snowman872's Xanga

The Grand View at the Grand View Coffee Shop Comes to an End!

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 07:08:10 GMT

The Grand View Topless Coffee Shop in Vassalboro, Maine has burned down. After inspection, fire officials have determined the cause was arson.

The shop employed three men and ten women. Before the fire, The Grand View was doing a brisk business. The workers, who are now unemployed, are said to be "in shock."

The controversial business opened earlier this year in February on a former motel site. Sole Proprietor Donald Crabtree said crowds were "mobbing in" ever since. According to Crabtree, the place was made, "to put a smile on your face." CNN interviewed waitress Krista Macentyre after the fire. Macentyre described the shop as a "good, innocent business." She added "We really liked it here" and "we weren't hurting anyone."

Unfortunately, the fire completely consumed the building and the Coffee Shop is a total loss. Owner Crabtree was hit especially hard. He had no insurance and lived onsite in adjacent living quarters along with his two daughters, their boyfriends and infant children. Now the entire family has been forced to move to a nearby motel.

“It really put the lives of seven people in danger,” Fire Marshal John Dean said. “This is a very serious fire. We had seven people sleeping at the time of fire, and somebody set the fire.”

The arson investigation is ongoing and evidence has been sent to the State Police Lab for analysis.

I certainly hope law enforcement catches the arsonist quickly and the local DA throws the book at him or her. I have a strong suspicion this fire was set by an untolerant person trying to impose their moral values on others at any cost.

Source: CNN, Boston Herald

P.S. -- Lots of great pics of the shop before the blaze can be seen here. Also, here's a CNN news report on YouTube shot shortly after the Coffee Shop opened.

Newbie Asian MILF Lucky Starr has joined the forum. Her main discussion thread (as well as from free galleries) can be found here. She also posted an Introduction here. Stop by and say "hi" to her! The picture above is from a recent shoot for Muffia's Cum-Fu.

Last but not least, the winners of the 2009 APH Awards were:

Starlet of the Year - TIA LING (main forum thread) (official website)
Shooting Star (Best Newbie) - ASA AKIRA (main forum thread)
Best Scene of the Year - TIA LING in Jules Jordan's Invasian #03
Best Movie of the Year (Asian genre) - Jules Jordan's Invasion #03
Best Adult Asian Niche Website - Muffia's Cum-Fu
Hall of Fame - JADE MARCELA (main forum thread) (official website)

(warning - the links above are not worksafe and are sexually explicit. Adults only please!)

Congratulations to all the winners!

-- Snowman

Voting Ends Soon in the 3rd Annual APH Awards!

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:22:48 GMT

APH Fans!

This is your last chance to vote in the Third Annual Asian Porno Hottie Awards! Voting will close early in the morning of Friday, May 1st. Please support your favorite starlets, directors and websites. The categories and nominees this year are:

2009 APH Starlet of the Year: Jandi Lin, Jessica Bangkok, Lana Croft, London Keys and Tia Ling.

2009 APH Shooting Star Award (Best Newbie): Amai Liu, Asa Akira, London Keys, Kimmy Thai, and Krystal Kali.

2009 APH Scene of the Year: Jandi Lin in Evil Anal #05, Lana Croft & Priva in Invasian #03, Lana Croft in Asian Fever #34, Mya Luanna in Invasian #03 and Tia Ling in Invasion #03.

2009 Best Asian Niche Website: Anal Nippon, Asia Movie Pass, Asian Sex Club, Cum-Fu, Mr. Chew's Asian Beaver.

2009 Best Adult Movie of the Year (Asian Genre): Asian Fever #34 (directed by Kevin Moore), Cockasian #03 (directed by Robbie D.), Invasian #03 (directed by Jules Jordan), No Man's Land Asian Edition #05 (directed by David Aaron Clark) and Oriental Orgy World #06 (director unknown).

and last but not least, the 2009 APH Hall of Fame Award where as expected, the race is very tight: Brooke Ashley (aka Fantasia), Jade Marcela, Mai Lin, Miko Lee and Mika Tan.

