Some site glitches…

Our banner server failed yesterday.  I was out of town and when I checked on the box earlier this morning, I was hoping a reboot would take care of it, but it seems that there’s a hardware failure and I’m waiting on a part that should be delivered tomorrow.

In addition to running the banner software, the server also:

  • runs a whole bunch of scheduled tasks (new movies, updated movies, those born today, etc.)
  • runs the chat software
  • serves our banners

So, no banners for a day or so.  Ditto, if you use the AdultDVDTalk chat room, it’s going to be out of commission for a bit.  The scheduled tasks have been ported over to another machine, so they should be updating as expected.

We regret any inconvenience.

Congrats to the XRCO Hall of Famers!

This Thursday, April 12, the X-Rated Critics Organizationwill induct 9 industry folk into their Hall of Fame.

On the performer side, the honorees are: Rhonda Jo Petty, Vince Vouyer, Julia Ann, Jenna Haze, and Jesse Jane

On the production side: Miles Long and Luc Wylder

Lastly, representing the Fifth Estate: Tristan Taormino and Den

I’m happy to be personal friends with two of the honorees and wanted to take a moment to congratulate them…

Luc Wylder was one of the first industry people I ever met, back in the mid-90s at the East Coast Video Show in Atlantic City.  He has been a big supporter of ours from way back in the RAME days, and we’re very excited to see him back in the director’s chair and now, in the Hall of Fame. Luc pioneered the pro-am genre with his Dirty Dancers series, did some great MTV Cribs style work with Adult Stars at Home series and fun travelogues in the Sex Across America series, and this is to say nothing of his B&D work epitomized by his Master’s Choice series. I always worry that Hall of Fame status comes at the end of a career, but I think with his new entries in the Amateur Angels series, he’s put those fears to rest.

Almost 4 years ago to the day (where has the time gone!?) Luc was the first of our IAFD Interviews.

 And I also need to take a moment to say a word or two about my friend and colleague, Den, who is being honored posthumously.  He’s my second friend (the first being IAFD’s co-founder, Peter van Aarle who was honored in 2011) to be accorded such an honor, and if I had a choice, I’d prefer he stay out of the Hall if it meant one more phone call or review…

In the mid-80s, Den produced his own mail-order adult content, being one of the first amateur producers (if not THE first) to shoot on S-VHS.  For his troubles, he got into a legal battle for free speech rights and spent some time in jail for his role in producing adult material.  In 1996, Den founded his site, Cyberspace Adult Video Reviews or CAVR.com.  Every day he diligently watched almost every type of porn imaginable, noting down his observations and publishing them on the web.  He posted more than twenty seven thousand adult movie reviews until he retired from reviewing in April 2011.  Den was easily the most prolific writer of on-line adult film reviews we have seen. A pioneer whose career spanned more than two decades, Den influenced a generation of reviewers and ushered in the era of independent, on-line critics. He was a tireless voice for the industry he loved right up until his passing last year.

Not only was Den a reviewing machine, but he was a giant fan of the industry, and we miss walking around AEE with him; he was like a kid in a candy store.  In an industry where its possble to become jaded very quickly, Den had an enthusiasm for the girls that was unmatched.  If there ever was a reviewer who deserved to be in the Hall of Fame, it’s Den.

As caretaker of his website, I was hoping to accept Den’s award on his behalf, but scheduling conflicts will keep me on the east coast this week.

Congrats to all the honorees.

Logrolling in our time…


Spy Magazine used to have a feature called “Logrolling in our time…” which would grab book jacket blurbs by authors patting each other on the back via each other’s book jackets:

So, I’m going to do a bit of logrolling and point you to The Dr. Chauntelle Show (iTunes), since she was nice enough to give us a shoutout in her latest episode.

Dr. Chauntelle is (in her own words) “a sociologist specializing in gender and labor issues. She has spent almost ten years researching the adult industry, working to complicate popular understanding of the adult business, its enterprise, and its socio-cultural significance.”  Sounds kinda brainy and dry, sure, but she’s an incredibly charming voice in the porn wilderness.  She looks to dig deeper beyond “what’s your favorite position” in her interviews, and she’s started a podcast where the discusses various topics of the day.

In her most recent episode, she covers the marketing genius of offering to go to a high school prom, the problem with Rick Santorum’s anti-porn stance, and a good primer on the paperwork nightmare that is 2257.

The good Doctor also runs Porn Valley Vantage, which also looks at the industry from a sociological point of view which makes it a nice change of pace from all the news or gossip sites, as it offers some analysis and perspective on the industry and the events happening inside of it, as opposed to dry reporting or salacious speculation.

