According to the Department of Invented Statistics, 98 percent of porn titles are bought on the basis of cover art alone (that's why the designer Alaska is very important to Vivid-steve). Here are four boxcovers of movies I received this week that spoke to me personally.

Clockwise from top left:

• Red Light District's Toe Service 2 [watch] says that the rest of Audrianna Angel is not as important as her feet. And for foot fetishists, it isn't.
• New Sensations' MILFs Crave Chocolate [watch] features Baby Jayne daring us to argue with her choice of Mr. Marcus, even if what he is wearing is an airbrushed Yankees cap. Also, Marcus seems to be saying "I'm'a fuck her on my way to killing you." (Points off for not using the correct plural milves.)
• The cover of Digital Sin's She Likes It Big 3 [watch] does nothing to illuminate the title, and where Kiki Vidis' ass says "pile driver" her crossed spiked heels just as loudly say "vagina dentata." Still, great picture.
• Finally, Pink Visual's Slutty Campus Teens 5 [watch] has its attention in the wrong place, I think. Tyler Stevens should be looking at us, rather than the guy with the lanyard. The guy seems to be saying, "I've got this and you don't." If Stevens was looking at us and he was looking at her, she'd be saying, "I'd rather be with you than this mope."

Previously on Porn Valley Observed: Alternate dialogue for a MILF movie; Ed Fox: No mean feet; Eye candy: the 3.6 rule
See also: Red Light District, New Sensations, Pink Visual

Labels: "red light district", alaska, art, audrianna angel, baby jayne, boxcover, feet, kiki vidis, MILF, mr. marcus, new sensations, pink visual, the ass, tyler stevens

posted by Gram the Man at Wednesday, October 08, 2008 | 1 Comments Links to this post

Mahlia Milan is 5'7" and 22 years old. This much can be verified by satellite imagery. But what is she trying to tell us?

One end of her thong goes north while the other is pulled west. Her breasts go south by southeast. Even Pharaoh is no use but, like us, he is interested in where that thong is headed.

As evidenced by the last post, I am no photographer, but when I meet Milan I will be tempted to take her by the thong and say, "You can't be all things to all people."

Previously: Sizzling ATM scene with Jenny Hendrix and Erin Moore
See also: Adult Talent Managers

Labels: agency, art, atm, mahlia milan, new talent

posted by Gram the Man at Tuesday, August 26, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

or: Froggy Went a' Courtin' in Your Vagina

Here in George W. Bush's Judaeo-Christian America, we think of frogs as the stars of Number Two of the ten plagues that befell Pharaoh, the subject of a Mark Twain story, and the best shorthand imaginable for the feeling one is losing one's mind.

But Japanese pornographer Daikichi Amano uses them as low-cost scene partners in his new flick, The Frog Crawling on the Stomach Is Torn And Smiles.

Amano is not the first pornographer to use images of performers interacting with non-human carbon-based life forms; he has just made it very popular. His monthly column in Bizarre Magazine is as articulate and humorous as it is unapologetically ghastly. This is what Edward Gorey would be doing if he liked girls.

"Do you have a problem touching frogs?" Amano asked prospective actresses for the movie, produced by the company Genki-Genki. "Could you squeeze and crush one with your bare hands? Would you be prepared to insert one inside your body? How about biting into a frog while it’s still alive?"

After working as a graphic designer in San Diego, Amano only started making porn upon his return to Japan. He had answered a job posting while still in the states and was surprised on his arrival to find that the job was with an adult company. When he began making his own films, he was fond of casting eels, snakes, and the loach opposite quivering hentai actresses.

Amano, whose sense of humor some may describe as, oh, evil, has recently begun working with frogs.

"I’m going to tell you something you probably didn’t know about frogs," he said. "When they cry they sound like cats. It’s absolutely true. As soon as Ms Haruhi arrived on set, she heard the frogs crying. 'Do you have a cat in here?' she asked. 'Yes,' I said, 'several.' I didn't want to startle her."

And, though Playboy Bunnies don't insert peacocks into themselves, I was interested to note during a recent trip to the Playboy Mansion that peacocks sound like cats, too.

Amano doesn't believe that Japanese performers are the only ones capable of realizing his vision. But it is generally the case that Japanese audiences prefer to see Japanese performers, Amano's producer told me.

Amano's latest project is spare in that, instead of using several species of reptile and amphibian, he is restricting on-camera parts to humans and cow frogs. But there will be elaborate costumes.

