a very long time, I am sure. Jim was already in his 60's when I first met him and had suffered from diabetes and heart problems for some time. But he continued diving from time to time even perhaps knowing that he shouldn't have. He was the best example of mature guys on the scene teaching and inluencing younger guys. He complained to me once about some young gay fetish guys having attitude problems toward play with older men,ageism in practise. In his,and my experience,it is they who lose out.Some of the very best times and scenes I ever had,when younger,were with more mature guys.Now I guess I am a 'more mature guy' myself! To end,I just want to say Bye,Jim,we'll miss you!

2010-12-31T08:17:00.001-08:00

2011 HAPPY NEW YEAR ΚΑΛΗ ΧΡΟΝΙΑ ΣΕ ΟΛΟΥΣ ΜΑΣ สวัสดีปีใหม่ 新年あけましておめでとうございます GELUKKIG NIEUWJAAR Šťastný nový rok GOTT NYTT ÅR BONNE ANNEE FELIZ AÑO NUEVO СРЕЋНА НОВА ГОДИНА FELICE ANNO NUOVO SELAMAT TAHUN BARU CHÚC MỪNG NĂM MỚI Gezuar Vitin e Ri AN NOU FERICIT नया साल मुबारक 新年快乐 שנה טובה GLÜCKLICHES NEUES JAHR Boldog {j Éve t Hamingjusamur Nýár. 'N DDEDWYDD 'N GRAI BLWYDDYN عام جديد سعيد NOV SCHMOZ KAPOP

A Happy Grinchmas!

2010-12-19T06:55:00.000-08:00

Surrounded by the white stuff again up here in the hills and virtually cut off both from reality and the consumer wonderland out there,may I take this opportunity to wish the compliments of the season to 'some of yer' as my favourite cartoonist,Carl Giles was wont to say! The mask above is from Spookshop. And a rather nice seasonal song and public service announcement from some hunky wadered London Sewermen here! Thanks to Karl for that one!

Deviant Art

2010-12-03T22:07:00.000-08:00

Regular followers of this blog will know that I am a great fan of gay BDSM and fetish artwork and indeed,this blogsite has more than a few links to other blogsites and artsites displaying such things. It is always a pleasure to discover [or rediscover] an artistic site as I did recently with Deviantart .
Hold on,you say,most of the stuff there is neither of a sexual nature or gay. True,but some is,and it can be great fun using the search tool to try to find interesting imagery. Other favourite sites with a degree of gay imagery are E-Hentai but again,you have to search this vast site carefully for interesting stuff. En route you will discover vast galleries of furry stuff,some of which amaze me,perhaps more for the strangeness rather than the sexual content. I will confess to quite liking some of the wierder str8 BDSM and rubber art sites as well,not that I have much interest in women,but that I am an avid fan of some of the ideas expressed...such as heavy rubber medical bondage of which there is hardly any ever drawn by gay BDSM artists. I can stretch my imagination a tad to imagine the victim of some sadistic doctor is male not female for instance. A friend recently remarked that imagery involving women freaked him out,and I quite respect that. It is not for everyone. But wandering through Simon Benson's work,for example should be on the Fetish 101 course for any student of Rubberology. Being gay I am less involved with his rather,erm,'demeaning' approach to womenkind than maybe I might be if I were straight. I can at least differentiate between reality and fantasy,and much of this guys work has always been firmly in the latter category. A good selection of the kind of gay BDSM and fetish art I like to see[some reposted by me] is on Eckie's site
I am sometimes asked what gives me the right to post other peoples work onto various sites. I reply that I do so with respect in a non commercial way trying to seek permission or linking the images to the artist. In that no publicity is bad publicity,I hope it might give the artist a degree of recognition he deserves,and might pump prime a commercial basis for the hard work that has gone into the art. On the rare occassion where an artist has asked me to take down artwork I have done so without objection. I know many of them live on a shoestring and have to sell their art to make a living. But so much was drawn many decades ago and is surely now in a kind of public domain. I have tried and tried to draw acceptable imagery myself and know how hard it is to get right. Modern artists using computerised art creation programmes continually stretch the envelope as to what is possible and their work can be very intimidating to the amateur. But this should not deter us from trying. For the record,I prefer wierd ideas explored over beautiful artwork. Nice to have both,but I'd prefer the former over the latter if I had to choose.But fantasy and imagination is the key,close your eyes,grab yer dick and let your brain take you places onward from the drawings!

To Manchester

2010-11-07T08:39:00.000-08:00

Planning a trip for the weekend 26/27 November to Manchester for the Manchester Rubbermen meet and Alert! night. Maybe meeting up with some mates there as well,which will be something to look forward to.Funny to say this,living in Scotland,but I always feel like I am going to the big city when I go south to Manchester. The [much nearer] gay scene in Glasgow and Edinburgh is nothing much to write home about,and the fetish side of things is also a bit limited,but maybe I am not making enough effort to chase up events here...Still,Manchester is a pretty cool city these days and is always great to visit,especially the Canal Street Gay Village! Now the big problem, deciding what gear to wear! That usually takes 3 weeks to decide......The message from Sly [Rubbaboy] gives some idea as to the plan: "So the venue has been sorted and we've got plenty of advanced warning this time to choose our slipperiest outfits and get the polish out! We'll be meeting in the back bar of Eagle bar on Bloom Street at 9. We'll have demos for you to get involved in and "interact" with! All the rubber boys need to get a stamp on your hand from Rubbaboy which will give you cheap entry into Alert later in the night when we head over after midnight. If you've never been to one of our socials before this is your perfect chance to come say hey as it's a far more social and far less daunting setting if you've not been to a club night or bar crawl with us before! Please get spreading the news and flashing the poster where you can, as ever we're dependent on word of mouth! See you soon!"

Inflatable Furry Suits

2010-10-28T02:47:00.000-07:00

Let it not be said that I don't go to some very strange places with this blog,and I'll confess to being quite 'furry curious'[my furry alter ego would probably be something like Baloo the Bear,lol] I was interested to see these suits on YT which seem to combine rubber inflatable gear with furry themes .I should have thought that being a rubber lizard or dinosaur mught combine nicely with the texture of rubber,whereas a rubber tiger or racoon is perhaps less convincing. For the real masochists I guess htere is always the possibility of an inflatable rubber suit under a real furry suit which might get pretty intense... Inflatable suits are at their best when they are worn under another suit,so that when they are inflated they push inwards, rather than just billow out. Still,some people like the balloon look primarily and the tactile nature of tight rubber is secondary. I'd guess these suits are pretty expensive as they are custom made and highly individual in nature, I wonder whether plastic inflatable suits might be a better bet anyway. These things are cheaply mass produced as blow up toys,but I wonder whether they might make an interesting item of fetish apparel...see a vid here of an inflatable plastic T Rex which made me think of some very interesting fetish possibilities - I found myself wishing there was a guy in there as he pumped up the toy! Quite liked this inflatable fox suit below too. The suits in these three vids were made by a new company, Squeaklatex in Australia. And many thanks to 'raxmei' who sent me the link to the vid below of real inflatable furries! I can imagine the tightness in that suit!

Fighting Frogman

2010-10-08T12:11:00.000-07:00

Another couple of nice rubbery frogmen vids from YouTube...always surprised to find stuff there I have not seen before .I have greatly enjoyed getting a decent copy of the 1989 Norwegian Dykket film [The Dive],Thanks to a friend...Now all I need is the American one where half a dozen convicts are trained to become commercial divers.Anyone know the title?

Vagevuur Leather

2010-09-30T03:09:00.000-07:00

Curious to see [carefully edited] parts of the great Vagevuur Leather film - one of my all time favourite fetish vids - being shown on YouTube. This was made as a 'non commercial film' to raise money for the late lamented Vagevuur gay BDSM club in Eindhoven,Holland. All the participants were serious players and volunteers in their own gear,which might explain why this is streets better than most commercial gay BDSM leather films. We miss you,Vagevuur!

21st Century Rockers

2010-09-27T23:36:00.000-07:00

Rather nice YouTube video,in the way of a promo for a forthcoming book,apparently,some pages here.The original 1950's Rockers were some the very first guys in gear I ever saw and dreamed about. [Along with divers,roadworkers,fishermen etc.] I was biking from my teenage years in the early 70's,and getting my first leathers was an early priority. Quite a few more YouTube Rocker vids here as well,and a link to the upgraded site of retro leather biker gear shop Lewis Leathers,from where I bought a lot of my gear years back.btw I note that Johnny Stuart's excellent Rockers book is still in print.Buy!

Plate Armour

2010-09-26T02:00:00.001-07:00

A nice trip to Sir Walter Scott's house at Abbotsford,near Galashiels in Scotland,[and a visit to Melrose Abbey afterwards] yesterday, There was a reminder,as I drove through the scenic hills of the Borders in stunning weather,why I love this land so much..On a late September day,the roads here are empty and the tourist cars and coaches are missing...no doubt all busy jamming up the Lake District roads just to the south,as usual! Scott's house itself is quite interesting and the gardens very pretty if you like that kind of thing,apparently one of the best undisturbed Georgian interiors in the country. Like many other Gentlemen of the time,Scott was an inveterate collector,but seemed to like military gear quite a bit,specifically plate armour and weaponry. Masses of swords,guns,maces,hatchets and clubs everywhere,but Scotland has never been too short of those! The suits of plate armour are pretty impressive though,and the chainmail crotch of one of them towering above me led me to a nice little daydream,something along the lines of "Kneel before your Lord and Master,vassel!"[Grin] Interesting to be able to examine the intricate 'armadillo' style steel platework for the feet,these seem to be a kind of an overboot. Luckily these things are pretty indestructable so touching them does not really matter much. Suits of armour are pretty common in many British stately homes,I suspect quite a lot of them were merely Victorian copies to give a hallway an imposing piece of metal sculpture. But many are genuine,certainly a lot must have been made and were prized by the owners and their family. Funnily,chivalrous knights in armour seem to me more of an English thing than a Scottish one,but I may be mistaken. One of the first plate armour collections I ever saw was the collection at the Westgate Armoury museum at Canterbury years back...It was a lesson as to how short everyone was 600 years back ! Henry VIII's armour I saw once at Hampton Court Palace was pretty impressive though.

Maps of Europe

2010-09-21T04:24:00.000-07:00

Europe as seen through gay eyes. Click to enlarge..Something from the paper that amused my geographical greycells very much on a grey Scottish day today,as did the other stereotypical maps of Europe from the point of views of varied nationalities, here. Enjoy!

My Gear,Part 1: BOOTS

2010-09-09T02:01:00.000-07:00

In an occasional series,I thought it might be interesting to have a look at my gear. Boots first! I've got plenty of rubber boots,though I have pared these down a bit in recent years as the collection was running out of space. I've just three pairs of waders,including a pair of chesthighs. I had 4,but I gave one pair of green toecapped Centuries to a needy friend. My Bullseye waders are size 13 and made to a special order about 10 years back from Cover Up. About £100 I think...They are very high,which is great for me as I have long legs! Bullseye fans are everywhere and I am very fond of the design,which incorporates a grey rubber strip around the base of the boots and a cotton lined interior with a very comfortable foam pad. These waders are not really designed with industrial use in mind,there is no steel toecap,but I should imagine a farmer wading through a dungheap or a fisherman might find them very acceptable.They were a 'must have' and still look great a decade later! I also have a pair of red steel toecapped Century 3000's. I've had these for about 12 years and despite frequent wear they seem to be indestructable. They're really fabulous waders and it was love at first sight when I saw these puppies being worn by water company guys fixing a leaking main digging in a pool of mud near my old home...nearly walked into a tree as I stared at them,a vision in dirty blue overalls and wet muddy rubber! My chest waders are the same make.These were a bit tight,but they fit nicely again now after 4 months of diet and exercise![Going very well with my rubber Black Diamond Jacket] Wellies are a particular weakness of mine and I find it hard not to buy every pair I see...[that way lies madness and groaning cupboards bursting open when the family visit...]I love Bullseyes for sure,but my very favourites are an ancient pair of British Shoe Corporation industrial wellies,with a heavy steel toecap and heel, reminding me of the first wellies I ever had a crush on, worn with turned down tops and white socks by a leather jacketed biker who worked digging the drains near my house when I was a kid.These were found in a skip in 1990...and they must have been 25 years old then! I also found a pair of Argyll waders,long since gone to wader heaven, as they fell to pieces through overuse...found in a dump by the fishmarket in Hastings,UK about 20 years back...they were really smelly to start but I left them outside for a few months and eventually they could be worn in polite company!They used to leak really badly too,a favourite thing I did was to wear them full of liquid watching the water squirt out slowly in little jets through tiny holes! I've two pairs of Bullseyes,well used,and I have a fetish for the top to be turned down [see above].Great for walking too,as the sole is so comfortable. They do not look out of place where I live,even in the nearest village's shop and pub,as a lot of the local farmers seem to live in theirs! I have a green pair bought in a Dorset farm supply shop in 2004 and a black pair bought from Cover Up in 2000.These are used virtually every day! I used them for work with the water company for 3 years too,the idiot managers there seemed to think issuing leather boots was more suitable for wandering through sewage works,flooded roads and underground pumping stations!
Other wellies include a white pair for dairy factory workers I picked up unused for £1 in a junk shop[that seem to have gone walkabout]. A green pair that came with my Zodiac suit from Germany, a yellow pair of American overboots I bought in a shopping mall in Philadelphia for about $12 in 2006 which are great with my yellow hazmat suits and can be worn over neoprene bootees which makes them very nice to wear.There are some British firemans boots in my collection,[Firefighter 2000,made in Scotland by Gates Rubber] also from Regulation,new,unissued seconds for £12 bought four years back. I use these a bit,they are a real boon for getting firewood out of the forest near me where protected toecaps and reinforced soles are needed.I also use these a bit for biking on very wet days where they keep my feet warm and dry on longer runs. What else? A pair of found Dunlop boots,too small and an odd pair of unused blue rubber boots also too small for me but might be useful for visitors here...I also have a pair of very heavy industrial short black miners wellies with a serrated rubber safety surface which look more like riggers boots. These were from Regulation in London about 7 years back and cost about £15,pretty cheap really. Another favourite are designed only to be worn underwater with a drysuit.I have walked on the seabed 25m down,along with full commercial divegear including a hotwater suit system at the Fort William Underwater Centre! These lace up rubber divers overboots are by far my most expensive boot acquisition,costing over £200 some 20 years back. [that hurt,but I HAD TO HAVE THEM!] Made by Dive Dynamics a Scottish commercial divegear company that used to be in Aberdeen. As well as dive uses,I have worn them to fetish clubs too! Another pair of clunky rubber boots are some Dutch snowboots,made by NYC. 10 years back these were quite fashionable clunksters at one time in NL and came with a thick felt insert...they can also be worn over neoprene bootees and one mate used to wear his over his drysuit boots.These were a gift from a Dutch bf who bought them to say sorry for something,though I normally just got a Toblerone!

LEATHER BOOTS: Well,I have a few of these too! Favourites are my 20 hole black skinboots bought from Grinders in 2004,about £90 I think. Highly recommended and frequently worn with rubber on my rubberclub nights. They are actually very comfortable to wear but like all such boots are a pain to get in and out of due to the laces..It does not reflect my politics but I do like the two tone look of white laces with them,and look very good with white footie socks and a pair of rubber jeans or a suit with a white stripe... From 'Steel' I have a pair of 15 hole Cherry Reds costing £80 bought two years back which are less comfortable because of a thick toecap that compresses my toes a bit... A pair of high lace up thick soled enormous size 13 Caterpillar boots,bought in a Walmart in Miami in 1999 for $30 and great value.Also have a 7 year old yellow pair of Cat boots I wear a lot...the perfect casual boot...I have two identical pairs of Industrial boots as a memento of my last job. Cheap and cheerful functional boots I guess, unlike the company I worked for which was just plain cheap.Also a pair of thick soled electricians boots[?] which are OK for the bike under jeans. These cost £4 in a local charity shop 2 years ago,still boxed.Also a pair of black harness cowboy boots,I never seem to wear and genuine Harley Davidson Biker's boots bought in 1980 that cost £120,again rarely used. I have a pair of much loved Alpinstars MX boots,bought in 1977 and still very wearable despite being old and abused. Another pair of MX boots are from the German motorcycle gear suppliers Hein Gericke,bought in Carlisle in 2005 when I got the Honda Transalp.I tend to keep stuff a long time,and rarely ever throw things out,rarely sell,though I do gift stuff.In 2003 when I moved up here to the Scottish Borders,I had to put stuff in storage for a bit and I had to dump some of my gear for space reasons. On the boots side that meant old walking boots, green waders, as well as damaged and some rather odd wellies I never used. Though some of my collection has cost serious money,a lot has not...It's amazing what you can find for free,or very cheaply if you just look!

