Outcry
“Outcry” on Showtime is fantastic. Watch the whole thing. It’s worth the journey.
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Filtering by Tag: CRIME
Ron Jeremy Charged with Rape
Today on my Forbes blog I wrote about Ron Jeremy, who’s been charged with forcible rape and sexual assault. You can read the details here. Since Jeremy is a fixture in the porn industry, I had various interactions with him over the years. When I was working for Playboy TV, I went to cover an “extreme porn vacation” In Mexico, where Jeremy was one of the performers. I seem to recall he’d had his chest hair waxed into the shape of a heart. I was also present when he performed in “The World Biggest Gangbang III.” At a certain point, he was brought in to have sex with the film’s star, Houston, and he was able to pop on command, per the director’s instruction, as the crowd surrounding him counted him down to ejaculation. In 2009, I pulled into the Roosevelt Hotel, where I was about to check in for a week to write about how the porn industry had been impacted by the recession, and Jeremy was walking in the back of the hotel. I’ve talked to him at various times. Mostly, he seemed like a narcissist and an egomaniac. That doesn’t make him a rapist, of course. Rumors have long been around that he’d sexually assaulted women. In all likelihood, some of those early allegations were dismissed or ignored because the victim was a sex worker or a porn star.
To exactly no one’s surprise among those who know him, he denied the allegations today on Twitter.
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The Trouble with the Tight End
The new Netflix documentary about Aaron Hernandez, “Killer Inside,” is 100% gripping and fascinating. I’m not really sure why this limited series is so compelling, since it’s not the most artful series ever created, but it doesn’t shy away from allowing the story to be complex, layered, and unspool over time. Watch it.
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What I'm Reading
0 Likes, 1 Comments - Susannah Breslin (@susannahbreslin) on Instagram: "📚👮🏻♀️🚓💉🏙 #whatimreadingnow #whatimreading #summerreading #summerread #summerreads #donwinslow..."
Typically, I wouldn't read a book like Don Winslow's The Force, yet here I am. I read someone writing about it somewhere, and they described it as in some way Joycean, so there you go. It's about a dirty cop, and a city in disorder, and the blurry line between the supposed good guys and the purported bad guys. It's long and engrossing and a suitable summer read.
Here's a snippet:
"A strong wind finds its way through every crack, into the project stairwells, the tenement heroin mills, the social club back rooms, the new-money condos, the old-money penthouses. From Columbus Circle to the Henry Hudson Bridge, Riverside Park to the Harlem River, up Broadway and Amsterdam, down Lenox and St. Nicholas, on the numbered streets that spanned the Upper West Side, Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood, if there was a secret Da Force didn't know about, it was because it hadn't been whispered about or even thought of yet."
Gone Solitary
There's a really amazing story in the New Yorker about how Albert Woodfox survived solitary confinement:
"Woodfox often woke up gasping. He felt that the walls of the cell were squeezing him to death, a sensation that he began to experience the day after his mother’s funeral, in 1994. He had planned to go to the burial—prisoners at Angola are permitted to attend the funerals of immediate family—but at the last minute his request was denied. For three years, he slept sitting up, because he felt less panicked when he was vertical. 'It takes so much out of you just to try to make these walls, you know, go back to the normal place they belong,' he told a psychologist. 'Someday I’m not going to be able to deal with it. I’m not going to be able to pull those walls apart.'" --
Relatedly, if you haven't read Shane Bauer's expose of life as a prison guard, do.
Ya'll Been Pornified
Image via Dull Tool Dim Bulb
I wrote a post for Forbes about who people working in the adult business want for president, but it's also about how this is the first election where, it seems, porn is a total non-issue. It used to be that there was more anxiety during election season regarding how a new president would impact the adult community. Would he pursue obscenity convictions or not? Now it seems a moot point.
"Nowadays, though, porn is part of American pop culture. And the Internet has obliterated the concept of 'community standards' altogether. Increasingly, porn has lost its taboo stature, and the War on Porn is largely considered to be over and done. (tl;dr the U.S. government lost) At the same time, the adult movie industry that once purportedly produced 80 percent of all adult videos has been wholly disrupted by technology. Cam girls are the new porn stars. Bedrooms in flyover states serve as adult movie backdrops. Tube sites offer X-rated content for free."
Hulk v Gawk Continues ...
In today's edition of Bollea v Gawker, the court watched a video of Heather Clem's deposition, in which she wept while recounting the details behind her videotaped sexual encounter with Hulk Hogan.
"I was asked to go to Mr. Bollea's room by my husband, and I did," Clem said, using Hogan’s real name, Terry Bollea.
