AVN’s individual process (whatever it is) isn’t really the point, the point is that awards are a process rife with people angling to get to the top even if they don’t deserve it. As for your comment that “only works submitted are considered is 100% incorrect”, I think you need to clear up your reading skills, because you entirely missed the point. Worse yet, you CONFIRM my point by stating that some companies submit. That is the point.

Now, further down the list: If a small company wants to get considered for an award, they almost need to get reviewed by AVN to get on the list. So unless they have major distribution, they would pretty much need to submit their video for review with the hope of getting nominated.

In the end, it is easier for AVN to review the stuff in front of their face (porn valley), and deal with friends (such as Jules) and keep it in the family.

Oh yeah, please do tell: Who are the “reviewers” and how many of them have worked or do actually currently work for the valley porn companies? Arms length?

You miss the point. It isn’t a question of “won twice, lost some times”, it is a question of even being nominated. Winning and losing isn’t really relevant. It is the recognition of “peers”. What is concerning is that AVN seems to think that people who (according to some) have done great harm to the industry are somehow “peers”. Mike’s credibility isn’t in winning or losing (or even how he plays the game), rather it is in even being considered as a peer.

As for “nominated or invited”, invited doesn’t mean asked to the show – it means invited to submit a work for consideration. While it may shock people, not all movies are considered for Academy Awards. In many fields, only works that are submitted for consideration are looked at, and only individuals or companies that are invited to submit are considered. It isn’t about attending the (sometimes lame) awards show, rather being part of the consideration process.

Carry on….

It isn’t about blaming a magazine for the stupidity that some people (in any industry) might do, rather, they are called out for being buddy buddy with the people and companies that actually are working to turn porn into a throw away business, a traffic generator for sales of other websites and products. Do we wait until there is absolutely no retail business left for porn before we decide to say “hmm, maybe we shouldn’t have supported the people who were just using porn to promote other things?”

Second, the nicest people can still have bad judgment. Calling you a scumbag (or whatever) when you make a bad choice doesn’t change anything else.

Anyway, my opinion is this: AVN has managed to stay in front of the industry by getting in front of whatever happens to be working that day. What sucks right now is that “what works” also happens to be what is actively killing the porn industry: Piracy, overlong free video sites (tubes), and the use of porn as a come on for non-porn related products. They are selling dating, gaming, and other non-porn businesses with free porn. At some point, there is no more porn industry except as a producer of cheap content that is used to sell other products. Then the AVN and all that comes with it is meaningless.

Short term, you are in front of the wave, leading the band. Longer term, you may be the next one over the cliff, piled on top of the lemmings.

You would think that the survival of an industry would mean more to AVN than a sole advertiser. If they were wise enough to think beyond the current fiscal quarter, they would realize that AVN would have A LOT MORE advertisers if there were no tube sites.

1> What are the eligibilty dates for Best New Starlet?
2> What happened to the AVN Fall of Fame page?

Thanks,
Den