Xploring Stefanie

Originally published in issue 13 of Married Punks in 1998.


Xploring Stefanie

I first encountered Stefanie when I called Xplor Media.  I had wanted to let the people there know that I had received their videos, and that I was quite pleased with the quality.  Stefanie was the girl who answer the phone.

My first impression was that she was nice and very perky.  She almost sounded happy with her job.  Then she invited me to a video shoot.  I knew that I had to interview her.

She offers a very interesting perspective on what goes on inside the workings of a porn production house.  I find it interesting, to say the least, especially considering my job.

Introducing Stefanie ...

Married Punks: How old are you?

Stefanie:  I'm 23, and I'm a nice girl from Michigan.

MP:  How did you get involved with Xplor Media?

S:  I moved to San Diego and was going through the newspaper looking for a job and saw one that said, "video sales rep wanted."  I'd previously managed a record/video store so I called to check it out.  Well, it turns out it was a porno sales rep wanted.  Since I just moved out here I need cash and decided to check it out.  It turned out that everyone at Xplor is young and cool, so I took the job, and it's the best one I've ever had!

MP:  What is your job title?

S:  My job title is now Public Relations gal.  I get people to write stories about us and review our product.  It's fun; I like showing people why our company is different from all the others.  We have unique product and attitudes, and I like spreading the gospel.

MP:  So I see.  Describe your typical work day.

S:  I don't have a typical day.  Every day is different.  Sometimes I spend all day on the phone or writing letters to media folk.  Or if we're doing a shoot I go and help out.  Somebody's gotta hand out lube and towels!  We also have a large mailorder business, and if they're extremely busy I work in there.  That's a lot of fun because customers can be downright nuts sometimes.  They'll tell you anything, and the crazier ones make great topics for conversation at the parties.

MP:  Explain your appearance in Here Comes Elska.

S:  Oh my, I can't explain my cameo in Here Comes Elska.  Just plain craziness.  My boss, Tim Lake, is a mad genius and gets people to do weird things sometimes.  His videos are full of strange humor and situations, and I like to be involved as much as I can.

MP:  What is one of the oddest work experiences you've had?

S:  I think my job in general is an odd work experience.  I'm used to it now, but if you did my job for a day you would probably be a little freaked.  In what other job would you say something like, "Yeah, that triple anal was good, but she should've been sucking cock and juggling kittens at the same time" in a matter-of-fact fashion?

People call me and tell me how much they "love hair bush.  No, you don't understand.  I LOVE HAIRY BUSH. SEND ME A HAIRY BUSH TAPE NOW!"

And every time I promote a girl it's not about saying how nice she is and what a great personality she has, but about how sexy she is, how great her tits are, and how she fucks like an animal.  It's kinda weird, but really funny to me.  There's a lot of humorous stuff going on in this industry.

MP:  I understand that.  What do you think is the biggest misconception that people have about the adult industry?

S:  Well, people seem to think that all we do all day is have sex and do drugs.  Sadly, this isn't true.  We have a regular office where we run our mailorder business, our retail sales, our website, we design our own boxes, edit our films, and do our own shipping.  It's totally legit; we don't have time for sex.  And as for drugs -- well, marijuana isn't really a drug, is it?

MP:  Has working at Xplor Media opened your eyes to anything?

S:  Working here and seeing and hearing about all the insane fetishes people have makes me feel so much better about myself.  I'm not a freak after all.  That's so reassuring!

MP:  Do you ever plan on starring in a video?

S:  The only company I would trust enough to make a video for is ours, but I'm not real comfortable with all my friends here seeing me naked and spread.  It kinda creeps me out, actually.  Besides, have you ever seen the guys who do porno?  Gross.  You couldn't pay me enough to have sex with those ugly bastards.  And the girls -- yuck, again.  Too many of them look great with the make-up, but without, holy troll.

MP:  Any last words?  Get 'em off your chest!

