A journalist friend of mine is working on a story about strip club shut downs and policing in New Orleans. Are you a dancer or do you know someone who would be a good source for this story? Email me at susannahbreslin@gmail.com, and I'll connect you to her. #NOLA #NewOrleans
— Susannah Breslin (@susannahbreslin) November 27, 2018
A journalist friend of mine is working on a story about dancers in New Orleans. Got a lead? Know someone that would be good for her to talk to? Email me at susannahbreslin @ gmail, and I’ll connect you.
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9 Likes, 0 Comments - Susannah Breslin (@susannahbreslin) on Instagram: "I just signed up for #transcendentalmeditation 🙏🏼"
Following in the footsteps of my personal heroes David Lynch and Ray Dalio, and on the heels of trouble with migraines, I’m going to give Transcendental Meditation a try. (Image from my Instagram feed)
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I’m ready to see “Vice,” the Dick Cheney pic by Adam “The Big Short” McKay. There’s a lot of good stuff in this NYT profile of McKay, including this part:
“Recently, a sizable portion of the left has adopted surprising, relatively sanguine attitudes toward the Bush-Cheney years. I asked McKay, who directed a scathingly satirical 2009 Broadway show about Bush called, ‘You’re Welcome America,’ whether he saw his unsparing portrait of Cheney in ‘Vice’ — humanizing gestures notwithstanding — as a would-be corrective to liberal amnesia on this score. ‘I hope to God that it is,’ McKay said, nodding. ‘Really what that shows you is the number of people for whom government is just about appearance. Bush and Cheney just kept up the facade, whereas this administration doesn’t even remotely pretend. So when I hear people say, “I miss the days of Bush and Cheney,” what they’re really saying is, “I miss the days when people would at least pretend.”’” He went on: ‘Every time I see it, I shake my head, like, “You’ve got to be kidding me. The world economy collapsed, we had the greatest military fiasco in U.S. history apart from Vietnam.” When I hear “Trump makes you miss Bush,” I go, “There’s no question that Bush and Cheney are way ahead of him in terms of damage done.”’” He characterized such Bush nostalgia bluntly: “Now that my house is on fire, I long for when it was infested by bees.”’”
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Image via WomenYeah
As of late, I’ve had the opportunity to immerse myself in investigative journalism, and I have a few takeaways.
Investigative journalism is a boy’s club.
It is the responsibility of the men who run it to include women in it.
FOIAs are overrated.
Voice, storytelling, and serendipitous reporting are more important.
There isn’t one way to do it. There’s your way to do it.
People of color are excluded from it by the white men who run it.
You’re not a savior. You’re a reporter.
It isn’t easy.
Learn the tools and keep them in your toolbox.
If you can’t get in the front door, climb in a window.
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Image via Pulse.ng
As the editor of Forbes Vices, I oversee a team of contributors that cover the business of vice on the website. That includes the cannabis, gambling, firearms, smoking, drinking, and sex business. If you’re a writer with a track record of published work in established outlets covering those beats, drop me an email.
Buy "The Tumor" — my short story that’s been called "a masterpiece of short fiction."
“Homecoming” is an extremely weird and attractively disorienting new series on Amazon. What’s it about? That’s hard to explain. A woman with a troubled memory. A place that seems like it’s Florida, but who knows, really. A roomful of men who are looking for help that no one is sure they’re getting. It’s shot in two different ways that eventually converge. Julia Roberts is … curious, and Bobby Cannavale is … creepy. It seems boring at first, but, trust me, it’s not.
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This is goggle
If you’re a longtime follower of my work, you know that I regularly receive emails from men who are interested in becoming performers in the adult movie industry. That is thanks to a Forbes post I wrote, “The Hardest Thing About Being a Male Porn Star,” which has over 2.1M views. The only advice I can give the latest emailer is to maybe try a search engine other than goggle.
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Yesterday, I was ratioed because I suggested @DanRather should be president due to his ladybug tweet. I'd like to apologize and issue a correction. While perhaps Dan Rather should not be president, the next president should be elected based on his appreciation of ladybugs. 🐞 https://t.co/WzeVYt6niR
— Susannah Breslin (@susannahbreslin) November 25, 2018
Buy "The Tumor" — my short story that’s been called "a masterpiece of short fiction."
Happy gang anniversary! | Photo credit: Cali Cake Dealers
These days, it's hard to find content that hasn't been covered everywhere else already. Sometimes when I'm looking for stories, I search random hashtags on Instagram. For some reason, Instagram is a place where you can still find curious things that haven't yet been seen, which is what everyone wants at the end of the day. In any case, I started out searching #crips, that took me to a #cripcake, and eventually I found gold in #gangcake. This is my latest profile on my Forbes blog, and it's about a woman who's running her own business, out of her garage -- like someone else -- and she isn't afraid to make the kind of "illicit" cakes that other more timid bakers won't.
"'I grew up with people who have always been in the trap life, who have always been associated with gangs, or what not,' she says. 'I'm not afraid of that type of lifestyle.' So far, she says, she hasn't turned down a cake."
