Monday, May 17Mike Albo writes on AdultStarsNews.com:
You know how we love our tales of degradation. We especially love them when they involve white trash chicks and drugs. Some people are just not cut out for the drug lifestyle, and nowhere is this more apparent than on one of our new favorite Web sites, Crack Whore Confessions.
This is some genius-level material. Girls who will do anything for a $20 rock. Sure, they may not be the prettiest debs at the ball, they may be missing teeth, self-respect and homes, but they just keep coming back for more. It kind of speaks to the endurance of the human spirit...or not.
There seems to be a lot of specious arguing again around whether Darren James transmitted the HIV virus to Lara after contracting it in Brazil or Lara gave it to Darren when they purportedly worked together the previous February in Canada.
I think that a lot of people inside of porn would love to hear that it came from Lara, for the sheer fact that she is the one making quotes in the media that she “though porn people were the cleanest people in the world.” There would be a cruel, but vindicating irony associated with that kind of knowledge and I can understand why some people are desperate to believe that. It is hard to swallow stories from the press in which Lara talks about how she was forced to be here, when she begged to come down, after Daniel told her that she wasn’t cut out for it, and refused to go home, when Thomas told her that she wasn’t cut out for it. It is hard to hear her accuse the company of “forcing” her to do the double anal that might have been he transmission point of her contracting HIV when she was begging for any job that she could get and often sleeping with men who hung around set after the scene, which is where the disgusting picture on ADULT FYI originated from. There again, it is hard to hear her make statements about the cleanliness of porn people when her personal hygiene was nothing short of disgusting. Not to mention that she makes no reference in these media interviews to the plethora of escorting jobs she took while here that outnumbered onscreen affairs nearly three to one from all accounts.Like I said, I can understand how some in porn would relish the grim twist of fate that led them to find Lara infecting Darren with the disease instead of the other way around. The rest of the people that are fiddling with the idea of Lara giving it to Darren I chalk up to conspiracy theorists and other malcontents who simply cannot relinquish their desire to Rage Against the Machine on every given issue that they run across.Since I will inevitably get a hundred phone calls over what I think and why, here is my opinion, based on the knowledge that we currently have at our disposal.I believe that Darren contracted the HIV virus from having unprotected anal sex with Bianca Biaggi in Brazil, who was HIV positive. Efforts are being made to confirm this theory by asking Miss Biaggi to send a sample of her blood to AIM who will then have the lab check it. The reason that Darren contracted the virus, in my opinion, given that it is not as easy to pass from females to males, is that he did not use enough lubrication and there was invisible microscopic skin abrasions that could serve as the point of contact for the virus. Furthermore, I believe that his spider bite, which may or may not have been MRSA Staph infection, significantly reduced his immune system, leaving him more vulnerable to infection.I also believe the body of experts, doctors, and lab technicians, who believe that Darren was and is patient zero in this instance. I do not believe that I know more than they do in this regard, and am willing to accept their assessment given their lengthy medical training versus some porn gossip website speculation.Furthermore, I believe that the PCR RNA tests show conclusively the viral spiking pattern that is associated with infection, and that the evidence presented to me is correct and accurate, which shows Darren’s viral load decreasing while Lara’s climbed, something that is common in the initial stages of HIV infection according to reliable medical sources.Last but not least, I believe that the scenario presented by medical experts, which strongly suggests Darren being patient zero, is more likely to have produced the kind of results that we saw, three other infections to date. It is highly unlikely that Darren could have contracted the virus and then spread the disease within a few hours to another girl. Given that all of the people that tested positive worked with Darren and none of them worked with Lara, and given that no people that worked with Lara, or paid her $500 escorting fee, tested positive for HIV, it stands to reason that Darren was the source and that he contracted it from Biaggi in Brazil.I hate to drag a tired cliché out but this simply is a case of Occums Razor to me. Given the facts presented, the most likely explanation is often the only real explanation. Sure there is the possibility in some alternate universe somewhere that it went the other way, or even that all of the people infected had been infected by various means and by some extraordinary coincidence they had all worked together in a time frame that allowed them to be sewed together by their contraction status, but it is stretching it, and highly improbable, and doesn’t account for some of what we see.Luckily for us although we may never have absolute certainty on this issue other than that which logic and deductive reasoning can provide, we can know for sure that the last scenario is impossible in a few months. Right now the lab technicians are matching the virus from Darren and Lara and Jessica and Miss Arroyo by a process known as genotyping. From this process, which is expensive and takes some time, they will be able to determine whether or not it is the same virus, linking all of them together. They already know that the kind of virus that Darren has is a form of HIV 1, whose subset is unusually rare in America, including North America (Canada) which again seems to point towards Brazil once more.In the meantime, while we wait and find new controversies to be embroiled in and issues to get all up in arms about, like the string of obscenity trials soon to be announced, I think we would all do well to just take it easy for while.Stop assuming that everything you read on one of these sites is the honest to God truth. Start thinking with your head. Everything that any other site posts generates a battery of concerned calls asking me my position on it, no matter how ludicrous or absurd the claim, or how many times it has been refuted, or whose mendacious mouth it greasily flops out of.Read this carefully.Porn gossip and news sites operate off of controversy, which generates more hits, even if they have to push lies or fear or panic or acrimony. Sure sometimes there is the real Woodward and Bernstein moment when the truth is out here, but often stories are based on speculation and lies and false testimony and ballyhoo. It is a house of mirrors out here on the PGN sites and you have to start looking past all of this to find out the truth.AdultCon 6 'Kinda Sad'
Adult film stars meet their public for a price at convention
By Dana Bartholomew, Staff Writer (via Hardcoregossip.com)
LOS ANGELES She was the minister's daughter who'd won a commendation from the U.S. Air Force for saving thousands of dollars at military medical clinics nationwide. But on Sunday, she was an adult-film star hawking her wares at a film-and-fan convention.
"I am the girl next door, literally, am literally down the street,' said Kayla Cam, 33, of Canoga Park, a veteran of six films. "I watched my first-ever porno film three days ago - I don't see what the big thrill is.
"It just sounded fun,' she said of her new life in raunch. "Last time I checked, my mom and dad live on the other side of the country and they don't pay my bills."
Cam was one of several dozen adult film stars at the AdultCon6 consumer convention at the Warner Center Marriott, where an estimated 1,500 fans paid $30 each to ogle several dozen scantily clad porn stars, strippers and phone-sex workers. While the performers sold their videos - which ran uncensored in the background - a parade of mostly young men caught every curve with video cams, digital cameras and photographic cell phones.
Because of the recent industry HIV outbreak that caused a monthlong shutdown of the adult-entertainment industry, some booths sat empty the stars unable to afford the registration fee.
"It has a very sleazy feel, an odd feel this year,' said Theresa MacWillie, a gray-haired woman from Huntington Beach who sold erotic foxtails and jewelry. "It's too bad that some of the men who come here have such Elmer Fudd-meets-Charles Manson manners."
For most men and women, however, it was just fun and commerce. Keiko, a petite redhead from Florida, could have been a store clerk, a nurse or a secretary. Instead, she and her fiance flew to Los Angeles to become adult- film stars.
"It was kind of an accident,' said Keiko, 20, of Sherman Oaks. "I wanted to be famous. The easiest way to get it is to walk into a modeling office and say, I want to do porn.'
The Captain Of My Heart
As I drove away from my home at 11:30AM April 22nd, I had no idea that things would happen in the next two hours that would forever change the course of my work life.
I was in high spirits, looking forward to the media circus of Sharon Mitchell's press conference about porn's two HIV cases.
I wore my speckled grey suit, which I do not believe I've put on in more than six years.
I had my black Museum of Tolerance tote bag filled with two tape recorders and a good book by Jeffrey Meyers on Somerset Maughm.
I've been on the job at Adultbeat for five months and I believe the site is finally clicking. It's going to be number one. I have a good boss. I have a good salary. I have good writers. I have good benefits. I have a good chance at clawing my way out of debt and poverty.
Despite my upbeat mood, I had a nagging sadness in my soul. A promising relationship had just petered out that morning. She'd called to say that she would never.... and she did not want to be my "hors d'eouvre."
So I decided to cancel plans with her for the evening and instead attend a singles event largely populated by UCLA graduate students.
I parked on Ventura Blvd to save on the $10 parking fee for the Universal Hilton. I walked uphill and awkwardly jogged up streets not meant for foot traffic. Near 1PM, I walked up to the hotel. I saw Sharon Mitchell, Nina Hartley and Ira Levine standing outside, dressed to the nines. I should've known I was going to be outclassed.
I avoided them and looked for a friendly face. I found it in Jim South, the tall angular humorous talent agent, Bill Margold, and finally my good buddy Rob Spallone, who's bouncing off the walls as usual. He was filled with passion for how porn should protect itself from HIV.
