Risque Articles 2009
The links to most of the pictures obviously don't work on the free side, as it would be silly to give you links to a bunch of pictures, many of which we won't show you out here where anyone, regardless of age, could be wandering around unsupervised.
We're assuming you know what pictures, photo galleries and video clips looks like on the web. If you don't, you're probably not going to have much fun here — well, unless you really like to read a lot. Also, many of our posts comprise a number of pages because of their length. (If we provide easy "breaks" in a story, it's easier to remember where you were if you don't have time to get all the way through an entry in one sitting.) For the purposes of these "Samples" we've done a minor bit of reorganization for ease of display while you're just browsing. Honestly, we've been running this custom blog since before the word "blog" even existed.
Also, we should warn you: We do have an odd way about us. ENJOY!
Sample 11/29/09 - Tenaya's Travails
The Premise
by Nobody Special
From the earliest days of my tenure in this business, I've explained the philosophy behind the approach very simply: "I'm just selling shoes. I'm selling very pretty shoes, but I'm just selling shoes." As odd as it may seem, like any entrepreneurial venture, sound business principles applied to the process will more often than not lead to relative success in the field. Although lacking the sexiness one might expect (or prefer) in the pursuit of an adult movie career, performers would be happier overall if they'd understand the boring economics behind their chosen profession. More to the point today, if the people allegedly enlisted to help these people understood the issue, we might have a lot more talented people in the talent pool.
Obviously you might expect that the companies, particularly the ones that have been producing and distributing the fare for many years, will follow basically typical corporate rationale as they make their decisions. True, some of them may not recognize their actions as such, but don't make the mistake of underestimating the raw intelligence of the owners in this business. At its core, they all still make a living off of producing material that polite society feels uncomfortable talking about, regardless of how often they may be direct or indirect consumers of the material. You can't make a career out of bucking tradition unless you have a great deal of confidence and more than a usual amount of keen vision as it relates to the venture.
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Dealing with the savvy companies, however, almost always falls to a third party. In my opinion, actually understanding the position of that third party remains the most critical decision that someone wanting to work as talent in the movies faces. If I could point to one consistent failing in the representation — to use the word very loosely here (so to speak) — that aspiring performers can actually get these days, it would be that the agents (slash) managers (slash) business advisors making money off of these people consistently remain more concerned with their own situation rather than what may be best for the talent they have supposedly promised to represent.
Sample 08/16/09 - Maverick Evolution
Maverick Appeal
Remember when you had to read Joseph Conrad's The Secret Sharer in school? Well, the story made a big impression on me, not so much for its content, since I don't even remember the plot, if you want to know the truth, but for the wonderful use of an ambiguous title. I can remember thinking, "Does he mean The Secret SHARER, or The SECRET Sharer?" Then I remember forgetting all about the question as I admired the pretty girl in the front row. … Hey, when you look back on life, sometimes it's pretty easy to figure out how we ended up where we did.
And speaking of looking back, before we just willy-nilly sent everyone off to Maverick's new post for 247AdultStars today, a dose of retrospect seemed distinctly in order.
Back many, many moons ago, Dear Maverick had joined our little membership site through the Inari Vachs portal, now long gone, although we do see Ms. Vachs on occasion still, and she can still make all of us smile. More to point, Maverick quickly became the preeminent Kristal Summers fan, however, and when we had the first Members' Party (back when the girls wanted to do this, as it has always been up to them, no matter how it may appear), he decided to travel all the way from England to attend.
Sample 07/31/09 - Syren Sexton BTS
A Smoldering Syren
We originally met Syren Sexton during the first UKAP party in the summer of 2008. She had attended the party with a fellow producer from the north of England, where she also lives. [Just so we're clear here, having seen Syren in action now, we have offered some alternate places that she could consider residing. So far we have not received an email reply. We blame Internet Gremlins.] We had a few chats with her and spent most of the night bumping into her (not that kind of bumping!) as we went around the party. Apart from Syren's good looks, while I was chatting with someone else I heard her say, “Maverick is such a nice guy,” so she clearly has a lot going for her. [Also, busty blondes seem to always impress Mav. You may have noticed.]
Okay, I know you might think that might be silly, but I believe being nice to someone goes a long way. [Actually we really just think Mav's easy. Of course in fairness to the lad, Syren probably finds most men (and a big number of women) easy to deal with.] So for that reason, after the party we kept in contact with Syren via email (luckily she had given us a business card) seeing when the best time to do a shoot would be. [She clearly has a method, albeit seemingly without the madness.] Syren had quickly become very popular, and it would take us until May 2009 to finally be able to schedule this shoot. She would be booked up solidly for 2 or 3 months ahead! Worth the wait we think. [You'll have to see all of the Syren shoots, but you'll be able to figure out why Maverick, in particular, considered this worth waiting for. Personally, we'd shoot Syren every week, at least until we got caught.]
