| --Thursday, May 31, 2007--
When Feds say "Porn", do they mean Max Hardcore?
 Many people hope so.
As with JM's indictment several months ago in Virginia, Max Hardcore's recent obscenity indictment is a return to form. Porn producers are being busted for obscenity, a constantly reinterpreted definition that is nevertheless closer to the hearts of actual people than are 2257 restrictions.
Companies like Hardcore, Rob Black/Extreme Associates, and JM Productions have always been lightning rods for the Feds. Recently, however, the fear of being nabbed for faulty recordkeeping has superseded the fear of an obscenity conviction. Had the revised 2257 regulations not been so poorly conceived, they would have landed more producers in trouble.
Many producers feel that as long as they don't produce content like Hardcore, Black, and JM, they will be fine.
I usually get a lot of angry e-mail when I write something about Hardcore that doesn't call him Satan. For whatever reason, it is easy for me to think Hardcore is a nice guy simply because of the porn he makes; I count as friends a number of pornographers whose work I hate. Not that I hate Hardcore's work - it delivers what it says it will deliver, which is a different criterion from liking what it delivers.
Many pornographers are ambivalent about Hardcore. They say that his methods offscreen are just as distasteful as those on camera (I have not experienced this) and therefore want him to fall. But they also feel that Max Hardcore is the Feds' gateway drug to easier obscenity convictions for the rest of the industry.
"I don't know if I should be happy or sad about Mr. Little (Paul Little is Hardcore's legal name)," one director told me today.
Sending DVDs to a hostile county is one thing, delivering them via the U.S. Mail is another.
One of the DVDs Hardcore was indicted for was delivered to a P.O. box. "I'm surprised that people still use the USPS when everyone knows that it's one of those technicalities that can get you popped," a reader commented.
A more surprising issue is the number of pornographers who draw a distinction between their work and Hardcore's. Everything is consensual on paper; is Hardcore's work worse because his subjects appear to be having a bad time? What about the contract star who appears to be having a good time but actually isn't?
If Hardcore is convicted, he will be forced to cede to the government his house, his websites, and his means of production. The Feds want him gone more than his detractors in the adult industry do. But if Hardcore goes, and Extreme and JM and Chatsworth Pictures follow, nothing stands between those convictions and your sensitive couples' porn.
Because chances are the actress doesn't really want to be there, either, and that's obscene, too.
My story on Fleshbot:
Somehow, the 10-count indictment against Max Hardcore (nee Paul Little) issued from the U.S. District Court, Tampa Division, this week seems conventional. The indictment is for obscenity, not 2257 recordkeeping infringements or, like what befell Al Capone, tax evasion. Hardcore has beaten obscenity charges before during G.W. Bush's first administration, but that was in porn-friendly Los Angeles. This time the 10-count cocktail includes several instances of two-minute clips from Hardcore's websites as well as the European versions of "Fists of Fury" and "Golden Guzzlers".
For consumers of "extreme" porn, which gets more extreme every day, few producers can approach Max Hardcore's reputation or content. Vaginal fisting (the Department of Justice press release notes "insertion of an entire hand into a vagina or anus"), vomiting, and urination figure prominently in the European versions of Hardcore's movies, available online or by DVD. In recent years, many companies have shied away from carrying Hardcore's fare, so he either distributes himself from his headquarters northeast of Los Angeles or releases the less edgy material through Porn Valley's JM Productions. It has not yet been brought to light how Hardcore's products were obtained, but in order for the indictment to have been filed in Tampa (from which a great many of Porn Valley's strippers hail), the DVDs need to have been purchased and sent from/to that area and the Internet content needs to have been accessed from a local terminal. If the requirements for obscenity are met, i.e. if the content is found to be offensive to local standards in Tampa, Hardcore stands to lose his house (which the Feds two years ago shot a hole through), his production equipment, and his websites, including pissedonpornstars.com (image of "Britney Rears 4" co-star Jamie Lynn above). "I just put up the hardest stuff I have on my site," Hardcore told me in March (close to the date of one of the recent indictment counts), and also on my Euro version DVDs." This is why the Federales did not hedge their bets, including both Internet and DVD content. "They love it in Europe," Hardcore said, "and I've never heard of anyone, even a store owner getting busted for obscenity." Previously: Untitled Briana Banks project; Anastasia Blue, Where Are You?
See also: Indictment text on The Smoking GunLabels: legal, max hardcore
posted by Gram the Man
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The Sexy, Annexy Lyla Lei
 Did you know the City Of Rancho Cordova, CA, established 2003, is hoping to annex some unincorporated Sacramento County land? And did you further know that Lyla Lei is dancing near there this Monday at Gold Club Centerfolds?
Sometimes it boggles the mind how much a part of history we are.
"Gold Club" invariably refers to the Gold River and the Gold Rush traffic that passed through that area in the mid-1800's. One can learn so much history just following strippers around.
If Lei's expression seems hostile, she has her reasons.
"Rancho Cordova's struggle to become the seventh city of Sacramento County was fraught with turmoil," she did not say, not adding, "and anyone who would dare to oppose annexing this little bit of scrub (not referring to her vagina but the 1.2 miles south of State Highway 50) will have to deal with me."
