Redmond, WA (GP:PVO) — Software giant Microsoft today launched the Porn Article template for its Microsoft Word application. The template contains all the elements standard to anyone’s first article about the porn industry, including the writer’s general skittishness, Paul Thomas, fist-shaking at the Internet, the word “dire,” blanket acceptance of a quote about how much [...]
Belladonna and Jenna Haze to usher in Year of The Ass at 2009 AVN Awards
It seems like only a week has passed since I finally finished running stories about the 2008 AVN Awards (at which another Jenna daintily crossed her legs and said “No more”), but you can rest assured that today’s announcement that Belladonna and Jenna Haze are to host the 26th AVN Awards on January 10, 2009 [...]
Black and grey Friday in the porn world, Gawker Media
The porn industry is contracting somewhat, and familiar faces at some companies are either leaving porn altogether or are moving to other companies to be familiar faces there. I’ll mention some people in the latter category. My pal Joanne Cachapero at XBiz will be leaving to become Membership Director of the Free Speech Coalition, an [...]
Today in Porn Valley
David Foster Wallace, 1962-2008
Ms Jasmin St Claire allows butane gas to be pumped via PVC into her colon and set afire on expulsion, resulting in a 3.5-foot anal blowtorch for Cream Productions’ 1998 Blow it Out Your Ass.’
AVN Awards 2008: Reliving the dream
The AVN Awards show gets bigger every year, and this January the event was covered by Showtime, which is getting chummier and chummier with the adult industry and which recently broadcast the event. Here are some images from the show. “You’re one of those people I want to rescue,” Dave Navarro said to Joanna Angel. [...]
When Black Friday comes to AVN
AVN laid off 16 employees today, including senior editor Mike Albo, long a fixture on the adult reportage scene, having previously edited Hustler’s Erotic Video Guide. Also let go were AVN’s receptionist and employees throughout the company, from Art to the warehouse. News travels fast. An AVN employee asked how I knew, and I remembered [...]
business
AVN sold to Dunkin’ Donuts
The AVN acquisition will be reflected in Dunkin’ Donuts’ branding by means of a new motto (“Good Fuckin’ Doughnuts”) and the renaming of the company’s Large Regular coffee to BBW.
WGL
Stoya avoids labels
I took a few hundred pictures at the AVN convention, and also handed my camera around to various lowlifes. I have finally labeled most of the pictures in my gallery, but still need some help. Let me know if you can add names to the faces (and other parts). (Thanks already to Devanter and Black [...]
In every Cum Fart Tsunami, a tacit confirmation
Anal scene accounting was a charge long-levied against former AVN editor Mike Ramone. Now, cooling tempers have set the stage for a tender rapprochement, with cum farts playing the part of doves. There was a time when disgruntled AVN employees would leak information from their Chatsworth stronghold to the likes of Lurk Ford or Rock’n’Roll [...]
Fresh off the Articulated Bus
With my jaw-dropping successes, more and more I find my signature and scintillating style copied and watered down by imitators (mostly in Hungarian factories). That is why I am sensitive to matters of intellectual piracy and have endeavored to distance myself from AVN’s long-running “Fresh off the Bus” feature, reasoning that since Porn Valley’s Orange [...]
Tommy Gunn casts the first bone
Porn is not a 9 to 5 job, and in addition to the extra-curricular activities associated with being a porn star (mentoring, celebrity golf tournaments, opening wineries), there are also new opportunities for achieving immortality beyond pay-per-minute scenes on a Video on Demand site. For example, Tommy Gunn just got a mold of his penis [...]
Interpreting the AVN Nominations – A Primer
If one were to download the PDF version of this year’s AVN nominations in 120 categories it would result in a document 58 pages long. By contrast, the 1984 awards contained only 18 categories. The big winner that year was Scoundrels, about the consequences of adultery. Today we commit adultery over coffee. This reflects both [...]
AVN to announce nominees today, grousing set to begin thereafter
Nominees for the 2008 AVN Awards will be announced today, sources say, with other sources confirming plans for a 45-day stretch of bitching to commence immediately thereafter. “We usually announce the Awards just before Thanksgiving, then go on vacation so we don’t have to listen to the phone calls from irate producers and performers,” said [...]
Expanded XBiz Awards categories still a fraction of AVN’s
Despite increasing the number of trophies it will distribute in next February’s 6th annual XBiz Awards to include performer honors, XBiz was dismayed to learn that its 51 categories still falls far short of the 3,217 awards AVN will have given out the previous month to most of the same people. “We’ve got our own [...]
WGL
Tasteful "Ambition"
Photographer Michael Grecco’s “Naked Ambition: an R-rated look at an X-rated industry”, is a coffeetable book that many would feel comfortable keeping on their coffee tables; there’s not a lot of nudity. And the high-color photographs, snapped backstage at the past two AVN conventions and awards shows, often appear theatrical or like circus art, presenting [...]
AVNAds breaks up with AdBrite
AVNAds, the completely transparent and bug-free ad-serving program that was the shadowy adult side of AdBrite, has broken from its mainstream partner, which is now seeking adult signups via its Black Label Ads program. Both AVN and AVNads were down over the weekend, but both seem to be functioning properly now. No news as to [...]
Industry shocker: AVN redesign doesn’t look like ass
AVN has relaunched its website and the result is impressive. Graphically, the site is less busy than it was before, and videos do not play automatically, which was a problem with the old design. A headline refreshes every few seconds accompanied by a larger, tabloid-style picture. Without appearing like a gossip blog or a news [...]
Today in Porn Valley
XBiz Summer Forum ’07 in review
Whenever I go to any kind of convention, the rhythmic motions of my neck, like the waters of Solaris, conspire to turn my ID necklace around, so all anyone sees is the name of whatever company sponsored the costly lamination/lanyard process. On a deeper level, it raises questions of who we really are. In the [...]
Erotica L.A. cancelled
Erotica L.A. 2007 was cancelled this morning, several hours before the three-day consumer porn convention was scheduled to begin. Organizers said the move ensured visitors’ expectations could remain pure and no one would be disappointed. I stood in a room overlooking the convention floor as workers who had just finished setting up booths began taking [...]
Trade mags preparing site relaunches
Because no one likes the old and used, both of the adult business’ trade publications have spent the Spring rolling their new websites to the launchpad. AVN has been tinkering with its design for at least six months, and XBiz is reportedly planning a relaunch within the next few weeks. Both sites currently look similar; [...]
Porno-Americans