The present torpidity is a direct function of the displacement of erotic themes by violent themes. Wherever you see this trend, you hear one name spoken with Godlike reverence: Crystal Films. Crystal's core competency was paying ugly, trashy women to punch each other in the face and skull with their bare fists. It's a Crystal that begets a Catz Review. If Catz doesn't quite match Crystal's brutality, it more than makes up for it by exceeding Crystal's ugliness, innovatively enhancing natural ugliness with ugly tattoos and uglier piercings. Yet lest this bad deed go unpunished, thuggish fans who don't give a "flying ****" what the women look like shrilly demand ever more fidelity to a "real" fight (=bloodbath). Another fruit of the poisonous tree was CCC, introduced explicitly as a Crystal-style production. CCC supposedly brought in women with hair extensions so they could rip the extensions out of each other's heads. Nothing screams erotic like a barber shop floor strewn with random third-party hair. The most acclaimed new content in this genre is all the teen beatdown clips on social media; when someone talks teen you can bet he's not thinking 18 or 19.
The more I see of this, the more convinced I am that not only are we different from them, but there's no big tent to which we and they both belong. That then makes me wonder whether there is some tent larger than ourselves that could include ourselves. I ask because the anti-porn crusaders are right about one thing in my case: I want something more intensely erotic than what I already have. I just don't know what that is. When I was watching GGDTSK, I didn't know I wanted VSL. Then, I could never have imagined I wanted Academy. What I'm really asking is, if the next Tricia or Bruce is out there, whereabouts might they be found?
At first blush, I thought this was something I might have written. However, I quickly realized the sentence structure and vocabulary was superior to my own. The only place I disagree with you is about Crystals influence, which I feel you overstate. I think the trend to ever more violent content is YouTube driven.
John, we are either being outshouted, outspent or both. And our two most eloquent champions are no longer around.
Outshouted in that most of the chatter you see on female fighting forums is made of of calls for more and more violent and brutal content. Outspent in the sense that money talks, and most of the companies now seem to be heading in that direction. Both in the sense that we, fans of EROTIC content involving more attractive women, are losing ground.
The loss of AcademyBruce was both tragic and premature. G.R. I can only surmise became so frustrated with piracy and poaching that he seems to have left the scene. I miss not only their video productions, but the sense of pride and belonging they gave me when they wrote on these boards championing the content you and I enjoy. Now these same forums are flooded with Catzreview, who seems to me delusional, and East Coast Cats, who has shown himself to be a blathering idiot. Maybe they just write in a way designed to appeal to their fans, but they certainly lack the stature and grandeur of Bruce and Guenther.
The more I see of this, the more convinced I am that not only are we different from them, but there's no big tent to which we and they both belong.
John, I am a wine guy. If you break down wine analysis into its most basic form, you come up with the following: Wine is good when it is balanced. Wine is very good when it excites the palate. It is great only when it excites the intellect. I apply the same criteria to erotic female combat. I am looking for nuance, for complexity. I am looking for something I can savor. I am looking for great Bordeaux, Burgundy, Moselles/ Rheingaus. I have been involved in wine so long that any beverage with an alcohol content beyond 20% (the content of Port) leaves me cold. All I taste is heat.
So, I am equating violence with alcohol, erotica with fruit and oak, i.e. taste.That would make Catzreview moonshine.
Can the two groups be placed under the same tent? Our content does not pack enough immediate punch for them. Their stuff is unpalatable for us. So, no.
I could never have imagined I wanted Academy. What I'm really asking is, if the next Tricia or Bruce is out there, whereabouts might they be found?
As for me, Id be happy with a return to the old Academy formula: steamy, protracted body to body struggles between gorgeous women. In other words, FC girls with Academy content. Or just an infusion of beautiful women into Academy. For me, the formula exists; just up the attraction quotient.
A better question might be: where does the other side go from here? What is next for Catzreview and the others? Chainsaws? Gloves with metal studs? I think the beatings will be allowed to go on longer, to a more sickening conclusion, for starters. The women cannot get any uglier. And then their fans will call for more.
I don't think you realize how many producers have scripted fights where the winner is predetermined.We never knew who was going to win the fight, and neither did the models before the fight.
We compared ourselves to Crystal because nothing we did was predetermined. We also never wanted closed fisted punching, like Crystal, or starting the fighters from their feet, like Crystal.
And we had no idea about the hair extentions until they were ripped out after about five seconds of fighting. Virginia did not wear them for her second fight.
As far as I know ECNWC does totally unscripted, but most other American producers will do fights where one fighter is told to hold back so the fight is close or will match fighters so that one girl does not have a chance going into the fight.
The wealthiest guy I've ever worked with directly once described to me his business philosophy: don't leave a scrap on the table. If you're suggesting FC's content could be more erotic, and insofar as Hana stands on GR's shoulders, then this is an occasion to revisit the decisions he made. Specifically, GR launched a separate Tribgirls imprint to house porn when he might have been finding ways to maximize the erotic appeal of DWW's wrestling videos. If ever someone gets us out of the mess we're in, it will be someone who refuses to leave an erotic scrap on the table.
