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Ryan Shea

West Coast Versus East Coast Beauty, Can We Say “Porn Industry”?

by Ryan Shea

The AVN Awards Celebrate Their 30th Anniversary

Just this past weekend, The Adult Video News (AVN) Awards celebrated their 30th anniversary in Las Vegas, NV at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.  In the heart of Las Vegas, porn stars from all over the country gathered to celebrate their controversial industry.  This is not a show we would see happening in the heart of New York City, but AVN calls Las Vegas home.  This also holds true for numerous sex conventions including the fact that the actual AVN award ceremony only lasts one night, but the event spans the length of the entire weekend including autographed signings and performances by top porn stars.

 

In Sin City, average girls change their appearance to hopefully make more money.  Fake breasts do not only appeal to exotic industries, but they dominate the female workforce in general.  Cocktail waitresses at popular strip hotels will make $17 per/hr, plus tips up to $500 a night!  Now one can see why a $5,000 boob job is super appealing to many young females.  The high school dropout rate also averages 60% since women how they can make cash and fast.  Oh, America.

East Coast Beauty

Ironically in America, beauty is not necessarily in the eye of the beholder.  On one side of the country we are more likely to find “natural” models.  These girls are usually slender and tall, (unless we are referring to the plus size breed) with stunning facial features.  New York City is known for it’s elite models who were born to become successful in their given field.  In NYC, less in more, but the west coast, on the contrary is quite different.

West Coast Splendor

Think about the west coast for a minute. In regards to Las Vegas and Los Angeles in particular, beauty is the polar opposite and often times, it actually means fake is more appealing than anything else. Here people confide in top plastic surgeons to give them a look many people only wish to achieve.  The likes of  breasts implants, lip injections, fake tanning and liposuction are all too popular. Failure to invest in these procedures could either mean a short-lived career or even a lack of one all together.  Even women who dream of being models or actresses often find themselves caught up in the porn industry due to its large appeal and high payout rate.

The Reason

The question is, why has fake become popular and real an afterthought?

Could it be because the porn industry is actually more accepting than the modeling industry ever will be?  While there are numerous fetishes to be fulfilled in the porn industry, modeling remains close-minded and women need to fit into one of very few boxes.

All-in-all, the west coast is known for attracting young singles, is this why the porn industry truly exploded there?

If you get a chance to see both worlds, or have been active in the modeling or porn world let us know, we would love to hear your opinion.

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, LIFESTYLE, NEW YORK Tagged With: adult video news awards 2013, avn awards, east coast versus west coast beauty, modeling versus porn, sexual controversy

Dance Music at the Grammy’s

by Ryan Shea

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Dance music has come a long way in the past decade.  From music you could only hear at 5 am in NYC at clubs like Sound Factory and Crobar, to now being played out by commercialized mainstream radio.  Dance music is beats and vocals dubbed together by artists who can hear melodies where others do not.  Having said this, it is amazing to see these artists being honored, as musicians, at the Grammy awards.

The nominees for Best Dance Recording are all very talented DJ’s.  Avicii is a great DJ who brought dance music to the mainstream when Flo Rida remixed his song Levels.  Although he should be recognized for helping bring dance music to the forefront of American radio, I don’t think he deserves the Grammy this year.  The Best Dance Recording, in my opinion, belongs to Swedish House Mafia featuring John Martin, Don’t you Worry Child.  This song mixes beautiful vocals and lyrics with genius melodies and beats.  Not only can you sing along to this track but you can also get lost in its atmosphere.  Swedish House Mafia is a trio of talented DJ’s and ingenious producers.  They mix just the right amount of commercial feel to get radio air time and still keep the respect of dance music lovers around the world.

The Grammy for the Best Dance/Electronica Album hands down belongs to Kaskade Fire and Ice.  Kaskade is one of the few American DJs and producers to draw followers around the world.  In 2011 Kaskade was voted America’s Best DJ 2011 by www.djtimes.com.  The Fire and Ice album peaked at #17 on the US Charts and #1 on the US Dance Charts.  Kaskade brings together different artists and other DJs in this album and still manages to keep his authentic sound.  The album includes two discs’ (Fire and Ice) which contain the same tracks but mixed in two completely different ways.  Fire is smooth and alluring, while Ice is loud and hard.  Although the same songs, each disc feels and sounds completely unique.  Kaskade deserves this award, in my opinion, and I believe will take home the Grammy this year.  Although the other albums in this category are all great none has the originality and range of skill like Kaskade Fire and Ice.

 

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC, OPINION Tagged With: avicii, dance, dance music, dj, dont you worry child song, edm, electro, fire and ice album, grammy, grammy awards, house music, kaskade, producers, review, shm, swedish house mafia, techno, techno music

Who will win Record of the Year at The Grammy’s?

by Ryan Shea

Frank-ocean-thinking-about-you-thumb

 

The Grammy Awards are a night that can be as unpredictable as the MTV Video Music Awards yet have a seriousness to it like the Oscars.  The annual award show is broadcast on CBS February 10th at 8pm eastern time.  So far there are a wide range of performers from Taylor Swift to Rihanna, The Black Keys to Mumford & Sons.

One of the highly coveted awards of the evening is Record of the Year, which in the past has gone to Lady Antebellum’s “Need You Now” and most recently Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep”.  This year’s contenders range from rock, pop, R&B and alternative.  So who should win, who will win, and who got left out in the cold?  Here are my predictions as to what will go down.

Nominees-

Taylor Swift- “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together”

The Black Keys- “Lonely Boy”

Gotye featuring Kimbra- “Somebody That I Used To Know”

Kelly Clarkson- “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)”

Frank Ocean- “Thinking About You”

Fun featuring Janelle Monae- “We Are Young”

Who will win-

This one really is tough because each of these songs are strong in their own fields.  Both Kelly and Fun are nominated in this and Song of the Year category, which puts them in the front of the list as ones that are nominated in both tend to win both.  That being said,  “We Are Young” will most likely be the winner as that song was gigantic and they seem to have gained quite a lot of Grammy steam since the announcement of the nominations last month.

Who should win-

I am so privy towards Frank Ocean as his freshman effort “Channel Orange” was the best album this past year, and this song was one of the many shining examples of that.  Besides Frank, Gotye’s song should win based off of just how original and whimsical it really was.  Taylor’s is a basic pop song, Kelly’s is too even though I loved it.  “Lonely Boy” is great but not Record of the Year material, and “We Are Young” doesn’t compete in my mind with Gotye and Frank.  If I HAD to choose, it would be Frank.

Who got the shaft-

There were plenty in my opinion.  Sort of shocked that Drake and Rihanna’s “Take Care” didn’t get any nominations at all as that was the best collaboration this year by far.  “The A-Team” by Ed Sheeran picked up a Song of the Year nod but I felt deserved recognition in this category as well, and even though it dominated the hip-hop categories, both “Daughters” by Nas and “Mercy” by Kanye West should’ve been strong contenders for this category.

Who is your choice to win? Sound off and let your voice be heard!

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC

Welcome To Manhattan Digest!!

by Ryan Shea

Masswelcomemat
Just wanted to welcome everyone to our new site! On this site you will find the best of everything- from music to movies, fashion to politics, there is something on here that will intrigue your thought process and something that will be memorable the day that you read it.  Any opinions and thoughts on our writings is of course welcomed as well as ideas on what you would like to see on the site! We are very excited to bring you the best that we have and are looking forward to a great 2013 with you and the rest of the Manhattan Digest community, so welcome!!!

Filed Under: BREAKING NEWS, NEW YORK, OPINION

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