AustinZane.com UPDATE

[Singularity]

fuck you . . .you proud gay man!

Got a cloning machine...?

[ZaneMich]

@babekitty, I'm glad you found this forum and thank you for your support and loyalty! I am glad you are 'Team Zane' but my intention of the book was not to smear anyone, although it does most certainly come across that way.

If you've read my book, you will surely notice how the writing and clarity gets worse towards the end, and that was a true reflection of how my life was turning... into a complete mess. During the many Skype sessions I had with my publisher, he always convinced me to write when things were 'raw' and 'fresh' so that the book was more 'real.' That was what I did. Instead of approaching Austin when I was upset with him (usually to avoid a blow-out and to preserve the business) I would turn to my book and vent my true feelings and frustrations. In hindsight, I wish I would have handled things a little differently.

When writing a book was suggested, I thought about how unique and interesting our situation was and I thought it would be an interesting story to tell. While I knew that I was writing some very personal things about us, I always thought that our story would have some grand, happy ending and the true story would be that no matter how much BS we went through, no matter how bad we treated each other at times, that our friendship was stronger and would outlast anything. In my mind, he would have seen it that way, too.

Since leaving Vegas and leaving the website, I have had a lot of time to reflect on my life and some of my decisions over the years. One thing I wish I could take back is not reading my book before it got published. I was pretty messed up in the head the first couple of weeks after my departure and wasn't ready to go through my book and reminisce. Now, with a clear mindset, there is definitely a handful of things that I should have removed and for those things, I have apologized to Austin.

While the members of AZ know that I was extremely passionate about the success of the site and pleasing the members, while writing, I would often hide my anger and frustration (towards Austin's lack of interest) under the title of passion for the business. No matter what I tried, nothing could keep AZ a top priority for him and that was a huge, almost constant stress for me. It sucks to see AZ crumble to an incoherent mess after my departure but the true casualty is the deterioration of our friendship and the book definitely didn't help that cause. If you have or are planning on reading it, please just take it as a journal of rough times and don't let it change your opinions of Austin. Sure he wasn't the greatest friend or business partner at times, but I wasn't perfect either. If I didn't think that deep down, he was a great person, I wouldn't have kept going back so many times.

[majax79]

@ZaneMich,

Who got Brett in the breakup, lol?

[EphGuy]

you miss how warm he feels

you miss his smell

[Críostóir]

you miss how warm he feels

you miss his smell

"In Happier Days," huh?

I hope that mist is a 'shop, and not dry ice mist.

[ac904411]

@Zanemich,
Where the hell have I been...hiding under a rock? I recently visited AZ – checked out some of the older vids and joined thinking I landed in heaven. You can tell by my visit here that I quickly realized something was wrong. The content continued to decrease in quality and there was a noticeable absence of the founders. Needless to say I have since cancelled my subscription.

I read through the string of post and now have a better grasp as to what happened. Let me first say I am sorry to hear you have retired from the business, and sold your interest in AZ. You are greatly missed, but I understand how life can sometimes take you down one path, only to have you end up in a totally different place. These are the things that make us who we are. I would like to encourage you to enjoy the journey, and not be so hard on yourself.

You started a successful business, watched it grow and now you are on to another phase ...we are not through hearing from you I am sure. Ignore the negative bloggers...people who's never done anything, or started any business do not realize what it takes. You appear to have enjoyed what you were doing, and had the pleasure of doing it with one of your best friends. That's awesome!!! Don't dwell on the bad times...focus on all the fun you and Austin had starting AZ. Your fans can see it in your work

As for you now strained friendship with Austin...time is a funny thing. It tends to heal / change us in ways never expected. I hope the two of you can come together and regain what you lost. Looks like you are healing and maturing based on the entries I've read. Keep up the good work of working on you. I know you said "retired", but I am one fan that is hoping this is a short lived sabbatical.

[native352]

I would venture to say that AustinZane is unofficially defunk. The last update posted was on January 21 and based on the response to it and the previous ones offered by the new owner, I can't imagine that they have much of a membership base still left.

As one of the initial members, that is really, really sad to me. I really loved this site and it was exciting because they seemed to bring a realness back to the industry. There are so many phonies who deliberately lie to their members that their site and product were really refreshing. Zane always seemed to genuinely care about their members and the members responded accordingly. I cancelled my membership when Zane departed because the handwriting had been on the wall for a while that Austin had lost interest in building the business.

