Mickey’s Quickies | Hard Choice Awards Announced, Wolfgang Bang Heads to Barcelona, Peters Twins turn 20, More Gay Gossip

Wolfgang Bang tells me he’s “finally putting the finishing touches on In The Zone, which is Cole Ryder's last movie.” After only about two years in the industry, popular bear performer Ryder died at 35 in July 2008. Depending on which distributor jumps at the title, it could be out as early as the end of February, Bang said

He also said Michael Lucas and Stag Homme owners Francesco D’Macho and Damien Crosse aren’t the only ones shooting gay adult content in Barcelona.

“I’m also going to Barcelona this weekend to shoot a fisting scene for a pretty cool project that I have been working on for a while,” Bang told me, promising to provide more details when he returns.

Onan the Vulgarian, the Arizona-based reviewer and longtime GAYVN Awards judge, announced his 16th annual Hard Choice Awards at XXFactor.com. The website began as the online home of a now-defunct magazine the Vulgarian edited. Thankfully, the awards—which often honor talent that seems to fall between the cracks in other awards shows—didn’t die with the publication.

Onan gave big kudos to foreign studios this year, saying, “Foreign studios made a bigger impact in 2009.” He also pointed out “Steve Cruz, last year’s Best New Director, and his working partner Leif Gobo, have reinvented Mustang Studios.”

The Hard Choice Performer of the Year is Titan exclusive Tony Buff. Lucas Entertainment’s Inside Israel took Best Film USA, and Chi Chi LaRue received the Best Director USA nod for Rascal Video’s Taken: to the Lowest Level.

Best Foreign Film and Best Foreign Director went to Sarava’s Love Addiction and director Strongboli, respectively.

Interestingly, the movie that received the most awards was Raging Stallion’s Focus/ReFocus which delivered to Ryan Raz the Best Supporting Actor title as well as nabbing videography, non-sexual performance, art direction, music and Best Rimming (a category that Hard Choice stands alone in honoring!) honors. The Hard Choice Awards stand alone in offering that last category.

Overall, Onan said he wasn’t as thrilled with Focus/ReFocus as he was with last year’s Raging Stallion blockbuster, To the Last Man. Focus/ReFocus wasn’t even among the runners-up for Best Film.

The entire list of winners is available, along with Onan’s amusing commentary, is available here.

Quickies:

  • Slovakian Twins Milo and Elijah Peters turned 20 on Valentine’s Day. Legendary star-turned-director Johan Paulik shot their recent tour of the U.S., and the result can be found at BelAmiOnline.com (along with a plethora of birthday best wishes).
  • Bear Films plans to release a new title,
Bear Mayhem, this week. Exclusive previews are available at BearFilm.com. These older, hairy, burly guys really know how to get down to grunting.
  • Longtime friend to the porn world Richard Halpern is starring in
The Hollywood Cavalcade, during which he sings 1920s tunes with the Blue Serenade Orchestra. The performance will take place Sunday, Feb. 21, at the Cicada Club in downtown Los Angeles. The words to some of these pre-Hays Code (Hollywood’s decency guidelines) movie tunes are rather bawdy and hysterically naughty, and Halpern knows how to give them his all. See ClubCicada.com for more info.
  • A very hot gay erotica book called
The Riddle of the Sands came to GAYVN for review. Authored by Geoffrey Knight and published by Cleis Press, it’s about gay tomb raiders (as if Indiana Jones was a bit bent). A cute blond reporter does some in-depth “interviewing” with the hero, Jake. Because I’m a judge for the Lambda Literary Awards this year, if I come across other erotica you need to know about, I’ll spill the details.