I thought about writing up my experience at this past weekend’s Adult Video News awards, but I figured there’s a long enough story dealing with some of that up on AskMen.com today. The first lesson in journalism school is “show, don’t tell,” so with that in mind, here’s a short video of the evening:
And with that, I think my adult entertainment obligations are done for the time being. Honestly, I really don’t want to see another porn star for a really long time…
Over the past few weeks, I interviewed a whole host of people involved in the adult entertainment business, from producers to directors to actresses, for a big feature I was writing for AskMen.com. The story is on the future of porn and I’ve attempted to touch on every aspect - I’ll link to it here as soon as it’s up, which I think is supposed to be either today or tomorrow.
The story kept me busy for the past few days so I haven’t yet had a chance to blog on my experience at the Adult Video News awards, which was pretty surreal. I actually had to walk the red carpet along in front of a horde of fans, which means that many probably thought I was a porn star. Clearly, I look the part. (Sheeeyeah, right.)
Speaking of porn stars, I did interview a few over the weekend, with plans to posting the videos on my blog. Alas, the audio on my excellent chat with Kayden Kross turned out to be so bad that it’s unusable, which is too bad because she’s a very smart gal (not to mention really stunning in person).
Fortunately, my equally good conversation with newcomer Chanel Preston turned out well. She’s a rookie in the business and was nominated (but didn’t win) the best new starlet award, and I found she had some good insights on celebrity in general and the future of adult entertainment. Check it out:
I’m in the process of wading through all my stuff from the Consumer Electronics Show and Adult Entertainment Expo, not to mention tying up a few last assignments from both, so I thought I’d post some photos from the AVN red carpet in the meantime.
I took a ton of photos and posted a bunch to my Flickr account (viewable to everyone here), but I only included those people who I actually recognized. Let’s face it: even the most hard-core porn expert would be hard-pressed to identify everyone in the two-hour cavalcade of adult entertainers that went by us on Saturday night.
For a sample, here’s the lovely Jenna Haze:
I’m in the process of decompressing from the past week in Las Vegas, so it’s going to be a very short update today. Full reports on the Consumer Electronics Show, Adult Entertainment Expo and the AVN awards (the Oscars of porn!) coming very shortly.
In the meantime, the organizers of TEDx Ryerson have put up video of the talk - entitled “Technology Good, Media Bad” - I did back in November. Here it is if you want to check it out:
I’m flying out to Las Vegas today for the Consumer Electronics Show, as well as my mandatory side excursion to the Adult Entertainment Expo. As a special treat this year, I’ll be attending the Adult Video News Awards on Saturday - the Oscars of porn! - and I’ll be sure to report back. Somebody joked this weekend that I should be a presenter. Hmm… I’ll have to look into that for next year…
It’s going to be a really busy week but also quite a bit of fun. I’ve seen and experienced some cool stuff at CES in years past, like riding in the Boss, the robot car. I’ve also seen some pretty comical stuff too. Here’s an example of the TV Hat, which is going to be shown off at this year’s adult expo:
I’ve been watching the recent weather woes, first in London and now in the eastern United States, with great interest, given that a week from now I’ll (hopefully) be on a plane to Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show. I’m pretty nervous about my flight given that I have a stop-over in Chicago, which isn’t exactly renowned for its good weather.
I will, however, stop right there because I learned my lesson earlier this year about trying to forecast my flying experiences. Let’s just say I’m working on plans B and C to get to Las Vegas in time for the show, just in case.
I’m actually very much looking forward to CES this year, largely because I won’t be on a deadline to cover the big headline stuff. This year, I’m going to be combing the floor for the stuff that isn’t likely to get as much attention, and perhaps looking for tech that’s going to be big in the near future, not necessarily right now. Aside from that, I’ll also be looking at the main stories from a bit of a different perspective. CES thus looks to be a very different - and potentially fun - experience for me this year.
For the last couple of years, I’ve also dipped my toes into that other show, the Adult Entertainment Expo - for professional purposes, of course. One thing I’ve wanted to do in previous years out of pure curiosity but haven’t is check out the big Adult Video News awards, also known as the Oscars of porn. This year, I’m finally going as part of a story I’m writing for AskMen.com. I may never go to the real Oscars, so this is going to be the next best thing. I’ll have full reports here, of course.
One interesting trend I’m already seeing is how adult companies are ramping up efforts to court reporters covering CES, although not in the ways you’d expect. We all know that a porn expo isn’t exactly a hard sell to the nerds who cover technology, but this year porn companies are getting practical. One of the typical problems with CES are the facilities set up for media to get their stories out - there often aren’t enough computers or internet connections for laptops in the press rooms, and the wi-fi is crappy at best.
To that end, I’ve seen invitations from at least two AEE exhibitors - Pink Visual and sex toy maker Fleshlight - offering up their facilities to journalists looking for a hook-up. (An internet hook-up, that is.) If the CES press room is full, these companies are telling reporters to come on over and use the connections at their booths.
That’s actually very smart. If you can’t lure the nerds with porn, why not give ‘em what they really want: internet access.
One thing I forgot to mention last week when I posted about the crackdown on online porn in India and Afghanistan was the situation in Australia. Internet activists down under have been battling a very puritanical attempt to block porn and other “undesirable content” for some time now. Last year, the government announced a plan that would make it mandatory for internet service providers to enforce a black list of websites, which of course the government itself would decide on. The plan has been immensely controversial and now looks to be in jeopardy - the government may ask ISPs to use the black list voluntarily, which of course none of them will since doing so would be a one-way ticket to the land of zero customers.
I’ve been in utter disbelief since this whole schmozz started. While it’s understandable that a nation in chaos like Afghanistan or even a highly religious and developing one like India may want to block some content, I simply can’t fathom that such a thing could even be suggested in a supposedly free, democratized and prosperous country like Australia. As many countries are starting to believe, and are indeed enshrining in law, access to the internet is becoming an inalienable human right. While few people would disagree that there should be some sort of safeguards in place to prevent kids from accessing pornography, outright blocking of it is the beginning of a very slippery slope. What genre of websites is next? Perhaps sites that criticize the government? This move by the Australian government sure looks like the kind of oppressive human-rights violations we’re used to seeing from communist China.
In any event, a good number of Australians agree and they’re voicing their opinion through the official Australian Sex Party, a political organization that plans to counter the influence of conservatives and religious types by fielding candidates in the country’s next election. Party founder Fiona Patten explained the party’s purpose to Adult Video News:
While Australians are a pretty laid back bunch, our politicians are not. I am sure this is the same in most countries. They are concerned about the 8 percent vocal minority so they ignore us… Independent research shows that over 25 percent of Australians regularly watch and buy adult material. We are a small country and with 1,000 adult shops and sites to act as branches for the party we think that we can get to a large number of adult voters who are sick of politicians in their bedrooms and now deciding what they can view online.
AVN has a pretty thorough story on the issue (and that link is mostly safe for work). Interestingly, where do you think the Australians got the idea for an officially registered political sex party? Us Canadians, of course.
By the way, I find this subject particularly interesting since my book will be published in Australia. If the government bans porn online, how long will it be before they ban books that talk about porn?
