I Love Dick
On my Forbes blog, I shared my thoughts about "I Love Dick." I didn't love every episode, but I'm obsessed with the fifth episode. Watch it! Watch the whole thing. And especially episode 5. It's a wonderful thing.
Can't Wait to See This
Amazing!
Love these images of octopi.
What Is Blogging?
Jason Kottke has an interesting post here in which he compares blogging to vaudeville.
He writes:
Image via 3:AM Magazine
"Not sure if I’ve ever mentioned this on here before, but I often think of blogging as vaudeville to social media’s moving pictures (aka 'movies')."
His post was inspired by another post by Tim Bray about blogging.
He writes:
"The great danger is that the Web’s future is mall-like: No space really public, no storefronts but national brands’, no visuals composed by amateurs, nothing that’s on offer just for its own sake, and for love."
I like both of these considerations a lot. Writing this post, a line from one of the world's greatest photojournalists, James Nachtwey, came to mind:
"I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony."
Here's what Merriam-Webster says about what it means to bear witness:
"to show that something exists or is true"
That's my experience of blogging. That it's the act of bearing witness to one's life, that writing it down in public is a way of showing that one exists and one's life is true, that to blog is to insist that one is real and that one's existence is deserving of being witnessed by the world.
Inside Baseball, Porn Valley Style
Awhile back, my friend Tod Hunter, The Best Writer in Porn, posted this very funny image to the comments section of my Facebook page. That's Tod in the image, and the text reads: "The best writer in porn ... unless Susannah Breslin comes back."
I met Tod on the first porn movie set I ever visited. Tod is a journalist who covers the business and knows pretty much everything there is to know about the industry. He's always been unfailingly helpful to me in my ventures there. So this image greatly amused me.
Thanks, Tod!
The CEO of HIV
The New York Times has an interesting profile of the CEO of HIV.
Read it:
"To his many critics in AIDS activism, Weinstein is the Koch brothers of public health: a mastermind driven by ideology, accountable to no one, with bottomless funds and an agenda marked by financial opportunism and puritanical extremes. It doesn’t help that A.H.F. has been the subject of near-constant litigation and complaints for questionable business practices, including union-busting, giving kickbacks to patients, overbilling government insurers and bullying funders into denying grants to institutional rivals. (A.H.F. has denied these accusations.)"
The Phenom
I really enjoyed this movie. (It's on Netflix.) The acting in it is sort of jarringly real, and every character in it is very carefully crafted. One could describe it as "Good Will Hunting" meets "Trouble with the Curve," but that would be annoying. It's about a kid with a case of the yips, and his father, who is a dick, and what it's like when everyone wants you to be something you're not sure you are and you don't even know who you are yet. This is a fine case of the director getting out of the way of the dialogue and the actors and just letting things flow. That means, as a member of the audience, you're not exactly entertained as much as you are engaged. You feel you are in the flow, too. Of course, this is the trick to unlocking the trouble with the kid. He has become fixated on success, when he should only be caring about fun. Although, it isn't really fun, is it? To be not only good at something but great at it. It's kind of a burden, or a cross you bear, and because you don't know why you're so good, sometimes all you can do is just sit there and stare.
Like a Thought
29 Likes, 2 Comments - Susannah Breslin (@susannahbreslin) on Instagram: ""Under the thinning fog the surf curled and creamed, almost without sound, like a thought trying to..."
His Father, the Sex Toy Maker
That's the title I wanted to use, but didn't, in a nod to this book, for my latest on my Forbes blog: "This Entrepreneur's Sex Toy Business Is All in the Family."
It's a really interesting story -- in part because it's about what happens when your father makes "pleasure products" for a living and you end up in the same line of work.
Another surprising piece of the story I uncovered is their best-selling product.
It surprised me, but does it surprise you?
Click here to find out what it is.
Goodfellas
I think I read this when it was originally published in 2010, but I read it again. It is so awesome. And about an awesome movie. And everyone interviewed in it it awesome. Especially Marty.
Larry McConkey (Steadicam operator): The impression I had when Marty walked us through the Copacabana shot was that this is going to be the most boring, worst thing I've ever done. We're walking across the street, down the stairs, down a hallway, in the kitchen.... What is this shot about?
