The Beginning Of The End
OP/ED By The Colonel
I don’t believe in American dreams. To me, they’re a mixture of wishful thinking, idiotic optimism and 1950’s anti-communism propaganda. So I don’t believe in them, but I know they have the strong potential to turn into nightmares; and that’s what’s happening all around us and in every aspect of our lives right now. For example think about Playboy crisis. For close to half a century, Playboy was the avatar, the resemblance, the symbol of sexual freedom, luxury living and lavish excess. "Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero: seize the day and place no trust in tomorrow". But then the inevitable happened: tomorrow came.
Today, Playboy is a punch line rather than an avatar, and all signs indicate a dark, gloomy future for the company who committed the greatest sin in the entertainment industry: losing touch with consumers and living in the past. The same sin that porn industry, knowingly or unknowingly, is committing. The same sin that Hollywood committed time and again. The difference is Hollywood eventually redeemed itself, reconnected with consumers and moved on, the question is will we do that, too, or will we wait until it’s too late?
Let’s take a closer look at one of Hollywood’s many deaths and resurrections as an example of how to find the right pattern, evolve and reconnect with the masses:
The 1970’s opened with Hollywood experiencing a financial depression. The earlier studio system had collapsed, all American charismatic movie stars like Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne and James Stewart were either dead or too old. On the other hand, the hippie movement, the civil rights movement, sexual revolution, the growth of rock and roll and drug use had deep impacts. It all paved way for a new generation of experimental film makers, nicknamed Movie Brats, who emerged in the late 60’s and at the beginning of the 70’s became a dominating, influential force: Dennis Hopper (Easy Rider), George Romero (Night of the Living Dead), Mike Nichols (The Graduate), etc.
Motion picture art seemed to flourish at the same time that the defeat in the Vietnam war, the Watergate scandal, President Nixon’s fall, increasing drug use and a growing energy crisis showed tremendous disillusion, a questioning politicized spirit among the public and a lack of faith in institutions; a comment upon the lunacy of war and the dark side of American dreams (showcased, for instance, in Three Days of the Condor directed by Sydney Pollack). However, this artistic flourish came with a grave cost for Hollywood studios: the increasing lack of profit. The movie industry was in its death bed and in desperate need for renovation and profitability; and finally two young film makers found the solution: 27 year old Steven Spielberg and 33 year old George Lucas who made Jaws and Star Wars respectively.
The key to their financial success was their ability to tap into the current mood, events and technology and elaborate their movies with bigger than life adventures and monsters and special effects and create an irresistible urge in consumers to rush to theaters. In other words, to make them an offer they can’t refuse. So once again movie making became a profitable business, and Hollywood started a new beginning.
* * *
As I discussed in my previous article, we need to reconnect with consumers and provide them with something more and beyond what is currently available to them for free on file sharing and tube sites. We have to attract them and bring them back. Hollywood’s key to survival and longevity was creating grand adventures, humongous monsters and bombastic special effects; ours is interactivity and engaging consumers in the action through live shows, touring, etc. Despite the crippling economy, we have a unique opportunity provided for us by advanced technology and modern communication tools, and if we don’t take the best advantage of this opportunity, the porn industry as we know it will not and cannot exist. We’re at the beginning of the end. The opportunity is at hand, but time is running out.
Very nice Colonel, but you know how I hate your doom and gloom!
Maybe you hate my doom and gloom Kay, but you know it’s true, don’t you? What do you think we can do and who’s gonna pull us out of this mess? Superman is busy scratching his balls, Chinese are getting sick and tired of lending us money, Arabs don’t want to buy our lands as much as they used to, and Obama’s charm and ‘Yes we can’ blabber doesn’t mean shit anymore.
Just get your popcorn, kick back and enjoy the last days of America. We’re going to hell in a handbasket, baby. I know it could have been worse, but I just don’t know how.
It’s really been over for a long time. The Vietnam era/Hippies/Family Breakdown was the start of the end. The real nail in the coffin was when the US Government started printing money we didn’t have in the Wall Street 80’s. Now, 20 years later you see the effect of all that printing/spending.
The U.S. does have some positives but the NEGATIVES are absolutely off the charts.
Me? I don’t live in the U.S. anymore. I’m sick of being around stupid fucking people.
We have people in the U.S. that won’t cooperate with the hard working police? Won’t get a FREE education? Will shoot someone in the face at 7-11 for 10 bucks? Racism everywhere? What I really hate is the racist people WITH AN AGENDA! Which really almost everyone has.
Don’t feel so bad, it’s not YOUR fault. Your a victim of a perfect storm of how NOT to make a country.
Look how ridiculously big the U.S. is? It can’t be controlled under a Democracy, no way. The people in the U.S. are FREE to be an idiot. Free to lie, cheat, and steal. FREE to shoot that poor man in the face for his wallet. FREE to be an unapologetic racist. FREE to say “the U.S. has it’s problems but it’s still the best country in the world”
Meanwhile, China, India, Brazil have it all figured out. They’re really doing well right now. The U.S., Europe, and Japan had their day in the sun way back LAST CENTURY. This Century belongs to the people who work hard and have control over their culture, and I’m happy because it’s well deserved.
Come on all countries have their ups and downs right now is our turn to be down the thing is to work hard to bring it back up…
Adult – you’re wrong. Tell me how the U.S. is going to miracously come “back up”? We don’t produce anything — all productivity has been shipped overseas. We don’t work hard — Unless it’s working for peanuts for the real owners of the U.S…greedy corporations. We’re fat and lazy – We’re the fattest country of the top 30 OECD countries. We’re immoral, we don’t have a long cultural history except for cowboys and minutemen. We forgot our history anyway. Among us undesirables we allowed too many other undesirables in our country — Just watch COPS. There’s nothing left except our military all over the world — which ironically has allowed the now successful countries to thrive — and the military is a huge drain of our resources, which is just another component of our ENORMOUS NATIONAL DEBT.
