I must say that following this thread has been a rewarding experience for me, not only for the accolades thrown to studios that I personally love (New Sensations/Digital Sin, Evil Angel, etc), but also for the many insights that have been expressed on Wicked’s win in the “Downhill Slide” category.
As is often the case, I find there is merit to the arguments being made in almost every direction.
As David and Tricia (among others) so beautifully laid out, the Day/Date issue – a commercial reality of a constantly changing marketplace – did indeed radically redefine the playing field in Adult DVD. Gone are the extra months after the VHS release during which you could pack that multi-disc, collector’s edition DVD release with countless extras; in their place are new,inflexible deadlines that the film’s director, star, editor, DVD creator, post-production supervisor, encoder, and everyone else in the chain MUST adhere to.
That said, I think an objective look at Wicked’s output in the last 12 months reveals that not only are Jackie Ramos, Steve K, and everyone else involved in the DVD process here continuing to release work at the same high level of quality, but hopefully raising the bar as well, not only in obvious cases with titles like The Perfect Stormy, Eye Of The Beholder, and Fluff & Fold but also with titles like Jonathan Morgan’s Wicked Divas: Julia Ann, The Legend which stands (especially in the expanded DVD edition) as the best artist-specific DVD I’ve ever seen. I’d also like to call your attention to an upcoming release, Brad Armstrong’s One Man’s Obsession, starring jessica drake, which in addition to its sheer excellence as a movie, promises to be one our finest extra-laden DVDs to date.
I really feel the closing statement of Tricia’s post – “I'd probably have a nervous breakdown and then kill myself if I had to turn in a big feature movie and DVD once a month,” not for myself, but for Wicked’s tireless DVD team, who are often in the unenviable position of having to deliver multiple feature movies a month, all on a crushing Day/Date schedule. These people are heroes in my view.
Daniel, thanks for letting us know a little more about the day / date situation. Like I said, I think some of the perspective I got is a few things piling up, and I do expect you guys to bounce back. There's just too much talent, care, and class at Wicked to do otherwise, but everybody stumbles now and then.
As you can see, I definitely agreed with you on The Perfect Stormy being a very well done DVD, and I really hope that we see the series continue with other Wicked girls *cough*Devinn*cough*.
Although I haven't looked at the Wicked Divas line, it does look like compilations like most of us expected from Wicked. Unfortunately, the Jenna Jameson Anthology series didn't come close. For me, they were a big part of why I was disappointed with Wicked last year, and proably the straw that broke the camel's back on the Downhill Slide category. If they were done to the level I think the Wicked Divas series is done, I would have probably had LOT harder time deciding for that category.
"Vegetarianism for me is about saying ‘yes’ to things - even meat." - Coupling
I don't agree with this (at least not for me). I was buying Johnni Darko and Justin Slayer movies before they moved to Evil Angel. Essentially, I just followed them to EA.
Actually, since Johnni joined Evil Angel, I think that I've bought more of his movies than any I have from any of the other directors. I don't know whether this trend will continue or not. But I'd be willing to bet that he will always be running neck and neck with a few of the other guys for who's titles I'm buying more of.
Hey everyone, I must say that responding to these messages somewhat intimidate me. I feel that I hope to throw in my 2 cents without getting my head blown off. I guess that's why I rarely come on. So with risk I will hope to back the footage on the Wicked Divas Julia Ann DVD. It's not only scenes from previously released Wicked movies, but I shot two extra scenes specifically for Divas. Much went into this project including personal footage of Blondage (Me & Janine, for those who don't remember) on stage and pre-movie pictures. Jonathan Morgan came to my house and went through boxes full of stuff accumulated over the last 14-15 years. It took days alone just to scan photos. Other Video companies such as Vivid, Sin City and Andrew Blake gave some of the first video ever shot of me, including the Ice-Dildo scene. How many companies share their footage with one another like that? I was amazed at the level of help that we recieved. Andrew Blake, Christy Canyon, Janine, Randy West and more interviewed about my career in Adult. I appreciate this DVD. Granted, there is only so much you can fit onto a disk, but I think that Wicked did a great job and Jonathan sweated over ever edit, hoping that I would look at it and be proud of what I've accomplished and how he represented me. Anyone who is a Julia Ann fan will love it and even if your not the scenes are still hot, especially the one with me and Jessica Drake in a bubble bath with glasses of wine (My choice). Thank you. Treat each other well. Julia Ann
Julia, I think most of us hope that you can throw in your 2 cents without getting royally flamed as well.
The more I hear about Wicked Divas: Julia Ann , the more I think that this is the type of compilation I would have hoped Wicked would be putting out. I guess it doesn't surprise me that much that the other studios and people came out to support you on this. You're a classy professional, and one of the few people that you don't hear negative things about. It's part of why I don't think I was alone in being darn happy to see you start posting here.
