I know some of the APN boys have little crushes on Fleshbot‘s newest editor Lux Alptraum, so I am probably going to take some heat from them for pointing this out, but I don’t mean this article in a bad way. Posts like the most recent altporn-tagged one (below) on Fleshbot make me wonder if Vivid purchased Fleshbot from Gawker back when original editor John D. left. The gist of the Fleshbot article is that Club Jenna is totally ripping off Vivid-Alt by launching some sort of altporn line and including Joanna Angel in one of their titles. First off, Club Jenna has worked with alt superstars like Belladonna in the past, and Janine has more ink than Joanna Angel and Belladonna combined these days, so this is not Club Jenna‘s first foray into altporn. Okay, I’m just going to stop and roll my eyes for a moment. Although APN covers Vivid-Alt releases, I have never been assigned one for review, but I still have a clue.
Has Joanna Angel ever worked for Vivid-Alt? I am 99% sure the answer is no. I think Joanna Angel did work for Vivid’s more gonzo lines in non-altporn roles, but she definitely worked in an altporn capacity for VCA after Hustler purchased the company. VCA was candid about getting inspiration for their alt titles both from original VCA titles like Cafe Flesh and from Blue Blood and SuicideGirls, going so far as to explicitly name their inspirations in DVD extras and press releases.
If Fleshbot had asked whether Club Jenna called their altporn imprint Undrgnd without vowels to avoid a trademark infringement lawsuit from Penthouse, that would have been a valid question. Penthouse did launch their largely unheralded Penthouse Underground altporn imprint some years ago. I’m not defending Penthouse as Penthouse Underground did tap porn director Guy Capo to direct for them and he was responsible for Gothsend, possibly the most awful embarrassing example of video altporn ever created. I have never seen a Penthouse Underground video, so they could be great, but the pedigree is questionable.
Back to Joanna Angel. Burning Angel has released video of her directly. Other more mainstream video companies with Joanna Angel in releases they have distributed include New Sensations, 3rd Degree, Digital Sin, Adam & Eve, Diabolic, Zero Tolerance, Video Team, Digital Playground, Mile High Xtreme, Red Light District, 5th Element, Evil Angel, Wicked, and even Penthouse, and of course Vouyer Media who is putting out her upcoming L.A. Pink feature.
Joanna Angel is a successful pornstar, so how is it derivative of Vivid-Alt for Club Jenna to hire her to do her job, a job she has already done successfully for many companies?
ClubJenna Goes Alt (And Brings Joanna Angel Along For The Ride)
By Lux Alptraum, 3:30 PM on Thu Sep 3 2009, 3,145 viewsIt had to happen eventually. Following in the footsteps of Vivid-Alt, ClubJenna has launched its own alt impression. The good news? The line’s first release is a Joanna Angel joint, “Joanna Angel’s Totally Screwed Out of A Shower.”
The bad news? ClubJenna’s alt line is named Undrgnd (yes, Undrgnd). Because, you know, they’re underground, and also because removing vowels (and, uh, consonants) is so incredibly hip. We’d say the whole just sounds so 2007, but since Joanna apparently inked her ClubJenna deal two years ago…that’s probably redundant.
On the other hand: Joanna Angel’s Totally Screwed Out of A Shower sounds like it will be awesome, so isn’t everything else moot?
· ClubJenna Launches Undrgnd Label With Joanna Angel Release (xbiz.com)
http://www.xbiz.com/news/112378
