Rough Night of Research

Researching 1950s BDSM gear can be mentally EXHAUSTING!!!

First of all, there's not a lot of info on it, even though BDSM artwort was popular in the '50s (think Betty Paige and Bizzare magazine) and was -- though not expressly -- a staple of pulp fiction (the literary movement, NOT the Tarentino flick). BDSM organizations didn't come into existance until the mid or late '60s, and then they were thinly peopled and remote from each other, and BDSM (though the term didn't exist back then) was considered -- not "widely considered, but CONSIDERED -- to be a mental illness.

Wait, wait... NO, I AM NOT looking for a lifestyle change. This is research for a section of my screenplay I'm writing next week. But I want to be acruate and not anacronistic.

But judging from the information available on the Net (the poor-man's library: I have to PAY to get a library card in North Austin, lol!!!) even if I were anacronistic no one would know, lol!

Plus, a lot of the stuff utilized by BDSM folk seems to be updates of ancient stuff. Did you know that bondage beds were illustrated in 1800s publications?!! To make a satirical point, but yeah, there they were, lol.

OOH!!!

And I discovered yet ANOTHER way that my Gnomey and I seem to be A PERFECT MATCH... When she came online this morning I was whining about my rough night of research and she asks "Well what you researchin' then?" and then comes up with 3 webpages IMMEDIATELY!!!

Turns out she LOVES research and is uniquely talented at it!!!

And I happen to be a writer who often is not so fond of the research. (It's like shopping for me: I like to get in there, grab what I need and GET THE HELL OUT!)

So if I weren't already truly, maddly and deeply in love with her, I would have fallen in love this morning!

Still... even with her amazing help -- HER pages got me 90% of the information I need for the script; I actually dug up the other 10 % myself, lol -- I'm looking at 14 hours of research today.

Woe is poor widdle me. :(

Somebody toss me a Writer Snack! (You know, like a Scooby Snack, only fat-free 'cause I'm gonna be wolfin' down a lot of 'em.)

I know, I'm whining. But days like today actually feel like WORK! On nights that I'm writing pages (like last night and the night before) the time simply FLIES BY... Before I know it Gnomey is waking up and IMing me and I've got 10 or 10 decent pages written!

Blah.

Sorry. Venting. This is my cool-down period before I go to bed, so I'm boring you with my grief.

If you're still reading.

If not, I SO don't blame you!

[Sorry, baby!!! I know you're still reading, lol. I LOVE YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!]

Okay, I think I'm gonna go watch PLAN 9 FROM OUTTER SPACE. I fell asleep reading the screenplay of ED WOOD last night and for some reason -- probably this Halloween vibe I've been groovin' in since Septermber 1st -- I'm fixated with Edward D. Wood, Jr. Some of his movies are very much like a little kid's imagination on Halloween.