"Although the costumes I had designed for my actors were inspired by the Cirque Du Soleil," Amano said, "the idea for the film itself came from 'Alice In Wonderland'. In my version of the story Alice gets lost in a supernatural world and, instead of a toadstool, consumes a feast of frog flesh fed to her by two mysterious guards who look a bit like Tweedledum and Tweedledee."

And don't tell me Lewis Carroll wasn't a porn fan.

But why food? Could it be that Japan's food culture makes Japanese performers more comfortable putting raw food in their mouths or other places? This was suggested to me by Amano's producer. I'm not sure about this, because I can count on one hand the times I've inserted steak, potato salad, and Jagermeister bottles into anything other than my mouth, and I love all those things.

A porn set anywhere else in the world might be awash in several stripes of bodily fluid, Diet Coke, and crystal meth when the cameras stop rolling, but Amano has to deal with frog remains.

"As you can imagine, every inch of the studio was covered in amphibian blood and guts," he said. "Quite a few of the frogs were still alive but in order to dispose of the bodies they needed to be dead. I split the crew up into pairs and we systematically exterminated them. It was like a production line. One person held the limbs of a frog, the other smashed it between the eyes with a hammer. There was no joy in it."

Describing the appeal of this material is tricky. Anyone who watches any kind of porn knows that it often defies description. "Well of course I like it," they'll say. "It's porn." And when faced with the pornography of another country, like the Germans' love of poo, the Swedes' love of Abba, or the Brazilian tranny-industrial complex, people wag their fingers.

But Daikichi's style might have something to do with cruelty which, if you've ever watched a Japanese game show, you'll know is as popular there as shows about angels and police are here.

"I loathe frogs," Amano said. "I can’t even look at them, let alone touch them. (But) I hired an all-female crew for this shoot. And as they were engaged in killing the frogs, they shrieked in horror. Just the look on their faces told me they were clearly not enjoying themselves. But, of course, I was having a ball."

See a gallery here (and, for some reason I feel compelled to tell you, aside from every other thing on this site, that it is NSFW).

Previously: What I learned from hentai; Naked nurse with statue of pig; Mandy Morbid: Cthulhu is my co-pilot; What, no tentacles?
See also: Send In the Eels: A Genki Diary (fleshbot), Genki-Genki

Labels: animals, art, daikichi amano, directors, genki, hentai, japan, tentacles

posted by Gram the Man at Tuesday, August 19, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

I met this striking woman at a baby shower several weeks ago, and today I walked onto the set of Anabolic's Creampie Explosions 3 and there she was again, except naked and going by the name Audrey Elson.

The 5'10" Detroit native was to be ejaculated into, then she was to squat and expel it, and then lick it off the floor. All these things happened within 30 minutes of my arriving.

I'll tell you more about director Ivan's extremely efficient movie set later, but I felt it would be in your best interest to see Ms. Elson all Ingresy-y as soon as possible.

(Just so you know, it wasn't Audrey who was having the baby.)

Previously: Enter the Adrianaconda
See also: Ivan, Anabolic; Jean-August-Dominique Ingres

Labels: anabolic, art, audrey elson, ivan, set visits, WGL

posted by Gram the Man at Wednesday, July 30, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

Pornsaints, the quasi-religious outfit that makes today's porn stars look like Patrick Nagel paintings, is hosting its second art show in conjunction with Hotmovies, a porn e-tailer, at Philadelphia's Transit nightclub on August 2.

"Art needs something naughty and porn needs something classy," demanded Pornsaints founder Francesco D'Isa, fists clenched. Works by D'Isa, Katelan Foisy, Jeff Faerber, Julio Aguilera, Molly Crabapple, and Jorden Hale will be displayed at the party, which also celebrates Hotmovies' 100,000th movie sale.

The evening of booze, burlesque dancers, and boobs will be hosted by Joanna Angel and Re-Penetrator director Doug Sakmann.

Previously: It's hard to be a Pornsaint in the city
See also: Pornsaints, Hotmovies

Labels: "joanna angel", art, events, pennsylvania, philadelphia, pornsaints

posted by Gram the Man at Thursday, July 10, 2008 | 1 Comments Links to this post

Photographer Ed Fox (whose picture of the newly-minted Noname Jane debuted on this site a week ago) is displaying his work for Garage Magazine at a group show at San Francisco's Minna Gallery.

