The Ballgown

On our last Love Our Lurkers Day (or Global Day of Delurk, as we call it here), we let you vote on which of three videos you would like to see. The majority of you voted for the clip Office Discipline, not knowing that it is the one F/M clip among the bunch (then again, we have quite a few F/M fans among the readers of Rohrtock-Palast). We said at the time that we would eventually publish the other two videos as well. Today, we present you with The Ballgown.

This was the runner-up of the LOL Day vote, and a fairly close runner-up, too (6 votes versus 8 for the winner). Gustofur, Hermione, Secret Spanko, Chross, Spearthrower and New one voted for it. Secret Spanko wrote: "I like the idea of disrobing from a classy ballroom gown." And Spearthrower: "Like the ball season in Vienna (spankers' ball sounds great to attend)." Indeed it does.

Well, as it turns out, the special thing about this clip is that it features a caning over the ballgown, so no disrobing (sorry, Secret Spanko). Kaelah is a big fan of corporal punishment over the clothes [I am indeed!] and wanted to do one video like that sometime. I usually prefer to watch CP on the bare, where one can see the spankee's beautiful bottom and the marks in development. [Don't worry, guys, you get to see the marks, anyway, albeit only at the end of the clip. I made sure to edit a long marks sequence for you.] But I too am happy to try something different for a change. So we fulfilled Kaelah's fantasy. This clip does not have any storyline, it is simply a festive caning in festive clothes. [Plus, it features some rope, too!]

The dress is Kaelah's Chinese dress which already turned heads when we visited the 2011 Shadow Lane party in Las Vegas. I got properly suited up as well. We hope that the video will please dress lovers like our friend Peter in particular. And the rest of you will hopefully enjoy it as well. [By the way, the thin fabric of the ballgown didn't offer much protection from the bite of the cane, so there is no need to worry that I didn't feel the sting.]

MP4 format, resolution 720 x 576, 92 MB:

Uploaded.net link

(Click on "Free Download", wait for the counter to count down, then solve the captcha and download the file.) 

Seventh Blogiversary

In 2014, I celebrated what I called "the perfect anniversary for a spanking blog": six of the best! This year, I suppose I am celebrating six of the best plus one. One for luck? One for wisdom? Either way, seven is still a pretty nice number, even though it lacks the spankophile significance of its predecessor.

Only a small handful of kinky blogs reach the venerable age of seven years, and I am proud that Rohrstock-Palast is among them. It's an achievement I share with Kaelah, of course - while I started the blog back in 2008, she ended up writing the majority of the posts after she came on board as my mate and co-author. Kaelah and I becoming a couple is, for me looking back, the most unforseen and the most fortunate event to result from this blog. Plus, there were some other, pretty amazing adventures as well.

As we wrote in The Final Countdown, the time of this blog will soon come to an end. We know that the prospect saddens you, as it saddens us. But the reasons we gave in November's post still apply for me: I feel that I have done pretty much everything I wanted to do here, and after seven years of spanking blogging, there are other, non-kinky projects I would rather undertake in my limited spare time.

However, the blog will go on a little longer than we originally planned. Because of the aforementioned limited spare time, it turns out that things take longer to wrap up than anticipated. There are still videos to edit, and as they include what I regard as our best ones, I want to do a good and thorough job with them. There are also quite a few instalments left in Ludwig's Story, long posts that take time and inspiration as well. And some more things. I expect that the blog will go on until the end of March at least.

Nonetheless, this will definitely be my last blogiversary. It is an appropriate time to thank all of you readers, old and new, for staying with us, leaving your comments and making the blog fun and worthwhile for us for so many years. Thank you so much for that!

Kinky Castle

During our recent holiday trip, Ludwig and I visited a castle which proved to be lots of fun for us kinky perverts. It all started with the discovery of the very special stool / bench which you can see in the picture above. Does it look familiar? Does it ring any bells in your kinky mind? Yes, it looks exactly like the one used as a whipping bench for the birching of the nine days' queen in Lady Jane!

Next we stumbled across these items. I think they make perfect pervertibles. My favourite is the third one from the right. Which one do you like best?

And finally, there was the kinky furniture in the courtyard. I am not all that much into judicial scenarios, but of course I couldn't resist to try out how it feels to be in the village or, rather, castle stocks. A nice position for a whipping, don't you agree?

Next there was the cage in which naughty men and women could be put on display. I have never pretended not to be naughty – so I had to try that as well!

Last, but not least, we found this interesting construction. Yes, I am aware that this did in fact not serve as a spanking machine! But, hey, one can dream, right? Hope you are having as much fun with the pictures as we had making them!

Laughing About Fanaticism

This might be the strangest combination of labels that we had on this blog, ever. Because today's post is a follow-up piece on our post Nous Sommes Charlie which contains both a more personal comment from me on freedom of speech and some dark kinky humour.

I have to admit that I am a bit reluctant to say about myself that I am Charlie Hebdo, because I am not as brave as those who died in the recent dastardly attack driven by ill-will and blind hatred. The news shocked me and made me incredibly sad. As Ludwig and I already wrote in our recent post, we consider freedom of speech one of the most important human rights and yes, even though some people don't like it, that freedom of speech includes blasphemy.