I’m sorry to anyone that just thinks I’m rambling but I’m not. I’m willing to explain all the data to you in detail if you wish but the U.S. Century is OVER. IT IS O V E R. The sooner you realize this the sooner you can wipe the pretense of nationalism off your brow and get on with life. My advice, find another place to live if you want to succeed. I bet you dollars to donuts a lot of Americans are doing this right now.
Finally, don’t just trust me for my written words on this blog. Look into it yourselves and come up to your own conclusion. But don’t just retort with something just off the cuff, LOOK INTO IT
One more thing. Of all the countries in the world (some 220 of them) the United States has the WORST Trade Deficit.
Think of that. The most powerful nation on earth is DEAD LAST.
Europe (the countries that lie in it) is SECOND TO LAST.
Do the math folks…once you do you’ll realize how successful and prosperous China, INDONESIA, Brazil, and INDIA really are.
Interesting that you draw that parallel between the early indy film industry, Playboy Magazine, and today’s porn industry; it’s right on the mark. When you look at the young filmmakers of the ’70s (who took their cue from the cinema of the French New Wave, which utilized ultra streamlined production and a run-and-gun-style of shooting), these were the vanguard of the New Hollywood which changed American cinema for decades to come. Speilberg, Lucas, Nichols, Coppola, Scorsese, DePalma, and their contemporaries showed a unique, new way to tell compelling stories, make great movies on spartan budgets, and thereby challenge the old, tired Hollywood System. But then these young visionaries eventually BECAME that very System! In the ’90s, this cycle was repeated with a new batch of “independent” filmmakers, such as Tarantino, Rodriquez, Soderbergh, and others. And again, the indy culture was quickly co-opted by the Hollywood suits. Money is a strong attractor, indeed.
Hugh Hefner’s career mirrors that very indy ethos — he challenged the American sexuality of the ’50s and helped to create a compelling and entertaining subculture around it that encompassed all of the visual arts, literature, music, style, and fashion. Playboy Magazine once had an edge, and was the very arbiter of hipness for decades. But nothing, and no one, can hold onto that crown forever, and a new generation will always be searching for something new, all their own, not of the past. Hef is now a (very) old man, and it’s a bit pathetic to see him doddering around on the arm (and not the other way around, for fuck’s sake!) of the latest “girl next door.” At least Bob Guccione had the class to lay low when he reached his twilight years! (And still, look what became of the Penthouse brand — the same scenario.)
Playboy can be resurrected, I believe, by someone with a new creative vision. Its brand is timeless, and its appeal is world-encompassing. But it needs to heed the demand of a new generation of consumers, those raised on explicit porn, new technology, and possessing a rapid-fire change of tastes that morphs at the drop of a hat. Playboy can still retain its hold on the high-class glamour market while branching into harder visual entertainment. That could be accomplished with ease, it just takes a less narrow focus. I would imagine that as their finances continue to tumble, clear minds will prevail. The “girl next door” will soon be on her knees, taking a load on the kisser.
The porn industry shares all of the elements effecting the above entities. The one main thing that differentiates it from Hollywood or Playboy, or any other entertainment commodity, is that its far more disposable. That’s because we’ve made it that way, and we’re now suffering the consequences. The big (by porn standards) film features of the Golden Age gave way to the progressively diminishing production values of the ’80s, ’90s, and the ultimate abbreviation of the Internet. Pornsumers today, by and large, could care less about storyline, the quality of lighting, or any other element that distinguishes “good” from “bad” porn. That’s just the nature of the beast. And there is just SO much content out there today — because it’s too easy to crank out quick, low-budget content — that its value has become nil.
The answer to the $64,000 question is, put the value back into porn. You do that by making it different, by distinguishing it from the absolute glut of hack content available. Look at the niche market; although smaller overall, it (should be “they,” as there are many) remains strong and continues to grow. The big features also hold strong, by virtue of the best talent, enhanced extra features (on DVD, a format which I predict will not disappear for some time), and general high quality. Market forces and digital technology will exact an inevitable die-off of both large and small producers; look no further than the music industry to see this dynamic in action. As you’ve said, Colonel, only those who have the agility to adapt, coupled with the creativity to attract, will survive into the next decade.
America isnt screwed…if…the people with good common sense get some control. Right now we have a bunch of narrow visioned idiots in charge. We also have a bunch of folks more concerned with the Rapture than the future of their children and grandchildren. We let the nuts who are pro-life but against non abstinance birth control run loose. And to them, sadly, they approve of things like the killing of Dr Tiller on Sunday, who did good work. Of course the Republicans are already playing rough looking at retaking the White House in 2012…and not looking at working on a plan to make things better. The Democrats arent doing much better but they seem to be trying.
As for porn, we got to get rid of the rats and leeches. How’s it look when the man in charge of the largest adult talent agency is better known as a “pimp” than an agent. Or the guy who leads an activist porn group walks around in Hawaiiaan Shirts and Sweatpants. Or an awards show where folks dress like they are going to a college “pimp and ho” party, and the awards arent really awarded on merit but on what the guy in charge gets in his wallet…also, people pay to get in…they do that at the Oscars or Emmys.
Colonel, I think the porn pool is too infested right now for change. If we’re lucky the Feds will take out the main stink for tax, prostitution and money laundering and we can rebuild with good solid porn people with a vision. If not, it will just get worse.
I hate to be the harbinger of bad news, but the truth be told, as a nation, as a culture, as a super power we’re done, we’re all fucking done. That ship has sailed and the sooner people realize and accept this fact, the better off they would be. We need to wash our hands off national pride and prejudice, or should I say arrogance and bigotry and move on to seek and find personal comfort and salvation for ourselves as individual human beings, not as ‘Americans’.
As for porn, only those who adjust, adopt, evolve and take advantage of the changing market and modern technology and provide consumers with high quality product and interactivity will survive. The rest will go down the gutter and nobody will miss them.
