Tag: voting

Our Picks for the 2022 AVN Awards

Wow! We did it. We actually voted in every non-retail-pleasure category that we could vote for, and I have to thank my colleagues for pulling this off. It’s not like we did this in any organised manner like assigning categories so that everything would be covered. The most important thing was coming to a consensus since we had to rank every nominee in a given category.

I still think there are too many nominees in each category, but you have to keep everyone but the voters happy. Are there really more than 5 contenders in a given category that could or should win, and if there are, what does it say about about the indiscriminate evaluation or quality of what we are reviewing?

Each voter has their own criteria on how they judge the category. I generally defer to my colleagues in categories that I am clueless about or disinterested in. It would not be fair to the nominees if I tried to vote in every category, and it was crucial that we did have someone that knew their shit in specific categories. For example, Best Soundtrack: Would I listen to and enjoy this porn groove if it was outside a porno? The answer would frankly be no to every soundtrack that has ever been nominated. Same with Best Makeup: I appreciate the beauty that makeup brings when it is pertinent to the story, but most of the time the makeup I appreciate most is one where the viewer wouldn’t even notice.

Here is a sampling of our picks for the 2022 AVN Awards:

Movies

Like I mentioned last year, Jane Wilde is such a filthy performer, and Jonni Darkko, technically proficient cameraman and director, combine to make great showcases. Love, Sex, and Lawyers continues perhaps a series of movies by Will Ryder, unrelated except by title. This romantic comedy is lighthearted and funny, and I like watching Kenna James having sex.

Directing

Known mostly for his comedies and parodies, Will Ryder is a self-deprecating perfectionist or pessimist. His movies may not have the extensive budget of his competition, but Ryder writes the screenplays and squeezes every last take to get the shot that he wants for his vision, often to the exasperation of his production partner, Scott David.

Acting

Big surprise that Maitland Ward, with extensive mainstream acting experience, would be the best actor in porn today. It is obvious that she enjoys the amount of control in her scenes both in and out of the storyline.

Performing

The IAFD staff like buxom blondes like Blake Blossom and Britney Amber, but we also like lithe redheads like Lottie Magne so we don’t have a particular preference with looks in picking performers. Performance over the voting period does matter, and it’s not just clicking off the checkboxes of acts that you can see on our website. It’s whether they consistently put out great scenes even while their co-stars and productions constantly change.

Reviewing the myriad scene categories confirmed that Gia Derza is an incredible performer. Her beautiful eyes accentuates every blowjob that she gives, and she throws every hole into sexual abandonment while moaning and squeaking into ecstasy. That’s my best Don Juan de Marko impression that I can do because I’ve ran out of words to describe just how great it is to watch her on screen.

[NOTE FROM JEFF: If I had to change anything about the awards process, it would be the voting site we have to use. It’s a simple list of nominees on one side and we drag them in order to the other side to cast our vote. Simple enough task, but the source list is unsorted, so it’s harder than necessary to find Angela White’s name when it’s buried somewhere in the bottom third of the list instead of at the top where the A’s should be sorted. (I do concede that perhaps there’s a reason for the random ordering in the source list – random ordering might keep the list free from unconscious bias. By way of example, I had a client who named their company so it started with an AB so they’d be at the top of every list of sponsors they were listed in.)

We vote via spreadsheet and we average out our scores so a polarizing performer might end up in the middle of the pack instead of at either extreme. This year I didn’t watch nearly as much as I had in the past, so my role was mostly as tiebreaker – visiting those specific scenes/performers and then voting between those. The ties were almost exclusively middle-of-the-pack; I don’t think I had to break any win/place/show ties….]

Hey, America! Get Out and Vote!

Today’s a pretty big day for us Yanks, we go and stand in line for a little while and try to change the course of history.  Whether we are successful is mostly out of our hands, but the victory is in our ability to do something about it.  (Or that we have the illusion of being able to do something about it, if you’re really cynical about it . . .)

So, regardless of who you support in this election, it’s most important that you let your voice be heard and counted.

If you’re in LA County and a member of the adult film industry and like small government, you probably want to VOTE NO ON MEASURE B, just like the LA Times, LA Daily News and bunches of others.  But you may prefer to vote YES ON MEASURE B like the Los Angeles County Medical Association and some others (tho implying that supporting condoms in adult films is equivalent to supporting Measure B is a logical fallacy. You can dislike Measure B but still like condoms in your movies.)

Either way, make your choice, stand up and get counted – that’s the important part. . . otherwise you lose your right to bitch about it. . .

After Jenna Jameson endorsed Mitt Romney, The Daily Beast wasn’t able to find (perhaps they didn’t try very hard) to find anyone else to do the same.

If you’re in NYC, you might want to spend tonight with Lisa Ann as Sarah Palin.

These opinions are mine and may or may not be shared by the rest of the staff here.

Time to Vote: Twistys Treat of the Year

It’s that time of year again — Twistys is doing their annual Treat of the Year vote-a-thon. I’ve always been a huge fan of their photography, and we spotlight a lot of their work via the headshots that appear along side the performer filmographies.  The first round of voting is over, and they’ve narrowed the field down to six models, of which five have done hardcore movie work, so I thought I’d spotlight them to help you (a) decide how to vote and (b) watch their movies. :-)

(It’s best if you’re a fan of g/g or solo, as this batch of Treats are all no-boys-allowed.)

Chronologically speaking:

May 2010: Adrienne Manning

Nebraska native Adrienne Manning has had a long career as a web model, coming on the scene around 2006 or so, appearing on Melissa Midwest’s site and then branching off on her own. She’s only made the leap to  movies recently, and three movies we list  have focused on solo and g/g scenes…

July 2010: Bree Daniels

Bree Daniels is another newcomer with an awesome rack and a host of g/g or solo movies under her belt.

 

August 2010: Prinzzess Felicity Jade

Prinzzess gets a new name over at Twistys– Felicity Jade — to go with her other monikers: Princess Sabara and Prinzzess Sahara.  Prinzzess has long been a staple over at Girlfriends Films and Twistys was smart to jump on the bandwagon. We’ve got 69 films of hers listed (we can’t make this stuff up) and she’s smoking in damned near every one.

  

October 2010: Chrissy Marie

Chrissy Marie is the only model in this years Treat-Off that doesn’t have any IAFD credits.  This is a shame, because she’s got a bod built for sin…

  

November 2010: Emily Addison

Emily Addison‘s film work is mostly as a blonde, but at Twistys, she’s something darker – all raven haired and sultry. Like so many others on the list, Emily focuses on g/g scenes, having shot a bulk of her work for Anastasia Pierce…

  

December 2010: Sabrina Maree

Rounding out the  slate of nominees for Twistys Treat of the Year is Sabrina Maree, a g/g performer who has shot for most the big studios around – Adam & Eve, Zero Tolerance, etc – but only has a single title from each studio out right now, so she’s got seven titles to her credit, thus far…

  

So, head on over to Twistys and vote.

Fine print: you need to be a member of Twistys in order to vote, but they’ve got a special where you can sign up for as little as a buck (2 day trial) or take the annual pass for $95.40.  If you don’t like auto-renewals, they also offer a $65 for 6 months non-recurring plan.