Previously: Skanky Swap
See also: Lyla Lei on MySpace, Gold Club Centerfolds, Rancho Cordova AnnexationLabels: asian, events, lyla lei, strippers
posted by Gram the Man
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--Wednesday, May 30, 2007--
Digital Playground's Cavalcade of Synonyms
 Digital Playground employs three directors: co-founder Joone, who is in charge of the yearly high-budget movies, Robby D., who makes the lion's share of the company's gonzo releases like Jack's Playground and Deeper, and Celeste (formerly Bunny Luv), who directs the glossy, music video-style couples' projects.
When Joone directs a movie, like Pirates or Island Fever 4, the flick is labeled "A Joone Feature" or "A Joone Film". But Celeste and Robby D. don't have it so easy.
Above is the dirty-mouthed Brit Carmel Moore in the Robby D. "Issue" Red Hot Fox. If I were Gene Shalit, I would say this movie has personality and pizazz! Since I'm not, I will say that Rebeca Linares fucks herself with a dildo shaped like a .44 Magnum and talks dirty in English As A Second Language. Which one gives you a better idea about the movie?
 In the same box came the Celeste "Capture" Lascivious Liaisons with Jana Cova in a new haircut.
 Then there was the Robby D. "Trick" Naked Aces with Shay J.
I spoke with Digital Playground spokesmodel Anal Load Lee who told me that "the graphics team come up with those names" after first saying there were no Digital Playground movies called "Capture" or "Issue" (those sound like Sex Z movies anyway).
I myself am frequently at a loss for words, often using "parts" when I mean "genitalia". So herewith are several Digital Playground-grade synonyms for "movie" that Digital Playground may use for future Robby D. and Celeste endeavors:
A Robby D. Log// A Celeste Epiphany
A Robby D. Aneurysm// A Celeste Fruit Chew
A Robby D. Fiasco// A Celeste Tongue Bath
A Robby D. Cock Punch// A Celeste Spa Day
A Robby D. Embolus// A Celeste Coaxing
A Robby D. Fusillade// A Celeste Gamboling
A Robby D. Armageddon// A Celeste Deep Impact
A Robby D. Vomit on Low-Pile Frat House Carpet// A Celeste Spritzer
A Robby D. Crack Baby// A Celeste Healthy Protestant Offspring
Previously: Jesse Jane: "Keep your socks on, Alektra!", "Porn flatters itself," sniffs Blu-Ray; Sophia Santi's golden arches
See also: Digital PlaygroundLabels: "digital playground", celeste, directors, dvd, joone, robby d., WGL
posted by Gram the Man
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Sex workers gather in Poland
 An international group of sex workers attended the recently-concluded 18th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm in Warsaw. Below is the group's statement.
STATEMENT FROM SEX WORKER HEALTH AND RIGHTS ADVOCATES
The statement is based on materials developed by Stella, a Canadian sex worker
rights organization, for the 2006 International Conference on HIV/AIDS. A
working group of sex workers and sex worker rights advocates committed to
increasing the participation of sex workers and their organizations at the
International Conference on Reduction of Drug Related Harm adapted Stella’s
statement in consultation with our communities and networks. We are pleased to
present the following key messages about sex workers rights and harm reduction
issues to delegates and participants in Warsaw:
n Human rights for sex workers: Recognizing and ensuring the protection
of sex workers’ human rights is essential to promoting health and safety. By
ensuring that sex workers have full enjoyment of their human rights, the
discrimination and abuse that sex workers are often subject to can be reduced
or eliminated and access to health and social services can be improved.
n Sex workers are part of the solution: Sex worker leadership and
empowerment are essential in fighting HIV and discrimination. Sex workers are
their own best resource—they should be at the forefront of developing and
implementing the programs and policies that impact their lives. It is only by
empowering sex workers to speak for themselves and developing sex worker
leadership that stigma and rights violations will be stopped.
n Sex work is work, not “harm”: Sex work (itself) is not inherently
harmful. The reasons why people engage in sex work vary widely, as do the
reasons why people chose a variety of other jobs. Many sex worker health and
rights organizations incorporate a harm reduction framework when they address
the needs of sex workers who use drugs. Other sex worker health and rights
organizations have a less comfortable relationship with a harm reduction
because “harm” is sometimes defined as sex work or sex workers (themselves).
For sex worker rights advocates, the “harm” associated with sex work results
from repressive environments in which sex work is not recognized as work and
sex workers lack basic human rights and access to appropriate health
services.
n Workers’ rights for sex workers: Sex work should be recognized as
work in order to ensure safe and appropriate working conditions. The lack of
workers’ rights leaves sex workers vulnerable to abuse and poor working
conditions.
In addition, following consultation during the 18th International Conference
on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm, we would like to affirm that sex
workers are key players in promoting human rights and harm reduction, and are
pleased to do so in conjunction with allies who share our philosophies and
commitment to justice.
“Nothing about us, without us.”