“Us” and “Them” is a laughably outmoded concept today, and only has any relevance as a song by Pink Floyd. We’re living in the age of globalization, and the U.S. has no more of an upper hand than any other nation, established or emerging. It’s about economics now, not military power or perceived moral superiority. You think that because we have a Constitution and a Federalist government that we’re somehow going to stand above a rising tide of Emerging World populations and technology that is available to everybody? (I’m speaking to those who still desperately hold on to that blind nationalist ideology.) Open your eyes and look at the world around you. America is just a name on the map; it’s no longer some lofty intellectual concept dreamed up by a French political theorist and put on paper by the sons of British immigrants. Today, real world power is based on labor and natural resources.
What all this has to do with the porn industry is both nothing and everything. We’re dependent on the U.S (and international) economy, which has risen and fallen cyclicly since the beginning. The smart get rich by predicting social/cultural trends and being savvy enough to manipulate them. They understand the power of merging multiple resources into one. Add evolving technology to the equation and you have another element that must be studied and mastered, then studied all over again. The smart/rich never stop, even for a minute, from the process to adapt and innovate.
But it will always be a “big fish, little fish” scenario, where the ones who keep swimming will live to see another day.
america should break up into smaller regional democracies. it’s probably going to happen naturally. but people should wrap their feeble minds around the concept. i for one will be a citizen of Cascadia. and i hope we annex or form an economic block with western montana and northern california thus making Cascadia the dominant economic region of the New Order. but we’ll have to deport rodney moore to SoCalizonaNewMexiVegas because we don’t want his porn up here anyway.
“The real nail in the coffin was when the US Government started printing money we didn’t have in the Wall Street 80’s. Now, 20 years later you see the effect of all that printing/spending.”
Even worse, Premier Obambi is now saying that printing money you do not really have is a good thing as long as is spent in Democratic Party Pet issues.
“America should break up into smaller regional democracies. it’s probably going to happen naturally. but people should wrap their feeble minds around the concept”
In democracies small is beautifull. That is what the Swiss and Scandinavian examples have taught us.
Big democracies mean big states meaning big bureaucracies that rule thought the warfare state (Republicans) or welfare state (Democrats) but actually do a mix of both. That is what History have taught us about the great Empires of the Past, Rome, Spain, Britain, the Rusians.
Democracy and the Empire cannot coexist for a long time, the bureaucracies eventually take over even if the formalities of democracie remain. And the Empires eventually go bankrupt.
Hey, I watch porn to forget all this shit! Back on topic, please!
Third Axis my friend, you’re right.
One of porn’s most important values is it’s escapism, that’s what made it so successful in the beginning. The 70’s and 80’s hot hospital nurse and muscled up pizza delivery guy scenarios were sure cheesy and implausible; but that’s exactly why they became such hit, because consumers took them for what they were tend to be: adult fantasy games. The average masturbating Joe knew something like that will never happen in reality, that if he goes to take a urine sample, he wouldn’t get his dick sucked by a slutty nurse; and the housewife knew the pizza delivery guy is not a good looking stunt with a big, hard dick, he’s probably the nerd kid living down the street. But porn provided a fantasy playground, where people could play out and watch their desires and needs.
Today, with the explosion of data, information and technology, the rules have changed. People still have and will always have an insatiable hunger for pornography, but fantasy scenarios no longer work. Now they demand a realistic, intimate and engaging experience. They want to participate in the action; and that demand can be provided through live shows, touring, etc. Porn still has and will always have it’s escapism value, people watch porn to leave their daily hectec world behind and satisfy their basic urges, hidden fantasies and secret fetishes, but the world has changed and porn must adopt new strategies to remain a profitable business.
“Hollywood’s key to survival and longevity was creating grand adventures, humongous monsters and bombastic special effects; ours is interactivity and engaging consumers in the action through live shows, touring, etc.”
Excellent ideas, Colonel. As the board’s resident non-professional/consumer, I’d like to add some input on that idea. As far as interactive events, the key is keeping an informal atmosphere in a small venue. For example, a dirtbag friend of mine who loves horror movies dragged me to a convention once to meet some “scream queens.” The whole experience was humiliating for the most part — thousands of lonely dudes in a ballroom trying to get a peak at Brinke Stevens, etc. You need to avoid that pratfall once you take some girls on the road. At that convention there were a couple of film companies and horror chicks who managed to get it right. They set up a small stage in a corner of the ballroom, admitted 50 cro-magnons at a time, and held a Q&A and autograph session with each small group. I noticed that this lessened the need for menacing security goons and allowed the fanboys enough opportunity to talk with their beloved scream queens, ensuring that not a single nerd left embittered. That’s just my two cents. Best as always to you.
Dodger, thank you brother, and trust me, I know how annoying some fanboys can be at live events. But that comes with territory in any branch of the entertainment industry.
But it’s interesting how people choose to be narrow minded and see only one side of the story: if a fan bothers a movie actor for his autograph and pushes him to the limit and the actor punches the little fucker in the nose, all in a sudden the actor is the bad guy. If a scumbag stalks a porn girl and asks her to go to his crusty motel room with him and the girl tells him to fuck off, all in a sudden the girl is the bad gal. People often don’t want to or can’t get the other side of the story and walk in the other person’s shoes. Musicians, movie actors, porn girls, etc. are ordinary flawed people with limited emotional capacities and limited patience, they have an intimate, personal life outside their daily profession and deserve to have their privacy and space. But some people will never understand that. I won’t try to make them understand either, because it’s futile. I just get their hard earned money and keep doing what I’m doing. You can’t have it any other way with them.
Great Post Colonel, Porn Movies is a reflection of the conventional movies, Porn Industry should be to take the same mechanisms that some visionaries like Spielberg o Lucas did in the 70’s. This is the Key: To Power with Imagination! And some Talent of course…
Thank you Pepe and welcome aboard. Try to ask more personal, embarrassing and shameful questions from whores, things like who molested you first time, how’s your asshole holding up after too much anal fucking and what’s your pimp boyfriend/husband’s addiction: crack or heroin. Maybe some of them hate you for putting them in corner like that, but hey, let me quote Paul McCartney:
‘What does it matter to ya
When you got a job to do
You gotta do it well
You gotta give the other fellow hell’
Good luck making lots of friends and enemies. That’s the nature of the beast known as the adult industry: you can’t please everybody. But remember, if you can’t please them, fuck them.
