'Nicknamed Heidi for his boyish, freckled face and stoic demeanor, Ivan was one of the reigning Russian gay porn stars between the year 2002 and 2004. He modeled for most of the top Russian porn sites of that time, appearing in both soft- and hardcore sets. In the typical Ivan porn, he was the mysterious and self-absorbed goody two shoes seduced by a slightly older looking, more experienced friend/ schoolmate/ brother. Porn audiences clamored for his awkward but agreeable demeanor and his ability to mimic virginity while bottoming for extremely well hung tops without batting an eyelash. A complex young man who was uncomfortable with how he'd been pigeonholed, Ivan developed a reputation in the industry for being difficult and eccentric, fighting with webmasters' and fans' expectations by showing up for photo sessions with unexpected and counterproductive image makeovers -- a s&m leather boy, an extravagantly coifed and made up glam rocker, an emaciated Goth, a trashy transvestite. When the popular twink porn website Doggy Boys dropped Ivan from its stable of models in 2003, the outcry from the site's subscribers caused the site to defend itself by publicly airing Ivan's drug habits, his battle with anorexia, his violent outbursts, his having overdosed on heroin during two successive photo shoots. Ivan's career further faltered when he refused to appear in XXX videos, despite lucrative offers from many of the top porn production companies in Russia, Europe, and the US. At the height of his popularity at the age of 22, Ivan suddenly retired from porn with a tantrum-like and expletive filled open letter to the world that was posted on the now defunct porn site boyfestival.com in which he claimed his fans' desire for him had burned his brain and heart into "lumps of charcoal" and that if they wanted to fuck him so badly they should come to Russia and do it and "stop staring at me with all your psycho eyes". In late 2004, the Russian porn company Dolphin announced that it had offered Ivan a princely sum to come out of retirement and star in a new video but that he had shown up to work in what they vaguely described as "a physically unappealing state," and they "had done a favor for Ivan's fans" by canceling the production. His current whereabouts are unknown.'-- '06
late 2001
early 2002
mid 2002
mid 2002
late 2002
early 2003
early 2003
mid 2003
mid 2003
late 2003
early 2004
----
*
p.s. Hey. Today's rerun, which should be the last one you'll be faced with for a while, goes way, way back. At the time this first appeared, practically every second or third post had a Russian twink porn star somewhere in it. It was a differently abled blog then. Strange. Anyway, I thought I'd harken back there for a day. ** Paul Curran, Hey, Paul! How's it, man? Seriously, get to Iceland at some point. It's something else. So, what's going on? How's the writing? How's holy Tokyo? ** Will C., Hi, Will. Holy shit, man, that was absolutely an intense, weird spate. Jesus. You sound remarkably sound considering. Any pleasure and/or potential subject matter in the library job? Really glad you're back. ** Keaton, Hi. Yeah, I know people feel that way about painting, and it makes almost total sense. It's like cinema in a rectangle or something, right? I don't know. I think maybe I like being made nervous by art? Oh, wow, that's interesting. Comparing painting to boys carcass-posing. That might be the best explanation of painting's staying power I've read. Fauvism is ripe for a comeback maybe. I get what you say about paintings letting you explore them and stuff. Obviously, sculpture, etc. does that too, but it interferes all the time, which I guess I like. Don't know why. Who knows why anything hits the spot. Really nice Paris rhapsody. I totally get it. That atmospheric thing doesn't wear off when you live here. It's weird. Cool, glad you liked the post. Right, paintings, huh, interesting. Is it ... ? It is Thanksgiving. Whoa. Why is it always on a Thursday? So, yeah, I hope you like eating stuff and whatever else this day does to Americans, I can't remember. Oh right, parade. And football games on TV or something. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. Yeah, that's why I need to see 'Short Cuts' again and force-forget that it's Carver-based 'cos that expectation around adaptations usually is a bad weight to put on films. ** Tosh Berman, Hi. I was in the Lion Cafe! Cool. Stumbled across it. I think, if I'm remembering right, that his relationship with Balthus was troubled and beset with jealousies and stuff, but that they were close, in contact, and all that. But I'm not swearing to that. PK was definitely one of the first brainy public Sade proponents. His essay, which is one of those Grove Press Sade books, is very, very good, as you probably know. ** Kier, Hi, hi Kier! I think a lot of Americans open their presents on the 24th. My family didn't. I never could understand the night before thing. Opening presents in the morning and then having all day to play with them or whatever always seemed really sensible, at least when my presents were mostly toys. I think the French open theirs on the 24th too? Oh, okay, it's 'set up the tree' night. Yeah, I think we used to set ours up weeks before. It's all so strange. I didn't buy any books because, even though there were a few cool ones -- it was a book sale at the Yvon Lambert Gallery's bookstore -- the place's idea of a sale was to maybe knock a few Euros off, so they were still very pricey. Wow, that show is opening in Stavanger! That's so cool! Don't be nervous! Hometown hero Kier! Yes! Tell me all about the opening when it's time. Yesterday .. oh, yes, Elias wrote back! He suggested that Zac and I meet with him at a bar near the venue between the soundcheck and the show, so that's what we'll do. I'm already nervous. I met with Gisele to go over the theater piece text. Thankfully, she likes it a lot, and I just have to make some some small changes to the detailing today. So, whew. What else. I did some phone conferencing with the guy who is putting together that 'novel' project that I mentioned I hope to get published soon, and that was fruitful. Oh, argh ... Very long story very short: the producers of Zac's and my film are pressuring us to show them some of the finished film, and we're not close to being ready to do that. They suddenly decided about six weeks ago that they 'need' a good chunk of the finished film by December 1st, which is just absolutely not going to happen. Yesterday they wrote asking us to send them one finished scene by last night. Impossible. That led to them kind of ordering us to have a Skype meeting -- they're in Berlin -- with them tonight, so we have to do that, and it is not going to be happy meeting, that's for sure, and quite the contrary, so, gulp, ugh. That happened. Otherwise, I just did some work on stuff. I guess tomorrow I can tell you how cooked Zac's and my gooses are, as colorful Americans of an earlier generation used to phrase it. And how did Friday handle your life? Tell me please. ** Gregoryedwin, Hi, man! Yeah, the blog's olden days, weird. Oh, you should so totally go to Iceland. And spend time there, get out of Reykjavik as much as you can, try to drive all the way around the country's perimeter if you at all can. That's the way to see it. Cool, I'll go get your email, and thank you! ** Magick mike, Hi, Mike. Oh, really, that's interesting about Klossowski's novels. Yeah, his prose is very odd. It took me a while to get a taste for it, but then I really got into how he handled prose, style, and stuff. It's strange, though, for sure, at the very least. Kind of lumpy or something. Lovely to see you, man! ** _Black_Acrylic, Of course Plastik sounds really nice. Do they distribute it outside the UK? ** Sypha, Hi. Oh, yeah, it's awful. My grandmother got like that towards the end too. She was in a care facility for the last year or so of her life. It was so fucking depressing. 'Hogg' is short, so it should be a fairly easy read, so to speak, ha ha, but the subject matter might be tough for you, based on things you've said in the past. 'Ada, or Ardor', wow, that would be interesting to read again. I can barely remember it. ** Misanthrope, Oh, man, so sorry to hear about your aunt. God, awful. Speaking of, sort of, I'm hoping your mom's health is okay these days. You haven't mentioned her health in a while, so I'm guessing she's all right? Well happy Thanksgiving to you too! I'm guessing you're going to watch football on TV. Am I wrong? ** Okay. Again, today's your chance to see what this blog was like ages ago when porn and its performers almost had the run of the place. See you with something new finally tomorrow.