All of the nominees were chosen by APH fans like yourself!

To vote, visit the APH Awards board on the discussion forum at Snowman's Raincoat Reviews. Please note, only registered members can vote, but it is free and only takes a minute to sign up. I do manually validate accounts after your e-mail address is verified, so please do not delay. This can take a few hours unless you sign up when I am away from the computer for a long time (such as when I am sleeping!).

Thanks in advance for your support!

-- Snowman

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:53:36 GMT

Good Morning all!

This morning Denny's is offering a "Grand Slam" breakfast on the house between the hours of 6:00 AM and 2:00 PM! To find a location near you, click this link! As soon as I finish up some work here, I'm gonna take advantage of this awesome offer!

Thanks to Mystic Won for tipping me off to this!

Speaking of "Grand Slams", I recently saw an interesting article in Japan Time s that described a study that found Japanese teens who skip breakfast as middle school students tend to have start having sexual relations at an earlier age in contrast to those who start the day off with a proper meal. The research was performed by the Japanese Family Planning Association and funded by the Japanese government. 1500 people were included in the sample and participates included both Japanese men and women from ages 16 to 49.

The average age for the first time sex for daily breakfast eaters at the time of middle school was 19.4, while the average age for breakfast skippers was 17.5.

Executive Director Kunio Kitamura believes the key lies in the family life of young people. ""The fact that people can't eat breakfast may show something about their family environment," said Kitamura. "Before blaming individuals for having sex at an early age, it may be necessary to look into the sort of homes they are from."

Another interesting result of the research indicated that teens who were not fond of their Mother tended to have sex at an earlier age. Those who found their Mother annoying started having sex at the average age of 16 versus 19 for those who appreciated her more.

Just too see how far I can take this entry, I looked up "Grand Slam" on Urban Dictionary to see if it had any special meanings on the street and sure enough it did! According to this trusty and endlessly fascinating resource, a Grand Slam can relate to a "4-way":

Okay for this you need 4 gentlemen and a chick. A party may be a good place for this. The first three gentlemen need to make out with the chick. They each get to "first base." The bases are loaded as the "runners" advance. Finally the fourth gentleman approaches the chick and proceeds to have sexual intercourse with her. Once he "gets all around the bases" by this act he has "hit a grand slam home run." Or simply a "grand slam." The remaining gentlemen burst into the room and many hi-fives are exchanged while they all yell, "Grand Slam."

Eek!

-- Snowman

Forum Server Issues! =(

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 10:36:42 GMT

Sorry guys, the SRR forum is temporarily down due to technical problems at the server level. My current host is Surpass Hosting. Although I have been happy with them in the past, their ability to properly support this problem (related to the MySQL databases on the backend) has been woefully inadequate and their response time unacceptably slow. At this point, the problem has been referred to a "Level 3 Server Analyst" where I was asked to "Await for their response." That was thirteen hours ago and the forum itself has been down now for nearly a full day. Plus this problem has been happening now for about three days in a row. As a Surpass customer of 5+ years, this is pretty disappointing.

It appears I may have to find a new hosting company if Surpass doesn't get their act together and solve these issues soon. The good news is, the forum data is backed up and safe.

If anyone has suggestions for reliable hosts familiar with running vBulletin and offer dedicated servers at an affordable cost, please respond here in a comment or e-mail me at snowman872 at gmail dot com. The host would have to be OK with adult content. Most are, but there are still a few prudish ones out there. I'm considering Global Gold to host of the forum who seem to have a lot of experience with vBulletin, but they are located in the UK.

In the meantime, I'll post updates on the situation here and on Twitter. Thank you for your patience. The forum will be back soon...!

-- Snowman

Facing AIDS on World AIDS Day 2008

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:50:07 GMT

Today marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS day. The theme this year is leadership along with the slogan "Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise." Since adult movies often portray (and in the process arguably promote) unsafe sex, on this day, I usually feel a responsibility to blog about this cause.

