2010 IN MID REVIEW: YEAR OF THE TIGER… AND STEVE DRIVER
Op/Ed by Jeremy Steele
by Theodora Lau:
The Tiger
All the world is my stage.
I set new trails ablaze;
I seek the unattainable,
And try the untried.
I dance to life’s music
In gay abandon.
Come with me on my carousel rides.
See the myriad of colors,
The flickering lights.
All hail me the unparalleled performer.
I AM THE TIGER
This is definitely an explosive year. It usually begins with a bang and ends with a whimper. Ayear earmarked for war, disagreement and disasters of all kinds. But it was also be a big, bold year. Nothing will be done on a small scale. Everything can be made and lost. If you take a
chance, gamble for high stakes, but understand that the odds are stacked against you.
People will do drastic and dramatic things on the spur of the moment. It is not surprising that Watergate and the drama of Nixon’s resignation culminated in the hotheaded year of the Tiger. Tempers will flare all around and it ill be a trying time for diplomacy. Like the Tiger, we will tend to charge without thinking and end up regretting our rashness.
Friendships, joint ventures and deals requiring mutual trust and cooperation made at this time are brittle and will easily be broken. However, the forceful and vigorous Tiger year can also be used to inject new life and vitality into the lost causes, sinking ventures and drab or failing industries. It will likewise be a time for massive change, for the introduction of new and bold, especially highly controversial, ideas.
The fiery heat of the Tiger’s year will no doubt touch everyone’s life. In spite of it’s negative aspects, we must realize that it could have a cleansing effect. Just as intense heat is necessary to extract precious metals from their ores, so the Tiger year can bring out the best in us.
Just one brief word of advice for this unpredictable year. "Hang on to your sense of humor and let things sizzle out!"
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The other day I was called by Mike Albo, who is currently writing a piece for The LA Weekly (He recently put out his front cover piece of "The Family Prostitute" about women in the sex trade), retouching the Steve Driver incident and the questions of what life is for perfomers these days, as well as the the porn industry, itself.
Mike had called me due to award winning director Jim Power’s recommendation. I took this as a bow of acknowledgement from Jim either to my communication skills, my first hand knowledge of the industry, or perhaps, in his mind, my own possible Steve Driver-like nuttiness. Who knows? But either way, Mike and I spoke in length, although he listened more. And then afterwards, he thanked me for providing him with some valuable insights and information.
Our conversation reminded me to ask myself, "What year this was again? Oh yeah…"
In Chinese Astrology, this is the year of The Tiger (Put on your Rocky III "Eye of the Tiger" music if you like.. then again, maybe not). And although the year is but 2/3rds over I say it’s time to review what the Year of The Tiger been like for the "adult" industry.
Well, first of all, let’s not miss the obvious. We had Tiger Woods messing around with porn stars and other women… talk about the Year of the Tiger! Also, we all watched Steve Driver do his own version of "Whores Gone Wild", after he brutally murdered Tom Dong, and injured others before making the death plunge, off a cliff, live on t.v., with the help of some SWAT "non lethal" bullets.
We also witnessed this year LIB’s record number of comments from Justin Long’s "I will no longer be doing interracial" post. We had a group of talent agencies that didn’t last long trying to raise money to battle it’s lawsuits. We still have a group that continues to grow fighting piracy. We had the the condom conundrum; mandatory condom use in porn being pushed by Shelley "saving lost souls" Lubben’s Pink Cross and the rich and powerful AHF lobbyists, as the porn industry and our friends at the FSC continue to fight for our rights at OSHA committe and sub-committee meetings. We had the AIDS scare with the milf, mother we’d maybe rather not fuck, who tested positive,and who’s name has still not been released. We have the ongoing controversy of people shooting gay/tranny & straight porn, the comebacks of Raylene,Briana Banks, Daisy Marie, etc. We havelots of cross over between MMA & porn; the battles of Jenna & Tito, Dick Delaware, War Machine; basically an overload of testosterone, drugs and notoriety seeking amongst the
perpertual porno/mainstream hybrid hype.