I saw about 40 reporters in the room. As I chat with Rob, he boomed out his views in a loud voice and the media circled him and extended their microphones.
I got into a chat with a little cutie named Gina from the LA Times. An Asian girl from the Times was also there, Kaitlyn Liu, along with media from NPR, Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, all the major LA TV stations...
I arrived home at close to 4PM. There were eight messages on my phone machine and about 20 email. I heard one message about what happened with that AVN article and was I still employed at Adultbeat.
Checking my computer, I see an email from my boss Lensman. In a straight forward manner, he demands that I treat "off the record" requests as binding. Fair enough.
I surf over to the AVN.com site and see that I've been hung out to dry. My own boss has apparently told AVN that he believes that I am guilty of a felony. AVN president Paul Fishbein and porn's top lawyer Paul Cambria proclaim that I am guilty of a felony.
The controversy is over a conversation that AVN reporter "Scott Ross" had with a dozen or so people in Rob Spallone's office earlier in the week via speakerphone. I recorded it and transcribed it on my site. Scott essentially said that AVN was a trade magazine and could not be expected to do investigative journalism. That AVN backed AIM. That Scott had sometimes felt issues of AVN lacked editorial integrity and he would not allow his name on them. Scott said there was much about how AVN operated that he thought was wrong. That his work was often edited and twisted [by Tim Connelly].
Scott Ross has written this AVN.com article today tearing me to shreds under the moniker Trent Brown. I think it is a sleazy tactic to write a hit piece with yourself at the center but not identify yourself as the author of the self serving piece.
Oh well, I can't expect more from AVN. Ten days previously, Scott Ross and company caused newspapers around the world to proclaim there were two HIV positive girls in the industry (whereas to that point only one had publicly tested positive) and hung out to dry one HIV negative girl as HIV positive. Unbelievably, it took AVN about 20 hours to correct their grievous error.
I check Adultbeat and realize that my story in question has been pulled by my boss and there's no back up copy. I think about the hours of work I put into the piece. I look at AVN's article again where my boss agrees I'm a felon. I think about my obligations to the writers I've brought over to Adultbeat. I need to keep them in paying gigs. But I can't abide by what has happened. I can't abide my articles being pulled without any consultation with me.
I fire off a polite letter of resignation, effective immediately.
A few hours later, when I calm down and see that I still have FTP access to Adultbeat, I put together a nasty farewell note. To his credit, my former boss does not remove it. Nor does he trash me on his GFY board or elsewhere. It looks like we will continue to have a cordial relationship. I just can't work for him.
I think I'll concentrate on my books.
My friends call to express their concern. My closest friends say that I was completely out of line in what I did and I should crawl back to my old boss, apologize, and ask for my job back. I say no way.
With a new day dawning, I feel my career in porn drifting away. Too long ago, too long apart, I can't wait another day for the captain of my heart. I must return to my books.
As the day came up, I made a start. I stopped waiting another day for him, the captain of my heart.
Anabolic Hawks Rough Sex Series Overseas
They are not yet selling Kahn Tusion's Rough Sex DVDs in the USA.
Rubber Bandwagon
Last month, soon after the Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation (AIM) discovered that porn stars Darren James and Lara Roxx had tested positive for HIV, director Adam Glasser, better known as Seymore Butts, announced that he would be mandating the use of condoms in all his movies. This came as a surprise to some who had come to associate his oeuvre with hard-core action and unprotected male-female anal sex. But Glasser, 40, stands by his decision and says the current outbreak, in which four performers have been found to be HIV-positive (a fifth case appears to be unrelated), has been a wakeup call to the industry that condoms—not testing—are the only way to stop the spread of the virus.
“I felt it was something I had to do,” Glasser, star of the Showtime series Family Business, told me in a phone interview from his home in Los Angeles. “I felt it was my responsibility to minimize the risk to my performers as much as possible and that using condoms for vaginal- and anal-penetration scenes would minimize that risk tremendously.” He is quick to add, though, that he won’t be using condoms for oral sex, and will continue to show facials—no, not the exfoliating kind—since swallowing is less risky than unprotected sex.
Although several companies are already condom-only, Glasser is the first “gonzo” producer to join them. Gonzo porn is known for being unscripted, wall-to-wall sex—essentially, what a scripted video would look like if you fast-forwarded through the setups. One of the first gonzo directors was Glasser’s mentor, John “Buttman” Stagliano, who, in his 1989 Adventures of Buttman, used a vérité style, participating in scenes himself and doing away with plot altogether. (In 1997, Stagliano announced that he had contracted HIV from a transsexual hooker in Rio.)
The National Enquirer Runs Story On Porn Chicks, HIV
It should be in the latest issue. Many of the girls on the quarantine list are escorting.
Mafia Takes Renewed Interest In Porn Industry
Learning how disorganized the porn industry is by its fractious reaction to the HIV crisis, various New York Mafia figures are looking to get into porn and to run things in an organized fashion. I'll be able to name names within six weeks.
A Epoch Blast From The Past
Here's a story I was not allowed to run about 15 months ago. But now I can.
Chris Mallick, CEO of Paycom/Epoch, is paying all the small people and he's holding up millions of dollars owed the large players until July [2003]. The large players won't go BS about this on the boards. Mallick wants to quiet up the pipsqueaks who complain on GFY.
Mallick is doing these aggressive cross-sells. The FTC won't come down on him, they will come down on the websites that use his technologies. The FTC will ask webmasters: Are you over 21? Do you have lawyers? Are you a businessman? Do you have a contract with your CC processor?
Epoch is doing these aggressive cross-sells with various boxes X'ed off and they are charging several time the normal amount for one signup. This has led to a major chargeback problem. As long as you increase transactions, you are still cool.
Mallick brought in all the big players like CEN with these cross-sells. The larger players brought in smaller webmasters because they could cross-sell each other. Epoch sucked in a lot of action, got to the top of their plateau, ramped up until they turned the corner where it started to fall off, then you got chargeback city.
In the past, Epoch blamed all their problems on Dan Steinberg. Epoch claimed they had fixed everything.
Epoch has slowed down the payments to the biggest players a week at a time until they were running almost a month behind. Now they're going to hold them until July and sign a note at 5%.
I believe the Bottos/Maxcash process with Jettis, in which they might have an ownership interest.
Mallick claims he's been fighting with MasterCard over fines. That's baloney. MC just takes the money. They don't ask. If you don't pay their fines, you don't process any more.
Mallick isn't offering the major players a deal. He's telling them the deal. He's funding the rest of his business off the major players.
Last year, MikeAI on Oprano.com cooked Fantasyman on his cross-selling. FM stopped it. MikeAI brought it to the attention of IBill and Epoch of cross-billing and they started doing it. Their versions of it will bring the FTC down. Any webmaster using Epoch is likely to get nailed by the FTC.
Epoch will say: We give webmasters tools. We're just a billing agent. If webmasters use these tools in a wrong way, that's their business.
Say Epoch is billing $30 million a month. You can't go close a merchant account and show up somewhere else with that kind of money. I think Epoch is getting hit with fines in the millions of dollars and they're using the webmasters reserve money to pay those fines. I think Epoch has run out of reserve money.
SEGuru writes on GFY 1/29/03: "I'm curious to see if there are other programs out there having any issues with Paycom? Payment issues or anything of this sort? I have heard grumblings, and am just curious as to what others may be seeing.
"That other thread is what I was looking for. Strange that clients are being treated differently. I "hear" that some are being penalized, and moneys held, and some delayed. IBill getting fined. Strange days indeed.
"As long as this industry exists, someone will find a way of making sure there is a friendly billing platform that our customers are comforable using. It does not mean that if one gets bitten once, that he doesn't think twice about doing what he did that got him bit in the first place. Those who cannot remember the past, are condemned to repeat it. Anyone remember 2 years ago? I'm speaking in a generic way though, as this is something that can happen to any processor. However, its their responsibility to monitor ALL OF THEIR ACCOUNTS and if there are accounts that endanger the master account...you do something about the smaller sub account. In Epochs case, I think it is wrong to penalize account holders for something that was beyond that account holders control. It is the processors responsibility to run their business, not the webmasters."
Moffit Timlake writes: "Hey SEGuru, Why don't you just contact BillingGuru? Maybe you can swap guruisms."
BluMedia writes on GFY: I did not get my wire from Paycom for this week so I emailed them and here is the response. Wonder why I was never notified of this before. I think they should of notified everyone about this but we were kept in the dark or at least I was. Anyone else have this problem? I got my weekly wire from CCBill like usual, never late not even a day.
