Valentine’s Day gifts tend to have a predictable rhythm that nonetheless is tried and true, oftentimes expected and not at all dreary in that you can be creative, there’s some variation on the themes.

Chocolates? Yes! Flowers? Definitely!

In our experience, it’s what goes with the chocolates and flowers that can take Valentine’s Day from being just another gift-giving holiday to something special and memorable.

With that in mind, we offer five surefire Valentine’s Day gift ideas:

1.  Where the Heart Is. The most romantic of all Fatale’s gift sets, this 3-DVD set also has the worthwhile amateur Afterschool Special mixed in. Carolyn Caizzi’s lovely real-life couples come alive in the other videos included in this set. Free Priority Mail shipping in the U.S.

2. Butch/Femme Rules. This 3-DVD set is a mash-up of romance (Special Delivery by Carolyn Caizzi), classic Nina Hartley with the remarkable Miss Sharon Mitchell (Suburban Dykes) and pure lust (Hard Love and How to Fuck in High Heels by Shar Rednour). Free Priority Mail shipping in the U.S.

3. Talk to Me Baby. For an under $30 gift, Shar Rednour’s Talk to Me Baby is perfect for gay or straight, queer or trans, male or female. Everybody should know how to talk dirty, and this is the definitive tape. First class shipping in the U.S. costs only $2.95.

4. Nostalgia. We were talking with an old friend and longtime Fatale Media customer the other day. He told us that his favorite  Courtney Trouble video was Nostalgia. We went back and watched it again and were once again simply delighted! This is an excellent video, a queer porn parody starring all manner of lesbians. Under $30, with domestic shipping starting at $2.95.

5. Sugar High Glitter City. If your sweetie has a sweet tooth, this is definitely the Valentine’s Day gift that will satisfy her yearnings. Nominated for Best Soundtrack, Best All-Girl Feature and Best All-Girl Sex Scene by AVN, this is one of our favorites by far. Another excellent under $30 gift with a reasonable ($2.95) domestic shipping fee.

See all Fatale’s DVDs for even more ideas.

Yours in good love and sex,

Christi and Nan
nan@fatalemedia.com
christi@fatalemedia.com

P.S. Valentine’s Day gift wrap is now available as an option at Fatale Media, as is birthday gift-wrap. Select your option—it’s free—at checkout.

P.P.S. Want it by Valentine’s Day? Order by Friday, February 3rd 2012 for shipping outside the U.S. Order no later than Friday, February 10th 2012 for shipping within the U.S. For overnight shipping, order no later than 4 P.M. PST Monday, February 13th 2012.

It’s the last weekend for free First Class shipping at Fatale Media. Shipping is half-price outside the U.S.

No minimums, no “standard shipping” wait times. All orders ship within 24 hours.

We thought you’d want to know. Mark your calendar. The deadline is Sunday night, January 15, 2012.

Shop now!

And in case you’re wondering, we had a lovely New Year’s celebration. On New Year’s Eve we headed to a friend’s place for an early get-together. About a dozen people were there, and the food was divine! We brought gougères, little French cheese puffs made with glorious Gruyére. Yum!

On New Year’s Day we went to an afternoon party, a more traditional fête with a couple dozen people, lots of sparkling wine and Champagne, gorgeous bowls of beans for good luck, and most of all good company.

It’s an auspicious start to 2012.

Yours in good love and sex,

Nan & Christi nan@fatalemedia.com christi@fatalemedia.com

P.S. The top lesbian DVDs this holiday season were Carolyn Caizzi’s Coming Home and Courtney Trouble’s new Live Sex Show, which stars Nina Harley and Jiz Lee.

P.P.S. Don’t forget—free First Class shipping (half-price outside the U.S.) is good through January 15, 2012.

The new year promises to be a new start. Maybe every new year promises a new start, but 2012 feels different. Hope is in the air. And something else, something playful and sly, perhaps naughty.

We’re taking this time to make New Year’s resolutions, to listen to music we haven’t heard in ages, to go to the movies and hold hands in the theater. It’s nice, a touch of romance to ring in the new year.

What are you doing New Year’s Eve?

Post your plans here in the Comments section or on Fatale’s Facebook wall. We want to know!

Here’s to a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year!

Yours in good love and sex,

Christi and Nan
nan@fatalemedia.com
christi@fatalemedia.com

P.S. Check out Live Sex Show, Courtney Trouble’s all-new DVD.

P.P.S. Free shipping is extended through January 15th, 2012. Treat yourself!

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We think of our friends and family during the holidays–people scattered around the world, tied together with e-mails and tweets and blog posts and Facebook posts and actual, real Christmas cards, which we too send out.

This Christmas we’re staying in, here in our place in New Mexico, enjoying this winter wonderland that has arrived over the past week courtesy of two major snowstorms. Cozy! Steaming tamales add to the more traditional fare, and with apple cider steaming with cinnamon sticks on the stove, it feels like Christmas for sure.

And as Darlene Love sings: “Christmas is the time to say I love you.’”

We couldn’t have said it any better!

In case you missed the lovely, one-of-a-kind Darlene Love on David Letterman on Friday night, here’s the video. Turn it up loud and enjoy!

Darlene Love on David Letterman Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Christi & Nan

P.S. We decided to extend the free shipping (half-price outside the U.S.) through January 15, 2012. So if for any reason Santa leaves you wanting this year, you can always treat yourself.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner here in the U.S., and we’re ready! We’re headed to a friend’s house, slated to bring the appetizers. Then the fun really begins, with Hanukkah and Christmas right on the horizon.

