Renek Gaszewski [Blog]

Two weeks ago I laughed off a report appearing in the GWU Sunday paper, it-Torċa (June 7) that complained that Russians are taking jobs from Maltese citizens. The jobs in question were in the ‘sex industry’ and the gist of the report was that Maltese prostitutes are losing out to Russian women. Judging from the report in it-Torċa, it seems that the Maltese sex workers are in need not only of a good ‘facelift’ but also of a branding exercise! In short the Russians are more attractive and more accommodating, to say nothing of the fact that to Mediterranean ears, their nationality sounds exotic.
A few days later, I received a telephone call with a plea for help from an acquaintance of mine, a Russian travel agent who was in a quandary as the Maltese authorities had refused a visa to the female of a Russian couple who intended to spend a week’s holiday in Malta with their child. The father and the child were regularly issued with visas, but the mother’s application was summarily refused. I contacted someone at the Tourism Secretariat who found out that the visa had been refused by the Police. I was told that the refusal could not be reversed, and the only way the woman could get a visa was for her to apply again. The Russian family – two adults and a kid – had planned on a bona fide holiday in Malta but eventually went to Turkey, a country that does not hassle people who want to go and spend their holidays there.
I say ‘bona fide’ holiday because the three Russians had a return ticket and confirmed bookings as well as a hotel reservation for the entire week’s stay in Malta. Alas, some bright guy from the police must have suspected that they must be some form of ‘security risk’!
This is of course, complete hogwash. The way the visa system for entry into Malta of non-EU nationals works – if it does – is a shambles and flies directly in the face of the efforts of the Maltese government to entice tourists to visit Malta, in times where tourism figures have been falling in all Mediterranean countries.
It seems that the visa system – over which the tourism authorities have no control – is run by a branch of the Police Force together with an immigration office which falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Co-ordination does not seem to be the name of the game. The Foreign Ministry can overrule a Police decision to refuse a visa, but only before it is refused – hence the suggestion that the Russian woman should reapply for her visa.
Somehow or other, it does seem that the preponderance of visa refusals, at least in the case of nationals from Russia and other eastern countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union, concern women of a certain age group that are apparently traveling alone. This means that couples with different surnames are in for problems when they seek a visa to spend some time and money in Malta! I know of another case in which a young eleven-year old Russian girl who was accompanied by her grandmother was almost refused a visa, as the Police did not realise that she was a child and the difference in surnames meant they were unaware that the grandmother and grandchild were not traveling independently.
The police responsible for visa processing are, apparently, doing their utmost to preserve our virtues. But are they? Not according to the report in it-Torċa that implied that there is no dearth of Russian prostitutes in Malta. On the other hand, there is no doubt that currently there is a dearth of bona fide tourists coming for a short holiday.
In this rumour infested island, this situation has hatched an interesting conspiracy theory. According to this rumour, those who profit from the sex industry in Malta and use Russian prostitutes are a select group who want to protect their interests by avoiding as much competition as possible. Apparently, they seem to have no problems recruiting Russian women and bringing them over to Malta. At the same time, however, other would-be competitors find many obstacles when they attempt to pull the same trick – via the Police protecting Malta from an invasion of Russian prostitutes, a process that leads to many bona fide tourists being refused a visa!
It is, of course, impossible to ascertain whether there is any truth behind this rumour. But it is a fact that the Police efforts in the visa area have not led to a decrease in Russian prostitutes but have only led to a decrease of bona fide tourists visiting Malta! Whether this is just a coincidence or the result of a conspiracy, the situation needs to be addressed.
I understand that the Maltese Government has engaged a private – Indian owned – company to process visa applications by Russian nationals in Russia, but this move has only increased the fee that is paid for a Maltese visa as the situation has practically remained the same as when these applications were handled by the staff of the Maltese embassy in Moscow.
Perhaps the Maltese government should enquire why a Russian citizen applying at an Austrian Consulate in a Russian city for a Schengen visa to visit Austria gets his visa in a matter of days while another Russian going to the same consulate for a Schengen visa to visit Malta meets all the difficulties in the world, including the necessity of an ‘interview’. Malta’s attempts to be holier than the Pope will never be thwarted! We were more imperialists than the British and now we seem keen to abide to all the nitty-gritty of EU regulations and by-laws in a way that makes us more European than Brussels! Has this administration relegated itself to an EU technocracy/bureaucracy?
Looking at the large picture, of course, this means that the present administration has contrived yet another built-in contradiction in the way of doing things: the stupid short-sighted and insensitive way how visa applications are processed contradict directly the government’s efforts to help tourism get out of a downturn generated by the global financial recession.
Some of those who provide services to incoming tourists tell me that the visa problem is not just restricted to Russian nationals. Similar problems exist in the case of tourists coming from Algeria and Tunisia as well as from Serbia and Ukraine, to mention just a few tourist markets that Malta could – and should – be tapping more vigorously.
The government seems unable to get its act right on this one, apparently content with letting one part of the administration undermine the efforts of another part of the same administration. Did anyone say that the left hand is not aware of what the right hand is doing?