"Dear Sir: Thank you for your email. The Wires will be going out early next week. We apologize for the delay please know that it is nothing major but it has to do with Mastercard fines that had to be made. Wehope to pay all of our clients at least two Wires for next week. We want to get back to our regular Friday payment schedule." "Paycom.net"
This is bullsh-t why don't these companies let us know about these things? If they have to pay mastercard fines shouldn't they still pay their clients? I am sure their employees got paid. I am sick of this. They assured me that they had a excellent relationship with Visa and MasterCard. Well if you had an excellent relationship couldn't you work something out with them instead of screwing over the webmasters? Sorry I am just really pissed. The fact that nobody was notified is very unprofessional. I would expect more from a top notch processing company like they say they are. I don't use them anymore but still have those rebills. I must say that CCBill will be the last one standing. I have not had one problem with them. They always pay no matter what. If they had fines, the webmasters would still be paid. I have never heard anyone have a problem with them.
If you are with Paycom you won't get paid for this week. They said they had to pay huge mastercard fines and decided not to pay the webmasters for this week. They said next week everything wil be back to normal. They decided not to let anyone know about this.
Fatpad writes: The processor with 30 min trials and a ton of cross-selling is being fined by M/C? No way!
Gobigtime writes: If you're going to instantly upsell a what the surfer thinks (hopes) is going to cost them $2.99 to a $120+ charge in 4 days... expect the occassional payment delay from the processor that allows you to do this Free 30 min trials are pretty good for the surfer though.. if they know how to cancel (and if paycom gives them like 60mins to cancel before charging).
DrGuile writes: That email is real. that story is correct. fine being issued by MC for oct 01 to Mar02 have a nice panicky day.
Chris Mallick, CEO of Epoch, writes on GFY: Yes. It is real. It is also wrong. You got a wire today. It was sent anyway. Sorry it took so long to get to this but I needed to check some facts and respond accordingly. First of all... Calm down! Payments have been made and are being made. EPOCH is just fine, thanks for the concern from all the haters. A MasterCard fine was levied about 10 months ago. EPOCH paid the fine, from our pockets and fought the fine for the last 10 months. We lost. But the cash was paid out back then so it could not have affected cash flow today. Climmie’ s email is just wrong. She made a mistake. Sorry for the heartburn. Some clients are having the fine passed through to them but that is between them and us and not for board chatter from us. Those clients will be getting a letter. We will not discuss specifics beyond this in public forums.
That being said: EPOCH is compliant with all card association’s rules and chargeback guidelines. Some wire clients did not get a wire today as we wired earlier in the week. We are wiring everyone again on Tuesday to make sure all of our clients get paid on the same day of the week from now on, which will be Tuesdays. With bank holidays and all Tuesday’s seem to work best. More on that later, by email to our clients directly. Again, noit for board discussions. Checks and UPS have been mailed / sent as usual and everything is normal there too. There are no problems. If any of you have not gotten your mail from last Friday’s mail please email us, but this is the first any of us have heard of this issue. If you were one of those that was misinformed, we are sorry we did not do a better job of communicating. We will try harder.
MrBling writes: Looks like the CROSS SELLING method is working for paycom you don't cross sell like that with an norm merchan account, if you do I hope you have throwaway international merchant accounts.
Chris Mallick writes DrGuile: You are wrong.
DrGuile replies: How am I wrong? Are the fines not being applied to customers who were there back then? Or am I wrong about payments from this week being late? because I can assure you, Im right on both counts...
Netbabe writes: Oh ... now these new business models where you f-ck the consumers out of $105 bucks on one join form is okay because you have terms & conditions.??? NO!!!!! CHARGEBACK is a prompt choice, they will easily charge back. I feel sorry for those processors ... Here you go getting yourself f-cked one CC company by one ... I'd like to know how many times can you be fined before your entire 3rd processor gets shut down ... there has got to be a limit ... do tell.
Stephanie Swift Wants To Be The New Jill Kelly
Stephanie Swift says she's broke. She wants someone to bankroll her own video company to the tune of $300,000. She says it's time for her boyfriend to move back in with his parents.
I understand Stephanie wants to move into a house with a bunch of porn girls and install web cams and broadcast over the Internet. She wants to be like Jill Kelly Productions.
She says she shot a movie in Brazil a year ago and the owner is holding the master tape until she can pay him.
A video porner tells Duke: "I wish the Internet would be censored. It's extreme. The kids who are using the Internet for education are just being bombarded with the porn. I don't know that that is a benefit for everybody."
The Glamorous Life Of A Mafia Porn Soldier
I worked my ass off yesterday. This is not work in the true meaning of the word. I did Family Business all day and into the night. I worked the phones, I had meets. I did Porno sh-t. A women asked me why I did what I did. I had no real answer. She is "Normal" and she only knew a facade of my life, that I let her see. Most people can only see me in the way I choose. I hate what I do. I hate the life. I hate the people. Yet I drawn into it like a moth to flame. I miss the street. I miss the intrigue. I am like a Junkie. I do not even care about the money. It just is a part of my existence. It gives me freedom, choices. To the Brave, come the spoils. I met with my LA Capo and we do things that in a second can turn bad. I know this and I accept the consequences of my actions. I am willing to always end a conflict. That is my way. I found out today a GUY I know was out on Bail. It made me happy. I spoke with my NYC Capo and we just spoke about our kids. I live a life. No, I live five lives.
Dave Cummings On HIV Crisis
1. With the exception of the larger companies which appear able to participate more fully and easily in distribution to the cable markets and other sources of revenue, not a lot of adult film production companies seem to presently be making the massive amounts of money that some media folks and others (including some of us talent members?) seem to think is happening. Some companies are doing fine, some are doing OK, and some seem to be financially struggling? Besides a possibly-growing glut of amateur footage and DVD releases from Internet-only content shoots, as well as foreign and Internet streaming video availability beginning to impact the present and future market, the many wannabe "producers" of the present and past few years who have purchased 3-chip camcorders and set out to get themselves laid under the guise of film-making have contributed to a glut of "companies", footage, and productions which has driven down the sales numbers and profits for some companies. Heaping additional costs upon the aforementioned companies for talent health care, talent residuals, payment of testing fees, government mandates, etc,--- be it the result of City of Los Angeles Health Department/State/OSHA/other (e.g., a "talent union")---might be the straw that breaks the back of some existing companies, thus driving down their ability to stay in existence and contract/employ talent and crews at the rates and fees that they presently pay. Might not talent fees have to be cut and/or production budgets tightened up even more for some companies to comply with any new governmental requirements, or talent "unionizing"?
2. Because anal creampies seem so HIV risky, perhaps they should no longer be made or distributed in America (or elsewhere)? Enforcement would probably require either some type of leak-proof Industry-wide self-regulation with distributors/stores refusing to accept such releases (or, if the Industry can't police it adequately, a law or medical regulation making anal creampies illegal to produce/sell might result?). An unknown here is the possible need for some type of adequate control in order to prevent "leakage" from Internet and/or foreign sources trying to continue catering to those viewers wanting to see anal creampies in spite of the health dangers to talent.
3. Mandatory condoms/Dental dams? Yes, some companies have survived and prospered in spite of voluntarily using condoms--from a health viewpoint it's been a plus for their talent members, but financially one might wonder if such companies could have had even better sales and profits if they didn't have a condom-only production policy? Some comments I've been reading speculate that condoms diminish the fantasy of viewers, and some renters/buyers might boycott America-California productions in favor of European and other foreign releases if condoms were made mandatory? I'd be concerned that government imposition of a tariff on imported foreign porn would only result in very few tariffs actually being paid, but lots of pirating and distribution of European product taking place! I also understand that some Industry people are concerned that mandatory condoms might drive some productions "underground" or out of California (or even the United States?), thus possibly raising medical risks and costing thousands of jobs, the loss of tax revenues, and other adverse economic impacts! If the only way to prevent a government condom mandate requires some sort of negotiation and give and take, perhaps the industry should not only stop doing anal creampies, but also consider agreeing to condoms for anal penetration---but NOT for oral/vaginal?
4. The most recent attempt at creation of a talent guild/union failed to adequately succeed; it was in the pre-Viagra era. For reasons mentioned in the first paragraph herein, and given present circumstances, I sense that "unionizing" might possibly be self-defeating to some extent. Further, the present availability of a variety of erectile dysfunction medications to future wannabe male talent makes it easier for replacements to be contracted/employed in place of union guys; and, the "mainstreaming" and more societal acceptance of porn as a part of life has provided a deluge of new female talent in the past few years. How would a union survive if talent demands financially jeopardize the existence of porn companies, and if union members could easily and quickly be permanently replaced?
5. AIM has done an admirable job; I feel considerably safer now than I did pre-AIM! NOTE: I'm writing this on the evening of May 9, 2004. Yesterday, Ron Jeremy, Mary Cary, Angel Cassidy, and I were contracted to do the appearance "thing" at a San Diego event. Because the crowds were so large, we had little/no time at the signing-appearance to adequately chat about the above matters amongst ourselves; however, Ron Jeremy and I ended up at the same event later in the evening where we chatted at length about the present HIV situation, and found that we agreed considerably. I mentioned to Ron that I might write down my thoughts, and since he was so definite in his comments, I asked him if he wanted me to include a comment to the effect that "Ron Jeremy and I agree in large part"----Ron said "No, it's not just in large part, Dave, it's EXACTLY"!
