Philip and I had lunch with Jeff (one of my dearest friends since college... who happens to portray Varla Jean Merman in fantastic cabaret shows world-wide!). It was nice to just hang out with Jeff. We ate at Houston's. Philip had never been there. Speaking of delicious food, I sure hope ALL MY CHILDREN calls Jeff / Varla back to do another stint as Rosemary Chicken... wouldn't that be fun?

The stunningly beautiful Kyan Douglas replied to the Thanksgiving email I sent to him. Again, it's always nice to make connections with friends... especially when they're on hit t.v. shows.

And speaking of friends... I like to consider all my admirers and customers as my friends... well, just read what one of my most faithful fans wrote about my art:

You do erotica like no one else out there, at least that I've encountered. You let your models be who they are and do what they like, instead of forcing them into what one of my editors has called the standard "fit tab A into slot B" model that has taken over so much of commercial porn. Its as if they felt every gay couple should have sex in exactly the same mechanical progression from kissin' to suckin' to fuckin', and nobody should take more than 10 minutes to get off. Speaking personally, I don't think I've *ever* had a sexual encounter that proceeded according to that script, and I'm pretty sure I don't want to. I like the feeling I get from your videos that I'm getting to know at least a little bit about the people in them and I have a sense that they're doing it in front of your camera because they like to show off, not just because you're paying them.

It is a wonder and a joy that there are so many handsome men who enjoy (or who can at least fake their enjoyment reasonably well, if they're only in it for the money) baring their all in front of a camera and getting it on with other guys. How anybody could mess that magic up is beyond me, but a lot of commercial porn does exactly that. Models who can't get hard, models who clearly aren't having a good time, to say nothing of the scripted, mechanical sex.

Your work is different. You treat the guys who pose for you--gay, bi, or str8--like people, not like meat. Sure, there are some models that don't do all that much for me, and some scenes I don't enjoy as much as others in your oeuvre. That's to be expected. But I've never gotten the impression that anyone you filmed was just doing it because there was a check waiting for him at the end of the shoot. You talk to your guys, and encourage them to talk on-camera, which I think is great. It gives me a sense of greater intimacy when some guy talks about what he likes while he's taking off his clothes, or expresses his pleasure and his desire for even more of the same as he's riding another man's big ol' willy up his butt. The guys you film look like real guys, because they are, and they have sex the way real people do it--not according to some script that says they can only have six minutes of oral, and it has to come between the kissing and the fucking, and nowhere else.

I guess, when you get right down to it, the difference is that you respect the guys who work for you, and it shows in the work. You're not afraid to be playful (or to let the models be playful, either with you or with each other). I think Scott Bradley's comment at the end of "Topping" says it all--when a model is allowed to get comfortable with the cameraman, and with the other guy(s) in the scene, you get better sex in front of the lens. And while it may be true that there's no such thing as bad sex, it's a great thing that I know one place I can count on finding the good stuff in erotic videos: on your site. Keep up the good work, my friend.

Wow! These are the kinds of words that keep me goin'. To me, those statements aren't just compliments... they're affirmations that what I'm trying to convey through my art DOES reach some people... the smart, the sensitive, the silly. I just love Mike for expressing those thoughts to me.

Back to Monday's events... I made copies all day to fill orders... but the night was all about the new BATTLESTAR GALACTICA mini-series. I liked it a whole lot... Philip and I both did. And we're anxious to see the conclusion tomorrow. I hope it evolves into an actual series.

And that was Monday, December 8th, 2003.

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