carlos batts

• Black Eyed Pea will.i.am tells Elle that women who have condoms on hand are basically tacky hos – putting forth a view about women taking care of their sexual health that is neither ‘cute’ or ‘old fashioned’ but is in reality demeaning and devaluing: Master Pea (Elle)

• With all the hate directed at porn performers so far this year, let’s send one some love – Hollie Stevens has been diagnosed with breast cancer and needs to raise some survival funds: Help Support Loving Hollie Stevens- Breast Cancer (GiveForward.com)

• Take it with a grain of PR flavored salt, but it is fun to read the survey on “cubs” (young men who date older women) and find out that American Pie was not that far off at all: Cougars and Cubs Dating Secrets Revealed (Cougared.com)

• Very moving. A mother-in-law with past sexual trauma comes to terms with both being disturbed by her porn star son-in-law’s work, and inspired by his deeply loving relationship with his porn star girlfriend (who happens to be Maggie Mayhem) Finding healthy boundaries for family (My Whole Sex Life)

• You have to watch this video! So funny – from the 1970s, a quick clip of archival footage of a female “barker” in front of a San Francisco Strip club. Love it when the reporter comments on “this equal rights thing”: Memory Lane: “Lady Barker” At Garden Of Eden Strip Club (SFAppeal)

• Maria Talks is a dry but informative sex ed site for young adults, but Repubs say it’s disgusting – but hilariously won’t say why because of their “values”: Citing ‘disgusting’ Web site, Republicans ignite sex ed debate on Hill (BostonHerald.com)

• Those particular Republicans should read this fabulous op-ed about the proposed Mississippi sex-ed law that would help lower the teen pregnancy/STI rates: New sex ed law is a must (The Clarion-Ledger)

• Thought-provoking interview with Carlos Batts and April Flores about what constitutes feminist porn: Feminist Porn Puts Women In The Spotlight (Blisstree)

• Reminding us that porn is not only legal, it exists within our American rights – we’re looking at you when we say this, Catholic League: Public Libraries Defend Constitutional Right To Watch Porn (Gothamist)

Image: Chlamydia Plush Microbe (Etsy)

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This weekend Courtney Trouble made me very happy by randomly sending me these sizzling photos she shot of April Flores for Trouble’s site NoFauxxx and the release of Carlos Batts‘ new indie porn film, ARTCORE. Courtney knows how to make me smile. (Thank you!)

Carlos Batts makes truly original outsider porn films. His films are equal parts artistic vision, what turns the performers on (collaborative erotic conepts), and a defiant reaction to the mainstream porn industry’s lack of original ideas and dearth of diversity. Another vibrant, necessary set of voices are being represented here that are continually overlooked by mainstream sex entertainment media and anti-porn pundits alike. Carlos and April, the team, have my undying support and admiration.

Courtney Trouble’s review of ARTCORE is here (she is a performer in the film).

Here is the trailer for ARTCORE (description) – look for the rest of the April glamour photos Courtney sent me after the jump.

Here are Carlos Batts and April Flores talking about their work, in Las Vegas for the porn convention:

[SATISFY your CURIOSITY and CONTINUE READING…]

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The Feminist Porn Awards has become a remarkable celebration of women and porn; they just emailed to let me know they’ve announced their 2010 nominations, and have an impressive stable of guests. Here are ten of the top noms:

1) 101 Positions for Lovers – Jamye Waxman – Sensual Couples
2) A Man With a Maid: Tales of Victorian Lust – Nica Noelle – Sweet Sinner Video
3) Art of Female Self-Pleasure – Jaiya – New World Sex Education
4) Be My Boy Toy – Anna Span – Easy on the Eye Productions
5) Behind the Red Door – Carlos Batts – HeartCore Films
6) Bordello – Courtney Trouble – Reel Queer Productions
7) Buck Angel’s Ultimate Fucking Club – Buck Angel – Buck Angel Entertainment
8) Cocksucker – Julie Simone – Julie Simone Productions
9) Couch Surfers 2: Trans Men in Action – Brazen Garage Squad –Trannywood Pictures
10) Crash Pad Series 4: Ropeburn – Shine Louise Houston – Blowfish Video

Also included in their email is an exciting category: porn sites by women. Here are linked thumbnails of three new discoveries in their list including Shot With Desire (main post image):

