While I received generally positive mail regarding my coverage of the AVN Expo and Show (and I am choosing to call it the AVN Expo though its real name is the Adult Entertainment Expo, or AEE), like:
“I am shocked & delighted to read the absolute truth about the convention & awards from a mainstream porn journalist with no axe to grind. Kudos!!!!!”
and
“Congratulations on winning the award for Best AEE Coverage. Despite having no competition, you shined,”
Several people called for clarifications, including XBiz president Alec Helmy, who said:
1. AEE is owned and operated by Home Entertainment Events – not AVN – this may be news to some.
2. XBIZ/XFANZ has a working relationship with AEE.
3. You can expect our on-site coverage of AEE to be much more timely/comprehensive in 2008.
4. Do a search for AEE on XBIZ/XFANZ and you’ll find more on-site/pre-show stories and videos.
5. XFANZ’s video clip of the AVN Awards is unlike anything out there – the video came out quite great and we spent quite a bit of time on it – but of course we could have (chosen not to do it) – but we did.
Regarding the Press Room, Sean Devlin of Home Entertainment Events (the operator of AEE and the company from which AVN licenses the Expo) pointed out that one crucial difference between AEE and CES is that CES is free.
It’s not exactly fair to compare CES and AEE press registration. CES is free and, as far as I can tell, will allow practically anyone to register as press. Our exhibitors want real journalists who are actually going to report stories. When they see a press pass, they should have confidence that this person is someone worth speaking to. Most journalists seem to appreciate this as well.
Plus, you would not believe – actually, you probably would – how many CES-qualified “press” stroll in and request a free press pass, even though you and I know they have no ability/intention of covering the Expo (the Home Shopping Network comes to mind). No sweat if our Expo were free, like CES, but every person to whom we give a complimentary press pass who is not a real journalist covering our industry is lost revenue. Sorry, but that’s a reality: we are a business.
We had an almost entirely new team, so it was a steep learning curve. We’ll do better next year.
I will say that, based on the feedback I received from many others, your experience was the exception, not the rule. Of course, we would screw up with the most-beloved journalist covering the adult entertainment industry!
And AVN president Paul Fishbein wrote to say that his suggestion from the Mandalay’s microphone that audience members see the Vegas revue “The Fashionistas” was not, as I implied in the original story, a guilty move to compensate for the movie Fashionistas Safado-The Challenge receiving only three AVN Awards.
“It’s just a really good show,” he said. He also suggested that maybe he would start a blog, too.
On the future of the AVN Awards at the Mandalay Bay, Fishbein said that what technical problems occurred January 13 are easily solvable, and that the show would be “completely reinvented” next year.
(Oh. And he also asked who named me America’s beloved porn journalist. I was like, “Um, Our Lord.”)
Suggestions, complaints, praise, and recommendations are always welcome here. While I’m at it, Designer Alaska’s new website is called Six Months of Light rather than Six Months of Flight, and I neglected to say “What a rack!” when writing about Jayden Jaymes earlier. It’s how I felt, and I should have said it. I’m sorry.
The above photo of Eva Angelina was the last picture I took in Las Vegas this year. I use it here because it is representative of how I learned something just now. Until early in the morning of January 14 when I took this picture, I pronounced Ms. Angelina’s first name with a long E.
“It’s a schwa, you douchebag,” she seems to be saying.
Previously: “A fine spray of legitimacy.“; Lettuce from our readers
See also: AVN, XBiz
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