"Full Custom Living: The Art of Garage Magazine" is a group show featuring 26 contributors to the magazine devoted to custom cars, hot rods, and the art they inspire.

Fox' book "Glamour from the Ground Up" is, for lack of a better phrase, hands-down the most popular coffee table book on display in my office, attracting even the people who say they don't like porn. Fox' depictions of fleshy, hot-blooded vixens - each of whom has feet - are frank, compelling, and accessible with just enough professional affectation to make the viewer comfortable that he paid for a work of art.

In other words, you'd hang these pictures in a garage, but they don't look like they were shot in a garage (except for the photos that were actually shot in a garage).

As Governor of the State of California and one of its largest landowners, I was interested in how Fox, a Mexican-American and native Angeleno, approached his work, which seems to be particularly reflective of Los Angeles.

Gram: What do you think makes an L.A. setting instantly recognizable in a photograph?

Fox: The traffic and smog? Since I don't visit many other places, it's hard to know. Maybe it's the whole package: the models, their clothes, and the architecture.

Gram: You can see why L.A.'s architecture is a certain way, and even how the clothes reflect the environment. But the models are particular to L.A. as well?

Fox: You just know how nice it would feel to squeeze them. It's the same reason I like a meaty foot, because there's more to squeeze. it's 'fleshy' instead of hard. I don't like it when the models start approaching 30 and start getting worried so they feel they have to work out extra hard and end up too lean and muscular. I think we are attracted to the fleshy girls because we are so used to seeing fake, overly manicured models (bleached hair, fake tits, tans, piercings etc.) that when these natural beauties come along, our jaws drop and we say 'where did you come from?'

The pictures on this page are of Jelena Jenson, Aria Giovanni, and Casey Parker.

Gram: You get day laborers from Home Depot to pose with the likes of Kelly Madison, Tall Goddess, and No Name Jane (the former Violet Blue). I can imagine this beats low-cost caulking for Glendale slumlords.

Fox: Since I speak Spanish fluently, I kind of had a leg up which also allowed these guys to trust me or maybe feel more comfortable. The models just go with whatever I tell them and the ones that go with it always turn out the best results. Tall Goddess I remember always wanted more. She'd round them all up like cattle and everyone just had a great time. I don't know who got more out of it, the workers or her!

Gram: How much did you pay the Home Depot guys?

Fox: Are you kidding? Being in the presence of these lovelies was payment enough. I thought of it as me bringing them these gifts. Like the 'untouchable' girls from the magazines would just fall out of the sky and land in front of them.

Gram: In the foreword to "Glamour," (Leg Show editor) Dian Hanson makes note of the shyness of some fetish photographers. What is that about?

Fox: We foot fetishists come in all different forms. Some are blatant and others are more secretive, for a few reasons. I feel uncomfortable talking about it because people think it's weird and just don't understand. "Why feet?" "I don't know; why breasts or why blondes versus brunette?"

...If anything, foot fetishists have that one extra female body part to appreciate when those who don't get it are missing out.

...Also, it's a little more exciting or 'dirty' to keep the fetish on the down-low. it then becomes more of a voyeuristic thing.

Gram: How do models who don't know you respond to "Take off your shoes," or, is there an attitude a good foot model shares with the photographer?

Fox: If a girl knows I have a foot fetish and in public says "oh here, look at my feet" and throws her shoe off and puts it in front of my face or on my lap, it totally ruins it. There's no going for the kill. Most likely that girl will not have nice feet anyway. Just because a girl takes care of her feet and gets pedicures weekly, doesn't mean she has nice feet. It's about shape, or size, odor or even how she teases you with it without her even knowing she's doing it.



Previously: The Voluptuous feet of Ed Fox; (Pop) Shot in the foot
See also: Ed Fox, Foot Factory, Minna Gallery

Labels: Aria Giovanni, art, casey parker, ed fox, events, feet, fetish, interviews, jelena jenson, magazines, noname jane, photographers, san francisco

posted by Gram the Man at Saturday, July 05, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

What I meant to say in the last entry was "When is the last time you went to an art show - and didn't get stabbed?" My new answer to that rhetorical question is now "Why last Friday night, of course."

A few people (well, no one) wrote in to express their concern that in an increasingly violent art world, especially an installation in which porn stars would be revered in whimsical textual displays such as those created by Margie Schnibbe (aka Vena Virago), they might get caught in the crossfire of one of that savage demimonde's many feuds, or that they might go on a punching, stabbing, and boot-kicking spree themselves.

