This Just in...

Kevin the weather dude's looking sharp for spring

Lovecraft's been in Yorkville for 37 years and now they're leaving

It's where I get my specialty lubes and it'll be a shame to see them go

100 Yorkville's turning out to be one of the hottest addresses in town

The owner of this bike's gorgeous, lives in my building and more than willing to give me a ride...

...or so I imagine

I only watch the Daily Show when the news is topical, like mass panic over swine flu...

John has swine flu!

...or Manhattan getting buzzed by a bad decision

I'm going to fucking kill somebody!

The window dresser at French Connection UK has a twisted imagination...













...and I like it!

Fashion photogs vie for contracts and cash on One Shot, yet another ANTM-style reality show

Pretty boy took the worst pic but of course he got to stay

20 Greatest Reality TV Show Fights - Part 4
I found bupkis searching for more info on One Shot, but I did manage to turn up this little "gem", and yes, that's the beloved Julia Allison as one of the talking heads. Uhh...enjoy?

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NEW POSTS
Quote
Chad White
My First Million
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Agua del Pozo

Proud FM

Patrick Marano & Adam Lawrence


On my way to a call the other night, a really good mix was playing on the radio. I looked it up and it turns out it was Proud FM, the gay music station. Unfortunately, during regular hours they talk too much and there're too many goddamned ads to count, as is the norm with commercial radio, but the selection's upbeat and manages to steer clear from the insipid crap you hear on other stations. If I hear more than two shitty love songs, however, I'm hitting the eject button.

Right now Not Fair by Lily Allen's on and it ain't half bad: "I've spent ages giving head..."

For less chatter and a more eclectic mix, it might be a good idea to tune in after midnight, like I did the other night in the cab.

Oh God - Dance Away by Roxy Music is on. They're killing me! "Dance away the heartache...dance away with me..."

Fuck it, I'll say it: 'Mos know how to party. Now if I can be the meat in a Marano-Lawrence sandwich, my life will be complete.

Ok - crappy song: Dead End Countdown by The New Cities. Who the fuck are they?

Mute!

Proud FM

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Not Fair
Dance Away
Dance Away - extended version
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NEW POSTS
Aftershock
James Piatt
United Nude
Brian Atwood
Omelle
MET Costume Inst. Gala
MET Gala: WTF?

For Fuck's Sake

My Divine Wife (Xmas 1985, Paris)__[flickr.com]

Confessions of a TARP Wife
by Anonymous
[portfolio.com - May 09]

Forget the opera. Cancel dinner at Bouley. How life has changed since my CEO husband went on the government dole.

I am a TARP wife.

In keeping with the unwritten code of this new sisterhood, I have taken a vow of financial abstinence. I returned the presents my husband gave me for Christmas (but didn’t tell him, since he’s already awash in gloom) and am using my credit balances at all the major department stores for important gifts and other necessities.

I haven’t even looked at spring clothes; God forbid someone catches me out in something new. Keeping up with fashion seems somehow decadent in this new era, like getting Botox injections or catered dinners. Like so many others, I’m shopping in my closet. I’ve bought exactly two things this year—makeup and panty hose. If I buy a present for someone, I have the package sent to their home. I don’t want to be spotted climbing into a taxi, laden with Bergdorf Goodman shopping bags.

As you can see, being a TARP wife means, in short, making decisions according to a complex algorithm: balancing the need to look like your world hasn’t crumbled beneath you—let’s not alarm the investors!—with the need to appear duly repentant for your subprime sins. It also means we’re part of the community of more than 400 companies that have received government bailout funds, whose fall from grace has been swifter and harsher than any since Mao frog-marched intellectuals into China’s countryside.

Hitting the perfect note isn’t always easy. For instance, for the past 15 years or so, I have thrown my husband a birthday party. We traditionally celebrate with about 30 friends, mostly New York pals we’ve known for decades. We’re not talking an end-of-an-era Stephen Schwarzman-type $10 million blowout. Ours is a pretty sedate affair.

This year, of course, entertaining our crowd at our usual multi-star Michelin hotspots would simply not do. Extravagant is out; conservative is in. But not hosting a birthday dinner would have spurred rumors that we were broke, not a welcome thought either. Juggling these conflicting impulses, I decided on a slimmed-down party. Choosing Versailles to host World War I peace negotiations could not have been more complicated than my attempt to select the perfect spot for our annual dinner. Naturally, every restaurant I contacted was willing to meet my reduced budget; now that Wall Street firms are no longer entertaining clients or hosting events, New York eateries are struggling.

At the end of the day, it came down to a choice between an especially accommodating (and well-known) high-end restaurant and a less expensive, clubbier spot. We ultimately picked the cozier restaurant—even though it ended up costing us more, so eager was the more chic outfit to host the party. Why spend the extra bucks? Because our chosen place is distinctly low-profile and rarely mentioned in the press. We did not need a snarky story about a “Wall Street bigwig living it up while taxpayers wonder where their money went.” Really, not even President Obama spends this much time looking after his image.