We have the downfall of the contract girl as announced by Vivid, the murder by Sunny Dae and her gay porn boyfriend, the murders of the Craigslist killer, who then committed suicide. There’s the sad end of Craiglist as we know it, with the elimination of their infamous and often-times hilarious "Adult" section. There’s the hot aging female porn star MILF trend, the Freak squad guy’s fake suicide, 3D porn, Sasha Grey on Entourage, as well as more examples of porn stars crossing over into mainstream; all the while as the majority of the Titanic porn industry sinks without government bailout or much means of assistance. I guess no one in government can lend a hand because they’re too lubbed up.
We have "failing industries", as the ancient asian prophetic wisdom warns, reflected in good guys,like porn writer Rodger Jacobs going homeless. We have the ongoing glut, but still current hit of the porn parodies, the proliferation of books written about sex and porn star autobiographies. We have keyboard warriors wielding their instruments of havoc with wreckless abandon. He have Max Hardcore, still locked up, but with his days creeping ever closer towards releasing him from his cage…
Quite a wild Year of the Tiger, but we also learned that tigers can be tamed. Take for instance churchs actually having civil conversations with Porn Stars such as was done between XXX Church and Ron Jeremy, as well as the forum between former and current performers, sponsored by The Long Beach City Church, that Lucky Starr, Domenic Kane and I participated in. We have porn and antiporn forces working together, even if it is doing debates, and of course, again,Shelley Lubben.
So, in review, yes, we are the "delightful paradox"; porn which is both both universally loved and despised, simultaneously. You can also say the word "porn star" itself is a "delightful paradox". And indeed, all the world is our stage, with or without residuals. We’ve seen new trails ablaze; 3D, the cotinuation of porn parodies to grab out attention, instead of just dps, double vaginals and double anals. We still seek the unattainable, which is the ultimate mainstreaming of adult, and "the big O", which would leave the entire big round world as our loving audience.
Although porn ever creeps closer to the horizon, the complete mainstreaming of porn will always remain allusive, and we all still have to continue to fight like tigers as we try the untried (triple anals?), dance to life’s music in gay abandon, come with each other on carousel rides, witness the myriad of colors, flickering lights while seeking to be hailed as the unparalleled performer.
Ah, yes, the "unparalleled performer". Let’s consider the nominees… To me it’s a toss-up between porn’s popular ambassador Sasha Grey and porn’s wayward and infamous, violent retard, nut-case, "furry hands" Steve Driver.
But I think I have to go with Steve. After all, if 2010 had anyone hold our collective attention all at once, albeit a little bit of time, it was him. His porn star story had quite a cliffhanger and climax. And like a tiger, he crawled into our collective landscape, made quite a roar, slashedand cut, and then leaped into history.
Good Times? Sometimes. That’s the Year of the Tiger for ya!
sorry for the “grammer” and typing errors. what else is new? also, i tried sending text over with the correct line length but it’s all whacked out. also, forgot to mention relation-ships can sink this year, so sail with caution. hey, cindi, where’s the pic i attached of me crawling just like that tiger? there’s room to attach it on the left side.
another whoops, i’m bad at math, i should’ve said the year is 3/4ths over, not 2/3rds… i’m not good at fractions but at least i’m not multiplying, either…
So what exactly is your goal/objective in the adult biz Jerry? I see you pointing things out all over the place and intiating/attending gatherings and meetings in relation to the adult entertainment biz, but I’m not entirely clear as to what you’re trying to manifest and/or place yourself within it.
Just curious at this stage.
Good question, Monica. I don’t really know. Just like the documentary I was involved in for a while, I’m just going where the wind blows, without any pre-laid agenda, doing what I like and what I’m getting positive feedback (mostly) for doing it. I’ve always enjoyed writing, debating, researching, challenging people, trying to make them think, if possible. Whether I’m right or wrong I like to state my case, for the purpose of us all hopefully learning something. And the fact is, I will always, in a certain sense, at least, be in the porn industry, whether I’m semi-retired or permanently retired. What we do is always going to exist somewhere, so no matter how much I’m involved I feel I’ll always be a part of this industry… even if I’m apart from it. Plus the industry has blown up so much in so many ways that it fascinates and bewilders me at the same time.
