But most people would consider me a female viewer, and you already have a good reading on that audience.

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The problem with most j/o solos is that they tend to seem "forced" and often run way too long. Give me a really hot guy who is either totally absorbed in what he is doing and gets on with it or who involves me with a bit of teasing and eye contact and I'm happy. Regardless of the content, a solo scene should never run on and on, probably 5 to 10 minutes, absolute maximum, is about right.

Sorry, but I can't comment on your Nuttin' title -- I'd never heard of it before today.

~ GaySatyr

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you've answered a related debate in our offices about "Nuttin 2". A few of our producers felt we should add time to our solo scenes (currently 5-7 minutes) "Baby Boss" our director felt she should add a few more guys rather than make the scenes drag.

We are a small and growing so company, so it doesn't surprise me that you haven't heard of us. besides Platinum Pictures We site you can find "Nuttin" on TLA VIDEO

Feedback like yours can only make us better. I will ask you guys about hardcore ethnic stuff as we get closer to launching our gay division of or company. Thanks a million.

Gotta go share your thoughts with the others at Platinum Pictures Inc.

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To expand on my thoughts, in a sex scene where there are two or more participants, if the sexual chemistry isn't perfect, the scene can still hold together as long as the participants are appropriately attractive and/or the scene melds properly with the theme or story line of the video; however, with solo scenes, both the chemistry -- in this case, either with the viewer as voyeur or one-on-one with the viewer as clandestine participant -- and the actor/model have to be first rate in order to keep the viewer's attention. Don't even bother with second-rate talent in a j/o video -- it will fail (at least, it will fail among gay viewers). And if the sexual intensity of a scene falters for even a moment, leave the whole scene on the cutting room floor. Every scene in a solo j/o video needs to be exceptional in some way. If it isn't, the video is doomed and the viewer is unlikely to buy that vendor's solo product again.

Even with dependable producers such as Titan Media and Pacific Sun, I am unlikely to buy their solo material again. Despite the fact that some of the scenes were very good in their offerings I've purchased thus far, others weren't. It's not that they were bad -- in actuality, they were good -- they just weren't good enough to keep my attention. The only way I'll buy solo material from either company again is if they happen to release a title where one or more of the actors featured is a particular favorite of mine. Had they each distilled their two discs of material down to one exceptional disc, I'd be clamoring for more.

~ GaySatyr

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~ GaySatyr

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The overall structure is excellent--each scene is less than ten minutes (probably the right length for most viewers) and accompanied by a tiny bit of story (providing a motive for the masturbation). I like the soundtrack, which is similar to the music in my funk dance class, sans vocals. The music fades out before the climaxes, making the on-location sounds clearly audible. The camerawork is handheld, which gives a slightly edgy, unpolished feel. It's reasonably good, however, as is the editing. One of the scenes contains a few autofellatory licks and ends with the performer ejaculating onto his closed mouth. In addition to the six regular scenes, there is a bonus scene.

The men are physically fit and quite young, but not attractive to my eyes, for the reasons GaySatyr described. Their distinct urban, underclass look will appeal to some audiences but not others (BTW, the cover model was photographed before getting the tattoo work which he sports in his scene). The situations which prompt the wanking are neutral (the discovery of a pornographic magazine while painting graffiti outdoors) or negative (defiance when a girlfriend fails to show up). In most scenes, the men wear black shirts with a huge Platinum Pictures logo displayed prominently in white. In my opinion, I'd prefer a subtle watermark if there are concerns about piracy.

A title screen states that no assumptions should be made regarding the performers' sexuality. My personal impression, however, is that the characters are meant to be straight. There are references to "girls," and in the autofellatio scene, the character's intention is to satisfy a female voyeur who has hired him as an escort. There are NO toys, NO anal stimulation. According to the director, "...excessive ass play and toys take us away from what we want to present which is 'Straight men getting in touch with themselves.'" It's also infrequent that the men touch or caress any body part other than their dicks. I disagree with this approach, especially since I personally know a number of straight men here at AdultDVDTalk who are whole body masturbators. But if you want "straight" masturbation which is very direct and to the point, Nuttin might address that for you.

All in all, I'd give Nuttin 2.5 stars. It's a good enough start, yet it doesn't quite hold up to the other debut solo movies I've seen from independent studios, e.g. Good Morning Men (Daddy Oohhh!) or Girl Show (Pandora). The creators of those 4-star movies put them on pressed discs (not DVD-R) and didn't include logos in the scenes. For me, the Nuttin scenes are inconsistent in heat and not always as playful or varied as I would like. Yet I did see some elements which specifically appealed to me, including cigar smoking in one scene, a few athletic positions, and attractive shots of hard cocks reflected against glass.

