Written by Rex @ 12:55 am

It’s been a while since I’ve watched porn that was so good that after my own “excitement” was over I kept watching. And watching.

Speakeasy comes to life around a fun premise — a detective (Billy Castro) investigates the goings on of an underground queer club, and finds himself drawn to the patrons there, particularly a stunning blonde (Lorelei Lee). The bar is as authentic as it gets — a true bohemian haven for the transmen and film noir femmes that hang out there. Writer/director Courtney Trouble sets a period film mood but infuses it with her hallmark queer sensibilities for sex and gender inclusivity — allowing viewers to go back in time and take their genderqueer worldview with them.

Videographer Morty Diamond (the director of Trans Entities: The Nasty Love of Papi and Wil) makes this porn interesting to watch. This is especially true of the rope bondage scene between Jiz Lee and Dallas Fivestar — and any of you who took Midori’s bondage workshop last fall will recognize a few knots!

While transmen barkeeps blowing each other’s cocks is always fun, by far my favorite scene is the finale with Billy Castro and Lorelei Lee. The chemistry between them is palpable and produces a hot combination of fisting and female ejaculation.

While the film is reminiscent of 1940’s film noir, it is not a strict period piece, and at times I was thrown by the use of “You suck!” or “Totally!” in the dialogue. But nonetheless, the costumes, music (wonderful French torch songs) and location (real-life historic bohemian bar Specs Twelve Adler Museum Cafe in San Francisco) do the trick. And a what a queer-time-machine trick it is.

Written by Bear @ 12:57 pm

I try to think about Buck Angel on rotten days especially. Ever since he came last August to The Smitten Kitten, the very thought of him makes the day seem less long, the coffee a little fresher, and the mounting paperwork seem like nothing. Buck is a light in the world whether he is caring for his team of dogs at his home in Mexico, donating money to Haiti, or producing some f*cking hot porn. Having struggled in his early life, transitioned to male, and become a icon in the porn industry, Buck offers a unique, and often challenging, perspective within the sex industry. He makes porn that he likes to make, with people he likes to work with, and at the end of the day, he controls the show. He even has time to start a Body Building Website. Damn that man never tires.
So I have been following the mounting discourse around his presentation at Yale University. Yale hosts a biennial Sex Week, where they offer an amazing spread of events ranging from sex and religion to appearances by porn stars like Buck. Oh and there is free STI testing. For some Alums and students this is an exciting event, supporting the discussion on the sex industry, sex, and sexuality, others are upset by a guest such as Buck Angel, porn being not an academic topic in their minds, and a few are upset that there exists a sex week at all. One forum member comments, “Bringing in a porn star to speak at sex week is like bring mark mcgwire to speak at a diet and exercise conference - that is unless the more legitimate reasons for sw are really just a cover for perpetuating the systems of dominance and image manufacturing purveyed by the commercial sex industry”. Buck Angel is a business man no doubt, he understands what sells and what doesn’t, he gets the internet versus DVD thing. But, he also continues to be a radical presence in the sex industry, creating sex positive, inclusive porn, when so many are not. This presence, like so many others mentioned on this blog (Tristan Taormino, Madison Young, Pink and White Productions) are rallying against system of dominance in its own language, resemantizing Porn, creating more and better.
Plus it is really really really hot stuff.
I wish I went to Yale or had the budget of Yale to put on such an event. Hanging out with Tristan, Buck, and Madison for week doesn’t sound to shabby. I am glad to have met these people who are doing such great work and who happen to be smart and kind individuals. I know their presentations will be radical, well thought out, and a bit funny too. Have fun at Yale!

Written by Jonesy @ 7:15 pm

I’m making an effort to profile (in no particular order) some porn performers whose work is worth checking out.  Here’s the second installment of my porn star round up!

Name: Christian (also billed as Maxx Diesel or Christian XXX)

DOB: May 8th, 1974

What he’s known for: Fans of director Tristan Taormino’s work will probably recognize Christian as that big, awesome bald guy that shows up in her work all the time, consistently delivering intense and entertaining performances in a variety of scenes. Christian started his career working in gay porn under the name Maxx Diesel. He identifies as heterosexual in real life, and now works in straight porn. In DVD interviews and on his blog, he speaks calmly and candidly about several brushes with homophobia in the porn industry, citing instances in which performers and directors have chosen not to work with him because of his supposedly “unhealthy” or “risky” past working in gay porn. Christian’s open, queer-friendly and sex positive attitudes toward the industry and his own career make him one of my favorite people in porn.

What to watch him in: Chemistry Vol. 2 starts with a pretty amazing scene between Christian and Kimberly Kane. Christian appears in many of Tristan Taormino’s other movies, including Chemistry 2 & 3 and several of her Expert Guide DVDs.

Christian’s performances often include an element of intimacy and connection that I personally find lacking in a lot of porn. He genuinely enjoys what he’s doing, and it makes a difference who he’s doing it with.

For a peek behind the scenes of Christian’s career and the porn industry, check out his blog.  Here’s a particularly interesting entry. He chronicles every shoot he goes on, and includes photos as well as tons of banal little details about the day to day workings of the industry. It’s an alternately boring and fascinating read.