But no such thing happened Friday, as Schnibbe's "Honey Bunny" show opened to a packed but peaceful house of milling hipsters, poseurs, Germans, New Romantics, old queens, and angry young men.

I usually arrive at such gallery openings shaking my fist and mumbling about the various ways in which my vision has been repressed by h8ers. But something about the comforting pastels and intricate swirly patterns juxtaposed with large, bare singularities of wall, cushions, and a sign that read "Today is a good day" made me gently place my broken bottle down with the plastic cups of white wine.

Schnibbe's show contains a stylized wall of AVN Hall of Fame inductees, and the entire exhibit will serve as the backdrop of the upcoming Vena Virago porn outing Honey Bunny, which will star Page Morgan as a woman obsessed with the art of a woman named Vena Virago, rabbits, and having sex.

But it was strange to walk through a gallery and not be confronted with violence around every custom-painted corner. There were no ear-slicing mobs, drunken honor killings, or installation-related bloodletting, like the time when I shaved off my nipples for my performance piece "Xiphoid Process" at Soho's Gallery Elephantiasis, of which David Bowie remarked, "They grew right back" (and they did).

Schnibbe attended CalArts in the mid-1990s after a career as an artist and a dominatrix in New York. She currently lives in Silver Lake.

Hollywood's Circus Gallery is the art gallery arm of the venerable GLBT bookstore Circus of Books. The gallery has operated since last April, and "Honey Bunny" will be up until June 14.

Previously: Rebelle Rousers preview
See also: Vena Virago, Circus Gallery

Labels: "vena virago", art, events, page morgan

posted by Gram the Man at Monday, May 19, 2008 | 1 Comments Links to this post

When is the last time you went to an art gallery?

Vena Virago, who in some circles is known as Margie Schnibbe, will open her "Honey Bunny" show tomorrow night at Circus Gallery on Lexington Ave.

I'm waiting for my man
Twenty-six dollars in my hand
Up to Lexington, 7065
Feel sick and dirty, more dead than alive
I'm waiting for my man - Lou Reed

Virago has directed a couple of movies for VCA and Vivid-steve, such as Silverlake Scenesters and Eastside Story, and will actually film a scene for her newest movie at the gallery some time before the show closes in mid-June, making the "Honey Bunny" show a quiet piece of porn world/art world convergence without any of the overhyping or poseur elements that have sullied such attempts in recent years.

Honey Bunny the (eventual) movie will star Page Morgan (pictured).

Tomorrow's reception begins at 7 p.m.

Previously: Vena Virago, the porn spec; Eastside Story gets its priorities in order; Hanging with Silver Lake Swingers; Mary Carey hosts a happening
See also: Vena Virago, Circus Gallery

Labels: "vena virago", art, events

posted by Gram the Man at Friday, May 16, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

Other than chlamydia, my favorite piece of swag from January's AVN convention is this Max Hardcore bumpersticker. Why do I bother writing about it two months later, you ask? Because I believe my car would be blown up if I stuck this to it, and I have no idea what to do with it otherwise.

It would be great to see this in an airport in a developing country. Simple and graphically compelling, Max' cowboy hat in the second panel would be an excellent symbol of American imperialism.

I also like how the figure in the first frame seems so unhappy using an actual urinal.

The urine is also interesting. Represented as a series of individual droplets rather than a stream, it is as if Hardcore is saying that life is also disconnected and random, so why attach too much baggage to pissing in someone's face?

Previously: When feds say "porn," do they mean Max Hardcore?
See also: Max Hardcore

Labels: art, max hardcore, personal philosophy

posted by Gram the Man at Monday, March 03, 2008 | 0 Comments Links to this post

Somewhere north of her nipples and south of her neck, Joanna Angel noted, the swans turned to fish in the sunlight.

Previously: All the Best Cowboys Play Guitar Hero
See also: Burning Angel, M.C. Escher

Labels: "joanna angel", art, because, fotos, WGL

posted by Gram the Man at Tuesday, December 11, 2007 | 1 Comments Links to this post

The artist responsible for this and other art-but-true works will be signing his new book at Burbank's Hyaena Gallery (right across from True Romance's Safari Inn!) this Friday night.