Unfortunately, this isn't the reality in Germany. We still have a blasphemy paragraph in the German Criminal Code which says: Who insults the content of religious or ideological beliefs publicly or through dissemination of writings in a manner that is likely to disturb the public peace, shall be punished with imprisonment up to three years or a fine. This paragraph means that the caricaturists of Charlie Hebdo could theoretically have been imprisoned according to German law, if only there had been enough religious people going nuts because of their cartoons. As critics have pointed out, this law confuses perpetrators and victims - it defines as the "disturbers of the peace" not those people who respond to religious satire with violence or threats of violence, but the people who created the satire. This is sick and wrong! I hope that this medieval relict will be disposed as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I don't think that this will happen. Conservative politicians in Germany even called for a tightening of the law not too long ago.

On the other hand, fortunately freedom of speech is usually rated higher than claims of blasphemy in the legal practice. For instance, German stand-up comedian Dieter Nuhr was accused of revilement of creeds and religious societies by a German Salafi because of his critical satirical statements about Islam. The public prosecution department decided not to bring a charge against Dieter Nuhr. They stated that what Dieter Nuhr does can easily be recognised as satire and that his works lack any signs of xenophobia.

On the day we published our post about Charlie Hebdo, I once more became aware how lucky I am to live in a land which grants people freedom of speech (even though there is still room for improvement) and where I can write a blog without the fear of being persecuted. Because on that very same day, Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi received 50 whip lashes for "insulting Islam". His "crime": He created an online forum on which people could critically discuss Saudi politics and Islam. His verdict: 1,000 whip lashes, 10 years in prison and a fine of about $ 267,000. The whipping is carried out weekly, so he still has 19 whippings to come, death in small increments.

But, what can we do about oppressive regimes and terrorists? I realised that as someone who lives in a country where I have the important human right called freedom of speech, I shouldn't take it for granted. The first thing I can do is exercise this right and voice my opinion on the matter. For instance, I've already signed Amnesty International's petition for Raif Badawi. Defending freedom of speech also means trying to defend other people's right to put forward their opinions - not just in cases like this, but also and just as much so in cases were I disagree with the opinion being put forward.

The second thing I can do is to see the fanatics for what they are, bullheaded and ridiculous people. When I looked for material for our post about Charlie Hebdo, I was reminded of a clip I wanted to share with you, anyway, because it is a great caricature of the stupidity of terrorism and it even has a brief reference to kink. I think one of the best things to do in times of horror is to laugh into the face of those who try to take our smile away. So, here is a Jeff Dunham video for your enjoyment. If you don't know Achmed the Dead Terrorist already, you can find his introduction video on YouTube.

For those of you who aren't into morbid humour: You are of course entitled to your preferences and opinion. Please don't watch the clip and look for something else that makes you happy! Time is much too short to waste it on things one doesn't like.

Nous Sommes Charlie

Left: "100 lashes if you don't die from laughter!"

Right: "Love stronger than hate"

Normally, we do not comment current events here. This is a blog about spanking and BDSM, not about what is happening in the news. In light of this week's terrorist attacks in France, we are making an exception to this.

As you have undoubtedly heard by now, two Islamic extremists attacked the office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, gunning down 12 people. Charlie Hebdo had been receiving death threats for years because their caricatures made fun of Muslim fundamentalists. They also made fun of Christian fundamentalists, politicians from all parties, feminists - no group or belief system was off limits for satire. About the threats against them, cartoonist Stéphane Charbonnier who was among those murdered on Wednesday once said: "It perhaps sounds a bit pompous, but I'd rather die standing than live on my knees."

The freedom of speech is one of the cornerstones of an open and enlightened society. Whatever one thinks about the caricatures of Charlie Hebdo, whether one considers them great, funny, juvenile or in poor taste, it is important that they exist. As Markus Becker points out in this German article on Spiegel Online: "A liberal democracy needs blasphemy. For blasphemy questions dogmas. And dogmas - be they religious or political - with their claim to absolute truth are the natural enemy of critical thinking."

Freedom of speech is essential to all bloggers, especially those of us writing about "adult" and sometimes controversial subjects like BDSM. Religious fundamentalists reject not only the freedom of speech, but also the right to freely express one's sexuality. They don't like pornography, they don't like homosexuality and they don't like BDSM (whippings are okay when the sharia demands them, but not as an erotic fetish between consenting adults!). That is why Wednesday's massacre is also an attack on the core values we and this blog stand for.

First and most importantly, we would like to express our condolences to the families and friends of all the victims. Secondly, we have reprinted the Charlie Hebdo cartoons above as a sign of our determination that the perpetrators will not achieve their aims. Attacks like these will not discourage us from exercising our right to think, speak and write freely as we always have. The pen will win out over the sword.

Speaking of upholding values, here are four closing observations:

1. Chumming up with the right-wingers who have always had a problem with "those bloody immigrants" is exactly the wrong reaction to Wednesday's attacks. The vast majority of the Muslims in Europe are peaceful, nice, decent people. Upholding the values of the enlightenment means rejecting both Islamic extremism and xenophobia.