"Vegetarianism for me is about saying ‘yes’ to things - even meat." - Coupling
Well, I would be very pleased if you would do me the honor of watching Divas Julia Ann and giving me your critique. If you don't care for it please say so, but be gentle. After all, it's not only a Wicked DVD, it's my life.
What was described above was what I would consider a great compilation to be, something that covers various points in your career & assorted behind the scenes stuff (as opposed to a bunch of scenes that the studio has the rights to thrown together). This is what I expect of a "best of" headliner/contract star (at least from a company that tries to place itself on a higher plane such as Wicked).
Please don't be intimidated to throw your opinion in. As a fan I love it when I get to hear/read the opinions/thoughts of the people in front of the camera. One of the amazing things about the internet is that it allows this to happen outside of the carefully scripted press releases. What is so cool is that it allows the real you (& me for whatever that is worth ) to show through.
So please jump in (not only up here but down in the bottom half of the forums as well) as it only makes you that much more of a complete picture than what is shown on the screen.
RT
(as an aside, I actually talked to you for a couple of minutes in Vegas (AEE) last month. Mrs. RT & I talked to you at the booth (about nothing) for a couple of minutes (the line was long) & then moved on to enjoy the show. About 30 seconds after we left you she stopped dead in the middle of the aisle (holding up traffic), turned to me & asked "Wasn't she dark haired in Hercules ?" )
Will do. When I have a problem with a disc or movie or anything, I always try to make a suggestion on how to improve it or fix the problem. With that I figure that companies at least have a possible solution to what may or may not be a problem. To me, people who always whine about problems without ever offering any options are part of the problem, not part of the solution.
"Vegetarianism for me is about saying ‘yes’ to things - even meat." - Coupling
11 Posts my little girls alls growns up. Welcome Julia Ann to my other section of hell.
Even though I can't watch Julia's sex scenes, It really is like kissing my sister. I know that both her a Jonathan put alot into that title. Jonathan was an editing machine last year and did some really cool stuff.
Astro this whole thing started with an opinion, your opinion I again really think you did an outstanding job writing it and had a great time watching people battle over it. God bless America!
Have a great day guys and buy Tales From the Crack!
David
Ps Tell Michael that I hope he is feeling better. I miss you guys.
Craw
David Crawford Evil Angel DVD
Edited by - David Crawford on 2/4/2005 11:15:54 AM
Edited by - David Crawford on 2/4/2005 6:14:04 PM
Edited by - David Crawford on 2/7/2005 12:22:36 PM
bill-my guess is we've got different tastes and buying habits. i tend to buy the few dvds i'm really interested in, which is why i've got about 25 or them, probably less. darkko might have meant something as a name to the educated and discerning viewer such as yourself but not much to the person who knows enough to not buy by a picture on the cover but not hot new directors on adt. i'm not bashing them, they're high-quality from the casts to customer-service replacing discs and i'll keep buying them except for the newer directors. i'll happily watch IR scenes, but not interested in a movie themed around it so slayer is out and i just feel darkko to be overhyped. manuel, everhard(duct-tape on mouth) and a few others could put out better stuff with the resources he's likely been given.
If people didn't have different tastes, there would only need to be one company and a bunch of clone directors. I, for one, am glad that people have different tastes.Since I rarely watch gonzo DVD's start to finish, it doesn't matter to me if the entire DVD contains all IR scenes or not. What's the difference if I have 5 movies all containing 1 IR scene or 1 movie containing 5 IR scenes and 4 that contain 0?
1-obviously people have different tastes. but they do follow some kind of distribution curve and sometimes i'm convinced there may as well be one studio and cloned directors given the copycat nature of the discs out there.
2-that's 9 movies, for someone like me that's 1/3 of what i own and while it might still work as a ratio, there's not a provisional nature to buying movies. it's hard for me to remember that things will even out in 5 more purchases. i'm probably on the low end of consumption on here, but probably closer to the average of overall customers.
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kerrville Deactivated User
kerrville, texas 39 Posts 5/04
Posted - Feb 5 2005 : 4:34AM
My Worst Studio is Anabolic/Diabolic. They seem to release titles sporadically and not on schedule. They have the WORST Director lineup. Their Boxcover is amateur. They dont care about FANS.
Switching gears for a second... I just wanted to thank Astro for picking this movie as his favorite amateur DVD! It means alot to get that kind of feedback from someone like Astro.
You provide a good assessment in your original post. As to why the brilliant director Christoph Clark doesn't get more recognition in the States, I don't know. I personally don't believe that the AVN awards always give credit where credit is due. But that's another story.