It wasn’t long ago that America celebrated successful companies and the people who run them. My husband, CEO of one of the biggest TARP recipients, has received more than his share of accolades (in my opinion, well deserved). But because of a few tin-eared nitwits who failed to notice that their industry was under siege, the entire country now thinks that TARP bankers are greedy incompetents dedicated to ripping off taxpayers. Fancy wastebaskets, under-the-rug bonuses, lavish junkets—these are Exhibits A, B, and C in the people’s case against Wall Street. Even the Octomom gets better press.

Here is the reality: TARP managers are scared to death. The executives of these companies are desperately trying to hold their businesses together while complying with a slew of damaging bills flooding out of Congress. My husband has battled the shutdown of the credit markets and a deteriorating business environment for two endless years without respite. He’s exhausted, terrified of losing the company, and beaten down by the constant criticism hurled at him.

I’m trying to buck him up and not complicate his life. The last thing he needs is unpleasant publicity, so I’m learning to fly so far below the radar that I have perpetually skinned knees. We’ve picked up new habits, like making donations anonymously and sneaking in late to black-tie galas after society photographer Patrick McMullan has packed up his camera and gone home. We now regularly turn down the invitations we receive from museums and arts organizations that will inevitably be followed by a request for funds. No point in getting their hopes up.

I get it that I may not win much sympathy. Why should I? I’m not pleading poverty. We still live in relative luxury, we can afford almost everything we need, and we aren’t facing the prospect of losing our home or having to turn to our families to support us. But we are getting squeezed.

Like most Americans, we are worried about money. Our net worth is tied up in stock that is down 95 percent. Last year, before it became fashionable to do so, my husband refused a bonus. Because of the new restrictions, his pay this year will be a fraction of what it was. The combined swoon in our income has caused us to cut spending drastically, in hopes that we can hang on to some remnant of our former lifestyle.

In an effort to conserve cash, we are eating out less frequently, meaning that I’ve been turning out some pretty dreadful lasagna. Actually, staying home and watching Law & Order reruns has become our new guilty pleasure. It’s a far cry from opening night at the Metropolitan Opera, but it’s not bad. I drive the family crazy by switching off the lights every time we leave a room. Needless to say, we fly commercial. Using the company plane is now out of bounds; we’ve heard there are reporters staking out the private airports.

I have become oddly superstitious. On some level, I feel I’m being punished for too many thoughtless years of assuming that the trappings of success were earned and not given. I’m constantly knocking on wood or offering little good-citizen sacrifices, like manically recycling or chatting with telemarketers.

I’m struggling with how to communicate all this to our children. We’re thankful that they’re intent on making their own way in the world, but at the same time, they confidently rely on us for help. One daughter recently mused about going back to business school. I hope she didn’t notice my instantly negative reaction, stemming completely from concern about the cost. I cannot bring myself to shake her foundation. The collapse of the world economy has already crushed the confidence of young people just starting out. Meanwhile, retirement is like a rainbow, a beautiful mirage that we’ll probably never reach. To some people, these may seem like luxury problems, but to us they are painful.

I’ve watched the skin under my husband’s eyes take on a yellowish hue, and his hair turn from gray to grayer, as he tries to lead his company through this mess. He’s up every night for hours at a stretch, and for the first time, he has health issues. For a person whose life has been punctuated mainly by success—from perennial class president and high-school sports star to Ivy League MBA—failure is the worst of all nightmares. He seems off balance, as though self-confidence were a physical ballast that he is slowly losing. It’s heartbreaking how often he apologizes to me for losing so much of our money, for making so many mistakes.

I know people are angry—angry at those they view as responsible for the subprime crisis and the subsequent economic meltdown. I don’t blame them. I’m angry too. But my fury extends to any number of culprits: to Alan Greenspan, who encouraged the loose-money policies that undermined the pricing of risk; to Barney Frank, who cudgeled Fannie Mae into supporting loans to unfit homebuyers; to the rating agencies that were ethically compromised; to the subprime-mortgage brokers who chased fees and ignored any accountability; to the investors who didn’t do their homework and absurdly leveraged up their balance sheets. I’m an equal-opportunity blamer.

And yes, I blame those who were in charge of the big banks—including my husband—for not seeing the default tsunami coming. But almost no one did. Everyone knows this, yet financial CEOs have replaced the Mob as the most despised group in the country.

The good news is that Americans have short attention spans. Before long, some other group will come along to absorb all the frustration and anger.

Meanwhile, I’m off to the tailors to get some clothes altered. Shopping your closet is great unless you’ve put on a few pounds over the years. I’ve been holding out hope that fewer nights out could shrink me to fit back into some of the past warhorses of my wardrobe. Unfortunately, our appetite for comfort food has risen in proportion to the Dow’s decline; the selloff this past month has upped our mac-and-cheese intake and created a sinecure for my seamstress.

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COMMENT

For fuck's sake, I just read the TARP wife piece and am now feeling particularly stabby. Since it's just past midnight here I'm going to indulge myself a bit.

Whatcho mean you returned the gifts hubby gave you for Christmas? Shit had already hit the fan and bailout money was already flying by then. If he was so worried about it then he shouldn't have bought you anything. Or, you could have let him shop in your closet. How's about that?

