Rome/Malta again...no success

Once again I am over in Europe, but to be more specific Rome, Malta and then on to Spain. Most porn directors/producers never speak of their failures, but then again, I don't think I am your normal porn director (the majority of my blog is dedicated to politics and travel and not my porn-doings). The first failure was back in March, but in the end that failure was foreseen and I planned for it. I was suppose to film a movie in Malta back in March but I decided to pay down some debts which left me with little cash (I am a cash run business basically) to film, so I decided to take my bambino along and turn it into a much needed vacation. This time, however, I had the funds but models flaked both in Rome and Malta! AHHHH! Well, not so ahhhh, because I had massive jet-lag (I have not had such bad jet lag in a long time) so Rome was shot and my quick hop over to Malta for 1 1/2 days ended up in meeting a very nice man that offered his yacht and farmhouse for future shoots on this amazingly unknown and extremely cheap part of the European Union.

Even though Malta is about a 1 hour and 10 minute flight from Rome, dear Air Malta loves to make a stop in Reggio Calabria on the southern tip of Italy before continuing on to Malta (a quick 20 minutes....wolf down the crackers and drink up the cup of water quickly!) As annoyed as I may sound and as ridiculous a stop along such a short route sounds I do suggest doing it once. Why you ask? Well, you may not be able to tell from the picture but that is the lava from Mt. Etna. You have to take the late afternoon departure from Rome and make sure the plane stops in Reggio Calabria and sit on the right side of the aircraft to fly right over Mt. Etna upon departure from Reggio Calabria. If that did not excite me enough, upon landing in Malta there was a whale on the runway! Well, not the sea going type, but the flying type...the Russian manufactured Antonov aircraft! You have to see it to believe it with its wings hovering from the top of the fuselage instead of sticking out the side like the American made Boeing 747 or the European made A380. OK, call me whatever you want. May I suggest geek or nerd, or total geek or just travel tard? As some of you get turned on my huge, well, think for a minute, I get all excited by huge planes, oh, and that other thing that I made you think about too. Confused you yet? I think I confused myself!

Anyway, off to Spain tomorrow to finally get some work done!

East St. Louis and Drama

I haven't been updating my blog for many reasons, but work has really overtaken my life lately. Besides work, I have been with my bambino a lot lately and he has kept me busy also. After New York (and my "I'm not Michael Lucas, I Have a Sense of Humor Exhibit," yes, I let people draw all over my mug, but then again, I do not take myself so seriously you know), I went home to rest for a bit while my bambino went back to his home for a bit. I then went to LA, San Diego and then to San Francisco for work. So about 1 week ago my bambino and I flew to Colorado to pack up his stuff and drive back to Miami. I like to keep a lot of things private, especially when it comes to information I have on others, but I think my boyfriend will understand me writing about him. He is 19 and is having a bit of a rough time with life and has anxiety issues which sometimes climax into emotional break downs, on both our parts. While stuck in traffic in midst of of a snow storm, we decided to part ways, well, for at least for the moment. We drove to Denver airport where I picked up a rental car and he flew home to California. I was going to continue to drive back to Miami since I promised Manhunt that I would do shootings for them across America, but after driving a day through snow and then into tornado ravaged Kansas I was over it. The violent weather and XM radio kept me entertained on my drive across Kansas and Kansas City is actually quite a pretty city. Today I drove across Missouri to St. Louis. It is amazing how different Missouri is compared to Kansas in regards to geography and demography. After a pleasant drive through the rolling hills of Missouri I landed upon St. Louis. I drove past the airport that I have fond memories of my youth when I was flying TWA all the time. Since TWA's demise I had not flown through St. Louis in a long time. I was very surprised about how close St. Louis airport is to the city; basically only 15 minutes or so right into downtown. I checked into my room, did some work and then thought I would drive around a bit since I had only flown in and out of the city, but never checked out the city. I drove through historic downtown St. Louis down Market Street, made a right onto Broadway and then a left onto Eads Bridge. I was looking for a good view of the St. Louis Arch when I happened upon one of the bridges that crosses the mighty Mississippi. Maybe it was fate, but I crossed the only bridge crossing the Mississippi that does not connect directly to a freeway system but rather drops off into East St. Louis, Illinois. Now, I have been all over the world and have seen some pretty economically depressed areas. My ex boyfriend is from a favela in Brazil and I go to visit his family every time I go back. But what I saw today I just didn't think existed in America. I drove down Broadway until it ended and what I passed along the way made me sick; businesses abandoned long ago, beautiful historic buildings empty and falling apart, partially boarded up public housing, historic homes in disrepair, and empty lots with trash. I had mixed feelings about my safety and my desire to get out of my car and engage the residents, which I finally did. Yes, I parked the car and approached some young black guys walking with a young white girl. I told them I had never seen anything like this in America and I wanted to know what they thought of their neighborhood and what I could do in any simple way to help. The oldest kid, probably about 20 or so, flat out told me to write the government and tell them what I think. All of them had their input except the white girl that just looked at me with suspicion. Another 2 young black guys walked up and they were equally happy to jump in on the conversation and tell me their thoughts. The original kids finally left as I insisted that one of them take my personal e-mail so I could communicate with them and hopefully help them some way in the future. I asked one last time what I could do to help and one guy politely asked for $2 for the tram. I pulled out my wallet which surprised them. As they came closer to me I looked at what I had and decided how much I really needed it. I asked one of them if they all were friends and if he would share the money that I would give him and he affirmed. I gave him a $20 and he was so thankful then he ran over to the rest of the guys and promptly showed them the $20 as to share it with them. They all gave me a "thumbs up" and waved bye to me with big smiles....it made me feel faith in humanity that the kid shared it with his friends.

