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AVN 2018

Wow, AVN week went by in a blur and some of that experience could be blamed on some health issues and that I tried to keep things as low key as possible after the convention hours. I don’t know how people can work a convention, go out and party the entire night, rinse, and wake up the next day to repeat the cycle three days ultimately culminating in the Awards. I mean I used to do this on an annual basis when I was in my 20s, but those days are long gone.

August Ames: Never Forget worn by Penny Pax

The AVN convention or AEE (Adult Entertainment Expo) was dominated in square footage by the cam companies most specifically by MyFreeCams (MFC), Chaturbate, and Cam4. You would see cam girls not only at their booths but in the crowds visiting their friends or allowing their cam room to view the convention by taking their laptops and webcams with them. In fact, beyond just camgirls, it seems like the dominant theme this year is on performers whether cam people or traditional porn stars producing their own content and releasing them through outlets like Clips4Sale or ManyVids and receive a percentage. With the glut of Internet piracy out there this is probably the wave of the future for performers to make money in that they have to diversify their income beyond getting a set rate for a scene.

Stefanie Joy always takes the time to greet me.

Catjira, AVN’s Favorite Camming Cosplayer

As for the traditional production booths, Greg Lansky and the general Mindgeek booths had the busiest claustrophobic traffic while Jules Jordan and Evil Angel had their own share of busy lines. Riley Reid, Abella Danger, and Adriana Chechik drew the busiest lines. Evil Angel had the most organised booth and were handing outÂ August Ames shirts which were worn by attendees throughout the convention courtesy of Kevin Moore.

Abella Danger and her glee from receiving a Helga shirt from a fan

I noticed that many active porn stars did not attend the convention, and it was hard to catch people who did attend but not signing at a booth. Popular camgirls were also hard to track down because they were more interested in their laptops or hanging out with their peers than interacting with the attendees.

I did not attend the Awards this year even though IAFD got to vote for the first time. I did not want to deal with the red carpet or the ensuing requests from people who attended the Awards. Maybe if I have the energy next year, I’ll attend the Awards as a spectator to support my friends. Congratulations to Angela White, who had the trifecta distinction of being inducted in the Hall of Fame, hosting the AVN Awards, and winning a record 14 awards including Female Performer of the Year.

For the convention photos on Flickr.

Ramblings from Exxxotica New Jersey 2017

So wow. This Jersey show was the first Exxxotica that reminded me of an AVN Adult Entertainment Expo with the crowds and lines to see the stars.Â Where the other locations, even while busy, allow you to have the time to talk to the performer, conversations will end up building a line behind you.

Riley Reid, who is notorious for spending quality time (5-10 minutes) with each attendee that sees her, matched her busy lines at AVNs and easily had the longest lines in the show running 15-20 deep. Abella Danger, Adriana Chechik, and Angela White also had eye-popping lines and waits. I was extremely lucky that Riley, Abella, and Angela each took the time to take a break from their respective lines for my camera that I tried not to keep them from their fans by taking only a couple of snaps.

My phone took a beating physically and electronically. AbellaÂ and Angela’s appreciatively tagging my photos during the convention had my phone buzzing constantly as their fans gave their worshipping feedback.Â My Instagram and Twitter followers increased by the hundreds while I fumbled trying to turn off push notification for both apps. Meanwhile unexpected displays of affection from girls like Lexi Belle, Gina Valentina, and others sent my phone a tumbling onto the floor. Damn, Gina!

With such strong demand for the traditional performers, the cam companies and their girls were almost an afterthought. Many camgirls seemed either intimidated by the crowds or annoyed at attendees distracting them from their cam rooms. I can understand why several withdrew deeper into their booths to devote to their camming, and I think they use the conventions to network with each other more than try to build their fan base. Exceptions to this were Hime Marie, who had shot with several companies, and Kawaii Serina, who I had previously met in Denver.

As for the parties, I refused to leave the host hotel and visited the on-site parties for a max of maybe an hour each. Long gone are the days of 36-hour Morbid. My nights were more focused on visiting with my friends in a more low-key manner aka the hotel bar and any real partying were in the hotel rooms upstairs.

For the rest of the photos:

Flickr – Somewhat SFW
Tumblr – NSFW

Exxxotica Chicago 2017

At first I thought I was going to do a traditional write-up of the latest Exxxotica Expo from Chicago last weekend with my comments on the layout, attendance, my notes and observations, and, of course, corresponding photos along with the links to the galleries on Flickr or Tumblr.

That gets boring, and my favourite parts about writing about these shows are the random observations that come to mind when I think about the time that I had. So I will just start rambling:

Chicago is one of my two favourite Exxxotica locations (other is Denver) because of its proximity to the airport and the hotel is usually right next to the convention center. This doesn’t mean much to the average local attendee, but it means a whole lot to someone who is carrying a bunch of equipment who has to pace several miles across a convention floor. The show is always busy with attendees over the years which leads to happy girls rather than ones sulking over their sales.

Even though the Chicago show is busy, you can spend a lot of time talking with the girls as opposed to an AVN because the laid back pace of the show allows you to do it. Which leads to some awkward interactions with many of the girls. I don’t do well with small talk and often cannot engage in a conversation about their work; if it’s a stranger, I have most likely not seen their work and if it’s a friend, it’s really weird to think about them in a sexual context much less talk about their work in a clinical manner. But, hey, I’m at a porn convention and people tend to talk about porn at such conventions so I should call this the porn convention paradox.

I’m always surprised at the friendships that arise over despite the brief awkward interactions over the years. I guess if they repeat enough times, the girls realise you’re just sincerely awkward and greet you with hugs and kisses, and unfortunately with Lexi Belle, unwanted ass grabbing and spankings; still better than being groped by Ron Jeremy though.