Sample 03/06/09 - Tenaya's Debut
Tenaya's First Interview and Photo Shoot
Or It's Just Like Riding a Bike!
[Or We Really Need to have Shorter Titles]
Wow. It had been a long time since I’d been on set. And I really missed it. Capturing tape, dealing with compliance, pulling photos, etc., are all fine jobs, but the face to face connection with performers and crew are what make my job worthwhile! [Right. D.Minion is all about the "face to" ... something or other.]
It had been a year and a half since the Spearmint Rhino decided they didn’t want us to cover their shoots. [Once we decided not to move to Norco and keep working with the michaelninn.com site, they sort of became rather pissy about things. They said they were "uncomfortable" with us being on set, which was pretty darned insulting. We've been doing this web thing for more than ten years. We ought to be able to do a lot better than merely "uncomfortable" .... The despondent dog in the photograph has no actual connection to the Spearmint Rhino, by the way, but it did seem an appropriate illustration.] So when Lucky told me that our buddy Tommy was managing a new girl and would like us to meet her and take some photos, I jumped at the chance! [... and drooled. It was a little embarrassing, actually.]
That is, until I thought about it. It had been a very long time since I’d been on set. Did I remember how to do it? What if I got flustered? What if I couldn’t remember how to use my camera? What if this new girl didn’t like me? [Naturally I was a lot of help. I answered every question with, "Well, then you're fired." Managing is easy.]
Mav told me I’d be fine. It was just like riding a bike! Tommy told me I’d be fine. It was just like riding a bike. I haven’t ridden a bike since I was a kid. I’m not sure I still know how …. [If only they had training wheels for porn stars, this job would be a lot more simple.] However, after traveling south to Tommy’s house and meeting his new management client, Tenaya, I discovered it was just like riding a bike. Or perhaps, in my case, like falling off a log! (I KNOW that I can fall off a log!) [When D.Minion can ride a bike on a log, without falling off, then we'll be impressed.]
Tenaya is an adorable 19 year old blonde, with natural ta-tas and a bubbly personality. She has only been in the business two months, but was completely at ease with me as she got ready for the photo shoot. [Consequently, Tenaya is D.Minion's new best friend. DM had to take a little time away from the shoots, but she hasn't changed that much.]
I’ve heard lots of “how I got into porn” stories, but hers pretty much takes the cake! Until a couple of months ago Tenaya was trying to keep body and soul together by selling Kirby vacuum cleaners door to door. (I had no idea people still did this. It sounds like the premise for an I Love Lucy episode!) She was working six days a week, 14 hours a day, and was making almost no money. Tenaya’s luck changed when she and her Kirby vacuum knocked on Tommy’s door. He’s been behind-the-scenes in the porn biz for years. [Actually, Tommy has been one of the most successful sales managers in the industry for going on 20 years, but we do plan on telling him that sales is apparently just a "behind the scenes" operation. (If you can't taunt your friends, you might as well just eat TV Dinners all the time.)] And after hearing her story (and noticing how beautiful Tenaya is) he told her he’d be happy to represent her. After all, he has lots of contacts in the biz. [And, of course, good sales people are not stupid.]
Sample 04/30/09 - Tenaya Trials
The Tempering of Tenaya
So the trek continues as we're plodding through all of the various big projects we have sitting in the queue, but considering our subject matter, we really don't mind the work all that much, as it turns out.
However, not all the "work" seems "equal" to the various members of our team here, you probably won't be surprised to learn. So when we uploaded a few gigabytes of data for Maverick over in London to think about while wearing his Video Editing Magic Hat, I wasn't all that surprised to get a rather brief email from him that said something to the effect of, "Did you forget some files? Tenaya has her clothes on in all of this footage."
Wanting to be both understanding and clear in my response, I typed something to the effect of, "Nope. Yep."
Fortunately it rains enough in England that no one will have noticed a few tears shed by one more disappointed fellow in the landscape. Also, if you think about it, only a very foolish person would develop some sort of marketing strategy for an aspiring star these days without taking into consideration the quite useful potential of something like YouTube. Around here we try always to be just regular foolish, saving the very foolish decisions for other folks altogether, just so you know. Consequently we have a new need for video footage that doesn't actually include "naughty bits" on display.
Enter Maverick. (Kicking and screaming, but enter he did.)