S:  If you've always wanted to be in an adult video, I suggest you submit a tape for us to use in our Homegrown Video series, which is all amateur.  Or ladies can send your photo to my boss, Tim Lake.  He's a great person and has helped quite a few girls get their start.

If you want to rent a good video, I suggest Here Comes Elska, Dreamhouse, or Sex 4 Life.  They're my favorites!  Oh, and if the guy who keeps leaving me the "I wanna suck the corn out of your poop" messages on my voice mail is reading this, I'd appreciate it if you'd please stop.  Thanks.

William of the Farm Interview

Originally published in 1998 in issue 13 of Married Punks.  Caution: Do not read if you are easily disturbed.  You have been warned.


William of the Farm

I first came across William of the Farm when he sent me a copy of his publication, Wild Revue for me to review.  While animals don't turn me on, and watching people screw animals doesn't qualify as erection making material for me, I was quite fascinated with the fact that some people do get off on sex with animals.

In his publication, there are women talking about their first time with dogs and classifieds from men looking for women with dolphin tanks.  It's a bizarre world that is hidden from mainstream eyes, and maybe that is for the best.

This interview isn't here to say that I approve or disapprove of bestiality.  It is done merely to educate.  Learn on, young soldiers!

Married Punks:  What is your name, age, and how did you first become interested in females who love animals?

William of the Farm:  I prefer not to provide personal information.  I got interested in female bestiality way back in the '50s when I was in high school.  There was a girl named Marie in my school who it was said to have made it with a Cocker Spaniel.  She was sort of the class punching bag, although I never had any association with her.  I did know a girl who was her friend.  This girl and Marie had a contest to see who could take the most broom handle and Marie won at eight and a half inches.  I later saw the Linda Lovelace dog films in the early 1970s, and then I remembered the high school stories about Maria.

MP:  There was a similar story in my hometown about a guy named Ron and a cat, which leads me to my next question.  How widespread is this sort of thing?  Does it stereotypically fit in with the farming and country community, or does it reach into all corners of life?

WOTF:  I think almost all women have thought about it at least once in their life.  The old Kinsey statistics were that about five percent had some kind of animal contact, about two percent had actually done it with an animal and about one percent continued to do it.  The German Hafner report done in 1992 showed that two to three percent of women had tried dog sex, and eighty percent of those who did continued to do it.  I would guess at least twice these numbers is the case today.  First, you have a generation of women who are not inhibited about taking sexual pleasure like their mothers were.  A high percentage of these women are divorced, turned off by relationships, but they still have sexual needs.  To them, using a dog is noo different than a vibrator.

MP:  At one time, bestiality movies and books were fairly easy to obtain.  That's not the case anymore.  What brought this change about?   Are their still new movies being made?  If so, are they all strictly foreign, or do some come from America?

WOTF:  The availability of bestiality sex films varies with the enforcement climate.  They were readily available in the early 1970s.  It was easier to prove a bestial film was obscene than a straight sex film, so enforcement suppressed them and they became real scarce.  Then, as the enforcement relaxed, they became available (US) in the mid '80s.  For some reason they were more available in Pennsylvania than other places at that time.  Then came another period of repression.  Then, as enforcement concentrated on kiddie porn, they have become more available.  They are sold openly in New York City, but that is the only place I know of in the US.  A lot of porn shops in the big cities have them, but they are under the counter.

There is almost no kiddie porn in the US today, but in order to keep the government kiddie porn enforcement group in existence, they resorted to creating kiddie porn and mailing it to targets, hoping to find something incriminating when they search the target's home after he gets his shipment from them.  I haven't heard of this much lately.  What they are doing now is labeling material kiddie porn if the subjects are dressed to look like minors.  This is, again, creating something to repress so they can show they are enforcing public morals, and justify their budget.  I think most of the current attention is on the Internet.

Almost all commercial bestiality material is done overseas, Holland being the main center for it.  Some Iron Curtain material has been coming in since the Berlin Wall came down, and there is a lot of (poorly done) material from South America.  The only US material is amateur stuff.  The old Linda Lovelace dog films are still about the best US material.

MP:  Describe to us your publication, and tell me why you decided to do it.

WOTF:  Wild Revue is an art review, with focus on women animal art.  I had collected a lot of art as well as adult material, and decided in 1991 to see if there was any interest in the subject.  It is impossible to treat the subject without covering the pornographic material.  You see the same themes in a high class painting and a Danish porn film, it is just the degree of explict sex that separates them.  There was one painting that won Royal Academy raves that was almost identical to an earlier pornographic work.  In the porn work, three girls are leading a bull to pasture, one is holding the penis and the bull has garlands around his horns.  In the painting, they left out the girl holding the penis, put the other girl along side the bull so you can't see the penis, and called it "Rite of Spring."  The garlands were retained.  It was highly regarded as a piece of fine art.

MP:  How many readers do you have?  More male than female?

WOTF:  About 800 readers for a typical issue, more male than female, but with a surprising number of women and couples.

MP:  How do you find people interested in this?

WOTF:  I suspect a lot of the women find it erotically stimulating, even though they would have no intention of trying it.  The Nancy Friday books, Forbidden Flowers and Women on Top, both have examples of female bestial fantasies.

MP:  Have you run into any legal troubles?  If so, what has happened?  Is your publication within the bounds of the law?

WOTF:  We keep the revue strictly within the legal bounds.  It is what I consider "R" rated.  We avoid explicit, graphical sex depictions, but allow nudity.  When people tell of their experiences, these are pretty explicit, but the Constitution allows this.  We police the ads and tone down any that are too explicit.

MP: Have you ever had an experience with an animal?

WOTF:  No, other than as an observer.

MP:  I imagine that you have seen some strange things, even by your standards, which appear to more open than most people's.  What is the strangest thing you've seen when it comes to bestiality.

WOTF:  The strangest thing was a lady who was only interested in harmless snakes over four inches in diameter.  I will leave the rest to your imagination.  It is surprising to me that snakes are sexy to some women.  We did a centerfold in issue number six of an "Eve" and her snake.  The snake belonged to the model, and I have since met a stripper who has a big snake and uses it sometimes in her act.  Snakes have a phallic symbolism that is more apparent to women than men.

MP:  How do you think that the entire concept can become more open and acceptable to the mainstream?  Do you even want that, or would it be better for it to remain essentially underground?

WOTF:  I don't see any near term relaxation of the taboos, if anything we are going into a more repressive period.  The only bright spot is that women seem to be choosing things for themselves, and more are saying what they do with their bodies is their own business.

MP:  Is bestiality growing in popularity?  If so, why do you think that is?

WOTF:  Yes, with the risk of AIDS, many swinging couples are going to the dogs, rather than risk disease through contact with an infected male.  This still lets the male in the couple get to see his mate well taken care of without the risk of disease.  The AIDS virus can't live in a dog's body more than a few minutes, so there is essentially no risk.  The same goes for most other human diseases, except for a few common to humans and dogs, but these are not encountered in a healthy dog.

MP:  How can someone contact you for information on your publication?

WOTF:  For information on Wild Revue, send a business sized SASE to Farm News/ PO Box [xxxxxx]/Orlando, FL [xxxxx].  If you include $10.00 we will send a sample copy.  [Note:  I am not including the full address as I have no idea if the publication is still being published.]

William was also kind enough to send me a list of videos that can be obtained from what he called a "reliable" source.  These titles include Dog Sensation, Lesbian Dog Orgy, Mustang Explosions, Eel Fucking Sluts, Donkey Love and Get Me Dog.  I'm not going to reprint the address because the people did not send it to me directly.  If you want to know more about it, contact William.

Mike South: Southern Fried Pornmeister

This interview originally appeared in 1998 in issue #13 of Married Punks.


Mike South: Southern Fried Pornmeister

Mike South is a true Southern visionary.  His Southern Belle series is one worth watching to see real people having real sex.  See my review of number nine of his hot series in the last issue to see what I mean.

