As to the tread title, yes, of course. Being flawed is part of the gift of being human.

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Edited by - John-O 76 on 6/3/2005 4:20:08 AM

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Personally, as long as I feel I can connect to the performance and the technicals aren't distracting, I'm happy.

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Sounds like we would have all directors producing the same "perfect" production (in the eyes of a viewer).

I can already hear the shouts and stomping of feet for some variety.

DenverDon [img]http://board.freeones.com/images/smilies/computer.gif[/img]

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I think you need to find the directors that make product you like. If I can sift through hours of DPs and anals to find the stuff I like (i.e. not DPs and anals), it's not that big a deal to choose studios, lines and directors you enjoy.

Constructive criticism is fine. And, you are well within bounds, IMHO. One thing is for sure: Intelligently posting our preferences here on ADT does get read and noticed -- and occasionally acted upon -- by the industry. Maybe someone will make stuff more the way you like it... just maybe not the directors you want to

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-T.C.

Comstock Films:Real Life, Real People, Real Sex

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As long as we're fantasizing and philosophizing, that is...

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Edited by - ejac on 1/19/2007 1:55:19 PM

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& um, DIY was what brought us the original wave of punk, new wave filmmaking, etc etc .... whatever. I have content to go produce right now. Later.

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Edited by - ejac on 1/19/2007 1:54:59 PM

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trashing going on.

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Cheers, bitches!

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Ejac meet DAC
DAC meet Ejac

Ejac-u-dac
Dac-ejac

Sounds like a performance enhancing miracle product!

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Jules Jordan gets a bit artsy sometimes, and the bondage stuff in every movie is a little tiring, but he still understands that the focus should be on the woman. He's also not trying to be a scene stealer like most known male performers when performs in a scene.

Mark Wood is under-rated in my opinion as a director. As a performer he used to be quieter, but lately he's getting louder during his scenes. I wonder why?

Yes, every director has a flaw in my opinion. Some are alot closer to perfection than others.

-PornoPunK

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The perfect director is Max Hardcore. Even retarded people like me know that .

Edited by - cobalt60 on 6/3/2005 3:59:19 PM

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I mean, there's lots of complaints being made, but what's new? :)

Consumer opinions are what ADT is here for--even when they are less then helpful. It's the flaming and repetitive diatribes that aren't allowed.

I'm not sure what's got Ejac all in knots, though. I can certainly see the porn producers side of it. They have fans telling them they want something different, but be careful not to make it TOO different. It's a lose-lose situation listening to that kind of feedback and trying to act on it. If I were a producer who was trying to make money at this, and at the same time trying to really do something special, I'd be frustrated too.

Edited by - MLyons on 6/3/2005 4:33:07 PM

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Was thinking about all this while I took a little break from the Internet to do some work:) ... The obvious irony here is that I've noticed a growing wave of discontent among fans -- here & elsewhere -- over the proliferation of lookalike, uninspired product. Product which is a direct result of producers who either have no aesthetic of their own or are afraid to trust it -- religiously kowtowing to what every Tom, Dick & Stroker THINKS they want their porn to be like.

Well, the chickens have come home to roost, just as they have in Hollywood -- does anyone out there think that the "downbeat" endings of any of the classics I mentioned would have survived focus groups & test-screenings? Is it better to have three seasons of MILLENNIUM or a decade of FRIENDS?

& as for porn, if Gerard Damiano, Henry Paris, Greg Dark, & John Stagliano weren't all at least as concerned with satisfying their own tastes as they were that of the audience, we wouldn't have DEVIL IN MISS JONES, MISTY BEETHOVEN, NEW WAVE HOOKERS or even the original ADVENTURES OF BUTTMAN.

& every director inspired for good or bad by the unexpected success of those films.

A film like FASHIONISTAS is possible NOT merely because JS shot however many Buttman titles. Experiments like BUTTMAN CONFIDENTIAL, BUDDA, etc -- none of which were/are universally lauded -- are what helped JS clarify his visions & his skills for himself.

Yes, every creator hopes that there will be a large enough audience of like-minded people out there so that enough of a financial return comes trickling back through all the grabby middlemen involved to allow him the privilege & right to material survival through doing what he thinks he should be doing with his abilities.

