Results tagged “avn”

              

Last Saturday, pornstar, American Apparel model, and Fleshbot Crush Object Faye Reagan -- who is on the back cover of the current issue of LA Weekly -- celebrated her 21st birthday with a party at a lavish Encino mansion high above the San Fernando Valley.

              

After his company received a whopping 30 nominations for the 2009 AVN Adult Movie Awards earlier this year, Vivid-Alt head and alt-porn auteur Eon McKai shot , his fifth directorial effort for the Vivid Entertainment imprint. During the making of the movie, McKai often deadpanned that "It's just content."

              

You've probably seen the billboards and other advertising promoting this weekend's Erotica LA at the LA Convention Center. While smaller in scale than AVN's Adult Entertainment Expo, the 13th annual incarnation is still the city's largest yearly adult consumer exposition, with predictions of over 40,000 people in attendance, many of whom will be women and couples.

       

LAist favorite Sasha Grey has been quite a media sensation due to her leading role in Steven Soderbergh's , with film critic Roger Ebert even observing that "I haven't seen any of [her adult work], but now I would like to see one, watching very carefully, to see if she suggests more than one level."

                                   

When Tori Black, whom LAist first met last March, walked the red carpet at the XRCO Awards, she almost broke into tears when confiding to a nearby photographer friend about how hard she's worked this past year. And while she again lost to Stoya for New Starlet, her excitement at winning Cream Dream, against an impressive lineup that included Lexi Belle, Dakoda Brookes, Alexis Love, and Faye Reagan, was widely apparent.

                            

If the AVN Adult Movie Awards are the Oscars of the adult industry, then the X-Rated Critics Organization (XRCO) Awards would be the equivalent of the New York Film Critics Circle Awards.

                                   

LAist has been fortunate to run into pornstar and mainstream crossover artist Sasha Grey (MySpace) already a few times this year -- at AVN's Adult Entertainment Expo and Adult Movie Awards as well as Vivid-Alt's release party.

                     

LAist has been a longtime fan of Vivid-Alt (MySpace). Since its creation in 2006, the Vivid Entertainment imprint has released 18 movies and utilized an all-star roster of directors that includes Vivid-Alt head Eon McKai (MySpace), photographers Octavio "Winkytiki" Arizala (MySpace) and Dave Naz (MySpace), artist Vena Virago (MySpace), and pornstar Kimberly Kane (MySpace). 2009 looks to be its biggest year to date, with 30 nominations at last month's 2009 AVN Adult Movie Awards, the release earlier this month of Kane's , and ambitious plans by McKai to expand the Vivid-Alt brand online.

                     

Last Tuesday, pornstar/director Kimberly Kane (MySpace) celebrated the release of her new Vivid-Alt (MySpace) movie "...is an extreme hardcore fetish feature from the most primal reaches of [Kane's] psyche," and is highly recommended by XCritic, who gave it four out of five stars.

                    

When visibly-shaken Digital Playground contract girl Stoya walked onstage to accept her AVN Adult Movie Award for Best New Starlet -- against a formidable lineup that included Lexi Belle, Tori Black, Faye Reagan, and Ryder Skye -- she concluded her speech with, "And thank you to just about everyone that jerks off to my smut."

                                   

Joanna Angel, nominated for 14 AVN Adult Movie Awards, including Jenna Jameson Crossover Star of the Year, blogged (NSFW) about her experience:

                                   

As mentioned previously, AVN's annual Adult Entertainment Expo and Adult Movie Awards took place earlier this month in Las Vegas, with the convention running for four days at the Sands Expo and Convention Center and the awards show taking place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

                                   

So what's the Adult Entertainment Expo like? Scenester photographer Igor from Driven By Boredom explained that "This is just a huge room filled with booth after booth of sex related things. Mostly porn companies in the front, but towards the back there are booths for hookers, strippers, sex toys and a lot of ugly clothes that only the biggest manor of scum bag would wear. (Discounting the rad kids at the I <3 Vagina booth)... I met a bunch of people and saw a lot of friends." It should be noted that while Igor didn't mention the marketplace on the lower level, his description of the upper level is mainly accurate.

