In her debut as an adult-film actress, Paris Hilton offers a taste of good things to come. Despite murky video quality and a male partner, Rick Solomon, who has to repeatedly fondle himself in order to keep “at attention,” Paris displays a playful gamine personality not unlike that of Aurora Snow ( Blowjob Adventures of Dr. Fellatio #26 ; Weapons of Ass Destruction ) while boasting a body that recalls the lithe, non-surgically-enhanced form of Roxanne Hall( Nasty Nymphos #6; Butt Slammers #16 ). One can only hope that her simultaneous pursuit of a career on the small screen (Fox’s A Simple Life, debuting Dec. 2) doesn’t distract her.
Of course, all we’ve seen is a two-minute-and-56-second clip from what is said to be a 45-minute film, so one hesitates to jump to conclusions. The sex in this clip certainly won’t melt your DVD player, although it does conform to the recent “gonzo” style of adult filmmaking, where there is not even the hint of a plot, just lots of raunchy hard-core action. The clip opens with a close-up of Rick’s member thrusting in and out of Paris as she good-naturedly jostles around on the bed. In the next scene, Paris is about to mount Rick when-coy minx!-she decides against it and instead gets on all fours. But then her cell phone rings; the passion with which she launches herself across the bed to attend to the phone is notably more pronounced than that which she displays for Rick or his plucky member.
After some clumsiness and fumbling of limbs, they finally agree on old-fashioned doggy-style fun, which includes a moment of unintentional humor: At one point Rick asks, “Am I in there?”, and it takes a moment for the viewer to realize he’s referring to the camera frame. Rick promptly pushes Paris forward-so that most of her is now out of the frame-and the viewer is faced with the queasy sight of Rick staring into the camera and humping away like an undomesticated Chihuahua. Then there’s a brief scene of Paris sitting astride Rick, facing away from him and toward the camera. Film fans of a certain age may be reminded of the Swedish actress Seka ( My Sister Seka ; Ready, Willing and Anal ). Throughout, Paris’ lilting, kittenish voice is a welcome, nostalgic throwback to adult stars of the 1980’s like Ginger Lynn and Erica Boyer, before porn had all the sentimentality drained from it.
The final scene shifts to some close-up oral: Though Paris handles the schlong with aplomb, and with good hand-and-mouth coordination, she brings a certain daintiness to the task (for pointers, she might have a look at Bobbi Bliss’ work in I Swallow #3 or More Dirty Debutantes #71 ). During this scene, the sound of a TV set is clearly audible-a comedy program, complete with laugh track-indicating that perhaps Rick requires some extra stimulation to keep up his end of the bargain. In any event, viewers are deprived of Rick’s climax, which may be for the best. As for Paris, she seems to have had the good sense not to attempt even faking an orgasm, aware that viewers just wouldn’t buy it.
All in all, it’s a promising start for Paris. With the right director, there’s no reason why she couldn’t ascend to the ranks of screen legends like Juli Ashton ( Bald Beaver Blast ) or Chasey Lain ( Where the Boys Aren’t #9 ). Cross your fingers that Rupert Murdoch and Fox don’t corrupt her.
-Ben Profume
Redfish Redux
If there was a taste of the 80’s, for many New Yorkers it would be blackened redfish-that exotic yet homey dish that arrived on the city’s menus and seemed to herald a more daring culinary climate. Chef Paul Prudhomme’s recipe for this non-fishy-tasting fish started the Cajun-fueled frenzy, but after several years redfish began to disappear from the Gulf of Mexico. In the mid-1980’s, laws were passed that saved the fish-and made it disappear from restaurant tables. But now, thanks to an aqua farm in Texas, redfish has returned.
“It’s pretty wild to think that one person in a city of millions could actually start a trend,” said 28-year-old Alex Shurchin as he sat down recently at the “21” Club. “But that’s what happening: I’m making redfish a staple in all high-end New York City restaurants. And it’s beautiful, because, I mean, I’m just a regular, New York Post back-page kind of guy.”
He looked around the restaurant. “This is probably one of the fanciest places I’ve been in a long time,” he said.
Mr. Shurchin is the managing partner of Redfish Farms Inc., the company he founded with his older brother Barry. They began supplying redfish to “21” several months ago. “It’s so exciting to walk into a restaurant and see your fish on the menu,” he said. “A lot of times, when people see redfish, they think it’s red snapper, but it’s a completely different species …. My dream is to make redfish the next salmon.”
It began last year: Older brother Barry, a writer, producer and director of independent movies, went to Texas to meet his then-girlfriend’s family-which included Uncle Max, who owned a redfish farm.
“They told me about Paul Prudhomme and it being illegal to fish it commercially, and a light bulb went off,” Barry said. “I thought: ‘All I’ve really got to do is re-introduce this guy to the New York restaurant scene and they’ll jump all over it.’ I thought: monopoly !”
He proposed turning the reins over to Alex, an Off Broadway actor who was working at a cozy information-technology job. The two have been close since their days as “dirt-poor” Ukrainian-immigrant kids in Brooklyn. “I needed somebody to run this, and the kid-he’s smart, he’s competent, he’s hungry, and I knew that if I got him behind the phone, he would just tear it up,” said Barry.
“Usually I overthink everything, but I just went with it,” said Alex. “We hashed out that he would be the financier and I would do everything else by myself, and then I just sat down and started doing research. I lived on the Internet for a good month, went out and met chefs …. I didn’t even know what was a high-end restaurant.”
The work is starting to pay off: Restaurants serving the brothers’ redfish include Aureole, Le Cirque and Jean Georges.
“I just love it,” said Le Cirque 2000 chef Pierre Schaedelin. “I think it’s because of the texture, which is very close to striped bass, and I like the crispiness of the skin when you roast it.”
Jean Georges chef Tony DiSalvo said he enjoys the fish, but has a hard time convincing customers to try it. (Once they do, he said, they usually love it.) However, several chefs, including Le Bernardin’s Eric Ripert, refuse to touch anything from aqua farms because of their reputation for bleaching the flavor out of fish.
“At first I didn’t think that I’d be interested in it,” said “21” chef Erik Blauberg. “Because sometimes, when scientists and biologists start messing with fish to mass-produce them, we lose a lot. You notice that it’s grainy, or the color is off, or the flavor. But then when I got it, I was surprised by the quality. So far, Redfish Farms is doing a great job. And people love it-they think it’s just a really great fish.”
Beginning in December, Redfish Farms will increase its deliveries from once a week to daily.
“Our overhead is going to increase tremendously now, but I think, in the long run, this is completely beneficial,” said Alex. “The clients have actually initiated this. They said, ‘How can I get this on a daily basis?’ And it’s not one or two, but about 20 restaurants. If it had been only a few, I probably would have said we’re not ready.”
-Lizzy Ratner