There have been a few previous sites I also loved which felt more like a community to me i.e. Dirk Yates Live, ASG, Mike Hancock and the old Active Duty. I still value some of the cyber friends I made there and miss them still. If there are any replacements out there, I haven't found them yet.

[darrius]

It's a shame they can't force them to drop the name "AustinZane.com". Or can they??

[Críostóir]

It's a shame they can't force them to drop the name "AustinZane.com". Or can they??

Probably not. They're assumed names, made for the site, and unless the buyers' lawyers were truly incompetent, they bought the site name along with the rest of the intellectual property (the videos etc.). The new owners might even be able to keep "Austin" and "Zane" from using those names in the industry (probably moot since neither of them is doing porn now), depending on how the contracts were written.

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

[pat grimshaw]

...If you've read my book, you will surely notice how the writing and clarity gets worse towards the end, ...

Wasn't there a sub-editor to check all that?

[MatrixNJ]

Probably not. They're assumed names, made for the site, and unless the buyers' lawyers were truly incompetent, they bought the site name along with the rest of the intellectual property (the videos etc.). The new owners might even be able to keep "Austin" and "Zane" from using those names in the industry (probably moot since neither of them is doing porn now), depending on how the contracts were written.

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

I understand the importance of a brand name, but they can still make up another name if they want. After all, their names weren't Austin or Zane when I first discovered them from that other site.

[cryan71]

Finished the book. Basically, I felt every gay person in that book was either 1) a child molester 2) pervert with power control issues or 3) difficult queen, especially if they are a gay performer in gay porn. He discusses how Jason blew him without pay in Hawaii comparing it to being molested as a young child. Now this is an adult here we are talking about.

The weird thing, I get the feeling that Zane was in love with Austin. The story reads like a diary of some teenage girl.

[Hellax24]

Finished the book. Basically, I felt every gay person in that book was either 1) a child molester 2) pervert with power control issues or 3) difficult queen, especially if they are a gay performer in gay porn. He discusses how Jason blew him without pay in Hawaii comparing it to being molested as a young child. Now this is an adult here we are talking about.

The weird thing, I get the feeling that Zane was in love with Austin. The story reads like a diary of some teenage girl.

Who's Jason?

CXXX

[Windsong]

The weird thing, I get the feeling that Zane was in love with Austin. The story reads like a diary of some teenage girl.

Thing is, you don't need to read the book to come away from the pair of them with that impression, 'cause that's always the feeling I got from their porn-relationship. Maybe the word "love" might not be totally apt, but I did always think that the blond one cared a lot for the brunette (which is why he was so invested in the site), and his feelings weren't reciprocated.

[ac904411]

I had to read the book to see if i could get any additional insight. Boy did I ever....there is so much more to this story than two
"straight " friends doing gay for pay. You clearly see one was more emotionally invested in the business, and relationship than the other. It almost reads like a one sided love story. One of the two clearly falls fast and hard and the other is a typical young male trying to score all the pussy he can. This appears to be the core of "issues between the two". I found myself cheering for the relationship to be what one wanted, but much to my dismay – it never happened. I truly believe they never messed around off camera – only because one wouldn't. Clearly one of those I see you as a friend, but you see me as a boyfriend relationships.

[Críostóir]

I had the impression they had an intense bromance. What do you call it when you have a bromance and have sex with each other professionally? I bet you could have very different feelings about that.

[crimsonpaine]

So, almost a month with no update... or did they just stop showing the updates to people who don't pay?

[PhunkSpunk]

In the beginning of "The Magus" John Fowles made this great observation that reads something like this: "in Victorian times, people fell madly in love when sex reared its ugly little head. In modern times people have sex and love rears its ugly little head." Something like this happened between Zane and his beloved Austin, and it frightened him so much that he ran all the way back to Tiffin.

Here find the portrait of a man who needs his husband



Zane, only an Austin could see a real future in a rusted-out late-40's Oldsmobile!

Fix it up, drive it to P-town for the 4th, get hitched on the Race Point beach at sunset by a lesbian Unitarian Minister of a certain age and weight, have a reception/orgy with all your porn-pals, then go home and be the poster-couple for EqualityOhio! From Porn to PROGRESS! (fyi, a good title for your next book).