David Aaron Clark responds:
Dave, you hit just about all the nails right on the head ... my only remark would be concerning your first point, something I've been discussing with friends and colleagues since this began ... I think you're absolutely right that "heaping additional costs" on production companies would drive some out of business -- and I say, good! There's no constitutional right to be an irresponsible businessman, and the primitve labor standards, etc of the porn industry -- not just in front of the camera, in many, many cases, but all the way down to the warehouse -- and lack of regulation have, since the advent of cheap video technology, attracted more and more questionable producers/companies to the business. This is what the business really needs, I feel; the chaos around us is because it's in a state of flux. Back when the Mafia really did run things, there was some oversight, and the antics of rogue producers were not tolerated.
Now, despite all this talk about "community" (and believe me, I'd like to see a stronger, more sensible one codify) if you so much as remark that somebody's shooting habits are reckless, dangerous and anti-social, all you get is somebody going "$$$$$$$$$" as if that's supposed to end all discussion and debate ...
I agree very much that it would be nice if the companies were to compromise with the government, and at least use condoms for anal scenes .... just like they did with the creation of 2257 ... but as in that case, it unfortunately will take legal action on the government's part, because the business of porn has become rife with the same mentality that afflicts American society today on a larger level -- call it the "Enron mentality." In other words, "we'll keep getting away with everything we can for as long as they'll let us."
Here's an interesting footnote: Some distributors who previously bought creampie titles are showing reluctance to pick up new ones, ESPECIALLY if they're anal creampies.
Porn Videos Done Like A Music Video
David Aaron Clark writes on AdultDVDTalk.com:
I've been doing it for about six or seven years now, off and on, starting with ASIANATRIX: SUFFERING ETERNAL (softcore fetish, '98) and all the way up to K-POP. I am a former musician -- my old band False Virgins put out two albums in 91-92, the first one produced by Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth -- and after running out of old tracks to use last year began composing again. Nowadays, thanks to the miracle of Soundtrack, it's very easy and fun for me to not just throw music on my soundtrack but actually compose it to go along with the final edit. You might want to check out the Extreme version of ASIANATRIX (2000), ASIA NOIR 2 & 3, and both volumes of ZEN & THE ART OF FELLATIO (though the latter series is rather an ... acquired taste.)
There have been plenty of video editors to get AVN Awards who were not also directors. However, I might note that the best directors either sit in on their editing or do it themselves -- the majority of the E.A. guys being the best example . I started editing my own stuff four years ago, and my style today reflects the fact that the same guy shooting the camera is the one editing it. Editing your own stuff results in being a better shooter.
Anybody in porn who neither holds their own camera or at least sits in on editing is not really a "director," but more of a producer, because they really don't have that much to do with shaping the product besides casting the performers and telling them what kind of sex to have.
As for my style of editing, I find the best analogy to be scuplting -- I take raw footage and slowly whittle it down to what should be there, emphasizing what needs to be emphasized, and making multiple passes until I have my "final" product. I say "final" because even now there isn't a show I've done that if I could go back there wouldn't be some fine-tuning I would make. Of course, i take longer than your average porn editor to do my work -- I am more painstaking because it is in my best interest on every level to do the best job possible. I agree that porn editors are woefully underpaid and unappreciated in this business.
p.s. I'm indeed one of those damn directors who have gotten AVN noms for my editing. But I deserved it.
Van Styles Is A Prodigy
David Aaron Clark writes on AdultDVDTalk.com:
Don't know when I've seen someone go from pretty much 0 to 90 miles per in such record time. He's younger than most of the other shooters in the biz and already "gets it" better than the great majority of them -- he has a great passion and devotion to what he does, as opposed to the thousand and one performers who decided just because they know how to f-ck in front of the camera that if they wandered around to somewhere on the other side they could suddenly declare themselves "directors." (all exceptions to that rule, number one of which would be Brandon Irons, please forgive me for generalizing). Though considering how many friends I'm making these days with my unpopular stands on the moratorium that this may be more of a curse than a benediction coming from my lips, allow me to steal a famous rave: "I have seen the future of porn and it is Van Styles."
Who's Shooting? Who, What, When, Where, Why?
In the minds of some pornographers, AdultDVDtalk is now the number one place to get information.
Here are quotes from this thread:
Quasarman writes May 5: "Certain producers are quietly shooting scenes with people who aren't on either quarantine list and obviously a few morons shooting people who are. Most people I know however are not shooting at all, myself included. I've never had this much free time on my hands. Maybe I'll build a birdhouse or something."
fjackyx (Montreal's Dugmor who's sister is a contract girl for Vivid?) writes: "Is it true that jewel at platinum x is shooting today or tommorrow.. HOW CAN SHE DO THAT?"
Q replies: "I would imagine that it would entail her putting a videotape into a camera and then pointing it at people who aren't clothed. That's just a guess however."
Jewel DeNyle from Platinum X Pictures posts:
I've been silent on this issue as I've been in KY you jerk offs doing business (bookstore signings) and for your information the talent I did shoot were cleard by Aim to shoot as they were from out of town and had nothing to do with the scare. And another fact I'd never in my life shoot anyone and put them in harms way!!! So while I've been gone working out of town you all come down on me shame on you as I've been trying my heart out to get people together to do the right thing. It's cuz I'm Pagan. I knew they'd come after me.
The reason this 60 hold is happening is you have irresponsable directors that don't look or even care who's on the list and will shoot reguardless so for a few bad apples we have this whole thing blown way out of perportion. Look at the Jay Ashley thing for instance? Did they call AIM and get clearance to shoot him? The answer is NO! I from day one before this whole HIV scare came down cleared all my talent through AIM before I'd let them set foot in front of a camera and they also must have valid ID'S showing the name on the ID matches their tests if everyone was as responsable as this we wouldn't be having this 60 day hold. When I shot this last week I did call AIM to get clearance on all the talent like I always do so I'm not the enemy and I never have been. Check yourself before you come down on me as you all look like a bunch of two faced idiots. Come down on the assholes in this business who could give a f-ck less about the talent and lay off of me who goes out of my way from day one to keep it clean.
And as for DAC you are a jerk stay clear of me and my company if you were on fire I wouldn't piss on you. Trying to be a hero you've never been on top and you stroll through company to company your words mean as much to me as a pimple on my ass. You are a two faced double chinned jerk off know your facts before you attack. If anyone else would like to attack me without knowing what I'm doing go for it bring it on as I've done my best and held my own and take care of my own an that's more then I can say for most.
The talent I used were not exposed ever as they came from out of town and weren't around during the outbreak and didn't work during the outbreak so they were given clearance to work as they were never exposed. Only talent that's been exposed or that worked during the time of the outbreak have been on hold and I've not used any of them. And I always call AIM and yes I have a good relationship with them because I'm very responsable with the talent I use and make sure they are fine to work and that's the way it's always been with me from day one. Anyone who's worked with me knows the procedure I go through before I let them work and if there's not a test they don't work and if AIM say's NO then they go home it's that simple. The 60 days is to keep everyone safe because not all directors take the right measures to look out for talent and half the time don't even ask for tests and that's a problem so it's better to have them not shoot as who knows who they'd hire and let work.
I haven't been shooting and I shot a couple of scenes only after the talent was cleared by AIM to be fine to work. I'm off to Canada to shoot this week an all G/G movie up there to keep it safe and they all work within their own circle of girls. You have to understand I will shoot only if talent is ok to work and if they're ok to work then why shouldn't they. If they were never exposed they should be working if they want as long as they work with other talent cleared to work it's a simple phone call to AIM to see who's ok and who's not but that seems to much for most directors to make that call that's why they are holding up shop on shooting as not everyone is responsable when it comes to talent I can explain this to you all day but unless you've been talent you wouldn't understand.
Director David Aaron Clark writes:
THERE IS A 60-DAY MORATORIUM. TWO WEEKS AGO, AIM SAID THERE WOULD BE NO FURTHER INFECTIONS. THERE HAVE BEEN TWO MORE IN THAT LINE OF INFECTION SINCE THEN. THINGS ARE NOT GETTING BETTER.
It doesn't matter where the talent is from. If you let one person start making excuses as to why THEY can shoot then others will begin to rationalize as well. Jewel, who considering how quickly she answers questions about her product and puts in her opinion on contract performers, etc. is strangely silent here.
"How long you think is enough"???????????????? HOW ABOUT THE WHOLE f-ckING 60 DAYS!
