alt.porn | Mr. Pink's Blog - Part 2

Joanna Angel’s AVN Nom Haul

Joanna Angel’s 13th year as the driving force behind Burning Angel has seen the company nestled comfortably among the most interesting and inventive porn outfits working today, even after outside challenger Wood Rocket appeared with total lunacy as their M.O. Now, with nominations announced for the 2016 AVN Awards and her an allegedly abusive former flame now exposed to his previously adoring public (more on that soon), Ms. Angel’s 2015 seems to be ending quite beautifully indeed. And it’s not just one or two crucial nominations that should have all at Burning Angel popping bottles and laughing in the face of their most paltry competitors, alt.porn johnny-come-latelys, and would-be indie-porn revolutionaries, but an incredible 28 nominations for her and her Burning Angel cohorts. What did BA do this year that deserves such recognition? Well, quite a lot, actually.

Angel, who’s also due to co-host the 2016 AVN Awards with Anikka Albrite come January, saw herself snag individual nominations for Best Director – Parody (for Making the Band), Best Web Director, Mainstream Star of the Year (which, if won by our favorite punk rock pornstar, would signify quite the sea change in public perception of “alternative” style and identity in porn), Best Porn Star Website, and, In a featured but clothed role, Best Non-Sex Performance (Dirty Deeds for Wicked Pictures). Along with fellow scribes D Nothing, Kara Pond, and Randy Stoker, Angel was recognized for her inspired writing of Dude, Am I a Slut? and Killer Kleavage from Outer Space. Throw in a nod for her part in Making the Band’s incredible rock ‘n’ roll orgy (Best Group Sex Scene) and Joanna’s doing pretty god damn well for herself this season.

Not to be overshadowed by its creator and guiding light, Burning Angel racked up a slew of nominations: two for Best Amateur/Pro-Am Movie (It’s My First Time and It’s My First Time 2), Best Anal Series and Movie (for Rock and Roll in My Butthole 5 and the series it belongs to), Best Anthology Movie (Fuckabilly 3: Pin-Up Pussy), two for Best Comedy (Killer Kleavage again, and Slumber Party Sluts, Best Continuing Series for POV Punx, Best Interracial Movie (Big Black Dicks and Tattooed Chicks 2), and, among a handful of others, Best Marketing Campaign – Individual Project for the headline-grabbing Ronda ArouseMe: Grounded and Pounded. Special mention should also go to Twin Peeks (aka Tommy Pietch), Burning Angel’s resident makeup genius, nominated twice this year for Best Makeup for his remarkable work on Killer Kleavage and Comic Book Freaks & Cosplay Geeks, both of which saw him turn everyday pornstars into the bizarre (and bizarrely arousing) creatures. And comic convention attendees.

Ever the gracious recipient of accolades, Angel had this to say in response to her and her company’s nominations: “I am incredibly happy that our nominations spanned over so many different categories. In addition to our parodies and our features, our Pro-Am releases, our POV movies and one of my favorite all- sex lines that we have, Rock and Roll in my Butthole was given attention,” Angel has said. “BurningAngel has been a labor of love for me for the past 13 years and I am so thankful for the success we have. I look forward to a kick ass show in January!”

Fan voting has opened at AVN HQ and if you’ve been as impressed as I with the output of Joanna Angel and her merry band of fucking freaks during 2015, why not show your support by casting your votes accordingly.

Beatin’ on a Budget! with Burning Angel

Joanna Angel hasn’t exactly disappeared from the porn world, but she’s certainly stepped back from the spotlight a bit. Anyone worried that the heavily inked Brooklynite was on the verge of folding her Burning Angel company can rest easily, though, thanks in part to this killer Burning Angel membership deal. Normally charging $29.95 for one month of access, Burning Angel can now be enjoyed for half that price! And, as the front page of the Burning Angel network, such a membership would plant you at the opened gates of a world filled with inked skin, dyed hair, pierced body parts, and more ass-fucking than most prisons see in a decade. Pornstars like Skin Diamond, Dana DeArmond, and Sasha Grey have shot for Burning Angel, but it’s the Angels themselves that will keep your eyes glued to the small screen. Joanna and her crew of gutter punks, super sluts, and other revolving degenerates (including Veruca James, Krissie Dee, Tommy Pistol, Chad Alva, Vulpix, and Bella Vendetta) give you sordid “alt.porn” better than what any other wannabe porntrepreneur can manage.