See also: Sex Workers Outreach ProjectLabels: Europe, events, prosties
posted by Gram the Man
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The Porn of the Matter
 Why ... do I love this place so much? Is it because here human nature hasn't had time to disguise itself? - Graham Greene
See also: Order Graham Greene's "The Heart of the Matter"Labels: literature
posted by Gram the Man
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--Tuesday, May 29, 2007--
Barbara Summer, Rita Faltoyano, and Trina Michaels look frank, surprised, and wary, respectively
 ...but strangely enough, that is not the title of the movie. Nor is the title of the movie Barbara Summer, Rita Faltoyano, And Trina Michaels Look Frank, Surprised, And Wary, Respectively Because They're Sluts or Barbara Summer, Rita Faltoyano, And Trina Michaels Look Frank, Surprised, And Wary, Respectively of Black Pole or even Barbara Summer, Rita Faltoyano, And Trina Michaels Look Frank, Surprised, And Wary, Respectively Featuring Rapper Ray J.
Those would have been my first and best guesses of movie titles whilst sitting around Mercenary's conference table. But that is why I'm not making the big money in this business.
The movie is titled Lex on Blondes 2, which also gets the point across.
Previously: Lex smells the roses, Buddhism; Teagan distances herself from La Sad Eyes, aligns with Carlito; Ravenous review; Rita Faltoyano and Brianna Love - just because; The New Neighbors review
See also: Mercenary PicturesLabels: dvd, lex, WGL
posted by Gram the Man
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See Tyler do
 Pride of Saugus Tyler Faith's new promo video promises viewers can "see Tyler do" just about anything. It's important to remember, though, that while Faith works with men, women, and herself, she does have limits.
Tyler will not do:
The Traitor Roger Clemens
Anyone from Peabody
Doughnuts in the Showcase Cinemas parking lot (cuzutha Reveah cops ah wicked hahsh)
Anything else is fair game. If you watch the video to the very end, you will hear why Faith was the best prom date I ever had.
See it here.
Previously: Tyler Faith, awake and asleep; Tyler Faith wears light blue Nikes
See also: Tyler Faith, Saugus Iron Works NHSLabels: strippers, tyler faith, WGL
posted by Gram the Man
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No Easy Way Out for Body Magic
 Houston-based classic porn e-tailer TVX Films has (in most cases) removed from boxcovers a photo of an underage girl that it had obtained without permission from her profile on the website deviantART.
TVX is, like VCX, mostly in the business of repackaging classic porn titles. In this case, the movie is the 1982 Kathleen Kristel/Joey Silvera outing Body Magic.
The problem started in February of this year when TVX reissued Body Magic with a new cover featuring Lara Jade, a 17-year-old photographer from England's Midlands. Jade claims that her picture was taken when she was 14 (it is unclear if she took it herself) and that she had uploaded the photo to deviantART, only to find that it was now being used as the cover of a porn movie.
The self-portrait was titled "No Easy Way Out".
Jade was appalled when she saw the photo attached to a porn movie, the copyright obscured with an image editing program. "The back of the cover was disgusting," she said on her deviantART blog.
"What I don't get is the story on the back of the DVD mentions a photographer who is young and her name is 'Laura'," Jade told me.
The picture was allegedly downloaded from the deviantART site by boxcover artist A.J. Cohen, who TVX president Bob Augustus Burge said has worked with TVX for several decades.
"A.J. made a mistake," Burge said, "and I chewed him out about it."
The mistake was not only in using an image without permission (Burge said he does not ask Cohen where images come from, and Cohen did not remember from what location he'd downloaded the photo) but also in using one that would not sell the movie. The only similarity between the photo Jade claims is of her 14-year-old self and the current boxcover photo is that both covergirls were wearing top hats.
View the February boxcover release of Body Magic here.
Burge said that a person using "several names", including "Lara Fairie, Lara Jade, Lara Croft, and Lara Craft" began contacting him soon after the film was re-released in February, saying at first that her parents were very upset and then asking for money.
"When she said how old she was," Burge said, "I said I couldn't even talk to her. I told her to have her parents call me. But they never did."
Jade writes:
My parents followed my e-mails with (Burge) and found him very rude. They were worried about costs of phoning him because we're in the UK therefore they felt that me messaging him with guidance would be okay. Burge is the financier and producer of several adult and mainstream titles, including the 1988 Abe Vigoda/Lee Majors/Don Rickles vehicle Keaton's Cop. Vigoda also starred in Burge's Vasectomy - A Delicate Matter. Vigoda is a goddamn genius.
Burge told me that he believed Jade to be scheming. "She blew it when she said she was 14 and asked for money," he said. "And then she wouldn't give me her real name."
Jade did not mention calling Burge, but she did reprint several e-mails from him, including this one:
"I’M SURE BY THE END OF THE MONTH YOUR FACE WILL BE HISTORY. WE HAVE STOPPED SELLING THE DVD UNTIL COVER IS REPLACED. WE HAVE FURTHER CHECKED OUT YOUR NAME AND ITS NOT LIKE IT’S A HOUSE WHOLE NAME. ACTUALLY, REMOVING YOUR IMAGE WILL HELP IMPROVE THE SELL OF THE DVD….. SO FAR IT BOMBED" Burge admits to writing the e-mail, and in my conversation with him his insight into the matter extended to his legal liability. He said he immediately discontinued the boxcover, having "sold less than 200 pieces" and then sent notice to all of his distributors, including IVD.