On top of it, frankly,with additional genealogies of infection being revealed every week, from a medical standpoint the moratorium should BE EXTENDED. And indeed that's what the authorities will do if this nonsense continues. If you wanna shoot in Europe, Jewel, go to f-cking Europe. Don't piss in my pool -- it ain't just yours, and some of us have been in it a lot longer than you.
There are too many producers ignoring this moratorium, or trying to rationalize their way out of it. I was told by a first-hand witness that another prominent director is continuing to shoot unprotected anal despite his public statement that he was honoring the moratorium -- and one of the girls he shot, whether he knows it or not, is third-generation exposure. Not technically under quarantine, but so.f-cking.what? I would like to be shooting, too.
When this all came down I had to turn away an actress from Great Britain whom I had been corresponding with and was very excited to shoot. Despite that she was "fresh" to the talent pool and there was male talent whom I use that had been out of town for weeks, I had not a bit of trouble making that decision, even though budgets at my company don't allow me to stockpile scenes at the rate of many other companies. Producers could be experimenting with fetish titles. They can be shooting handjobs, footjobs, solos. Of course these titles won't sell as many pieces, but considering the name-brands attached to them, I'm sure they would do quite well.
I don't buy any of these producers or directors who lives in a huge house and trades in a brand-new luxury vehicle for a new one every year crying poormouth and claiming that they will go out of business if they don't have a brand-new anal or boy/girl title next month. Is the idea of actually living modestly for a little while harder to face than showing your disregard for the performers who make you your money by encouraging and allowing them to break a moratorium designed not only to contain a rapidly spreading chain of infection but to stave off the government intervention that these same producers so fear and decry? What selfish children.
fjackyx writes:
jewel stood up in front of a couple hundred people last week and passed herself off as miss responsibilty to everyone there..she is a perfect example of "do as i say not as i do" if the industry followed her example there would be no way to contain this outbreak..i wonder how jessica feels about her new boss continuing to shoot.. and i will say it again, if it is not true that she is still shooting, i take back everything i've said. i also make this pledge, if jewel posts on this board that she HAS NOT AND WILL NOT SHOOT during this 60 day moratorium i will personlly donate 1000 dollars to aim. i will put my money where my mouth is...my sister is "talent" in this industry. nothing is more important to me than protecting her, and i will do everything i can to do just that so whats the answer jewel, i have my checkbook out..i honestly hope i have to write this check. and if i do, i give my most heartfelt apologies to you jewel...please make me look like th idiot that some people on this board think i am..i will wear that label proudly.
Chico Wang, formerly Wanker Wang of l-keford.com and ExtremeAssociates.com (until their checks started bouncing), writes:
is this a witchhunt? what's wrong with shooting as long as you don't shoot anyone on 'the list'? it is my contention, and always be my contention, that the only people who will come up positive will be first generation females via Darren James particularly from 03/23 and thereafter. i have shot scenes, mostly Internet scenes, with very recent tests. this villification of those who shoot during this period is irrational. there is no moratorium except for those companies who want to honor it. most companies, however, are currently shooting. i have asked publicly for AIM to clear male performers so I can use them. but until that time, they will be tagged up as members of 'The List'. i have a funny feeling this summer will be heavy in the shooting department for the first time in recent memory.
David Aaron Clark replies:
Not only is there no way for everybody to know who's done what with who -- you've done a great job of documenting quarantined performers trying to sneak their way into gigs, but do you think we can possibly be aware of them all? -- but I hold to my statement that we need to send a message to the powers that would like to come down on us that we have at least enough self-discipline to err on the side of caution for two f-ckin' months. AND that when producers/talent see others shooting all around them, they will follow suit no matter how different their own situation is. You have pointed out many times that a great many of the population we deal with is not exactly defined by their high intelligence, responsibility to themselves or others, or self-control. And a lot of those folk -- can we say TT Boy? -- are now producers/directors.
You are shooting internet content, as you say, but it's the same talent pool. I believe that you're being scrupulously responsible but there's no way you can know everything about what the people you're shooting have been doing for the past month. And we certainly know, as you've pointed out, that there's other video/internet shooters who aren't being as responsible as you -- you outed one of them! I wish you would come to the conclusion it would be wise to honor the moratorium for the reasons I've suggested, but I respect you for being honest and open about your decision.
I DON'T respect people who tell everybody else to "trust AIM" without question and then ignore AIM's request for a 60-day moratorium when THEY decide it's safe to shoot. I DON'T respect people who grab publicity from the New York Times and say they're not shooting and then it's discovered they're doing business as usual and shooting unprotected anal with female performers who have been in the talent pool since the start of this, and who are even third-generation ... you might say the risk is minimal, but having never been a gambler in the first place, I'm not playing the odds -- especially considering the stakes.
Chico Wanker Wang responds:
The only reason I have cancelled my scenes for this week which I have done twice in the last three weeks is because everytime I hear of another HIV+ case, I lose any passion I have for shooting. It's also difficult when female talent calls me with some sob story about financial difficulties and I know I'm going to shoot them eventually anyways. It does however make me feel better when I know what pinpoint who my male talent has performed with. Scott Nails and Tony T., I know their past schedules and know their personal lives. One lives with me, the other hangs out all the time. I've actually broken one of my cardinal rules that I would never do under usual circumstances by shooting couples.
I'm not trying to make excuses. I've always been brutally honest to a fault. I think alot of people are blowing the possibilities of infection way out of proportion because a production company went to Brazil and shot performers who's past history and paperwork were unclear. Regarding the powers that be, they are going to come down on us regardless of a voluntary moratorium or not. The only thing that may expedite this inevitable invasion will be those unscrupulous directors that intentionally put female talent in possible harm's way by shooting those on 'the list'. They have a bizarre tendency of lumping all pornographers as seedy, gutter rats requiring extermination.
Oren from Anarchy Films, a split off from Sin City led by Oren's father Guy, writes:
AVN, Adult FYI, and simplyjimmyd just posted that SinCity/Mayhem are shooting at the Czech Republic. The problem here is that Jay Ashley, Aurora Snow's boy friend, have shot three scenes for her. The dude is on generation two and probably Ms. Snow is on generation three unless they did'nt do the nasty in the past 45 days. SinCity was the first one to come out and say that they halted production until June 8th. Did they mean one production or all productions? You might think that Sin City as "big" as they are have movies in the cane, but I guess not. The worst part is that at the beginning of every VHS and DVD they have a tif that says that Sin City encourages safe sex and calls for condoms. My point is that they should be ashamed of themselves. How in the world you allow a generation two talent continues to have unprotected sex. They call for safe sex and they let Jay Ashley shoot for them. Working there for seven years I know they would say "We didn't know" and play the stupid game. David Sturman, the owner of Sin City knows everything. He even knew when we took a smoking break and what we ate for lunch. Shame on you for putting more people at risk!
Renee writes: "About 3 months ago, I watched a interesting Behind-the-Scenes from an American actor/director with two of his American actor/director buddies. They had all just arrived in Budapest from Los Angeles, went straight to the bank to get stacks of American dollars, and then got right on a train to Prague, where they were going to start shooting scenes first. The first actor/director was saying that it had been two whole days since he had had sex, and he was getting desperate to get to Prague and do a scene, since he didn't want to have to hire a hooker to satisfy his needs (and he looked desperate, believe me). There was no mention of stopping by a clinic or lab to get an HIV test, or waiting overnight for test results."
David Aaron Clark writes:
Ramsey, this is the problem with the kind of extreme sex I know from our RAME days you love -- a huge percentage of the people performing those acts and the people commissioning them are not responsible to themselves or each other. All aesthetics issues aside over what kind of sex you might like to see versus what kind of sex I might like to see, what you're seeing go on now in the business is not even a full look at how too many have conducted themselves for too long -- before this there have been mini-epidemics of clhymedia, gonnoreaha, etc. Guess what: This time it's HIV.
I am heartsick and outraged beyond belief at what is going on here. I used to be quite friendly with Jewel and Mike -- he and I go all the way back to Extreme -- but there is no excuse for this. There is also no excuse for a director I had been friendly with prior to this to tell the New York Times and AVN that he's honoring the moratorium when in fact he's still shooting unprotected anal. Sorry if you don't like it coming out.
When I stood up at the meeting and implored producers to reconsider shooting double anal, anal creampies, etc, and indeed putting an emphasis on anal in every scene possible, you called me up the next day "genuinely hurt" because you thought I was speaking directly to you, since you were sitting there in front of me. I told you that I understood anal was your thing, and that I have never heard anything from your sets other than you are a responsible director who does not pressure performers or brutally push them past their boundaries, as some other performers do, and that therefore you did have my respect. Not any more.