[SweetGelato]

In the beginning of "The Magus" John Fowles made this great observation that reads something like this: "in Victorian times, people fell madly in love when sex reared its ugly little head. In modern times people have sex and love rears its ugly little head." Something like this happened between Zane and his beloved Austin, and it frightened him so much that he ran all the way back to Tiffin.

Here find the portrait of a man who needs his husband



Zane, only an Austin could see a real future in a rusted-out late-40's Oldsmobile!

Fix it up, drive it to P-town for the 4th, get hitched on the Race Point beach at sunset by a lesbian Unitarian Minister of a certain age and weight, have a reception/orgy with all your porn-pals, then go home and be the poster-couple for EqualityOhio! From Porn to PROGRESS! (fyi, a good title for your next book).

You really thought this thorugh.

[bullwing413]

i read the book but i never wanted to comment before because I didn't want to hurt Zane's feeling - but I have to agree with the posters who have alluded to this being a case on unrequited love. I been there, it sucks big time - but you move on even if it never goes away 100%.

[babekitty]

Interesting to see that people are starting to point out what many of us believed to be true for a long time. I'm one of the few people here that has not read the book yet, simply because I don't have any extra money right now. I would like to read it at some point though. However, as a big fan who followed them closely in interviews, live chats, and saw all of their scenes I consistently got the same impression from watching their videos...that maybe Zane had started to fall in love with him or had at least become extremely emotionally invested in him on a different level.

Regardless of what is revealed in the book clearly most people saw something there, beyond physical intimacy. No one can deny that it was a major reason they were a popular pairing, because they had this undeniable "thing" between them. Maybe whatever it was couldn't be easily labeled or defined but it was clearly there and did come across in their scenes. The majority of people were always surprised when they found out that Austin/Zane were actually straight friends. Unless a person is completely ignorant I honestly don't think most people thought that they were bisexual or gay only because they were having sex. I don't ever assume a porn star is gay simply because they have gay sex on camera, it's more complex than that. So it wasn't the sex, to me it was how they were together and the underlying emotion in their scenes.

My intention is not to disrespect Zane either, if he says he's straight than I have to take his word because only he knows. Sometimes relationships are perceived differently from the outside looking in. Maybe we misread their situation the entire time and falsely believed Zane was into him. I guess it really doesn't matter at this point because it's over and done with. I'm just stating that from everything I saw over the years it was difficult to believe that they were only really good actors and there was no emotional attachment beyond friendship. Essentially if there was never anything there, Zane needs to become an actor because he's damn good at conveying emotional connections.

[Críostóir]

I think they had what in mainstream movies is called "great chemistry." I suspect that the passionate friendship they had, coupled with their sexual relationship (on-camera), may have caused some confusing and distressing feelings for guys who self-identify as straight. Liking someone a lot, even if you also enjoy sex with him, is not the same as being in love. But it can be hard to be sure of the difference.

It looks like Austin had a harder time with this than Zane. He may also have been pressured, but we'll never know for sure.

[statsguy]

Austin also had a gf and was beccoming a father in the middle of all of this.

[Singularity]

I think they had what in mainstream movies is called "great chemistry." I suspect that the passionate friendship they had, coupled with their sexual relationship (on-camera), may have caused some confusing and distressing feelings for guys who self-identify as straight. Liking someone a lot, even if you also enjoy sex with him, is not the same as being in love. But it can be hard to be sure of the difference.

It was a bromance spiraling out of control. Besides, they met with the purpose of eventually having sex with each other. The friendship was doomed to begin with if neither was prepared with how the sexual aspect was going to affect them.

[ZaneMich]

Hey guys, since AZ is now defunct(?) I figured this thread may be closing like the old SCM one so I created a new one for us to chat on:

http://www.justusboys.com/forum/thre...07#post8724007

I will try to reply the the many recent comments on the new thread Thanks, guys!

[PhunkSpunk]

I think there should be a porn genre strictly dedicated to otterlove

[bearnecked]

Meet any cute boys in Toodle-de-doo last night?

Those last couple of pix of you and your glorious ass you posted . . . I know that fuck me! look all too well brother . . . like looking at a hungry child . . . You miss it. You need it. The hard HIM of him deep inside . . .

WTF!?! Is he for real?!