Monday, January 25, 2010

Second Blogiversary

Two years ago, on the 25th of January 2008, I launched this blog. Today is my second blogiversary.

In retrospect, it feels as if the second year passed even quicker than the first one did. It's hard to believe that Rohrstock-Palast, this oddly named creation of mine, has been around that long. But it has - the dates don't lie. So first off, a thank you to all of you who left comments over the past year or corresponded with me by email. You are the ones who made this ride as inspiring and entertaining as it was, and I hope that you will continue to do so.

On my first blogiversary, I noted how intriguing it is to see a vision take shape - to compare my original plans for the blog with how it turned out. This is even more true after the second year. Two things happened in 2009 that really stand out, both featuring prominently in my writing here. One, I did my first professional spanking videos, "Inmates" with Mood Pictures and "Garden Party" with Lupus Pictures. I'm proud of both of them and of how they differ - a gritty, claustrophobic "women in prison" pseudo-documentary versus a light-hearted, visually sumptuous comedy. Topping in a professional, full-length spanking film was a lifelong dream of mine and the experiences are now immortalised in the Mood behind-the-scenes report (four parts) and the Lupus BTS report (three parts), which in my opinion contain some of the best writing I've ever done.

The other, and even more significant event of last year was that I found my mate Kaelah (actually, it is more accurate to say that she found me). That one came totally out of the blue - having someone to share my life with was another lifelong dream, but one I had kind of given up on already. Which, one could argue, was a prerequisite for its fulfilment. That as it may be, meeting Kaelah was as beautiful and fortunate as it was unforseen, and it had a profound impact not just on my life in general, but on the blog as well. I can't say enough good things about her. The story of how we met is recorded in Where No Man Has Spanked Before, which also ranks among my best pieces of writing. Kaelah has her own monthly column on the blog now, called Kaelah's Corner and received very favourably by the readers. Currently, we are working on the story about our first spanking play - two parts published here and here, the third one to follow shortly.

So here I am, suddenly writing one of those "kinky couples" blogs. Quite a change. I can only wonder what is in store for me in my third year of blogging. You'll notice that none of my predictions from one year ago came true - on the first blogiversary, I mentioned that I wanted to do more interviews, more book reviews and more philosophical ramblings. Well, I conducted Niki Flynn's last interview in September, which turned out great. But apart from that, no additions to any of these three categories. All of them take vastly more time than the average post, time that I usually didn't have during the rollercoaster ride that was 2009. When I did, I was busy catching up with more immediate topics.

So, I'm reluctant to speculate too much about the blog's future. I have all sorts of plans, but they will undoubtedly materialise in somewhat different forms and in a somewhat different order than what I envision today. First off, Kaelah and I will post the final part of our "first spanking play" trilogy - it should have been out weeks ago, but 2010 didn't start smoothly for me, hence the delay. Then, in February and March, I'm going to overhaul some of the blog's features, as I announced it here. Beyond that, we will see! You will hear more about Kaelah and me, that is for sure. You will read the usual movie reviews and website reviews. There might be more movie shoots, and who knows, there might even be a long-overdue return to my philosophical ramblings!

In rock music, they say that it is a band's third album that "makes it or breaks it" .The first album is your debut, usually well-received. The second one is a sophomore effort that builds on the first. But it's the third album that really, really counts. Does the same apply to spanking blogs? I'll approach my third year as if it did.

13 comments:

Ursus Lewis said...

Congratulations Ludwig to two years of blogging! I know, it means a lot of effort to do it. It's always a pleasure to read your blog, one of my favorite spanking blogs. I thank you very much, for writing it and I'm looking forward to reading a lot more of Kaelah and you.

Respectfully,
Ursus

Peter8862 said...

Ludwig - We are very lucky indeed to enjoy a blog author who finds inspiration and satisfaction in such an arcane subject as the subtleties of spanking videos.

But Third Stages do have their perils. Early Doric orders were judged robust but crude; Ionic achieved the epitome of purity and elegance but the later Corinthian orders were considered over-confident and over-elaborate. Better perhaps to stay Ionic for another year.

Good Luck for an extended Second Year.

Peter

Anonymous said...

Ludwig - Yours is the only spanking blog worth reading. Intellectual, heartfelt and witty. Oh, and informative. This has been a great year for you .. at an almost Dorothy Sayers level! Best to you both and looking forward to another interesting year of reading. Spearthrower

Graham said...

Merry Blogiversary! You've created one of the coolest and best-written blogs on the kinky internet. Congratulations, and have fun with your third year!

SPANKEDHORTIC said...

Happy blogaversary, to the both of you. Looking forward very much to seeing what year number three brings.

Prefectdt

Abel1234 said...

Happy blogiversary, and congratulations on two years of outstanding posts.

Hermione said...

Congratulations on two outstanding years!

Hugs,
Hermione

Indy said...

Hello Ludwig, it's nice to see you back again. I'm sorry to hear that the start of the year's been rough for you.

Happy Blogiversary, and congratulations on two years of such high-quality and concise blogging. Well, high-quality, anyway. :-)

It doesn't seem possible that two years have elapsed since I first met you arguing about feminism on Pandora, Adele and then-Niki's blogs. Ah, I'm feeling quite nostalgic!

I don't really have any suggestions. I think your blog will naturally be influence by Kaelah and the adventures you share in ways neither of you can predict.

However, it unfolds, I'll be here!

! said...

Congrats Ludwig (and Kaelah!)

I am sure 2010 will be yet another awesome year for your blog. Hope all is okay, with regard to the not-so-smooth start of the new year.

Keep writing!

Arjuna said...

Dear Ludwig,

congratulations and thank you for your wonderful blog. Keep on rocking, so to speak.

By the way: I hear rumors that the studios of Mood or one of its affiliated sites were raided by Hungarian police. Their site is down at the moment. Since you worked with them, do you know anything?

Ludwig said...

Thank you, all, for your kind words. The only one with whom I must disagree is Spearthrower, who said that my blog is the only spanking blog worth reading - fortunately, that is not true!

Oh, and Peter, I'll try to avoid the pitfalls of the Corinthian orders.

Arjuna: Yes, a friend who writes a German-language BDSM news site alerted me to the fact that the Mood Pictures studio was raided by Hungarian police. Apparently, a model claims that she was tied up and beaten against her will.

If the accusations are true, then they are of course very serious. I didn't see anything of the sort when I visited Mood last year - everything was 100% consensual there, and all the models were in good spirits after the shoot.

We'll have to wait and see what develops. I don't have any inside information. I hadn't heard from Pedro in weeks, anyway, and I don't know anything more than what is public knowledge at this point.

I'll probably make a post about the affair early February, by which time we will hopefully know more.

Kaelah said...

Hi Dragon,

I guess I don't have to tell you, how glad and thankful I am that you decided to launch this blog two years ago, do I?! Happy Blogiversary!!! :-) Knowing that you never wanted to end up writing one of those "kinky couple" blogs, I just hope that you'll be happy with how the story unfolded, when you'll be looking back on your (and now our) journey one day in a few years!

Love,
Tigress

Leia-Ann Woods said...

Happy Blogiversity Ludwig!!! Again, good to see you in Oct, sorry I have not contacted you sooner but I had my Ph D exam (which i thank fulyy passed) and a thesis to prepare for it's final submission. Glad to see you and Keelah are still enjoying your relationship xxx