"I ate 4000 pieces at .39 a whack," he said.
The controversial boxcover is still up on several websites as of this writing, however.
"I lived through Traci Lords," Burge said. "Do you think anyone in this business would knowingly have a picture of an underage person in their movie?"
Burge would have offered Jade $300 for the cover picture, he said, had she been of age. As it is, Burge said that Jade and people claiming to represent her have been calling and e-mailing him, but he simply does not know if she is who she says she is because she never had her parents call him and she demurred when he asked for her real name and address.
"That's when the stuttering started," Burge said. "But I started off the conversation very apologetic."
Burge, who is in his 60's and claims that his "knowledge of computers and the Internet could fit in the tip of my dick", does not understand the Internet Age's love of aliases.
"I know Seka, I know Veronica Hart," he said. "You knew what their real names were. This girl's got at least four names." Jade's deviantART journal is attributed to Larafairie.
Jade is a precociously talented photographer, and the multiple instances of blogs as well as her personal website seem to corroborate her identity. The "No Easy Way Out" portrait is indeed clearly copyrighted and watermarked.
She writes:
"(Burge) also claimed I was 'scheming' and had set him up - placing the image on a public domain so companies can steal it and I can sue them... er, what? I actually had this image on only one website for a few years until I joined flickr - just DeviantART and it was clear that wasn't a public domain when underneath each of my picture there is a disclaimer CLEARLY stating the obvious (that's it's copyright)... and ALSO i had a bloody © symbol and my name written across my dress!!! Isn't that enough to warn anyone off anyway?
When I asked for compensation he said "AS FOR COMPSENSATION;YOUR SILLY!". and this was one of the end comments he made -
"THEY ARE REMAKING THE COVER AS WE SPEAK SO YOUR TEN SECONDS OF FAME WILL SOON COME TO AN END."
My so called ten seconds of fame was from a porno dvd? No thanks." Burge is clearly an old campaigner, used to adult industry scams. "I had to deal with the Mafia in the old days," he said. "But this Internet is ridiculous." He said, "Somebody called me up once and said I'd put Seka's head on her body. I said, 'I took the original picture; those are Seka's tits'. She said, 'Oh.'"
It sounds like Burge doesn't understand how mortifying appearing on a porn boxcover might be to someone who didn't intend to, and that Jade got antsy when the gruff Texas porn mogul asked for her address. This is just a guess.
Jade said she was alerted to the inappropriate use of her photo when yet another blogger alerted her to it. "(The other blogger) said that (the photo on the DVD) was one of her favorite things."
Friends then directed Jade to Hustler.com, and she was from there directed to TVX.
How Cohen found Jade's picture on adult websites is unclear, but my assumption is he Googled "top hat" and "classic". Jade told me her mother helped take the picture.
Previously: Barely Legal 75: Stacks of nudes spotted in Sunland; Buckeye bill will staill thrills...; No party for Kami
See also: LaraFairie's DeviantART journal; TVXFilms; Another Top Hat Girl (twistys); Yet Another (flickr); Lara Jade Labels: classic, dvd, legal
posted by Gram the Man
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--Monday, May 28, 2007--
Katja Kassin's process
 "You have one of the best asses in the business," Katja Kassin is told by the director of Bubble Butts Galore 4.
"OK. Thank you," she says, all business. Then baby oil is applied to it.
This was fascinating to me, because I just assumed Katja secreted baby oil.
This picture reveals a lot about the way the porn business is run; those hotel sheets probably got ruined. Who paid for them? And it appears as if Katja's face is sprouting from her left buttock like Athena from Zeus' forehead.
I'm probably reading too much into it.
Previously: Katja Kassin in Viva La Van; Land Madel
See also: Club KatjaLabels: pink visual, the ass, WGL
posted by Gram the Man
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New, Older Porn Daily: Cougars on the Hunt
 I prefer the term "cougar" to "MILF" because the former doesn't require all the fact-checking the latter does. Cougar just means a hot older woman who happens to be predatory (as they often get in their 30's).
While the cougars in this movie don't act differently from the teens in most other movies (director Anton Slayer approaches them from above with a camera as the women sit on couches - it doesn't make the women seem like they are on the hunt at all), the strange, Vermont furniture-like appeal of Whitney Wonders' breasts sets this movie apart.
Wonders' bio says she was born in 1970, but her name is straight out of the mid-70's. It is like her boobs punched a hole in the fabric of Time.
Previously: Easter MILFs and the Fertile Crescent; MILF, ass definitions continue to evolve
See also: MetroLabels: dvd, MILF, new porn daily
posted by Gram the Man
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Experts: Designers shouldn't faux the 'gine
 The British Medical Journal says there "is nothing unusual about the protrusion of the labia" and has condemned the elective genitoplasties women are having to make their parts flatter.
Furthermore, the BMJ suggests that vaginoplasty deadens feeling in that area. If one subscribes to the belief that porn performers feel nothing anyway, then one will not be surprised to hear that the article's authors blame the trend's popularity at least partially on porn.
