I started reading the porn blogs a few years back even though I was working on the other side of the hill at the time. In my opinion, porn valley is like the wild west version of the mainstream entertainment industry. The corporate hierarchy at Paramount has probably screwed more people out of backend money than all the adult industry money beefs combined. However, they don’t use baseball bats in corporate entertainment to solicit financial restitution. I wish they did though. It would have made the monotonous daily Hollywood bureaucracy much more interesting.
Reading about these various “Goodfellas style” incidents on the porn blogs over the years offered an entertaining breath of fresh air for burnt out industry types like me who were looking to formulate an exit strategy. I turned many a writer and producer onto reading Luke Ford and Gene Ross back in the day. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of that porn blog material turned up as a subplots in shitty basic cable crime dramas.
I do not know the history behind Luke Ford writing about the adult industry, but I do know that he became popular as a result of his willingness to throw anyone and everyone under the bus. Unlike a majority of the current crop of porn bloggers out there, Luke did not have a dog in the hunt. At least during his later years. He wasn’t trying to sell a movie or start an agency. He was like the blogging equivalent of an Inspector Clouseau, risking his life in somewhat comedic fashion to expose the bad guys. That whole “I don’t give a shit what the industry thinks of me” is the key element that’s lacking in todays porno blogosphere.
Anyone who visits this site on a daily basis knows that Mike South is the last of a dying breed of independent straight shooters who is always ready to give you a common sense opinion free of the typical bullshit associated with the porn industry. I think Justa Guy made some vaild points in his email to Mike, but it seems like he’s longing for days of the past and a facet of the industry that just doesn’t exist anymore.
I truly believe that the business of porno will take on many more dramatic twists and turns than the ones already occurring. This will result in the demise of many of the traditional bedrock companies that cultivated decades of success in this industry. At the same time, many new companies will shoot up with savvy business models and replace the old. That is the evolution of business. Even in porn valley. And with this evolution will come brand new drama and new scandals that will titillate and entertain the porn blog landscape. In the current, Kayden Kross is delivering a new type of industry perspective that has never been seen before on the porno blog front. I suggest you keep staying tuned for that.
5 Responses
You need to dig futher into Luke Ford and you will find that he is the Father of the Cut and Paste reblog.
South it looks like Mr Lick needs to see me blog over here to see some “Blazing Guns” Straight Shooting!
A few interesting viewpoints. Yes, Luke Ford cut-and-pasted a lot, too much; I think he still does on his current site. It’s lazy “journalism.” The fact remains, however, that he worked at it, he researched, he made calls, he went out, he had amazing courage. He will always be important in the porn history arena. I stand my by comment that he was the best. That doesn’t mean he was STELLAR.
As far as “there’s not much happening in the industry today/there isn’t much gossip to tell” type of comments…give me a break. It illustrates my statement that porn bloggers are lazy. The porn industry is made up of PEOPLE, many of whom do not operate on the highest ethical plane. There’s lots of dirt there, there’s simply no one who will go find it and then report it. The attitude is: I’ll sit here and wait for (1) it to be reported in another venue, or (2) I’ll sit here and wait for someone to tell me something.
Meaning no disrespect toward Kayden Kross – she is definitely gorgeous and I’m sure she’s extremely smart – I have not seen that she has “delivered a new type of industry perspective that has never been seen before on the porno blog front.” How so, huh? Taking petition signatures with her nipple outlines showing? Yawn. A rundown on her first eight porn scenes without mentioning names (except Kylie Ireland). A nameless “experience” in two sentences? “I’m sure the stories will get bigger and better in the coming years,” she says. Uh huh. “The best things aren’t caught on camera,” she says. Oookay, Kaden, tell us story we can sink our teeth into.
A performer will never be able to be totally truthful and candid about the people as long as he/she remains in the industry; it’s about protection of livlihood.
Luke Ford and the word courage in the same sentence is a riot. Ill never forget seeing his weasely ass running thru Gameworks after realizing that I had just pointed him out to Kevin Mitnick who was looking to deliver a beatdown.
Poor Lukey didnt even stop to drink from the chocolate fountain in order to get out of there. And we all know that was probably the only meal he had slated for the show after hitchhiking and “sharing a room” for the show.
Luke Ford and Mike South the only tell-it-like-it-is (or was) dishing porn-bloggers ever?
Negroes, please.
One of the things I loved most about Jimmy’s site is that he WAS able to talk about other things. He wasn’t a one dimensional person, and while the focus of this site is mainly porn, I fail to see why this dude is upset about the fact that people have OTHER interests, too, and that they enjoy talking about them.
And I was totally sucked in by Jimmy’s great sense of humor, too:)