I’m still reeling over an absolutely horror-full and devastating business relationship and former friendship with what I discovered to be an incredibly deranged, abusive, self-indulgant asshole who I stupidly allowed to influence and gradually more and more control me (because I believed in what he was saying at first), but the more he did or attempted to control me the more deranged and abusive he became until it, time and again became absolutely unbearable. I acted in trust and good faith and I got fucked for it. This person is absolutely unwilling to admit he’s done wrong and each successive time his abuse only got worse and more deranged and personal, as if he’s some angry, betrayed gay lover.
I can’t really get in to too many details because I am at what I consider to be a cold war with the person. It will only become a very hot and very nasty war if too much is said by either one of us.
I’m waiting to see what, if anything, becomes of it. I’m still thinking and reeling about what I’ve gone through, thinking of my next move. I don’t expect anything to ever get done at this point and so I’ve lost more than all of mine and my friends’ investments, but that’s another long story, too.
Essentially I invested everything I had, all the money I had for a while, all the energy, hard work, abuse and humiliations I could take. And the more I did the more that person thought he had the right and need to control me for his phony politically correct reasons, and with that the more insanely abusive he became. He forgets that it was because I was me that I gave him a documentary and a great, great opportunity. In the end he was trying to make me his puppet, speak through me, and smack me around like I was his bitch to humiliate for his and supposedly your pleasure, although a lot of people asked me what was wrong with him at a certain point, though his response to me, strangely was, in contradiction of his prior statements, that he didn’t care what other people thought.
It’s a profound tragedy because I am still convinced that the project I was involved in was the most hilarious, shocking, amazing, explicit masterpiece that has ever been in not only the porn documentary genre, but documentaries, in general. It was one masterpiece portait after another, and as more came in the masterpiece would change then mostly disappear so to fit more footage into the 80-90 minutes projected final cut. There could’ve been many little mastepieces that could’ve run as part of weekly series. But the person for reasons I still do not quite understand or accept can not get it done.
But a lot of people are big talkers and can’t get shit done, like someone who can’t even keep their backyard not looking like it’s been abondoned for 5 years. He loved to constantly change his mind back and forth, loves to talk talk talk, fuck around, self-indulge, talk talk talk, fuck around some more about the same things over and over.
My hatred level can not be over-stated. All the enemies I’ve had my entire life put together can not come remotely close to touching what this person has done to me, and ultimately himself.
It still all blows my mind. I’ve had some deranged ex roommates and even ex girlfriends but they all added together don’t come close to being as fucked up and crazy as this person is, considering all he has done. But like I said I can not go into details unless someone else drops the bomb, such as pulling a Roy Garcia move and sending my movies to my parents or something like that. At that point, it would be an all out war, and tragic not only to me and the person who I once considered my best friend at one point, but to all of you out there who could’ve and should’ve been laughing your asses off at the greatest explicit most hilarious and shocking documentary masterpiece ever made!
This was a much BETTER article than your last Jerry. Its readable but there still are some grammar errors. Make sure you are using correct prepositions for your phrases: Ex:
“So, in review, yes, we are the “delightful paradox..” should be: “So, in review, yes, we are IN a “delightful paradox”.
I know you want to be a rebel with your writing–because you are going for a sardonic effect–but don’t fucking push it. Follow correct phrasing for idiomatic language. Example:
“And although the year is but 2/3rds over…” should be:
“And although the year is ALL but 2/3rds over…”
And don’t replace common adjectives with those of your own creation. “horror-full” should be “horrible”.
All in a all, this was a good piece. The most important thing is that it actually gives me a coherent sense of your thoughts and ideas. You need to work on your grammar, diction, and imagery skills in order to be a WICKED writer though. You have the style down–you just need to follow the rules.
Thanks Origen, but I disagree…
One of the definitions of “paradox” is:
any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature.
So, I say I should not have said “IN” a paradox. We ARE a paradox… “Porn” by definition means something that has no artistic value other than to excite sexual desire. And “Star” is supposed to mean a “great and popular artist”. Thus we are not “in” a delightful paradox, we ARE a delightful paradox.
Also, I meant 3/4ths over. But it is not as you say “all but 3/4ths over”. It is all but 1/4th over. This year IS 3/4ths over.