While a lot of people in the adult industry skirt honesty and refuse to deal with the underground press (Bizarre Video, to name one, wants nothing to do with the underground), South embraces the truth and understands where the true fans are.

This interview was conducted via e-mail.

Married Punks:  When did you first get into the adult entertainment industry?

Mike South:  About three years ago.

MP:  How did it happen?

MS:  I attended the CES show in Las Vegas about ten years ago or so and was walking through the adult section.  I was thinking, "I could do this," but nobody really wanted to talk to me.  Finally, Rick Savage gave me some straight talk, and I took what I learned from Rick and I thought about it, then I started visiting video stores all over the country and I would ask anyone who would talk to me questions about the videos.  What did they like?  What did they dislike?  What tapes rent best?  What sells best?  Why?  Then I watched about a thousand tapes, the ones people loved, the one people hated and everything in between.  Then when I thought I had it figured out, I bought a camera in a pawn shop and started practicing.  A year later I actually shot my first vids.

MP:  Why did you get into this?

MS:  It looked like fun, and I had always had an easy time with girls, so it seemed like a good fit.  Don't get me wrong, I'm an average looking guy, but I learned that attitude is way more important than looks.  Girls like being around a guy who is having a good time, and I certainly am having fun.

MP:  How would you describe your videos?

MS:  Pro-Am, true Pro-Am.  Most of the girls that I shoot are doing it for the thrill of it, very few want to be porn stars.  They just want to do the video for the pure thrill of it.  Many don't even care if they get paid and a few have asked me if they have to pay me to do it.  Everyone gets paid, though, so for many they get that unexpected bonus.

MP:  Who do you think your videos appeal to?

MS:  My videos are designed to appeal to the broadest market without sacrificing my "core" audience.  The "core audience" for anyone in porn are the guys who are really into porn and watch a lot of it, and there are more than you think.  For these guys I always give them good, clean, well-lit close ups, anal if the girl is comfortable with it, and facial cum shots.  For couples, the reality based angle is a turn-on, usually the girls have real orgasms; I'm very good at making them forget that the camera is there, that's partially due to my cameraman as well.  He gets the shots without disturbing the action.  I always make sure that the girl is into it.  If she isn't, then I won't shoot her regardless of how pretty she is.  I don't want girls who are only doing it for the money.  I always keep their makeup fresh and the scene interesting.

MP:  What has been your best experience with the video production?

MS:  There have been several standouts.  I recently shot Men's Magazine model Sana Fey in her first boy/girl.  We shot live, hardcore, boy/girl sex at a rave party in Tampa, Florida with literally hundreds of people watching us.  She loved it.  But probably the all-time best was a recent shoot with a girl named Valerie.  She is a college girl in Orlando, Florida and wanted to do it once for the fun of it.  She was so excited, she was literally bouncing off the walls, and that really came through in the video.

MP:  What has been your worst experience?

MS:  Two years ago in August I did a shoot 40 miles outside of Las Vegas in the desert.  It was 114 degrees at noon and we shot from noon until 4 pm.  There was also about a 10 knot wind blowing, so it was like fucking in front of a giant blow dryer.  That one was tough, but the location was awesome.

MP:  Sounds sticky.  How do you get people to appear in your videos?

MS:  Ninety percent come to me as referrals from people I have shot in the past or from magazine editors or other people who know me.  The other ten percent are usually dancers that I meet when I go into a strip club.  I tell them what I do, but if they want to be in a video they have to ask me.  I don't solicit them to do it.  It has to be their idea.

MP:  What are some of the awards you have won?

MS:  I have been nominated for more than I can remember, but I have won an Adult Video News (AVN) award for best amateur video (the AVN award is our industry's version of an Oscar, and it means a lot).  I have also won a few regional awards, including "Best Pro-Am Series" from The Rocky Mountain Oyster.

MP:  What Southern state has the wildest women?  Based on my experience with a girl named Baby, I would have to say Texas.