Popeye Village, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid...now breathe

OK, so our last days on Malta were actually spent on Malta and not Gozo. We decided to stay at a gay hotel in Paceville called Adam's Hotel and Bar. The hotel was nice and quaint, but the standard double rooms are quite small and not much is left to the imagination when going to the bathroom (the 1/2 glass door does not provide adequate privacy). Like most places on Malta hot water is an issue (this is excusable because Malta has no natural source of fresh water) so tanks are put on top of the apartment complexes along with heating units. Other than that, the owner is nice and is helpful and brings in a diverse crowd in the evenings to the bar making a fun place to hang out.



As a quick side note, I celebrated my 33rd birthday a few nights ago and my cute bambino wanted me to post my little birthday cake pic, so here you go!



Both of us were at a lost to do on the two small islands since we basically did everything in the previous 10 days so I took my baby to the famed Pompey Village! Yee hawwwww! If you are my age or older you may remember the movie Popeye with Robin Williams, well, it was filmed in Malta and the actual set is nestled in a little cove. It is worth going for shits and giggles, but there is not much to do. Of more interest is the nearby city of Rabat which is purely magical medieval town that is well preserved.

The last few days were crappy weather so we basically slept in, I worked, and putzed around St. Julians until we finally went to the airport to leave for Rome. We were both a bit exhausted by the time we arrived at the hotel, so we just rested, but the following day we were total tourists, had a great Italian lunch and then headed back to the airport for Barcelona. The following day I showed my bambino around Barcelona and then headed to the airport in the evening for Madrid.

Dizzy yet? I think we were a bit!

We stayed a few days in Madrid with my buddy Martin Mazza who is always so accommodating to his friends with his centrally located penthouse condo. So we spent the last few days of our European tour just relaxing, walking around Madrid, and talking with friends.

After a nice flight back to Miami I then had to go to NY for the LGBT Expo, which turned out to be very fun and interesting. I also did a promo at Splashbar www.splashbar.com for my "Santo Domingo" movie which turned out to be great fun since I saw friends I have not seen in a long time. The following evening I also helped out with "Porn Bingo" at the 9th Street Bistro which was also a blast and help Will Clark www.willclarkworld.com for the NY Gay Men's Football League...oh, and yeah, some of them are really hot!

I finally came back to Miami Beach to have some relax time with my bambino on the beach and get back to a normal life, but once again after 4 days I headed to the airport for Atlanta, so here I am now for a few days.

Forced Relaxation

So for the past few days my "bambino" and I have just been taking a break. We have been visiting all of the natural wonders the island of Gozo has to offer; walking along cliffs, taking boat rides, and walking from our farmhouse to the coast and getting lost along the way. I have been doing my best to not work as my sexy boyfriend really wanted, but today has been a bit cloudy so I decided to sit back and do some work while Neal watches our limited TV stations since we have no use for the, and no kidding, 25 channels dedicated to sports. I have a feeling our farmhouse is marketed to low class British vacationers who can't miss a footy match while away from home.

Just another few days here and then its off to Rome, so hopefully the weather will be good again so we can catch some sun!

Gozo-mania

No, I'm not talking about Gonzo, the style of porn, but a small Island in the Mediterranean that belongs to a very small country. If you don't know where Gozo is then I suggest you google it! After about two weeks of being locked up in my South Beach apartment preparing my accounting for tax season I decided to take a vacation and possibly film in a country many people have never heard of or thought of going to. So I hopped on a plane, met my bambino at Chicago O'Hare and boarded a 9 1/2 flight to Rome treating my bambino to flat-bed first class (the only way to fly to Europe!)