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Porn stars at the AVN Awards Show in Las Vegas, Nevada (Photo credit: Susannah Breslin)
I'm happy to report that Ghost Town Literary Magazine has published two short stories from my PORN VALLEY STORIES collection: "God Hates Porn/Porn Hates God" and "Praying for Kali." In the former, a porn fan seeks redemption. In the latter, a porn star prays for reincarnation. Finding homes for these stories isn't easy. They're often rejected, due to their content, despite the fact that they're literary, not salacious. Thanks to Chad Sweeney for having the balls to publish them.
"GOD HATES PORN, the sign read. A late Nineties Toyota Corolla sped past, honking its horn, and Mortimer Wisconsin spun his sign around, hoping the driver would see the other side. PORN HATES GOD, the other side of the sign read. Mortimer pumped his sign up and down in the air. "
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Tropical penis plants | Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
I had such an interesting time visiting Pornhub's new art installation: Pornhub Nation. It's 2069, and a porn company rules all. The DMV is a fetish club, the president is a porn star, and a property extracted from a penis plant can make you live for hundreds of years.
"[T]he most interesting portion can be found in a small and intimate room at the top of a flight of stairs. There, a visitor can wander around and peer through the glass at a series of what look like plants from some oversexed nature of the future. From the leaves grow large adult toys in the shapes of phalluses. The effect is terrarium like, and the mood, to use West's word, is 'ethereal.' The pieces are artfully painted and luminous in the blacklight. Who knew that something so lovely could be found on a Wednesday morning in a near-empty club where the art has been funded not by the National Endowment for the Arts, but by a company devoted to profits and which delivers graphic content to the masses?"
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19 Likes, 3 Comments - Susannah Breslin (@susannahbreslin) on Instagram: "That's my ostrich leather journalism for @forbeslife on @chrislhayes' show on @msnbc. Link in bio...."
That Forbes post I wrote about Paul Manafort's ostrich leather jacket made an appearance on "All in With Chris Hayes" on MSNBC. Thanks to this lady for the tip.
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It's called ostrich leather journalism (Image credit: Vickie Pynchon)
Yesterday, on the first day of Paul Manafort's bank and tax fraud trial, I wrote about the news that the man purportedly spent $15,000 on an ostrich leather jacket. I called a few of the stores that could have sold it to him, because I'm a journalist. Today, my ostrich leather investigative journalism was recognized by the Washington Post. Next stop: Pulitzer? Perhaps.
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Mm, donuts. (Photo credit: Susannah Breslin)
When you wake up early and read that you can get a second dozen Krispy Kreme donuts for only $1, what are you going to do, not go? That's how I ended up spending an hour and twenty minutes standing in line at the Burbank Krispy Kreme this morning for this Forbes post. Was it worth it? Well, the confetti donut was very tasty. I had to get my hair done after that, so I brought the remaining twenty-three donuts to the hair salon, where they were well appreciated.
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A porn star poses at an adult convention in Las Vegas, Nevada (Photo credit: Susannah Breslin)
In my ongoing quest to become increasing more luddite like in my takes, I critiqued the recent rise of sex doll brothels. In my theory, we are sunk in an uncanny valley between what we can imagine doing in our intimate lives with the help of technology and what the evolution of the machine will allow at this point. Given a choice between flesh or fantasy, I'll take flesh, thanks.
From "Why Sex Doll Brothels Won't Replace Real Brothels Anytime Soon":
Earlier this year, I took a trip through the hellscape that is the current state of virtual reality pornography, and what I saw wasn't pretty. Body parts disconnected from other body parts. Pixel-based faces aroused a sense of discomfort, rather than pleasure. And I had a hard time forgetting I was staggering around a startup's office with a large piece of machinery attached to my face as simulated men and women engaged in virtual erotic acts before my eyes.
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Over on my Forbes blog, I wrote about my trip to Bill's Burgers. It's a roadside stand in Van Nuys, and Bill has been flipping burgers for a very long time. My ultimate conclusion is that some burgers are for dating and some burgers are for marrying, and you'll have to read the post to know which one Bill's is. I love LA, especially the Valley. It's so awkward, and sprawling, and my god is it hot right now. As I drove home, there was a lone cloud in the sky hovering over the mountain ranges in the distance. Where is it now? I haven't the faintest idea.
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The other day, my friend Vickie Pynchon and I went to the Annenberg Space for Photography, where we were delighted to find StoryCorps had set up a converted Airstream trailer in which visitors were invited to record their stories. Vickie interviewed me about my 20-plus years writing about the adult movie industry: "Interview with Porn Journalist." That interview is now archived at the Library of Congress.
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My ongoing admiration for Merriam-Webster's approach to social media continues, and I was delighted to find that I got quoted on the website again. This time is extra special because the word is "exertion" and the quote is from my recent story on virtual reality porn for The Atlantic: "Porn's Uncanny Valley." Read this blog post if you want to hear about my previous relations with this fine dictionary, which includes the use of the word pique and an ode to gaslighting.
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