The BMJ piece suggests genitoplasty is a classic example of where commercial, media and social pressures artificially create a problem, fuel concern over it and then put forward a solution for it.
The article bases its findings on anecdotal evidence, but does not examine whether women are choosing the surgery on their own or as a result of pressure from their partners.
Our civilization is not so far advanced that we can spot cosmetic vaginal surgery the way we can facelifts and Botox. Maybe genitoplasty patients can make it a few years before people look deep into their crotches and ask "Have you had work done?"
Previously: Fiat Lux Kassidy; When a vagina isn't sexy
See also: Top medical journal blasts "designer vagina" craze (breitbart.com)Labels: medical, news, squid, vagina
posted by Gram the Man
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Razordolls party tonight
 The enigmatic JacktheZipper will perhaps be on hand to host the premiere party for his movie The Razordolls, made for Pulse Pictures. In terms of cross-promotion schemes, The Razordolls seems to be, in and of itself, a porn movie; aside from incorporating the aesthetic of steveporn site Razordolls.com, there are no attempts to confuse an ill-considered non-celebrity non-sex tape with actual porn.
The Razordolls stars Page Morgan, Annette Schwarz, Regan Reese, Jade Starr, and Sasha Grey.
The Razordolls party will be held at the splendid Tiny's K.O. on Hollywood Blvd.
Previously: Blacklight Beauty review; Squealer review
See also: JacktheZipper, RazordollsLabels: directors, events, jackthezipper, steveporn, WGL
posted by Gram the Man
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Mission Accomplished
 Without meaning to be political on this Memorial Day, "Mission Accomplished" was the first thing I thought to use as a headline for Uber Ego's Scaring Michiko, starring the appropriately scared Michiko Minx and the unnecessarily-named Scary.
My sympathies lie with Michiko in this movie. One reason is because she is refreshingly free of stereotypes. Not only is she an Asian and not wearing geisha makeup and a schoolgirl outfit, but she also does not once address Scary as "Joe", even as he works her over with some zappy thing.
 My problem is with Scary. He does everything right, but it's the outfit and name with which I take issue. Wasn't the Gimp mask made obsolete with Pulp Fiction (1994)? And isn't naming yourself Scary an easy target? I felt the same way about Scary Spice. He should just call himself Dave; that way no one can say "Well, he wasn't that Dave." Here Scary does to Michiko what my dog does to me.
 What truly terrifies Michiko, as you can see, are the vinyl sheets. It's these that finally force her into submission. She and Scary drive to Bed, Bath & BDSM after the movie and pick out something with a thread count that doesn't require a safe word.
Previously: Counting floggers on the wall: Mr. S Leather
See also: Uber EgoLabels: "uber ego", asian, BDSM, dvd, fetish
posted by Gram the Man
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--Wednesday, May 23, 2007--
Case Study: Porn rumors and how to handle them
 I try to get a few independent sources before I print anything I hear as a rumor. That is why I print very few adult industry rumors; it makes for a less titillating site but I comfort myself that at least I can spell "titillating" and I have a huge schlong.
I am on the august "Board of Governors" for the June 9 debut of the Adultcon Awards. That means that I had a part in selecting from a list of pre-nominees the final nominees for awards in various categories. Now that the nominees have been chosen, the dignified American Academy of Adult Arts and Entertainment chooses a winner.
Also on the BoG are my acting partner Roger Pipe from Rog Reviews, someone from AdultDVDEmpire, and someone from Gamelink (the world's largest online retailer of adult films and one of my employers).
Last night I got an e-mail from April Storm, who is Tera Patrick's publicist. April had received an e-mail from Evan Seinfeld, who is Teravision's CEO and, more importantly, Tera's husband. He was angry that Tera didn't get nominated; wasn't April supposed to be on top of that?
Evan knew that Roger Pipe and I were people who regularly covered April's clients, so he mentioned us by name as people who had stiffed his Tera (and not in the good way).
This concerned me, because all I had been told about the Adultcon Awards was that they weren't fixed; that ballots were secret and tamper-proof. Adultcon's CEO, Renaud West, had assured me of this.
If what Seinfeld indicated was correct, West or someone at Adultcon had divulged voting records.
Here's the twist: I had given Tera a high vote in her category for Teradise Island. Why was I being thrown under the bus?
I won't say what anyone else voted, but I did some checking. While I gave Tera high marks, and one other person definitely did, yet another gave her a low mark. If the fourth vote was either very low or otherwise not high, that's how Tera didn't make it in. Wide differences of opinion are felt the strongest in small groups.
The following questions emerged: Did Evan lean on Adultcon to find out the votes? It would be in character for someone like Jaz Hoyt. And did Adultcon then cave in? If so, why would my vote be misrepresented? I'd have no problem with Seinfeld trying to find out voting records; that's how we East Coasters roll. We are from a land of political machines. It's how the Brooklyn Bridge was built and how Harry Truman became president.
But I couldn't stay on the esteemed BoG if my votes were divulged.
So I called and e-mailed Renaud West. He e-mailed me back that, while the BoG members were known to freedom lovers everywhere, their votes were not. He also asked if I got this "BS" from my "good friend April Storm".