Lest this sound too nerdy, there are also movie reviews and in-depth interviews (Back Stories, she calls them) and an interesting little section she calls “Shift” where she talks to adult industry persons who have shifted out of adult into another phase of their lives.  It’s a little bit exit interview, and little bit “where are they now.”

So, go check her out… we’ll still be here when you get back. :-)

Some Free Market Research

Got an email today that asked me to pass along some info, so here goes:

PLEASE LET THE FILM MAKERS KNOW

HEY YOU KNOW THESE MOVIES WOULD BE MORE ENJOYABLE

IF YOUS DID NOT FOCUS SO MUCH ON THE FEMALES !!!!!

THERE ARE WOMEN, LIKE MY SELF WHO DON’T LIKE LOOKIN AT OTHER WOMEN AT ALL I AM NOT A LESBO

I WISH YOUS WOULD LEARN THAT AND TRY TO BE FINE TO STRAIGHT WOMEN WHO MIGHT WANT TO ENJOY THESE TOOOO

TAKE THE ATTENTION OFF THE FEMALES AND PUT MORE ON THE MEN IN THESE FILMS !!!

Use it as you will…

Tonight on Playboy Radio: Comeback (1995)

Tonight (7:45 Eastern, 4:45 Pacific) on Playboy Radio (XM 102), we’ll be discussing Paul Thomas‘ 1995 classic, Comeback, which was a starring vehicle for Christy Canyon, who  was marking her return to boy/girl performing after a 2+ year hiatus.

I’m finding it hard to believe that if porn movies could drive, this movie would already have it’s license in most parts of the United States…

Back when this came out, I wrote:

I LOVED THIS MOVIE. I was jonesing for Christy something fierce and watched PT’s SEX 2 some time ago to try and satisfy the craving because I couldn’t get a hold of this movie. Good things come to those who wait.

The movie was funny as hell. Since everything took place in the porn studio, we were treated to the noise of air wrenches and phones ringing. For some reason this struck me as very funny.

The dialog was great and the nonsex roles were handled quite ably by PT (playing a satirical version of himself) and Scotty Schwartz,  who played the writer.

Best line: when looking for an actor to take Steven St. Croix‘s spot in a scene, Tony Tedeschi looks at PT and says “Hey, you used to act…” and PT looks at him and says “Yeah, but my wife would have my balls for a cat toy” at which point a “meow” rips across the soundtrack. Very funny.

The music was great by porn standards, mostly made up of big band numbers, tho we did have to suffer through a typical inane guitar rock piece. The big band theme was a cross between “Chattanooga Choo Choo” and”Take the A Train” so that everytime it came up we titled it “Take the X Train…”  the closing credits have a loopy organ number that I would have expected to hear on Laugh-In.

Am I really gushing about a PT movie? Sure am. Hats off to PT and the writer and Christy and everyone else involved. Only downside was that some of the sex was only lukewarm (the Shelby Stevens scene, the Christa Rain scene) but the scenes with Christy were electric and most of all… fun.

I would be surprised if the scene with TT and Christy doesn’t pick up some major awards next year.

This one is a keeper.

Best scene in the movie is between TT Boy and Christy, and they’re not even on screen together!

It’s not a threeway, but a scene that proves a few different things that seemed impossible in porno: (1) the mind is the sexiest organ and (2) that (when pushed) TT Boy is not repulsive. :-)

Christy is not coming out of her dressing room. TT wants her to so they can start shooting the movie. TT and Christy talk their way through a sex scene through her door. Dallas blows TT and then gets fucked by him as the scene goes on.

TT and Christy give great performances here, which are slightly marred by the looping of lines. I watched this scene with my best man and kept saying to him “Didn’t they just say that?”

Throughout the scene, Christy goes from drawing glasses and moustaches on her “competitions” pictures (ha- sterical!) to hotly masturbating with a silver dildo.

When TT Boy cums on Dallas’ tits, he is so spent by the eroticism of the scene that he can’t perform, which sets up the rest of the movie…

Other reviews to check out:

Also on the show, we did a brief “Where Are They Now?” bit about Steven St. Croix, where I said I thought he was an artist living in France… and I was right! :-)

The article I stumbled upon via my Google news “porn” RSS feed appeared over at Business Insider and was called “From Porn Star To Painter” (there was a reprint with extensive comments from Steven/Ben over at the author’s site, but it seems to have been removed) and his website is Ben Banks Art at benbanksart.com