WARNING: CONTAINS CLOWNS

People may laugh at those of us who review porn and not understand the concept of reviwing porn but, the following is PROOF that porn reviewers are needed. 

Wouldn't you like it if someone warned you about this:

or this:

before you watched something or would you rather be surprised, as I often am? 

Reviews: Week Ending 10/4/08

Looking for some quality adult movies to spend some time with?  Here are my top three picks (in no order) for the week ending October 4, 2008.

Not Bewitched XXX Xplay director Will Ryder does a remarkable job putting together adult parodies of classic TV shows from the 1960s.  I would go as far as to call producer Will Ryder a genius when it comes to this stuff.  He goes to great lengths to keep everything as authentic as possible to the time period and recreate the sets as close as possible to the original TV show. 

His first big foray into 60's sitcom parodies was Not the Bradys XXX which was nominated for five XRCO awards and won the award for Best Comedy.  Not Bewitched XXX follows in it's footsteps with something just as remarkable and humerous with an all star cast, including an appearance by veteran Ron Jeremy as Dr. Bombay.

Pirates was the biggest thing to happen to adult entertainment in 2005 and nothing has come close to touching the biggest feature of Digital Playground and producer Joone until now.  Digital Playground and Joone now bring us the sequal, Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge.

Evan Stone is back as Captian Edward Reynolds, Jesse Jane as his first mate Jules and Tommy Gunn reprizes his role as Captian Victor Stagnetti.  The movie boasts 600 special effects and a budget 10 times that of the first.  The sets and costumes are stunning.  It's movies like this one that are slowly bridging the gap between mainstream Hollywood movies and porn and proves that a lot of adult stars are legitimate actors and actresses in their own right.

Halloween is just around the corner and if you are looking for the perfect adult movie to share with that special someone at the end of the evening, I highly recommend Michael Raven's The Wicked from Wicked Pictures.  No one does dark movies quite like Michael Raven and nothing says sexy like vampires, especially when those vampires are played by Wicked contract girls Roxy Deville, Sophia Santi and Mikayla Mendez.  Buffy also has nothing on vampire hunter Stormy Daniels.

The editing and soundtrack help make The Wicked the perfect balance between psychological thriller and traditional shock horror movie with sex added at all the right spots to make a highly enjoyable adult film.

Interviews with Adult Stars

After a number of problems with the Nowlive platform, and their failure to answer emails about the ongoing technical problems, my co-host and I have been forced to abandon our interviews with porn stars on their platform and look for alternate routes.  This has led me to Skype.

On one hand I am upset that our interviews will no longer be live and allow for audiance participation and will be available only as a podcast, on the other I am happy that I will now have full control over everything and I am not dependant on a third part site to store my files and keep things working.  However, if there is a screw up somewhere along the line, it's all going to be on me now.  Such responsiblity.

Now to get interviews rescheduled with Rocco Reed, Craven Moorehead and Seymore Butts...

You Can't Make Everyone Happy All of the Time

Today I find myself wondering how one becomes popular in porn.  Is it based on looks?  Is it acting ability?  Or is it something else all together?  I suppose it will always remain a mystery to me.

I have emailed with and talked to a number of porn stars.  For the most part everyone has been really great and approachable.  I have been amazed at how a lot of porn stars make themselves accessable to their fans.  It's really kind of cool.

Then today happened.  I "met" (meaning got an email back on myspace) from a prima donna bitch.  Basically, she felt it was okay to be nasty with me because I gave a less than favorable review to one of her movies.  One movie out of four or five of hers I have reviewed.  Guess she wants everyone to love her all the time and kiss her ass and tell her how great she is every moment of the day.  The thing is, the movie in question I didn't give it a negative review.  I didn't give it a good one either.  I stated right off I didn't get it and didn't know what to make of it.  In her mind that makes a negative review.  Whatever.  There is no mistaking my negative reviews and this wasn't one of them.  If she didn't want to do the interview that I emailed her about she could have just said she wasn't interested and be done with it.  Instead she had to be a total self-absorbed bitch about it all.  But, you know, that's okay because as far as she is concerned I am nobody important.  I am just some silly porn reviewer who is trying to get an interview where I can talk to a pornstar.  Once again, whatever.  I am not that easily starstruck and I refuse to give someone respect based on their status, respect is something that is earned.  I don't care who you are.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  I was told early on by someone rather respected in the adult industry that a lot of the women in porn are flakey and difficult to deal with. 

I know I shouldn't take it all personaly.  It's just aggravating as hell.  I just have real problems with people who think they are better than someone for whatever reason.  It's people like that who make life difficult for other people, sometimes on purpose.  It's because of people like this that over time I have become less and less of a people person.  When I emailed her back I was a bit of a bitch, and I probably shouldn't have been.  I probably should have been more professional.  Today, I don't care.  Tomorrow I probably won't care either.  She could have been more professional as well.

Adult Entertainment Myths Dispelled

In a business like adult entertainment that is littered with stigmas and stereotypes things are never quite what they seem. One has to be able put aside his or her own prejudices and expectations to see the truth. It doesn't help that the media likes to sensationalize things and only focus on the negative, what people want to hear and what will bring in ratings. This is why everyone focuses on what is perceived to be the negative side of the business. The picture that has been painted is a world where women are abused, degraded and exploited, a world where everyone is addicted to drugs and lives a sex filled live of debauchery and where everyone is at high risk for sexually transmitted diseases.

To be honest I have to say that I never gave any of these things a second thought before I started reviewing movies for Adultmaven. Prior to my first review porn was something I would watch occasionally with my husband for something different to do or new ideas. I never once considered the industry as a whole or the lives of the people in it. To me it had always been just another form of entertainment. When I started reviewing movies I started taking an active interest in the industry and the people in it. From my view point, I would be able to be a better reviewer if I knew about the companies and stars that were involved in making these movies. I started talking to people. That is something I have to say I really like about the adult industry. A good number of adult stars make themselves accessible to their fans in some way. I quickly learned that things were different than the picture that is commonly painted.

As with any industry, there is a negative. There are studios that will take advantage of women and put them in situations they don't want to be in. Being new to the industry they don't know that they are allowed to say "No" and that there will still be work around the corner. In the non-porn world there are businesses that will take advantage of and mistreat their employees. It's why there are unions and labor laws, to help prevent those things from happening. However, in both worlds, the negative isn't the norm. No one blames the restaurant business because waitresses and waiters don't make a decent wage. Most of the time whatever restaurant they work for still doesn't pay minimum wage and they are expected to make up the difference in tips. By the same token why should an entire industry be blamed because of a few producers like Rob Black of Extreme Associates choose to make movies where women are beaten and gang raped. Remember in school when the entire class would get in trouble because one person did something? That is the way the porn industry is treated because of those producers who choose to be exploitive of those entering the business.

Part of the problem is that no one points any fingers at the porn consuming audience who wants to watch and gains sexual enjoyment out of movies where women are abused and gang raped. There is a market for this material and there will always be someone out there to meet the demand. It is what keeps the Rob Blacks of the world in business. Sensationalism equals ratings and it's much easier to make a riveting story out of a pornographer who has done something to incur the wrath of the obscenity police than it is to make a story out of the Rodney Moore's and Dave Pounder's of the porn industry.

It's producers like Rodney Moore and Dave Pounder that are a better representation of the adult industry, however there is no sensationalistic story about pornographers with morals, pornographers that have set down their own rules and do not make anything that is violent or degrading and promotes safe sex. That is a big thing of Dave Pounder's, promoting safe sex to college age couples, and that is who he makes his movies for. At the very beginning of his DVD's there is a PSA for AIM, the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, and his company has a condom only policy. In a podcast interview I conducted with Dave Pounder we talked about why he decided to do things the way he does. Its both an effort to appeal to mainstream audiences and because he feels that porn is as good as a teacher as anything for teaching about safe sex and STDs. In fact, Dave is one of a number of producers who wants more regulation of the adult industry. The adult industry is currently self-regulated, but many feel that it should be government regulated and have its own labor laws like every other business. As for the wild life of debauchery that one associates with porn stars, Dave doesn't live it. He's happy to live in a studio apartment, drive a Honda Civic and wear shorts and sandals to work every day. Most of the money he has made over the years has gotten put in the bank or invested. He didn't go into porn because he had no other marketable skills. In fact he holds a Bachelors degree in Finance and a Masters degree in Information Management. He entered porn because he didn't like the confinement of a 9 to 5 schedule in a cubical farm wearing a suit and tie. So much for the stereotypical porn star.

He's not the only one. Others have similar stories. By similar I mean they don't start with "I was just out of high school, didn't know what I wanted to do and needed money because..." Justin Syder was previously a pro-boxer and Alan Stafford worked with handicapped children. When not doing porn Justin is working on opening his own nightclub and helping ex-Skid Row drummer Phil Varone promote his Sex, Stand Up and Rock and Roll comedy show. Another adult performer, Jack Vegas, has just opened his own restaurant. Then there is Zak Sabbath who is also a well known contemporary artist who also does porn. These are not the exceptions to the rule of porn stars. This is the reality. Someone reading this is thinking that I just mentioned men, what about the women?

