I finally got around to seeing "Inside Deep Throat" the documentary about the most profitable X-rated movie of all time produced by erstwhile Ron Howard enabler, Brian Glazer. Like Linda Lovelace, Karrine Steffans had mad skills (also captured on video) and, also like Lovelace, she appears to be on the arc of seeking respectability and redemption. As the documentary shows, Lovelace's arc came full circle with her posing for skin magazines at age fifty shortly before she was killed in a car accident. She died penniless.
It is my understanding that Steffans new book is not selling well. ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > i was going to publish something about the "Video Vixen" the other day, but work prevented me. That I know of, she's hung up on two different interviewers in the last week because she felt they disrespected her: Tom Joyner, and the guys on the syndicated "Two Live Stu's" radio show. In the case of Joyner, Jay Anthony Brown asked her how her fiance dealt her past (he's the actor who played the oldest son on the sitcom "Family Matters"). Jay asked if he could deal with all the men she'd been with, and then said "how many men have you been with?" Stefans angrily said "That's a tacky question!". Now, Brown then went to far to my mind, and shot back one word: "Superh***" Stefans snapped "What did you call me?!" and Brown said, "Your name is 'superh***' and yet you say my question is tacky", at which point Stefans slammed the phone down. > > Now, I do feel that Brown's use of that term was out of line, because Stefans doesn't use it about herself now as a proud moniker. She has spoken of how the industry applied it to her in the past. yeah, yeah, i know she's ridden it all the way to the bank, but i still think Brown's usage--especially in what amounted to an spiteful retort--was out of line. (I know many well disagree with that sentiment). > > But that doesn't change the fact that Stefans is profiting off her "misfortunes" in a most odd way. This isn't someone who's speaking with solemnity and contriteness about the life she led. Not someone who (as far as I know) is really trying to show young girls how horrible a materialistic and superficial life of chasing after stars is. Instead, she's using her past to gain fame and fortune. When Jay Anthony Brown expressed surprise that she could afford to live in LA just on book sales, she was very proud and happy replying "Oh, yeah!" Doesn't sound like someone dealing with a lot of pain. I'm not saying she should run away wearing ashes and sackcloth, her head shaved and hung in shame, but I do think a little less of this celebrity having a good time attitude would be more helpful. As said in the article below, Stefans is really giving the impression that if you make horrible mistakes in life--profit from them at any cost. I do indeed think that she's helping contribute to his > mindset of just be famous at all costs, and profit off it. The killer is that she named names. Unless Stefans was forced to do the things she did, i don't see what the point is of naming the men she serviced. Some of those guys have wives, children, fathers and mothers, who don't need to know all this intimate dirt. What is it profiting to humiliate these men if they engaged in mutual activities with Stefans? Again, unless they criminally attacked her, why bother? She could have told all these tells and simply said "a famous rapper", or "a celebrated NBA star". No, that smacks of self-exploitation for profit, which in a way to me feels that if anyone's guilty of a type of rape--it's Stefans doing it to herself. it's a very troubling model for young girls, especially in a music and movie world that seem to exploit women more than ever. > > It's interesting, and it's not just Black authors. It's people like Monica Lewinsky getting invited to all sorts of big parties and endorsement deals for the fame of servicing Bill Clinton...it's Paris Hilton becoming famous in part because of a sex tape...it's that young girl from "High School Musical" and more than one "American Idol" contestant also making sex tapes--many when they were underage--and those tapes "accidentally" getting leaked to the Internet. it seems that the old axiom that the only bad press is no press is truer than ever. There's less and less of what the old folks used to call good old-fashioned "shame": someone making a mistake and going quietly somewhere to think about it. Even i'm shocked at how many barely legal wannabe starlets are getting caught up in these supposedly private sex tapes getting released, but I'm more shocked at the way they then ride the notoriety to better deals. > -------------- Original message -------------- > From: "Tracey de Morsella (formerly Tracey L. Minor)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > -------- Original Message -------- > > Subject: What Happen to the Great African American Author? > > Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2007 22:25:55 -0500 > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > What Happen to the Great > > African American Author? > > by LaShelle Turner > > Posted October > > 12, 2007 > > > > Something is inherently wrong with the publishing industry > > when former hip hop video > > star, Karrine Steffans, is the most interviewed and talked about African > > American author this year. This woman, who has made a career of telling > > lurid details of her intimate life with hip hop celebrities, has been on > > every major syndicated black radio program in the country. > > > > Her first book, /Video Vixen/, became a bestseller and her second book, > > /The Vixen Diaries/, is gathering even more press. She even made it to > > the modern day pinnacle of author success; she was on Oprah. Are we so > > used to salacious gossip that it has become literature? Do we want these > > types of books to represent the model of a bestselling black author? > > > > Karrine Steffans represents the reality for many black authors in > > today's publishing industry. There are few great examples of African > > American literary authors on bookstore shelves. Most chain bookstores > > are filled with books by black authors who write tales of lust, sex, > > drugs and more sex. > > > > Steffans's books started a new genre of books, the Hip Hop Tattle Tell. > > Since the debut of her first book, many have followed her recipe for > > book selling success. Carmen Bryan's /It's no Secret/ told her story of > > becoming a hip-hop baby mama. Tarsha Jones's /Meet Ms/. /Jones/ tells of > > her sexual conquests of rap stars, being a DJ is the side story. Even > > Terry McMillan's ex-husband Jonathan Plummer has made his debut as an > > author. His book, /Balancing Act, / is a thinly veiled fiction version > > of his very public divorce from McMillan. No doubt ghostwriters are > > writing most of these books. It is hard to learn sentence structure and > > cohesion between all the bed hopping and chasing celebrities. > > > > Note to all struggling black authors trying to get a publishing > > deal: Forget sending out > > queries and taking creative writing workshops, just go sleep with a few > > black celebrities and remember to take good notes. > > > > What is most frightening about these books is who is reading them. Most > > are young, impressionable teen-aged African American girls. These books > > basically tell young black girls how to become hip-hop groupies. It is > > sending the message that fame and sex are interrelated. Real talent is > > only a minor detail. > > > > With the exception of Alice Walker or Terry McMillan > > , most black authors do not > > garner the same media attention as Ms. Steffans. Very few become > > household names. Most live an obscure life, never making enough money to > > quit their day jobs or make the /New York Times/ best seller list. > > > > As an avid reader, it is a hard task trying to find African American > > books with good substance. > > True, there are many good nonfiction and romance books > > by black authors, but where > > are all the great books like Alice Walker's /Color Purple/ or Edward P. > > Jones's /The Known World. /Where are our Joyce Carol Oates and Jodi > > Picoult?/ /One has little other choice but to read great fiction books > > by authors of other races. Still, one longs to read about the black > > experience through the imagination of a well-written author of color. > > > > The publishing industry is sending a message to African American > > readers. Black Americans do read, but only at a superficial level. > > Substance and great writing talent does not sell; well at least in our > > communities. > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > > Groups "SouLive Susan" group. > > To post to this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > For more options, visit this group at > > http://groups.google.com/group/SouLive-Susan?hl=en > > -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~--- > > > > > > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >
