I extracted information from 324 main reviews in this year directory then wrote a program to gather some stats on the data. The stats follow a brief pre-ramble.

The 1997 directory is an improvement of the 1996 directory. It looks like they may have read my review of the 1996 directory and followed some of my recommendations:

1. Return to old layout with credits/ratings always at the margins. (Was the 1996 layout with the pages all facing same way intentional or just a major layout/printing error?)
2. Added an index to the performer's profiles.
3. Separated the female profiles from the male profiles, putting the women up front with larger photos, followed by the men, mostly along the bottom of review pages.
4. Claimed number of profiles and reviews closer to actual numbers.

The 1997 cover features Janine fully-clothed, nothing at all revealing. The cover is even more boring than Janine's videos. I think Janine is a really poor choice. Supposedly she's very popular, but I think she hardly even qualifies as a porn star. I'm not a Missy fan, but I think she would have been a really good choice, but then they probably didn't know she was going to get all those awards when they were planning the cover. I think Juli Ashton would have been another really good choice. She's popular and could probably be made to look extra stunning in a good still photo with the right photographer and make-up artist.

Hmm. The last three year's have featured a Vivid girl. Vivid must be buying the cover.

• 1995 Chasey-A great head shot, captitalizing on Chasey's best feature--her eyes.
• 1996 Raquel-OK, kind of dull, but it grows on you.
• 1997 Janine

If it had to be a Vivid girl, I think Jenteal should have been the obvious choice. Or even Asia Carrera, would have been more PC. (Has there ever been a minority on the cover?).

Suggestion for Next Year:

1. Index of reviews. By title and by Rating.
2. More current reviews. I know the lead time required for printing probably makes this difficult. Perhaps pushing the release date a little further back into the new year would help? As a subcriber to AFW, I was annoyed by the fact that so many reviews were just lifted from the magazine. I guess that's to be expected. Anyway, I've dropped my subscription so next year it won't matter.
3. Don't waste precious space in the main pages reviewing crappy/marginal videos. Put them in the condensed review section. Relabel it "The Best and Worst of the Rest"
4. Put the last 10 years of AFW directories on CD-ROM or DVD.
5. Drop the CD-Rom/New Tech section or do a seperate publication for this material. I know some people might be interested in this stuff but I think the directory should stay focused on videos.

As far as I can tell most X-rated CD ROM products are junk, anyway.

And no, this doesn't contradict #4. That would be a reference source for which CD-ROM is well suited.

================

Here are some stats I generated on this years directory which may be of interest to you.

Average running time: 92

Ratings Breaking Down:

AFW gives 1-5 stars plus an erotic rating. They often stray from the standard Warm, Hot, and Volcanic, and start using cute descriptive phases, like Frigid, Boiling, etc.

I only use Cold, Warm, Hot, and Volcanic, and I tack on a '+' to indicate the modifier "very".

AFW claims only to review the best of the best, so why so many marginal to bad titles. I don't need a review of "Tranny and the Professor" to know it's going to be awful.

   11 5V
    2 4.5V
    1 4.5H+
    2 4.5H
   34 4V
   17 4H+
   22 4H        Subtotal 89
  --------
    8 3.5V
   11 3.5H+
   51 3.5H
    4 3.5W
    9 3V
    2 3H+
   83 3H
    2 3W+
   11 3W       Subtotal 181
  --------
    2 2.5H+
    5 2.5H
    9 2.5W
    1 2H+
    9 2H
   14 2W       Subtotal 41
  --------
    1 1.5H
    2 1.5W
    6 1W
    2 1C
    3 NR       Subtotal 14


Year Break Down:

    3 1994
  184 1995
  137 1996

It's a little disappointing that 58% of the full reviews in the 1997 directory are for videos released prior to 1996, The directoy loses it's usefulness when the videos reviewed are long gone from my local video store's shelves. It looks like I'll have to wait until 1999 to see reviews of videos released this year.

Manufacture Break Down:

   28 VCA
   24 Vivid
   21 Wave
   16 Wicked
   14 Video Team
   14 Pleasure
   14 OGV (Odyssey Group Video / Private)
   12 Evil Angel
   10 Plush
    9 Zane
    9 Sin City
    9 Legend
    9 JM
    7 Jet Set
    7 Intropics
    6 Rosebud
    6 Nitro
    6 Elegant Angel
    6 Cal Vista
    6 Anabolic
    5 IVC
    5 Bella
    5 Avica
    4 Western
    4 Ultimate
    4 Tasteless
    4 In-X-Cess
    4 Heatwave
    4 B7 (Bruce Seven)
    4 Amazing
    3 Soho
    3 Midnight
    2 Xcel
    2 Snatch
    2 SBHM
    2 Outlaw
    2 JLP
    2 Hollywood
    2 Fat Dog
    2 Dark Works
    1 Visual Images
    1 Vidco
    1 VCX
    1 TCKS
    1 Studio A
    1 Sterling
    1 SBHV
    1 Notorious
    1 New Age
    1 Moonlight
    1 Masked
    1 Leisure
    1 Las Vegas
    1 LBO
    1 Horne Boi
    1 Hip
    1 He/She
    1 Filmco
    1 Femme
    1 Exquisite
    1 Erotique
    1 Dripping Wet
    1 Devil
    1 Caballero
    1 Blue Coral
    1 Astral Ocean