Bullshit you've bought exactly two things. Presents are things. And you can't be laden with bags with just two things. The most you could get out of that would be two bags, one for each hand. That's balanced, you twit. Also, presents are rarely necessities.

Subdued birthday parties happen at home. If you don't want press then invite everyone over. Don't shop it around and then drop heavy hints as to where it happened. You aren't interested in maintaining a low profile, you just want to look like it. Kind of like your husband's company not really making a lot of money or wise decisions, they just want to look like it.

I don't know what press you are reading but I haven't seen Nadia Suleman coming off so well in any of the stories I've read.

Really, sneaking in late to black tie affairs? So sad for you. And I'd be willing to bet that when you say you are making donations anonymously you really mean you aren't giving crap to no one, no where.

Bish, please, have the help pick up some damn Stouffers. You can even microwave it and it still turns out good. Or are you ruining lasagne made with imported noodles, sauce squeezed from first press golden tomatoes and cheeses ripened from unicorn milk? Because that shit gets expensive.

So am I a good citizen or not? I pay extra for our trash company to grab our recycles and set aside glass for a trip to the other recycle place and I've been flipping off light switches in unused rooms for years - years damnit - way before it was cool or chic or in vogue. But I'll be damned if I chat with telemarketers.

Tell your kids that times are tight and to be grateful for what you have. Don't raise them to be entitled brats. What is there to struggle with? How much struggling with communication do you think happens when someone has to move because of finances? Do you think they just don't tell the kids? WTF?

Oh, holy hell, you did not just say he's just now gotten health problems. No you didn't. So he had no stress issues or health concerns when his employees were laid off? No guilt about the chaos he was throwing downstream? No Ambien, Cymbalta, Xanax, nothing at all needed until now? From what I understand, those drugs have been selling like gangbusters due to the economy.

Shocking to know that failure is such a bummer for you. I know that each time my husband was laid off he didn't feel like a failure at all. Nope. Not a single time. And sitting here right now with no job for the first time in my adult life gives me the reassurance that I am a rousing success! So successful, in fact, that new employers are scared to interview me at all. You know, like the pretty girls that can never get a date? Yeah, that must be why I don't get any call backs. It's not because my city has lost 87,000 jobs within a year. It's cause I'm too pretty.

Finally - STOP SAYING NO ONE SAW THE FINANCIAL TSUNAMI COMING. I did and I don't follow economics. I'd been asking my husband how it could all keep going. What the fuck did you think was going to happen when Time and Newsweek and the NY Times were all running stories on the upcoming bubble bursting? I'm a fucking midwesterner, aren't y'all supposed to be so much smarter and savvier than I am? WHO THE FUCKITY FUCK FUCK DIDN'T SEE IT COMING? Isn't that why the goddamned CEOs have their holy-shit-that's-a-lot-of-money-for-four... degrees? What the hell were they learning in college? If all of these financial geniuses were so woefully unprepared, maybe you should all think about talking to your respective alma maters about getting a better class of professors in place.

Oh, and nice to see that you're getting fat. How incredibly small minded and schadenfraudy of me to delight in your expanding waistline, but there it is. It's all I've got. It's all your husband and his ilk have left me.

But it's nice to see you are an equal opportunity blamer.

By the way, how do you suppose your article makes your husband feel, hmmm?

In closing, I would like to say that I think Americans will be remembering this fiasco for far longer than you are wishing. Attention spans are short when money is a-plenty but I do believe that this time we are all sitting up and taking notice. Plus, what else is there to do that doesn't cost anything?

And now I wish my most humble apologies to anyone that has spent their time reading my rant. I swear, I'm not that bitchy in general. Really and truly, I have a brilliant personality!

[jezebel.com]

New Posts

The New New Thing
[Amazon.com - review (2000)]
I bought this book at an airport I was passing through en route to someplace else. I knew Michael Lewis as an author, having read Liar's Poker, so I knew I would find his style appealing. I had no idea about Jim Clark at all.
To my utter surprise, the book was not only entertaining, but it brought to my attention some facts about the world that I live in that I had never fully realised:
1) You can choose to be a down and out misfit on the road to nowhere, or you can choose to show 'em all and make something of your life
2) Having decided to do something, there is no actual limit to how big you can think
3) An individual can actually swing the entire economy and all of its big established companies around to a different agenda and different competitive landscape
4) If you are blessed/cursed with the kind of mind that loves to dwell in "pure possibility", is never satisfied with the way things are and can always see how they could be, do what Jim Clark does - get on with changing the world! Actions speak louder than words.
5) Engineers have finally realised that they should be more fairly compensated, relative to the amount of value they create in the economy. The consequence of this is that financiers, who really don't understand what or how an engineer does what he does, must now compete to get a piece of the action. A financier, even if he has infinite money, cannot personally create anything of tangible value with his financial skills. Contrast this to what an engineer with good skills can create and you realise that what really counts is the creation of tangible things that make the human condition somehow better. This realisation is driving the new new economic realities - engineers can build a better world, financiers can only pay for them to do it.
6) You don't have to be especially bright or gifted to change the course of business history, but if you are, you owe it to yourself and others to use those gifts to the best advantage you can.