Porn & HIV
Yesterday, I wrote on my Forbes blog about a recent call to stop production in the adult movie industry due to a performer's possible positive HIV test. I'm also updating that post with new information and additional commentary from those in the industry as the story develops.
One quote that I didn't include came from performer Chanel Preston. During a phone interview, she talked about her work as chairperson of the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee and spoke to some of the challenges that face performers when they enter porn.
She said:
"There isn't any training in the adult industry. There's a lot of training that would be great for people getting into the industry. How to establish your boundaries. Navigating personal and emotional feelings you might have. How to navigate the industry overall. As people have more knowledge, they make better business decisions for themselves."
[Forbes]
Have a Great Weekend!
27 Likes, 1 Comments - Susannah Breslin (@susannahbreslin) on Instagram: "🦆"
After Porn Ends 2
They All Want to Be Male Porn Stars
For those of you keeping track at home, to date I've received 734 emails from men who want to be porn stars. They email me because they read this article. Here are a few samplings from the latest.
Subject header: Yo
Message: I wanna be it
Subject header: None
Message: Dear Susannah lm a Zimbabwean man of 25 years old .black person l want to join that industry so everytime l followers xx videos are shooting thank you so much for relpy me
Subject header: Acting and Modelling
Message: Hi I am [redacted] looking for work in acting field. I am From India. My mobile number is [redacted].I the Glamour Field. I am a Handsome Guy. Sexuality is straight. HERE are some of my pics
Your Moment of Zen
19 Likes, 2 Comments - Susannah Breslin (@susannahbreslin) on Instagram: "🕶"
Forbes Blog Monthly Stats #5
Every month, I review the traffic stats at my Forbes blog. This is my latest.
Last month was terrific. This month was not so much. Last month, I did around 193K unique visitors and 230K page views. This month I did around 115K unique visitors and 140K page views.
Here's what worked and what could use improvement.
The month's post popular post had to do with soft-core lesbian porn. The reasons for its popularity elude me. Another frequently read post was about an MMA fighter on trial for beating up his former porn star ex-girlfriend. The surprise post of the month was about Wonder Woman's armpit hair. Frankly, I wrote that one without thinking much about it, and it caused quite a fuss, getting cited by the National Review and discussed for a full hour on "The Dennis Prager Show." Apparently, armpit hair on female superheroes is a must-click topic. I'll keep that in mind for April. I also wrote a post about some porny YSL ads that upset some Parisians. That post got a nod from the Kansas City Star. The post I thought was the most unique was an interview I did with a lifestyle blogger -- who's armed and dangerous.
As for what I can work on: post more, be more creative, write better headlines, do more interviews, be more daring, focus more on things that are fun, keep up the regular posting.
I'm noticing that I'm writing more about women-related issues, and I'd like to do more of it. In addition, I'm doing more hot takes, which is good, because that makes you a part of the conversation. And it was nice to get some media attention.
Yo, it's all good in the bloghood.
Final monthly stats:
Pageviews: 140,725
Total Monthly Visitors: 115,545
One-time Visitors: 112,156
Repeat Visitors: 3,389
Comments: 46
Posts: 12
Current Recency Score: 74.511%
The Rabbit
17 Likes, 3 Comments - Susannah Breslin (@susannahbreslin) on Instagram: "Dead rabbit 🐰"
Virgins for Sale
I did an interesting interview with a businessman who sells virgins for a living.
Image via Dynamite
"What makes thinks exklusive? That not everyone can have it. For example a very old Wine or a luxury car which is just produced 100 Times. A woman can give just one time her Virginity and she hold it for at minimum 18 Years. Further demand determines the offer."
The interview was done via email, and I preserved the way in which he wrote it. He's German, so English is a second language.
Someone once called me a modern-age Studs Terkel. I particularly like when something is written in such a way to as exactly as possible capture not just what someone said, but how they said it, which is equally important.
In this way, you render what they said and what they meant.
One More Time with Feeling
I recommend the Nick Cave documentary, "One More Time with Feeling." It's beautiful, and heartbreaking, and a lot about how to keep creating, even when the worst things happen.
It's Spring!
15 Likes, 2 Comments - Susannah Breslin (@susannahbreslin) on Instagram: "🌸"