Previously: Katja Kassin: Brennen hinunter das haus; Mary Carey hosts a happening
See also: Coloring Book Land

Labels: art, events

posted by Gram the Man at Wednesday, November 21, 2007 | 2 Comments Links to this post

If the future is to be apocalyptic, as scholars agree, at least there should be nudity in it, and for months at a time.

365 And Occasionally 366, a trade publication for the calendar industry, reports that the biggest challenge facing purveyors of wall calendars is that people don't look at them.

"It was October 13 before I remembered to turn the page of my '12 Months of Linus' calendar to October," said Los Angeles resident Kam Fong of a calendar devoted to Linux creator Linus Torvalds. "I got it for Christmas so I put it on the wall, but I really just use my smartphone for my schedule."

Much as the porn industry is battling a population increasingly unwilling to pay for its product, now that 94 percent of American women (and 103 percent of Brazil's, including transsexuals) gratuitously flash for passersby an average of four times a day, the once-powerful wall calendar establishment is struggling to lure new customers and retain old ones.

Read more after the gap.


Industry experts say that the process of approaching the wall, removing and replacing the thumbtack (or nail), and changing the calendar page is becoming harder and harder for Americans, who are often torpid to the point of being bedridden.

Research has also indicated that some wall calendar users will like the picture accompanying one month better than that of another and refuse to change the page.

"It has altered my perception of Time," said Norman Fell of Dearborn, MI, who liked the picture of Goofy in his Disney calendar so much that he has been living in March, 1978 since March, 1978.

That is why the 2008 Nerdcore Calendar is so special. Each page is great. In addition to traditional holidays, it also includes release dates for movies of interest to geeks, like Indiana Jones and Speed Racer, dates of sacred pilgrimages like San Diego's Comic Con, the birthday of Jean Luc Picard, and the death date of Sarah Connor.

That and pictures of Justine Joli and Karlie Montana.

Produced in Toluca Lake, the 2008 Nerdcore Calendar features "heroines and their evil counterparts square off in quite revealing ways - a fully nude firestarter igniting her surroundings, a "super" lass undresses after a hard day's night of battling bad guys, and a katana-wielding vixen, wearing a headband and not much else, shows a few ninjas who's the real boss is. These are the powered-up ladies that watch over the city from downtown rooftops and can turn invisible with the snap of a finger."

The 2008 Nerdcore Calendar costs $25 and will be available November 15. Early orders will be accompanied by a promotional poster.

Previously: Hotter than a Balrog
See also: Nerdcore

Labels: art, fotos, geekery, justine joli, karlie montana

posted by Gram the Man at Friday, October 19, 2007 | 0 Comments Links to this post

Photographer Michael Grecco's "Naked Ambition: an R-rated look at an X-rated industry", is a coffeetable book that many would feel comfortable keeping on their coffee tables; there's not a lot of nudity.

And the high-color photographs, snapped backstage at the past two AVN conventions and awards shows, often appear theatrical or like circus art, presenting the subjects in their porn finery as garish and safe, the way certain accountants dress like 70's pimps at Halloween.

Read more after the gap.



For people who don't know porn stars, who wonder about their habits and gathering places (but who don't want to know an uncomfortable amount about those things), this is the book to own.

The title is misleading in that not too many people are naked, and "ambitious" is not the most apt adjective for a lot of folks in the book, but the "R-rated look at an X-rated industry" is spot on: there are no graphic tales of gaping or semen sharing, gangbangs gone bad, drug or sexual abuse, or suicide, but plenty of the paragraphs that accompany the photos of porn stars are chirpy pieces of personal philosophy.

"Naked Ambition" is a Porn Stars Are People Too book.


Grecco told his subjects to come as they were. "They came right off the floor (that way)," he said, his team having set up areas backstage at the awards and off the show floor during the convention.

So while Grecco did the lighting and framing and provided the backdrops, the porn stars look as they wanted you to see them and, when photographer and subject work in concert, the effect is a porn star who says something.

Thus, Penny Flame walks offstage with a torn award envelope, having flubbed a line during her presentation. Carmen Hart catches an air-grape, Kirsten Price laughs out loud, and Dana DeArmond gets shut out. We get the feeling we know something.

But many of the photos don't say too much. The reader is left with the same sexy/innocuous poses (except clothed this time) as on porn boxcovers. In these cases the performers seem interchangeable. This is, of course, the difference between stars and everyone else.

