British art and culture critic Bryan Appleyard is trying to say something about fame and the internet and “Web 2.0″, but since he gets nearly all of the technical details wrong, it’s hard to tell what point he’s making, other than that he doesn’t like a lot of what he sees on the online.

Of course no curmudgeonly rant about the vapidity of the internet would be complete without a mention of sex and porn. So who’s Bryan’s target? Violet Blue! Writes Bryan:

“In Web 1.0, human nature expressed itself primarily through lust and greed. Everybody was trying – and failing – to find new ways of making money, and delivering pornography was the main purpose of the web. Both are still present in Web 2.0, but they have changed. Making money, through online gambling and advertising focused on individual users, for example, exploits the new levels of interactivity. Pornography is now delivered with streaming video and, frequently, high levels of interactivity. In addition, there are now porn social-networking sites. You can post your home-made porn on one site and join in the fun as a voyeur on another. And there are endless sites offering the full 2.0 sex experience. Violet Blue calls herself a “pro-blogger, podcaster, vlogger and femmebot”. She’s written “ultimate guides” to cunnilingus and fellatio and, of course, The Smart Girl’s Guide to the G-Spot. Her site is a sex shop and supermarket of self-promotion – lust and recognition all in one super-refined techno-package. As one leading British thinker put it, “How come the highest technology is always used for the lowest purposes?” (Emphasis mine.)

I can’t tell you who Bryan’s “leading British thinker” is. The quote only returns Bryan’s diatribe on Google, and it’s not in any of the quotation books I have either. Pity, because I’d like to see the context of the quote, and make my own judgement as to whether this “leading British thinker” believes the enjoyment of sex is “the lowest purpose.” Obviously Bryan does, which I suppose explains why he is so sardonic about his advancing age.

None of us are as young as we used to be, Bryan.

Unlike Bryan’s blog, Violet’s doesn’t even allow user comments, which are the sin non qua for Web 2.0. Nor is there any other aspect of user-interactivity on Tinynibbles.com, and there’s even less adverting than on TinyNibbles.com than there is on Bryan’s site.

Bryan, why such a hard-on for Ms. Blue?

That’s the headline for the very nice write up of ASHLEY AND KISHA: FINDING THE RIGHT FIT in the latest issue of Bnews, and Australian Gay and Lesbian magazine.

It’s especially nice to see a write-up in Bnews, because the last time they were writing something about one of our movies, it was about the unfortunate run-in we had with the OFLC over the (ultimately cancelled) screening of DAMON AND HUNTER at queerDOC, Australia’s premiere gay and lesbian film festival.

Hopefully we’ll have better luck with ASHLEY AND KISHA on the Aussie festival circuit!

Three long-time supporters of our efforts here at Comstock Films have new digs.

The Always Aroused Girl can now be found at www.aagblog.com

Viviane’s Sex Carnival has moved to www.thesexcarnival.com

Chelsea Girl is still at prettydumbthings.typepad.com, but now she is also Chelsea Summers at the eponymous www.chelseasummers.com.

Update your links, and congrats to them on their new digs!

This just in! The incomparable Thomas S. Roche is now at www.thomasroche.com!

A person would have to be dead inside to view this and not come away thinking along the lines of “what this couple has is special, and that is something I desire in my life as well.”

That’s the conclusion that The Visitor reaches in their very nice four and a half star review of MATT AND KHYM on ADT.

The Visitor’s review is full of all sorts of details, which is incredibly flattering to read. It’s a great feeling to think that someone is watching something we made so intently. One passage is particularly:

The word ‘real’ keeps coming to mind. Although the cameraman gets good angles, it is never obtrusive. Unlike the more commercial porn where the actors are in positions meant specifically for viewing and not mainly for true genital contact, this couple really does make love. The grinding together of their pelvises, the kissing, the neck nuzzling. You know this is real, and even though some explicitness is not there as in the real hard core stuff, this is a real turn-on seeing true love-making. (On a technical note, film, not video, is used, which gives it a more ‘real’ feel. Although at first I thought the lighting would be an issue, but in watching it, it is like you are right there in the bedroom with no artificiality.).

There is this idea that when depicting sex, a filmmaker has to choose between being explicit and being cinematic, between being erotic heat and emotional weight. (Mike Nichols, “I think sex in a movie is boring… Sex is very powerful as part of a fantasy… But to stare directly at it is to be wasting most of what’s available in drama and in film.” John Cameron Mitchell, “We tried to de-eroticize the sex to see what kind of emotions and ideas are left over when the haze of eroticism is waved away.”)

