A Deeper, Darker Shade of Grey

Fifty Shades of GreyTwo weeks ago, I blogged about the latest literary sensation to cause shock waves throughout the entertainment world, Fifty Shades of Grey, and things have only become more interesting since then, especially in the adult industry. In the first of two major Fifty Shades porn-related tie-ins, Eldorado Trading Company and Pipedream Products have joined forces to offer readers and retail customers, offering a 30% discount to Eldorado’s successful Fetish Fantasy line of lingerie and sexual aids and allowing Fifty Shades fans a chance to indulge in some fan-fic role-play of their own. Eldorado is providing adult retailers with a plan for assembling the ultimate in kinky Fifty Shades of Grey in-store advertisements. So sayeth Briana Honz, Pipedream’s merchandiser, “The Fetish Fantasy line and its offshoot brands cover all the bases for fetish enthusiasts,” plying them with such naughty novelties as hand-cuffs, various varieties of rope, breathable ball gags, Love Masks, and the aforementioned lingerie line. Eldorado and Pipedream have done their part, now we’ll just have to see if retailers pick up on the offer and extend it to their customers.

In more explicit adult-related news, Smash Pictures has announced the casting of Allie Haze and Ryan Driller in their forthcoming parody film, 50 Shades Darker XXX, based on the second of the three Fifty Shades novels and directed by Jim Powers. With Haze’s recent departure from the Vivid Entertainment stable and Driller’s continued success in parody roles – his turn as Clark Kent/Superman in Axel Braun’s Superman XXX: A Porn Parody scored him an AVN Best Actor nomination this year – the pair were clearly the best choices for their respective roles, beating out all other hopefuls who turned up to Smash’s open audition just a few days ago.

Whether the Fifty Shades Darker parody will beat out the other adult effort, Adult Source Media’s already announced and as-yet-untitled hardcore parody of the first book of the best-selling trilogy, remains to be seen. So too, though, does the longevity of this recent pop-culture phenomenon. Flash-in-the-pan or a genuine advancement of BDSM culture? Does author EL James (no periods for this literary genius) have the legal right to halt production of porn movies parodying her best-seller, which in turn has its origins in copyright-infringing Twilight fan-fiction? You be the judge! (And jury and sexy, sexy executioner! Ooh!)

Le Petite Revenge

It looks like AMKingdom might just be the lucky adult entertainment company to come away with this seasons biggest smash as the company’s high profile release, Revenge of the Petites, has now sold out of its entire first printing. Overwhelmingly positive reviews have been flowing in from all corners of the industry since the title’s initial May 9 release. Revenge of the Petites, which stars Marie McCray, Skin Diamond, Vanessa Cage, and Celeste Star, has been called “An absolute must-see,” by AVN’s Peter Warren and “A charming, light-hearted feature with impressive production values,” by XBIZ’s Dan Miller. Now, as it goes back for a second printing to fulfill existing orders and fall into the laps of thus-far-deprived customers, praise just keeps piling on for AMKingdom’s big budget college-themed sexual extravaganza.

Revenge of the Petites sees director Harry Sparks and stars Marie McCray, Skin Diamond, and the rest of the girls taking on the tried and true tradition of American coming-of-age college comedies like Revenge of the Nerds, American Pie, and Animal House, but with a decidedly more provocative slant. But to what can AMKingdom attribute the release’s success? CraveOnline editor William Bibbiani points to director Sparks: “Sparks is a legitimately strong director who isn’t trying to make a mainstream film that happens to have sex with it, or an ‘adult’ film that happens to have a narrative. He incorporates both mindsets, thought by some to be inherently conflicting, in fairly equal measure and crafts in the process a genuine motion picture experience that’s both pleasurable and arousing. We have a long way to go before the worlds of conventional filmmaking and pornographic content are intertwined, but Revenge of the Petites is at the very least a step in the right direction.”

I’d suggest picking up your copy sooner rather than later unless you want to miss the Petites boat altogether. Who knows how long this printing will last.