I contacted April Storm. If someone had spilled the beans about votes, then someone was lying. How did Evan know about the voting, and why would he have been given the wrong information about mine?
"I have no idea," she said. "That's what confuses me."
She said that she knew of at least one other voter who gave Tera a high vote. It was still possible that Tera wouldn't get nominated if she got two lower marks. Evan, she said, was upset.
I needed to talk with Evan Seinfeld. I had his number somewhere, but I asked April for it. If she didn't give it to me, or if she stalled, that would have been a problem. She might be making up scores to appease her boss. She gave the number to me immediately.
So Seinfeld is a businessman, regardless of the business he's in. It is in his interest to want to know who voted what, even though he shouldn't be given that information; as long as he's not told, it's OK that he asks. I needed to know if he was given the voting tally, because if he had I wouldn't have anything to do with Adultcon.
"Renaud told me who was on the Board of Governors but he didn't tell me the votes," Seinfeld said. "I assumed it was you and Rog (who voted low on Tera)." Seinfeld then explained why he assumed these things.
"There's a lot of bullshit in this business," Seinfeld said. "I don't believe rumors."
So Seinfeld was looking out for Tera. When West found that Tera hadn't been nominated, he called Seinfeld.
"I didn't want to make that call," West said. "If this thing was fixed, wouldn't I fix it for Tera?"
So much trouble can come from irresponsible research and the willingness to believe everything one reads.
In the wake of an incident on a movie set two months ago in which I was assaulted by a performer who said, erroneously, that I'd called him a "fag", the blogger Luke Ford posted a libelous and ill-conceived story on his site, attributing the homophobic words of Ann Coulter (referring to John Edwards), to me.
Ford then wrote that, because of this, I was dumped from several of my writing gigs. He falsely attributed his story to the Associated Press.
I was called by several people, including an LAPD detective, who had read Ford's story, which was at that time not labeled as "satire".
"You told me you hadn't called (the performer/defendant) a fag," the detective said, fuming (it would have meant I'd lied on a police statement).
"No," I said, for the fifth time that day. "It was mostly a fabrication. The story would have been a complete fabrication had he not used actual quotes, but they were someone else's quotes attributed to me."
"Does he do this sort of thing a lot?" I was asked. "It wasn't even funny."
"Yes," I shrugged.
"Why do people still read him?"
"The adult industry has very low self esteem."
When I returned to my office that day there was an e-mail waiting. It was from Adultcon.
"Without going into details and due to certain outside influences, we have decided best to let you go. In light of the curent situation, it is the best way maintain the integrity of the show.
We hope you understand and thank you very musch for your past support." It turned out that West had read the Luke Ford piece and believed it immediately.
It got resolved, but I am still defending myself against this story. Someone wrote me about it last week. That story has wasted as much time for me as the assault that preceded it.
"Crazy story," AVN president Paul Fishbein said when I mentioned it to him. I also asked him why AVN didn't seem to have any interest in covering physical assaults on porn sets or juicy libel cases. "Ultimately, you know Luke's real colors. Always an agenda and usually not nice."
I'll continue to send Luke Christmas cards.
In the end, I told Seinfeld the vote I gave Tera. It was easier than telling him I gave her a low vote, but I would have done that, too.
I realize that in telling Seinfeld my vote, even in the effort of trying to determine if the Adultcon Awards were easy to sell out (they're not), I made it easier to figure out how the other three entities voted. That was a mistake I won't repeat, but it was for a larger goal.
That's the latest from the rumor mill. In other news, the Kim Kardashian sex tape is still an awful movie.
Previously: InTERActive: choosing the blue pill, yellow bikini; Mooninites descend on Boston; Cleopatra of the Nile wants you to die
See also: Adultcon, Tera PatrickLabels: "tera patrick", adultcon, awards, business, sic, teravision
posted by Gram the Man
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--Tuesday, May 22, 2007--
New Porn Daily: 20 short films by Andrew Blake
 Many people encounter Andrew Blake's kind of porn and never feel the need to try anything else; his name is synonymous with a style of beautifully-shot and sometimes disaffected erotica that puts him in a class by himself, for better or worse.
For many average citizens, Blake's is one of the few names from the porn industry they recognize.
I have seen maybe one minute of one of his films (actually shot on film) four years ago.
But here is Jade Starr, photographed for Blake's X, which is not to be confused with Metro's X-Rated, in a characteristically long-leggedy pose.
Blake said he shot each of the models improvisationally, only using himself as the crew and slowly compiling a movie's-worth of scenes.
"Instead of an individual model becoming the focus, the dominant nature of the director becomes the 'star'," he said.
That's great. Talent is getting so goddamn uppity lately.
Previously: Atomic Vixens: Escape from the Valley of the Sluts; Project Pussy Worship 2 (fleshbot)
See also: Andrew BlakeLabels: andrew blake, directors, new porn daily
posted by Gram the Man
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Durex: For when you have to wear a condom
 As I travel the highways and byways of the land in my recreational vehicle, one thing I don't discuss with other patrons of trucker bars, detention camps, and yoga retreats is whether or not the guys wear condoms. I don't discuss it because I already know the answer (that is why I will never be a lawyer): men hate wearing condoms.