You are playing with the lives of people I know and care about. I know you read this board; I know what you're doing. Stop it. If you are ignorant and reckless enough to put all of us at such risk for the sake of your ambition, you are not my friend or my colleague, and I don't care about how good you are at what you do. Right now, you are what makes this business ugly and unsafe. I will not participate in a wall of silence. It is NOT protecting the industry, it is protecting a greedy segment of it who despite unctous surface charms don't give a sh-t about anybody but themselves. That's not MY industry. The people in MY industry, though they might often be outcasts and anti-social and seen as freaks to those on the outside, are still human beings. I thought you were one of us, but with this decision -- and covering it up, because you KNOW it's wrong -- you have chosen the other side. Just so the rest of you know, we are hearing in the industry that it's not over. So 30 days ISN'T long enough to wait.
Quasarman writes:
The ones to blame for the present situation afflicting our industry are... all of you vocal fans out there who cry out for double-this and quadruple-that, all of you less than creative "directors" who mistake extremism for eroticism and lastly, the rest of us producers and Directors who have been too blinded by our jaded and callous existence and our infatuation with commerce to see that trying to keep up with the Jones's was turning the biz into an increasingly dangerous joke. I'm as guilty as anyone but not nearly as guilty as some.
I'm not preaching to anyone but I've been in the biz long enough to see the sinister transformation from sex movies to circus movies. I've been here long enough to see the transformation from the at -least -implied-reverence of the female to the very real misogyny which we now have.
When I was a fan instead of the densensitized asshole which I am now, it never occured to me that I would enjoy seeing Ashlyn Gere or Kelly O'Dell in a double anal scene or a "cream pie". In my OPINION, there is no NEED for these things. They may sell but at what real cost? They are inherently dangerous and completely unecessary for the purpose of jacking-off. In reality "Cream pie" is the innocuous description of an act of incredible irresponsibilty in the real world and an act of supreme ignorance in the porn world and "double anal" is a pointless circus act which does nothing to enhance the heat of a scene but everything to make it five times more dangerous.
In our constant zeal to top one another with our outrageous content I feel that we have made this a dangerous business which now has more to do with degradation, humiliation and just plain silliness than with titilation.
Though I have never really been a party to any of the above-mentioned activities as a Director, I still feel some degree of responsibility for their existence because I have always been of the mindset, despite my personal beliefs that "Who cares, as long as it sells". I have never felt particularly proud to be in this business but this is the first time I have felt ashamed.
David Aaron Clark writes:
I'm considering the idea of trying to get together a couple of directors who feel this way to simply draft a statement -- not a binding statement, not an accusatory statement, but simply a way of publically standing up to say some of us think things have gone too far. No promises for people to break six months later, but just something right now, in the hopes more in the industry will stand up. If some of our "meat puppets" have the balls to stand up on this, even for a minute, I think maybe we should, too. Now is the minute, and I suspect this is not a chance that will come again for a long time.
AVN has offered to print a letter from me (as opposed to taking a stand themselves), but I would much rather see a group statement from however many directors of conscience would consider signing it. I know we all can be even more competitive and backbiting than the performers -- hell, could be cuz there's less work (and at lower pay) to go around for us -- but it's a thought.
Chico Wanker Wang writes:
The vast majority of pornographers and performers came into this business because they have a, dare I say, addiction to sex. The vast majority of porn fans out there, including most of those who read and post on this board, have an addiction to jerking off to pornography and have channeled this addiction into a hobby at the highest level. The increasing sport f-cking nature of the business has become prevalent because the consumer wants it. Not only that, but an increasing number of directors who reflect the consumer's desires also want to shoot it.
Now is simply not a time to indict, villify or cast aspersions on either ourselves or the rest of the industry because of career choices we have made. There simply is no other career that even comes close. Pornography reflects our culture whether you like it or not. Our pop culture is becoming more extreme as evidenced by what we watch on the television set or the big screen. With our increasingly short attention spans, that which makes us gawk at the screen often is the only form of entertainment that captures our attention in this ADD world. Some of us chose this profession based, perhaps, on a lack of talent.
Do you think honestly that I could write, direct, or build websites in the real world? Possibly. Maybe. Barely. Would I want to after experiencing life in Porn Valley? Probably not. One interesting phenomenon I've noticed in the porno world (I may be biased because I've only been around the business about 2 1/2 years) is that the general median IQ of those in it are significantly lower than those of other 'professional' mainstream jobs. You are going to have a plethora of people who are con artists, swindlers, and/or just plain imbeciles. I never pretended to be the smartest, usually I'm a f-cking idiot, but it's easy for me to climb the ladder fast because there simply is no better alternative in an industry rife with even bigger idiots than myself. It reminds me of what my friend Mark Kulkis once told me: "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king." It is an industry where only a select few have the most because the select few have the most (if that makes any sense). Try to pull some of the idiotic maneuvers in porno I've seen in, let's say, a corporate America job in, let's say, real estate, computer science, or journalism and you are toast, dead in the water, forever tainted. Do it in porno and you get another job in two shakes of a lamb's tail.
The real world is about results, often times in porno land it's more about self-inflated hype. How else can you explain a bunch of morons who will violate this voluntary quarantine and, guaranteed, will continue to work after the quarantine has been lifted? Do any of you really think LT Turner, Tony Sexton, Max Blacc, and countless others will suddenly be deprived of employment opportunities even though they carry the "Marc Wallice" badge of honor? Porn people have short memories and people will continue to shoot them in this meat market. And girls will continue to work with them. I've always found this industry to be funny. Comedic to a certain extent. However, with this crisis, it is becoming less funny. Suddenly the 'cartoon characters' are looking more sinister by the day. One thing I will never do is apologize for being a pornographer. It is a gutter profession that'll always be in the gutter but I am proud to be swimming in the sh-t.
David Aaron Clark writes:
No, I will not let you go, W, because your thoughts become increasingly more interesting -- especially since you're touching on a couple of things that you and I hotly debated a couple of years ago, and that time we were far more at polar opposites than now.
Believe me, I am not ashamed to be a pornographer. Specifically: I am not ashamed that my life's work is turning out to be creating material that however artfully or even transcendentally it's done is still created for the primary purpose of allowing its viewer to get his (or sometimes, as SO THEY CLAIM "her") wank on. I'm perfectly okay with that, man.
And I know I have the ability to successfully create for audiences of other kinds of material -- I won't claim I set the world on fire, but I have done enough other things (novels, music,. etc) to enough success that I can at least make a convincing argument to my own ego that whether or not I could have reached the success level of a Philip K. Dick (who was pretty poor all his life, though well-published -- he saw a preview screening of BLADERUNNER just before he croaked) or a Sonic Youth, I could have made my living in those fields, and had at least a modest audience. It was coming, already.
In my case, you hit the nail on the head with one of your other points -- I was controlled and influenced by a lifelong sexual obsession. Hey, I admit it. It is what is. If due to the nature of my personality my talents are most naturally drawn towards pornography, I don't consider that a bad thing at all. And my mom doesn't, either. Well, she wouldn't if I had told her. (J/K; she's just glad I'm gainfully employed.)
As to what else besides this you're truly capable of, who knows -- I do know that when I've wanted over the years to twist your f-cking head off it wasn't because I merely felt you were being an insufferable asshole -- the world's full of them, and most of them rarely get under my skin. Nah, it was because it was easy to see you do have a formidably nimble wit, intelligence and talent with language, with communication, capable of accomplishing more than most. You managed to send me into murderous rages both because you applied your talents toward it and because I thought it was a criminal waste of those talents to deliberately pickle and remove yourself and turn everything into a bored laboratory exercise, instead of accepting the responsibility of finding the best (and, um, most ethical) way to use them. And see, I've always thought porn can be one of them. You didn't -- and you know when somebody in this biz mentions those who get immersed in self-hatred because they didn't live up to what they had decided was their proper potential, the speaker is inevitably refering to himself, as well, to even be able to truly recognize that emotion.
The way I saw it, part of your self defense was to make targets of those of us who, confronting that feeling, decided that this work is also serious and valid, and you considered our willingness to commit to this career without the safety of irony and half-effort a absurdly self-delusional act of ego begging to be lampooned. And often, even I thought you were right. To me, that somebody of your intelligence and talent could also stoop to pulling some of the sh-t you did -- we won't relive it -- was far more irritating than if it had been attempted by your average smartass drunken clown. But you reveled in that role, for reasons I won't presume to have insight into, and the way I saw it you became more of a force for dragging EVERYbody down to the level you already saw much of our little cargo culture is at. I don't know, maybe you just wanted to be one of the popular kids :)
With all respects to many people we know and care for, I can't dispute that if indeed in the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed man is king then Beavis OR Butthead could be elected emperorer of the universe here in f-ckworld. And it can get so irritating and tedious that the only answer is to laugh at it. But as I've gotten older (oh, shut up, I hear you now!) I've gone from thinking the same as you that the lines are drawn between smart and stupid to that they are drawn between decent people and dicks. Look at Tony T; I gather that you consider him a decent person, yes? When you explained things to him he didn't go get what was left of his budget from Scott Justice and sneak off to Budapest, no?