Earth’s Horniest Heroes

Vivid Video - Avengers parodyUnless you’ve been living under a drunken haze these past few months, you’re surely aware that a little comicbook movie about a team of mighty heroes in tight costumes called The Avengers just opened to record box office takings with $207.4 million opening weekend. There are, however, some long time members of the Merry Marvel Marching Society who haven’t yet shelled out the $9 dollars for a ticket (plus a $2 service charge and and another $3 for 3D glasses) to see their comic heroes on the big (really fucking big) screen. Rising ticket prices isn’t the only reason for avoiding the biggest blockbuster of the summer, though; there’s also resentment.

I, a long time fan of the Avengers comics – the Harris/Epting/Palmer run in the early ’90s, especially – resent the exclusion of the most attractive of the female team members: Ms. Marvel, The Scarlet Witch, Sharon Carter, and, yes, even She-Hulk. With only ScarJo as feminine eye-candy, it stands to reason there’s demand enough from the male heterosexual portion of The Avengers’ audience to demand this travesty be rectified. It’s too late for Marvel, though. Axel Braun beat them to it.

Axel Braun is the undisputed king of the contemporary porn parody and the man responsible for such hardcore takes on comicbook legends as Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman, all in movies suffixed XXX: A Porn Parody, so it’s no shock he took on Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and it’s no surprise he decided to include such wearers of skimpy form-fitting costumes as those women listed above. If you’ve seen his work you’d know that Axel Braun is many things, but he ain’t no damn dummy.

Check out the trailer for The Avengers: A XXX Porn Parody then report back here immediately, solider. That’s an order! (Don’t worry, it’s SFW.)

Now, just tell me Lex Steele doesn’t give Samuel L. Jackson a run for his money as Nick Fury, and tell me Xander Corvus doesn’t bring the appropriate self-obsessed teen angst Spider-Man requires, and tell me you wouldn’t risk being crippled by the aggressive sexual potency of Spider-Woman’s (Jenna Presley) pheromone-aided seductive techniques. And that’s the Jessica Drew Spider-Woman, not one of the other, lesser versions. And Braun’s got Scarlet Witch (Danni Cole) in there, Brooklyn Lee squeezed into an ever tighter, shinier catsuit than ScarJo’s Black Widow, and fucking Chyna plays The Sensational She-Hulk – is that perfect casting or what? Really the only casting decision that seems a touch off is that of Lexi Swallow as Ms. Marvel; she’s great and all, but kinda slight for one of the most powerful human women in the Marvel Universe. How does the marvelous Ms. Swallow fare in her sex scenes with Spidey and Scarlet Witch? Vivid has every planet-threatening, kitten-saving, costume-shredding, face-blasting second of the most adventurous porn parody Braun has produced thus far, The Avengers XXX.

Remembering Kandi Barbour

Kandi BarbourSome sad news crossed the Mr. Pink’s desk this week, concerning the apparent loss of another porn heroine of the Golden Age, Kandi Barbour. Star of such XXX films as The Pink Ladies (1980), Bon Appetit (’80), California Gigolo (’79), and Screwples (’79), Barbour (real name Linda Jean Smith) amassed a small but impressive filmography over her nine years as an adult performer, leading her to be inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame in 2009. To the surprise of many people in porn, the native Kansan was sadly found dead in San Francisco on Thursday January 26th, another victim of the city’s immense homeless problem.

As Golden Age director Carter Stevens recalled to AVN, the last time he had any knowledge of Barbour’s whereabouts and health was 22 years ago when his wife saw her in Hawaii. “She was living above the club [Club Hubba Hubba] and working there… she had a drinking problem. She had gained a lot of weight and was living in a muumuu and never took it off. She did has some mental problems, even at that point.” Suffering from a dysmorphic body image, Barbour believed her nose to be crooked – it wasn’t – and often spoke of having it “fixed.” Very little information about her life between that time and the discovery of her body on a San Francisco street. She was 55-years-old.

Sadly, like so many performers who came both before and after Barbour, she may largely be remembered by her rather modest entry at Wikipedia: “Kandi Barbour was a former American adult models, pornstar and exotic dancer.”