SEX AND COMMUNISM... TOGETHER AT LAST

OK, so if you don't like politics and/or don't want to hear about weird sex things, don't read on.

I have gauged that approximately 100% of you are still reading.

COMMUNISM. and anti-communist propaganda... We went to the communist museum in praha today (above mcdonalds, beside the casino), which was really cool. in a weird sort of way. it was broken into sections "the dream" "the reality" and "the NIGHTMARE" and it traced the rise and fall of czech communism in general (and through its various forms) from the early 20th century to the 'velvet revolution' of 1989. it was interesting, but at the same time disturbing, to not only see how horrible that time must have been, but also how vehemently anti-communist the museum was. on a number of occasions remarks were made about the communist propaganda against america (of course no mention of the west's anti-communist propaganda), and about the paranoia spread by the czech and soviet leaders re: america's atomic "weapons of mass destruction" (yes they actually used that phrase... no mention of the fact that this propaganda was produced almost exactly on the american/west side, and no credence given to the fact that american missiles probably WERE trained at communist countries!)... still, 'democracy' is very new here, and it's very easy to feel a zealousness in the background here, obviously born from the events of recent history... or something verbose like that.

SEX. or the Sex Machines Museum... Another hilarious (though somewhat different in places... it was redder, and also had a few more instruments of torture) museum. The ground floor is devoted, somewhat tamely, to a variety of corsets, bodices and brassieres... and socks. hm. The second floor heads into some of the more bizarre old contraptions used by people over the years (a seesaw with dildo[e?]s, crank powered manual vibrators, a voyeuristic chamberpot replete with strategically placed mirror for viewing pleasure, electronic anti-masturbation devices - attached to a bell in the parent's bedroom! - peircings, chastity belts, dildos - one of which had disconcertingly melted inside one contraption, which goes to show you shouldn't put your dildo in strange objects). The third floor was, of course, dedicated almost entirely to bondage, BDSM, and GIMPDOM! hilarious! it included all the old faves - the wheel, the masks, the cages (it looked like it was under a massage table!?), the giant inflatable dildos, etc, etc... the walls of the tops floors were also lined with patents (mostly recent) for things such as anti-rape devices (it involves sharp pointy objects placed strategically in places likely to be penetrated... goody), a bra made of bubble wrap (yep, and you thought it was strange that those guys in madrid patented their patatas bravas sauce!), and various items to enhance erotic pleasure (we think. most of them made absolutely no sense AT ALL). There was also a cinema showing 2 VERY WELL PRESERVED spanish pornographic films from the 1920s. all i have to say is that they made just as little sense then, although the men wore funnier trousers which is always a bonus.

Anyway, so that was our day! to berlin to see michelle and charlie tomorrow... speak soon!