Burning Angel’s archive might not be as dense as it once was, but with nearly 700 scenes and 1,500 galleries total, which is surely nothing to sneeze at, especially in the alt.porn world.

The Math:
Burning Angel, 700 scenes, and 1500 photo galleries are hard to resist at any price, but at just $14.95 a month, you’d be mad not to pay close attention. Breaking it down to bare digits, you’ll be paying .09¢ per gallery, 2¢ per video, and just 5¢ per model – a great deal in anyone’s book. And, hey, if you’re still not convinced, maybe a three-day trial for $2.95 (a pittance!) will drag you into one of porn’s most consistently interesting and decidedly unique hardcore realms.

Misty-Eyed Misti Dawn

“Well, its been a very fast interesting two weeks. My marriage has ended. I could go on why but it just did. I’m sad that it happened the way it did, but it did. Everything that I found out hurts, but I glad I know now. I don’t particularly want to slander and give the details of my life in those aspects out. It just is. I wish him well and success.”

This missive, posted on alt.porn goddess Misti Dawn’s blog on January 24th of 2012, signaled not just the end of Misti’s marriage to fellow adult performer, Michael Vegas, but solidified her need for a significant change in lifestyle. Moving out of the San Fernando Valley in favor of Hollywood, Misti decided that the only way she could attempt to recover from her husband’s alleged deceit – “I found out Michael was having an affair, an emotional affair.” – was to cut her loses and move on. While this certainly won’t please those fans who were hanging out for what seemed like the inevitable DP and anal creampie scenes from their beloved copper-topped nerd girl, this alarming change has thrust Misti Dawn into the next phase of her life and career.

With a role in Max Landis’ recently released fanboy flick, The Death and Return of Superman, and plenty of blogs, podcasts, and random Internet appearances lined up, it appears Misti Dawn hasn’t let the shadier side of porn get her down. She just packed up, pulled out the weeds, and headed for Hollywood looking to sell herself as a face and personality, not just a piece of meat. That story may sound familiar to you, but if there’s one thing Misti seems sure of, it’s that she’s no LA cliche.

Missing Misti Dawn

Things first started to look a little dour for redheaded alt.pornstar and geek girl supreme, Misti Dawn, when she was hired along with another woman to perform in an anal scene that they believed was going to be a pretty straightforward dick-in-butt kind of thing. Upon turning up to set after having taken the previous night to prepare with plugs and enemas and relaxation, both performers were shocked to find out that the scene, for a movie entitled Spitting & Speculums (or something similar), was far kinkier than their agents has let them know. The director/stuntcock, now a very popular shooter of all-star POV anal scenes, began by requesting deep throat blowjobs with plenty of gagging and salivating, which was enough to unnerve our rather timid Indianan and her co-star, but then went into even raunchier territory. Pulling out a vaginal speculum and inserting it into our girls’ anuses stretching them to soon accommodate his cock, Herr Director soon had both women holding back nausea and nearly passing out from the physical shock and stress. Misti calls her agent and complains. He tells her to continue the scene, promising to sort everything out later. Misti’s co-star, though, is in the bathroom throwing up, so the pair decide that enough is enough and call it quits, going home with less impressive paychecks than what they had been guaranteed.

Detailing on her blog how it felt to be so professionally humiliated while also dealing with an intense physical situation for which she was totally unprepared – the vaginal speculum used in the scene can be extremely taxing on the elasticity of a smaller, tighter orifice for which it was definitely not intended – Misti Dawn said that this experience was enough to convince her that she’d be better off exploring her sexuality privately; that her marriage, health, sanity, and sexual satisfaction rightfully took priority over the fun and financial rewards of porn. That was the end of it. Misti Dawn the alt.pornstar was now Misti Dawn the blogger, pop-culture commentator (for Spike TV, no less), semi-professional self-employed model, private citizen, and wife of a still-performing adult entertainer.

Can a life like that really work out to be the best for all parties concerned, though? It’s one thing to be getting paid to fuck men other than your husband, but what happens when you quit and your husband keeps working and, in fact, starts to reach the apex of his own career on camera?