Colonel, But I tell you are Michael Payne, I find old story with you and Luke Ford on LIB. So you are a director but a star also? Kay say dark man, photos show dark man. What you say?
lukeisback.com/stars/stars/michael_payne.htm
Michael Payne certainly has the educational background that you’d expect of someone with The Colonel’s insight, but I think the Colonel is probably a native-born American. I have my own guess as to his identity…I think it’s obvious if you think about his nickname.
Michael Payne does sounds like the Coronel but is too young. The Coronel seems to be a veteran of several decades and a localy born American.
David Cummings? He is neither dark or a veteran of the 80s.
Someone though he was David Cummings? No way. The Colonel’s into bands like Exodus. Dave Cummings probably listens to Earth, Wind and Fire. The Colonel’s probably no older than 50. No matter his identity, I think he’s going to kick our asses if we keep this game up.
Easy to figure out. Research people! Below sound familiar?
Posted on Porn Star Performance on Jan 2, 2009 by Michael Payne-
I shot Rayveness back in September, and everything worked out great. She has an intimate personality and needs her own space and peace of mind, and since I granted and respected that, we didn’t have any problems and got along just fine. She’s been in the adult industry for more than a decade, while we all know the average career span of female performers is only 1 to 2 years, she takes good care of her all natural body, doesn’t drink, doesn’t do drugs, shows up on time with the expected wardrobe and takes directions very well. If all that is not enough for being a good, solid performer, then I don’t know what is.
With that being said, I don’t know the particulars of the previous poster’s shoot, I don’t know what went wrong and why, and I’m not going to speculate on that, either. I just wanted to share my own experience with Rayveness and provide a second opinion. She’s currently represented by Type 9 Models:
Sure does.
I thought he was Tom Byron, as in “Colonel Tom.”
Either case, I don’t care. The guy’s still cool.
Well, we’re back to square one guys, aren’t we? It’s interesting to see how some people are so obsessed with things that have no impact or relation to their personal lives, for example the identity of a writer on a web site. I’m not going to stroke this flame, I sure have better things to do and I’ll let you pull your hair and kick yourselves in the ass; but I tell you 3 things:
1. I was born in the U.S.A, not that I’m proud of it, but that’s just where I was born.
2. Luke Ford started covering the adult industry in the mid 90’s, and we became friends ever since. Over the years, he was on the set of my movies several times, wrote several news pieces about me and my production company and I’ve contributed several articles to his several web sites including LIB anonymously untill he switched to WordPress in 2006. At that point I started commenting on LIB as The Colonel, and you know the rest.
3. Rayveness has been in the adult industry since 1996. I’ve been knowing her since 1999 and have worked with her several times on several projects; and if you dig deeper, Sherlock Holmes wannabes, you’ll find out over the course of 13 years Rayveness has worked with many people of all colors of skins. At PornStarPerformance.com which someone mentioned above and I just checked out, several people including Donny Long have written positive reviews about Rayveness and defended her. So as you see, many people love Rayveness because she’s a good person and a great performer. By your logic, either all of them are The Colonel or none of them is.
As I said it’s interesting, but I’m not impressed. You must do your home works better than this. Anyway, whatever you think and whatever you do, just don’t derail my thread and stay on the topic.
I knew he’d beat us up.
Back on topic Colonel, do you (or any other poster actually employed in the industry) know whatever happened to those mid-90s plans to do virtual reality porn? As in a pair of goggles and some kind of fancy dick sock with sensors attached to it that visually and physically simulate sex with an actual porn chick? You’d think the technology would be inching towards that by now. Put on some goggles, download a scene, put the contraption on your junk, sit back and watch/feel it unfold. POV to its logical extreme. Anyone still talk about that with a straight face?
yeah, ralph fiennes in the ’95 movie “strange days”.
Colonel – are you kidding me with all this doom and gloom?
Why is it the end of America and not just survival of the fittest.
Really we cant bounce back? So we are still living the same life after the market crash of 1929?
Come on no one is standing in food lines, or living in shanty towns.
This is what is called life. And yes we do live in the Greatest Country ever, where else can you go on line and bash he President, his wife , kids and cat. Where else can you sit on your computer and download millions of hours of porn?
Oh and also those seeking your identity…get over yourself, who the fuck cares who The Colonel is. You either hate him or love him. And if you are so hard up to find out who he is, do your research on Michael Payne..try and find him!
I for one love him. No matter how bad he thinks America sucks!
Kayryan, The only mistake The Colonel made is subtitling this post “The beginning of the end”. When, in reality the beginning of the end started decades ago. It’s a long, slow decline okay? The goverment starting spending money wildly in the 80’s (Remember Wall Street?) and the nation is RUINED.
Picture this people. Our DOLLAR is going to be devalued. Do you know what the fuck that means? I’ll give you a hint – The new Dollar will NOT be green. Figure it out for yourselves.
Dodger my friend, virtual reality porn was more of a bad, tasteless and implausible sci-fi TV than reality. A few idiots rambled about it back in the day, and after that it was disposed like the trash it was. Let me give you an example of the kind of people who were day dreaming about it: once I was talking with Tony Eveready, you the guy, right? The ugly midget drug dealing bum who used to beat girls and got them pregnant, the scumbag who didn’t have a pot to piss in and now is serving his 6 years prison sentence. He told me he was going to ‘produce’ a 3-D porn; and the first thought that came to my mind was Holy fucking shit. No, it didn’t happen then and won’t happen now. It’s too good, or should I say too bad, to be true.