2. Let's not forget that Christian fundamentalists aren't much better than their Muslim counterparts. While they haven't gunned down anyone over a Jesus caricature lately, there were numerous death threats when Monty Python's Life of Brian came out in 1979. Oh, and they hate pornography, too.

3. We don't stone gay people to death anymore in Europe, but we are still a long way from a society where consenting adults can freely and openly live out their sexuality without fear of discrimination. See the recent UK porn law which once again targets various "kinky" activities like bondage, fisting and female ejaculation (it's still legal to do, but not to publish a picture of it, because bondage pictures are apparently a threat to Western civilization!).

4. And before we get too comfortable on our high horse, let's also remind ourselves that the kinky community has its own dismayingly large share of prudes, homophobes and censorship advocates. We've seen enough discussions where fellow kinksters argued that severe CP videos should be banned because they are "disgusting", that we should all censor ourselves so as to not offend vanillas, or that a forum should not permit M/M pictures. Upholding free speech means contradicting such viewpoints in our community as well - and defending people's right to express them!

Ludwig and Kaelah

World Cup Bets Part 3: Kaelah

This is the third and final part of our series about our Football World Cup bet spankings. As some of you might have seen, our reader Simon was initially the only one who had the guts to join our little betting community. In the meantime Ernest has made an ex post bet, not remembering the results of the matches.

You can read Simon's and Ludwig's accounts here and here. Ernest will post about his experiences once he has paid his debt (you are very welcome to do so in the comment section, Ernest, the blog will definitely be up long enough).

I have to admit that I was very proud to have won the bet! Especially because I guessed all final four participants and the new champion correctly. Go, Germany, yeah! [Comment from Ludwig: I would have bet on Germany myself, but since you had already done that, I went with the Netherlands because it was more exciting to have the two of us betting on different teams. Ah well. That is what I get for being second.]

Still my final score was only 25 points out of 60 which meant 35 hand smacks according to my wager. Ludwig and I spontaneously decided to settle the bill one afternoon a while ago. [It was so spontaneous, I don't even remember how, exactly, we came to decide to settle Kaelah's part of the bet right then and there. It all happened very quickly. I do remember that it was a fun moment because of that very reason, i.e. it not being planned in advance. This is the beauty of doing a spanking for some aftermath pictures rather than a video. At the end of the day, I prefer videos, but they are impossible to do on the spur of the moment because you have to set up the camera first.]

Ludwig sat down on the bed and I placed myself over his lap. As you can see, Ludwig definitely tried to get the best out of each smack. [Normally, I let the force increase from relatively light strokes to harder ones during a hand spanking. I am fond of cold canings that start quite hard, but with the hand and in the more intimate OTK position, I like the slower buildup. In this case, though, all the smacks were hard from the beginning in order to create vivid marks for the pictures.]

 

Since I'm rather rarely spanked at the moment, my almost virgin bottom definitely felt the sting, too. [As did my almost virgin hand, which had not practiced in a long while, either.] Plus, it reddened visibly, as the pictures which we took afterwards prove. I hope you like them!

Happy New Year 2015!

Kaelah and I hope that you had a "guten Rutsch" into the year 2015. We're both suffering from a mild case of the common cold right now (sneez!), but apart from that, we had a happy and relaxing holiday together. We also had time for some spanking fun, as you read in our recent post about me paying off my wager in the Football World Cup bet.

I don't have any kink-related new year resolutions other than bringing the blog to a good and satisfying end. As we wrote in our Final Countdown post, we intend to go out with a bang, not a whimper. As one part of that, we are going to post all our as yet unpublished videos. To start off the new year, I would like to give you a sneak peek of what is in store for you.

First off, we have two short video clips left over from our LOL Day 2014 vote. The Ballgown, pictured above, and A Bedtime Caning, pictured below. Both are M/F and feature a short, but fun little caning.

Then, there is the matter of two videos which we filmed back in 2010 together with Pandora Blake. Both are schoolgirl-themed, but with inventive stories which aim to avoid the usual clichés. We were trying to reinvent the genre a little bit, as it were.

The Protection Racket, pictured above, is about two schoolfriends who both come forward individually to confess to the same crime, resulting in a hand spanking and strokes with the wooden ruler for both of them. Our other schoolgirl clips is titled Proof of Innocence, pictured below:

Proof of Innocence, about a pupil who volunteers to take an even harsher punishment than required in order to restore her good name, is one of my favourite schoolgirl caning videos of all time both in terms of the story and the action (and I'm saying this as someone who is generally super-critical of every project he is involved in). It really is very, very good.

Last but certainly not least, Kaelah's Experiment was even longer in the making. We filmed this severe 50 stroke caning back in 2009 with the aim of releasing it someday. In addition to the CP, there are tons and tons of interviews and documentary footage which we need to cut down to a reasonably concise video - for a very long time, I was brooding over how to get this editing task done just perfectly.

We hope you are looking forward to seeing these videos as much as we are to showing them to you. Happy new year!