Karen Fletcher has plead guilty to charges of obscenity stemming from her “fantasy site” Red Rose Stories. On this site, Karen published pornographic stories depicting sex and violence committed on young children. By pleading guilty to the charges brought by federal U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, Fletcher sought to avoid a public trial.
What is especially interesting about this story is that this gives authorities the precedent to go after text-based pornography as opposed to the easier target of video and photographic pornography, which may troubling to some writers. And it doesn’t help that if Karen didn’t plead guilty the authorities would have a very difficult time convincing a jury that this site with fictional stories that only are available to paying members is a danger to the public at larger, regardless of how appalling the content is.
Established porn authors such as Peter Sotos and Dennis Cooper had better watch their backs.
Link. Additional commentary from AVN. (via Reverse Cowgirl)
In the documentary I Think We’re Alone Now, filmmakers follow the lives of two very, very big fans of 1980s pop singer Tiffany. One of which is Jeff Deane Turner, who is not your typical celebrity obsessed oddball. You wouldn’t know it from the above trailer, but Turner is actually deep into conspiracy culture.
To learn the secret history of Asperger’s Syndrome (which Turner has been diagnosed with), Jeff’s encounters with Charles Manson and Cathy O’Brien, the truth about Tuesday Weld, Jeff’s telepathy device and much, much more by just take a listen to his appearance on Adam Gorightly’s Untamed Dimensions radio show. When you hear what Natalie Wood and Christopher Walken have to do with Jeff, your eyes will bulge. Personally, I wish there were a documentary about Jeff’s theories alone.
Listen to the radio show.
It looks like in England it’s illegal to call things what they are.
A young man who attended a recent protest against the Church of Scientology was served with a summons for holding a sign that accurately stated “Scientology is not a religion, it is a dangerous cult.” Apparently, the officers on the scene of the Anonymous-organized protest banned the word ‘cult’ on the basis that it is “abusive and insulting” to the Church.
When advised to remove the sign, the teen quoted a ruling made by a Mr Justice Latey, in which the CoS was described as a “cult” which was “corrupt, sinister and dangerous”. This didn’t matter to the officer who then gave the boy a court summons and removed the sign herself.
From an American position, this turn of events is absurd considering our foundness for free speech, but hopefully the British courts will realize that 1) Justice Latey is completely right and so is this teen, and 2) protests are best non-violent but they don’t need to be ‘nice.’
Good luck, unnamed teen crusader of truth!
Link. (via Boing Boing)
All good things must come to an end, and thus today brings us the fiftieth and final episode of Out There Radio, the best conspiracy/occult culture podcast so far. In this last episode, Ray and Joe chat it up with Jim Marrs, one of the grandmasters of conspiracy theory. Also, the two say their goodbyes and serve up plenty of nostalgic goodness for the fans. Here’s the best of luck to Joe and Ray with thier upcoming gig with DisInformation. I’m really looking forward to it.
If you have not yet heard of Out There Radio, visit their site, subscribe to the podcast and download the entire series. You will not be disappointed. Well, except for the fact that there will be no more episodes.
The Channel Four documentary, Does Snuff Exist, has been making the rounds on blogs ranging from Reverse Cowgirl to Ectoplamosis. And I really hope that the initial Google Video search that uncovered this gem was for the viral marketing videos of Chuck Palahniuk’s newest novel, Snuff. In any case, this is a brilliant, incredible look into the world of killing on film. After watching this documentary, seeing just how close sickos have come to distributing their filmed sexual murders, the question is no longer “Does snuff exist?” to “When will snuff exist?” It’s only a matter of time before some bastard finally accomplishes the unthinkable.
Oh, and for those who are interested in that Palahniuk book I mentioned, check this out: