Posted on by Miss Brook$

the conference: day 2

I woke up at my usual time and answered e-mails, which of course included stuff that would be best handled from my home office. This sort of emergency stuff never happens when I’m actually at home. Only the very few times a year I’m away from my desk.

The night before I’d practiced one of my speeches, so this morning I practiced the other short one. My long one was going to have wait. I felt I knew my material pretty well at this point, but perhaps I wasn’t really paying attention to what was coming out of my mouth.

Today was St. James Infirmary Fantasy Sex Me Academy. I still don’t get the title, but okay. It was the Whore College re-named. It was a day-long seminar of presentations to sex workers. I was hoping to learn new things, meet new people (sell books!) and do some market research on the sly. Armed with directions from Yahoo! Maps, I began my morning walk.

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Posted on by Miss Brook$

the conference: day 1

For the first time in my life, I attended a professional conference – meaning one that dealt with my work. Last week was the West Coast Convergence which was the meeting of a lot of sex work –related happenings. There was Sex Worker Fest, SWOP national meeting (I’m a board member of SWOP-East), St. James Infirmary’s Fantasy Sex Me Academy and the Desiree Alliance 2007 Conference.

Although I have a few quibbles, what I came away with was a profound feeling of love and acceptance. I’m still high from it (and I didn’t partake of anything stronger than champagne on my last night). My small-publisher meetings chronicled on here do not compare and must’ve happened on another plane of existence entirely.

So, my first day. I arrive in SF Tuesday (7/17) about noon, just in time to miss SWOP’s big rally. I had hoped to attend since I’ve never done this sort of thing before, but it was not to be. I walk to the SWOP meeting place, which of course means I got lost and walk an extra mile or so – carrying a heavy bag (I didn’t bring my backpack because I somehow thought it would look dorkier than my crooked back and slumped shoulder as I carry a 20lb bag my right hand).

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Posted on by Miss Brook$

hard candy

I heard about Hard Candy when it came out, but since I couldn’t catch it in the theater, it fell off my radar. Last night in Blockbuster it caught my eye. Mainly, I was hoping for something that would be a fair trade for staying up past my bedtime.

Instead, I ended up with a movie so good I was pumped after seeing it.

There isn’t much plot to the movie. It is an exploration of two people, one of them not at all what they seem to be. It’s a bloodless, sexless horror movie that is and isn’t about blood, sex and horror. Rarely has a movie taken me through amazement, revulsion, sympathy, laugh-out-loud black humor, reversal of loyalties, suspense, horror-movie satire and genuine horror too. This post contains some small spoilers, so don’t read past here if you plan on seeing it.

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Posted on by Miss Brook$

update: strip clubs and the $2 bill

I wrote about strip clubs using the $2 bill and its effect on the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing (the Mint).

According to a Newsweek article this week about the declining use of actual currency, notes that in 2006, all US currency totaled $784 billion with an estimated $400 billion in actual circulation. This article also stated that in 2007, the government will print about 9.1 billion individual bills, 95% to replace worn currency.

According to the article referenced in my previous post, in 2005 the orders for $2 bills totaled $122 million (and the number is expected to rise). That’s not a significant percentage of the amount of currency in circulation, but I’m betting it’s a significant percentage of the bills to be printed. I wish I had access to all the numbers and information I want to be able to accurately determine the effect of the adult industry on the US Mint, but that probably won’t happen.

It’s fun to speculate, though.

Posted on by Miss Brook$

modern chivalry

Here’s a book that I think might intrigue my male readers. Brent Kenton Jordan has written The Chivalry Code: Discussions on Becoming a Man in a Modern World. Now, before you think this is another “be a man” guide, remember that this is the same man who wrote Stripped: Twenty Years of Secrets from Inside the Strip Club.

A discussion on chivalrous philosophy created by a man who has spent most of his life watching men at their worst is an intriguing idea – to me. The Chivalry Code is on my buy/read list. It sounds like a Robert Greene-style of book with a less-than-academic twist.

This is blatant free plug for Brent’s book. I know him. A little. I approached him cold, through e-mail, more than a year ago. He’s been very nice to me and has patiently answered my questions. We’ve never met. The book would be on my list even if I didn’t know him; it’s just likely I would not have heard about it.