Rubber's Finest

2010-08-30T08:15:00.000-07:00

A good example of fetish transcending sexuality might be this latest creation by Rubber's Finest,which I find quite a turn on.Lots of hot shiny full rubber coverage,fully masked with breathing apparatus.And the vid even has a great soundtrack,so much nicer than the usual heavy metal trash or some such aural torture.Very nice indeed! Below is shown an older vid by the same guys with their 'entertainment system' for the above gear...Vorsprung durch Tecknik!

Snorkle! Snorkle! Snorkle!

2010-08-08T07:03:00.000-07:00

Unemployment has meant a reduced budget here in the frglee household,but something I've sneakily managed to exploit with my present diet and exercise regime. On the diet side it has meant simpler eating with a lot of fresh veg etc.,which is doing me a lot of good. On the exercise front it has meant less driving & lots of cycling,walking,swimming and trekking up into the forest to get wood for the fire at home. My fire has a back boiler,so logs = free hot water + heat! Of course the wood gathering gives me a perfect excuse to wear wellies and pvc rainsuits as I 'work' in the woods,which have been pretty muddy in our Scottish monsoon season I like to dive and though I can't really afford dive trips right now [long diving weekends were costing me nearly £250 a time!],I did have a nice solo dive weekend up near Oban[pic above]last month....very much a favourite location for this frog! I put up my tent at an idyllic beachside campsite for £6 a night! But something else I have rediscovered which is certainly cheap and cheerful is just getting suited up in my [Squirmsuit] wetsuit and going snorkelling! The coast is an hour from my home and there are plenty of rocky beach locations with clear water and easy access. A chance to be in rubber all day,have a bit of fun and get fit! Seems a good tradeoff to me! My gear for snorkelling,[or freediving] is pretty simple. A neoprene rubber faced wetsuit...thats the absolute minimum here as here the seawater's between 13c and 15c right now .You also need a latex hood and rubber gloves[black marigolds are fine!]. I have some nice O'Niell neoprene bootees for my Scubapro splitfins. You need a weightbelt too otherwise it is nearly impossible to get under the water.. Surprisingly heavy too,I need about 8kg of lead. I have quite a choice of divemasks but a simple black SeaSport design that I bought in Canada a few years back is a favourite as it never seems to leak. My silicone rubber Beaver mask with corrective lenses is pretty good too. Like all divers I keep an old tube snorkle [which never seems to actually get used,but is useful in case of emergencies],which I am using all the time now. Seems to be a Frankenstein model,one made up of bits picked up from many places,I think,mostly the seabed .[Many popular British dive sites are littered with lost dive gear! I've lost a few bits in my time,dive knives and torches for instance.] The final part of my snorkelling gear is a Fenzy orange BC,quite antiquated but in good working order. I have got the small air bottle with it but generally remove it when snorkelling right now. Last but not least is a small dive knife strapped to my weight belt.[never seems to get used but is just in case you get caught up in fishing lines or nets]
And so kitted up, I am ready to explore the subterranean world! Well,the top five metres or so of it anyway.....I am much more experienced as a diver of course and snorkelling seems a pale copy at first,and oh,that irritating need to have to pop back up to the surface for air all the time! But it's great fun! A few weeks back I did an amazing drift snorkle dive...this is when you let the current carry you.I have never done one of these before and the narrows at the Loch Creran bridge north of Oban provided a great opportunity. It's only about 6 to 8m deep here but when you duck dive down the water propels you at an incredible speed through the channel. I nearly spat out my snorkle laughing at this and just wished I was fitter so able to breathold a bit longer to enjoy this properly. I was shot through the water like a torpedo,rushing past rocks and weed. I know this can also be done as a [short] normal dive as well. As soon as I had completed it I jumped out of the water and ran back up the coast road to the entry point to do it all again...Like a big kid,bubbling with excitement! [Again,Again!] Last week one day was sunny and beach weather so I went snorkelling around the south west tip of Scotland at Port Logan...a rocky Atlantic coast with clear deep blue water and a white sandy seabed. Very pretty,lots of little fish and multicoloured kelp Some pretty huge [1m!] jellyfish in the water as well...The brown Lions Mane Jellyfish stings so it is just as well I am almost completely covered in rubber,but best to keep away from these things. Lots of blue half moon Jellyfish as well,pretty and harmless as well as bits of deep water jellies including the luminescent cones. Pretty! Bobbed around duck diving down to the seabed. Today I went out again on the Ayrshire coast.Lots of kelp beds and sandy 'avenues' at 5-6m. Pretty fish and a few crabs too...Really great fun! And I'd guess I was the only person doing this in 100 miles of coast. Can't think why...Snorkelling seems to have completely gone out of fashion as a sport in the UK,but I guess of many of the generation that used to do this kind of thing sit in front of games consoles all day anyway these days. But there does seem to be plenty of interest in the UK in a relatively new competitive Freediving sport,which is basically breatholding and going as deep as you can. Amazing vid below shows the recordholding dive,with the freediver being pulled down and returned to the surface by a pulley cable system.The max depth I've ever snorkelled to is 14m,btw! I am not so sure about this as a sport for safety reasons,but you cannot deny the spirited athleticism of it. For me,just snorkelling in the shallows is great exercise and great fun,and I'd recommend it as an activity that almost anyone can do without too much training,and if you were vaguely thinking you might like to learn to SCUBAdive,well you gotta pass the snorkle tests anyway,so why not get in the water and give it a go? Funnily enough freediving and snorkelling has been on my mind recently with some very nice Freediving galleries recently mentioned on Rubberzone,and some here and here as well as here..Fit young guys in tight rubber wetsuits,mmmm,da bizness!!!

Special Forces Combat Diver Vid

2010-07-20T03:48:00.000-07:00

Always plenty of interesting new 'diverporn' on YouTube...this one seems to be an ad for the DPV,but if you click on the screen back to it's YouTube source you'll find planty more like this!

2010 Divegathering

2010-07-13T08:31:00.000-07:00

Information about this great event can be located here! As a previous visitor to the Divegathering on two occasions I can testify to what fun it is,both in the water and out!

Vintage Stuff!

