Entertainment | Mr. Pink's Blog

Tanya Tate: Superhero

We all know (and presumably are attracted to) Tanya Tate, right? She’s that dynamite blonde Liverpudlian who recently branched out from performing in adult films to directing adult films (Tanya Tate’s Runaways and Tanya Tate’s Tea & Muffin Party, anyone?), and the latest in a continuing line of adult performers immortalized in comic book superhero form. After Pamela Anderson’s and Stan Lee’s Stripperella, Penthouse Comix, and numerous “parody” publications filled with explicit Fantastic Four-ways comes Tate’s very own creation, Lady Titan launching this weekend at San Diego Comic Con.

After building a thriving fanbase with her combined careers in hardcore porn and cosplay modeling – the latter sending many geeks plotzing with her renditions of Emma Frost, a foxy female Green Lantern, Catwoman (the Julie Newmar version), Black Canary, and She-Ra – Tate now moves more directly into the world of genetic mutations, freak biological accidents, villainous monsters, and caped crusaders of justice. And she’s doing it at the world’s annual comic-fan clusterfuck: San Diego Comic Con 2013.

Created with artist Mikel Harvey and colorist Simon Gough, Tate’s titular heroine has an origin steeped in live-action superhero television lore. Lady Titan begins as an out-of-work actress finds her recently acquired vintage costume outfits her with the powers of the 70’s TV superhero that once wore it onscreen. Tate boasted, “The character herself is not a ‘Superhero’ but someone thrust into that role; partly because of her sense of what’s right, but also her own survival. I think readers will have fun with Lady Titan.”

Tate will be appearing at Geekscape’s booth (#3919) at Comic Con all weekend, so if you’re in San Diego for the festivities, be sure to stop by and check out Lady Titan in flesh, in print, and in limited edition 11×17 poster form (autographed by the lady herself, of course).

Being Ambitious (Within Reason) in KPOP

Fan reactions were dismissive when CBS issued a memorandum requesting “buttocks and female breasts [be] adequately covered” for its broadcast of the 2013 Grammy Awards in February, essentially amounting to “If Rhianna wants to show her underboob, we wanna see it!” And, true to expectations, there was plenty of cleavage, thigh, and lower-back on display throughout the ceremony. In South Korea’s thriving pop music industry, however, even second-tier artists find themselves subject to sexual censorship.

Dal Shabet (meaning “Moon Sherbet”) is a six-member girl group signed to Happy Face Entertainment, the company founded by producing duo E-Tribe, the pair responsible for Girls’ Generation’s super-massive-hit ‘Gee’, arguably the song that pushed KPop into the global consciousness, have been the subject of censorship demands from TV station SBS, who objected to the allegedly provocative lyrics of the group’s latest single, ‘Be Ambitious’. The objectionable lines – “When is [our relationship] progressing to the next level / Going home even when drunk / Are you really a man? / Are you being shy?” – were accepted by the MBC and KBS, the two other major TV stations on which Dal Shabet were booked for promotional performances, but SBS insisted and eventually got the changes they requested. The new lyrics – “Do you even find my aegyo (cutsey behavior) cute? / Why do you keep looking at the clock? / Look at me / Do you really like me?” – are definitely not as provocative as those deemed questionable, but apparently that wasn’t enough for some of those rejected the message of ‘Be Ambitious’, one of women demanding the attention and affection they crave instead of being taken for granted or ignored entirely.

The Korean title of ‘Be Ambitious’, ‘?? ?????? ??‘ translates to ‘Look at My Legs’ and it’s clear from the amount of lower limb skin shown in the group’s concept images and music video that Serri, Jiyul, Ah Young, GaEun, Woohee, and Subin were going to attract ample attention from fans and detractors both for their flashy new image. (Dal Shabet have historically been something of a whipping boy for netizens’ frustration and bile, unfairly so.) Somewhat surprisingly, though, the second prominent demand for censorship came not from the entertainment industry, but from a male rights group called Man of Korea (MOK). Claiming “the lyrics and music video of ‘Be Ambitious’ depreciate both women and men, and it’s harmful to the youth,’ MOK has requested the song be banned from further distribution, also claiming the song will induce “sexual assault from the youth by planting the wrong influence about women and sex” and citing scenes in the music video allegedly “depreciating the 60,000 soldiers” currently serving South Korea as similarly deplorable.

Gee, you’d think a national pop industry known for celebrating the ridiculous and outlandish (and the female leg) would recognize a work of satirical pop greatness when it roars onto the Gaon charts!

Vivid Saves Joe Francis from Sex Tape Shame

In what many may interpret as a perpetuation of a ‘boys’ club’ mentality, Vivid Video head honcho Steve Hirsch has purchased a sex tape starring (and allegedly stolen from) Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis and his girlfriend Abbey Wilson. So, business as usual for the company that has released “leaked” and “stolen” sex tapes starring numerous celebrities from Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee, Janine Lindemulder and Vince Neil, Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, Tila Tequila, and, most recently, Teen Mom “star” Farrah Abraham and “legitimate partner” James Deen. So, we can expect Francis and Wilson’s tape to see an imminent release, right? Well, no.

Hirsch, who paid an undisclosed sum for the video, allegedly stolen from Wilson’s iPad at LAX, made his purchase to ensure the safe return of the sex tape to its rightful owners in consideration of their established tight bro-ness. Surely a tape featuring Francis, recently convicted of false imprisonment and assault of three women he met at a club in Hollywood in 2011 and the creator of one of porn’s most widely despised companies, would be in sufficient demand to warrant a release! Not so, says Hirsch, who apparently regards the age old rule of “Bros Before Hos (and Video Sales)” as an unbreakable tenant of friendship.

Francis, who faces five years in prison and fines up $13,000 for his offenses, may have narrowly escaped public humiliation this time, but… Oh, wait, no he didn’t.

Is VR the Future of Sex?

Now that Xbox One and PS4 consoles have been revealed at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, one might think there’s nothing more thrilling on the immediate horizon, especially for the increasingly adult gaming market. With the recent announcement of VRSexKit, though, ThriXXX aims to convince more adult gamers and porn fans alike to part with a hefty sum all in the name of an unparalleled simulated experience. Unlike the Xbox One and PS4 consoles, though, this package is all about sexual satisfaction.

Thanks to recent advancements such as Microsoft’s Kinect camera, digital display glasses, neuro-operated controllers, and haptic sex toys, ThriXXX is confidently packaging a range of devices together with software that will see users fondling and even fucking the bodies of avatars existing only in the digital (or virtual) realm.

Combining the power of the Kinect’s gesture based controls, a Zeiss pair of USB mounted display glasses, Mindwave’s Neurosky Controller, advanced webcam technology, 3D graphics from nVidia, and Fleshlight’s USB Vstroker, ThriXXX aims to have users watching and interacting with porn in an entirely immersive fashion. From the 3D graphics appearing onscreen to motion detection tracking their movements (basic missionary thrusting, of course), speech recognition software reacting to verbal commands, a brainwave-operated controller tracking their rising intensity, and Fleshlight’s VStroker doing everything else (but more genitally-oriented), ThriXXX’s VRSexKit (at a projected cost of less than $1,500, promises to be the next legitimate step towards a completely virtual, completely satisfying sexual experience.

Not everybody is on board, though, and we’ll address some of the naysayers’ complaints later this week right here at Mr. Pink’s.