The Other Hollywood is an oral history of the porn industry in Hollywood, and it is truly awesome. Even if you’re not into porn (rumour has it some people aren’t), the book is still really interesting, because it’s not just about porn, it’s also about American history, and the impact that porn has had on American society.

Yes, it has interviews with a lot of adult starts, along with some (tasteful) visual supplements, but it also talks about drug culture in America, the film industry in general, American morality, and of the more groundbreaking events in Hollywood history. The Wonderland murders are in here, and Behind the Green Door, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the switch to video.

The research and legwork that went into this book kind of boggles the mind. The authors interviewed all sorts of people, and really did their background work. My only real problem is the way they organized the book. The interviews are broken into chunks, which makes sense narrative-wise, providing a continuous flow, but it starts to get confusing because I had trouble keeping track of people, so I kept having to flip back and re-read sections.

It’s definitely a slow going kind of book. I kept having to stop and digest it before moving on (and, uh, I am watching a lot of Buffy, I mean can you really blame me?) However, it’s worth the slog in places for the really interesting and complete picture it provides, a glimpse into the realities of the porn industry and the people who work in, for, with, and against it.

Demographics:

The Other Hollywood, by Legs McNeil and Jennifer Osborne. Published 2005, 620 pages. History.

The Australian RSPCA is apparently raising quite a few eyebrows with a new advertisement in which viewers see a woman being abused while a dog cries in the background. Supposedly, the ad has reduced some viewers to tears, and it’s already generated rather a lot of controversy, despite the fact that it hasn’t officially aired yet.

The ad is part of an ongoing campaign which is designed to remind Australians that the RSPCA is about a lot more than “rescuing kittens from trees,” and I think it’s a message that deserves to be more widely broadcast, because the fact of the matter is that animal welfare organizations do a lot more than just rescuing animals and finding new forever homes for them.

Many have programs like First Strike, the Humane Society of the United States field program which looks at the link between cruelty to animals and violence towards people. The fact of the matter is that people who abuse animals are a lot more likely to abuse people, with an estimated 37% of animal abusers moving on to humans. And I’m not just talking about slapping people around: most serial killers started with animals.

That’s a chilling fact, and I think it’s one that people really don’t think about enough. People don’t think about it because it is scary, and disturbing, and sad. I think most people agree that animal cruelty really sucks, and shouldn’t happen, but it’s probably hard to make the leap, to realize that because animal cruelty is so closely interconnected with human violence, it’s not just nice to stop animal cruelty, it’s a moral imperative.

Thanks to animal welfare organizations, a lot of law enforcement agencies now have extensive education in animal cruelty, and animal cruelty is taken far more seriously today than it was even 10 years ago. People who are convicted of cruelty to animals can face hefty prison sentences, for example, and they may be ordered to attend rehabilitation programs.

I’ve noticed that foreign commercials in general tend to be more bold and direct about social issues, and it seems to be working pretty well. Maybe we should consider ramming the FCC down a sewer and growing a pair when it comes to advertisements which are designed to raise awareness about the serious problems we face as a society. Perhaps if we did, there wouldn’t be so much suffering in the world.

Urban Native Americans are having trouble getting health care, thanks to breakdowns in the system. I guess that means they can join non-native Americans in receiving no health benefits whatsoever.

Oil fever has struck Brazil; lets see if political fever follows, shall we?

Dangerous loopholes allow doctors who have lost their licenses to become homeopathic practitioners. In addition to cheapening the practice of homeopathy, this is also just bad.

The Titanic may have sunk because of weak rivets, illustrating the fact that factory owners have always been willing to cut corners when it comes to safety.

No Child Left Behind is working great! Look at those rising test scores! Oh, wait, it’s because low scoring students drop out.

Southern California home prices have dropped in value…all the way back to 2004. No recession to see here!