As a document, "Naked Ambition" is valuable; two years can see a lot of changes, especially in a business with such a high turnover. Thus there's Missy Monroe before her pregnancy, Tina Tyler in a brief punk period, and Jenna Jameson at the beginning of her current incarnation.

Grecco devotes an appropriate amount of space to fringe elements of the porn industry (like clowns, midgets, Michelle Aston, and the aged), but to his credit, everyone gets the same treatment. His coverage of the gay side has fewer notes in it, like fashion photography that is less porny than the rest of the book, but again, Grecco says he treated the subjects like a beat reporter.

My favorite photos are ones that appear to be in the middle ground between staged and casual. Among these are portraits of Lexington Steele, Cousin Stevie, Charlotte Stokely, and Yasmin Taylor.

"The idea of the book is that it is a journalistic document using the portrait photography and still photography," Grecco said. And to a degree, letting the subjects do the work lets the photographer off the hook, but he's still the guy framing the shot.

So if you come away from "Naked Ambition" with the feeling that there are only a few people in the porn business worthy of being called "stars", you know they feel that way, too.

Previously: Mary Carey hosts a happening, Art on his sleeve
See also: Michael Grecco, Naked Ambition

Labels: art, avn, fotos, WGL

posted by Gram the Man at Monday, October 08, 2007 | 1 Comments Links to this post

Photographer Justice Howard and designer Jim Koch have put together Toys Kill, an exhibit featuring her photographs, many featuring interesting takes on the more glam members of the adult industry, and his toy designs, which will turn your children Evil, and thus better suited to deal with the world.

The show runs from October 6 to October 31 at Meltdown Comics on Sunset Blvd.

Read more after the gap.



As you can imagine, it is shocking to think that artists might try to tart up their gallery exhibitions with painted and PVC-clad, burlesque-dancing pinup women and gender benders - after all, Norman Rockwell didn't do it - but that is just what will go down at Saturday's opening reception.

Fetish performers Victoria Vengeance and Diamondback Annie will be working the opening, which runs from 7-10 p.m.

It is depressing to think the art world has devolved to a point that I would need to see the gyrations of Victoria Vengeance in order to appreciate Howard's erotic photography. Well, maybe there'll be cheese there.

The event is free, but sales proceeds from Toys Kill will benefit the Children of the Night Foundation (no relation to Ronnie James Dio), a non-profit seeking to rescue girls and boys from
prostitution.

Meltdown Comics is located at 7522 Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles.

Previously: Operation Desert Stormy party art; It's hard to be a Pornsaint in the city; Mary Carey hosts a happening
See also: Justice Howard, Jim Koch, Meltdown Comics

Labels: art, events, fetish, fotos, jim koch, justice howard

posted by Gram the Man at Tuesday, October 02, 2007 | 0 Comments Links to this post

Pink is a suggestive color, of course, and it's no surprise that it is used in porn names (Jocelyn Pink, Pink Visual, 1 in the Pink, 1 in the Stink), but when I looked at this Joanna Angel cover from Hustler, her ex company (she's at ClubJenna now), it sent me poking around the steveporn corner of the web to find that those people are addicted to the color pink. I think it's unhealthy.

In fact, the thing that might actually separate "altporn" as practiced and photographed before the turn of the century and "steveporn" as scholars have described it is pink-dependence.

I was amazed at how much pink turned up on the sites of Vivid-steve, Eon McKai, Vena Virago, and Winkytiki, whereas pink was at manageable levels in the work of Rob Rotten and Ron Royster, two others often tagged with the altporn label. Blueblood was almost pink-free, but Eroticbpm was exceedingly pink.

I don't know what this means, other than pink makes me think of candy, and that when I see a picture like this one of Joanna Angel, looking so frankly at {me}, I think black, not pink, because black is the color of my soul.

Previously: Pink Velvet trilogy; So are they pink or are they white?

Labels: art, steveporn

posted by Gram the Man at Monday, July 09, 2007 | 0 Comments Links to this post

This collection of artful renderings of some of my personal favorite porn personalities has a daunting amount of theory behind it, which can either be a turnoff, a justification, or, well, just those two. Best to not read the manifesto attached.

Suffice to say that not since Bang Boat has there been a porn site with such a high concept.

Designed by the Florentine artist "Pornpope" Francesco D'Isa, Pornsaints has a five page mission statement that boils down to: "Well, they might as well be saints" because anything else is just as likely.