While a great deal of progress has been made in fighting the deadly disease, it is important to remember, there is still no cure. Even though AIDS is not talked about as much anymore, it's still lurking out there and in fact infection rates may be on the rise. It is more important than ever to learn about the virus and practice safe sex.

It's estimated that about 33 million people around the world are currently living with HIV or AIDS. Last year, 2.7 million people were newly infected and approximately 2 million died from the disease. For more statistics about HIV and AIDS see this page. Although reminding ourselves about these numbers admittedly is a serious downer, every December 1st need not be all depressing. The good news is, World AIDS Day and similar events raise awareness of the problem, help educate people on prevention and reduce the unfortunate public stigma that still surrounds the disease. This stigma is especially prevalent among teens, who often tend to be homophobic and sexually insecure.

A good starting place to learn more about HIV & AIDS is the AIDS.gov website. This site is a virtual goldmine of information about HIV and AIDS sponsored by Uncle Sam. Don't worry, it's not as dry as the lovely IRS site and covers all kinds of AIDS related topics from prevention and testing to obtaining funding for research. And if you are on MySpace, add the AIDS.gov website as a "friend" to help spread awareness. While you are it, take a moment to add the "Drugs & HIV" page as a friend as well. Learn about the link between drug abuse and the spread of HIV in the USA.

One of the neat ideas for reducing the public stigma challenge mentioned above this year is the "Facing AIDS" campaign aimed at social networks and Blogs. The idea is to urge others to "face" the AIDS epidemic while at the same time putting an actual faces to supporters of the cause from all over the world on personal web pages.

It's easy to participate. From the AIDS.gov blog:

Quote:

STEP 1: Take a photo of yourself wearing a red ribbon. No camera or time to take a photo? Instead, you can select one of our web badges (or any other red ribbon image).

STEP 2: Add the photo (or badge) to your social network profiles, Twitter, and/or blog in time for World AIDS Day. Leave it up for at least one week. Don’t have a profile in any of these places? No problem! You can go directly to Step 3.

STEP 3: Add your photo to the “World AIDS Day 08” Flickr group! If you tag the photo with your geographic location, together we can make a map and album of supporters around the world.

STEP 4: Use your wall, status, tweets or website to encourage HIV testing. To find an HIV testing site near you (in the U.S.), send a text message with your ZIP code to “KNOWIT” (566948) or visit: http://www.hivtest.org.

STEP 5: Encourage your friends to do the same and to promote HIV testing!

In case anyone is wondering, adult performers are all tested regularly for the HIV virus and other STDs in Porn Valley. At least once a month male and female talent alike go to the AIM clinic or a similar testing facility and are given the test results. Without a "clean bill of health" to present on the set to the director and whoever they are paired with as a co-star, the shoot will not proceed. Although this system is not perfect, to date very few people have contracted HIV in the adult entertainment industry. In the rare instances where it did occur, the circumstances were highly unusual.

Have fun, but be safe, get tested and be informed!

-- Snowman

Why I Voted for Obama

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:39:48 GMT

I voted for Barick Obama via mail as an absentee voter on Friday. I am a registered Democrat, but at one time I was a "Young Republican." These days I am not feeling much allegiance to any particular party and my views are leaning more toward a Libertarian than anything else. Although I do generally vote, I am mostly disgusted with our political system.

I support Obama because I feel he is the better choice to lead the nation as our next President. He's highly intelligent, articulate and has a special ability to connect to people not only in the United States, but all over the globe. It doesn't mean I support everything he says or does but of the two main choices we are presented with, he's the stronger candidate in my view.

Here are my main concerns about McCain:

1. He's just too old. Beyond the obvious heath concerns he's simply from another generation. His perspective on the world was shaped during the Cold War and Vietnam Conflict. The world has changed, but I'm not sure it's reasonable to expect McCain has. He seems brash and quick to act (or react) without thinking things through carefully. His hot headedness is well documented. In fact he is known as "Senator Hothead" in Washington! Perhaps he thinks this is OK since he's a cowboy type "maverick." I think it is very dangerous with independencies of the new global economy.

