01 January 2009
My yang month
Right... As I wrote to a friend already, in my yang month December a lot of ying is missing... Let's start at the beginning, the beginning of December 2008.
First the contract (I'm a contracter) for my daytime job got cancelled (The economical crisis is everywhere) and it's very dificult to find a new project in December (end of the budget year). On the upside, this leaves me with some extra time to work on (Club)RopeMarks.
Next my phone decided to buy a one-way ticket to mobile-heaven, so I had to quickly decide if wanted to buy that way too expensive phone I had my eye on for some time already... I did :). My Outlook was synchronized in a breeze and I spend the next days figuring out how to actually make a phone call on the mobile-PHONE that I got :)
Time for RopeMarks... uhm, it would have been time for RopeMarks if my computer didn't make the brilliant decision to follow my mobile phone to heaven (taking a left to computer-heaven where my mobile went right to mobile-heaven). Luckily the computer didn't break down completely so I had time to bring my backups up-to-date. I keep two backups on external hard disks and I have a total of 4TB in external hard disks.
So, while I made sure my backups are up-to-date I was figuring out what should be under the hood of my new machine. For those technically interested I decided on a Dell Precision T7400 with some custom changes/additions (i.e. faster CPU, more memory, more hard disk space) running Windows Vista (32bit).
Delivering the machine would take a few days but before that we had a long weekend in Paris (the Nuit Demonia weekend), a few days after our return my shiny new machine was delivered, oh happy day, I could quickly set everything up and start giving you the you the new updates.
Since I have 4TB of external hard disk space holding two backups of our data and extending my internal hard disk space to about 1TB, I thought it was a good idea to do some overdue maintenance on these disks and get everything neatly ordered for the years to come. Now here I discoverd (one of) the nasty parts of Vista; copying from external hard disk to another external hard disk takes _ages_. Moving 1TB takes about 2 days!
On top of taking a long time you have babysit this type of action because of the annoying Vista UAC (User Account Control) and the "improved" rights management. One example (I have so many :( ) is that moving, say, 1 GB is calculated at, say, 1 hour. You are bother with the UAC, wait one hour and the result is that only, say, 60% has been moved. So you move the remaining 40%, calculated at, say, 20 minutes, are bothered with the UAC, wait 20 minutes and... nothing has been moved! Certain files are simply not moved by Vista.
Anyway, after a few days of moving files around (thanks Bill!) and searching the web I installed the program TeraCopy. It was a recommendation on different forums and I have to say, it works like a charm! Moving terra bytes of data still takes a long time but it works and I don't have to babysit the action
Finally, all my data moved and roughly reorganised the way I want it. Time to setup the new backup... if only, at that moment, one of my external hard disk did NOT decide to fail on me @^$_&@_(*@!#$&*^_@)$(%. Ofcourse (hi Murphy!) this was the disk with the backup of ALL RopeMarks material (photo's, video's, text, the works) #$%)(!#%^_%_)*@#$... If you're still reading this (with more than mediocre focus :) you know I have two backups, so no real harm done yet but should my other disk bail out on me RopeMarks would be in serious trouble. Hopped on my bike (as if :):):), took the car :) and bought a new 2TB disk for my backups.
During all this moving, copying, cursing Bill and babysitting we have had an upgrade of our webserver machine. This upgrade happened on 22 December between 22:00 and 09:00. You might have experienced some downtime.
So, the current status is that I'm still moving stuff to my new external hard disk. This should be finished within 6 hours (according to TeraCopy's calculations). While the copy/move process is going on I'm unable to use any other USB hardware connected to my machine (i.e. memory card reader) or my firewire port (i.e. capturing video), this will screw up the copy/move process on my external USB hard disks (Bill?!?) . During the failure of my old computer and external hard disk I know I lost e-mail. If you've send me mail and do not receive a reply in the next week orso please resend your mail.
I hope to be productive again during next week.
Everybody all the best wishes for 2009!
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14:51
22 December 2008
The Beauty of Kinbaku by Master "K"
There have already been a number of reviews about Master "K"'s second book on the different forums. All praise, mine is no different, here goes.
Master "K"'s second book has been in my possession for some time now but a current hardware issue with my computer stopped me from doing anything useful with the machine or go online for that matter.
The first thing you notice about the book is the packaging, you can't get around that. The second thing I noticed is the "little piece of paper that you put in the book to mark the page where you are reading it" (I don't know the English word for this.. come to think of it, I don't even know the Dutch word for this :). Both things, to me, are a sign and tell me the book is made with details in mind and a lot of love, made for those who appreciate and want to learn more about the subject of kinbaku.
When you first browse through the book, read some paragraphs about the
(cultural) history, the key-figures, look at the gallery, browse the glossary, the how-to's you feel, know, that you are holding a pearl a wisdom.
Reading through the book is, well, amazing. For me personally the book contains information I was familiar with, BUT (a big _but_), the book completed the information in more ways than I could ever expect, added facts, details, timelines, connections to other pieces of information and history. Master "K" has an extensive library and network to retrieve his information from and it was definitely put to good use for this book. As you expect when you browsed through the book you now know for sure, the book is a pearl of wisdom.
