These were the events that led to the arrests: a woman answered an advertisement in which they sought a dominant (ie, the person giving the punishment in the context of these films) for a series of films. Apparently she was told that everything would be almost fake, and that filming would stop immediately if any of the models being whipped used the safe word.

A few days later, the Hungarian police received an anonymous handwritten note written in a shaky and almost illegible hand in which the woman alleged that during the course of one of those films a model used the safe word various times while being whipped, and the producer responsible for filming not only didn’t stop the shoot, he continued whipping her after the top refused to continue.

If the veracity of these allegations is confirmed, it would represent the worst crime imaginable in this context: not only a breach of trust, but also true crime, exactly equivalent in severity to a violation.

Fortunately there are many other BDSM producers that are really trustworthy, that show only models that really enjoy what they do and are a part of the BDSM scene. It is not difficult to find high quality and ethical BDSM productions. To take away the bad taste left by this case, I recommend renting apartments in Budapest and visiting the porn capital of Europe…



Sadomasochism has always been cast in a frim light in the mass media: an old proverb says, “people fear what they do not understand and destroy the thing they fear” … Thus, in many movies (eg the infamous ” 8 mm” starring Nicholas Cage) consensual BDSM fans have to swallow a bitter pill as sadomasochism is presented as something sick, something only psychopathic murderers like.

However, the fact is that there is very little crime associated with sadomasochism: just sporadic cases of complaints where someone has been masquerading as BDSM fan when in reality they were just pathological abuser, the proverbial wolf among lambs … But in general the world of BDSM is fairly quiet: word of mouth is key and if someone is considered dangerous, it´s not long before they become a persona non grata in the community.

There is a basic rule must always be fulfilled to the letter in any sadomasochistic relationship, whether personal or professional (eg shooting a porn movie). Violating it not only involves committing a crime but also commiting a terrible betrayal of trust… That rule is to respect the “safe word” agreed to in advance that the submissive part of a sadomasochistic scene can say to stop the session. And then the session stops.

Unfortunately, a few months ago in Budapest, an event which, if true (the case has still not gone to court), would be extremely serious and could do much damage to the BDSM community in Hungary. Hungarian police launched a series of dramatic arrests at the headquarters of the producer of sadomasochistic pornography “Mood pictures”, producer of the video series “ElitePain” and “Mood Castings”, because of a serious charge that they failed to honor the security wordof one of the actreses. BDSM makes headlines again for the worst reasons possible …

Soon we will give more details of the case: for now, knowing that it is already being investigated can rent apartments in Budapest and visit the porn capital of Europe with more peace of mind …

The answer lies in the invention of the typewriter. The arms of each letter needed to be thrown forwards hard enough to leave an ink print on the paper, and these arms had a nasty habit of getting tangled in each other when someone was typing fast. The letters on a standard QWERTY keyboard were designed to minimise arm-tangling, and our modern keyboards stick with this design purely out of habit.

Dvorak was a guy who realised that machines need to serve humans, rather than the other way around.

He developed a keyboard where the most commonly used letters are all on one line (the centre line) and eliminated the need to hit two keys in a row with the same hand, eliminating hand and wrist strain. The design takes a little getting used to, but once you have mastered the Dvorak keyboard, your typing speed usually increases by 100 to 200 per cent.

The crazy thing about the Dvorak keyboard is that it was invented all the way back in 1936.

Why don’t we all use it? In short, we are lazy. There is a good reason that Microsoft’s inferior products keep being used over the user-friendly Apple products: We use what we are given, get used to it, and call it good. Forever.

There’s no need to buy a new keyboard if you switch to Dvorak. You can install it in much the same way as you install/switch to a new language on your current keyboard. And it’s free. All modern operating systems (yes, including the good old Dancing Bears XP and Vista) include Dvorak and you can fiddle with the settings for about 60 seconds to change your keyboard. It takes a little longer to make tiny stickers for all your keys though!

You can even buy overlays (for a couple of bucks online) to place over your current keyboard to help you get used to it.

The bonus giggle comes when people help themselves to your computer. Watch them try to write anything that makes sense when you have made the switch to a new letter system.

Getting rid of carpal tunnel syndrome or increasing your typing speed probably doesn’t sound that exciting until your living depends on how many words you can crank out per hour. Freelance writing, anyone?