2010-07-06T23:59:00.001-07:00

I was intrigued in this picture above that Straitjacketed used in a recent blogpost,and it made me think about where some of my favourite fetish imagery comes from.Some from my youth certainly,but some earlier. But have you ever wondered why so much fetish gear imagery comes from,like, 50 years or more back? Whether it be 1950's British bikers dressed in pvc and wellies,[such as the long since discontinued Belstaff 'Black Prince' PVC gear,though they still make waxed cotton bikers gear] Or even leathermen kitted up in gear dating back to what American bikers wore in the Marlon Brando era,60 years or more back,or military dress uniforms of almost a century ago...cowboys from the 1880's and even frogmen gear sporting twin hose regulators more from the 1950's.There are several vintage dive clubs about as well,not neccessarily fetish based....Even some of the medical fetish pics I have seen seem to link more with equipment of the 1960's,but that may just be that there is a lot of surplus gear around from those days that can be got hold of fairly easily. Again and again I see postings online mourning the loss of workmen wearing wellies or black pvc gear. Raingear fans seem to wistfully recall the days of full length rubber macintoshes which were popular in the real world a very long time ago. And skinhead gear,which many gay men have taken to their hearts in recent decades, goes right back to what British guys a half a century back used to wear for work,before English urban kids [of all races] in 1968 grabbed hold of the boots and braces to make a very effective masculine look for themselves. Even punk is now 33 years old. Certainly it is interesting to visit a general fetish night for gay men and see what guys are wearing...and from where they draw inspiration.I guess a lot of it comes from what guys like myself saw around them when growing up. These gear stereotypes were pinched for wearing in the bars,and gay men,being what gay men are, spent a lot of time getting it just right...even as I explained in my last blogpost,to the point of getting scruffiness just so. I got to say that visiting some gay fetish venues in Paris a few decades back I thought they were overdoing antistyle a bit...immaculate leathermen,punks and skins? Seems a bit wierd to make something very male quite so stylish,almost high fashion. You can go over the top with stuff like this,and if it comes down to a guy playing in a backroom yet complaining about his hair being ruffled,shoes being ruined or cumstains on a designer t shirt then it all gets a bit silly.He'd be better off spending his money on a nice heavy latex catsuit complete with wellies and a mask! Or maybe he could wear old protective workgear ? For me,nothing I like better than muddy workmen,and nowadays in a world of hi-viz plastic waterproofs and even plastic boots,the look of black pvc and rubber wellies and waders seems ever more attractive. Sadly PVC has been banned as it is a toxic substance! Workmen have not looked like the guys in the pics here for a very long time,and it is hard not to feel sad about that. That is one look that has not been copied too much on the gay fetish clubscene,though there seem planty of retro workmen rubberguys around. There are,of course, plenty of guys into hi-viz and rigger boots,a look only dating back 2 decades or so here.
Everywhere I look on the gear front I often find a nostalgic reference to things from way back. Interesting that gay men have actually hijacked retro fashion such as skingear,denim and leather...Even to the point that guys are dismissed as looking 'too gay' if they dress in such stuff. Sadly,going around insulting other guys by calling them 'gay' seems to be regarded as acceptable behavior by many young straight kids,and I was surprised to see Russian singer Dima Bilan decried as such for simply wearing jeans,trainers and a white T shirt when singing! I think he's a beautiful guy,but I'm fairly sure he only likes girls [such a waste...].But there we go. If we do not understand something,then insulting it is one coping startegy...YouTube seems full of derogatory terms for gay men,presumably mainly by schoolkids who do not know any better [and because of appalling institutional homophobia in many schools,at least here in the UK,do not have such views challenged...] But gearheads also are labelled...such as hazmat'geeks',rubber'gimps',plastic'freaks'and leather'perves'. This nonsense leads to witch hunts,demonstrated here by a disgraceful case of a guy falsely accused of being a child murderer by a scummier section of the UK press recently because his neighbours had seen him wearing lycra in his garden! As for artists who draw gear from earlier decades,I guess Tom of Finland is the most obvious.I would have to say I think Tom is probably responsible for a lot of the leather uniform look still popular today amongst gay men. This hails from riding and dressage uniforms the 1930's and earlier,which the military adopted,notably by the third reich,but also through much of eastern Europe at this time.Even the dress soldiers at the Akershus in Oslo wear pretty Ruritanian uniforms that Tom might have drawn. Tom seemed to be pretty obsessed by the boots and breeches look which he grew up with and his pictures tell the story far better than I can.There are even a few [tsk tsk] Nazi images in Tom's portfolio,and other artists such as Teddy of Paris have been happy to continue this style.Interestingly the boots and breeches look is still used in parts of the world as miltary dress uniform or police uniform - I was astonished a few years ago to see two motorcycle cops in Long Beach,California having a coffee,looking like something from a gay fetish party...[or is it the other way round? I am never sure!] Even the famous Texan Aggies military cadets still dress in such gear.That these days that gear is more readily linked in many peoples minds to a fetish BDSM look speaks volumes. Perhaps like Skinhead gear,many uniforms and fashions will be laid aside as the homophobic str8 users will be frightened that they look 'too gay'...and that would never do,would it?

A Gay Fetish Icon!

2010-06-28T04:12:00.000-07:00

If you want a British fetish gay icon,How about Rubberskin?....What I like about this guy is he is pervy,horny,imaginative,good looking and fit. He is also a damn good photographer and videographer with some interesting ideas as to presentation. He's produced a lot of very cool and high quality photographs and videos that display what might only be described as being of professional quality.They are all taken with cameras with remote control capability and so Rubberskin takes all his own photographs and vids,liking to have total control of picture taking...it being the only way he can make sure he gets what he's after. But the most important thing about this guy is that he is open and honest about the kind of stuff he likes and more than happy to share his interests with his fans and followers,of whom I am one. From his great Gearfetish profile [long favourited by yrs truly] we discover a guy very much into rubber and lycra,and a host of gear to do with biking ,skinhead,sport,superheroes,bodypainting,martial arts,and masking.Nice to see a good descriptive profile there as well. Vast galleries of great pictures show these interests well,but you cannot help noticing how good this guy looks in his kit...A a lot of effort goes to get stuff right.Helped by a good body,an interesting face and an almost ideal weight and height. Interesting to see how some guys manage to look so good as they get a little older too....[Many people might have been surprised to learn how old the iconic Peter Berlin was when some of his famous 'That Boy' pictures and vids were taken...Good genes show!] I know for some gay men,there is almost an eternal fascination for older teenagers and guys in their early 20's. On the fetish scene things are a little less age determined . It takes a few years for guys to mature decently and acquire some kind of experience that makes them a lot more interesting. With Rubberskin, there is certainly that. There was a large collection of videos of his gearplay on YouTube,sadly most have recently removed by those assholes who decide these things.[Christian fundamentalists complaining about websites? Jeez what a world,where those knownothingist c***s have a stranglehold on the planet's media...]..but there is a great punk one that has not been removed and some more under the Rubbskin 1 nic such as these ones here and here. Also an interesting liquid latex session vid. On his own site,there's a decent collection of his own videos and photos,which are pretty interesting and very hot too! This is not pay to view stuff,this is generously freely available with a request maybe for a small donation to run it... And this is a refreshing change from all the 'have-your-credit-cards-ready' stuff online,most of which is crap when it comes to gay fetish,anyway. Rubberskin does sell some of his gear online as well. Hey,guys,I admit I am jealous! I was always a bit too big [and unkempt,hehe] to carry off well some the intricacies of the gay fetish scene and look good in gear as well as guys like Rubberskin,but it never stopped me trying, and I've always admired and lusted after guys that could get away with it ! Though even being scruffy, in a studied gay fetish context, can take a lot of effort to achieve,by the way....I went to a fetish party once in heavy rubber workmens gear and it took hours to get the mud and concrete dust on the waders just right![grin] Why is this kind of thing that Rubberskin does so important to guys like us? Firstly the openness is very refreshing and tells the world...'Look,this is the stuff I like,I am not going to feel guilty or made to feel as if there was something wrong with me for having an imagination!' Secondly it demonstrates what can be done to present yourself well online and I'd guess that in this,he is pretty successful. When I see some of the dismal profiles some people post online it makes me wish that more guys could just have a fraction of Rubberskin's visual insight and chutzpah. Thirdly it liberates all of us to be able to admire such an imaginative and able fetish player,but especially so perhaps,for the isolated non-scene guy who can dream and even realise ambitions in this direction. Fourthly the guy sets out fashions and trends nicely.The enduring way antistyle punk and skingear can look really good on a guy.That we can be anything we want,and if we want to be a lycra clad muscled superhero,then 'be it,don't just dream it!' Finally,Rubberskin shows the great fun that can be had by fetish play. That online there are perhaps less than 20 people that could equal Rubberskin's gear and photographic work is a reminder to people about how great these guys are! So,credit where credit's due. I wish there were more guys like him around online. A 'Ten' surely in anybody's book. Kudos to Rubberskin,fetish player extraordinaire! [And thanks for giving me permission to use some of his great pictures as well!...there are masses more on his site and profiles...a viewing highly recommended!]