So far it is all good. But is it all good, no there will always be things that are missing, different things by different people, "one- liners" in the text that you know could fill an entire book completely, key-figures that you might expect but are not there, specific descriptions in the glossary that might not agree with you, photo's in the glossary the you feel could be better photographed or tied. But is that bad? No! Actually that is very good imvho. This is Master "K"'s book, a book about the beauty of kinbaku researched by Master "K", a very personal book with an enormous amount of information and insight he is willing to share with you. This is not some loose little article on the topic of kinbaku you can find everywhere on the web, this is well written book, based on well- researched facts. A book I think that has been "demanded" by the scene for years and Master "K" listened and created this book.
The book might not be cheap but compared to books of the same quality it is priced according to market (at least for Dutch standards).
Comparing the quality is the only comparison I can make because there is no other English language book like this and that makes the value of the book a lot higher than the price you pay.
My conclusion, this is not a "nice-to-have" book, or a "I go along with the buzz of Japanese bondage" book, if you are truly serious about knowing more about the history of Japanese bondage as we now know it this book is a must have!
Oh and by the way, me liking the book has nothing to do with the fact that Chantal appears in the gallery section of the book, page 100...
But really it has nothing to do with it (Page 100 of the gallery, go check! :)
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12:11
08 December 2008
Ho Ho Ho....
From us at RopeMarks
### http://www.ropemarks.com/xmas/ ###
we wish you a merry xmas, a happy new year and may all your wishes for the next year come true.
Bob & Chantal
http://www.RopeMarks.com
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08:29
08 October 2008
BNN's Spuiten en Slikken
Here's something new, BNN (the Dutch television network aiming at the younger generation) will be filming for their "Spuiten en Slikken" program an item (kutvragen en klotebrieven) that will feature Chantal, our own Dutch Bondage Diva, talking about bondage.
We'll let you know when it will be aired on Dutch TV
the links: BNN, Spuiten en Slikken.
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13:23
23 May 2008
DVD - A Study in Red
Our first DVD is available again.
With the move to a new house and other stuff we finally have a new batch of DVD's available for you again.
To the DVD - RopeMarks; A Study in Red
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17:20
25 April 2008
Cute girls
Just some snapshots of me and Miss Marjana at the party of Mrs. Manita and me at the beginning of my first ever self suspension show...
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16:54
03 March 2008
Mickey
Mickey
(hele kleine fluf)
* 10 May 1990
† 3 March 2008 18:30
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20:56
07 January 2008
Amsterdam Fashion Week at the ABC Treehouse
Ropemarks
23 January 2008, 8PM
At the ABC Treehouse
Voetboogstraat 11, 1012XK Amsterdam
Fashion: Any mode of dressing or adornment that is popular during a
particular time or in a particular place… It serves as a reflection of social
and economic status…” - Mirriam-Webster
Fetish: a form of sexual desire in which gratification is focused abnormally
on an object, part of the body, or activity. A course of action to which one has
an excessive and irrational commitment. - Oxford English Dictionary
Japanese Bondage: aka Shibari (しばり|, Shibari). Literally "to tie" or "to
bind", aka Kinbaku (緊縛|, Kinbaku) "bondage", or Kinbaku-bi "beautiful bondage".
Kinbaku is a erotic Japanese style of bondage which involves tying up a person
using visually intricate patterns. - RopeMarks
On 23 January 2008, 8PM The ABC Treehouse celebrates Fashion Week’s edgier
themes with a special presentation by RopeMarks, famous for their expertise with
Japanese Rope Bondage, and for emphasizing the beauty and eroticism of this
classic art form.
RopeMarks will demonstrate that, using their techniques, any woman can be
transformed into a beautiful fetish fashion model. A second demonstration will
emphasize the beauty of classic Japanese rope bondage, an art form that can be
traced as far back as the middle ages.
RopeMarks is Bob and Chantal, a
lifestyle couple from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. They have specialized in
Japanese bondage (a.k.a. Shibari, Kinbaku or Kinbaku-bi) through self-study and
follow up study in Akechi ryu in the land of the rising sun (Japan). Their
specialization was born out of passion; a passion for each other, a passion for
Kinbaku and a passion for the bound female form in all its artistic and erotic
glory. Their work is heavily rooted in medieval 17th century Japan.
Their Kinbaku has been featured several times on Dutch national and
international television. National and international, fetish,
media (printed or otherwise) from around the globe (from Europe to Japan) is
regularly in contact with them for interviews, use of material or bookings for
photo shoot or film opportunities. Their artistry in Japanese rope is considered
among the best in the worldwide scene and ranks number one in what the
Netherlands has to offer.
The ABC Treehouse presents – and supports the efforts of others to present -
artistic, literary, and political projects which nurture dialogue and
cooperation within the Dutch and multicultural community. It is a not-for-profit
project of The American Book Center (www.abc.nl) one of the largest sources of American (and British)
language books on continental Europe.
What: RopeMarks
When: 23 January 2008, 8PM
Where: At The ABC Treehouse (Voetboogstraat 11, Amsterdam), near the
Spuiplein
Reservations: treehouse@abc.nl
For More Information: www.treehouse.abc.nl; www.ropemarks.nl
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21:29
