Books I Read: My Most Secret Desire

I’ve read Julie Doucet’s work before and liked it, but My Most Secret Desire didn’t quite work for me. It is very strange, and I like strange, but this book is primarily a series of renderings of freaky dreams. Dreams in which she has a penis or is pregnant with something weird or odd people do frightening things. Is this the female unconscious or just chaos? I felt it leaned heavily into grotesque without any accompanying insight.

Books I Read

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Mickey & Chewie

Mickey and Chewie work the Hollywood Walk of Fame. For more of my photographs, follow me on Instagram.

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The Day Before Hump Day

Hooters considers bankruptcy. Trump has a foot fetish. MUBI streams porn. And more in my newsletter.

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Books I Read: The Saga of the Swamp Thing 1

I don’t usually read superhero comics, but I picked up The Saga of the Swamp Thing 2 and then realized I needed to read The Saga of the Swamp Thing 1 first. I chose this series because I was dazzled by the art and also because I’m aware that Alan Moore is considered a comic book god. I liked parts of Book 1—I mean, it’s weird as fuck—but the story feels fragmented, and I think I had a hard time having an emotional connection with a plant, aka The Swamp Thing, which, by his (its?) own admission, is what he is. Anyway, I can never follow these action driven plots with so many characters. A mixed bag experience for me, I guess.

Books I Read

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This Ain't Your Daddy's Book Reading

I went to a porn star book signing. I wrote about that experience in my latest newsletter: The Reverse Cowgirl.

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Definitely / Definately

My favorite dictionary asked what word you’d respell if you could. My pick? Definitely = definately. [BuzzFeed]

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The Ghostbusters of Porn

When you’re a porn star and your content gets pirated, who you gonna call? Takedown Piracy. Read it here.

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The Last Showgirl

Really enjoyed The Last Showgirl. Pamela Anderson and Jamie Lee Curtis are wonderful. Sweet, atmospheric.

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Black and White

Have you subscribed to my newsletter, The Reverse Cowgirl? The latest edition is out, and it’s a real good time.

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An Appreciation of Pee-wee's Playhouse

I wrote an appreciation of Pee-wee’s Playhouse and the late, great Paul Reubens for HILOBROW. Read it here.

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Alan Moore Foresees the Future of Pornography

Alan Moore foresees the future of mobile phone pornography in 1982’s The Saga of the Swamp Thing #1, in which a man “looks at his hand” where “something shimmers” and “a blue lady is dancing just for him.”

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Books I Read: A Child's Life and Other Stories

I can’t remember the first time I read A Child’s Life and Other Stories, but it would have been over 20 years ago. The book seared itself into my brain. The art spellbound me, the stories were set in the Bay Area where I had grown up, and the rage and pain of a young person who was neglected at home and acting out sexually and through drugs and alcohol was deeply familiar to me. I could say this book changed my life, but that sounds overdramatic and like a cliche. I will say that when I sat down to reread the book, I wondered if it would have the same effect on me all these years later. And it did. It makes me want to be braver and more reckless and more honest in my own work. And that’s invaluable. Thank you, Phoebe Gloeckner.

Books I Read

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What I'm Loving (Decor Edition)

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Research About My Newsletter

Research shows that people who subscribe to my newsletter have more and better sex than people who don’t.

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XXX

The last adult theater in Los Angeles: Tiki Adult Theatre. For more of my photos, follow me on Instagram.

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Books I Read: Pretending Is Lying

What a curious ride Pretending Is Lying by Dominique Goblet is. A hazy graphic memoir. A disturbing accounting of childhood trauma and its consequences. A visual depiction of navigating life, relationships, and love that reels through time and place to land defiantly nowhere. I really liked it. Not for the unimaginative.

Books I Read

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"I Went to ...": A New Series for The Reverse Cowgirl

Over on my newsletter, The Reverse Cowgirl, I’ve launched a new series: “I Went to …” In each installment, I’ll share my latest reporting adventure. First up: "I Went to a Nude Figure Drawing Class.” Make sure to subscribe.

The New Print Playboy Magazine Is Underwhelming

In my newsletter, I wrote about Playboy magazine’s return to print as an annual. It was a pretty disappointing experience with a few exceptions. Find out what I liked and what I didn’t here and make sure to subscribe.

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Books I Read: Over Easy

Wow wow wow. Over Easy is so great! This book was such a delight, and I read it slower and slower as I neared completion because I didn’t want it to end. I’m a bit younger than author Mimi Pond, but I grew up in the East Bay so the people types and general places and all over vibe was very familiar to me. I appreciate that she focused on this important place and special time and fantastic cast of characters rather than feeling like she had to deliver up some sort of action-oriented plot. I loved this book. I’m sure I’ll read it again in the future.

Books I Read

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I'm a Ghost

The New York Times Magazine has a fascinating story about ghosting written by Stella Tan and illustrated by Liana Finck. Nota bene: “But those who disappear on their paramours have their reasons for going silent.”

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