This week’s Chron column, The Rise of Indie Porn? begins,
“It was all undoubtedly an initiation into sex, but I felt like it was addressed to Hannibal Lecter. There were hacked-off feet, seared together from what must have been scorching heat and violent fire, leaving only tiny gaps between them. Horrifying limbless torsos, and genitalia everywhere — lone detached penises, solo vulvas in various states, some with hair and some without, all the ghastly color of dead flesh, all cool to the touch. Surely I had wandered onto the set of ‘Silence of the Porn Stars.’
Or maybe I was standing in the middle of an Adult Video News expo, surrounded by the latest crop of porn star anatomy sex toys. OK, I was, and this was in 2005, but you get the idea: With all the human parts on jiggly, fleshy display in the other parts of the expo that were just as artificial as their molded counterparts, it was easy to feel the disconnect.
Adult Video News is a porn trade magazine whose expo and awards event attracts thousands of people to Las Vegas every year. A variety of media outlets cover the event from every angle imaginable — the Fleshbot.com blog offers the best and most unbiased coverage — and every year the AVN awards show hands out the “porn Oscars” to movies, performers, directors, editors and porn industry personalities deemed worthy of a statuette. For those in the mainstream porn business, it’s a big backslapping event where the same companies and same names win year after year. It is a celebration of itself.” Link.
In response to this column, I have already received two happy emails from both an indy porn filmmaker and Buck Angel; and another email from an irate AVN reviewer/judge. I guess I’m doing my job. While we’re on the topic, also skim the excellent article where New York Times’ David Cay Johnston ponders live action VoD and PPV.
Image: a still from the short indy porn film Honey and Bunny, showing friday night at this weekend’s indy porn film fest CineKink: San Francisco. This is one of the hottest short films I’ve seen in ages — it’s from Coco de Mer and you can watch it in its entirety here.
