Adult Entertainment Expo

A long line waited to get in to the doors that was under this sign.

Every year the Adult Entertainment Expo is held in Las Vegas, which is the largest pornography industry trade show in the United States. This year they divorced themselves from the Consumer Electronics Expo and was held a week after. Another thing that was new this year was the venue. This was the first time AEE was held at the Hard Rock Hotel. Years before it was always held at the Sands Expo Center and the AVN Award ceremony (think Oscars for porn) was held at the Palms.

I haven’t read any reviews or opinions of what anyone else thought, so this is coming entirely from the mind of ME. I like the idea of the everything taking place in one location. I honestly think that it all fits perfectly with the atmosphere at the Hard Rock Hotel. Everything else needs serious work.

Let me start off with complaining about the website. It took them forever to put up their new website. A lot of places online was still saying that it was being held at the Sands. Pieces of the website are still broken. They give no schedule, no real information, you have to go through a questionnaire to find out the prices of tickets, and it just overall sucks. Their website achieves nothing at all, and what links they do have that should be to valuable information are either blank or go to broken HTML.

First boob I've ever touched (besides my own).

This year the price of the VIP ticket was not worth having. There was no early entrance for VIP. Pretty much the only thing you got that was special was a t-shirt. The poster I got I saw it being given away for free to everyone on the main floor. You didn’t get any special goodie bag. So I paid $50 extra for a t-shirt that I don’t know if I can wear in public. Can I wear a t-shirt that says “dongs” on it? I might get away with wearing my “Raging Woody” t-shirt, but I don’t know if I can get away with the word “dongs” across my chest. Actually I really like the t-shirt and it has a very witty saying on it that ties to Hard Rock, but I honestly don’t know if I can get away with that one particular word. The line for VIP was painfully long and outside.

There were two porn stars at the bottom of some stairs that the VIP got first dibs on though. Still not worth the money though. Except for the guy in front of me. The one porn star was rubbing on him, mentioned how she could feel him getting … , then told him how she would continue till he was all the way … . The line was painfully slow and I saw a lot of people skip it to head upstairs to the main area.

The whole event was a cluster f*&% and confusing as f*&%. It was hard to tell what sections were for trade only and what areas were for the public. No easy to read schedule. No star schedule, if you would even be able to find that star. Usually there is a breakdown on the days and during which days and what times a star would be available for autographs. None of this was available. I wanted to get a picture of “Nailin’ Paylin”, but how in the world was I going to find her if I didn’t know what booth she would be in, at what hours, and what days. It was so cramped and crowded I would be stuck in one spot for 10 minutes because bodies were jammed in there tighter than a can of sardines.

I know this is going way back, but at one time AEE was a part of CES. They were one show. One day the adult portion of CES decided they had enough stuff on their own, and there AEE was born. A trade show devoted to pornography. My real point – At one time porn was innovative. Sometimes ahead of it’s time. Certain innovations were seen in porn before it hit mainstream. Multiple angle shots on a DVD were definitely used in porn way before mainstream movies. Where is the innovation now? What has happened to the porn industry? Are all those free clips on the internet hurting their revenue? Or are they lacking in imaginative people working in the field? AEE obviously can’t even hire a decent webmaster. They can’t even get their Facebook right. They have two different kinds of accounts and they have maxed friends on the one they happen to update the most. When in reality it is the group wall that should be updated.

I know I took a lot less photos than I did the last time I went. But there was no huge bull riding dong. No oil wrestling. No fun fan contests. Too much congestion, which you expect but it was ridiculous how cramped the space was. And I didn’t win a trip to Mexico this year. Which I’m kind of bummed not to even have a chance. But probably a good thing because I don’t need anymore embarrassing videos of me floating around the internet. I just wasn’t feeling it this year. I’m just plain disappointed with CES and AEE this year.

The gallery of photos are NOT SAFE FOR WORK. I would rate it a soft R rating. It doesn’t show any real nudity, but the content may be questionable for some work places. Think before you click.