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NEW POSTS
In for Spring
The Nude Issue
Jon Kortajarena
Walking in My Shoes
The End
Megan Fox
Vaginad
Bedroom Eyes
Nude
Erotica
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Smooth Operator

Men's Health Wants to Sweet Talk the Pants Right Off of You
The folks at Men's Health are notorious for giving out really sketchy advice, especially when it comes to women. So this article, 6 Phrases To Get Her Into Bed Tonight, fits right into their craptacular archives. However, this particular article stings a bit more, as it was written by a woman, Nicole Beland. Come on, lady! You're not helping our anti-douchebag cause by giving out information like this! Let's try to clean this mess up together, shall we?

I screwed up, and want to hear your thoughts.
Whether you blabbed a good friend's secret or ran over the neighbor's limited-edition bike, admit it. Confessing an error in judgment leaves you exposed and vulnerable, which makes a woman want to wrap you in her arms. Telling her about it wins her over even more, you're showing that you value her opinion. The resulting combo of compassion and confidence will inspire her to make everything all better, or at least distract you.

Remember that emo boyfriend you had in high school who was always all, "I am so sorry that our love is not blooming like the cold, frosted roses of spring, but my heart is filled with your love like so many setting suns" And then you, being 15, were all, "OMG that is so deep, you can totally get to third base now." That dude grew up to be Sneaky McManipulator, who likes to pull this "I am so hurt but sensitive" routine just to get you to sleep with him. He is Zach Braff in Garden State. He is Ross Gellar. He is 35 years old and still wears guyliner. Steer clear.

Did you know you have a heart-shaped freckle on the back of your thigh?
After the first few months of sex, inch-by-inch body exploration yields to cut-to-the-chase carnality. That's a shame, because having her body mapped puts a woman in the mood for luxurious sex. Pull aside the blankets on a weekend morning and run your eyes and fingertips from her toes to her earlobes, making admiring comments along the way. You won't get past her elbows before she pulls you in for a deep, wet kiss.

I have a freckle on my thigh!? No way! I've been alive for 28 years but I guess I've never noticed my body before, nor have I ever had anyone point out my birthmarks to me. Thank goodness for you and your "body mapping" techniques. Did you know you have a heart-shaped zit on your back? You should probably get that taken care of. And thanks ever so much for trying to "map" my body on a weekend morning, before you've brushed your teeth. Sexy.

I'm organizing a team of volunteers for Summit for Someone.
Whether it's climbing mountains with inner-city kids or carrying the neighbor's groceries, helping others boosts your sexy factor for two reasons. First, altruism shows her that you can put your own needs aside, which inspires her to take care of them for you. Second, your good deeds make her feel as if she's dating up, because clearly you're a better person than she is. She'll want to join forces with you on your life's quest.

There is nothing grosser than someone who pulls out what a "good person" they are just to get you to sleep with them. This is the guy who donates to charity and then makes sure that EVERYONE knows that he's donated to charity. His "helpful" efforts are really just a way to make people think he's a really deep, caring guy. And anyone who participates in such things to make you feel like they are "clearly a better person" than you needs a swift kick out the door. Dumping this douchebag is perhaps the most charitable thing you'll do all year. God bless you.

You must be exhausted. Let's take a hot shower and I'll scrub your back.
The number-one reason your partner turns down sex is because she's stressed. And while she knows there's no better cure for wound-up nerves than a spring-release orgasm, it can be hard to shake off the day's distractions. By blasting the hot water and lighting candles, you'll offer a tension-melting solution she can't refuse. Once the hot water and your soapy hands chase the stress away, she'll finally feel sexy again.

Yes, because when a woman clearly indicates she does not want to have sex with you, lighting a bunch of candles will do the trick. Or, you know, she might really be exhausted and not interested and your Dylan McKay circa 1992 moves will only irritate her to the point where your hot shower experience might have to turn into a cold one. Jackass.

I want to accomplish a few things in the next five years.
When a woman hears a man talk about the future with a "whatever" attitude, her level of respect for him drops and her thighs snap shut. She was surrounded by way too many of those directionless dudes back in college, and she has learned that men who have clear goals and realistic plans for achieving them are rare. She'll appreciate your farsightedness all the more. Making up your mind settles hers, as well.

That's right, ladies. Because your mind can't be made up unless a man is there to make it up for you. Why bother making life plans unless a guy is there to dictate how the next 5 years will go? Your hopes and dreams are essentially meaningless and directionless without some dude laying out his 5 year plan to take over the world, and your life. Thank goodness for penises with plans, am I right? Praise the lord and pass the ammunition.

I'm taking the day off tomorrow to chaperone my niece's field trip.
While a woman is impressed by a man who's driven to succeed, she's even more tantalized by a striver who's willing to put a family member first. Extra points if that family member is under 12. She'll instantly flash-forward to when you're the sweet, caring father of her children, at which point her heart will go all gooey. Come back from your kiddie outing with a cute stuffed animal for her and she'll practically drag you into bed.