Destiny Day left the corporate world just as Dave Pounder did because it didn't agree with her and found her way in porn. It was something that interested her and she took a chance. She has big plans for the day she no longer performs in front of the camera that include having her own production company and opening a youth advocacy center. Charlotte Stokely got into porn the way a lot of young women do, she started out by dancing in a strip club and met people in the business, found out how much she could make and decided to give it a try. At 22 she is going into directing and is also going to school to be a nutritionist. Amber Peach, who recently retired, originally got into porn to make ends meet after dropping out of college. Now she is going to college to be an entertainment lawyer.

Not one of these people regrets their decision to go into porn and not one of them has any stories of those they have worked with doing drugs. In fact, Alan Stafford told me that porn is what keeps him sober. Prior to his porn career he had a meth addiction and more than his share of trouble with the law that included a rap sheet for being under the influence of an illegal substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, ID theft, credit card fraud, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and vehicle theft. It was during a year in jail that he decided he would give porn a try and credits his career for keeping him drug free. "Those who are successful in their careers don't do drugs."

Destiny Day echoed the same thing. She hasn't seen a lot drug use and was surprised by that. She expected to see it, as that is what the media tells us, and it didn't happen. She will also be the first one to tell you how safe the industry is. "You know everyone the set, everyone is tested, you see ID's, the girls are taken care of and everyone is respectful."

Safe. That is a word that the general public does not associate with the porn industry. Every 30 days the studios require that the performers get tested for the full range of STD's through AIM. These test results get shared with everyone on set. When was the last time you knew the sexual health status of one of your casual sex partners? Outside of porn there are very few people, if any, who are tested this regularly allowing for early detection of sexually transmitted diseases that often have no symptoms that go undetected.

No, the porn industry isn't anything likeI expected. The people in the industry are not what I expected they would be. When not in front of the camera they paint, work out, participate in extreme sports, read, and manage their own businesses. These are educated and intelligent people making their way in life on their own terms. The norm is quite different than the media presents, maybe because the norm is boring and doesn't make for as interesting news as the exception to the rule. Maybe as a society we are just still too hung up about sex and the sexual revolution didn't bring us as far as we think it.

Why Watch Porn with a Plot?

Recently I found myself in a debate with a porn star over plotted porn.  It's been a very interesting discussion since my porn star acquaintence can not wrap his head around why someone would want to watch a story with sex.  The following is a direct quote from an email I recieved.

"I'm not at all asking why people like different kinds of porn--I'm asking for why people like porn that isn't porn. I'm not questioning why people like different kinds of food, I'm asking why they would stop in the middle of a meal, fly a kite or something, and then go back to eating."

This is how most of the conversation has been going.  It's not something his mind understands, after all porn is directed to people who are looking for something to help relieve sexual tension.  So why does it need a plot?

Back in the 70's the first two movies to contain explicit sex were Behind the Green Door and Deep Throat.  Both of these movies were shown in mainstream theaters and had a huge premire with the biggest names in Hollywood at the time attending their opening.  These two movies opened a door that had never before been entered.  For sometime everything that followed had a plot.  No one thought to make the movies any differently and when it came to defending the movies in a court of law, they were protected under the first amendment because they were able to be passed off as art.

The day then came that anyone could own a camcorder and more people than ever discovered they could film porn.  Enter the world of gonzo where the camera person is involved in the action.  The movies became cheap to make and they made a lot of money because this is what people wanted to see.  Yet, plotted films didn't go anywhere.  They stayed around and companies like Wicked Pictures and Adam and Eve rarely produce anything else.  Granted, these movies are made to appeal to couples who would watch these movies together.

But the question is still why watch a story with sex?

My arguements have been variety, that plotted porn tends to be less offensive to women because of the lack of violent sex (choking, BDSM, etc) and things that women find offensive for whatever reason like anal sex, because some people just need/want plot and because it gives the sex in the movie some context or reason.

So, I am opening this discussion up to oother people, and asking for thier reasons.  Why do you watch porn with a plot?

Disclaimer

I promise to keep this page as clean as possible considering the content.  I believe that one can write about the adult industry without being obscene.  That is my goal here.  However, some of the links are going to go to sites that are not as restrained.  They will have graphic text depictions of sex as well as pictures.  Click responsibly.  Even though I have said all this I know that the subject matter is still going to offend some people.  If you are easily offended move on to something else.