I do try to catch up with my friends in general but then get anxious about if I am keeping them from the next person in line as that is a potential customer. I also patiently wait in line at Exxxoticas not wanting to interrupt an ongoing conversation even despite my friend giving me all sorts of cues to interrupt and rescue them from a long talker. Heh. Sorry, Vicki Chase.

Which leads me to comment about the proliferation and dominance of webcam companies (MyFreeCams & Chaturbate) at the shows these days. Camgirls are often inexperienced in interacting with the attendees as opposed to the people in their camrooms. The crowds can be intimidating, and you may be disrupting some virtual conversation when you approach them. By patiently waiting on their conversations with their computers, my socially awkward ass may have creeped out a girl or two. I’ll call this the camgirl at a convention dilemma.

I had met a nice girl from MFC in Denver and was pleasantly surprised when she unexpectedly showed up in Chicago but she was only there to take pictures. She was the most beautiful girl at the show, but I didn’t tell her that because I gotz no GaMe, and it would sound like an insincere pickup line in a room full of beautiful women. In Denver, I had patiently waited for her at the risk of missing my flight home before I came to my senses and ran off.Â So I found her every day in Chicago, took a photo or two, and relieved the oncoming social anxiety by running away.

My favourite part about cons is relaxing with my friends after the show hours; whether it’s having dinner and drinks, a puff or two,Â staring at a spinning ceiling while listening to the lechers hit on my friends, or dancing the macarena with someone who is younger than the song.

Thank you, Stefanie, Catjira, and Monica, for being accommodating with me. You were my better half this weekend, Vicki. We made some beautiful photos, Haighlee. I’ll miss you too, Joseline.

For the rest of the photos:

Flickr (relatively safe for work)
Tumblr (less safe for work)

Exxxotica Denver 2017

Exxxotica came to the Denver area for the first time, and my memory of it is already hazy. Porn stars galore descended near the capital of Colorado with the perk of THC being legal at least statewise.

The best thing about Exxxoticas is how accessible the porn stars with their fans at least in terms of getting to meet them. Unlike AVN Expos where you have long lines and suffocating crowds, you can meet your favourite stars within a wait of about 1-10 minutes. The crowds were not overwhelming, and there was a fair representation of men and women.

The show was dominated by the two major webcam companies, MyFreeCams and Chaturbate. Their cam girls were not accessible to the fans as much given their focus on the webcams on their computers and relative inexperience in greeting their fans in person. However, I make it a point to meet them as several may be the porn stars of tomorrow.

The nightlife was more mellow with the best parties being in the middle of the host hotel or the rooms upstairs. Security was tight checking to making sure everyone that did belong at the hotel or had a ticket were let in.

Notes:

Yes, there was a lot of weed. I didn’t have to find a dispensary to obtain any since people were freely offering and sharing.
Meeting pets of the girls are always fun although you wonder if it’s appropriate that they should be in high stimulus environments with blasting music and crowds.
Seeing Jenna Haze again was a nice blast from the past. She is planning to do a final dance tour as goodwill for her fans as she transitions into a new career. Given that she was the first porn star I met at my first porn convention, I recognised my own convention mortality.
The most popular girls seem to be Adriana Chechik, Abella Danger, and Phoenix Marie.
I met Giselle Palmer again since AVN. Her beauty leaves me speechless.

For the rest of the photos:

Flickr (relatively safe for work)
Tumblr (less safe for work)

AVN 2017

Another year; another AVN. The show expanded this year with the host Hard Rock Hotel building a new hallway for the Adult Novelties Expo. This increase in layout helped with thinning the crowds as there was more surface area to breathe. The main themes this year are webcam and VR companies which are signs of where the industry thinks consumers are going, trends that are hard to pirate.

With webcams, the user gets to interact with a person in ways that cannot be done on video. Not only was this year’s expo sponsored by MyFreeCams (MFC) and Chaturbate; you saw hundreds of camgirls running about causing mini accidents as they try to navigate the crowd with a laptop in hand. Just the MFC booth that lines the first hallway you see is intimidating where you see girls more interested in talking to their computers than with the attendees. Same with the Chaturbate booth which took up a good chunk of a ballroom.

Various virtual reality companies demonstrated their wares from Hologirls VR, Reality Lovers, and Cam4VR. Ela Darling led me through a rather innocent Cam4VR demonstration where the VR girl twerked for me in a bedroom. I was more curious exploring the environment than in engaging the virtual girl to her liking.

As for the photos:

Click the champagning and campaigning for photos from the Expo

Click for the AVN Awards red carpet photos

Notes:

The best booth this year was Greg Lansky‘s Blacked/Tushy/Vixen booth which featured its own bar. They had the best group of girls, and Riley Reid had the longest lines again for the 6th year in the row. Greg was very accommodating to the press and gave us a lounge area to rest our feet. Even though there was plenty of alcohol available, I just helped myself to bottled water and the couches.
Second favourite booth was Jules Jordan Video which also had awesome girls and featured the second longest lines with Abella Danger. Abella worked so hard she didn’t have much of a voice every night I saw her out and about.
As for the awards, I was put on red carpet duty instead of behind the scenes this year. Actually the first red carpet that I’ve done since 2009 and my last. Rather than taking a photo at a measured pace of people that are happy to see you with a drink or two in hand, doing red carpet means you have to try to catch everyone; calling them out to you, and blinding the fuck out of them while competing with other photographers. I had the issue of the two other photographers in my section overdirecting and monopolozing the shots. Not my finest moment.
Since I didn’t enter the Awards to watch the show, I can’t comment on it. I did notice many performers that had walked the carpet skip the show; some because they weren’t nominated to others who weren’t allowed to smoke inside the venue.
Thank you, Samantha Bentley & Val Dodds. We created magic.