Criticism

A.O. Scott’s review of “Shame” in The New York Times alludes to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 129: The expense of spirit in a waste of shame Is lust in action; and till action, lust Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame, Savage,…

The Herald Square Hotel is in midtown Manhattan, convenient to, well, pretty much everything in midtown.  It’s a hotel – a sort of budget hotel, but unlike the Carlton Arms, it caters primarily to grown-ups, and unlike the Liberty Inn,…

Down the busy block from Baruch College – an undergraduate school of CUNY – in a residential neighborhood of no distinguishable character, the Carlton Arms (or “Artbreak Hotel”) sits. It feels seedy as you approach the locked front door and buzz for…

This is New York’s preeminent hourly hotel. Their business is hourly, not daily. Their web site proclaims that they are “your rendezvous for romance.”  There’s no pretense it’s otherwise, no shame or secrecy in what they are. Their rates are…

Chemistry‘s closest analog among the parties and clubs I’ve discussed is OneLegUp.  Like OLU, Chemistry is a sensuous, sumptuous, occasional affair.  I’ve only been to one, but definitely intend to return.  The night we went, it was in a loft…

Ddevious Delights is the party I’ve been to the most.  It’s not perfect, by any stretch, but it’s in many ways the closest to something that I find compelling/comfortable.  Le Trapeze is open Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.  BCD,…

OneLegUp has several different kinds of parties – they have “Eat-In” soirees, “Take-Out,” and “Tastings.”  Eat-in means, well, that you might well eat someone else in the party.  Take-out means, you take whom you meet out.  And “Tastings” are by…

I’ve been to two BCD events.  One was in a health club in Jersey City (the promotion for the party had left us under the impression it would be in Manhattan, but neither of us is a lawyer – had…

Sexaholics Anonymous:  has a rigid “bottom line.”  Their “white book” makes abundantly clear that, “for the sexaholic, any form of sex with one’s self or with partners other than the spouse is progressively addictive and destructive.”  Lest that not be rigid enough,…

I’m a newbie with respect to all this stuff.  Still, I’ve been to Le Trapeze three or four times, to Chemistry once, to Behind Closed Doors twice, to One Leg Up once, and to Ddevious Delights three or four times.…