Her recollection contradicted Hogan’s own testimony that Clem had hounded him for sex during a time when he was particularly vulnerable because of his divorce from Linda Hogan.
"Did Mr. Clem generally pick who you had sex with?" she was asked during the deposition shown to the St. Petersburg, Fla., jury.
"On the occasion that I had sex with someone other than him, yes," Clem replied.
When she realized Bubba had recorded her with Hogan she became upset and demanded the video be destroyed, Clem said.
[NYDN]
Fappening Guy Pleads Guilty
A celebrity nudies leaker connected to The Fappening and known as Ryan Collins has entered a guilty plea.
Gawker reports:
He faces up to five years in prison.
He’ll probably serve far less: the feds say “parties have agreed to recommend a prison term of 18 months,” although “that recommendation will not be binding on the sentencing judge.” Collins breached the celeb accounts through phishing emails that tricked famous actresses (or those close to them) into thinking they were official security dispatches from Apple and Google. The Department of Justice says Collins hijacked over 100 accounts.
[Gawker]
Gawker Trial, Day Seven
Image via My San Antonio
I'm tuned in to day seven of Hulk Hogan vs Gawker Media, livestreamed on Gawker, of course. Currently, publisher Nick Denton is on the stand. Denton just opined of the sex tape post: "I believe it stands up to the test of time."
Gawker Trial, Day Whatever
I spent some time this morning watching a live feed of the Hulk Hogan vs Gawker Media sex tape trial of the moment. According to Reuters, one of the highlights was a debate over whether or not "Mr Bollea's penis had" any "news value." Watching the editor who wrote the post get sweated on the stand mostly made me just feel bad. Like, OMGSEX. On the one hand, I feel bad for the Hulk. On the other hand, the prosecution makes you feel like sexual curiosity is the most pathological thing possible. People are curious about others' sex lives. This is human nature. I keep flipflopping on who I think will win. Ideologically, I'm with Gawker, but they're not doing themselves any favors in the deposition department. I'm curious to see how this ends.
Let's Get It On
An image from the "Caged Heat" editorial that Steven Klein shot for Interview magazine.
Mugshotz
Mugshotz
Mugshotz is a publication that I have found at various convenience stores, such as 7-11, in Southwest Florida. It costs $1 and is usually for sale near the cash register so you can grab it and go. The current issue is #97. It features the most recent mugshots from Lee and Collier counties. Usually, the photos above the fold include at least one attractive female. Here, Frances McGinley, who was arrested for "DRUGS," is the eye-catcher. Wade Discuillo's battered face may be equated with his "RESIST OFFICER." Brian Garrison Jr. looks resigned to his "PROB VIOLATION." The publication has ads from bail bonds companies (gobailmeout.com), humor ("Bubba says: If robbers ever broke into my house and searched for money I would just laugh and search with them"), and advice ("With the craze about social networking increasing day by day, cool sayings are attaining more importance."). There's also a photo page of boats with funny names like "Full Of Seamen," "Boobie Bouncer," and "Ship For Brains." Sometimes I google the names of those in the mugshots. Oftentimes, you can find their full lives on their Facebook pages. Prostitutes swearing to stay sober. Addicts arguing with their mothers. Parents posting photos of themselves with children of which they no longer have custody. Sometimes, if you wait a few weeks or a few months, their face appears in another edition of Mugshotz.
Money Girl
Photo credit: Mary Cybulski
No Joke
Don't like the competition? A porn store seeks to torch a rival outlet:
"A Portland man paid by a porn peddler to torch a competing video store has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison.
Mark Fuston -- recovering Dead Head, Gypsy Joker biker gang member and onetime accused killer who says he's changed his ways -- faced just more than three years in federal prison for the March 27, 2003, arson.
Those who paid Fuston to burn down the future home of Taboo Video in Vancouver won't be serving any time for the arson. Fuston, 61, was the only defendant charged in the arson-for-hire plot; as the statute of limitations has passed, it seems he'll be the only one to face prison for the fire.
Also known as 'Mau Mau,' Fuston pleaded guilty to charges related to the Vancouver arson apparently committed at the behest of a rival porn shop owner. Federal prosecutors contended, and Fuston has admitted, he and another man were paid to set the fire."
YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG
Breaking news out of Hamilton, Ohio, care of the local newspaper's police blotter:
A man walked into CVS, 820 S. Breiel Blvd., and walked out with a box of condoms, bottle of lubricant, five Slim Jims and an A&W Root Beer, valued at $65.71. The suspect left the store and rode off on a bike.