Tag: avn

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AVN to Consolidate All Publications

As you may of heard, the August issue of AVN magazine happens to be the last stand alone issue before the September merger. AVN will be consolidating four of their major publications (AVN, AVN Online, GAYVN Supplement and ANE) into one new AVN magazine which will re-launch this September 2009.  The new magazine will have a new qualified circulation of 35,000 + subscribers. Those who aren't current subscribers or live overseas can view the Digital Edition by clicking here.

Adult Video News (AVN or AVN Magazine) is an American trade journal that covers the adult video industry. The New York Times notes that AVN is to pornographic films what Billboard is to records. AVN sponsors an annual convention in Las Vegas, Nevada along with an award show for the adult industry modeled after the Oscars.

 

 

AVN rates adult films and track news developments in the industry. An AVN issue can feature over 500 movie reviews. The magazine is about 80 percent ads and is targeted at adult-video retailers. Paul Fishbein, Irv Slifkin, and Barry Rosenblatt founded AVN in 1983 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Slifkin left in 1984; having become disinterested in reviewing adult movies due to the industry's transition from film to videos. Rosenblatt and Fishbein had a falling out in 1987. Eventually, Fishbein moved the magazine to the San Fernando Valley where it operates to this day. AVN is widely quoted for various figures about the adult industry and its revenues. AVN estimated that the sales and rentals of adult videos topped four billion dollars in 2000 and 2002. Forbes has called this figure "baseless and wildly inflated". When Forbes asked AVN how it arrived at this figure, the managing editor responded, "I don't know the exact methodology... It's a pie chart." When asked to separate the figures for sales versus rentals, a standard practice among those who cover the video industry, the editor did not think those figures were available. Adams Media Research noted that no one tracked the adult video business with any rigor or precision and that the most generous estimate is that sales and rentals combined were no higher than $1.8 billion. AVN estimated that adult industry revenue in 2005 was 12.6 billion dollars with 2.5 billion of that coming from the internet. However, ABC News reported that this figure could not be independently verified.  

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YouTube Hit by 'Porn Day'

In case you missed it, Wednesday, May 20 was "Porn Day." Though of course, every day is porn day in the adult business. But two mainstream websites "celebrated" by hitting YouTube with a barrage of porn clips. Article By Edward Duncan, AVN Business A group of users on image-based message board 4chan and multi-media content site eBaum's World staged the "porn day" prank and YouTube has been cleaning up the mess, though it seems some images still come up in searches, despite the actual videos being yanked. The uploads actually began on Tuesday afternoon, according to ArsTechnica. Many of the uploaded clips appeared legitimate at first, starting with non-porn content, such as news or an interview.

"It may take some time for video search results and thumbnail images to disappear from the site," Google spokesperson Scott Rubin told Ars, adding the takedowns would be finished within a couple of days.

The adult clips were uploaded without any warnings on them that they contained adult content, which is certainly not funny in the least to parents whose children might frequent YouTube as well as those simply not interested in porn viewing at all and no desire to stumble upon it. Additionally, because the thumbnails in searches were still appearing as of Thursday morning, it was a cause for concern among parents in particular, considering some of the search tags included kid topics or heroes like the Jonas Brothers. Another problem is such a reckless stunt can only reflect poorly on adult companies and the industry, which could be blamed, though the prank came out of the mainstream. This could undermine responsible industry efforts in conjunction with child-protection groups such as the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection.

“It is upsetting when someone from outside the industry thinks it’s funny to expose everyone to content that is inappropriate for minors and to others who chose not to see. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was done by an anti-adult entertainment group just to discredit the adult industry which only produces content for and by adults,” ASACP CEO Joan Irvine told AVN.com.  “Many of the industry leaders support ASACP’s online child protection efforts as members and sponsors and over 2.2 million sites are labeled with the Restricted to Adults – RTA Website Label in order to help parents who use parental control systems.”

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Marilyn Chambers R.I.P.

Marilyn Chambers, Legendary Adult Actress, Dead At 57 AVN is reporting that Marilyn Chambers, star of such golden age classics as Behind the Green Door and Insatiable, was found dead Sunday in her home in Santa Clarita, California. Marilyn Chambers was born Marilyn Ann Briggs in Providence, Rhode Island. Chambers was found dead by her daughter, McKenna (born 1991). No cause of death is yet known however rumors are being reported that she died of an overdose of pills and alcohol. She was 57 years of age. During her early career, perhaps her most visible modeling job was as the "cover girl" on the Ivory Snow soap box, posing as the mother holding the baby under the tag line "99 & 44/100% pure". Some urban legends claim that either Chambers herself or Brooke Shields posed as the baby; neither rumor is true. Marilyn was the first adult film star who was successfully able to transcend her adult career and move into other fields of entertainment. From the big screen of David Cronenberg's Rabid, to chart success with the Disco single Benihana in 1976. She is author of numerous books and has appeared on stage in both the United States and the UK. In recent years, Marilyn has appeared primarily in independent films, claiming that the more laid back pace suits her.

"there's a lot less pressure on you to perform and you don't have to be young and skinny."

This video interview below  is from the NYC Public Access series, Midnight Blue that was Hosted and Produced by the legendary Mr Al Goldstein.