Yes, well, either that or she'll instantly flash to visions of Chris Hansen pouring lemonade. Also, unless you are a high school senior at the County Fair, nobody wants your fucking stuffed animals. And why are you taking the day off from work, in a recession?! That's really going to screw up our 5 year life plan and your volunteer opportunities with "Summit for Someone." Now STFU and GTFO. I have a hot bath waiting for me. And you're not invited.
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COMMENTS

The worst thing, what makes this worse than all of their other advice, is that this would work, and I can totally see guys doing it.
@__: I agree, but with a caveat. If I like the guy already, all of those lines would work. If I don't like the guy, none of those lines would work, and some of them would seem pretty creepy (like, um, why are you looking at my freckles so closely? what are you doing lighting all those candles in my tub? and what's with the rigid five-year plan?).
@__: Word. The first, second and sixth ones have worked on me. Though for number two he was already well into my pants so how it helped I couldn't say. Isn't that just called foreplay?
@__: Eh, the first sentence of the article is "These simple linguistic cues tell her you're the right man for this evening." That doesn't imply commitment to me. Your boyfriend wouldn't try to get into your pants by telling you that he's doing volunteer work, but some dude at a bar might.

I'd be really questioning any guy my age who wants to be around children. I do what I can to avoid children. The 5 year plan? Please shut up. It will just freak me out about my OWN plans, and I go on dates to have fun with the person with me NOW, not to think about 5 years down the line.
If I'm stressed and someone gets in the shower with me? That would end baddddd. Better advice? Buy me a bottle of vodka. Or whiskey.
Men's Health is dumb.

"Second, your good deeds make her feel as if she's dating up, because clearly you're a better person than she is."
Clearly.
Holy guacamole this is absurd.
@__: that's obviously exactly what i want: to be in a relationship with a pompous elitist who's better than i am and can plan our life for us!

It sounds like dear Nicole's dating history involves a long string of dudes who spent a combined 387 years in the clink for either fraud or sexual misconduct.
@__: well, we all have a type.

You must be exhausted. Let's take a hot shower and I'll scrub your back.
Except showering together sounds more sexy than it actually is. Somone usually ends up at the back of the shower freezing their ass off.
@__: Yes on the showering together. You're standing there with the Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap burning the crap out of your lady bits, "HONEY PLEASE MOVE SO I CAN HAVE SOME WATER NOW."
@__: in addition worrying about slipping and splitting your head open during any shenanigans. Not sexy.
@__: Yeah, showering together is overrated. One time I showered with a guy and he spent the entire time washing his third testicle and blowing his nose.
@__: i'm going to build a shower in my house when i am rich that has two shower heads and some sort of bench that is cushioned. @__: third testicle?!? lol, wtf

Call me a weirdo, but my ultimate come-on process is as follows:
1) Be interesting to me in some way, perhaps with similar interests. Be fun to hang out with.
2) Be a reasonably decent human with your own personality. You need not be infallible, but don't be a total fuckup.
3) Allow enough time for us to get to know each other and cultivate a meaningful relationship. Talk about mutual feelings of romantic attraction.
4) At this point, one of us should say, "We should have some sex" and if the other is feeling agreeable, the other will say "Okay".
ET VOILA! INTO MY PANTS! NOT THAT DIFFICULT!

"Dating up"? Seriously? This whole thing is so warped and Machiavellian. Nicole: where's your dignity?
@__: She probably keeps it next to the letter from Men's Health which reads: "Check Enclosed".

What does this teach us? Don't go out with the sort of anus who'd read Men's Health. Honestly I've never met a straight man who'd even consider buying it. I'm sure they're out there, but I'll be damned if I don't think they're the most blatant idiots from the instant I've met them.
@__: I think it's for women. No men I ever met cared anything about their health or anyone else's, and they wouldn't go to a doctor or take a vitamin unless some woman forced them into it.

Why have guys still not figured out that they should just talk about me?
@__: You know, I tried that, I really did. But for some reason my girlfriend got REALLY pissed off when I wouldn't stop talking about you. I even tried calling out your name during sex and she didn't like that either!

Got Jizz?

Got my first facial today.

No, not the spa kind.

Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and the money was good.

I asked the guy to send me a clip so I can shop it around to various porn producers.

I've got to make some money, and if I have to take it in the face to get it, well that's what I'm going to do.

Just don't ask me to eat it, cause that's just nasty!

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Dance Me to the End of Love - remix
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NEW POSTS
Beauty vs. Beast
Guess Who?
Lady Gagag - 2
Gassy Emissions

Granny Panties Porn

American Stag
dir. Benjamin Meade [2006]
The history of Blue Movies

No matter what the subject, apparently, it's possible to say things were better before everything went commercial. At least, that's the case made by American Stag, which has its eye not on the modern porn film, but on the blue movies made up until about 1968, when the courts ruled that film was protected by the First Ammendment.

After all, as soon as something is legal, it's ripe for commercial exploitation. Before this, American Stag tells us, blue movies - called "stag pictures" or "smokers" because of how they were exhibited in the smoke-filled, men-only rooms in V.F.W. halls or Elks' lodges where "stag parties" were held - were generally the work of amateurs. They were shot on consumer 8mm or 16mm equipment, were seldom more than one reel in length, and produced in almost complete anonymity due to their questionable legality. Even well into the sound era, they were frequently silent films.