2. By selecting Sarah Paulin as his running mate, McCain demonstrated to the world that he has exceedingly bad judgment. Good judgment is something you can't buy and it doesn't always go hand in hand with intelligence or experience either. I've seen a number of attorneys with very poor judgment at my office. I think it's obvious to just about everyone that Sarah Paulin is not Presidential material. She's not ready now and she will never be ready. It is truly frightening to think she would be one heartbeat away from the Presidency, especially given McCain's age. I do not under any circumstance want someone in the Oval office who is capable of making such a poor decision about their running mate.

3. McCain is out of touch with technology. It's my understanding he doesn't even really use the Internet. This sort of relates to my discussion listed above in #01, but is a serious enough concern to deserve it's own mention. It's hard to underestimate the way the Internet has changed everything in the modern world. I simply can't imagine a President who is not clued into it. It would be OK for 1976, but it's not OK in 2008.

4. I am very concerned about what would happen to the balance of the Supreme Court should McCain win the election. Several very old moderate or liberal members will almost certainly retire during the next President's term. The court is likely to swing way too far to the right if more Republican nominees are added to the bench. Since Supreme Court Justices are appointed for life, this is very troubling with wide ranging implications that would go far beyond McCain's term(s). Supreme Court decisions affect all of us more than most people realize.

5. I've had enough of Republican shenanigans with the present Administration (and Congress). McCain may not be George W. Bush, but as Obama has pointed out, he voted along side him 95% of the time. This was verified on FactCheck.org. So much for being a "maverick" and standing for change.

The War in Iraq was completely unjustified and an illegal war in my view. The deceit regarding WMD and subsequent human rights violations that came to light severely diminished the standing of the United States in the eyes of the world. It also has wasted untold billions of dollars of tax dollars at a time when the budget deficit is spinning out of control, a problem our children will be left with. Iraq was not a terrorist threat and distracted us from fighting the real war on terrorism. I believe the real reasons we are in Iraq was to finish the job Bush Sr. failed to do, provide lucrative government contracts to large corporations that with cozy relationships to the Bush family and secure oil fields in preparation for the upcoming resource wars (due to the very serious peak oil problem).

As for Bin Laden, I wouldn't worry too much about him. If our government really wanted him, I firmly believe we would have had him long ago. I'm sure we know exactly where he is right now. It's very convenient for Bin Laden to remain free as the poster boy for terrorism. So long as this terror "boogieman" remains free, the government has an excuse to continue to run amok in the name of fighting terrorism. It's a dream come true for war hawks, as the "war" on terrorism is endless and unwinnable. In the meantime, our civil liberties are becoming more and more eroded and our nation is going bankrupt.

McCain's criticism that Obama's desire to "spread the wealth" amounts to "socialism" is simultaneously sad, hilarious and ironic. It's sort of a throw back to the "commie" scare in the 50's. It reflects his outdated world view I mentioned above. All governments, including the United States engage in some socialist behavior. When we are taxed and the revenue is used to assist the poor via welfare checks, food stamps and housing assistance, is that not "spreading the wealth?"

And what about all these recent mega bailouts of huge corporations? The government recently purchased a substantial stake in all of the nations largest banks. The government also took over scads of defaulted mortgages. If that isn't socialism what is? And McCain was right there, pressing hard for an "emergency bill" we absolutely cannot afford to assist all these inefficient dog corporations, even taking time off the campaign trail to do so.

The fact is, there's no room for anything like this in a pure capitalistic society. In a true free market, we would permit failing companies to go into bankruptcy and allow the invisible hand to sort out the mess. I suspect the more we monkey with the free market, the worse the economy will get. Milton Friedman must be rolling over in his grave!

On Tuesday, stop the drama, vote Obama!

Just two days until the election, and three days until the chat event with Jade Marcela on 11.05.08 at 7 PM (Pacific Standard Time)! Here's another photo of this Indonesian beauty.

-- Snowman

Chat live with APH Jade Marcela - Nov 5th

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:26:35 GMT

Great news guys!