Yes, people can do bad things because they're stupid but with all the information presented to them, the people in this current situation are not "stupid" -- instead, for a bunch of selfish purposes, they're wilfully forcing themselves into a state of denial -- "Since I need to get paid/get shows shot, and since of course my needs outweigh all other concerns to me, I will convince myself despite what I'm being told that I can go to Budapest and f-ck some girls and nothing bad will happen, that the odds cannot be anywhere but in my favor, because I am the center of the universe." Dangerously delusional, but not stupid.
The stupid part comes in when they let themselves get caught, of course, and we both know there are plenty of somewhat brighter bulbs out there who at least realized that if they were, as they look at it in their own minds, even going to give the possibly damaging public impression that they were acting in an antisocial way (though they're convinced in their own minds, again, that the odds will always be in their favor), they'd better go about their business in a more circumspect manner. And there are those cynical enough to think -- I fear as you say rightfully so -- that even if they get caught people will shrug and forgive them eventually. Or immediately. (Like the powers that be have done with TT Boy)
Though some of these people are indeed dumb as lichen, the real common factor is that they are all dicks. Stupid people can do the right thing without understanding all its nuance, and smart people can often better rationalize away doing wrong (...) Again, at the risk of coming off smug or condescending to you when I truly am not being either, and truly don't care to have any kind of unnecessary friction between us, from here in the cheap seats it looks to me like you've gradually moved away from rationalizing, and begun to take a degree of responsibility commensurate with your gifts. (Don't worry, I ain't canonizing you yet -- I've seen some of your trailers)
And no, f-ckworld wasn't always quite so ... intellectually challenged. At least so overwhelmingly. But as you say, this place will always in blunt and cartoon-like fashion reflect the state of society in general. But even if society has grown more callous, more selfish, more openly greedy, there are always different levels to society, and a constant tension between groups of individuals with all kinds of values -- just because unabashed intellectuality is not Kool With the Kids and on an Abercrombie and Fitch t-shirt, that doesn't mean it doesn't have its place and a need for it. A smart person trying to play stupid is as sad as it is laughable to watch a stupid person trying to come off as smart. Neither is necessary ... "However, with this crisis, it is becoming less funny. Suddenly the 'cartoon characters' are looking more sinister by the day." Once more: a friendly "ha."
My words come back to haunt you, out of your own mouth. Prior to this, my lack of sense of humor and your devotion to yours made us deeply disagree on whether what we both saw in front of us was something to be disturbed about. Now what we both see in front of us is something that, even if you and I differ on an issue or so, we both agree is serious enough to be disturbed about. And it has nothing to do with the urge to make pornography. Perhaps we're embarssed and ashamed that we have so many colleagues who are dicks, but we both know there are those that are decent, too.
So let's hope more people follow the examples I think we're both trying to set in our own ways, and weed out the dicks so decent people won't be hurt and will be able to go about their business eventually again. Of swimming in the sh-t. If I actually got you to read all the way to the bottom of this, I expect the Nobel committee will be contacting me shortly. Keep up the good work, Monkey King.
Quasarman writes:
I agree with you that no other career comes close but that's because no other career, as you've said, would tolerate our juvenile ways. I'm sure that you and I and DAC and lots of others out there would do just fine in the real world if not for the requirements of discipline and maturity.
I'm 33 years old and this is really the only job I've ever had and the only reason I'm still here is because in porn you can't get fired for being completely irresponsible. Personally, my most egregious offences have been to show up late on occasion and on occasion show up with a hangover but even that steroid and speed receptacle Jay Ashley will find plenty of work after he returns from sending the Czech Republic into a panic. Christ, Marc Wallice has a job!!! No wonder I'm doing really well after all these years; The worst I've ever behaved was showing up to the set with a 6 pack to fight back vodka induced nausea. Of course in the real world, coming to work with a 6 pack might be grounds for termination.
When I say that I've never been particularly proud of being in the industry it's because somebody out there is about to discover the cure for cancer and I point a camera at genitals. Granted, creativity and intelligence can be injected into porn to make it something other than the most disposable form of entertainment but that hasn't happened much and when I say that I haven't been ashamed until now it's because I don't think it will ever happen again.
The double anal creampie bukkake chicken has come home to roost.
David Aaron Clark writes:
The moratorium was requested by AIM, Wanker, not "a bunch of companies." And the publicity machine of this business has been trying hard to make the outside press think that it -- not just the Q list -- is being adhered to. In terms of accountability to her public, the sword cuts both ways -- if Jewel is going to seek publicity and sales and pats on the back for hiring Jessica Dee, then she is putting herself in the position to be questioned. And it IS the business of everyone in the business to examine what not only we're doing but what the person next to them is doing. If some of us -- including myself -- had the balls to speak up about other people's shooting practices before, the 4 people in question quite likely wouldn't be infected. Perhaps I was being too generous.
You still flinch at the idea that in a decent and humane society, everyone has to take responsibilty not just for how their behavior affects them but how it affects those around them. That's hardly a high-falutin' or elitist or egotistical stance. And when I make public my stances, it's not because I want anybody to think I'm better than them, or for them to "follow me." It's because I'm NOT so egotistical as to think that nothing matters but my own gain. I take stances that I know will be unpopular to many -- especially those who'd rather not have their bullsh-t brought to light -- because I feel a sense of responsibility as a decent human being.
You're the follower: From Extreme to Khan to Anabolic, you have followed and done whatever you were paid for, whether it's posting racist bullsh-t about Lexington Steele, printing sh-t you know is lies about me, or shooting anal cream pies. You say you're nowadays not being a jerk to people you don't know or that you disapprove of because as a director you have to be nicer to get ahead -- sorry that I had mistaken that for a newly born conscious. I won't be so open or generous in the future. But keep up the good work on your reporting of those breaking the Q list -- it's the only thing I've seen you give back to this industry so far.
Wanker Wang replies:
DAC, I'm absolutely thrilled you know so much about me and my motives. For the record, I have yet to print any lies about you. Video Team tells me enough about you that I choose not to print simply because it doesn't affect me or my business personally. For the record, I have never shot a cream pie. It's just not my thing, though you have shot an entire movie based on a cream pie and are somehow scurrying away with excuses how you fell into the trappings of capitalism despite what your conscience feels. I don't personally give a flying f-ck who is shooting or who is not. I have made it clear it affects me and my industry if it involves quarantined performers. You want to go on getting hostile about who is shooting what and when, be my guest. I do question your motives. I do not think they are as pure as you lead everyone here to believe. And they do smack of self-righteous. You're history proves it. If I have been the follower, you have a history of getting fired from company after company with a series of poor decision making. Now you want to be the arbiter of all that is righteous and moral? No thanks. I think I'd trust Rob Spallone to run AIM than yourself and that's really pushing it.
David Aaron Clark replies:
I certainly know all about you, pal. And I know Video Team doesn't tell you anything; even if they did there's nothing to tell. As well, I have kept copies of the lies you and your former Khan toady Slain Wayne used to post. I apologize for thinking you have shot creampies, and I have no excuses that I did. I explained my less than noble motives and have admitted my error -- which is more than I've ever seen you do. Even now, you lie about me -- who ever fired me? Not Cream. I walked out of there because their checks kept bouncing. Heatwave? Yeah, because I didn't want to shoot the sh-t they wanted with the people they wanted. Not Vivid: I didn't ask for any more work because I tried their production system and didn't like it. Not Odyssey: they went out of business. And certainly not Extreme. I walked out of there out of conscience, because Rob and Tommy wanted me to tell them that if I was ever again in a situation where a girl's asshole was bleeding and John Strong or Mike Stefano insisted on using a condom to finish the scene I would threaten to fire them on the spot and make them finish the scene unprotected.
You, however, came there later and did everything you were told to -- including assisting Gene Ross in making all those humorous character assassinations and graphics of Fishbein, Kernes and the others at AVN you're now successfully kissing up to. You, on the other hand, have stood in a room and grinned like a jackal while your boss choked women into unconsciousness and then asked me, "What's the big deal, all these people are cartoons, anyway?" Go ahead, try to deny it all now -- we both know it's true, and we both know all the people who know it's true.
I am going to answer this constructively and at length, including an explanation to Jewel, apology for hysteria but not for accountability, as well as a polite but firm statement of difference of opinion on what is good citizenship at this time, which is certainly my right, oh fella who got into this business by being paid to take over L-ke F-ord's mantle and poke into everybody's business -- you did the amazing job of making him look like a responsible journalist in comparison.