And Kay my dear, let me say this again: we’re fucked. No amount of optimism and no super hero can pull us out of this mess. We’re at the 3rd stage of America’s existence: a long, gradual, steady decline. History repeats itself. Study this: fucking Romans.
And as for my identity, I’ll give up. I’ll say my name once and only once: my name is Bond. James Bond. So you fuckers make a note and leave me alone.
Really we cant bounce back? So we are still living the same life after the market crash of 1929?
Come on no one is standing in food lines, or living in shanty towns.
Well the real Depression was not after the Crash of 1929, was after FDR took over.
Same with Obambi, the fun and games are going to start when the money from thin air from his “stimulus” package comes home to roost. No good deed will be left unpunished.
Buy Gold and hide it from the Gov.
I’m sorry we can’t bounce back. This ain’t your grandfather’s depression. Actually, today our social ills, unemployment, and homelessness is quite startling in a country that’s supposed to be the best in the world.
YOU may not be living in a shantytown.
YOU may not be homeless
YOU may not be a total dreg of society strung out on meth, coke, or heroin.
But MILLIONS of Americans are. The unemployment rate is the highest (9.2%) it’s been in 60 years. Not bad for a supposedly developed country, huh?
Dear Colonel, I will try to take your good advices about how asking the girls, Many times I was told I am so politically correct, for now in Spain I try don’t get in trouble with porn industry but I swear you is a hard job. In my next interviews I will try to ask my favorite porn stars feel about how much uncomfortable they are for going to the w.c. after a rough fucking in their little asses and about their pimps boyfriend/husband’s addiction, I have to confess I was always interested in it… we could do a very long post About it…
Sure I’ll make a lot of good enemies, we could take some beers with them in hell. Thanks again for the good advices Colonel, Is a great pleasure reading your posts. Good Luck and best regards from Spain 😉
“I’m sorry we can’t bounce back. This ain’t your grandfather’s depression. Actually, today our social ills, unemployment, and homelessness is quite startling in a country that’s supposed to be the best in the world.”
9% of unemployement is not bad, European Countries have higher rates for decades. Thanks to the nanny state, regulations and high taxes the socialists (to call them liberals is too inacurate) that support Premier Obambi seen to love.
The problem is that the US bounced back from the great depression becasue the US was them the premier manufacturer country in the world. Once FDR stopped his socialist policies and got serious with the start of WWII, the Depression went down.
Now the US has his manufacturing base gutted, and I do not see a WWIII forcing Obambi to get real. He will go on with his socialism until the USA are run into the ground while the liberal media acts as a cheerleader.
Haz eso Pepe y eres el Luke Ford de España, joder!
Actually, the “virtual reality” (a sadly dated name) concept is not dead. I work in the field of 3D technology for both development and content. How many have gone to a an Imax theater and experienced the recent wave of stereoscopic 3D features? Sony Pictures’ “Beowulf”, “U23D” (produced by L.A.-based 3ality Digital), “Coraline”, or Pixar’s recent animated offerings are showing the way to the next generation of entertainment technology. On December 16, James Cameron unveils his genre-defining film, “Avatar” a $200-plus million production which combines motion-capture live-action, CGI, and everything but the kitchen sink in terms of bleeding-edge filmmaking technology. Most of the current 3D features have been animated, but live-action will soon be the order of the day, with every major Hollywood studio currently involved in one or more major 3D productions over the coming years.
On the theater exhibition side, there are currently somewhere around 5000 venues equipped with digital 3D systems, and that number is increasing monthly with a scheduled digital rollout that began over a year ago. Also, SMPTE is currently finalizing standards for 3D broadcast, and all major manufacturers of home displays, including Panasonic, Samsung, Mitsubishi, etc. are currently shipping 3D-enabled systems (which require a PC codec). 3D TV broadcast is already happening in Japan and France. Most importantly, 3D computer displays, both desktop and laptop, will be coming out very soon. With all of this tech, I’m not talking “anaglyph” 3D (crappy red/blue glasses), but “polarized” 3D, with superior quality and zero eyestrain (the most important element of successful 3D). The best source of info for anyone interested in 3D is Jim Dorey’s blog site MarketSaw.com.
Of course, porn is a logical outlet for 3D, and I’m part of a team currently developing adult content – along with mainstream content – that will be revolutionizing the home porn experience. This ain’t empty hyperbole, either. You have to see it for yourself, because it’s beyond description. And this isn’t lowest-level, “Cumin’ At Ya” crap (shot for anaglyph, which is the only type of 3D that can be displayed on a conventional TV or computer).
We are in discussions with major adult studios to incorporate our technology and expertise for production, so expect to see this happening very soon. Couple the immersive 3D visual experience with haptic technology, and you begin to approach the real world of “virtual reality.” Of course, all this will come at a price, and the displays/systems aren’t cheap, especially initially, but the costs will come down as the technology is more widely adopted. The potential for the adult industry for broadcast, VOD, and other delivery is significant, and I predict that this will be one of the major new rev streams for content producers, distribs, and even innovative new venues within the gentlemens’ club market.
There, I’ve let the cat out of the bag…
From your lips to god’s ears. If 3-D porn can be excecuted properly, produced and distributed on a rational budget, it’ll be porn’s holy grail. All the ideas that have been presented to this day were amateurish, implausible and unrealistic with the exception of AEBN’s Real Touch which seems promising; even though it’s still in developing process surrounded by hype and speculation. We’ll find out soon.
Colonel DO NOT start with me on the Romans.We will do battle!
You keep using this word “we”.
Look I pay my taxes, I work, I do charity work, I pay off my credit cards, I even recycle.
So how is the government screwing “you”? Do you job, pay your taxes, pay off your credit cards, and start recycling.
Everyone has to do their part. The government isnt the only one who put us in this position.
And really, the iphone did over a million in sales last month. I didnt know they had an iphone line next to the bread line. Restaurants are still packed, so is Target, Walmart and Niemans.