APH MVP Jade Marcela has agreed to participate in a free chat event on my forum Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at 7:00 PM (Pacific Standard Time)! If you don't know who she is, check out her MySpace page here.

If you're still a little foggy, take a look at Jade's Starlet Page on Asian Porno Hotties and peruse all the amazing scenes she performed in. Some of the more memorable titles include early Jules Jordan classics like Ass Worship #01, Bottom Feeders and Anal Sluts & Sweethearts #04, Gangbang Girl #26, Un-natural Sex #02 and a whole bunch of unforgettable, nasty scenes with a older guy who wears a cowboy hat, has an affinity for yellow sofas and is going to jail soon.

Plus, one lucky participant will win a free DVD featuring Jade and autographed Polaroid! Please note, the chatroom is limited to fifty people at a time, so arrive early to insure you don't get shut out. You will also need to register on the forum. Don't worry, it's a free and mostly painless process. However, it can take up to an day to be fully validated, so please don't wait until the last minute.

Please note that the chatroom requires that you have the Adobe Flash Player installed on your computer. Since many websites incorporate flash now, the odds are very high you already do. If not, you can download the player here on the Adobe site.

If you have not used the SRR chatroom before, it would be a good idea to check it out in advance and become familiar with the features. To enter the chatroom, simply click on "Chat" on the blue navigation bar at the top of every page on the forum.

If you have any questions, please let me know. See you there!

-- Snowman

Sasha Grey's Big Hollywood Break!

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 19:26:43 GMT

[Sasha Grey, already in movie star mode, at the 2007 FOXE Awards in Los Angeles]

File this one under amazing breaks ...

Raincoater porn sensation Sasha Grey has landed the starring role in Steven Soderbergh's upcoming (low budget) movie, The Girlfriend Experience. The movie is slated to be released in 2009 and there's a rumour that George Clooney might appear in the film. The script for The Girlfriend Experience was written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien who penned Oceans 13 and "follows the life of a high-price call girl."

In case you don't know, "The Girlfriend Experience" is a term frequently used by escorts when advertising on sites such as Craigslist to offer a more personal sexual encounter. In other words, the "provider" might kiss, cuddle and simulate intimacy with the "client" much like a real girlfriend. Traditionally many escorts would avoid engaging in these activities.

Although the role isn't much of a stretch for Sasha (or any porn star), if she handles it well, this opportunity could easily set her on an entirely different path in life. Sasha Grey may now became the first ever adult starlet to break into the mainstream movie business as an actress. Previously, porn stars have generally been limited to very small bit roles (Kobe Tai as a stripper in Very Bad Things) or cameos as themselves in reality roles (Seymore Butts in Family Business). Tracy Lords came close, but her post porn Hollywood career has mostly been limited to "C" or even "D" movies that no one ever heard of and probably went "straight to DVD" (or late night on Cinemax).

Soderbergh is the director responsible for Erin Brockovich, Traffic and Ocean's Eleven so this is indeed the big time. I'm not too surprised however he would go in this direction, given the sleazy topic his of early breakthrough movie Sex, Lies and Videotape. It's obvious that many Hollywood figures have a secret fascination for porn. If you watch mainstream movies closely, porn references and influences crop up all the time. I believe casting decisions like this allow Hollywood types to dip their toes into the seedy world of porn in a way that appears "legitimate." I imagine if many Hollywood directors could do it without suffering commercial backlash, they would be interested in shooting erotica or even hardcore porn.

Here's some links for more information about the project:

From Fuck Star to Movie Star (Dlisted article)
Steven Soderbergh Looks to Porn Star Sasha Grey for The Girlfriend Experience (MTV Movies Blog)

If you are interested in checking out Sasha Grey's naughty resume, here's a list of her movies currently available on Adult Video Universe. Raincoaters, don't miss "classics" like A2M #10, Cumfart Cocktails #05, and RLD's Gang Bang #05. If you like your porn somewhat more on the mild side, or want to watch something with a actual script, watch Sasha in the big budget adventure, Pirates 2: Stagnetti's Revenge. Believe it or not, it's a four disc set! With a alleged budget of "10 times the original" it apparently far exceeded the cost of Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience.