                            

Longtime Adult Entertainment Expo patrons such as Dan Kartz also noticed the decline in business, stating that "'My girlfriend is Czech, so I really like European women, and because it has become so expensive to fly internationally, you don't have nearly as many international women here... Before, you could fly women over from the Czech Republic, from Germany, England, Spain, but it has gotten so expensive that it's mostly an American crowd. There are a lot less foreigners, a lot less foreign companies, too... There used to be a lot more free DVDs and free publications, but they've gotten pretty stingy. There are not a lot of quality giveaways this year.'"

                     

As mentioned previously, AVN's annual Adult Entertainment Expo and Adult Movie Awards took place earlier this month in Las Vegas, with the convention running for four days at the Sands Expo and Convention Center and the awards show taking place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

                     

As mentioned last Friday, the adult industry has gathered this week for AVN's annual Adult Entertainment Expo and Adult Movie Awards in Las Vegas, with the convention running through Sunday at the Sands Expo and Convention Center, and the awards show on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. And while Thursday, the first day of the convention, was only open to members of the adult industry and press, it will be open to the public from today onward.

       

Even though Southern California is the nexus of the adult industry, next week the industry and its fans will convene in Las Vegas for AVN's annual Adult Entertainment Expo and Adult Movie Awards.

                      

Last month, photographer/director Dave Naz (MySpace) celebrated the release of his new Vivid-Alt (MySpace) movie includes "Classic cars, clothing and decor reminiscent of the sleaziest of 70's porn."

       

NOTE: See LAist's coverage of world premiere and UC Irvine's Sociology 69: Sociology of Sexuality.

                            

Last Thursday, artist/director Vena Virago (MySpace) celebrated the release of her new Vivid-Alt (MySpace) movie , "Virago offers a unique insight into her own persona as artist and pornographer, delivering a multifaceted work that exists as a film, a performance piece and an art show."

              

Last Sunday, director Benny Profane (MySpace) celebrated the release of his new Vivid-Alt (MySpace) movie , his first directorial effort for the imprint, with a party at the Redwood Bar and Grill in Downtown LA.

                            

Two weeks ago, photographer/director Dave Naz (MySpace) celebrated the release of his new Vivid-Alt (MySpace) movie revives "...the early 80's and focus[es] on the important things in life: sex, music, and doing whatever the fuck they want. No parents, no school, no rules." The movie features cameo "...appearances by punk legends Keith Morris (Circle Jerks), Don Bolles (The Germs, .45 Grave) and Jim Lane (Killroy)" and the soundtrack features several songs from the Circle Jerks.

                            

Last Tuesday, pornstar/director Kimberly Kane (MySpace) celebrated the release of her new Vivid-Alt (MySpace) movie "...paints a dark picture of a young woman (Audrey Hollander) struggling to leave the tawdry life of prostitution and drug addiction to follow her dreams of being a Nashville songwriter."

                     

Last Wednesday, Vivid-Alt (MySpace) head, director Eon McKai (MySpace), celebrated the release of his new movie "...is one of the best porn films I've ever seen, and it feels like anti-porn — it's almost against the system it came from by being all that it is — a deep investigation of culture from an industry we regard as being utterly bereft of culture beyond the superficial. Rise up, indeed. Highly recommended."

LAist had the chance to check in with comedian/radio personality/Emmy Award winning writer Greg Fitzsimmons last night as he drove to Hollywood from the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino where he earned a standing ovation, opening up for Artie Lange. Driving from the desert to Hollywood isn't something the Venice Beach resident does on a regular basis, luckily we had access to Google Maps serving as interviewer/navigator to Greg on his journey. The drive to Saturday's show at the Gibson Amphitheater will, fortunately, be a much shorter one for the former writer/producer of The Ellen Degeneres Show. While driving the 610 to the 10 to 101, the Bronx native shared his thoughts on the LA comedy scene, his radio show, hosting the AVN Awards and Dave Navarro.

                              

Last Tuesday, director Carlos Batts (MySpace) celebrated the release of his new adult film, "...brings the adult business into the 21st Century with the real life sexual adventures of celebrity porn stars, hipster models and video vixens living in Hollywood." It's being released by Adam and Eve through its Independent Adult Cinema division.

On Friday night, pornstar and director (as well as recent , with a party at Beauty Bar in Hollywood. It's also the debut release from Adam & Eve's new Independent Adult Cinema (IAC) imprint.