Did you think the porn world wasnt going to take a hit. You have even said here that the porn talent are not savers and are blowing their money as fast as they make it. So what they are irresponsible, screw them! No pun intended. You make your bed you lie in it. Again no pun!
In a way wont this help the porn world. If the talent is hurting for work then they lower their rates and get more work. That is called stimulating the economy. Again no pun. So in the long run Colonel you may even be a head of the game soon.
Kay, the sales are just not there anymore for porn DVDs. People are not buying. It is as if someone flipped a switch. Let me give you an example. I made $375.00 in commissions from the AdultDVDEmpire.com affiliate program in May 2006, $270 in May 2007, $78 in May 2008, and $13 in May 2009. It is more than porn taking a hit. This is like someone completely pulling the rug up from under people. The only thing that is doing brisk business is VOD. For consumers, the thrill of physically handling porn dvds and dirty magazines is gone.
Yes, Colonel, for 3D to be successful – in porn or mainstream films – it has to be done extremely well. But as with any good film project, success begins with the creative concept. The technology is just another tool to tell the story. If the story or concept is lame, then no amount of tech wizardry is going to make it any better. The top-end features have the depth of creativity and the production values that best lend themselves to the added virtues of 3D, but I believe that even basic gonzo-style content can incorporate it equally well if done properly and with a creative eye.
The cost of physical production for 3D, including post, is approximately 50-60% above that of standard production, so it’s not outside the means of most studios/production companies; however, it requires a good stereographer and director of photography to shoot, and there are currently only a handful of them with the required knowledge and experience. Post also requires very specific skills. Our company has people with backgrounds in both adult and advanced stereoscopy capture and post, and I’m not aware of any other that has that combined skill set currently. We’re available for consultation, and can provide anything from concept through delivery.
We additionally do 2D-to-3D conversion, utilizing our proprietary software and process, but this requires a very long workflow and is therefore probably too costly for your average adult project, but is being utilized for mainstream feature films, TV shows, and other types of content. We’re working to streamline that technical process and bring the costs down, which will open up a whole wealth of legacy content for conversion to 3D in the near future.
It’s important to remember that when the economy goes bad, the entertainment industry generally remains strong. People will always seek an escape from their worries. Porn has taken a big hit, but it will rebound, rest assured. And this adage, I think, holds true: Good porn isn’t free, and free porn isn’t good.
“It’s important to remember that when the economy goes bad, the entertainment industry generally remains strong.”
Excellent point, Third Axis. Hollywood became what it is today thanks in part to the Great Depression. Theatrical movies were even then just one competing form of entertainment among many, and with tickets at barely a nickel a piece, even people on public relief could afford to spend an afternoon watching a movie.
As for 3D material, I initially brought the topic up because human beings have always tried to recreate sexual experience with whatever means of expression available at the time: sculpture, painting, live performance, publishing, silent film, audio, sound film…It never ends.
People will always want to either supplement their own sexual experience or vicariously live through another person’s, or perhaps a combination of both.
More importantly, we as consumers will always want to do this in a way that moves the viewing experience closer to the real thing.
Porn has historically found a way use emerging technology to make the viewing experience more intense and immediate to the consumer. Example: Film was more intense than publishing, while home video more immediate than a movie theater filled with other people. A 3D movie could similarly intensify the viewer’s level of immersion.
Consumers also use porn in different ways to gratify a variety of needs. I won’t get all grad school on you guys but this kind of theory has long been applied to other forms of entertainment. With porn, I see it this way:
Some people take care of business as they watch the product. Other people use the product then fix themselves later, relying on imagery and scenarios they watched earlier, and perhaps combining it with existing fantasies.
It seems a 3D experience could better gratify the latter group, the consumer whose porn use involves building up a warehouse of imagery to work with. These consumers are probably more introverted, or probably more involved in their interior lives. They might prefer reading a novel to going to a concert.
Regardless, the content of porn (fucking, blowjobs, etc.) appeals to them as it does to anyone else, but the delivery, maybe not so much. A 3D experience might better create the encompassing atmosphere these viewers are looking for.
Good weekend to all.
Look Kay, are serious with this mumbo jumbo or are you trying to piss me off and start a battle? Because if that’s what you want, you got it, baby.
I can’t believe how you’re lost in your bubble and keep missing the big picture. The world doesn’t revolve around Kay Ryan and her comfortable New England house. The whole United States of Fucking America is going down the trash can of history, and you’re suggesting the solution is to pay the tax man, feed the blood sucking credit card corporations and recycle your plastic bottles. You must be kidding me.
Why don’t you just leave your secure bubble and go on a road trip to discover the real America outside your small community/population 18,000 and see the truth for yourself: sick children without the insurance coverage, laid off factory workers in need of their daily bread, homeless elderly citizens living in tent cities, drug addict junkies dying in the streets and $100 STD infected hookers. That’s the real America, darling. What are you going to do about that? How your charity work and recycling is going to save them? What don’t you understand and what are you so afraid to accept and believe?
We were a great nation and did great things, but then we got ignorant, greedy and lazy. We invested too much trust in our criminal governments and evil corporations and lost our fucking grip. It’s over, the good guys lost.
Thomas Jefferson once wrote: The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. I assure you if he was alive today, he would told you the tree of liberty has been long broken and burnt and no amount of blood, or in your case charity work and recycling, cannot and will not refresh this dead tree. It’s gone baby, gone. Wake up and smell the ashes.
“We were a great nation and did great things, but then we got ignorant, greedy and lazy. We invested too much trust in our criminal governments and evil corporations and lost our fucking grip. It’s over, the good guys lost.”
You need to know this as this is EXACTLY what happened to America. Ironically, only the 60’s/70’s hippies saw this coming.
Just think, your country got sold and ruined by a few greedy assholes. Fucking funny if it wasn’t true.
“your country got sold and ruined by a few greedy assholes.”
By a few, sorry to sound like Osama Bin Laden but the American elected them and buy the goods and services with the paychecks cashed from them.
