Tag Archives: Wasteland.com

October 5, 2020 · 8:30 am

Eyes and Ears

by Rich Moreland, October 2020

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“We’ll be watching you!” a researcher for the CIA Psychomotor Enhancement Training Facility tells Dr. Sara Connor, the central character of Colin Rowntree’s latest film, Going Viral: A XXX COVID A.I Thriller. Indeed, the panel of scientists has been surreptitiously peeking at her sexual escapades with the intent of using government programming to transition the shapely doctor into a sex android who will do their bidding, or investigating, if you will.

Going Viral has plenty of penetration scenes for the porn fan, but there is no fluid exchange among players. There can’t be because this is the pandemic and such things cannot—or must we say, should not—take place. But fun can still be had in this tale if a modest dominant/submissive theme is for you. Sicilia Ricci’s portrayal of Dr. Connor is well placed with lots of celebratory erotic utterances flowing from the buxom actress who really knows how to get herself off.

The viewer learns early that Dr. Connor’s personal life is a ready target for government programming. From her apartment, she has her own cam girl show complete with dancing pole (she goes by the name, “Covert Covid”) and a boyfriend with whom she shares her sexual energy. Early in the film we discover that the guy is quarantined. With her computer, Sara checks in with him to break his erotic loneliness. Using a speculum to give him an “up close and personal” view of her offerings, she masturbates to orgasm. We assume he does likewise. That’s love in the covid age, you see.

To illustrate covid’s impact, contrasting images are presented at the film’s beginning. When we first see Sara enjoying self-pleasuring there is sex on two screens. She tunes into a Shhh.com scene in which fluid exchange happens on film. It’s in an inset mode on her computer screen while she is in real time, alone.

Throughout Going Viral, Sara’s performances are solo with a plethora of sex toys to fascinate the viewer. When she is being “trained” in a quasi-dungeon setup, the mechanical “Shockspot” dildo gets a workout. There is a bit of a tease about the dungeon, however. Though a St Andrews Cross and a couple of whips are visible, Sara never is subjected to any disciplinary procedures at their behest unless, of course, she is a medieval flagellant, a seeker of self-punishment for a higher calling.

Remember, she is alone.

It’s worth a note that Sicilia Ricci does a magnificent job of carrying the film. Her sense of humor is displayed as she drops a couple of “oops” in situations when her lovable partner, the mechanical dildo, slips away from an orifice or two. And then there’s her stilted appreciation of Malexa’s decision to change her hair color to pink. It matches the changes in her eyes post-programming. The scene is adolescent stupid, but hilarious! Android status has reduced the doctor to an automated suck-up of the first order.

By far, the most amusing character in Viral is not a person, but the aforementioned personal home device named Malexa. Dr. Moriarty, Program Coordinator for the Surgeon General in Washington, DC, sends it to her via Amazon delivery (we find out later that she also gets a butt plug). Colin Rowntree, plays the good (or perhaps we should say, evil?) doctor who wants his own private cam show featuring Sara. And what nasty demonstrations lie within her talents! This girl knows how to get off.

By the way, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would be proud that his devilish creation lives on at least in name and comparative forms in our time.

Malexa’s most humorous moment is on tap when she cums with Sara who uses the device to rub against her clit. Malexa repeats very mechanically and without emotion, “Dr. Conner, I’m cumming. Ah! Ah!” Sara responds with, “Me too!”

But, oh, what a mistake pleasure has wrought because now Sara is primed and Malexa switches her into android mode. The saucy cam girl becomes the erotic slave of the diabolical doctors who enjoy her autoerotic fun.

At this point, the real tale of this tale is evident. Malexa having an orgasm indicates technology is taking over our lives, reducing sex to mechanics. Almost comical because the personal device is Dr. Connor’s new sex partner.

But there is more . . .

Malexa tells Sara she is under the command of Dr. Moriarty and the pandemic has reached epidemic proportions. Those still alive are locked down and quarantined. She has been transformed into an android and is immune from the disease and is now the eyes and ears of the doctor and his team.

By the way, take notice of the most impressive image in the film; it’s is the artwork above Sara’s bed. A series of candles are positioned in ascending and descending rows. Beneath each is a ring. Sara references her many lovers when she sends out the online invite to her cam show. These candles and rings are Freudian notches on her bedpost, so to speak, examples of pre-covid love . . . in the good ole days.

Going Viral sports the timeless theme of “big brother is watching you.” Of course, we all know it’s the government, but Colin Rowntree does the whole show with tongue-in-cheek to minimize the chilling possibilities of such a thing actually happening in our collective bedrooms.

Finally, pay close attention to the ending as Sara is released from her “training.” Her white coat and clipboard belie what is destined to become an orgy of epic proportions, something we are sure will be most amusing for that other mysterious character who sneaks into this film—the phallic rat on a researcher’s desk. He calmly takes everything in! Now, don’t get the willies, he’s just a bizarre piece of plastic. It’s the creepy-eyed researcher who strokes him that should give you pause.