Lifestyles condoms seem to be the ones most often passed out for free, and I have never worn one that hasn't broken. At one point I concluded that Lifestyles must be a front for the conservative Heritage Foundation. I switched to a type of Trojan because they seemed as American as Zippo lighters and Coca Cola. But just because they fit and didn't break didn't make it any more pleasant.
But when I was Wicked and Vivid's highest paid contract star* I needed to comply with their condom-only standard. That is why, when I visited Wicked's Reflexions set the other day, I was surprised to hear Tyler Knight praising Durex condoms in his pairing with the tasty Delilah Strong.
 "I can really feel her (through it)," he said.
For someone who feels wearing condoms is as distasteful as getting dressed up for church, I found this to be a ringing endorsement.
"You should do a commercial for Durex," I suggested.
"Do you know me?" Knight began his pitch. "I am the the pornographic actor Tyler Knight..."
Reflexions stars Wicked contract star Julia Ann, but I was not able to stay for her appearance. I get the feeling that the Delilah Strong/Tyler Knight pairing, taking place as it did in a room filled with smoke, might have been somewhat outside of the story arc, which is described thusly:
In this stylistic yet edgy vignette, Julia Ann is an object of desire in which her reflection depicts her true sexual being. ...like a breastacular Portrait of Dorian Gray. I don't know why a movie's "stylistic" nature might prevent it from also being "edgy", or why stylistic was used instead of stylish, but that is why I don't write press releases.
 What I learned is that Delilah Strong emerges from the mist like a leggy Isle of Avalon and that some condoms can be comfortable. I don't know how I might apply that knowledge in my life, but it's still good to know.
See the gallery here.
Previously: Dreaming of Snow; East Side Story gets its priorities in order; Whither Shane's World?
See also: Wicked, DurexLabels: delilah strong, tyler knight, WGL, wicked
posted by Gram the Man
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--Monday, May 21, 2007--
Barely Legal 75: Stacks of nudes spotted in Sunland
 Six (sometimes seven) barely post-pubescent women swapped "my first time" tales on Erica McLean's poolside set of Barely Legal 75. Many of the stories involved a friend of the character's father.
What was interesting was that these scripted stories were often less compelling than the most mundane of real-life stories involving friends of the performers' dads.
Jenny Hendrix, 21 and the movie's pool party hostess, said this on film:
"My father's friend was visiting, and he was naked by the pool. One thing led to another ... "
Jenny Hendrix, 21 and the woman who made me a drink called a Liquid Panty Remover which consisted of Fuze Slenderize and vodka, said this in person:
"My father's friend was a lawyer and I was dating his son. His dad came into the strip club I was working in and I gave him a lap dance. I knew he was going to tell my father anyway, so I made sure he'd remember it."
Hendrix is from Florida, where she began her adult career as a dancer three years ago. She left the business for a year and has returned, sealing the deal with an apartment in Woodland Hills. I was sad that I hadn't met Jenny before, which is the way I feel about most people who make me drinks. I think that the amount of time I didn't know the person had become somehow less meaningful.
As I age (I'm now 23), 18-year-olds seem smaller and smaller. Oddly enough, most of the 10-year-olds I see hanging out by the Krispy Kreme near Gram Ponante Towers, Aviary, Apiary, Sanatorium, Sanitarium, and Yurt are bigger than the porn performers eight years their senior.
The women hanging around the pool seemed so tiny, especially Alexis Love and Faye Runaway (my favorite porn name this week). Maybe they appear bigger on film. They made Joanna Angel look like a Mississippi steamboat (which would make me want to be today's Tom Sawyer).
 I have never, ever met a porn performer who I didn't like better in person than on film. (Imagine, then, how bad the movie is on the set of which I was assaulted). As the sun went down over the Angeles Forest that is the back yard of the McLean ranch, and the crew waited to shoot the night-time pool scene, the cast and I hung around.
Also in attendance were forces of XBiz and AVN; the XBiz kids eager and happy, the AVN contingent unsmiling and leaving early. I was eager when I was at AVN, and I was often unsmiling when I was at XBiz. I am a non-conformist. In both jobs, however, I was happy to leave early.
I arrived around 3 and spent maybe 15 minutes apologizing for the actions of another independent porn writer.
"Are you like (that other guy)?" someone asked me warily. "He creeps me out."
Sometimes I feel otherworldly, but I never feel like I'm s0meone else. "No," I said.
"That guy asks the same three questions over and over about disgracing my family," I was told.
"There, there," I said. "I'm here now."
Barely Legal began in 1999. It was the project of Clive McLean, Hustler's senior photographer and a long-time friend of Larry Flynt. In addition to a comprehensive portfolio, McLean's savvy and good fortune resulted in his being one of the only adult directors to receive a portion of the profits of his films. Like his contemporary Suze Randall, McLean chose a ranch in the hills (Randall's is in Malibu Canyon).