-- Snowman

P.S. I've created a message thread on my forum on this topic here.

Sativa Rose Podcast Interview Posted

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:21:15 GMT

[Sativa Rose, April 2005, Chatsworth CA]

I published a new Podcast interview with LPH favorite Sativa Rose yesterday afternoon. This interview was recorded in April of 2005 on the set after Sativa was finished with her scene. At the time, Sativa had been in the adult industry a little over a year and filmed 100 scenes.

The interview runs for about forty minutes and can be listened to as streaming audio or a direct mp3 download. If you want to download the file, it is 19 MB and encoded at 64k.

In case you are not familiar with "Podcasts", the name is somewhat of a misnomer and you do not need an iPod to hear the broadcast. You can listen with any software that plays mp3 files, on a portable mp3 player or even burn it to a CD! I’ve also updated the blog to include a media player on the page. This is handy if you wish to listen to the podcast from a public place such as the library.

As always, your comments, suggestions and even constructive criticism is welcome! Enjoy!

The 2nd Annual APH Awards are in full swing now on my forum. Voting has begun in several major categories and nominations are still being accept for several others. Stop by and support your favorite Asian adult starlets!

Also, I want to mention that these awards may mean a lot to the starlets who receive them. There's a very good chance it may be the only award they ever receive for their porn career. In case you haven't noticed, Asian girls don't exactly do well at the AVN Award Show and most of the other "big" award shows out there (unless your name is Tera Patrick or Katsuni).

Everyone likes to receive some recognition for their work and many starlets do try very hard to be professional and give their best every time they shoot a scene. I get so tired of seeing porn stars constantly denigrated on other websites. In contrast, the APH Awards are an excellent opportunity to give APHs some positive feedback and show them their hard work is appreciated and does not go unnoticed.

By the way, I still badly need a cool APH logo. Are there any graphics designers out there sympathic to the cause who might be willing to do one in exchange for promotion on my site?

-- Snowman

AI Recap - 03.26.08 - Top 10

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 23:48:08 GMT

OK OK ... by popular demand, here is my AI recap! This week the contestants had to sing a song from the year they were born.

I didn't have time to do a full analysis, but I agree David Cook was by far the best last night. I really enjoyed his take on "Billie Jean". It sort of revealed how dark the song is. Michael Jackson's (wonderful) dance arrangement really hid the serious subject matter. 10/10

[This is kinda making me feel OLD. I was a senior in high school when Billie Jean was a hit.]

Mouth breather Boy David A. was horrendous last night. His limitations are really starting to show. I think few still consider him the odds on favorite to win. It was a serious mistake to sing a mostly unknown tune. 02/10

I think Ramiele is safe because she's likeable, but her performance was not so hot. She was alleged to be sick, but I dunnooooo. She needs to step up her game. 04/10

Jason Castro has proven he's just a wannabe hippy lightweight. He's in danger of going home. If not tonight, he'll go soon. 03/10

Irish girl Carly was just OK. I think "Total Eclipse of the Heart" is a hard song to sing and it's one of those songs where the original singer's raspy voice will always be stuck in our mind. I have to agree with Randy that her ending sucked big time! 06/10

The judges way over-hyped Michael Johns this week. The more I listen to Michael's voice, the less impressed I am. He has a limited range where he sounds good. Once he tries to push it, ugh. He actually seems to be modeling himself after Paul Rogers (who is a much better singer). 04/10

As a final word, anyone who sings "God Bless the USA" deserves to be voted off. That song has always been the biggest cheese ball in my opinion. I couldn't believe Simon praised Lee Greenwood as a fine songwriter with a straight face. Earlier today Simon was quoted as saying "I thought that was very smart." What kind of drugs is he on? Since when does Simon like country music anyway? Bye Bye Kristy Lee Cook! 03/10

-- Snowman

P.S. -- I didn't get to see a few of the performances yet including Chikeze, who is one of my favorites this season. Grrrrrrrrr.