<Edit: fixed a typo.>

Edited by - YogaGrrl on 1/17/2004 12:29:19 PM

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The biggest complaint I have about "straight" porn is stoic guys. I've heard women say this not only about guys in porn but in real life to. It's expected that women in porn should be totally uninhibited. But straight guys? No, no. That is such utter hogwash. There is enough porn like that already. I want to see totally uninhibited guys that are comfortable with their sexuality and aren't afraid to express themselves. But you know what? There are a lot of stoic guys in gay and bisexual porn too.

Getting back to masturbation scenes, if the guy is straight and likes anal or cum play, great. If the guy is gay and stumbles across a Playgirl magazine that gets him going, great. If the guy is a real exhibitionist and knows how to tease the viewer, great. If the guy can do auto fellatio, I know where I want the cum shot. If the guy wants to squeeze a pillow between his thighs and play with his nipples, great. I think any audience that wants to see solo male scenes would rather see variety than some externally defined normative behavior.

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xoxo
Devinn

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• Sounds like you've got the timing about right (as I pointed out earlier).


• Motivation is a good thing.


• Music tied to the mood & action and fading away under live action sound at climax is excellent.


• I often prefer hand-held to tripod mounted camera work; but get a camera with opto-mechanical image stabilization built in (the high-end Canon and Sony models [e.g., the DCR-VX 2100] have this) -- not the electronic variety used in most consumer-oriented equipment. You get the best of both worlds that way.


• If a guy is gonna aim for his own mouth, it had better not be closed! If he isn't willing to play the game, aim elsewhere.


• YogaGrrl's description of the actor/models as having a "distinct urban, underclass look" is exactly what I am not interested in. Your cover model (sans tattoos) is excellent -- at least what I can see of him in the small cover photo on TLA Video's web site.


• I'm not against tattoos as long as they (1) are exceptionally well executed, (2) fit the image of their canvas, and (3) enhance the mood of the scene. If all three criteria are not met, get a different model/actor. The same rules should apply to body piercing.


• Neutral excuses work; negative ones are much less effective. Why not go for a positive excuse by letting us see one half of a phone sex conversation. We don't even need to know the gender of the person on the other end of the line. "Damn it, my girlfriend didn't show up so I gotta jack off," doesn't cut it. I'm not objecting to the occasional straight porn magazine or finding straight porn accidentally left in a VCR as motivation, just focus on the live j/o scene and quickly minimize what initiated it.


• Self-promotion within the body of work is not a good thing -- give the guys the logo booty when they leave after the film is in the can.


• "No assumptions about the actor's sexuality..." -- who are you kidding? Take your str8-ass video and #$%^&* it up your %^&* -- Give me the kind of intro YogaGrrl describes and not only will I not buy your product, I'll actively campaign for others to boycott it. You want gay business? You blew it. In effect, you are telling me that I'm a sicko queer pervert and these guys aren't.


• There is a tremendous amount solo j/o material already on the market featuring straight guys. Some of it (e.g., Dirk Yates' straight military boys on the All Worlds label) is reasonably good (although, if you've seen one of DY's videos, you've seen them all - and he's made hundreds). As long as they do a good job, I don't give a damn if the actors in the video are gay, bisexual, straight, or only into having sex with six-headed green Martians; but if you expect to collect money from me for your effort, do NOT rub my nose in their straightness as opposed to my gayness! You will NOT get my business; you will get from me the same contempt that you've shown me in your production.


• Your director's comments, "...excessive ass play and toys take us away from what we want to present which is 'Straight men getting in touch with themselves.'" is bull. "Straight men getting in touch with themselves," invites experimentation. If you want to produce good solo material, get a different philosophy -- and some variety.

Maybe the harshness of my rant is out of place; however, Platinum Pictures posted their request for comments on a gay forum. If this is their attitude towards a potential gay market, they deserve the heat. If they want gay business, they've got a lot of revamping to do.

~ GaySatyr (stepping off soapbox now)

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This morning I responded to a few homophobic post from another site which said that all of our material look "Gay". And then followed with a homophobic rant. Six or seven people agreed and they weren't even talking about NUTTIN. They objected to having males on the front of straight videos. I think their position is extreme.

Now I am attacked by "GaySatyr" at the other extreme.

Where do I begin.... I guess I should first say that I found YogaGrrl's review reasonable and fair. Although I didn't agree with some of her opinions, they were presented in a fair professional way.

I find it ironic that "GaySatyr" is offended by his interpretation of a portion of a statement in the legalese before our video begins, yet he openly insults a group of people that he calls "underclass". Some "super sensitive" could consider that code for Black or ethnic. Urban guys are not necessary underclass. But I will give you the benefit of not "assuming" you meant that in a negative way.