I have as much problem with people who beatify their art objects as those who debase (Khan Tusion) or infantilize (Bill Margold) them; it takes away the subject's humanity.

Our issue as porn viewers/consumers has never been that we aren't understanding porn subjects the right way, it's that some people tell us how to understand a very personal, that is consumer, subject. In the end, it says more about the theorist than it says about us.

Regardless, Pornsaints is a well-crafted and thoughtful site, whether you agree with the thoughts behind it or not, and contains some interesting renderings of Casey Parker, Bella Vendetta, Mia Rose, Pinky Lee, and Lorelei Lee (pictured), among others.

Previously: The Erotic (Kool Aid Acid) Coloring Book; VCA embraces pixelation; My God, It's full of stars; Eon McKai and the elephant in the room
See also: Pornsaints

Labels: art, casey parker, jesus, lorelei lee, Mia Rose, pinky lee, pornsaints

posted by Gram the Man at Sunday, July 08, 2007 | 3 Comments Links to this post

Semi-retired porn star (because she lives in Maryland) Samantha Sterlyng created a video for a college Government class in which she projected slides of current and former Bush Administration officials on her body.

I can imagine how her professor reacted when she turned in her homework.

"I thought it would be something interesting to see," she told me.

But what does it mean? I don't know how effective this sort of thing is as a form of protest, but it would be interesting if the war stops.

See the video here.

Previously: Sasha Grey's Jezebel & June; Assault That Ass: Sun Tzu's perspective; Pornhounds
See also: Samantha Sterlyng

Labels: art, politics, samantha sterlyng

posted by Gram the Man at Friday, July 06, 2007 | 0 Comments Links to this post

"It's like The Ring but less sexy!" - Student Film Intellectual Monthly

Previously: Something is about to happen to Sasha Grey; A little more Ssha Grey never hurt anybody; Profiles in missing the point
See also: Sasha Grey

Labels: art, germans, sasha grey

posted by Gram the Man at Thursday, June 07, 2007 | 0 Comments Links to this post

Pornhounds is a comic book by New York-based gentlemen's magazine writer Sharon Lintz about her days working for San Francisco's defunct Spectator, a legendary broadsheet filled with porn reviews and escort ads.

If you read Lintz' writing you might be struck by its similarity to that of former AVN editors Susie Mid-America and Rebecca Gray in its stream of consciousness/you'd better fucking listen style.

In several stories illustrated by artists like Ed Piskor and Sophie Crumb, Lintz describes her former co-workers - Pornhounds - at an unnamed magazine, including people eerily reminiscent of director David Aaron Clark and Adam Film World editor Anthony Petkovich, both of whom wrote for the Spectator while Lintz was there.

"She took a bite of my sandwich," Petkovich confirmed recently.

Lintz spends the comic learning to quit worrying and love the fact that she is a porn writer.

"For the first time in years," she writes, "I'm not obsessively thinking about what else I should be doing. I love this job."

Previously: Scenes from the class struggle in Playboy's Penthouse; Vena Virago: Tempted; The Erotic (Kool-Aid Acid) Coloring Book; VCA embraces pixelation; Porned Alaska
See also: Pornhounds

Labels: "david aaron clark", art, books

posted by Gram the Man at Thursday, April 05, 2007 | 0 Comments Links to this post

One features a crane, and the other features a telephone line to nowhere. How is one the "alt to alt"? I guess you can't call a color scheme legally actionable, though reversing the "e" in Penthouse looks about as edgy as writing "Kidz Menu", and just seems silly.

But at least the Penthouse title lets me know which one is a slut and which one is a pirate.

Previously: Porn Valley font panic; East Side Story gets its priorities in order; You deserve a FIP today
See also: Vivid-steve, Penthouse

Labels: art, found, steveporn

posted by Gram the Man at Monday, March 05, 2007 | 0 Comments Links to this post

This coloring book, created in 1975 by Craig Berlin from what appear to be infrared surveillance photos, was purchased at a New York bookstore by Manhattan blogger Jaime Morrison.

I thought we had collectively decided to stop freaking each other out (with art, anyway) by 1975, but I was wrong.

Previously: VCA embraces pixelation; "Now I've seen everything"; Porned Alaska; "My God, it's full of stars"
See also: Jaime Morrison's "The Nonist" (thanks to Duke Santos)

Labels: art, found

posted by Gram the Man at Tuesday, February 20, 2007 | 0 Comments Links to this post