    
Director Break Down:

   18 Toni English
   18 Jim Enright
   14 Paul Norman
    9 Wes Emerson
    9 F.J. Lincoln
    7 Max Bellocchio
    7 Joey Silvera
    7 Al Borda
    6 Tom Stone
    6 Stuart Canterbury
    6 Patrick Collins
    5 Seymore Butts
    5 Scotty Fox
    5 Paul Thomas
    5 Mean Mo
    5 Jon Morgan
    5 John Leslie
    5 NA
    4 Various
    4 John T. Bone
    4 Joe D'Amato
    4 Jim Holliday
    4 Jim Gunn
    4 Gregory Dark
    4 Chris Alexander
    3 Teri Diver & Tom Eliot
    3 Steve Perry
    3 Sean Michaels
    3 Rodney Moore
    3 Rick Savage
    3 Michael Zen
    3 Loretta Sterling
    3 Layne Parker
    3 Jon Dough
    3 John Stagliano
    3 Jim Powers
    3 Brad Armstrong
    2 Tom Andreas
    2 Thomas Paine
    2 Shane
    2 Ron Jeremy
    2 Ron Hightower
    2 Rocco Siffredi
    2 Robert McCallum
    2 Rex Borsky
    2 Nic Cramer
    2 Nate Woodburn
    2 Jon Morgan (Damien HellX)
    2 Jon Morgan & Alex Sanders
    2 Ian Daniels
    2 Harold Lime & Jane Waters
    2 Greg Steele & Brad Armstrong
    2 David Christopher
    2 Cheeks
    2 Bud Lee
    2 Buck Adams
    2 Bruce Seven
    2 Brian Sparks
    2 Bionca & Bruce Seven
    2 Ben Fisher
    2 Ben Cameron
    2 Ariana & Luc Wylder
    2 Alex Sanders
    2 Alex Perry
    2 Clayton Blackmoor
    1 William Carelee
    1 W.B. Delongprez
    1 W. Bosley Delongprez
    1 Veronica Hart
    1 Teri Diver
    1 Sunset and Zach Thomas
    1 Stuart Canturby
    1 Sam Shaft
    1 Russ Micheals
    1 Rone Shadow
    1 Rob King
    1 Rick Blaine
    1 Rex King
    1 Rebecca Lord
    1 Ralph Parfait
    1 Paula Emerson & Jane Waters
    1 Neville Chambers
    1 Mr. Marcus
    1 Morty Valentino
    1 Mondo Tundra
    1 Mitchel Spinelli
    1 Mike Rubinstein
    1 Mike Carpenter
    1 Michel Ricaud
    1 Michael Santangelo
    1 Michael Ninn
    1 Michael Hamilton
    1 Michael Carpenter
    1 Mark Stone
    1 Luca Damiano
    1 Large Margie
    1 Kenji
    1 Justin Sterling
    1 Judy Blue
    1 Jordan McKnight
    1 John Simms
    1 Jay Ashley
    1 Jace Rocker
    1 J.B.
    1 Henri Pachard
    1 Harry S. Morgan
    1 Gino Colbert
    1 Gabo Ezterhazy
    1 Freddie Summers
    1 Frank Marino
    1 Ernest Greene
    1 Eric Edwards
    1 Edwin Durell
    1 Chris Clark
    1 Charles Rothstein
    1 Cash Markman
    1 Candida Royalle
    1 Cameron Grant & Joe D'Amato
    1 Bruno Al Dente
    1 Brian Speck
    1 Bogus Brothers
    1 Bionca
    1 Biff Malibu
    1 Austin Ellison
    1 Andrew Blake
    1 Andre Richard
    1 Andre Fish


=== Vivid/Wave Summary ===

24 Vivid
20 Wave
avg running time: 85.704545

    1 5V
    2 4V
    5 4H+
    2 4H
    1 3.5V
    1 3.5H+
   13 3.5H
    3 3.5W
    1 3V
   11 3H
    1 3W
    1 2.5H
    1 2H
    1 2W

 ================================= 

   31 1995
   13 1996

 ================================= 

   17 Toni English
    8 Paul Norman
    5 Paul Thomas
    3 Layne Parker
    2 Brad Armstrong
    2 Ben Cameron
    1 Ron Hightower
    1 Ralph Parfait
    1 Michael Zen
    1 Judy Blue
    1 Greg Steele & Brad Armstrong
    1 F.J. Lincoln
    1 Austin Ellison


=== VCA Summary ===

29 VCA
Average running time: 102.586207

Ratings:

    3 5V
    1 4.5H+
    1 4H
    1 4V
    3 4H+
    3 3.5H+
    7 3.5H
    1 3W
    1 3W+
    6 3H

Years:

   23 1995
    6 1996

Directors:

    7 Wes Emerson
    3 Steve Perry
    3 Jim Enright
    2 Teri Diver & Tom Eliot
    2 Brian Sparks
    1 Veronica Hart
    1 Tom Stone
    1 Sunset and Zach Thomas
    1 Russ Micheals
    1 Rone Shadow
    1 Mondo Tundra
    1 Michael Ninn
    1 Justin Sterling
    1 Joe D'Amato
    1 Jim Holliday
    1 Edwin Durell
    1 Cheeks

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