And, based upon what director Benjamin Meade shows us, kind of charming. Production values weren't that great, and the people involved tended to be ordinary people, with original-issue breasts, pasty skin, excess hair and all. The staging and camera work isn't sophisticated, but there is the sense of people having fun, telling a story and having sex because they enjoy it. [...]


[American Stag - quotes]

200 guys would gather in an auditorium to watch porn...it was bizarre.

It was a man's underground thing.

His father was a runner: he'd load up the car with films and a projector and off he'd go to a party.

Later on in the century the women became more sexually aggressive and demanded more from the male.

They lived in a society where women weren't supposed to like sex.

Once they get to the sex, it's pretty routine.

The girls aren't in it for the money - they're in it to get off.

It's fairly typical of stag films for rape to be ok.

Pot and stag films go together - if you want a woman to take off her clothes, get her high on pot.

It was rumoured that Joan Crawford made a stag film and was blackmailed most of her career by the owner (of the film).

The Casting Couch is a classic stag film where the man uses his position of power to get sex.

I think stag films are at their worst when they're portraying interracial couples; the point (of them) is some kind of sexual degradation.

While there was no integration in the schools, there was integration in the stag films.

The fastest growing number of consumers of porn (today) is fundamentalist Christian women.

If we weren't sexually repressed we wouldn't have porn.

American Stag - trailer
Vintage Erotica - Hot Number
No Integrity Left Behind

I ♥ Geeks

TOMS Shoes Founder Blake Mycoskie Plans to Give Away 300,000 Pairs in 2009
LAist - Apr.15/09

What happens when you travel to Argentina to learn how to play Polo? You start a sustainable and socially conscious shoe company. Of course.

Well, that is exactly what happened to Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS shoes. After visitng the country in 2006 and witnessing the mass amounts of children without shoes and its detrimental effects, he returned to the US determined to eradicate this problem. And for the last 3 years, he has been doing just that.

For those unfamiliar with the company, the concept is simple: for each pair of shoes they sell, the Santa Monica-based company will give a pair to a child in need. Shortly after starting the company, Blake and friends returned to Argentina with 10,000 pairs of shoes for the children and ever since then, thanks to the company's success, they have been able to increase the breadth and scope of the project; 140,000 pairs have been given away in Argentina, Ethiopia and parts of the Southern US. He plans to give away an additional 300,000 in 2009 alone.

Tommorrow, TOMS will launch their "One Day Without Shoes" campaign, in order to raise awareness about the impact a pair of shoes can have on a childs life.

In today's world, it is all about what you can do to give back and give more, and we hope to see the emergence and success of companies like TOMS, with a focus on increasing awareness and driving social change.

LAist is a big fan of TOMS, so we were pleased to have the chance to talk to Blake about his unique business model, empowering young people, their current projects in Ethiopia and meeting with the Obama administration.

TOMS core and initial vision and goal was to provide children in need shoes. How has this evolved and grown?
Well now we've started focusing specifically on Southern Ethiopia where there is a horrible foot disease called Podoconiosis that is completely preventable with shoes. Were really focused on that area. It’s almost like an elephantitus of the foot and it’s really grotesque. Specifically, now we have a factory in Ethiopia helping create special leather boots for kids so they don’t get this disease.

So, as we’ve grown our giving has become more focused on specifically preventing diseases for kids in certain areas of the world but we’re still focused on coming up with new great shoes that people will continue to buy so that people will continue to support us season after season so we can continue our giving.

You touched on a great point in your speech at the Clinton School of Public Service that when "you are doing something good, people want to help you". Especially now, how crucial or pivotal has that been to the success of TOMS?
It’s been very critical…it’s really just about telling the story and getting it out there. And when we do that, more and more people will buy the shoes and want to be part of it and want to help. That’s really been a critical part of the mission; it is not just being like “we’re a brand and we’re doing it ourselves” but rather getting people to write about it, email about it, share the videos, write on the blog…it’s really a very inclusive company so that we can get more people participating.

And you guys don’t do any advertising, right?
No. It’s really all just through media, viral videos, blogs and facebooking. We’re launching a new website that we’ve been working on for 6 months. There will be a lot more community pages, ways to interact and get more involved with TOMS. I’m really excited about this because I think it will take the kind of “people being part of the brand” to a whole other level.

We’re trying to integrate more web 2.0 and let people know what they can do if they want to get more involved; if you want to have a style your sole design party, it will tell you other people in the area who are doing so. We want to integrate our community and our fans so it’s not just “I’m buying a pair of shoes” but rather hosting an event, screening, or eventually even helping us design the line, so its really just a community of people, and not like a company.

What has been the biggest challenge with this whole project?
The biggest challenge was the fact that we had no experience making shoes when we started, so learning production, quality control, inventory and all the other business parts of being a shoe and fashion company. No one on our team really had any experience, but we’ve been learning that on an ongoing basis, but it has been the biggest challenge so far.

So have you brought anyone new on?
We brought in a guy from Asics and Nike.