But, you’re right about me fucking up my grammar a lot. I should probably submit my writings to a proof reader before sending, but at least you know I wrote it, due to my unique signature. There have been people in the past posing as me saying things I never said, but that’s another story which I will hold back until necessary.
I know that “horror-full” is not technically a word, but all words are artificial creations anyway. In the spirit of Anthony Burgess and “A clockwork Orange” I sometimes like to create my own words, just as words themselves have been created. Maybe I shoud’ve said what I’ve been through these last years was a real “horrorshow”.
Fair enough, lol. Good job.
Thankyou, my brother.
Actually, thinking about it, Origin, the abuses I went through remind me of the main character in Kubrik’s masterpiece, Alex (portrayed by Malcolm McDowell), who, because he abuses his friends/”droogs” way too much, gets set up himself by them, smashed in the face with a milk bottle, and in the end, almost drowned when his friends, one of them whom Alex called “dim” (in my case, I was called “incredibly dumb” over and over) become authorities in power, themselves (cops, ironically). Alex was enjoying himself and abusing his power too much, that the wrestling move he thought he had on the gang caught him and was reversed on him, instead, the way that Aaron Brink or a trained UFC MMA fighter might make a move.
Great art imitates life and vice versa.
Recently, a friend/fellow investor even told my ex friend that he went way too far in his abuses, yet that ex-friend, instead of admitting he’s wrong, had the audacity to offer me some work or training, as if I’m going to work for him after how he treated me. Someone smashes or humiliates you and you think you’d come anywhere near that guy without a little possible “ultra-violence” occurring? Talk about “incredibly dumb”!
Good read, Jeremy.
I don’t know what went down between you and PT guy, and I don’t need to know, none of my business. I only hope you guys won’t be hating on each other. People change, their perception of one another change, that’s why friendships come and go. Personally, if and when I feel it’s time to end a friendship and move on, I try to end that on a positive note rather than anger and hatred. I hope you guys do the same.
Thanks Colonel, but I don’t think that’s possible and if you were in my shoes I think you’d feel the same. The only positive notes possible at this point are a whole bunch of Benjamins, and I have no reason to trust on any. And since someone calls talking about the same thing over and over for years or vacillating back and forth on decisions “progress” I’d expect the world to end, sooner.
Anyway, Lucky and I are heading to “Wall Street 2” soon.
I was looking at some pics from Porno Dan’s birthday party and in the thumbnails I see this blonde with a great rack in a tight sweater posing with this guy. So I click on the pic and its Sophia Mounds with Seth Dickens…hmmm.
Here’s my short review of “Wall Street 2”. Money never sleeps… but I almost did. Even Charlie Sheen’s cameo wasn’t interesting, and Ollie Stoned’s cameos I guess were for the purpose of reminding us he made this thing. I’m not even sure what the point of the movie was. Blah.
I never saw the first, but this one was more dramatic. A little slow moving, but it was ok.
The first Wall Street was good only cause of Micheal Douglas, the rest bit. There was some real sloppy editing…as with all Stone movies there had to be 20-40 minutes cut out. Stone should write movies and then have someone else direct. He usually has a good story but then loses his way when he directs as all the other substances kick in and then he sees things as Salvador Dali. Now I would love to know what went on Behind the Scenes of Natural Born Killers. You had Woody and Rodney smoking weed all the time. You know Sizemore, Downey and Juliette Lewis were all fucked up and of course Oliver. Imagine watching the dailies from that.
Weed for Woody and Rodney is fine, whatever drugs Ollie’s been on I wouldn’t recommend.
furthermore, if i may comment on myself and the article’s final conclusions, between the two nominees steve driver kinda rep’s the biz more, overall, these days for the year 2010, wouldn’t you say?- i don’t think i’m off by saying collectively we’ve gone off the cliff and all… but still we gotta “keep on truckin”, keep on fuckin’, till they tell you to ‘fuck off’…
I liked it.. it was quite stimulating with lots o drama and suspense LOL
btw, please ad ‘HIV Patient Zero Porn Panic’ to the Year of the Tiger disaster list!