Swirling in a Cesspit of their own Making

2010-06-19T07:33:00.000-07:00

Why are sewermen are of interest to some gearheads? Not a particularily glamorous job,and even one that might make them 'untouchables' in some places. I guess,despite this,it's another pretty masculine image of a strong guy in heavy waders and protective gear...and I seem to have accumulated quite a few pictures of these guys over the years. French rubbermen seem particularily fascinated with this topic,lots of galleries of 'egoutiers' on French rubber homepages and boots sites. I've even been sent vids of cute French sewerlads in waders and safety gear preparing to explore the depths. Indeed,judging from his pictures,there is at least one real French sewerman who may be found on gay rubber sites,and also a French commercial diver specialising in polluted environments,especially sewers. YouTube has videos of a Mexican sewage diver , interesting French sewage divers and German Draegar hardhat divers descending into sewage settling tanks..[described as being warm,thick, gooey and very dark!] A Californian tv news show seemed to be so interested in this topic that they sent their star reporter down a manhole [sigh!] to investigate the poop! Nice guy,nice waders! He can come down my manhole anytime!
So there seems to be some fascination with this topic generally,despite an inborn disgust for dirt,excreta etc. Sewage tunnel tours are possible in many cities around the world,notably Paris,which has a huge network of both dry and wet tunnels...the accessible dry ones seem to be used for many purposes,even places to have raves or sex! I love Paris beyond description,but always get the impression though that there is a problem with the sewers in parts of the city...Gets a bit niffy in warm weather especially! I am told it is the design of tunnels just below the boulevards,and a linked automatic street cleaning system that flushes all street waste directly into these large conduits.
I had a job recently working with 'wastewater' ,taking scientific samples and measurements at treatment works,and after an initial recoil realised that there is not too much to be frightened of if you take sensible precautions and wear the right gear...Not that I went wading in it,or indeed went into the sewers themselves,though I have helped as surface support to roped chamber entry by colleagues. They take methane and H2S['bad egg gas'] detectors, the first suffocates and the other is toxic,but you can usually smell it long before it becomes dangerous. I'd guess the biggest problem is actually falling and hurting yourself down there,or even drowning,but you have to watch scratches and cuts also,as rats spread a disease that can be fatal if you are infected this way. Heavy protective steel soled rubber waders are a must.Anti splash suits and heavy rubber gloves.a harness along with a helmet complete the ensemble. Some of them even wear lifejackets and breathing equipment! Sounds like a night at a fetish club! Sometimes the work is far too mucky and hazardous for normal sewermen and standard commercial divegear works well,albeit with special attention to sealing and cleaning afterwards. There will also need to be another diver on the surface ready to effect a rescue if needed,as well as a control and telecoms panel,compressors, back up tanks and so on. The odd thing is that these divers may not even be working underwater,but the environment is far too hazardous for any other gear except for bulky hazmat suits which may not be too suitable in an enclosed space. And NASA has just designed a true sewage free suit! Sewage works [AKA 'Wastewater Treatment Facilities' in nuspeak] are designed to settle out the heavier materials into deep settling tanks where bacteria munch away at the muck,then filter out chemicals from the remaining water often using activated charcoal,or bacteria rich filters or even bacteria laden roots of reed beds,then it is pure enough to be released into rivers. Funny how you can get used to something,and the smell of sewage is like that. In the end it just seems to be an earthy aroma,scented with mixed detergent perfumes.I am told that operatives can tell if a sewage works is working properly just by the aroma.[even the day of the week or the time of the day!] Much is automated these days but there are times when blockages and malfunctions need attention...So on with the armpit length thick rubbergloves! ...Oddly though,it is not really that unpleasant a working environment and the guys I worked with seemed a pretty friendly bunch....Sewermen who enter tunnels are pretty special workers and these days have to be highly trained as to safety techniques and equipment which may include breathing apparatus,harnesses and accident gear. Surface support is important too,as are modern communications with the 'gangers' and 'flushers' down below. Bazalgette's beautiful Victorian structures under London need a lot of maintenance....and there are fans of undergound architecture out there,even to the point of illegal exploration and photography as shown on the Storm Drains and Sewers Flickr galleries. Hell,some of these guys even organise illegal raves down there! Suppose if you have to wear wellies for the annual Glastonbury mudbath you can cope with anything! I'll confess to having always liked holes,tunnels,drains and caves...and have done some underground exploration of my own in full rubber,but not in actual sewers. The gasmasked pic on the left is me,boldly going into some stormwater conduits on the coast with a rubber chum...Incidentally I also dived at that location once at high tide! Even slightly freaking out a few accompanying buddies in the process! I often thought a great design for a rubberclub might be like a sewer,with pipes,steel ladders,metal platforms,chambers and tubes everywhere![and the sound of running water and rubber noises...] A few years ago,one Paris club actually flooded their playroom to 30cm for a heavy rubber party.Wellies and waders were 'obligatoire'! Sounds like fun! Seems sewers also have degrading sexual connotations to some...In one South Park episode,the boys are in the sewers searching for their pal,Mr Hankey[don't ask...],when they come across their troubled teacher,Mr Garrison swimming in the murky effluent in divegear [Cartman:"What are you doing down in the sewer with a bunch of snorkel stuff on?" The reply was "Just hanging out..."] The picture above by Micro,was new to me,thanks to Mitch for that! Martin of Holland has drawn several BDSM pictures of guys playing in sewers [perhaps not a good idea without full rubber protection!] and near the end of Coming Home ,the writer evoked a subterranean rubberfetish world where all things are possible. A similar idea is used in another set of stories on Rubberzone here and here.. My particular hermatically sealed divegear fetish though, is quite able to cope with such things...tough and tight in a fully sealed off heavy rubber drysuit with fullfacemask and attached drygloves,I am prepared for any environment. I think,once you have dived in freezing zeroviz muddy water,little else would faze you.

That Superman Fetish

2010-06-13T01:41:00.000-07:00

Superman was the first superhero I ever came across,I can even recall the first DC comic I ever bought as a kid and the effect it had on me. My parents thought it was all rubbish of course,as parents do,but it is curious these days to read the huge Superman Wikipedia article and realise how culturally iconic and important these stories have become.My weekly comics hit started at about the age of 9 ... as soon as I'd get my pocket money,I'd pedal down to the comic shop... I read and reread these stories again and again. Supes was a pretty good role model for a growing lad in a way,especially a gay one,with little subliminal messages about the importance of maintaining a secret identity['To protect loved ones...']. In early incarnations,Clark Kent was pretty dorky but also a good role model...hard working,loved his dear old foster mom,good,honest and true. In many ways more interesting than Superman,who had a rather simplistic world view.In the silver era DC stories which I grew up with,Clark loved Lana and later,Lois but they only had eyes for his alter ego, the big boyscout in blue and red lycra [or Kryptonian equivilant] which was rather odd,as if Clark wanted to be loved for being himself rather than a superhero. Oddly,these two lasses,although very bright and snoopy,seemed generally to ignore that Clark looked like Supes.It was explained away by the fact that he wore glasses and was a bit nerdy,slouched and used 'Super-Hypnosis'- a useful talent! But was Clark the real person pretending to be a superhero or was it vice versa? Oh, the problems,self sacrifice and worries this caused our fictional hero! Seemed that being Clark Kent was a lot more of a struggle than being Superman who sometimes battled intergalactic villains! And oddly enough it mirrored many gay men's battle about coming out,or balancing the 'real them' as against the construct they make up to hide their alter ego from others. Not that you really have to do that in the west these days...What people dislike is the lying and deception rather than you actually being gay. Which is perhaps as it should be. Though this makes lives very difficult for,say,bisexual guys who want a family and 'respectability' or,say,priests who work for an organisation that tells them they are mentally and morally deficient, or even just plain evil. If that were me,I'd find another employer,but there we go... Superman is a great subject for fandom and costume play ['cosplay'],with smash hit film after film in the last few decades. And unsurprisingly,quite a few gearperves want to get into the red lycra trunks,red boots and blue bodysuit of the big lug.There's a gallery site dedicated to 'The Superman Fetish' which I am very fond of ,with images of hundreds of guys of all shapes and sizes wearing Superman suits at cosplay events or simply at home. Some of these suits show an absolutely 'super' amount of effort [and $$] being devoted to getting it right. Though these costumes can be bought off the peg,they can be made to measure by lycra workshops. Some suits are even home made! I very much like these images from Agito,above and below, which really make me wish I could carry off cosplay myself . There is even an annual Superman Convention and Superman contest stateside,linked to the Superman Museum in Metropolis,Illinois.[ Looks great fun!It's on the frglee list of things to see....] Getting the suit right seems even more important than getting the body in it right.Nice to have a gym honed body,but if this is not possible musclepadding is available! Though some guys into Superman cosplay also bear a resemblance to the cartoon character...black hair with a spit curl,intense blue eyes,6'4''.Perhaps they make a living from this? Shows,supermarket openings,school fetes? Even stripping?Supes has been played by many actors over the years,notably George Reeves in the 1950's,Christopher Reeves in the 1970's,Gerard Christopher in the 1980's,Dean Cain in the 1990's and Tom Welling in the noughties. Deanie was pretty hot and filled the trunks well. I just thought his Clark was way too cool and str8. Chris Reeves' Supes was the very best but his Clark was just far too comical and dorky for my taste. Though he is quite a hunk,Tom Welling seems to be stuck in a strange limbo of Clarkdom,loaded with endless teenage doubts and angst..and after hundreds of hours of TV we seem not yet to have actually seen Superman yet,which is getting a bit silly. As each episode seques into the next,rather like 'Heroes',it makes watching it very difficult if you have missed a few episodes,and this blogger got a headache trying to follow a story recently. The BDSM guys have also got into costumed hero bondage in a big way...Role play stuff maybe with the evil Uberskinhead Lex Luthor with Kryptonite gloves subjugating and cruelly abusing the blue and red demigod incarnate,heh heh! Why is there always so much bondage around Superheroes? Maybe it's an American thing....Those guys certainly seem to love roping each other up! But,surely, everyone loves Supes,right? Even Monty Python!

I Love Les!