What has been the greatest and most unexpected lesson?
When you really give young people a lot of authority and opportunity, they can do amazing things. Because of our giving level and because we’re a start up, we haven’t really had a lot of money to hire a lot of “super-experienced” people, so we’ve hired people right out of college, or even out of high school and given them a tremendous amount of responsibility and authority for the lack of experience they have and for the most part I’ve been really impressed with how many of them have really risen up and become really important assets to TOMS, do their jobs and get things done in a way that people with maybe ten years of experience wouldn’t do.

Also, with our intern program it’s a way to see how much great ideas and efforts come out of that program. It’s really about empowering people, and making people believe that they really can make a difference, and contribution no matter what their age or experience is, and when given the tools and abilities to do so, amazing things happen.

Can you tell me more about the intern program?
There are two parts to it. We have the interns who spend the summer here in LA and we have the Vagabonds. Vagabonds are interns who travel around the country hosting screenings and parties and spread the word about TOMS to high school and colleges around the country. And that’s become a big part of my thinking and a big part of the culture; you don’t necessarily need the most experienced people, you just need people who are passionate, smart and hardworking.

What's your advice for people, young especially, who want to take the social entrepreneurship route to give back in their communities and want to make this giving a full-time venture?
I think two things. For better or for worse, a lot of people have been laid off and a lot of companies aren’t hiring, but there are social ventures like TOMS out there and often the best way to get involved is to volunteer some time, and even if you are 40 years old and are not going to do an internship, the truth is, if you have, lets say, graphic design skills, and you’ve been laid off, maybe donate your skills to a not-for-profit or a social venture like TOMS that you’re really passionate about, and often times through that process, especially as an organization is growing, sometimes it can become an opportunity for actual employment.

And I think a lot of people have seen that by getting involved in a socially focused venture that they are not only fulfilling a financial needs but their spiritual and mental needs as well. I think that’s why people love working at TOMS and I think were going to see a lot of other organizations like TOMS popping up because it’s just kind of that right thing to do.

Has TOMS been able to stay profitable and sustainable?
Yes, it’s TOMS third full year. We’re definitely on a path to sustainability. We haven’t had to let anyone go. If anything we’ve had to hire more people in the last two months. We’re right on plan and we’re going to give away 300,000 shoes in 2009.

How do you pick retailers?
We look at retailers in a non-traditional way and we really pick them based on how passionate they are about our story because we don’t think there is a certain type of person who likes TOMS…so we feel our demographic is very wide so we should sell to a very wide variety of stores, so we pick stores that our willing to tell our story in a very powerful way and get behind it.

I saw the new Vegan TOMS. How focused are you on using the most sustainable materials? What is your commitment to environmental/sustainable practices?
The new line of shoes is made from 70% recycled plastic bottles and 30% hemp, so the fabric is more sustainable than even an organic cotton. So we’re very much focused in that direction and moving as fast as we can.

The pop-up store on Abbott Kinney was so successful you ended up staying longer than planned. Any future plans for more pop-up stores?
No plans yet, but were thinking about San Francisco.

I heard you recently met with the Obama administration in the White House...
Yes, I was invited to go the White House and meet with the administration and specifically talk about the Department of New Media. It’s cool because it’s the first time the White House has ever had a Department of New Media and they invited myself and a few other entrepreneurs involved with technology just to talk about what we're doing and how we can bring more transparency to government.

What's next for TOMS?
We’re just trying to get our community more involved in our mission, besides just buying a pair of shoes. So there are a lot of ways we’re working with the new website and the social media properties so people can host design parties, screening of the documentary film…really just trying to get our community together offline as well as online so we can really create platforms for social change, not with just shoes but with other big ideas out there.

TOMS AT&T Ad

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GAWKER COMMENTS
I'm sorry...who is this Julia Allison person? Is she, uhm...like...an east coast Kardashian or something?

Let's at least give the girl credit for becoming a fame whore sans sex tape.

Julia Allison is dreadful and the only reason she's famous is because Gawker is always in a state of near orgasmic excitement about her. Do us all a favor and just stop talking about her please.


You are witnessing the desperation of a whiny, attention-whoring climber with no regard for anything but money, fame, and the self.

People who are actually getting laid do not complain about other people getting laid. They either laugh about it or ignore it.
Julia, what are you saving it for, a rainy day?

The only reason Julia Allison is an F-List celebrity is Gawker.
Stop already.

I can see the Law and Order episode now:
Christopher Meloni: sorry, miss, but even famewhores are not above the law
Julia Allison: fine. but can I get a photo with you first?


I'll say this for her: There are not many young women dressed in that get-up and crouched in that position who can make a horny young man seriously consider a life of celibacy.

Who is that lady in the picture and why does she look like something that was scooped out of the Pussycat Dolls' litterbox?

I once dated a girl who wanted fans more than friends. It was an utter nightmare.

Can I be honest here?
I still don't know who Julia Allison is? What she does? Where she came from?
I've just read the name over and over on Gawker. Other than that -- nothing.
I guess that means she's doing it right?
Or maybe I'm just a dizzy dame who don't know nothin'.
@__: You don't want to know. Just keep on walking, sister.
@__: Julia Alison exists so that when nothing happens in New York/The Publishing Industry/The Media, Gawker editors have someone(thing) to write about.
@__: If Julia Allison didn't exist, Gawker would have invented her and maybe they did.