As John Lyndon said, “no one is innocent”.
The answer for Playboy magazine is akin to the answer for the Playboy channel, which started airing HARDCORE… It’s sink or swim for Playboy. They can no longer waddle in the same realms they’ve done for decades. Once upon a time, women showing their naked knees was considered risque…
Picture this, just for an example. The top 20 executives of AIG say to themselves “Screw this company, I can make a few million FOR MYSELF by allowing hundreds of thousands of Unqualified people to borrow money from MY company..they won’t be able to pay it back but I’ll have a nice house and enough money for the rest of my life”. Later, the U.S. Government has to bail the company out and those executives get paid even more.
This is how you destroy a country.
Aften the 1960 wester values have evolved in the directon of eliminating moral hazzard form society.
None is guilty anymore.
Guilt and ignorance often go hand in hand. Americans are constantly being abused, beaten up and fooled by the same group of wealthy, influential and powerful people who run everything in this country from the government to financial institutes, media, oil companies, etc. But the reason Americans stay obedient and participate in puppet shows like the presidential election is because they’re ignorant, they’re systematically brain washed and oppressed.
Nevertheless their ignorance results in feeding and supporting the powers that be, and that’s their guilt, the crime they commit without even knowing.
The greatest trick the devil played was convincing people he doesn’t exist. The greatest trick the powers that be played was convincing Americans they have the freedom of choice.
Damn, the Dodgers and the Lakers are on at the same time.
“Aften the 1960 wester values have evolved in the directon of eliminating moral hazzard form society.”
…uh, what? Is this an anagram?
Colonel all I hear out of you is blah, blah, blah,whine, whine, whine!!
First of all you know that I counsel rape victim’s in New York City of all places, so I see the under belly of THE REAL America everyday, and am thankful that I made the right choices when it came to hard decisions.
And who are you kidding, you could care less about:
“sick children without the insurance coverage, laid off factory workers in need of their daily bread, homeless elderly citizens living in tent cities, drug addict junkies dying in the streets and $100 STD infected hookers”
The only reason you notice them is because they can’t buy your porn! When was the last time you built a house for the homeless. Mine was last month.
My bubble is very real, remember you are the one living in the Porn Bubble.
And really your going to pull a Thomas Jefferson quote out on me, the one with a Masters in English! Please. Now who needs to get down and give ME 20.
You stay in your Porn Bubble and keep it ticking or not,and I’ll make sure the rest of the world goes on. If your porn bubble collapses, which I highly doubt, you did it to yourself. Put all your eggs in one basket and that’s what you get! You can’t start looking to stimulate The Porn world now that it is in trouble. You need to be forward thinkers. And the strong always survive!
Great. You see Kay, I knew that ‘bubble’ comment will hit a nerve. I also knew why it does: because it’s the truth, and deep down you know it’s the truth, too. You just don’t want to admit that.
You know we’re knee deep in shit, you know our economy is fucked, and you know the system is broken permanently; but what do you do to comfort, distract and entertain yourself? You participate in meaningless community activities, you take your sweet time to recycle plastic bottles and chit chat with rape victems who with or without your counseling will live with their pain and nightmares for the rest of their lives anyway. You’re trying to hold on to something dear that has been long lost: America, illusion of a Utopia.
But you know what I do? I make myself a fucking drink and go out get me a piece of fresh pussy. I catch a good movie at theatre with friends and dine at my favorite restaurant. I watch The X-Files re-runs at Sci-Fi channel, and I chat with you on the phone and on LIB message board. The point is Kay, you have to accept there’s nothing we can do. You have to stop playing the caped crusader, you have to stop blabbering about your masters degree, you have to let go and live your life for yourself. The world is going to hell in a handbasket and your charity work, plastic bottle recycling and counsiling with rape victems is not going to save niether America nor the humanity. Come to think of it, none of them wants to be saved either.
Wow Colonel did you hurt your back with all the flip flopping your doing?
First you say I’m not in touch with REAL America. Then when I tell you that I am and have seen all the things you listed, you tell me those things don’t make me a REAL American? Hum.
I also disagree that my helping will not make a difference in the world. I am not as egotistical as you, to think, I even need to save the world. My counseling helps me and hopefully the people I talk to.
And by the way, lots of them come from your bubble. I haven’t seen many CEO’s and Fortune 500 VP’s entering your all important porn world.
Like I said you made your bed, now you want to complain about it? Grow a set, move on.
And if you are going to your favorite KFC every night and watching porn in some smelly movie theater, and pay women to have sex with you, what are you complaining about? You have the money, you’ll be just fine!
Like I said, you take care of your all important porn world, I take care of the rest.
And I’m shocked you are now dissing my master degree. You said it was your favorite thing about me!
Flip flop, flip flop, flip flop…..bring it!
Kay, you’re not too good at catching up and getting the point, are you? I said you’re not in touch with the reality or doing your best to avoid it; and it turns out I was right, otherwise you wouldn’t waste your time with community mumbo jumbo and plastic bottle recycling.
The best part is you actually believe and try to convince others that what you do is effective and important. Come on, you can be honest with a bunch of dishonest, immoral crooks on a porn message board. Just admit that you’re a housewife in a small town with so much time on your hand and a crush on a middle age pornographer: yours truly. You don’t have to justify yourself, just say I do charity stuff because I’ve got nothing better to do. Don’t make a big deal out of it and don’t take yourself too seriously.
And what’s up with that KFC and watching porn at smelly movie theatres. I hate junk food, I can afford better than that, and we don’t have such theatres here in California. Maybe you have a couple of them in New England. So next time try and be more funny, or you gotta get down and give me 40.
One more thing: I didn’t say I liked you for your masters degree, I could care less about that. I said I like you for your tits and ass. Besides, I dig married chicks, they dig me, too.
Again Colonel all I hear is whine, whine, whine, blah, blah, blah.
I think you are the one who take himself to seriously.
Your right I like my life, I work, do charity work, raise my kids and blow my husband every night, so see it truly is a wonderful life!