We’re thankful for many things this past year, and as a thank-you, we’re offering you complimentary shipping on all orders, with half-price shipping for international (non-U.S.) orders. No minimums.

Plus, we hope you take advantage of free gift-wrapping—your choice, Christmas or non-Christmas gift wrap—and free gift cards. Your orders ship within 24 hours.

Thank you. This year would not have been the same without you, and your support of Fatale makes all the difference in the world. We are grateful and will offer up a Thanksgiving toast to you.

Yours in good love and sex,

Nan & Christi
nan@fatalemedia.com
christi@fatalemedia.com

P.S. Don’t miss Live Sex Show, the new Courtney Trouble DVD now at Fatale Media. Starring Nina Harley and Jiz Lee, Live Sex Show makes a great gift for adventurous couples and creative singles.

This art show is one we’ll be at for sure this coming Friday evening.

From the Au Boudoir Web site:
“The first public showing of the Rudolph Rossi original photographs of the 1950s. Rossi was an amateur photographer who took part in the informal ‘camera club’ outings around New York City during the early 1950s. Among the models hired for these illegal photography sessions was Bettie Page, where she was discovered. Rossi (along with noted photographer Weegee and others) photographed Page and dozens of her friends…”

The photographs were hand-colored, and more photos can be seen in the book Camera Club Girls: Bettie Page, Her Friends and the Work of Rudolph Rossi, by Jim Linderman.  The author’s blog is Vintage Sleaze, www.vintagesleaze.blogspot.com.

We were in Minneapolis a couple weeks ago, when the Minneapolis SlutWalk took place, on October 1st, 2011.

The Minneapolis SlutWalk video, courtesy of Mill City Times, shows a typical cross-section of relatively young, relatively white Minneapolis, a city that with its sister city of St. Paul has a population of approximately three-quarters of a million people. That’s where Nan went to college, too, at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.

SlutWalk Minneapolis was bound to be tamer than SlutWalk London, which was held in June, or SlutWalk New York, which was also held on October 1, 2011.

More men, it seemed, were in attendance at the Minneapolis protest, than at other protests. One was shirtless. The state was breaking autumn heat wave records, and it has turned out to be the hottest stretch in 132 years. In the 80s every day, ugh.

SlutWalks originated last spring 2011 in Toronto, when, according to a CBC report, a Toronto police constable in January told a York University personal security class that “women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.”

The antiviolence SlutWalk protests are sex-positive, unlike the mostly anti-porn Take Back the Night marches of the 1970s and 1980s, before women reclaimed their right to be sexual beings.

In response, and an historic turning point, On Our Backs was born, the brainchild of Deborah Sundahl, Nan Kinney, Myrna Elena and Susie Bright.

Women and lesbians began celebrating sex and sexuality in a way they hadn’t before. Women’s desires were shown in all their glory in On Our Backs magazine and those first Fatale videos.

For a perfect example of a now-classic lesbian video, don’t miss Fatale Media’s Clips. Nan and Deb star, and there is one scene in there from Deborah that is still our favorite.

Yours in good love and sex,

Nan & Christi
nan@fatalemedia.com
christi@fatalemedia.com

We were saddened when Steve Jobs died. We knew that Deborah Sundahl was an early proponent of Apple, Steve Jobs and all subsequent products.

Susie Bright wrote a very funny tribute to those early days at On Our Backs, when Deborah would ponder dilemmas with “What would Steve Jobs do?”

“Steve Jobs and the Lesbian Erotic Revolution” is a worthwhile read. Get ready for some laughs. We urge you to subscribe to Susie’s blog too.

It’s National Coming Out Day, and we’re celebrating all those brave individuals who took a stand and still take a stand to come out. And while it’s easier today in some parts of the world to come out, it’s still a dangerous proposition in many parts of the world, including some right in the U.S.

We welcome all those who have the courage to come out!

Susie Bright and Honey Lee Cottrell. Credit: Mariette Pathy Allen

Imagine our surprise to learn that Honey Lee Cottrell was being evicted from the apartment she’s had since the early days of On Our Backs.

On Our Backs was the seminal lesbian porn magazine first published by Deborah Sundahl and Myrna Elena. Nan Kinney became publisher not long after that first issue came out, and Susie Bright became editor.

Susie and Honey Lee shared that apartment back in the early days of OOB. Many of the magazine’s sexy shoots took place in it or nearby.

Susie’s piece is an amazing chronicle of the OOB shoots and that apartment on Bessie Street in San Francisco.

There are fabulous pictures in this piece. One in particular, The Voyeur shoot at the York Theater, with Susie, Honey Lee and Nan, brought a big smile to our faces. Nan’s hair!

Read Susie’s piece here:
Annals of Bessie Street: From Revolution to Eviction

<Snip>This Friday I am losing my long-standing home in San Francisco: 25A Bessie Street. My first books Herotica and Susie Sexpert’s Lesbian Sex World were written inside this little nest. I grew up as a young woman in this apartment, my daughter grew up here from infancy to adulthood. The… <snip> Read more.

Here are two good articles about On Our Backs, should you want to know more:

Susie Bright’s remembrance of On Our Backs:
http://susiebright.blogs.com/History_of_OOB.pdf

The Wikipedia article about On Our Backs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Our_Backs

Thank you, Susie, for this important piece. We’ve been thinking of you and Honey Lee and that Bessie Street apartment.

Yours in good love and sex,

Christi and Nan
nan@fatalemedia.com
christi@fatalemedia.com

P.S. Check out all Fatale Media’s sexy DVDs.