McLean died in March, 2005 and Barely Legal passed to a series of directors, including Andre Madness and McLean's widow, Erica. Barely Legal 75, which is scheduled for release in October, is both characteristic of and a departure from the series.
For example, as this title is a special event, there are extra girls. Aurora, Jenny Hendrix, Alexandra, Faye Runaway, Alexis Love, McKenzee Miles, and (for a time) Evelyn Lin were on hand for the all-girl orgy scene. Clive McLean had also had a Barely Legal orgy scene with episode 50, which featured Belladonna, Kimberly Kane, and Monica Sweetheart.
 But while Barely Legal might be an established brand now, inspiring numerous spinoffs within Hustler and imitations at other companies, it is an example of a niche that became mainstream. Now it is axiomatic that companies want the newest girls, and "barely legal" is shorthand for that.
The idea of a performer having just turned 18 not only signifies her legal ability to perform but also suggests a time when she wasn't, which is why Barely Legals, especially in the early years, were topheavy with older man/younger woman setups. If a Barely Legal is indistinguishable from any other high-end gonzo movie now, it is only because the concept was so compelling that Barely Legal became an industry standard.
 Erica McLean, a former model, was the Girl Friday on her late husband's sets. She did everything from cooking to costuming and line producing before she picked up a camera, so she knows what she's doing and that is one of the reasons the set was so comfortable. Another reason was the pack of five ancient dogs that flopped around the open house.
Other than still and candid photos, there was no porn happening for the five hours I was there. In any other set and for any other director, this would have resulted in tears, screeching, burritos flying, and broken thermoses. Most movie sets are about waiting, but McLean made sure she booked her talent for the day; there were no other gigs her cast had to run off to.
 Plus, McLean is quite serene and soft-spoken. If the orientalist David Aaron Clark had, like Sybil, several distinct personalities, Erica McLean might be the upbeat, lithe, Native American jewelry-wearing one.
I complimented her on the peacefulness of the set and the drama-free environment.
"That's Clive," she said. "He's here now. He's watching."
In the guest house, the cast was posing with underwear at various heights on their legs, then without underpants, then locking arms, then back to back, always symmetrical. They were so small they seemed like flesh-covered Tinkertoys one might have sex with. Six individual personalities reduced to action figures.
People who don't work in the porn industry often lose patience with me when I attempt to explain the business as more than the paragraph above, but if it is what they see and what the mill chooses to churn out, can you blame them?
That is why my value to the world is in taking the time to drink with as many porn performers as possible.
"Clive loved women," Erica said. "And they loved him. That is why it's so comfortable."
 I think Barely Legal 75 should be released along with a free bus trip to the McLeans' house; but would that shatter the fan fantasy of geometric stacks of girls in underpants?
See the gallery here.
Previously: Barely Legal's spirit stick; Barely Legal Jungle Fever (fleshbot); Nine falls on the Cold Valley
See also: HustlerLabels: "on the nest", directors, erica mclean, hustler, WGL
posted by Gram the Man
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--Friday, May 18, 2007--
New Porn Daily: Katja Kassin in Viva la Van
 Of Viva la Van, director Van Styles' collection of ten scenes that are close to his heart, he writes, "So sit back, relax and keep the lotion and tissue close."
The idea of someone suggesting that people masturbate to porn is distasteful to me. It is too on the nose (or, in my case, over the shoulder). It's like advertising toilet paper with "It's for Shitting!"
Regardless, I believe Mr. Styles when he says these scenes are personally moving, such as Katja Kassin's romp with three dudes on a carpeted Porn Valley duplex stairway.
On the set of Cuckolds 2 I asked Cram Johnson what his standards were vis a vis the pornish art form. "I have to be able to jerk off to each scene in editing," he said. It concerns me that he is looking at my scene right now.
So that Styles personally chose these scenes is reassuring, and I find that claim more credible than recent Hustler titles branded "Larry Flynt's Private Collection". The thought of Larry rolling around an oak-paneled porn library selecting month-old Memphis Monroe titles with a gold-plated back scratcher doesn't ring true to me.
Previously: Janine Loves Jenna; Land Madel
See also: MetroLabels: directors, katja kassin, new porn daily, van styles
posted by Gram the Man
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Couples Seduce Teens 6
 As President of the Porn Valley Chamber of Commerce, I am concerned that potential visitors and new business owners will see a movie like this and think that predatory couples are constantly cruising the area's Von's parking lots for unsuspecting teens to lure into porn shoots.
The problem is that the movie only shows one couple at a time cruising the parking lots of supermarkets, bodegas, panaderias, synagogues, In 'n' Out Burgers, correctional facilities, and the Van Nuys Airport when in fact there might be seven or eight couples at a pop on a given Saturday afternoon.
This movie also underlines a very savvy move on the part of men in swinging relationships; if one is lucky enough to have a wife who'll engage in threesomes with teen girls, it is smart and thoughtful for a man to choose a girl who is less attractive than his wife. That way, after the girl leaves, he can still quash the inevitable jealousy with, "You're way hotter than she was, Baby."
Read the review here.
Previously: Bat not included; Couples Seduce Teens 3
See also: Pink VisualLabels: "pink visual", dvd, reality, reviews
posted by Gram the Man
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