[MEDIA not found]

 

 

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2009 GAYVN Hall of Fame

GAYVN has announced the class of 2009 inductees into the GAYVN Hall of Fame. Included are an Oscar nominee, a Russian native and the first African-American Falcon exclusive. As usual Hall of Fame member Gino Colbert will present the inductees with their awards during the GAYVN Awards presented by NakedSword on March 28 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. He will also present Roger Earl with the Lifetime Achievement Award. The GAYVN Awards are presented annually to honor work done in the gay pornography industry. The awards are sponsored by AVN Magazine, the parent publication of GAYVN Magazine, and continue the recognition for gay pornography which was part of the AVN Awards from 1986–1998. Since 2000 the Awards have been conducted in their own venue outside of the parent AVN awards. 2009 Inductees Dink Flamingo - Flamingo is a pioneer in amateur website content, filming men from nearby military bases for ActiveDuty.com. In 2007, he branched out with a new video line, Dirty Bird Pictures, and recently helped Brent Corrigan launch his own studio, Prodigy Pictures.     Michael Lucas - Lucas swept the GAYVN Awards with his La Dolce Vita in 2007 and has cemented his stature as an A-list director and performer with both his own studio, Lucas Entertainment, and his own distribution company, Lucas Distribution. He's known for his political views and outspoken personality as well as producing and starring in classic films, including Dangerous Liaisons, The Intern and Gigolo. TJ Paris - San Francisco native Paris got started in the biz back in 1985 and discovered stars such as Paul Morgan and Rob Steele. With a background in fashion photography, Paris has worked on fashion videos and men's fitness shoots in addition to wardrobe and art direction for mainstream films since leaving the adult industry in 2005.     Dean Phoenix - Phoenix made his debut in 1998 and went on to become a GAYVN Award winner and an icon in the industry. Despite retiring in 2000, he made a triumphant return in the 2004 Buckshot classic BuckleRoos and has continued his hot streak with films like Buckshot's Brotherhood, All Worlds' Forever Young and Jet Set Men's On Fire!     Jack Simmons - Simmons got his start back in 1995 as Buck Stradlin in Jet Set's Marine Code of Silence, directed by Hall of Famer Paul Barresi. He changed his name to Jack Simmons in honor of Robert Mapplethorpe model Joe Simmons, helped name Aron Ridge and Thom Barron, helped John Ross get his start, and was the first African-American to work for major studios, including Falcon (The Freshmen), Titan (Naked Escape) and All Worlds (Animus).   Phil St. John - St. John is an American Film Institute Fellow and an Oscar nominee for a student film, which was broadcast on PBS. He was the first to shoot a double-penetration scene in gay porn, the first to shoot gay porn focused on skate culture and the first to include a behind-the-scenes extra for a DVD. He is best-known for Skateboard Sliders, Getting it at the Rave, Taggers and Double Delights.     Chris Steele - Texas-born Steele started his career as a performer for many studios before segueing into writing, producing and directing. He's a GAYVN- and Grabby Award winner and is currently a head honcho over at Jet Set Men.     Lifetime Achievement Award Roger Earl - Earl worked as an associate producer on The Dean Martin Show on NBC and then as Martin's road manager when he went on tour. He and Terry LeGrand founded Marathon Films, making 16 mm films for which he was director, writer and editor, before forming the Gay Producers Association of America - also with LeGrand - which presented the first gay porn awards. He worked at the Tom of Finland Foundation until he retired in 2007.

To purchase tickets to the 2009 GAYVN Awards

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FabScout Acquires David Forest Entertainment (AVN)

FabScout Acquires David Forest Entertainment

By: Harker Jones UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. - Howard Andrew of FabScout Entertainment and David Forest of David Forest Entertainment announced jointly at a press conference today at the Universal Hilton today that the former had acquired the latter, including its website, ForestMen.com. Forest is going to take a personal sabbatical, and Andrew said that the Ft. Lauderdale-based FabScout would open up West Coast offices Monday, July 7, adding that he expects to spend a third of this time in the new offices. FabScout will take over all the film, print, Internet and live representation that Forest currently oversees. ForestMen.com will remain as it is for another week and will then roll over to FabScout. Andrew said, " Acquiring and adding David Forest's talent roster and contacts to our already formidable pool of talent gives FabScout Entertainment unparalleled access to the biggest names and hottest talent in the U.S." A visibly moved Forest, who has been in the industry for 27 years, had two of his stars there, Tony Capucci and Johnny Castle, and there were plenty of other supporters in the audience including Terry LeGrand, Phil St. John, Paul Barresi, Jamie Hendrix and Suite 703 stud Dempsey Stearns. He said, "I've had a wild ride in the XXX business and it's now time to get on the speedway and begin to enjoy life a lot more. I'm going to take the next several months for some much-needed time off. I wish Howard the absolute best. He's the only person I'd hand over my business to. He is a very hard-working guy and I'm sure he'll do an excellent job for my stars." When Suite 703's Angel Benton, who moderated questions, asked about the future of Forest's popular Meet the Stars, Andrew said that it would continue but in a different form, and he made a point of stressing that he made a decision when he started FabScout that he would not be in the escort business and that he planned to stick to that choice, adding, "If one of my boys wants to do escorting, they can be found on Rentboy.com." As the proceedings wrapped up, Andrew said, "Everyone has someone they look up to in their career. And I looked up to David Forest. And now I'm sitting here. We'll make it happen, we'll keep it consistent. David's not leaving. He'll always be around in one form or another." Then he added as a joke, "As all you guys know, it's hard to kill the devil." Forest has managed the careers of such stars as Ryan Idol, Ken Ryker, Tom Katt, Jeff Palmer, Billy Brandt, Zeb Atlas, Jason Ridge and Mark Dalton. FabScout has nurtured the careers of stars including Damien Crosse, RJ Danvers, Barrett Long, Kurt Wild, Robert van Damme, and Brad Star.