Interestingly, although Dvorak was born in the United States, his family is originally from the former Czechoslovakia. He, like so many brilliant scientists, has a strong musical talent and is even distantly related to the composer Antonin Dvorak. Renting apartments in Budapest may not help you learn the (infinitely better) Dvorak keyboard but it’s a great excuse to take a break in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

The handsome men, considered attractive by women, also have small “faults.” Scientists at Oxford University and University College London say that the good looking produce less semen during intercourse. Under these conditions, the fertility of the couple is affected and the likelihood of women becoming pregnant in a relatively short period of time is dramatically reduced.

The explanation is based on a type of evolutionary theory that says handsome men are programmed to behave in a “stingy” manner when it comes to their semen to ensure that the material will reach more women.

On the other hand, unattractive men know their potential and know that it is very unlikely to have many women in their life so when they find them, “they give everything they have.”

As in any other domain, social status has an important role and though it sounds weird, quality and quantity of sperm is affected by it.

The simple fact of not having as many opportunities in life to release the sperm, means that ugly men produce it in greater quantity and better quality than attractive men.
It seems that the rules are already written, and against your own body there is little you can do.

So ugly or handsome, take it easy, rent apartments in Budapest, you can get to the bottom of this discovery after enjoying a swim with your partner in one of the thermal pools of the Hungarian capital.

On 20 August, the feast of St. Stephen of Hungary opens with a parade of artisans, the Festival of Popular Arts. The artisans who will participate and exhibit their works will come from all over the country and are the heirs of ancient traditions, such as woodcarving, performing musical instruments, ceramics, and embroidery and so on. The most inspired artistically inclined and brave visitors may try to learn a few of these techniques themselves. Teachers will help them try to make a chair, a wooden sculpture or a beautiful embroidered cloth…. The renaissance is the historical period that will be the leitmotif of the festival this year.

Any festival of this type is sure to include two essential components of popular culture: dance and music. International folk artists and groups will perform. And of course, the Hungarian exquisite cuisine will play an important role; get ready for goulash, Dobos cake, Kurtas Kalács … and an eye-opening Palinka to digest everything. Among the many events planned, there will be also be events for children, like special concerts for children, puppet shows like The Wings of King Matthias and other amusements.

The festival is a fantastic opportunity to immerse yourselves in the various aspects of Hungarian culture. Consult the website of the event http://www.budapest-tourist-guide.com/festival-of-folk-arts.html, rent apartments in Budapest, and prepare for an original weekend!

The Roman settlement of the province of Pannonia was well known in ancient times. Many centuries later, the advent of the Ottoman Empire (1541-1686) produced the infrastructure that caused Budapest to earn the title “Spa Capital of the World” in 1934, or in Hungarian “Budapest fürdőváros.”

The city has an incredible network of 118 streams of water that flow with temperatures that range from 21 to 78 degrees Celsius. If you are looking for apartments in Budapest, you must treat yourself to a tour of these historical spas.

The thermal springs are famous for their medicinal properties, so for many Hungarians it is common to view the medical spas as something for senior citizens. Don’t let this attitude discourage you, between the history and the architectural beauty of these baths, they really should figure in the itinerary of any visitor to Budapest.

Among the most famous spas, we’d like to mention a few of our favourites: Gellért (Gellért Furdo), Széchenyi (Széchenyi Furdo), Lukacs (Lukács Furdo), Rudas (Rudas Furdo), Király (Király Furdo) and RAC (Rác Furdo.) These waters are not only used for therapeutic bathing and recreation; some recommend their ingestion for medicinal purposes.

There are bars where people go to drink water from these springs. I would suggest that you dear readers to venture into this business with the proverbial grain of salt, honestly I think natural thermal baths are beneficial for the body; any other use of their waters is at the discretion of visitors.

The spa “Rác Furdo” is one of the oldest Turkish baths, famous for its octagonal room and its respective dome. In Budapest’s tourist office you can find complete information about the schedules and prices of these spas. Make sure you visit and enjoy these wonderful jewels of this Eastern Europe city.

If you think you knew everything there was to know about how your body absorbs information from the world around you, perhaps you’ve never heard of synaesthesia.

This is basically when the brain reinterprets (or misinterprets) the signals it receives through the eyes, ears, mouth or nose and kind of redirects it to a different part of the brain. The result is that people who have synaesthesia end up understanding colours as smells, or numbers as colours, or any other kind of random combination.

Although there are plenty of different kinds of synaesthesia, the most common ones mean that different signals are interpreted as colour. Some of the world’s most famous artists and musicians are synaesthetes, as well as writers and scientists. Many of them had no idea they even HAD synaesthesia, until someone pointed out to them in their childhood that it’s not normal to visualise the number ’5′ as a soft yellow, or to ‘hear’ C# as a clear royal blue.

