The US presidential election has been the subject of much scrutiny from the porn industry. The implications of the change of administration and Larry Flynt’s appeal for a $5 billion support package for the sex trade is just part of it. There’s a new hope in America, but in some quarters a little trepidation about what the new administration and the economic climate will mean for the industry in 2009

Hustler produced the Nailin’ Paylin films and generated a huge amount of publicity. Sarah Pailin was even offered a huge amount of cash by one studio to appear for real in a Milf movie. She hasn’t accepted yet, but who know what will happen when she’s no longer Alaskan state governor.

The latest Porn Tie-in is that by Vicky Vette. She presents the “No More Bush” cam show, tonight at 7 pm EST. We can’t wait to se what they dream up next.

In another blow to the UK retail industry one of the best known names in the gay scene has been put into administration. Pinknews.co.uk is reporting that while the company is now officially in the hands of an administrator Clone Zone will not be releasing further information until next week.

It’s inevitable that more adult industry names will fall by the wayside in 2009. The question is, in light of such a large, mature and well-known organisation like Clone Zone collapsing, will it just be the smaller firms that become casualties of the recession?

Surely Internet only retailers have got to be better placed to survive. They have lower fixed costs and fewer staff to support than organisations with physical outlets. However, even Internet retailers will have to squeeze every last drop of value out of their supply chain to ensure their distribution costs are minimised and their stock levels are lowered without compromising delivery fulfilment.

Watch out for people wearing purple tomorrow. They may just be a little kinky.

Following last January’s National Fetish Day the International Fetish Day aims to promote awareness of the fetish community itself and in so far as the UK is concerned the soon to be enacted legislation that makes possession of images deemed as “extreme” a criminal offence.

Here at A-Rouse we love to promote safe, sane and consenting sexual practises so give our wholehearted support to the day. Not that our endorsement means anything you understand but every voice that encourages and supports a person’s freedom to express themselves in a way that does not adversely impact on others helps prevent us slipping down a slippery slope to total censorship.

You can find out more about International Fetish Day and it’s associated issues on Wikipedia and from the Consenting Adult Action Network. If you want to read up on news about the new UK legislation you’d do worse than read the information available at backlash-uk.org.

This of course leads to a bit of a dilemma for all you kinky people out there. If you see someone in the street wearing purple, do you give them a knowing look or a crafty wink? If their as kinky as you they’ll know it. But if they don’t know about International Fetish day be prepared for some strange looks.

If there’s one thing you can say about Larry Flynt, founder of Hustler is that he’s got balls. After one attempt on his life and the constant personal attacks he still manages to run an adult empire from his wheelchair. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that he has the hutspa to go cap-in-hand (along with Joe Francis of Girls Gone Wild) to congress and ask for a bail-out for the adult industry.

Flynt’s reported to have stated “ … people are too depressed to be sexually active. This is a very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such, but they cannot do without sex. It’s time for Congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America. The only way they can do this is by supporting the adult industry and doing it quickly.”

In one respect the request is founded on the quite valid premise that the big three US car makers have been thrown a life-preserver, and the banks got a mind-boggligly huge bail-out when the financial markets went into meltdown. So why shouldn’t adult?

DVD sales are down, and the whole adult industry is bracing itself for a year what could be termed “thining-out”. Disposable income and therefore discretionary spending is going to drop through the floor in 2009. The fit and well capitalised companies are going to survive, but some others are just going to disappear.

On the face of it though, the request for $5 billion is a huge publicity stunt. Does anyone in their right mind believe that congress will approve a single cent for an industry that is barely tolerated by the US government? It’ll be interesting to see how much coverage the petition will get in the mainstream media, and that will be the real measure of Flynt’s success.

I have to ask the question “Do we need another Porky’s film?” Having seen the first one as a kid I have to answer with an emphatic “NO!”. Porkies was not the height of cinematic excellence, but at the time it was a bit of puerile fun.

That was then, this is now. But Howard Stern who is creating another instalment of the Porky’s franchise would disagree. He’s hired Ryder Skye recently lauded as New Starlet of the year to appear in the film.

Skye is of course very enthusiastic about the project saying “I’ve always loved acting,” Skye said. “My first major was theater and there’s nothing more fulfilling for me than being in front of a camera. I’m bringing the passion I have for the work I do in adult to my role in ‘The College Years.”

Skye has already had cameos in TV productions including Sex In The City, could this be her break into the mainstream? I suspect she hopes so.

The movie will be directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith, but is still in development so don’t hold your breath for a release date as they’ve been developing it since 2006. It’s reported that they have six writers on the case … something about cooks and broth?

After 33 years December saw the last edition of the Japanese version of Playboy. Its removal from the newsstands of Japan mirrors the trend across the world where printed publications are disappearing due to the continued squeeze from electronically delivered content.

From and initial print run of the first Japanese edition of 438,000 copies the December 2008 edition had fallen to just serving just 22,000 readers.

The loss of the printed edition of Playboy from another country doesn’t just mean the demise of the icon of male-targeted publications from another country; It puts another nail in the coffin of the art of creating printed magazines.

In the last century magazines went from black and white publications, hand typeset with engraved illustrations to glossy, full-colour publications with first photographs, then fully digitally composed pages. At their best they were an art form. It wasn’t just in their presentation that they defined how we consumed news and features.

By being published at quarterly or monthly intervals they made us wait for each edition and packaged their content in a way that was quite unique. Now, the Internet means you can have an edition every day, or every hour. But how can that compare with a carefully crafted monthly periodical. It lacks permanency.

And there of course is the other point. If you ignore the changes in the content and style of writing that a move to the Web engenders you lose something unique to magazines – the ability to hold it, turn the pages and slip it under the bed to read a day, week, month or decade later.

You could of course join Playboy.com, but I just don’t think that’s quite the same.

RIP Playboy Japan
May 1975 – December 2008