The problem was not YogaGrrl's quoting the statement on a rolling screen, but her misinterpretation of it's meaning and then your amplification of that misinterpretation. Remember the childhood game "telephone" or "Pass it down the lane". By the time the message gets to the last person the original message is butchered beyond recognition.

By the way while you are boycotting us, here are some others you might add to your list:

Inches Magazine
All Man Magazine
Latin Inches Magazine
Playguy Magazine
Honcho Magazine
Mandate Magazine

These are all gay magazines, all marketed to gay men and they all have the same type of disclaimer in the beginning of their magazines, as we do in the rolling legalese of our video.

oh, I forgot Playgirl Magazine also has the same type of disclaimer.

I can't speak for those magazines but I can speak for us. Despite that fact that a Solo video is just that solo. Many still believe Solo videos are gay videos. So what you might ask?

Well many of our solo guys are straight and they work in straight porn. And although we may like it to be different, the straight porn community is extremely homophobic. Our performers will be labeled something that they are not. They won't be hired by others in straight porn and may face a lot of problems all because they did a solo video.

We did not run a craw under the guys as they were jerking off saying "He's straight people, he's straight". So your statement "do NOT rub my nose in their straightness as opposed to my gayness!" is your little issue.

All we did was run a disclaimer within the legal information we have in the front of our video. The same disclaimer many run (see the same list above...there are hundreds of companies that do the same) We did that for practical and legal reasons.

We are not going to court because one of male performers claims we defamed his character because of what people "ASSUME" about his sexuality as a result of him being in our videos.

See not every statement on a video (that you have never seen) is about you, so chill!

As for my comment about "ass play" that was in response to YogaGrrl's private e-mail to me.
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YogaGrrl Wrote:
I'd like to see them caressing all their erogenous zones. This doesn't necessarily mean anal stimulation (although I like that); it'd be hot even if the men would just run their hands over their chests or buttocks more often. I also noticed there are no toys in this production. They're not absolutely necessary, but sometimes a cock ring (or dildo/vibrator for the more adventurous) can add a bit of interest to the scene.

Part of my response was:
As for toys and dildos: The vast majority of these men are straight and "dick" toys are not in the cards for them. With the exception of Boom Boom all of the other guys even perform in our straight movies. So excessive ass play and toys take us away from what we want to present which is "Straight men getting in touch with themselves"
----

Some of our guys did run their hands across their chest and many find them sexy (even if they are urban).

Lastly, It is true we did ask for feedback. What we didn't ask for was a super sensitive over personalized rant that stemmed from your misinterpretation of something we did not say.

Hopefully others will judge us on the quality of our work not their on personal issues and/or misinterpretations. So, burn your soap box, curb your irrational (even hysterical) judgment and communicate like a responsible adult, not to mention a monitor...please!

BABY BOSS

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I'm not in a good mood these days as a result of an ongoing fight with AT&T Wireless that is causing me major problems, including cutting my income significantly. Another 4-1/2 hours on hold last night didn't help. However, that is no excuse for taking out my frustration on you.

Blacks and/or Hispanics are not my problem. I've got a few videos with a variety of ethnic groups represented among their casts that I like very much. I'd love to find a studio producing really high quality videos featuring ethnic casts. Unfortunately, based on the product I've seen, the vast majority of videos produced by American studios featuring ethnic casts are poorly executed with substandard production values and casts who are often, to put it bluntly, unattractive.

I haven't seen your video. I have seen its cover art and I've seen the stills of a couple of the models on your web site. Of the three, I find two to be very attractive; the third, I don't care for -- but that's my taste in men. What I don't like about him is his tattoos. I realize that tattoos are popular these days and I can deal with one or two. However, as their quantity rises and/or their quality falls, my interest wanes -- rapidly. A taut, muscular body and a hard cock don't hold my attention when ink is a person's defining characteristic. It doesn't matter the color of the skin beneath it. Again, that's my taste.

Since I've managed to stuff both my feet in my mouth, I'll bow out repeating my apology for jumping to conclusions and ranting about what wasn't there. I've said more than enough.

~ GaySatyr

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We are all human trying to make it in an ever increasingly difficult world. I echo Lisa's post when we say "Thank you for your constructive suggestions."

Guess what, I too dislike tattoos on my performers. And yes, I told him that. We took the picture on the cover before the tattoos appeared. Personally, I can't wait for this craze to pass. Like you, it's just my opinion.

I wish you well in with all of those problems. I would commiserate with you in detail, but I've been up all night editing and I don't want to seem condescending.