Soon enough you’ll blow me too, Kay. Maybe you, me and your husband can throw an orgy and film it. How’s this for the title:
‘Real Swinger Housewives of New England’
There you go, I’ll get myself a new movie and you’ll get yourself a story to tell in your charity events.
Only in your wet dreams!
Colnel wrote,
“…some people are so obsessed with things that have no impact on their personal lives, for example, the identity of a writer on a website.”
Colonel, you hypocritcal piece of dog shit. Wasnt it you(YES it was) who just could not let go of the fantasy that I am sophia mounds. Didnt you write DOZENS of posts about this even after it was proven that you are wrong?
And your understanding of the current economic situation(yes it is bad) is juvenile at best. While bailout may be in the hundreds of billions, we still have a 20 TRILLION dollar ecenomy. We WILL recover from this and we WILL remain the one and only superpower in the world>
The recession we are experiencing now is nothing compare to the great depression. It is not even close, and we recovered quite nicely from that.
And just for the record, you are still a fucking idiot. You always have been and always will be.
Its also hilarious how you make up these alt id’s to praise yourself in the comment sections of your own posts.
Cindi, please kick The General out of my thread. I don’t even want to waste my time or the reader’s time on this delusional, troubled person. Thank you.
Too bad you just cant delete the posts like you did before(and then lied about it). Do you remember when you repeatedly lied to everyone on this forum, and even Cindi called you out on your lies?
It was you who insisted in over 30 posts that I was Sophia Mounds. Talk about obsessed. If you cant stand the heat stay out of the kitchen.
And I apologize to every piece of real dog shit for comparing you to this asswipe.
Now go cry to cindi you fucking low budget, no talent, wanna be peice of crap.
now colonel, go make another alt id and agree with yourself.
I just exchanged some emails with Cindi, and this is what she wrote to me:
‘Well we all have to take a little shit from the commenters because we give it out. Being on this site makes us targets I’m afraid. But I won’t let The General go too crazy on you or I will slap him around. I know in a fight (verbal or otherwise, lol), you could take him!
xoxo,
Cindi’
I couldn’t say it any better. Thank you Cindi.
Of course you couldnt say any better colonel. You have no talent as a writer,or as anything else for that matter. Nice to see how mr tought guy, who ahs repeatedly threatend me with real physical harm, went running to mommy to get this big bully to leave him alone.
Youre a joke colonel, thats why we love you. Now go fuck yourself.
See General, the reason I don’t respond to you is I don’t give two fucks about you, because you just don’t matter; whether you’re Sophia Mounds or Toothless Harry doesn’t matter, the fact is you as a human being and as a person simply don’t fucking matter. You’re a two bit ultimate loser by any definition of the word, you’re a small, delusional, lonely, pathetic creature, you’re a big, empty void, you’re a piece of hacked up, dried up shit, and for some god forsaken reason you’re obsessed with me and I have become the center of your life. I responded to you a few times, and that was exactly what you wanted from me: to respond to you, to acknowledge that a filth pig like you is here, and to validate your meaningless, shamefull existence. But after a few responses, I grew tired of you. I can’t respond to you every time you open up your toilet of a mouth and vomit stupid, embarrassing verbal diarrhea because I don’t care about you, just like I don’t care every time I blow my nose, take a shit or drop a load. But you just don’t fucking get it, do you? You just don’t understand how redundant, repulsive and ridiculous you really, truely are.
You’re nothing but an obsessed fanboy. It’s absolutely laugh out loud comical to imagine how desperately and obsessively you read my articles and comments sentence by sentence, word by word, and try to come up with something to write about them which of course every time you do that with shaking hands and broken english you’re only making a bigger clown of yourself. And to top that off, you claim all the people who chat with me and comment on my writings, all my alter IDs; all 50+ of them.
Your only relevance is being an obsessed fanboy, a sidekick, a parody of mine on this web site. I can’t imagine how painful that should be for you. But let me try to ease your pain a little: if you want to communicate with me, you can send an email to Cindi and ask her to forward it to me. Explain yourself and let me understand why are you so obsessed with me and why should I care about you. If you succeed, I’ll respond to you and tell you everything you want to know about me, maybe even we meet up and have a few beers if you live around Los Angeles area. But if you fail, then you can go suck someone else’s cock and fuck yourself. In the meantime, good luck keeping up with my excellent writings, scumbag. Read and memorize every words, including these: fuck you piece of shit.
“See General, the reason I don’t respond to you is I don’t give two fucks about you…”
Except The Colonel goes on to write a long diatribe, in which HE IS RESPONDING TO THE GENERAL.
Then when the general of course attacks him back, Colonel will run with tail between his legs to ask cindi to delete the comments.
Talk about hypocritical. Colonel can dish it out, but he can’t take it.
Forget the donuts from Colonel. I want a REAL MAN to buy me donuts! 🙂
Biatch, I simply explained why I usually don’t respond to The General. You of course are a dyslexic, attention deficit disorder freak with lesbian urges and wieght problems. Naturally you’ll have difficulties reading and understanding long paragraphs; but since that’s your problem, not mine, then shut up and eat more donuts.
P.S: You want a real man and yet you jerk off to lesbian flicks on your single size bed, right? Get outta here, Biatch. I know you all too well, that’s why I kinda like you, even though that probably sounds awkward.
Sophia Mounds sent me an email with a video attachement of herself talking to me, I’d guess. She looks like weary and like she’s about to collapse. The video of her talking is presenting so she’s sideways, as if she’s talking while lying sideways on bed. Another minor problem is that the video has no audio whatsoever. I’ve sent it to others and have tried on other servers but apparently she never recorded any audio while she was talking and filming herself. I surmise she might be wanting to tell me that she’s not The General, as has been brought up here. Either way, she can’t stop talking to me. So I thought I’d check her site to see if she posted anything about what she sent to me there and I see she wrote about Sasha Grey being “a one woman domino”…