2010-06-02T07:57:00.001-07:00

Les is an artist whose work I greatly admire. Although much of his work was done in the USA,as one of the important figures in the early Leather community in San Francisco, he was from Hungary and his full name was Les Farnek. There is a short biography and a slideshow of his art here. There are not too many BDSM gay artists,and those that were about a few decades back faced endless hassle from government agencies of the 'stamp out filth' variety. I recall a mate brought a copy of Toy/Mr SM magazine back into the UK in the 90's and was threatened by customs officers with a 'dawn raid' [where the police smash down your front door at 6 in the morning and then turn the place upside down looking for smutty mags...] After holding him for hours they announced "Ok,you are free to go but we are not amused by this!" handing back his magazine. Thank God,things have changed here a bit in recent years for the better... Of course one man's filth is another man's source of imagination,stimulation and entertainment. The issue is who has controls of free expression in a society, You can bet if that control originates from certain religious groups then sexual imagery [along with literature,art,free comment,education,women's and minority rights etc. etc. ] will be firmly stamped upon in a mediaeval way. Think for yourselves? The very idea! We do the thinking and you kneel and obey..or else! Les is an artist I first saw two decades back,and I now know he was around as far back as the pre AIDS days. This artist is also fond of control,quite frequently in a mediaeval context too! He drew grey shaded and black and white line drawing cartoons and a great annual calender for The Fifteen Association,a secretive USA gay leather group.Les clearly loves drawing hypermasculine males in leather and boots...which he draws beautifully. The scenes are hard and nasty,although some consensuality is evident,as is the evidence of arousal inflicting and accepting punishment. As someone very much into TT stuff,I'll let you guess which pic here I like best...I always think the picture above should be captioned "It's no good,Captain...He likes it!" Les's leather and bondage scenes are my favourite...A common theme seems to be two masters and one slave...Two policemen and a captive? Soldiers and prisoners? Bound punishment involving floggging and whippings. Pretty strong stuff to be sure,and whilst my main participation in such scenes is only to have watched or fantasized about them,I cannot pretend that I do not find such imagery a turn on. Les's mediaeval torture chamber scenes are great fun too. Steel plate armour clad knights extracting confessions from,and dishing out cruel punishments to, their hapless bound and chained victims. And perhaps a little personal gratification for the sweating dungeonmasters? A reminder perhaps of the mediaeval church inquisitions of the 'God of Love' demonstrating a viciousness and heartlessness seldom seen in human history. But real cruelty has never been too far from us mad monkeys,and needs no God or Devil..In amongst all the leather and steel there are a few medical scenes drawn with rubbergear. I wish there were more of these,but when you have artwork like this who knows what additional stuff is around. Sadly, I rarely discover anything new these days by Les and that is because he dropped out of the American scene and according to his biography,returned to Hungary in 1993 to start a new life. I hope he is still alive and well. The Fifteen club is still extant but there have been no new Les drawings for a very long time as far as I know.Tom of Finland always put down his own contribution to the world; i.e. his art and his ideas as just 'my smutty drawings', But they were so much more than this. He and other gay artists such as Etienne battled with censors in the 1950's in US muscle mags,but set a lot of the groundwork for gay men to feel comfortable and proud of themselves and their identities.In a way this finally led to Stonewall in 1969 and Gay Liberation worldwide. BDSM artists are doing much the same kind of thing now. Imagination and personal understanding lights up many a dark corner of the human soul,and unshackles guilt,ignorance and stupidity. As one who has always believed that sex and sexuality is part of a long journey of self discovery,I would like to pay tribute to Les and all the other artists that helped so many along the way.

The Way Divers Were...

2010-05-22T11:28:00.000-07:00

Divegear has changed a lot in the last half century. I actually started diving in 1980,so the days of twin hose regulators that filled so many of my fantasies were already over. In those days we dived without computers,using depth gauges and plastic cards with dive time/depth tables on them. Much predive planning had to be done and we were exhorted to 'stick to the plan',which without a dive computer probably is a pretty good idea. We also dived without much in the way of bouyancy equipment,in the early years I only had a CO2 jacket,more suitable for yachtsmen who fall overboard than divers! For a lark,I decided to test it one day in 10m of water! Never did that again,shooting up to the surface,a bit dangerous! As all my first few years of diving were done in very warm tropical waters,I used to wear just shorts and a tshirt,though after numerous coral stings and scratches,I found an old trackie and used that . Later I got a wetsuit,but walking several hundred metres out to sea over the lagoon to the drop in neoprene foam rubber in 35c+100% humidity was just too exhausting...Not that it ever seemed to deter the German and American divers there who always seemed kitted up as if it were some kind of gear competition! But we British divers seemed often to be somewhat scruffier and less well equipped. But we still had fun and enjoyed our diving,even though by modern standards we were perhaps rather underequipped. Wetsuits I have loved since a kid...one of my great little pleasures was visiting a sportshop in our nearest 'city' to be able to fondle the sharkskin wetsuited dummy in the water sports section [heh heh]....Not only was the feeling amazing,but so was the strong rubbery neoprene smell. Finding a piece of this material on the beach near where we lived I was fascinated by it,and even tried to construct some rubber shorts from it! Sorry to reminisce all the time, but I recall another great source of entertainment for me was the public library...This had a whole of pile of the colour 'Underwater World of Jacques Cousteau' books. Over the years these books were taken out again and again and the clear colour 'diverporn' within, provided this teenager with many an underwater rubbery frogman dream!Nice was it to find dive magazines as well filled with rubber divers,as well as military history books with stories of Commander Crabb in Gibraltar[great film too!] and the pioneer underwater Charioteers filled with monochrome rubbery frogmen galore. Sadly there were not too many other sources for these images for a lad so obsessed,so my drawing skills were tested to the limits as well,which made a nice change from drawing steroidal superheroes. Until the net arrived there were only limited sources of inspiration for this frogman-mad freak...but my own groaning galleries of divers of all kinds are testimony to the huge amount of online photographic and videographic material around these days devoted to divers. Have a look at the dive section on the right bar of this site! Indeed,vintage diving gear has quite a following,not just among image collectors, but by gear collectors and people who also actually dive vintage gear .There are even manufacturers such as Hydroglove that make vintage rubber divegear. A French friend of mine,frogman59, has similar interests and likes playing around in vintage rubber divegear,even to the point of having had a rubber replica french military suit and rebreather made for himself. He also draws frogmen as well,having an interesting artwork site,Gayfrogman. [click on the dildo to get in!] Recently he sent me these images of him playing with another frogman in Marseilles.Lots of tubes,full face masks and rubber drysuits...wonderful! The drysuit here being worn is a rubber camo miltary pattern. Perhaps this is intended to save military divers from being shot if captured.The rules of war saying that if a soldier is out of uniform he may be shot as a spy! Or perhaps it is just good camoflage for divers out of the water. Whatever,it looks really hot!

YouTube Rubbery Goodness!

2010-05-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

Mmm,nice! Thanks to a mate for recommending me this bit of horny YouTubery from Gummisardaukar! [RZ Profile here]

Dr Martens 50th

2010-05-14T02:08:00.000-07:00

Celebrating 50 years of Dr M arte n s boots [DM's] this year...it turns out these useful boots and fashion icons have been around since the Spring of 1960. Originally designed with safety workwear in mind,even worn by the police in the UK,the novel airfilled rubber sole also proved to be very comfortable. Not British in origin,they were adopted first by Mods then by the new skinheads in the UK in the late 60's [Bovver Boots!] and never looked back, being adopted by gays from the 80's on[see this site] and even ending up as part of girls gear! For many years made in Northampton,England, they are now no longer mass produced here,but outsourced to the Far East, [though some vintage models are still being made in the UK] and some of the spirit and imagination seems to have gone,though it appears the quality is still pretty good and the boots in their various styles and colours still sell world wide,and can be bought here in the UK still. DM's seem to have been largely superceded in recent years by the many other manufacturers of similar designs,such as Grinders producing a range of styles and colours,though black and cherry red seem to be ever popular. Some of the most impressive being the 20 and 30 holed Ranger boots with extra thick and strong soles,sometimes steelcapped. And various coloured laces that might indicate everything from being a nazi to wanting a wet night! ["Hey mister! Are you a nazi or are you just gay?"] Seriously though,do any str8 skins still exist in the UK?Some guys are into boots in a big way,and seem to build up vast collections....Fetishism involves being turned on by some inanimate object and as feet are sexualised,boots and shoes often are as well. Spike Milligan,[of whom I was and still am a huge fan],drew some curious pictures of his colleagues army boots when a soldier that were in his truly excellent war memoirs...turns out the pencil and ink sketches were actually pics of their dicks and balls,albeit cleverly redrawn! So then, it seems some fetish items imitate anatomy as to shape[genitals etc] and texture[shiny,like wet skin] but they can also be associative..Some gay men like rough masculine males so by association they like their workgear or workmens boots etc. [Yes, I know some gay men never stray far from the male cosmetics counter and the immaculately preened beauties of GQ magazine as well! But not I.]
As mentioned many times before I got something of a boot fetish and skinhead boots are very much a turn on for me and many others. I make no apologies for filling this blog entry with lots of pics of boots,even just to show that some of us like other stuff than just conventional mansex ...We are pretty turned on by inanimate objects as well! Wonder where that comes from in our monkey past? There is usually a reason for everything.. Incidentally,one news item that has had me chuckling away this week is the discovery that most Europeans have up to 4% of the genes of Neanderthal man. [Especially the French for some reason!] I always thought British nazi Nick Griffin and his stormtroopers from Barking [who have just been soundly beaten in the 2010 UK elections],look a bit odd...Maybe some guys get more than their share of these genes,heh heh! Modern nazis in the UK nowadays wear suits and nice shoes and not skingear and skinhead boots any more - that would give the wrong image,apparently! The pic below of Barking station has always fascinated me and often use it as a screensaver...Taken in the 70's or 80's I'd guess but why so many skins? Footie at West Ham? Daytrip to Sarfend for some fun? A music event or demo? I'd love to know!