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Going Viral is available to consumers in the Wasteland member area, Kink on  Demand and Adult Empire VoD.

To Watch the trailer, click here.

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September 3, 2015 · 7:45 am

A Novel is Safer

by Rich Moreland, September 2015

This is the second installment of my talk with Angie Rowntree, the founder of Sssh.com, an erotic website for women.

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Angie Rowntree and her husband Colin began a BDSM website when the bondage fetish was in its online infancy. Wasteland.com is “the web’s largest collection . . . of High-Definition Original Bondage and Fetish videos,” and counts among its many offerings feature films and beautiful women. The company is an industry leader.

I asked Angie about one of hottest topics in the fetish business today, E.L. James’ novel, Fifty Shades of Grey.

Her point of view lines up with many of the book’s critics and those in the BDSM community who think the story of Anastasia and Christian’s relationship falls short of what it purports to be.

“Fifty Shades is not a particularly realistic or authentic depiction of BDSM,” Angie says. However, she is quick to agree that “there’s no doubt its popularity has shoved open the door to a much larger market and a lot more interest [in the fetish].”

From her perspective, it’s been a boon to their adult business.

wasteland-ad“Both Sssh and Wasteland have seen an increase in traffic we can directly attribute to the [novel’s] popularity, especially in the number of searches for BDSM and related terms.”

The Irony of Print

As I’ve written before, Fifty is print erotica which has long been more accepted than filmed smut, particularly when it comes to federal prosecution of pornography. In the 1980s and 1990s chasing the adult film industry was all about obscenity; the written word was given a pass.

Times have changed and Angie reminds us that print is a real advantage for the industry today. It’s a portal for fetishes that, if left to the designs of film studios, would have difficulty expanding their female audience.

“I think it’s significant that the Fifty Shades craze was in response to a novel, just because that’s perceived as a ‘safer’ and more traditional means for women to explore erotica.”

Of course, as reading increases, film is the beneficiary.

“Even though there’s a lot of data to the contrary, a lot of people still don’t believe women watch internet porn,” Angie remarks. “But, I haven’t heard anybody express one iota of doubt that it’s really women buying all those copies of Fifty Shades.”

Angie makes a point I’ve heard from adult industry feminists. Women are receptive to filmed erotica.

sssh-300x180“Nobody questions whether women read erotica,” she says. “The truth is we watch plenty of it, too, a truth I think people are finally becoming more open to now.” A visit to Toronto’s Feminist Porn Awards will back up Angie’s perspective. She agrees that the increasing female customer base in the adult is “in partly due to the Fifty Shades craze.”

When I bring up Kink.com as an influence in the popularity of BDSM porn, Angie discounts any impact Peter Acworth’s company had on Wasteland or Sssh. “Both sites had already been around . . . long before the book came out and before Kink [was] launched.”

“We were very much settled in our aesthetic, style, and production methods by the time they became popular.” In fact, she adds, “our influences and inspirations come from other places and times.”

An Old Question

Finally, we have the old tired accusation disguised as a question from the anti-porn crowd of feminism’s second wave. Is porn, especially the BDSM genre, violence toward women?

Angie responds.

“What if the dominant person in the depiction is the woman and the sub is a man? How well does their little axiom hold up then? I take it violence against men is OK? Or is it just that we trust men to make decisions we don’t trust women to make?”

Angie talks about extreme martial arts males fighting in a cage as “entertainment” directed at “the masses.” However, she says, if one of them is a woman and scene is a “spanking video instead of a fist fight . . . all of a sudden it’s ‘exploitation.’”

It’s really “selective paternalistic bullshit,” Angie insists. Not to miss an opportunistic moment, she concludes with a bit of sarcasm, “After all, I’m a woman, so obviously someone needs to step in and protect me from myself when I have ideas about what to do with my body of which they disapprove, right?”

Good point.

Bringing up society’s penchant for “circumscribing female sexuality,” a further spin on the exploitation question, Angie believes that attitudes change when “courageous, independent, determined, and self-possessed women” make their artistic statements in adult film.

As a result, she states, “Young women these days are a lot less apt to allow society to succeed [in defining their sexuality for them].”

Is this happening? To some extent, Angie believes. However, “there’s still too much ‘slut shaming’ and harsh judgment directed at women who are open about expressing themselves sexually, but this doesn’t mean we haven’t made progress over the years.”

Colin and Angie Rowntree Photo courtesy of Angie Rowntree

Colin and Angie Rowntree
Photo courtesy of Angie Rowntree

As for American culture, we’re on the right track, she insists. In parts of the rest of the world, questions remain.

Check out Wasteland and Sssh and take the tour. You might find interesting things to see.

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