These days I've been watching more mainstream lesbian porn, especially the woman-friendly work of director Nica Noelle.This genre bypasses so many of the weaknesses prevalent in wrestling videos.Production values are high, acting decent, storylines semi-believable or at least amusing.The women are generally moderately attractive and such tattoos as there are tend to be unobtrusive.I've certainly never had one of those shocking Catz moments: wtf is this thing doing in material that's supposed to be arousing to men?Most importantly for me, the women actually relate to each other; porn, after all, isn't a solo performance.There's a craftsmanship here, an attention to detail, a sense of purpose that we rarely see even in the best of our thing.I'm reminded of Amy's dozens of matches in the Academy, after which it occurred only to Tricia to put some makeup on her.I'd be very interested to see what someone like Nica Noelle could do with erotic wrestling.
-- Edited by JohnMoog on Sunday 14th of October 2012 12:24:15 PM
I don't think you realize how many producers have scripted fights where the winner is predetermined.
...
As far as I know ECNWC does totally unscripted, but most other American producers will do fights where one fighter is told to hold back so the fight is close or will match fighters so that one girl does not have a chance going into the fight.
Even if these things were true, would they be objectionable per se? What I don't realize can't affect my erotic enjoyment. It's not like I'm betting on these fights and need to worry about whether the fix is in. It's porn.
I don't think you realize how many producers have scripted fights where the winner is predetermined.
JohnMoog wrote:
Even if these things were true, would they be objectionable per se? What I don't realize can't affect my erotic enjoyment.
JohnMoog wrote:
The more I see of this, the more convinced I am that not only are we different from them, but there's no big tent to which we and they both belong.
I think the first thing we need to do is to recognize that there is not just an unbridgeable gap between the two camps, but that we are talking about two completely different things that appeal to each for completely different reasons. I think the second thing that needs to happen is a revision of the language each side uses: we have to remove the word fighting from our vocabulary, and they need to eliminate any use of the term erotic.
Steve0109, when you watch a video from your camp, what is your reaction? What are you looking at; what are you seeing? I am assuming you watch the videos for purposes of arousal. Are you aroused by the ferocity of the women? Are you turned on by the skill level as expressed in the tactics both offensive and defensive, like a UFC fight but arousing? Is it the physical appearance of the women themselves? Is it the violence and brutality in a feminine form? Do you like it because you consider what we like as porn and yours is something more elementally pure? I ask because the allure completely escapes me, and I am not trying to sound nasty, just rather exploring the vast chasm that separates us.
John, what you seem to be seaking is a different set of sensibilities applied to erotic combat. Youre right; it has become rather formulaic. I am all for it. As long as the women are compelling attractive, and the body-to-body element is retained if not enhanced, a new approach, even if it only opens the door a bit towards what we are groping in the dark for, I would give it a serious look and some of my money.
I think the second thing that needs to happen is a revision of the language each side uses: we have to remove the word fighting from our vocabulary, and they need to eliminate any use of the term erotic.
I like that suggestion.It would be interesting to see word clouds representing each side's promotional language.Tricia placing the fan "so close you can smell the sweat" stood out, andJW's "turn-on" mantra, though a bit of a jarring construction, was true more often than not.On the other side, CCC mentioned how hard it was to find women willing to "beat the sh*t out of each other"; "brutal" and "vicious" are also music to their ears.Best of all, a fan once said one of Catz Review's combatants looked "scary," and he meant that as a compliment!When I want to be scared I watch Freddy Krueger.That's an entirely different form of entertainment for me.
-- Edited by JohnMoog on Wednesday 17th of October 2012 03:52:01 PM
I watch a lot of Charlene Rink videos, and marvel at what she became following her introduction to wrestling by none other than AcademyBruce.
I had no idea.
Who today sweats like Charlene Rink?
Dia Zerva?
1)Britain and its soccer hooligan culture, which has led to Catzreview and Bitchfight UK ( although I love Dio and wish him a lifetime supply of Battenberg cake)
There are pretty, classy women in the UK. There's Honey, who won't appear topless, and Princess Kate, who will. Those producers don't feature a random sample of British women; they make a point of recruiting a specific type, which you associate with soccer and I guessed had something to do with "chavettes." The intent is to shock the conscience and sicken the stomach. At that they're very successful.
-- Edited by JohnMoog on Wednesday 5th of December 2012 02:03:01 AM
Nostalgia is defined as a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.
Every time I step into my new car, or use my smartphone or enjoy the wonder that is HD TV, I realize I am not nostalgic for any earlier time. I dont live in the past, and have no desire to turn back the clock.
Except when it comes to erotic female wrestling videos. With the exceptions of Foxy Combat and Fighting Dolls, from which I continue to buy, I have gotten to the point where I have given up even bothering to look at any new productions. I still want good Beouf Bourgogne, and look at everything else as Guy Fieri and his Donkey Sauce.
I watch a lot of Alecia Ames videos from Joan Wise. Please tell me in todays market who looks like her, all big tits and blonde hair and no tattoos? Who performs like her, grinding all of the above into her opponents?