There Now Follows a Public Information Film...

2010-05-07T14:42:00.000-07:00

Yes I know its from last year but I love this little ad which says so much about life in the UK.I think I met a similar lady a few months back in the local Tesco supermarket car park in high dudgeon about my not returning my trolley! And talking of Tesco,my spies tell me that the famous London gay fetish club,Backstreet is to be replaced by a Tesco Metro store. Makes me sad to hear this as over the past 2 decades I have had some good times there. But it makes me wonder how Tesco will manage to get rid of that pissy smell permeating the fresh fruit area..And how about the problem of the ghosts of deceased rubbermen wandering through the Dairy Produce? Maybe they might give the Backstreet manager a job clearing up spills and shouting at customers "Oi!stop that at once!".He could even throw people out of the shop for not obeying the dress code,especially NO WHITE SOCKS!

Sexuality and Other Weirdness

2010-04-29T08:07:00.000-07:00

Sexuality is a funny thing. I sometimes think that dividing people up into gay and straight does us no service as it grossly oversimplifies reality. This old line comes to mind: 'Why must you label people?' Answer: 'So I can easily tell who to hate!' Over time ideas about being gay have altered considerably,even to an extent that many gay men nowadays would think Oscar Wilde's notions about homosexuality from the 1890's pretty odd . 'Gay' is a modern western construct anyway,probably less than a century old. Certainly,as I travelled around the world in my 20's I realised that the rest of the planet has some very different ideas as to sexuality. My experience in the Arab world led me to understand that there is a huge dichotomy as to what is said publicly about sex and as to what is actually done,but as with the ancient Greeks and Romans they seem to still think is almost acceptable for men to have sex with men as long as you are the active one...A somewhat bizarre attitude,rather like some French guys in the 70's who thought themselves 100% heterosexual even when they fucked 'les Braziliens' [i.e. tv/ts guys from,erm,Brazil] in the Bois de Boulogne , outside Paris,late at night.
Thailand was also a strange experience for me, where male and female morphed more and gay sex seemed to incite much less fuss,even to the point of just mild curiosity as to why a man who plays with other men does not want to play with women too,and presumably vice versa. Some curiosity there as to why I was not interested in ladyboy stuff, and a very strange conversation ["Why you no like me?"] with a cute ladyboy on a Pattaya beach at night,decades ago,still gives me a lot of cause to think. A guy I liked...but not the female attire and makeup and was mildly horrified by the hormone induced knockers! Of course who we love and who we like is not neccessarily a product of their sex,unless you have got some very mysogenistic attitudes [which some gay men have].
Japanese BDSM art is wild and more into a kind of polymorphous perversity as a wander round this huge site will testify. The wierdest stuff being the transexual imagery [futanari] that seems to be more about chicks with dicks ,than guys with gazongas,if that makes any sense..Again,maybe a more flexible approach to sex,perhaps testifying to a rather vaguer approach to sexuality,or at least one where the insidious guilt trip that religion uses to oppress humanity, doesn't work so well.
In the realms of BDSM artwork,many gay men love the work of guys like Tom of Finland,Rex,and the Hun to name but 3. Many of us felt validated by seeing this stuff showing gay men being very masculine,sex being imaginative,gear based, naughty,dirty and fun! But when 80% of people are not gay,there is surely something from the straight BDSM art world that might be of interest to gay men as well? In that most guys into TV/TS stuff are not gay,you would not think that this might be much of a bridge between the two communities. I am not interested in guys in woman's clothing at all,except in a Monty Pythonish way... Yet there is something about a guy dressing up in tight rubber gear with female apparel such as tight rubber corsets and inflatable falsies that strikes me as wonderfully kinky and wonderful fun,not that I have ever tried it myself,or had a scene with anyone into it...Some of the 'bridge' for me is that it maybe enables me to imagine guys [or indeed,maybe myself,shock horror!] in such gear when I see str8 horny rubber bondage imagery...And the plenty of it there is too. Simon Benson is probably my favourite artist in this respect,though even I find some of his humiliation interests a little OTT. The imagination boggles though,at some of his ideas,and I just wish there were gay artists quite as energetic and imaginative.Like many BDSM artists his ideas quite overwhelm his artistic skills,but this does not matter at all...Like adults that enjoy 'Thunderbirds' ,we are quite willing to suspend belief in the authenticity of the imagery as long as a strong idea or story is there,well executed.People look at such images to get turned on or to fantasize to whilst having sex,solo or otherwise. And what are the ideas about? A good image tells a whole story or something that is about to happen.Something that anyone,even with the dullest imagination can get their little grey cells worked up about. I'd suggest that there are many images around on the BDSM scene that have less to do with sexuality and more to do with bondage or gearplay or even control and domination. In the end,when someone is strapped to a bondage table in layers of rubber and becomes little more than an amorphous strapped down shape does it really matter what is under there? Maybe it does,but what I mean is than one image can mean different things to different people. Looking at some heavy hazmat gear pics recently I became very turned on by the ethnicity of the guy [whose face could not actually be seen but I had seen it in linked images] underneath the multilayered heavy PVC suits...explain that! I doubt whether I'd be quite so turned on at the idea that the 'he' in there was a 'she' or even an 'inbetweeny' though. Asked recently if I thought I could have a scene with a rubberlady,I replied I might be able to,but she'd have to very heavily and totally covered in layers of heavy rubber and latex,perhaps with waders and even breathing gear...Certainly fully silenced and immobilised in heavy bondage.The point being that I'd be more into the rubber or the bondage scenario,not the person underneath. Indeed,sexuality is a strange thing. Maybe one day we'll understand it better.

Frogman Fun!

2010-04-17T08:16:00.000-07:00

Some interesting toons drawn about 20 years back for a gay audience by an otherwise str8 artist,Lee. He is still drawing, and is obviously very fond of frogladies in distress,and seems strangely obsessed with rubber bathing helmets. Now, here at frglee,we are interested in such things only so far as the gear and situation allows,not particularily interested in what is underneath them...But got to say if I was 'turning funny',the works of photographic artist Hap Water would be high on my j/o list. He does beautiful high definition photography and videography involving ladies in dive gear.Why oh why the fuck is there no gay equivalent? The artwork here[click for full size] is part of a comicbook that he sold through the late lamented Rubber Rebel magazine in the 90's. More recently it has been republished in Tim Brough's interesting Rubber book 'Skin Tight'. [Still available from Amazon.co.uk at a knock down price!] The only other artist I know who has drawn gayfrogtoons is frogman59 in France,who I am pleased to think of as a good friend and look forward to seeing again soon. Lee's drawings are less realistic,but are quite amusing in places. He draws rubber well,even if the dive gear is rather less accurately rendered than it might be in places...I suspect he is not a diver! Still,the scenes of underwater bondage are all good fantasy fun stuff,though I suspect organising scenes like this might be a tad difficult to realise without a very private location,and a solvent and experienced divemaster in charge! Still,the fantasy of an island off California where rubber frogmen,18 to 80 go to have fun underwater works well for me...But I wonder if they have any idea how cold the water is there,even in high Summer? Enough to shrivel the hardest rubber covered member I should think! On the subject of underwater canoodling,a BBC TV programme a few years back described the earliest days of sports diving in the UK in the late 1940's. It had a great story about one of the first sports diving instructors,like so many then,an eccentric ex Royal Navy frogman of somewhat uneven temperament and strictness. Sometimes he let his student diver buddy pairs dive together without him,on shore dives,and he would sit on a rock ledge on the shore supping from his flask of rum. One day he was especially annoyed with one str8 rubbery couple who had just been down exploring the murky depths...with visibility of about 5m he couldn't see them on the seabed.... "Stop messing about down there" he shouted,"You're supposed to be diving,not fucking!" Embarrassed,they owned up to their rubbery frolicking but were curious as to how he knew. "Lots of bubbles and they were all coming to the surface in one location!...I knew exactly where you were,by the large rock on the gravel about 30 feet down and as you stayed there for 25 minutes I had a pretty good idea what you were up to!"