Paris Hilton has opened the doors to her Hollywood home to reveal naked photos of herself, her extensive collection of dolls, and the gym she turned into a massive shoe closet.
The socialite moved into her new place 18 months ago and set about turning the “boring” and “stuffy” family home into a dream house.
And she agreed to act as tour guide when she invited Access Hollywood cameras into the private space before she jetted off to film her new reality show in Dubai.
Hilton showed off the Marilyn Monroe portraits that hang over her four-poster bed and shocked with candid poster-sized photos of the heiress naked, hugging a toy cat and sitting in a Hummer (vehicle) with her pet Chihuahua Tinkerbell poking out between her legs.
She chuckled, “That’s me in a Hummer with Tinkerbell, in the buff.”

Rzuciła chłopaka po Wigilii! [źródło: Pudelek.pl]

Najsłynniejsza młoda polska modelka, Anja Rubik, była dotąd związana z Polakiem, Łukaszem. Poznali się jeszcze jako dzieci. Jakiś rok temu opowiadała nawet w kolorowej prasie o ich wielkiej miłości, przekonując, że nie przeszkadza jej to, że są “z dwóch różnych światów”. A dokładnie - że tylko ona robi karierę i zarabia pieniądze. Read the rest of this entry »

Adult film star Sasha Grey on pushing the envelope in porn, her evolving creativity and working with Steven Soderbergh for his new film The Girlfriend Experience.
At the tender age of 21, Sasha Grey has already made quite a name for herself in her chosen industry. Arriving in Hollywood after turning 18 with the goal of breaking into the world of porn, Grey soon established herself as one of its biggest and unabashedly kinkiest stars.
But she had a quality that crossed over to the world outside of XXX—outspoken, unapologetic, intelligent, artistically ambitious and far more indie-friendly in her presentation and avowed tastes (she’s famously a lover of Jean-Luc Godard and lists bands like Joy Division and Neu! on her MySpace page) than you might expect from a porn star. And perhaps in the ultimate sign of hipster outreach, she’s modelled for American Apparel and appeared in Vice.
Grey’s real mainstream crossover, though, may come in the form of her latest role, in Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience. Grey stars as Chelsea, a high-priced Manhattan call girl who specializes in the service of the title, a more personal experience that involves talking and intimacy.
Throughout the film, she encounters clients as disparate as a McCain-supporting Hasidic Jew, a sleazy blogger (played by film critic Glenn Kenny) who asks for a “review copy,” a neurotic businessman who just wants to talk and a screenwriter she seems to connect with on a deeper level.
The Girlfriend Experience feels very much like a Soderbergh film, with its casually abstracted timeline and gorgeous digital visuals. Full of references to the economic meltdown occurring as the film was being shot, it manages to be curiously timely as well. Grey’s character is somewhat of a blank, but a strangely compelling one: she’s deadpan but effective.
A friendly and talkative Grey spoke to the Mirror about both her careers.
Mirror: How did you prepare for this role? Was it a challenge? It must have been different than getting ready for your porn work.
Sasha Grey: In adult films, I only start the night before, usually. I kind of have a routine, because in the entertainment world, you never have a routine (laughs), so when I get to the set, I just have a small list of things that I stick to no matter what type of scene it is.
For this film, the day I met Steven I went home and tried Googling “escorting” to do some research on it, but obviously, unless you’re trying to hire a woman, it’s quite difficult to find any real information. So when we went into pre-production, I started keeping a detailed diary and I kind of wrote a character back story, condensed that and sent that over to Steven. Because the way that he shot the film was quite experimental, we didn’t have a lot of information, so I said, “Hey, does this fit into the mould of where you want to take this character in the film?” and he said yes, so I used that.
He asked me to watch Godard’s Vivre sa vie and Pierrot le fou, which is nice for me because I’m a fan of both of those films. The casting director also sent us anonymously written escorting blogs so I just kind of read as many of those as I could before we went into production. Steven and I also interviewed two escorts as well so a lot of little things went into it.