Eddie Van Halen, Tori Amos and Nabakov (the famous author of Lolita) are just a few synaesthetes of note, and all of them describe the colours they see when they get a lyric, passage of music, or story exactly right: Something like the a clear vein of light, or a perfect blue… the kind of thing that lifts the spirit and makes you feel like everything is ok. Not a bad condition to ‘suffer’ from really is it?

Even Stevie Wonder hears sounds as colours, which is one of the most interesting things to researchers. After all, how can someone who is blind from birth ‘hear’ colour, and how do they describe what a colour is?

Franz Liszt, the famous Hungarian composer would actually give his orchestra directions in colours when he conducted them. Renting apartments in Budapest puts you in the same city where Liszt famously commanded his musicians to make their playing “a little bluer, please. This tone type requires it!” Confused the hell out of the orchestra for a while, but in the end it worked pretty well indeed!

Tuzrakter is an old factory where musicians and artists from different walks of life now converge. It is a space for poetry and music, refashioned in what was once a workspace and later a living space for all sorts of Budapest residents. If you want to rent apartments in Budapest, whether temporarily, on holiday or to work indefinitely, this place should definitely be on your list of places to visit.

Every weekend this space lends itself to artists and thinkers to deliver workshops on theatre and other forms of art, or organize exhibitions. Music also plays a key role in the vibrant life of this space located in the street Hegedü (Hegedü utca 3- its number three, in the district number four), as it has a concert hall with 500 square meters of space adorned with huge murals that enliven the former medical equipment depot.

More than 15 theatre and dance companies and artists and photographers contribute to the space and give life to the structure. It should be noted that so far artists from countries such as Cuba, Mexico, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Venezuela, Chile, Canada, Slovakia, Romania and Estonia have been involved in this cultural centre.

For those who want to submerge themselves in a truly alternative culture or seek an artistic anchor or the opportunity to meet people and carry out projects related to art and social integration, you can not miss this meeting place in the city at the foot of the Danube. Seek out this hidden treasure in beautiful Budapest and get to know a different atmosphere within Budapest’s cultural scene.

This year the festival takes place from the 11th until the 16th of August. It has a huge variety of music genres, and bands from all over come to perform. There will be several stages including a main stage where the recent popular acts perform, a world music stage and a so-called Party Arena where great DJs will play beats that get your feet moving. Some of the main artists that are scheduled to perform this year are: 30 Seconds to Mars, The Hives, Faithless, Iron Maiden and Bad Religion. The organizers expect around 400 000 people to come to the festival.

Apart from the program of the 5 official days the festival has a “Day -1 and 0” which are additional two days at the beginning. On Day -1 Kispál és a Borz will perform their last concert. And the big programme points for Day 0 are a Reggae celebration, Cseh Tamás memorial concert and a Day of Hungarian Jazz. In addition to great music, the festival offers other activities including cinema, dance, theatre, tattooing, Internet access, volleyball, tennis, football, bungee jumping and a life-sized foosball and Budapest is easily reachable to take a break and explore the city.

You can get all information about the festival on the website http://www.sziget.hu/festival_english Make sure you rent apartments in Budapest to save you money for the tickets. We wouldn’t want you trying to swim over there.

Surely you know of the famous case of journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling, jailed for stepping on the Chinese border with North Korea. Apparently, sometimes when we travel, things are not as they seem and we do not know who to trust. Here are a few “dangerous” countries to avoid this year, but if you think twice, no one is protected against any disaster, anywhere or at any time.

The alleged danger zones

This year, Haiti, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Mexico are have a high earthquake risk. Indonesia, Japan, Russia and New Zealand are on alert for possible tsunamis.

Moreover, travel to Thailand (mostly Bangkok), Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Israel, Egypt and the Republic of Chad is discouraged because of tense political situations. It is important to specify that entire countries are not blacklisted, just certain regions. For example, many people who have recently travelled or live in Bangkok claim that life there is just as peaceful as ever.

Travelling with all five senses, in any situation

So where should you go to take advantage of your well-deserved holiday time? Staying home is an alternative if you’re down to last pennies, but for those who have had a bit more luck this year, may we suggest you rent apartments in Budapest, where you won’t have to worry much about lions, tigers, or earthquakes.

There is fun to be had which suits all budgets, and relax, because Hungary is not on the 2010 blacklist. Take a chill pill, sometimes fear itself is the worst danger. Don’t let fear spread or subject you to immediate paralysis. Be sensible and keep your wits about you wherever you go, but don’t get caught up in anxious circles. Budapest awaits you, book now!