I think Nichols and Mitchell and others are wrong.

I don’t think staring directly at sex is a waste, and I don’t think that eroticism is a haze that has to “waved away” to see have a cinematic experience of emotions and ideas, and we began making these films one of the questions I wanted to answer was whether or not sex couple be depicted in a way that was completely frank, while still being cinematic, emotional, and erotic.

Now I don’t pretend that any of my films are on par with Mike Nichols, or even John Cameron Mitchell, in scope, sophistication, or artistry. My films are nothing if not modest in the objectives and execution. But I do think they’ve suceeded (modestly) where Nichols and Mitchell and others haven’t even dared to go.

(From “Matt and Khym: Better than Ever”)

Flash back to the Spring of 2003. MARIE AND JACK has been finished for almost a year and a half. It’s done well in the few film festivals that accepted it. But so far, no one is interested in selling it. I am sending copies to anyone I can think of who might support the film, and one of those people is the founder of Good Vibrations, Joani Blank. Joani loves MARIE AND JACK and encourages me to keep at it.

Now it’s October of 2004. I’m in the San Francisco Bay area to meet several prospective couples for shooting we hope will take place in 2005, including Bill and Desiree, who have found their way to me through Joani. It’s also my first chance to meet Joani and others in person. I take BART over to Oakland and am introduced to co-housing though a communal meal at Joani’s place (meated and meatless chili is served.)

My visit with Joani end up being one of the high-lights of the trip, but she is very anxious about Bill and Desiree’s inclusion in the schedule. I don’t want to disappoint Joani, but I’m also not interested in shooting an older couple simply for the sake of being inclusive. My primary criteria when considering a couple are: 1) would I enjoy watching this couple fuck? 2) Would I enjoy spending an hour or two chatting with this couple? I haven’t yet met Bill and Desiree, so I don’t know the answer to either question.

Joani and I visit for several more hours after dinner, talking about a million different aspects of the art and business of sex. She shows me her incredible collection of Jan Saudek prints. But the conversation frequently circles back on what great subjects Bill and Desiree would be. I am doing my best to be noncommittal while trying to seem enthusiastic. I’m quite sure she’s on to me.

A few days later I’m at the W Hotel. I am meeting couples more or less on the hour, and I have been at it for nearly two days. The W is noisier, darker, and hipper than I would have cared for, but it’s sufficient.

All of the couples I’ve met have already sent me photos, we’ve exchanged e-mails, we’ve talked on the phone a few times. But there’s nothing like meeting in person; seeing how they respond to me, seeing how I respond to them. I am also shooting some very brief screen tests. We’ll be shooting film, and I want to see how these people look on film, so I’m rolling off 40 or 50 feet (about a minute) on each couple. When you have a look at Bill and Desiree’s “screen-test” (linked below) I think you’ll see why, when after I saw it, I wanted to see them make love:

Bill and Desiree’s Screen Test (MOS)

If you’d like to be notified by e-mail when BILL AND DESIREE is available, you can sign up on our Coming Soon page!

The daily business of running Comstock Films takes more time than I ever expected, but slowly but surely, Peggy and I have been getting it more rountinized. I’m also hopeful that whatever the next few months has in store for us, it’s going not going to be quite the roller coaster of the various brushfires that we’ve had to deal with in the last twelves months. I am looking forward to working on BILL AND DESIREE in a state of (relative) tranquility.

I’m also hoping to use this blog as a sort of working journal on this edit. I have a rather archane way of keeping track of my progress by incorporating dates into the dozens of filenames that are generated in the course of cutting a film, but in the 15 or so years I’ve been editing film, I’ve never kept a proper log. But there’s no time like the present to start, right?

So, Bill and Desiree, Day 1. I wonder what day it will be when I’m finished?

Happy Fourth of July! The American Experiment celebrates its 231st birthday today!

Worth noting, in England, the country from which we wrested away our independence through force of arms, it is illegal to exhibit or sell any of our titles. That’s right, our lovely little films are illegal to show or sell in merry old England.

Not here in the US! Unlike the UK, we do not have a government mandated, government run censorship ratings board. Nor are films required to carry a rating before they can be exhibited or sold.

So fire up the BBQ, crack open brew, and drink a toast to our unalienable Rights to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness; here in the land of the free and the home of the brave!