MS:  Based on my experiences, I have to say Florida, but only because of the luck I have had shooting in Tampa.  Tampa is an awesome town; the girls are pretty and wild.  Maybe it's the nude lapdances they do there.  Second place would be a tie between Georgia and Texas.  Dallas and Houston are both great towns for hot, new girls.

MP:  Baby was from right outside Houston.  Okay, where do you see the adult industry in five years?

MS:  From a technology standpoint, DVD is gonna rock and roll, though it will take a while for it to replace VHS.  When HDTV standardizes and the DVD companies get their act together, DVD will kick ass.  As for the business, there is a glut of porn out there right now, and the quality is all over the place.  I  mean, there will be twelve thousand new releases this year in the adult biz, most of it shitty stuff like the four and six hour compilations.  Those will be the first to die out because people rent them, see the shitty quality that is characteristic of the extended play modes, and get wiser.

The problem is that for Vivid and other companies to put this shit out is self-defeating.  For example, a guy turns eighteen and goes into his first adult section.  He sees a lot of stuff, but is drawn to a Vivid six-hour compilation.  Why?  Because he figures he is getting more for his money.  He takes it home and puts it in his VCR, the picture is washed out, it won't track properly and the audio sucks.  He now has the impression that this company produces shit in a slick looking box.  Hell, he may even think that is characteristic of the whole industry.  He returns the vid and doesn't rent again.  Now for the store angle, that store just rented one six hour video and lost a customer when he would have likely rented two two-hour tapes and been happy with the quality he saw.  So the store rented one shitty tape instead of two good ones and probably lost a repeat customer in the process.

I expect a shake out will come and the people producing quality will survive.  The rest will be kicked to the curb by a better educated market.  An educated consumer is the adult video business' worst nightmare.

On another level, look for more Federal legislation like the "Child Protection Act," which honestly does nothing to children.  With guys like Max Hardcore getting into some serious verbal and borderline physical abuse, the enemies of our business are going to use that to try to further their cause.

MP:  Any last words, plugs or death threats?

MS:  Nah, I'm a black belt, but I'm also a real pacifist when it comes to physical violence.  I try to avoid it if possible.  As far as last words, I only want to express my deepest appreciation to everyone who has bought and rented my tapes.  If it weren't for you, I could not do this job that I enjoy so much.  When you buy or rent my tapes, you are doing me a favor and I appreciate it, so I'm gonna give you my best effort.  Thank you, and look for all Mike South's new releases under "Elegant Angel Video."

Excess Hollywood: The South's Gonna Rise Again

3/17/05.  That's when Film Threat posted this "Excess Hollywood" column (read it here) which was an interview with Frank Mauceri, whose Smog Veil Records put out something of interest to all Herschell Gordon Lewis fans.  I wanted to let the world know, and did so through my column.

Review of "The Kingdom of Survival" and Interview With Its Director

8/15/11 saw the Film Threat publication of my piece with M.A. Littler.  Earlier in the month, Z Magazine ran my interview as well.  You can read the Film Threat version here, and the Z version here.

Excess Hollywood: The Art of Snuff--The Shane Ryan Interview Part One and Two

You can read part one of my interview with actor/director Shane Ryan here.  My praise of his Amateur Porn Star Killer film franchise has cost me friendships and ad revenue to my blogs.  I still stand behind him and the APSK series, however.

This was originally published by Film Threat 1/12/2006.  The second part of the interview (which you can read here) was 1/19/06.

This was one of my favorite interviews, as it brought to light a lot of questions about what is legal to show in film and what is not. 

Regan Reese Interview

Here's my interview with the star of Amateur Porn Star Killer 3 and many adult films, Regan Reese: Click here. Originally published 5/3/09 on Film Threat.

Willow Creek Interview

Originally published 1/17/08 in "The North Coast Journal." Interview with one of the creators of the "Willow Creek" comic book.

Interview: Shane Ryan

Interview
with Shane Ryan on "Amateur Porn Star Killer 3". Published 2/15/09.