Replies To Danielle's Journal and Video Logs

[RonTheLogician]

Hey Dani,

I hope you've had a chance to watch the UK-made multi-hour video history of porn that I sent, which you showed in your recent birthday present vlog. If you'd like a pointer to a text-based supplement to it, consider the long essay titled The History of Modern [1527-2009] Pornography here.

With your professional involvement in *photographic* porn, especially motion pictures, I'd bring to your attention a relevant book titled Black and White and Blue: Adult Cinema from the Victorian Age to the VCR (2007). Amazon sells a Kindle version for $10, but let me point out that you could instead preview a copy at ASU Tempe. (They own both e-book and printed copies.) In many US states, residents have unpaid access to state university libraries, and perhaps that is also true in Arizona. I know in fact that the public library system in Tempe, like those in so many places, can arrange interlibrary loans for material they lack (MOST times without any user-paid fees.) Sure, these alternatives don't much matter for a book costing a lousy ten bucks, but others, like professional books, can run HUNDREDS. Use WorldCat at http://worldcat.org to query which libraries near you own copies of most "significant" books and other materials (about 2 billion items at over 10,000 libraries around the world).

Do also bookmark the wonderful, extensive, free, illustrated history of 20th century "mainstream" erotic cinema titled: Sex in the Movies: An Illustrated Cinematic History, here.

Over your short lifespan, there has been a real revolution in the acceptance and integration of erotic content in all sorts of everyday US contexts, like advertising, humor, music, etc. A 2008 book (written by a couple of English profs) on the history of US porn, which especially well explains these most recent changes, is The porning of America: the rise of porn culture... You cannot understand the sexual psychology which STILL dominates the minds of SO MANY older Americans (and folks in many other places, too) unless you appreciate the magnitude of the *recent* sea-change in sexual culture!

[RonTheLogician]

Hey Dani,

Whether or not you know the term, you do seem to understand the principle of the so-called Coolidge Effect and the obvious fallout for a porn performer, especially in an age like ours, where the production and distribution of mediated performances is so inexpensive. Evidence of this includes occasional changes in your tattoos and hair color over time.

In the post above titled Vlogs 46x here, I encouraged you to intensify your efforts in combating the Coolidge Effect. Since writing it, I've come across some related matter you might find helpful, or at least inspiring. Obviously, one can only put so much effort into pedestrian video logs, so this stuff is basically directed toward enhancing your money-making hardcore sex videos.

I know you basically outsource the creation of things like costumes and accessories, but I still suspect it is useful to become better educated about such work, if only to become wiser about soliciting its thrifty CUSTOMIZED creation by fabricators. One helpful recent book is Costume Craftwork on a Budget: Clothing, 3-D Makeup, Wigs, Millinery & Accessories (Focal Press, 2007). I perused a copy and discovered detailed treatments of topics like these - life-casting (to help create personalized appliances, masks, etc.); transforming contemporary clothes into (historical, not menstrual!) period garments; making mock jewelry, pseudo-metallic armor/weapons, and headgear; producing mock animal parts like torsos, heads and even fangs; and so on. I suspect a non-fiction book like this would appeal to your sense of whimsy and romance - quite aside from its practical value in stagecraft!

You probably have access to the SyFy Channel through your Cox cable service. So perhaps you have already seen the 6-episode series of late 2013 titled Naked Vegas, about a "body-painting" firm of that name. I found it fascinating to watch as the artists of this firm used paint, adhesives, cloth, plastic, latex and all sorts of other things to fabricate world-class body art! Generally speaking, the art created is not erotic per se (one starts by using color-matched pasties to "remove" (or "Barbiefy") the nipples and venereal clefts of shaved female models), but it is not hard to believe SOME of the techniques they exploit are suitable for actresses in hard-core porn action.

Read an informative LV Review-Journal backgrounder here and then watch the 30-second trailer for the series here. If it interests you, one expects that Naked Vegas is available VoD from iTunes, Amazon, Hulu or whomever. (A closely related veteran SyFy series I have not seen is Face Off, look here.) FYI, the six episodes of NV bore these titles:

1. Paint the Town, Red
2. Devil Pirates and Aliens
3. Penn & Teller Painted Magic
4. Painted Playmate Claire Sinclair
5. Cosplay and Steampunk
6. Jabbawockeez Masked in Color

[RonTheLogician]

Hey Dani,

I know you've been in the entertainment business for the better part of a decade now and it has brought you many rewards. But showbiz is ever less a predictable way to earn a living and one should never forgo learning about hard-to-access knowledge on how to succeed.

As someone outside of showbiz, I've been impressed by a free audio podcast series which might prove helpful to you in sustaining and expanding your career. It comes from Riki, the blonde one of the two partners who make up the edgy musical comedy team of Garfunkel and Oates, whose work I have linked to several times in your forum. Before G&O's stunning success all the way to the top of the iTunes comedy sales list, Riki began her LA career as an actress, which vocation she continues to follow with notable consistent (albeit low-profile) success. Each of her podcasts consists of an hour-long interview with a successful entertainment professional, during which she explores the ups and downs of their career with the explicit aim of discovering and publishing the secrets of success in today's showbiz industries.