I have been and am doing something constructive -- some of it around the corner, some of it already here: I have said I will not put my performers at risk by shooting them in creampies or double-anal, because those and coming directly into the eye -- something only a few specialize in -- are more high risk acts than other non-condomed sex, which is still risky but not as much. You try to drag us down degree by degree into a land where nothing is true, everything is permitted -- to quote the prophet, to those who know what I mean --and therefore there is no need for attention to degrees of self-restraint. There's a very wide chasm between a no flesh-to-flesh safe-sex puritanical zealot and the guy who doesn't care if he might be making a snuff film. The devil is in the degrees. As always, you speak in the self-interest of your company, when God knows, mine wishes I would shut the hell up. But believe enough in the free exchange of ideas not to do it themselves.
Colton, to my knowledge the only thing Video Team has shot is a girl/girl between two European girls who were already in town specifically and only for that shoot at the very time that Darren was announced positive. That was not my shoot or my decision; as I've made clear here, I speak only for myself, not Video Team.
Jewel, I'm not going to call you names. I was planning all day to point out, and I still will, that on a personal and one-to-one level you are an extraordinarily honest and decent person in a business where there are few. I do happen to think that at this time, on a professional level you are making rationalizations as to why the rules shouldn't apply to you -- you are indeed the one who kept telling us to trust AIM without question.
I'm not trying to be a hero, I'm just trying to make sure in two months somebody on my own set doesn't give someone HIV because as any real medical professional will point out, the real window of satety here becomes operative at 90 days, not even 60. At 60 it's 96 percent clear -- that four percent chance is pretty damn big, and I know several performers who have some a little perspective who plan to wait out even the 60 days.
I have realized I don't need to really fight with you or Wanker on "who deserves to be an industry spokesperson." Both of you have certainly spoken out extensively here and in public at how you think everybody else should be acting, and I'm merely doing the same. I don't want to be an "industry spokesperson" -- frankly, my first love is filmmaking, not politics -- but I have also earned the right by staying intelligent and informed -- plus having more time in this biz than both of you put together, and watching the mistakes that I and others have made and learned from before you -- that I have the right to be a citizen of conscience and speak up.
I was not the one standing up telling people at the meeting a couple of weeks ago to just do AIM said, and to keep the governments off our backs -- which, no offense, I find suspect whenever it's a company owner in ANY industry discussing regulation meant to protect their employees, and therefore cost said employer money. Workplace regulation, rather than giving the government an excuse to stamp out porn, will only legitimize us in the course of First Amendment battles, which is where the real confrontation lies. This is NOT a First Amendment battle. This is a safety issue.
I did get up at the end of the meeting along with other talent and directors like Tricia, Seymore Butts, etc, to plead to my colleagues for more responsibility in how they treat the talent that trusts them, and to not only stop shooting creampies and double anal but reconsider the prevalent knee-jerk reaction among most directors that if it's possible to get an anal scene, that's what they'll shoot.
Frankly, that's why the stuff that some people shoot has advanced to such dangerous, unpleasant levels -- because middle-of-the-road producers have become so anal-obsessed in search of profits that others look for even further ways to push it. And if you're thinking right now "that's not my f-cking business, double-chin loser," I beg to differ -- it is. I do know my facts. I sent a private message to you asking why you and Mike were shooting boy/girl that was not answered, and I asked Brandon what was up -- he said he hadn't been in contact with either of you, but had no idea you were out of town. I might add that he seems to be in favor of the moratorium. I'm sorry that you weren't here when I brought this up, but from what I feared would be your reaction even then, I guess it doesn't matter.
And indeed you're right never in my career have I experienced the financial success that you have, and it took me a long time to find a good home, because I came into this business with the desire not to become rich and "beat" everybody else and lock up all the talent and etc. etc, but to create the pornography I wanted to see, rather than "product" that everybody wanted to buy. You obviously thrive on competition based on popularity and financial success, but despite that I have very strong opinions on what makes for quality and what doesn't, Part of the reason for this is that I was a leading porn critic for eight years before becoming a director, not only watching but dissecting and analyzing what I thought was good and bad, what worked, what didn't I used to interview directors like Stag, Leslie and Joey, and ask and listen to them talk about their work. I came here to make porn, not to get rich. In those goals, I have succeeded.
I don't consider myself in competition with anyone else, except maybe those directors with similar creative ambitions as me -- and even in that case, I consider it a friendly competition. When I see someone make a video, that impresses me, it pushes me to put more work into my own stuff, rather than figure out how I can corner that market share.
I'm not insulting you, and I could be wrong but I think you would in normal, non-combative times easily agree that your desire to become a director seems to be based on business ambition more than creative drive, and you have done a great job at successfully utilizing your success and image as an actress to give your product a brand name. More power to you -- you successfully serve the audience that likes your stuff, and I successfully serve mine. If you think the size of your audience makes you somehow more succesful or entitled to tell people off or even have an opinion that differs with others than me, then I fear there is indeed NO life after high school for some of us (which, respectuflly, is where you were when I started as a journalist covering this business) .
However, I don't think your financial success allows you to decide that you have special rights and privileges regarding this moratorium. Obviously some people agree with you and some people agree with me. If the shoe were on the other foot I have trouble believing that you wouldn't be the first one to speak up on what you thought was the right thing, as you have never had any problem telling other people what to do or the way things should be. Not that I have, either -- though hardly as often and as loudly as the people who are accusing me of doing that at this time because the industry is at a crucial turning point and anyone affected has the responsibility to speak up and demand community-wide reforms, however unpopular their stance might be with some.
I have accepted that I will lose some friends and a lot of casual colleagues for doing and saying not what you or Wanker or anybody else thinks is right but what I think is right. The sh-thole this place has turned into since only a year or two after you yourself got here cannot go on -- as Quaze says, "the anal creampie chickens have come home to roost." However responsibly you behave on your sets -- and I know for a fact you ARE one of the most responsible on-set directors in the business -- it doesn't give you, or Wanker, or me, or any of us the justification or special privileges to make ourselves the exception to a simple, easy rule meant to save some lives.
You certainly deserve a mitzvah for helping Jessica -- though in both Judaism and Buddhism, you lose the karma of a good deed if you insist on calling attention to it (and they didn't even HAVE press releases in those days) -- but I don't think you can also afford to hire anybody else who shows up positive within the next three months. While there are others who have done nothing but live down to exactly how they think they might behave at this time, I was honestly and genuinely shocked and dismayed -- and angry, frankly -- when I learned you were shooting, especially when you indeed seem to be more interested in the mantle of the "hero" and the "leader" than I.
As I said, nothing but respect for what I know of you as a person, and prior to our extraordinarily strong disagreement on this issue, have shown nothing but that to you in person or "behind your back." If this opens a bridge for us to try to discuss this rationally, either here or in private, that's great. If not, then I assure you that I am very, very picky about what women I consider allowing to piss on me, even if I'm on fire. I need to really, really know they respect me as a person first.
Despite spending ten years as a non-L.A.-based porn critic before deciding to take the plunge, I was still under the misaprehension that the companies here would welcome a more mature, complex genre of porn if it was offered to them -- something that would, if not equal, at least aspire to the kind of serious studies of sexuality that drives undisputed works of art such as LAST TANGO IN PARIS, VIDEODROME, CRASH and IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES (Just to name four personal favorites). I learned how wrong I was -- the gonzo companies (with the exception of E.A.) were afraid of anything that betrayed enough I.Q. points to alienate consumers with the mindset that any one who values a good education is just a snob putting on airs who happens to be "good at memorizin' stuff," while at ALL of the bigger feature companies, there was an entrenched and self-perpetuating culture of middle-brow mediocrity perpetrated by too many journeymen creators and downright hacks.
Despite that I already had more production and industry credentials than this week's "hot new director," when I approached most of these people, they were frightened and confused and scratching their heads -- the major exception being Michael Raven, whose work you really should watch. Although he's certainly foisted his share of by-the-numbers crap out there, he's also crafted just about the most outstanding features that porn has released since the golden age of features.
Though my lack of false modesty in this area may grate on those full of judgements but with no resume of their own to speak of, I will say that the movies he's made from my scripts are high-quality, well-acted and intelligent work -- BEAST, UNDERWORLD and the upcoming DELILAH being prime examples. He looks for the best from all his collaborators and offers the same amount of effort himself. But what's really amazing about him is that he manages to meld a real sense of vision with a used-car salesman's resourcefulness to GET THE PROJECT DONE -- much like Fincher, I would think. But as to the "mainstream" of porn companies "getting it" -- I doubt they ever will.
I refer you to mainstream film, where the indie film industry sprung up in answer to Hollywood's steadfast refusal in the last 20 years to manufacture much of anything besides simple-minded, escapist entertainment. My point is that just because there isn't a place in the system for what you want to do, that doesn't mean it's impossible to accomplish it. If you're here to be universally loved and accepted as a savior of intelligent porn, you're doomed. If you're here because you have a vision that you absolutely believe is valid and needs to be fulfilled, then get to work and don't be discouraged by anyone who is threatened by your vision and wants to drag you down to their level to feed their own ego. To paraphrase Jesus, "The punters will always be with us."