As the Times sees it, plots were big in the '70s, resurged in the '90s, and have completely fallen by the wayside in the modern era, as studios focus far more on all-sex releases that can be easily chopped up into scenes for online and VOD distribution.

They're sorta right, but they're also missing a very big part of the picture.

Let's get one thing out of the way: plot-driven porn movies (or features, as they're called in the industry) aren't going anywhere. For one thing, there are enough people who like them to make them worthwhile; for another, they're incredibly important PR and marketing tools. Digital Playground can screen "Pirates 2" at UCLA, but we'd wager that the administration would be far less friendly to a screening of "Filth Cums First 4." Or, better yet: New Sensations may primarily produce all sex fare like "Girls 'n Glasses" (cited by the NY Times), but "Scrubs - A XXX Parody" is what got them on "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

There's also the fact that—for the time being, at least—features are still worth buying on DVD; and as long as studios can still make a profit off DVDs, they'll be more than happy to sell them.

At the same time, however, there are many people who are buying their porn primarily for the sex (and let's face it: even those of us who like features are still in it primarily for the sex). And for those people, the DVD model isn't the most economical way of getting what they need: why pay for four hours of sex, when all you really want is that two minutes of Gianna Michaels humping her way to heaven? And it's these people who are driving the trend towards content that is, well, primarily sex—and, more importantly, can be cut up and repackaged without losing that certain something.

What we predict is that we'll end up seeing a split system: a smaller number of high budget, easily marketable features available on DVD for one section of the porn viewing public; and a larger number of sex-focused scenes, perhaps on DVD, but primarily online, for the rest.

And frankly, we think that could be for the best. Imagine if studios took their features really seriously, casting performers who could act as well as they fuck, crafting a movie with a plot that's actually worth watching, while allowing performers whose talents lie in a more prurient direction to simply focus on their fuck craft? You may say we're dreamers...but we think it could be a beautiful thing.

· Lights, Camera, Lots of Action. Forget the Script. (nytimes.com)
· Thumbnail: Gianna Michaels and Faye Reagan ponder the future of porn (nsgalleries.com)

· The Sexies: Sex-Positive Journalism Awards (sexies.org, via Viviane)

"Lance Tracy is a porn addict, and it almost destroyed his marriage." Thus begins the latest media investigation of pornography and its vicious assault on innocent Americans. CNN Headline News is airing a four-part series on the porn menace starting tonight, and you can get a taste with this short video on CNN.com. The teaser clip has all the hallmarks of good old fashioned TV journalism: haunting music, frightening camera angles, disturbing tales of men spending "four to six hours a day online" (lightweights!), and scare quotes from doctors like "internet pornography is the crack cocaine of sexual addiction." Tune in to see totally objective reporter Glenn Beck provide a not-at-all sensational look at porn's evil, evil ways. Honestly, we have no idea who Glenn Beck is, but that big pointy finger and arched eyebrow do make us feel very naughty indeed. If only we had someway to release all that pent up energy without actually hurting ourselves or anyone else ...

· Glenn Beck - Porn: America's Addiction (video @ cnn.com)

Previously: This Week In Porn Hysteria, Congressional Porn Hearings, Internet Porn Hysteria on 20/20, War On Pornography, Kittenhate

Our globetrotting siblings over at Gridskipper point us in the direction of photographer Gail Orenstein's lucious photographs of the exotic dance scene in London, which are notable both for their anthropological value as well as for the copious amounts of boobage on display. Guess travel really does broaden the mind in more ways than one.

· "London Stripper Galleries" (Gridskipper)
· Strippers of London and London Strippers Part 2 (Flickr)
· GO Photos: The Naked Truth (project blog @ gophotosthenakedtruth.blogspot.com)

Previously: Stripped Daily, The Aphrodite Project, Sex Work Matters, Ten Striptease Pioneers, "Strippers: The Untold History of the Girlie Show", Danni's Virtual Lapdances, Naked Ambition, Meet Elle Wakefield, Slut Suzie: Diary of a UK Prostitute