* * * * *
GOAL-ORIENTED
M: Did you ever get a sense of why Soderbergh thought of you for the role?
SG: Well, I was on a panel with him so now I can answer that (laughs)! I actually know why. I didn’t ask, I was happy enough to get the role, so don’t question a good opportunity! He read this article about me in 2006, and he said, when we were doing this panel, that I was the only adult film star he’d read about that actually had long-term goals. And the other part of that is also that I obviously have a built-in fanbase. So that only helps to get the film out there and get people talking about it.
M: What are those goals?
SG: Oh jeez, well… I’m actually at the beginning stages of one of them, which was to be a director in adult films and I kind of took it a step further and I launched my own company called Grey Art.
M: It seems like you have a pretty thought-out vision of what you want to do, creatively.
SG: I think it’s constantly evolving. Three years for some people might not seem like a long time to become a director, but in the adult film world, for me, that felt like a lifetime, getting to this point. But I think the decision I made was the best decision I could have made.
Right now, my main goal is visually making things different. I don’t really want to get into the specifics because I don’t really want to ruin the idea I have for an upcoming feature, but I think visuals are heavily lacking and I think working with Steven really validated a lot of things for me when it comes to filmmaking, whether it be adult films or non-adult films, because you can do so much with so little if you just put some effort into it.
POWER AND PERFORMANCE
M: Is there a big difference between sex work, like in the movie, and work in the adult film industry? Where’s the line?
SG: I think there’s a lot of small differences. If you have very conservative moral views, they’re the exact same thing because you’re both selling sex for money. But as this film kind of shows, everything in life is a transaction—whether you’re flipping burgers at McDonalds or a secretary, we’re all selling ourselves for money. But I think the obvious main difference between doing adult films and doing something in the line of what Chelsea does is that adult films are obviously legal, they’re for an audience—there’s a laundry list of clinical differences. I think, for me, a big one is that while I have a creative vision and standpoint on what I do, somebody in Chelsea’s situation wouldn’t.
M: Seems like “the girlfriend experience” is somewhat of a performance itself—that Chelsea has to do as much as a film performer.
SG: Yes and no. There’s so many little things that separate it. I actually said that to one of the women that Steven and I interviewed, you’re kind of performing in a way, you’re kind of hanging up your personality and letting go of who you really are. I think, in adult films, it’s more based on who you are as a personality. We don’t show up to set and have to pretend to be somebody’s girlfriend (laughs). We all know why we’re there.
M: You’ve called what you do in adult films performance art. Can you expand on that?
SG: I think that, as a performer, you give so much of yourself and your physical body is part of that performance. Each and every scene I do, I try and make it distinct from the last, to the best of my ability. Because obviously, you get to set and no, it’s not the terrible tale of “you have to do this sex act!” and you don’t want to do it but there’s either a creative decision or a lack of creativity (laughs) that you don’t really have a say in because you are an independent contractor. So I try and take the power back into my hands and envelope that to the best of my ability. Because there’s only so much you can change as a performer.
M: Do you feel a pressure, externally or internally, to keep pushing the envelope?
SG: I feel it internally, because that’s what I’m passionate about and I really don’t feel comfortable repeating myself. It’s always finding a different way to express myself, whether it be the sex act that I’m doing or whether it be the thing that I’m saying to the person in the scene. Or how I convey what I’m feeling to the audience.

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