But a real creator should always work in a vacuum at the time of creation, though I would agree he's missing a valuable resource if he doesn't listen to the feedback afterwards to what he's created.

But by feedback, I don't mean advice as to how be "number one on the charts," which 90 percent of the time doesn't mean creating something so fine it has universal appeal, but instead catering to the lowest common denominator. I speak of reasonable reactions & criticisms by those somewhere close to the same wavelength as the people making the art/entertainment.

The reason we remember & still support, oh say, Brian Wilson but not Herman's Hermits (the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs of their day) is because the former was an artist -- in a field where such an appellation was unheard of at the time -- while the latter was an example of bandwagon-jumping marketing decisions in order to maximize corporate profits.

To go back to Imaginative's original post, it just so happens I agree more than not with most of his specific assessments -- although to pine for a "great erotic filmmaker" is not the same as wishing there was a hardcore gonzo/wall-to-wall video shooter who happens to cross every i and dot every t (pun intended) exactly the way HE would do it.

(That he can't seem to come up with a specific problem with Joey's work except that it isn't always exactly the way he would do it betrays what a hermetic, no-win situation he's creating)

The thrill of discovering vital art/entertainment/whatever is when you come across something that you've never imagined before, but upon seeing it feel that you've been given something -- a more developed aesthetic, appreciation for a previously opaque genre or human emotion (& that includes what makes us hard/lubricate) that you didn't have before.

Unfortunately that thrill is more & more being stolen from us by the greedier & greedier corporate gatekeepers of culture who are too cowardly & small to roll the dice if there's even the tiniest risk, or lack of potential for the hugest profits -- reasonable returns are no longer enough, you have to have a multi-million $$ opening weekend, or in porn's case ship 5000 copies on day/date -- in order to be considered a worthy & viable part of the system.

One can only hope that Imaginative is being ironic when he says becoming a great erotic filmmaker "seems easy, doesn't it?" If he's not, that's the equivalent of some boor who keeps his friends in stitches at the bar looking at a professional comedian & saying, "Hey, that's easy, I can do that."

& don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that Imaginative shouldn't express himself however he feels like, & have whatever POV he prefers. I'm just expressing myself back, with the same ... vigor. 'Cause pissy deserves pissy. Everyone into the piss pool! :D Or not ...

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I can feel a little of what Ejac was getting at , though . It's annoying to be asked for an opinion and then rained on when it's not what the questioner had in mind . The old "well if you think you can do better" defense is about as useful to criticism of porn as it is to criticism of politics or TV . Few people can make a TV show , but does that mean they shouldn't ever criticise ? Or how about writing a book . Or coaching a winning football team . Or ... you get the point .

One of the hardest parts of doing something creative that you really put your heart and soul into must be putting it out into the real world and offering it up for judgment . They have my sympathy and admiration . But can't they learn to block out the less informed voices and respond to the ones they consider worthwhile , whether they're positive or not ? And no , I'm not one of the informed ones much of the time . Tough titty .

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"The idea is for you , Mr. Producer, to produce content and sell it to consumers, and give the customer what they ask for."

Or, as John Lydon so sneeringly & aptly put it: "This is what you want, this is what you get."

Ejac wrote:

"I've toyed with the thought of unloading my own amateur stuff, but realistically, I don't have the time nor the energy. And, it's obvious that I can't work a camera for shit. Drop into the equation that not everyone lives in porn vally's, so are ridiculed with local laws and statutes."

Now who's talking "cop-out"? I counted four excuses -- two rounds left in the pistol!

Ejac wrote:

"I can't stand it when someone says "if you think you can do better, do it yourself".

Good thing Edison, Einstein, JFK, Picasso, MLK, Ted Turner (seriously!) & everybody else who was blessed with the courage to stand up & try didn't feel that way!

Ejac wrote:

"Don't think that you're so special that everyone should see things your way or no way. I used to be a heavy consumer of porn - to the likings of 30 to 40 titles per year. Anymore, I consider myself splurging to buy 6 or 7 titles in that same time frame. That's a big drop - so just imagine if everyone else aquired my attitude."