In conclusion: Several of us Kitten staffers refer to Christian as our “porn boyfriend.” He manages to convey intimacy, sincerity and a genuinely sex positive attitude in his performances. He demonstrates professional and personal respect for his female colleagues on and off screen, and he makes fabulously intense, serious sex faces. He plays World of Warcraft and used to coach basketball.  Adorkable!  Two enthusiastic thumbs up for Christian.  Check him out asap.

Written by Jonesy @ 3:44 pm

“You know what the great thing about porn is?  Everyone’s a star.”  -B.J. Novak

While it’s true that almost everyone who performs in porn is known, at least semantically, as a porn star, anybody who’s watched a couple of pornographic movies knows that it’s not a genre of film dominated by A-list thespians.  Sure, a lot of performers have impressive, even virtuoso sexin’ skillz.  But it’s an exceptional porn performer who succeeds in entertaining an audience on top of titillating them.  In this ongoing series, I’d like to profile the porn actors and actresses who stand out from the rest of the naked, lubed-up crowd, tell you a little bit about why they rock and why they’re worth checking out.

Name: Steven St. Croix

DOB: February 24th, 1968

First thing you’ll notice: He looks a lot like Vincent D’Onofrio.  This, combined with his sense of humor and slightly above par acting skills, makes me really want someone to do a porn parody called  Law & Whore-der: Cocksucking Intent.  Also, I want to see a sex scene that ends with the *DUNG DUNG* noise.

The resemblance is clear.

What to watch him in: Tristan Taormino’s Chemistry vol. 3 is an awesome movie, period.  It’s like The Real World, but with less catty squabbling over who’s going to do the dishes, and more, you know, sex. The cast is comprised of porn stars who want to work together, and most of the movie is them either talking about their work or improvising sex scenes together.  St. Croix says some funny stuff in the interviews, but what’s really enjoyable to watch is how much everyone else digs working with him.

To find out why he’s apparently known as an awesome coworker and class clown around the porn industry, check out Pirates.  With a budget and production values on par with Mega-Shark vs. Giant Octopus (that’s a good thing in porn), a bunch of CG pirate skeleton ghost warriors (the only appearnce of them in porn, I hope), and jaw-droppingly bad “pirate grammar” falling out of everyone’s mouths, it’s already a treasure of a porn comedy.  But St. Croix’s performance as a sad sack ex-boyfriend is legitimately pretty funny.  Well, mostly the part where he curls up naked in a fetal position and cries after the sex scene.

In conclusion: He’s funny in Pirates, hot in Chemistry vol 3, and looks sort of like your bachelor uncle, John C. Reilly in Boogie Nights and a certain fictional cop with a genius IQ.  Due to some kind of sexy injury earlier in his career, his penis curves  at almost a 90 degree angle when erect.  It’s also reportedly insured for one million dollars by Lloyd’s of London.  For these reasons and more, Steven St. Croix truly is a Porn *Star*.

Written by Leo @ 11:58 am

Conan recently featured a short about Sweden funding the production of feminist porn. Here is the clip:

The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brein

“Feminist porn is different because it focuses on pleasuring the female.”

I’m glad that mainstream media is starting to bring up that there are other options for porn besides the detrimental crap that saturates the industry. However, quite obviously, he was not representing feminist porn.

Feminist porn is as diverse as feminists themselves: romantic, kinky, adventurous, sweet and everything outside and in between.

I’ve been watching porn since I was a teenager. Blessed and cursed with the internet, I had access to all the free smut a sexually curious Leo could dialup download. Unfortunately the only images in my memory are white women, skinny or toned bodies, fake breasts, shrill screaming, and other detrimental images to my teenage sexual identity.  As I got older and my identity grew farther away from the women and the sex in the porn I had access to, I stopped watching.

I missed it though. The learning, the voyeurism, the analysis, the getting to know porn stars, and again, the learning. Even before I decided to become sexually active, I had committed to myself that I was certainly not going to be having missionary sex on a bed once a week with my partner - no dice.  I just couldn’t bring myself to watch this homogeneous group of people fucking and fake screaming each other.  Eventually I was introduced to porn with people of color, but the majority of what I saw was/is over exotified, downright racist and hurtful.

It wasn’t until I got introduced to the Smitten Kitten that I realized that there is so much more. Well, the industry is still, in my opinion over-saturated with bad porn, BUT the stuff out that is different is really good.

I recently watched Candida Royale’s Afrodite Superstar. It was one of the best porns with people of color I’ve seen. The protagonist Afrodite is working her way through the rap industry and is allowing record executives to mold her into a false hardcore image, when that is far from her organic personality. The film doesn’t have a lot of sex in it, but it does have sweet, mostly romantic, couples sex. I enjoyed the Afrodite critique of today’s rap industry and the false exotified images of street life. There is one character in the film (who doesn’t have any sex) that quotes powerful women like Bell Hooks and Janis Joplin to inspire Afrodite to be herself.

I also am GA-GA for the Comstock Series. It is documentary porn that features a real couple, real bodies, real sex, real orgasms and a connection between the couple that Merel Streep herself couldn’t mimic.  My favorite is Ashely and Kisha: Finding The Right Fit. The film starts with an interview, talking about how they met and the awkward feelings many couples go through when they are feeling each other out - literally (hardy, har). Then they feature a sex scene with the couple. It is so adorable and incredibly hot. You can really see how in to each other the couple is.

Thanks, Conan. Good try, but your porn sucked.