2005 GayVN Nominations Announced

[LavenderLounge]

The nominations for GayVN Awards have been announced. This is the fourth year in a row that I had the pleasure of serving as judge.

You can see the list of nominees and read my blog entry describing the nomination process at my blog site:

http://www.lavenderlounge.com/blog/

[desslock]

Mark: congratulations to what I'm sure was a mammoth project.

I concur with you about the redundency of the "Best DVD Extras" category. and "DVD Special Edition" To people outside the bubble, these categories sound like industry contrivances more then anything.

I know you have nothing to do with this, but some feedback since you just raised the general subject: Two friends of mine have read through the list, and when the get to the "Best Ethnic Themed Video" category, they *** really *** bristle. They bristle at the name.

Now both of these guys are ... ahem dare I say ... ethnic themed. Jose (who was with me in Vegas) said when he got to that point, that it rang of a bunch of cloistered white people who invented the categories. Another friend of mine was pretty much the same way - lots of eyes rolling.

Of course my respose to Jose was to laugh and remark that this is how my clan intends to assert its superiority over him. Seriously though, it does "ghettoize" the subject of non-whites in the movies.

It definitely just appears weird to younger people. They see is as kind of an "old people" way of talking about things. Maybe we are just much more egalitarian here in Texas......

:sun:
Steve

PS: Jose also did comment about how the Internext/AVN Vegas events were very very "white" -- I was waiting to see how long it would take him to notice that.

[LavenderLounge]

That topic was actually discussed at the nomination table, and the sad part is, there is no easy solution. In the past, they've tried to numerous ways to be inclusive and acknowledge smaller studios, but they got complaints from every direction no matter what they did.

Steve, I'm not quite sure what you are suggesting as a solution.

If you're suggesting that Best Ethnic Themed category should be dropped, there is no way studios like Latino Fan Club and Big City could compete with Kristan Bjorn or Falcon in regular categories. Creating that special category was done to help level the playing field.

If you're suggesting that category needs a different name, please share with us a more appropriate title that the youngsters would UNIVERSALLY approve. (I doubt such a term exists.)

And don't even suggest breaking up Best Ethnic Themed category into separate categories for different ethnic groups! What a mess that would be! They've tried using categories such as Best Black Themed and Best Latin Themed, but they got complaints about using those terms, too.

Would you like a separate category for "Best Spanish Harlem Mixed Race Thug Movie"?

Should Michael Lucas be in the Best Asian category? (Russia is in Asia)

If you put Matthew Rush and Carlos Morales together, what category would that be in?

Give Jose a big kiss for me!

[desslock]

Yes --- a solution .... a solution... so much more difficult then complaining, I know. I just wanted to note that the label "ethnic themed video" is perceived as pejorative.

Frankly, I would eliminate "ethnic themed video" - just get rid of it. If you have to explain the purpose of the category, that is way too much. Is it an award for movies with latinos or blacks? Studios like Lucas and Raging Stallion are populating their movies with lots of hispanics, ricans and blacks now as a matter of course. I think every scene in RS's Stoked has a non-white participant in each scene, for example.

I would just consider Tyson Vega or Latino Fan Club stuff in other categories --- speciality video... new studio.... or maybe a category called "New York."

After all I have a category on FriskyFans called "BRAZIL" and I peg all my movies made in Brazil there. Why not have a NYC category? Just an idea.

If the category is supposed to recognize thug type stuff, then call it that.. or "hip hop." Although I would also argue the merits of having that as a real category. You can have the category there, but are the nominees really worthy of an award? I happen to be the target market for movies with blacks / blatino / latino, and I would be pressed to reward some of those titles with award winning recognition.

Steve

[desslock]

Originally posted by LavenderLounge
If you put Matthew Rush and Carlos Morales together, what category would that be in?

Category: Scenes to transpire at Desslock's house.

[LavenderLounge]

So in other words, your "final solution" is to do an "ethnic cleansing", eliminate diversity, and oppose "affirmative action" for struggling studios who can't compete in the mainstream?

QUICK! CALL OUT THE POLITICAL CORRECTNESS POLICE!

I know that's not what you're saying, but see how words can get you in trouble?

AVN has only been doing a separate GayVN Awards show for a few years. Prior to that, the gay categories were part of the straight awards because back then, dare I say it, "gay" was just another niche.

[LavenderLounge]

The ethnic stuff was not the only controversy surrounding the awards nominations.

There was a lot of debate about the scene with Carlo Masi & Karim for Best Sex Scene in Big n Plenty because they have "sex" without touching each other! How can you have a sex scene without touching?

It was included simply because it was conceptually "innovative" to have a "sex" scene where the models didn't touch. Some of the judges suggested it should have gone in the Best Solo, but are two simultaneous solos actually "solo"?

There was also debate about the scene in Buckleroos with two simultaneous self-suckers in separate bunks. Would that qualify for Best Solo?

And there was debate about whether a rimming scene is considered "oral". Is oral sex limited to mouth-on-dick or does it include mouth-on-butthole? What about mouth-on-your-own-dick?

As I said in my blog, judging is harder than you think!