The 11th Annual Hard Choice Awards
(for films reviewed in 2004)
by Onan the Vulgarian
with Harley Shadow

Last year was a year for truckers and truck-stops. It was also a year for tops bottoming. Among the tops who bottomed for the first time onscreen in 2004, before I lost track, were Nick Capra, Dean Phoenix, Rafael Carreras, DC Chandler, Ace Hanson, Max Veneziano and Matthew Rush.

It was also a year for multi-part extravaganzas, with two-parters common, a few three-disc releases, a four-parter and even a five-disc collection. I don't know if such blockbusters take a bigger toll on the budgets of porn buyers or the column-inch limits of reviewers.

But most of all, 2004 was a viewer's wet dream, with all the studios pulling out the stops, leaving no stone unturned and no dollar unspent to bring you the best single year of porn in history. It was the year of big budget productions and dueling directors out to seduce you with horses, cowboys, transcontinental love-affairs, apocalyptic futures and visions of male paradise. Many directors achieved career highs in 2004, and by extension, so did many of their models.

Those directors also showed us that the adult industry has not exhausted its porn vocabulary. Bruce Cam gave us the brutally original vision of Horse (Titan Media); Chi Chi LaRue envisioned a crypto-fascist flesh, steel and Plexiglas obsessed future in Bolt (Rascal Video); Joe Gage continues to mine the sexually combustible arena of straight guys exploring sex with other guys; Lucas Kazan's love of opera directly or indirectly informs most of his work, and the drama and passions of that medium translate to some of the most eloquent male-male lovemaking found in porn, as attested to by his back-to back wins for Most Romantic Sex and Spontaneous Climaxes; and Kevin Clarke, a dark horse, gave us not only the definitive street-boy love match of all time, he articulated brilliantly the wet dream of an Anglo twink for a thug in his much under-appreciated The American City.

The problem of awards like these is that, in directing attention towards certain films, studios or directors, it also diverts your attention from many other works equally deserving of acclaim for their own unique merits.

But while expanding our porn vocabulary, some directors chose in 2004 to exercise their speaking vocabulary as well: on the subject of barebacking. With AIDS continuing to devastate gay and straight populations worldwide (and provoking extreme discomfort and argument in the straight porn industry right now) a few influential voices in gayporn have chosen to speak up in defense of safe sex.

Defenders of barebacking go to solipsistic extremes to justify their sexual choices, invoking the First Amendment, parroting arguments used by the women's movement in support of the right to choose, and disparaging others in the industry who support the use of condoms. This is comparable to Nero fiddling while Rome burns. Some studio heads agree, and this year they have drawn their own lines in the sand, regarding the depiction of safe sex in their videos, and, even more, their policies towards using models who publicly support or engage in condomless sex elsewhere.

For that, Onan says to Bruce Cam, Chi Chi LaRue and Michael Lucas, we love you for loving us.

• Dean Phoenix and Marcus Iron, Buckleroos, Buckshot Productions
• Max Veneziano, Pietro Rosselli and Antonio Armani, Journey to Greece, Lucas Kazan/Sarava Productions
• Slava Petrovich and Max Veneziano, Men Amongst the Ruins, Kristen Bjorn/Sarava Productions

• Johnny Biddulph and Charlie Moore, The American City, IOP Productions
• Michael Lucas and Rob Ramos, Fire Island Cruising 5, Lucas Entertainment
• Kent Larson and Arpad Mikos, Pool Boy, All Worlds Video
• Patrick Downs and Claudio Martin, Raw Footage, Rascal Video
• Victor Campos and Simone de Jesus, Spanish Fever, Oh Man! Studios
• Steven Richards and Clay Foxe, Stud Farm, Titan Media
• Brad Benton and Dillon Press, Studs n' Pups, MSR Videos
• Bobby Williams and Corbin Michaels, Taking Flight part 1, Falcon Studios
• Tommy Brandt and Chase Hunter, Tommy's Tale, Falcon Studios
• Eddie Stone and Filippo Romano, When in Rome, Rascal Video

Best Sex for 3 or More
The Bolt orgy, Rascal Video
(Hon. Mention: Peer Nagel, Mats Riem and Max Schneider, Heartbreak Hotel, Cazzo Film/Sarava Productions

Best Oral Sex
Lucio Maverick, Shane Rage and Adriano Lazzari, Temptation on the Force 2: Code of Conduct, Diamond Pictures.
(Hon. Mention: Ollie Kicks and Clay Maverick, Studs n' Pups, MSR Videos)

Best Rimming
Filippo Romano and Pierre Fitch, Longshot … Making the Game, Jocks Studios
(Hon. Mention: Leonardo Ricci and Eddie Stone, When in Rome, Rascal Video)

Most Fuckable Boy in the World
Patrick Downs
(Hon. Mention: Matt Van Dorn, Rob Ramos)

Best Music
Nicholas Pavkovic, Buckleroos, Buckshot Productions
(Hon. Mention: J.D. Slater, Plexus!, Raging Stallion Studios)

Having a Blast! (cum shot)

• Journey to Greece, Lucas Kazan/Sarava Productions (spontaneous cum shots from start to finish)
• Julio Vidal, Men Amongst the Ruins, Sarava Productions
• Jason Kingsley, ParaShooter, Sarava Productions
• Steven Richards, Stud Farm, Titan Media
• Tommy Brandt, Tommy's Tale, Falcon Studios

Best New Kids on the Block
Director: Jean Marc Prouveur
Studio: Pistol Media
Performer: Damon Bradley

Best Solo

• Dason Ripley, Big n Plenty, COLT
• Peter, On the Couch: Toronto, Tom Bianchi
• Aiden Shaw, Perfect Fit, Hot House Entertainment

Onan's Pantheon of Michelangelo Bodies
Wilson Vasquez, Rocky

Best Mind Fuck

• Ricky Martinez and Arpad Miklos, Buckleroos, Buckshot Productions
• Damon Bradley and David Bray, Sexgaymes: Pace, Pistol Media
• Logan Bryant and Dylan West, Truck Stop on I-95, MSR Videos

Savage Humor Award
Countdown opening sequence and gallery scene with Felix Groth and Christoph Scharff, Cazzo Films
(Hon. Mention: Andrew Rubio and Rafael Alencar having sex in front of a crucifix and a statue of the Virgin, Gored, Studio 2000)

Deepest Throat
Mario Perez

Best Buns
Theo Blake

Best Facial Expressions While Having an Orgasm
Kent Larson, Screw: Right to the Point, Hot House Entertainment

Chance Erotic Moment
Snow flurries drifting through the skylight over Tommy Hansen and Sebastian Bonnet, Alpine Adventure, Bel Ami