Waderlust!

2010-04-08T11:22:00.000-07:00

The other day I was out collecting firewood which had recently been cut alongside a shallow river which runs near my house. Waders were called for which gave me a chance to use my Century 2000's for a genuine purpose! These are by far my favourite waders,and have a steel toecap and thick sole,so are superb for wadering along a stone covered riverbed. Brought back memories of little Lee sneaking into the neighbours garage and racing off down to a ditch to try out these then hopelessly oversized rubber boots. I was saying to a mate the other day that when I see guys in waders it's almost as if my heart stops! Very fond of these two great wader pics by the great wadered mudster, Mudmax! I like workmen in waders...I can still play back in my head a scene of two water company guys 20 years ago digging a trench in the warm summer rain,just clad in blue cotton overalls and green toecapped Century thigh waders..The reddish mud was slithering up the shiny shanks of the wet waders as these guys dug out the hole. I stood watching as long as I dared,transfixed by these two hunky mudlarks! My story 'The Workmens Hut' describes some of this 'waderlust' [and wellielust!]Another memorable time involved a scene in 'Vagevuur',the sadly missed Dutch gay fetish club. In the half light of the play area I watched two wadered guys get it on,hypnotised by the rippling rubber of the boots as they ground into each other. I joined in,and luxuriated in a kind of rubber frenzy,making love to these boots and showing my appreciation by cumming all over the shiny wet rubber of the toecaps and heels of the two pairs of boots I was worshipping. You remember stuff like that,though not sure I can recall much about the two guys wearing the boots! [Maybe Dutch?]Trying to explain fetish stuff to guys not into it is difficult sometimes and some gay men are surprisingly narrow minded about such things. When I attempted to explain to a perfectly nice guy who lives near me that I have a thing about rubber and am not into any kind of play without it got a pretty nasty response [twice!]. So it goes...Of course though, there are lots of guys like me and lots who like waders and wellies too! There are a lot of rubber boot sites,clubs,groups,vids and galleries around. Why the fixation? Possibly an anatomic one,shiny rubber imitating skin and making the wearers legs look larger and therefore stronger. More likely linked to hypermasculine imagery of mucky workmen...And lots of gay men like that kind of thing,rather than immaculately manicured and coiffed models seen in GQ magazine. I have a liking for the traditional black rubber wader with thick rubbery soles but plenty of varieties exist.In the UK fisherman's waders came in several sizes to just above the knee,to thigh length and even chest waders. Passing on my bike by a fishing competition along a lakeside road a few days ago,I must have seen every possible type of waders available in the UK..Many other countries have their own manufacturers and preferences,usually based around a tried and trusted local rubber or PVC wellington boot design. Black and green seem to be the main colours used,especially for fisherman,but other colours such as orange and yellow can also be found,giving an interesting industrial look. I'm very fond of the great pair of Dunlops sported by gearmeister Uniforms04 above and below for example. I want a pair of those shiny yellow superboots!
Seems when you wear a pair of waders you get admiring glances from other guys...I have even had people come up to me in general fetish meets such as at Alert! in Manchester and secretly whisper to me how much they like my waders! I usually reply that they would look great in some too! Though,as mentioned, sometimes I get more fixated on the waders than the guy....[Can anyone draw waders as well as these drawings by the great Biginboots?]

The Mind Benders

2010-04-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

It's funny after,like 40 years,to finally discover what it was I saw on TV that left such an impression on me when I was a teenager. It was a scene with a 'diver' locked into a sensory deprivation tank. Now,I had no idea whether it was a film or just a TV episode at the time..even then I channel hopped a lot [albeit with just 3 to choose from!] The other day I had an email from a contact recommending I get a film called 'The Mind Benders' starring Dirk Bogarde.[who had quite a few secret kinks over and above being secretly gay] There is a full review of it here .And I believe it can still be purchased online here. But I have found the movie poster and a few pictures to whet your appetite if you,like me,like this sort of thing!
There have been several other films and TV episodes about such sensory deprivation,the most notorious of which is a famous 'Hawaii Five-O' episode! I can certainly think of a few people's brains I would not mind attempting to wipe clear as a result of extended underwater rubber bondage!

That Lure of Lycra

2010-03-26T00:59:00.000-07:00

Another thing I've always liked is,well...What gay teenager never looked at another guy in tight swimming gear? I suppose just as str8 lads grow up spending their time staring at ladies bazookas, I,like other gay lads,grew up staring at guys crotches,and to a lesser extent their bums. Feet always fascinated me too,especially with what men were wearing on them! But crotches were the main thing,and staring at Speedos[other brands of male swimming gear are available] was as much a pleasure as a kid as now. It's amazing that the 'meat and two potatoes' can assume so many pleasing shapes from so many different angles. Super hero artists seemed to delight in capturing the male package in all its provocative guises whether it be from the side or the front...It was not always ever thus...1960's Superheroes seemed to be quite sexless sometimes,especially the Marvel ones. Supes at least usually had a few ripples in his trunks to suggest something was in there,but it was not until the 1970's that artists starting reflecting crotch rockets and trouser snakes slightly more realistically. Why straight teenage boys would spend their hard earned pocket money to buy brightly coloured comics with drawings of beautifully muscled and packaged guys struggling in mortal combat with each other eluded me. Maybe it was a stage they all went through or something? As for me,these macho muscled men in tight lycra spoke to me in a language I could understand...Even with secret identities that reminded me that 'coming out' was dangerous especially for me and my loved ones!Spring finally arrives here,and suddenly the roads are filled with impossibly thin,multicoloured lycra clad cyclists everywhere of all ages. I guess Scotland won some gold medals in the last Olympics and there is a desire to emulate these heroes! Hey,anyone who actually can cycle around the area I live in without a resuscitation team following along behind gets my respect! With the local terrain,my own love of bicycling has been seriously tested...[And this is near where the very first bicycle on the planet was made!] A deranged local cycleway designer seems to think that anyone who cannot climb a 20% gradient for a mile must be some kind of wuss! Closed railways round here,which would make superb cycleways, are eschewed for country lanes with steep hills that had been killing carthorses for centuries...The runners are also out,and tight lycra and spandex seem to be de rigueur for anyone taking to the roads for a trot these days. Some of these supermen and superlads are quite inspiring of course, but sometimes I do actually feel sorry for some of the people I see out on the road who look as if they are suffering the tortures of hell and definitely do not look well. But of course,the idea we can all look like 18 year old Adonises if we just run a few miles every day is very seductive. All it ever did for me was give me backache and reminded me of how much I hated cross country running when I was a kid.I am no competitive sports lover,though the chance to watch certain athletic events is just about tolerable for me on tv with the sound off. Running,hurdling and sprinting seem to provide the greatest interest for the lycra crotch watcher of course,and dear old YouTube seems to be replete with interesting things going on in lycra under the 'bulge section'. A friend sent me a collection of his net images a few years back and I pretty soon realised he was obsessed with a genre we do not have in the UK...USA college wrestling! I can see the fascination and this has got to be about the most homoerotic sport on the planet,though I should imagine that competitive young wrestlers are probably far too preoccupied with the struggles of combat than to appreciate the young muscled sweating hot bod beneath[or above] them. Still,sometimes a hard-on breaks out! And judging from the pornos about,a lot of guys love the combination of wrestling and sex. Another sport I like is diving of the athletic kind... especially divers in close up on a diving board! Swimmers are cool too,but you get more of a chance to focus on bulges with the teenage boy composing himself on a diving board in front of millions of viewers. A lot of the new hydrodynamic swimming suits seem to sadly smooth out the crotch area,as if so doing will reduce the water resistance of male genitalia.I note a lot of these suits are set to be banned soon,so maybe we will go back to the simpler days of Speedos and muscles.