Clipped from: www.rubysdiary.com by clp.ly

Clipped from: www.juicypinkbox.com by clp.ly

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Last month when Courtney Trouble, April Flores, Carlos Batts, Kim Kane and others invaded my house to shoot some indie porn, I wasn’t in the rooms when they were shooting so I didn’t see what they did. And that was fine with me; I was thrilled to have these exciting artists in my house making erotic art within — and being inspired by — my personal environment. So it was especially surreal for me to click ‘play’ on the above video, not know what I was going to see, and then realize after a few moments of recognition that this was in my bathroom, my bathtub; and the mood was moving and very intense for me. Yes, that’s my switchblade. What’s more, it reminds me of this self-portrait photo set (contains nudity) I shot a year and a half ago one particularly lonely christmas in that very same bathtub, still mine:

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The totally fucking awesome Kim Kane, who brought her own utensils to my kitchen (photo by me).

* View all images here.

On friday I got a couple of emails from Jiz Lee and Courtney Trouble saying that their planned location for a porn shoot had fallen through at the last minute, and could they use my living room? As if I’d say no. But to sweeten the deal, they told me I’d not only be able to hang out and take photos but that it was okay to blog the experience — plus, I told them, I had a few friends who were going to be hanging out with me that night, and they said that it was cool for my friends to be there too. Bonus! Especially because not only did I get to meet and hang out with Kim Kane for hours, but I also got to see and spend a little time with two of my favorite people Carlos Batts and April Flores. Meeting Courtney Trouble in person (finally) was great, and much to my delight, Syd Blakovich stopped in and shot stills of the action. No, none of us non-porn people were in the room for the sex, nor did we see much, but I handed my camera off to Syd and got a lot of great shots from someone who was ‘in the thick’ of things, quite literally.

Glamor that transcends time: April Flores (photo by me).

Syd Blakovich looking hot, as ever (photo by me).

It was a GREAT friday night.

You probably wonder what it’s like to have a spontaneous porn shoot land in your apartment. I was wondering the same thing. Also big on my mind was that the friends I was hanging out with that night are from the tech world, not the sex ed or alt/neu wave porn circles so there was a bit of anxiety on my part about mingling the worlds, like a sociological Venn-ish experiment. I’ve also not been on many porn sets, the few I’ve been around have not been “typical” porn by any means. Truth is, I’ve watched a ton of porn, interviewed dozens of performers, but seen little porn filming. Although, I do have seasonal parties at my house — the Blogger Bungalow (named due to the sheer volume of posts and lengthy/surprising list of major blogs that have posted while on premises, plus the blogger-name-recognition gamut who have enjoyed many fun evenings here). And at my parties, I like to try and mix all the crowds. This time, like all other times, it turned out great. Hacker boys (imported from Britain, even) cracked jokes with porn stars, filmmakers nerded out with architecture geeks, and I generally tried not to take upskirt photos of everyone.

Mostly me and the hackers and nerds hung out in the kitchen and living room while people had sex in my bed and we got shushed for making jokes a lot. It was all rather casual, actually.

Creative genius plus beauty: Carlos Batts and April Flores (photo by me).

But it was really cool to see Carlos Batts go completely ‘in the zone’ to transform my apartment into a film set and bring scenes to life; in between shooting scenes everyone had drinks around my kitchen table, ate Thai food from the Castro and chatted about everything from gadgets to… other gadgets. And did I mention how smart, sweet and nice Kim is? That April is ten thousand times more adorable in person than you can imagine and has the best giggle ever? Carlos is just warm and intense and feels good to be around, and Courtney just bubbles with excitement about making hot pr0n. Syd was in usual awesome dry humor mode (plus: hott++) — and Syd only, ever, exclusively drinks from Laughing Squid mugs, as it should be.

Syd and I go meta (photo by me).

The photos I shot from the night that are featured in this post are linked to a moderated Flickr set, but if you want to see the entire *very explicit* and incredibly fun photo set, go here. It was all girl-girl, and I think four girls fucked each other in my bed.

I now have a love-hate relationship with my own bed. It is a very lucky bed. Remember the New Years’ incident? That damn bed gets way more action than I do, and I never seem to be in the room when it happens. Even my laptop was in a scene. The one I’m writing this post on.

As one of my non-porn friends night said that evening, “Everyone wants to be a piece of Violet’s furniture.”

Photos by Syd Blakovich with my lucky Lumix, a taste:

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