Someone actually wants to be "the next JA"? Isn't that kind of like billing yourself as a poor man's Courtney Love?
@__: But that is someone I've actually heard of.
@__: touche

As a Denverite, I can say that Ms. Allison has managed to find, in Mr. Cutler, a bigger bitch than she is.

And as Jay Cutler walked out of the club, he asked his Brah: "Who the hell was that? Has she been on any magazine covers?" His Brah explained about the Wired magazine thing. He gagged and said "What, she's some nerd centerfold girl or something? Nahhwwaaay, brah!" Jay deleted the number from his phone, and proceeded to the nearest strip club VIP room and spent $10.4 million in about 50 minutes. The next day, Jay woke up with a hangover and a new enthusiasm for the world, contemplated the bullet he just dodged. The End.

Why is this shit even in the Post? It involves a former Denver football player (who sucks and now plays for Chicago) hanging out in a cheesy Chicago nightclub with a deranged bitch from the Midwest who lives in a studio apartment in Manhattan, writes a blog, and apparently only drinks water. Like I fucking care. Jay Cutler probably fucks a different girl in between insulin shots.
If JA wants to make it in NYC, she needs to learn discretion fast. Sorry, but the whole "micro-celebrity" thing is nothing more than a couple of articles written by a group of lazy journalists. That shit doesn't exist, so can we please stop pretending it does and feeding the egos of these sad people who desperately need psychiatric help?


Allison has a history of the TMI post, followed by fauxgret. Remember her pronouncement about then-boyfriend Jakob Lodwick? (I actually don't and am too disinterested to research it.)
@__: remember when she posted JL's bipolar on her tumblr, deleted it when someone called her out on it, then brought it up the next day in Gawker livechat?
fauxgret not once, but twice!
Julia Allison: @__: Dude, that was a year and a half ago.
@__: Yeah. That totally means that it didn't happen.
@__: And thus it never happened!
It must be nice to have short term memory so you don't have to remember when you've hurt other people.
@__: A year and a half ago. Yet you haven't learned from your tactless mistakes.
@__: Nobody here likes you.
@__: You know, I barely know who you are (I'm relatively new here, having spent most of my time at Deadspin), but, uhm, that probably wasn't the smartest thing to say.


So You Want to Be a Fameball?
I like this article. I'm quietly a bit of a fan of Julia's, simply because she fulfills all of the above criteria so awesomely, and doesn't ever fall into the pitfalls. It really does take some talent to be able to be the ultimate fameball; even if it's an obtuse and reprehensible talent to many, it's a talent nonetheless. It can't be easy. Suddenly, I feel vindicated.

Please stop writing about her. She is dull, dull, dull, dull. Thanks in advance!

Julia Allison Bores Everyone She Meets
Has anyone else noticed how bored people look when photographed with dating columnist Julia Allison? As this Ken Burns-style clip reveals, the relentless egoblogger's picture companions look desperate to be somewhere else.

Not boredom so much as perhaps shame from being so near to that always open mouth.

Has anyone else noticed how bored people look when READING about Julia Allison?
@__: Still haven't found any answer on why the fuck Gawker keeps writing about this noncelebrity.

Ok...here goes:
1. Don't know.
2. Who gives a shit.
3. Julia's college roommate.
4. Some guy she fucked.
5. Don't know.
6. Don't know.
7. Guy with a beard.
8. Founder of some internet thingy?
9-??? More beardo.
Guess the jokes on us. If you read Gawker too much, the only person you recognize anymore is JA.

During the glory days of Warhol, faux fameballs were intelligent enough to know that it was all a jolly fraud. They surrounded themselves with like-minded jokers. They were quite happy to goof on the straights, get high, and giggle. Julia Allison and the rest of the post-pubertal girl scout troop really BELIEVE this shit.
@__: I find it absurdly entertaining. She's sort of making it work, and that is something, when a lot of stuff is stopping working.
@__: If your definition of "making it work" is "beating a dead horse."
@__: I think that JA really wants to be Paris Hilton, and that's because she thinks that's a cool person to be. I'm not sure if any of the Warhol "superstars" wanted to be Connie Francis. Umh, maybe one or two, but my sense is that they knew it was silly.
@__: If your definition of "making it work" is "trying too damn hard".
She works so hard at random, uh, "play" that it gets old as fast as she does. We all know she drags people around with her to make her look like she has friends who give a shit, who do it either becuase she pays them to (unlikely, but who knows) or because they're her friends, but even they could not care less about whatever fameballness she's trying to achieve - and it shows. I've seen happier expressions at the dentist's. Cognitively-speaking, she's a head trip - and not a good one - and subconsciously I think most people can't help but recognize it.

Seriously. Is this the best you can do Gawker? NYC has 8.5million+ people. Bring us somebody interesting or relevant.

I don't think I can ever forgive Gawker for introducing the world to this creature.

Julia who?

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