I watch a lot of Charlene Rink videos, and marvel at what she became following her introduction to wrestling by none other than AcademyBruce. Who today sweats like Charlene Rink? Who wrestles with the unselfconscious joy she displayed? Who today holds on tighter than Charlene Rink?
Outside of Central Europe, what besides video quality is better today than 15 years ago?
And John, I think there are three main roots leading to the evil state of affairs we see today:
1)Britain and its soccer hooligan culture, which has led to Catzreview and Bitchfight UK ( although I love Dio and wish him a lifetime supply of Battenberg cake)
2)AcademyBruce, otherwise a candidate for sainthood, but it was he who introduced the synthetic penis, which led to
3)Ultimate Surrender, whose sins are twofold: a) singlehandedly and possibly forever lowering the bar for industry female attractiveness and b) ushering in a distribution system of membership and weekly updates designed to keep customers focused on what was to come and away from the sorry product they were actually receiving.
Well KC in fact he (Ofecteau) is one of the greatest experts on earth on the Academy catalog.
Between me and Paulzzy, we are pretty much the last remaining authorities on old Academy videos.
Charlene did 2 videos for Bruce., an AX match against Red Richards and a SOAP with Suzie Wong. She somehow lost to Red, who was so mightily uncoordinated and clumsy as to pose more of a threat to herself than to any opponent. Though winning against the Asian Suzie, she chose the business end of the synthetic penis as her victory reward. Go figure.
Now mind you, this was the pre-muscular, unathleticCharlene Rink. Bruce considered her face a treasure.Unadorned by her trademark coat of perspiration, she was a more enthusiastic lesbian than wrestler. Following these matches, I can only assume she hit the gym with more purpose than a Mormon missionary.
While I do know a thing or 2 about old Academy, I will defer to you as far as your take on Dia Zerva. Before she started with Bruce, he emailed her picture to me. Stung by my criticism of the decline of his stable following the losses of Karen, Bobbie and Janay et al, he proudly proclaimed a new future with this woman. I took a pass, and continue to do so.
John, no conversation about erotic wrestling was ever advanced by bringing up Dia Zerva.
-- Edited by ofecteau on Wednesday 5th of December 2012 06:14:44 AM
Dia's plain. Like Amy and some others at the Academy, she might look prettier under the right (female) tutelage. Dia's body lacks female definition; she manages to be somewhat dumpy without being fat. All that sweat is wasted because there isn't that much there to enhance. Now if Caroline of ModelFight could sweat like Dia, that would be something.
Each and every erotic female wrestling video should be shot in a setting at least 80 degrees Farenheit with no fans. All matches should be as sweaty as the galley scene from Ben Hur, the courtroom scenes from Inherit The Wind or any Ashley Judd scene from A Time To Kill.
I used to buy old Academy VHS tapes, and just hated to hear the sound of the everpresent fan(s) in the background.God bless old Karen Collins, who could break a sweat in a meat locker.
Charlene Rink got that right.
To me, nothing is more sensual or erotic in female combat than sweat coating a pair of hot women. GR was on the right track with his wet fights, but real sweat is oh, so much better.
A fan - so that's what that is! I always imagined someone on the sideline using a shall we say more personal appliance. And who could blame her? I consider the Academy the most intimate of the productions, and find it terribly frustrating when soft words, moans and breaths are lost due to excessive ambient noise. I'd like Rudy Van Gelder remasters of Bruce's greatest hits.
As bad as the sounds were, just as bad was to see Janay on the mat tightening up a headlock with her hair being blown back with tropical storm force.
Sweat was an issue, I guess. I was a big fan of the few matches Teanna Kai did for CW, less a fan of her wrestling than just how hot she was. Bruce said he talked to Marty and Trish about bringing her to Academy, but that "...her sweet ass did not want to break a sweat." Too bad. She would have been amazing under Bruce's direction.
Between me and Paulzzy, we are pretty much the last remaining authorities on old Academy videos.
Charlene did 2 videos for Bruce., an AX match against Red Richards and a SOAP with Suzie Wong. She somehow lost to Red, who was so mightily uncoordinated and clumsy as to pose more of a threat to herself than to any opponent. Though winning against the Asian Suzie, she chose the business end of the synthetic penis as her victory reward. Go figure.
Now mind you, this was the pre-muscular, unathleticCharlene Rink. Bruce considered her face a treasure.Unadorned by her trademark coat of perspiration, she was a more enthusiastic lesbian than wrestler. Following these matches, I can only assume she hit the gym with more purpose than a Mormon missionary.
While I do know a thing or 2 about old Academy, I will defer to you as far as your take on Dia Zerva. Before she started with Bruce, he emailed her picture to me. Stung by my criticism of the decline of his stable following the losses of Karen, Bobbie and Janay et al, he proudly proclaimed a new future with this woman. I took a pass, and continue to do so.
John, no conversation about erotic wrestling was ever advanced by bringing up Dia Zerva.
-- Edited by ofecteau on Wednesday 5th of December 2012 06:14:44 AM
Would you happen to know what name Charlene Rink used when she did those videos for Bruce?