Find Riki's wonderful podcasts on the page here. I'd start by pointing you at the podcast with her G&O partner Kate here.

Perhaps one day they'll be a similar podcast series peculiar to the adult industry. Who knows? Maybe you'll be the one to conduct it! Until then, I think you'll be very impressed by what Riki's series has to offer, particularly if most of your intercourse with folks in your industry is of a commercial, and hence at least partially adverse-interest, nature. Why not give it a try?

Best wishes for future success.

[danielle_ftv]

Originally Posted by RonTheLogician

Hey Dani,

I know you've been in the entertainment business for the better part of a decade now and it has brought you many rewards. But showbiz is ever less a predictable way to earn a living and one should never forgo learning about hard-to-access knowledge on how to succeed.

As someone outside of showbiz, I've been impressed by a free audio podcast series which might prove helpful to you in sustaining and expanding your career. It comes from Riki, the blonde one of the two partners who make up the edgy musical comedy team of Garfunkel and Oates, whose work I have linked to several times in your forum. Before G&O's stunning success all the way to the top of the iTunes comedy sales list, Riki began her LA career as an actress, which vocation she continues to follow with notable consistent (albeit low-profile) success. Each of her podcasts consists of an hour-long interview with a successful entertainment professional, during which she explores the ups and downs of their career with the explicit aim of discovering and publishing the secrets of success in today's showbiz industries.

Find Riki's wonderful podcasts on the page here. I'd start by pointing you at the podcast with her G&O partner Kate here.

Perhaps one day they'll be a similar podcast series peculiar to the adult industry. Who knows? Maybe you'll be the one to conduct it! Until then, I think you'll be very impressed by what Riki's series has to offer, particularly if most of your intercourse with folks in your industry is of a commercial, and hence at least partially adverse-interest, nature. Why not give it a try?

Best wishes for future success.

A podcast could be an interesting idea. I'm not really sure what I would talk about though since I already discuss so much on my video logs. If I were to make podcasts it would have to wait until the braces came off.

[danielle_ftv]

Originally Posted by RonTheLogician

Hey Dani,

Whether or not you know the term, you do seem to understand the principle of the so-called Coolidge Effect and the obvious fallout for a porn performer, especially in an age like ours, where the production and distribution of mediated performances is so inexpensive. Evidence of this includes occasional changes in your tattoos and hair color over time.

In the post above titled Vlogs 46x here, I encouraged you to intensify your efforts in combating the Coolidge Effect. Since writing it, I've come across some related matter you might find helpful, or at least inspiring. Obviously, one can only put so much effort into pedestrian video logs, so this stuff is basically directed toward enhancing your money-making hardcore sex videos.

I know you basically outsource the creation of things like costumes and accessories, but I still suspect it is useful to become better educated about such work, if only to become wiser about soliciting its thrifty CUSTOMIZED creation by fabricators. One helpful recent book is Costume Craftwork on a Budget: Clothing, 3-D Makeup, Wigs, Millinery & Accessories (Focal Press, 2007). I perused a copy and discovered detailed treatments of topics like these - life-casting (to help create personalized appliances, masks, etc.); transforming contemporary clothes into (historical, not menstrual!) period garments; making mock jewelry, pseudo-metallic armor/weapons, and headgear; producing mock animal parts like torsos, heads and even fangs; and so on. I suspect a non-fiction book like this would appeal to your sense of whimsy and romance - quite aside from its practical value in stagecraft!

You probably have access to the SyFy Channel through your Cox cable service. So perhaps you have already seen the 6-episode series of late 2013 titled Naked Vegas, about a "body-painting" firm of that name. I found it fascinating to watch as the artists of this firm used paint, adhesives, cloth, plastic, latex and all sorts of other things to fabricate world-class body art! Generally speaking, the art created is not erotic per se (one starts by using color-matched pasties to "remove" (or "Barbiefy") the nipples and venereal clefts of shaved female models), but it is not hard to believe SOME of the techniques they exploit are suitable for actresses in hard-core porn action.

Read an informative LV Review-Journal backgrounder here and then watch the 30-second trailer for the series here. If it interests you, one expects that Naked Vegas is available VoD from iTunes, Amazon, Hulu or whomever. (A closely related veteran SyFy series I have not seen is Face Off, look here.) FYI, the six episodes of NV bore these titles:

1. Paint the Town, Red
2. Devil Pirates and Aliens
3. Penn & Teller Painted Magic
4. Painted Playmate Claire Sinclair
5. Cosplay and Steampunk
6. Jabbawockeez Masked in Color

What's funny is I've watched a few episodes of SyFy's FaceOff (my mom and brother love that show and watch it together on a fairly regular basis). It sounds similar to what you've written about.