Porntifications

Posted by mikezillion at January 8th, 2007

Officials in Spain have moved to outlaw a website which encourages young girls to engage in anorexic behavior. While I can’t see the social value of such a site, I am concerned about the implications of levying criminal charges against the operators. For years, pornographers have been accused of creating the social ills which their products depict and exploit. Surely we all know that there have been anorexic girls longer than there have been websites to encourage them. I have no sympathy for the motivation that must drive the founders of these sites; I lost a dear friend to suicide several years back, after she battled anorexia for years. (I also personally prefer women with fuller figures, along the lines of MoNique and Dawn French, not that that’s relevant.) But this is the sort of thing we really need to keep an eye on. Whom will they come after next?

Posted by mikezillion at January 8th, 2007

General advice to aspiring pornstars: pick a name you can spell.

Ha!

Posted by mikezillion at January 7th, 2007

I have no plans to move to New York. However, Ben Popken’s essay on How to stay sane when moving to New York is an excellent example of the value of reading outside one’s usual topic mix. In this delightful and short piece, Mr. Popken lays out an approach to life in general which would make Polonius reconsider some of his advice to his son. Glad I read it, and looking forward to reading more!

Posted by mikezillion at January 6th, 2007

So I was reading OC Weekly the trendy little Orange County webzine of culture, music, and general self-aware hipness. (No, I have no shame.) I came across an interview with a porn store clerk named Ishmael, who talks about the impact of this work on his social life. In particular, the interviewer asks about the effect of such constant exposure to the lower-chakra elements on the guy’s sex life. I wasn’t as interested in the answer as I was in the way the question was posed. There had to be a reference to some anonymous friend who worked on the layout for a porn magazine. I get questions like this, too. Was there really a friend? Maybe. But couldn’t the interviewer just ask the question directly?

Posted by mikezillion at January 5th, 2007

Maybe it’s just me, but this trend toward mainstream media dipping into porn tickles me pink. Just today I learned that cable network Showtime will be running a series on the making of Vivid’s upcoming remake of Debbie Does Dallas. While that may sound redundant and media-introspective in a massively Marshall McLuhan manner, I have high hopes. Maybe this time it won’t be all titty shots and cliche. Maybe this time it will show some of the realities that face producers in this era of harsh legal accountability and renewed anti-porn sentiments. Or maybe not.

I can hope.

Posted by mikezillion at January 5th, 2007

It’s interesting to learn what Indian men think about sexuality. A recent poll of 2,500 Indian men between the ages of 16 and 25 revealed that more than a third said they had had a homosexual experience, and almost two-thirds said they had had sex with a prostitute. Even more encouraging, more than half said they always use condoms when having sex. If that isn’t good news, tell me some.

Posted by mikezillion at January 4th, 2007

The New York Times is reporting again that the adult entertainment industry generates revenues in the $12-13 billion range annually. Although this article is focused on the slowdown in growth over 2006, the inflated numbers still leave the impression that adult entertainment is the new land of opportunity. That’s flattering, but it does tend to attract folks who just want to make a quick buck with naughty pictures of the girl next door, and never mind the implications. I guess no industry is immune to that. Look at what Neil Bush did to banking in the 1980’s.

* Follow up a little later: I’m glad I’m not the only one to notice this kind of shoddy reporting. Industry workers Tony Comstock and Oren on the Adult DVD Talk blog cite much more realistic numbers. And the issue made it to Boing Boing this time. Maybe folks will take notice….

Posted by mikezillion at January 4th, 2007

There’s fetish content all over the web and elsewhere featuring transsexual performers, but only recently has the field expanded to include transsexuals who took their bodies from female to male. I was excited to read that hot F2M daddy bear Buck Angel has been nominated for three AVN Awards. After turning in a stellar performance in Titan’s freaky and innovative feature Cirque Noir, Buck has been turning heads with new videos featuring his unique skills and strong command of the screen. Right on!

Meanwhile, proving that money does mean power, SexZ Productions is offering a one-million dollar contract for its next female superstar. It will be a long time before men in either the gay or straight side of the industry see that kind of money. It’s encouraging to see that a company is willing to put its money behind hiring great performers and paying them what they’re worth. They’re still looking for the right woman, over 18. Anyone?

Posted by mikezillion at January 3rd, 2007

What a terrible way to begin a blog. Yet I suspect the attitude that something sucks is often the instigating force behind new projects. This blog is a new project; one of the many out there. I write it as a pornographer, who doesn’t really like sex very much. If that’s not a compelling concept, you won’t enjoy much of what comes next.