Thank you for being the bigger person, I too had too much venom in my response (like i said it's been a long night)

finally, sleeping in Philly,

Baby Boss

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I apologize for any confusion my comments have caused. The reason I mentioned my impression (and it's just that--an impression) "that the characters are meant to be straight" is because I know some viewers (including gay men) are specifically looking for straight masturbation scenarios and having a hard time finding them.

I don't think there's anything offensive about the opening disclaimer, which reads:

"The performers in this movie are professional actors and actresses delivering scripted performances. This video, it's (sic) contents, nor it's (sic) box cover art work should be construed as indicative the (sic) person's conduct, sexual orientation, actual thoughts, feelings or lifestyle."

I also apologize for using a potentially offensive term like "underclass." I knew what I wanted to say, and I struggled to think of the best way to say it. I looked at some of the terms TLA uses to categorize this movie ("banjee boys/ruffnecks/thugz" and "shady guys/trade (fuck overs)") and decided I didn't like that wording either. It seemed too strong to me; the characters here not presented as bad people, but neither are they exactly financially well-to-do. If it helps, I should maybe share that I did live at or near the poverty level for a time during my childhood. "Underclass" is a word that I use with some irony and empathy. It's not a word related to race in my mind, simply to socioeconomic conditions.

The thing is, I don't find that sexy. I associate it with an unpleasant and frightening time in my life. I hope I haven't made things worse with my explanation; that's just where I'm coming from.

Regardless, I'm not saying Nuttin is a bad movie. I'm saying I had a mixed reaction to it, and that's just one reviewer's opinion, nothing more or less.

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My enjoyment of watching a sex scene doesn't always depend on whether I am personally attracted to a particular performer. I don't care what their sexual orientation is. Just show me an uninhibited person that isn't constrained by some checklist of don'ts, and I'm happy.

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What is erotic about watching a guy masturbate?

What is erotic about watching a woman masturbate? It is like the two women having sex and the two guys having sex it is the same thing. Maybe I am just a little more open about it than most people because I am openly bi-sexual but it is just sexy. They are sharing something very personal with you and that is a turn on. So maybe it is the confidence.

Welcome, Devinn.

p.s. that uniform fetish still confuses me...

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Glad to see you here, Devinn, and I hope you'll post often.

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Platinum Pictures is missing the big boat in my own opinion with this series. Who buys or rents jack off films? Women!!! I am sure that some men do to. It is only my opinion that SEVERAL women seek male masturbation films on a daily basis. I have not seen "Nuttin" or any other male masturbation film. It is however my professional opion that a male masturbation film could be well made with a woman behind the camera talking "dirty" to a man while he masturbates. Furthermore this type of film could be directed towards the market of a bachelerette. Include one scene of a woman giving the male a "handjob" and the next 7 or 8 scenes solo masturbation. The boxcover would be able to show a couple rather than a single male. The back of the box would have to explicitly state the film is primaraily a male solo film . I could keep going but you all get the drift I'm sure.

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On the topic of Gay Solo Videos, I have just one point of possible interest. Lucas Entertainment is in the process of releasing an all solo DVD. As some of you probably know, Lucas Entertainment is gay to the bone, and while it's widely known that they use 'gay for pay' actors on occassion, their premise is always geared toward the gay man. I'm the editor on this particular film, and it's as of yet untitled. But my point being, that Lucas tends to have a really good 'feel' for what's 'hot', as I believe he is a huge consumer himself, and his staff is made up largely of gay men. For what it's worth, my feeling is that if Lucas has thrown his hat into this particular ring, there's got to be something to it, and I don't think you should give up on your "Nuttin" series. (Which I regretably have not seen - but will).

Good luck, and take care for now.

Mark Audess
Marie Madison Media
www.mariemadison.com

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Good luck to Lucas Entertainment and you on your (as of now) unnamed male solo project. When the project is complete come back and tell us more about it. I'd love to see it.

Lisa Demuth
Platinum Pictures Inc
www.platinumpicturesinc.com

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I'm claiming credit for the GAYVN nod, as I also authored the DVD, but the rest is all the brilliance of Mr. Lucas himself. In any case, I appreciate your comments. I've heard a lot of good things about Platinum Pictures, but I honestly haven't seen any of your work, which I'm going to remedy quickly. :)

Take care,
- Mark

Mark Audess
Marie Madison Media
www.mariemadison.com

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Nasty.

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I totally dig ethnic guys jerkin off. California body builder types just don't do it for me. I like it real and real dirty. I will check out your Nuttin movie.
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Thanks for your support nastycut. We dig ethnic guys too. I must admit we haven't done much of the one on one type of stuff you're talking about but since we're still in production for Nuttin 2 we may incorporate a bit of that in. Thanks for your "2cents".

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