Then half this shit would go away. But the relatively smaller audience enjoyed by folk like me would be unchanged -- might even pick up a converts -- it's hard for a quirky little rundown coffee house with character to compete against too many Starbucks, y'know. LOL

Ejac wrote:

"Ending this rant, when producers get off of their high fucking horses and give me what I want, I'll contribute more to the madness. Otherwise, I'll buy that rare video from some other country where the customer is valued. "

Funny, I agree with you one-hundred percent here, except for the too-broad-to-interpret "customer is valued." That's why Lucas, etc don't get my money, but Kim Ki-Duk & Wong Kar Wai do (ask Ultradamno if this remark is too obscure to make sense).

Ejac finally wrote:

"PS - to answer the heading of this topic, YES. Every one of them are every bit as flawed as I am!"

All men are CREATED equal -- it's a heady philosophical idea, but for one thing doesn't apply to what man does with that "equality" ... George W. Bush is a significantly more flawed human being than Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Paris Hilton is a seriously more flawed human being than Mother Teresa. Knowing more fhe directors on Imaginative's list quite well, all I can say is that I consider some of them much more flawed as people and artists than me, and others to be much less flawed?

But who's keeping score, after all? It's not like there's somebody out there even now constructing a database where they meticulously catagorize & assess the professional flaws & strengths of porn directors, is there? :)

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Edited by - ejac on 1/19/2007 1:54:19 PM

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Ejac, have a beer relax it's just banter ... not a fist fight

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-T.C.

Comstock Films:Real Life, Real People, Real Sex

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The coolest shit I've seen all month was shot on a memory stick and looks like a transmission from the Baghdad front lines, BTS from Steve Holmes' Anal Cum Addicts (I can see that title now, on the National Film Preservation Board's next "historic cinema" list). Gia Paloma goes berserk and just fucks and sucks every cock in sight -- and she's only supposed to be the makeup girl! Crazed spontaniety -- true gonzo -- and real enflamed passion beats technical elegance. It's hotter than piss. The camera guy fucked it up but the action was too good to leave out -- it's the best scene in the movie (and no DAC, that is not a set-up for you to drop a snarky one-liner , but if you must ...)

Edited by - skronker on 6/3/2005 6:36:57 PM

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--MelissaP.

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Dammit, look at the time. I've got to go boil some small potatos.

-T.C.

Comstock Films:Real Life, Real People, Real Sex

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:)

Have a good Friday night, all. I'm off to check out the American premiere of the new Johnny To flick --- give my regards to the blind dwarf, Skronk!

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that is why I don't call myself a director. I try not to direct as much as possible. I book the right people and try to set a good environment. Whatever than happens you will see in my movies.

Steve Holmes

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Edited by - ejac on 1/19/2007 1:54:02 PM

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-T.C.

Comstock Films:Real Life, Real People, Real Sex

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1) If you don't quite like what a producer/director is making, TRY SOMEONE ELSE.

2) "You can't please all of the people all of the time"

..................Cum Have Fun With Me

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Had a great time at the Egyptian screening -- don't miss Johhny To's BREAKING NEWS if it screens nearby -- the opening 7-minute single tracking shot urban firefight involving cops, robbers, hijacked ambulances & a conveniently adjacent phalanx of HK press vultures makes Brian De Palma, etc look uninspired!

Also, I gotta say that one of the few things in L.A. that never gets old for me is getting a little twisted & wandering around H'wood, enjoying the bizarre juxtapositions of names on the Walk of Fame ... try it next time you're in town, if you haven't yet!

Ejac -- congrats on your career, & sorry if I made some vein throb too hard in your forehead -- can't say I'm too thrilled about your attitude towards the Art of Pornography, but rather than be childish & come back at ya, let's just take two deep breaths & try to keep the jousting sharp & incisive but not personal -- sorry that my authorial voice is so uncompromising, but hey, that's what I used to do for a living before i learned how to stand behind a camera and watch people have sex (actually, more often than not we PICK UP the camera, but ... me, a stickler?).

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Edited by - ejac on 1/19/2007 1:56:14 PM

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I don't want to tell the musicians in the orchestra how I think they should play because I paid good money to come and hear them. I just want to enjoy the music.

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