Another quick flight and we landed in Malta. After picking up the rental car we drove to the car ferry and headed to Gozo where our 4 bedroom private farmhouse awaited. After settling in and getting some rest, the following day we trekked out to see the capitol which boasts a very beautiful citadel. We then had to go back to Malta as some friends flew in for a visit and we picked them up. We wandered through Valletta then stopped by Tom's Bar, a small gay bar near the port and talked to the owner a bit before heading to the airport to pick up my friends. Their flight was a bit delayed so we missed the last car ferry to Gozo for 3 hours so we all went to Paceville to go to the local gay club.....very interesting!


















So all my bambino and I have been doing with our friends is basically catching up on sleep and driving around Gozo a bit. Yesterday we went to a beautiful area for sunset. I'll update more later, but basically I have been trying to take it easy since my schedule before this trip was quite hectic so there may not be much more to say than a herd of goats delayed our car ride or roosters woke us up to early!

Oh, and last night we heard this big explosion but could not figure out what it was but then my bambino opened the refrigerator door and found out that the 7-up glass bottle exploded because it froze!

GAYVNs and Denver

So after the Cybersocket and Xbiz Awards and a quick jaunt to Palm Springs Rich and I took off to go see my boyfriend in Colorado....but more on that a little later. I really want to talk first about the GAYVNs and my BIG WIN!!! My totally sweet boyfriend, my high school girlfriend, the Manhunt crew and I all went to the awards together. I was so excited to be surrounded by people I love and then we ran into Monica from gayhotmovies again which just added to the excitement. I answered a few questions by Sister Roma on the red carpet (they mostly had to do with my studly boyfriend) and then we settled down at a small table to watch the awards and wait patiently.


I am usually not one to write my complete thoughts (as some other people in my industry sometimes totally trash others within the industry) but I must say Lettuce and Romaine, or whatever they call themselves, were underwhlemingly un-entertaining. They started out as talking flower pots and probably should have just stayed that way! Lady Bunny appeared but, from my understanding on Chi Chi's last minute request, and did her, as she told me last night, "same old show." But Lady Bunny's "same old show" is always as entertaining as the first time you see it! Go Bunny.


So, as they announced "Best Pro-Amateur" I was not nervous since I never thought I would get such an award for the second year in a row, so when I heard my name called I was a little struck aback! I ran up to the stage (and I must say, I was one of the few people that actually spoke into the microphone so everyone could hear me) and announced "second year in a row baby!" And that's exactly how I feel! Thanks to all of the GAYVN judges that voted for my efforts...and a big thanks to the fans! I was very nervous when it came to my 2 nominations for Best Ethnic-Latin, and was so let down when my Santo Domingo lost to a random Brazilian porn. I really thought my work in an exotic Latin location would beat out what has become a cheap easy place to make porn, Brazil, but I'll keep my mouth shut concerning why I think that award was given to some other company. You win some and you lose some and I always walk away being thrilled to just be nominated! Some other companies argue and bitch and moan ...I mean it is porn people, but there is someone in the industry that thinks he is part of the mainstream TV/movie industry. Get over it and stop bitching and whining!


My boyfriend, girlfriend and I went to get some microwave burritos during the intermission, I mean we were really hungry, but when we returned it appears the people at my table used my award as a trash receptacle...so I had to take a picture so you all could see the horror and shock I was in! Anyway, after the awards my baby and I just went home to cuddle since the previous evening we went out to the Rentboy pre-party at the End Up and ran into a ton of porn people and my good friend Chi Chi who totally tried to molest my bambino as he did a little strip show....HOT!


After visiting my family Rich, my girlfriend and I took a road trip back to LA where I have been ever since. Last night we actually went to HERE and ran into DJ Chi Chi LaRue, cute Blake Riley, the infamous Jonathan Chang, Jason Sechrest, the ever entertaining Bobby Trendy and then Lady Bunny stormed in. What more can one ask for than a ton of hot dancers and two infamous/famous drag queens pumping up the house! I decided to make it an early departure since I am actually getting quite tired of party party party....and more party! Tomorrow I finally go home to Miami Beach after basically two months on the road.















So, between the time of the awards in LA and the awards in San Francisco I went to go see my bambino in Colorado. If any of you watch South Park then you may have seen the episode where Cartman crashes a Mexican restaurant called "Casa Bonita." Well, my bambino told me that it actually exists at a strip mall in a Denver suburb so we totally had to go and rip through it just like Cartman did! The food is soooo lacking anything authentic, especially the Velveeta cheese used to smother everything, but it is fun to go to Black Bart's Cave, see the Cliff Divers and watch a man in a gorilla outfit chase a "gringa" around the restaurant while Mariachis play "la cucaracha" and other typical Mexican music.

Cybersocket Awards!!!

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