Gene Ross is back. I'm not sure he ever really left, but I suppose in terms of being a news reporter on the porn beat, he did in fact leave.

But now Gene Ross is back.

Mike South reports that Gene made some kind of attempt to return to AVN. I don't know if that's true or not. I vividly remember the stuff Gene wrote about Paul Fishbein and AVN when he first left them to graze on the green (brown? yellow? scorched?) grass pastures of Extreme Associates. It wasn't pretty stuff. It was no-holds-barred and, in my opinion, it was often mean-spirited.

With that in mind, and assuming Gene actually did attempt amends with Paul and AVN, I can't help but wonder if Gene has developed a serious crack habit since last he was here on the porn beat.

Personally, I'm happy to see Gene return. I've always enjoyed his musings about the industry and its inhabitants, except for when he was purely shilling for Extreme, which brings me to a whole new thought: Has Gene returned without strings attached to Extreme? Is Gene back simply as Gene? Or is Gene back to try and salvage something for Rob Black and Extreme?

In Gene's debut article, the very first thing he chose to write about was Extreme and some ex-hockey-player-now-director going by the name Guy Wire.

Clever name, Guy Wire. Kind of reminds me of equally clever names like Chuck Wagon, Pete Moss, and Lena Wayback. But back to the point here-- Is Gene's new site yet another reiteration of his old site in that it's mostly there to plug Extreme? Or is this something new--something that's simply his own--a SimplyGeneR if you get what I'm saying?

If this is mostly about Extreme, it might mean that no one's told Gene that, for all intents and purposes, Extreme died some time ago.

This is beginning to remind me of that scene from "The Princess Bride" where Billy Crystal plays Miracle Max and he's trying to revive a mostly dead Westley (Cary Elwes), who's been brought to him by Inigo (Mandy Patinkin):

MIRACLE MAX: It just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Please open his mouth.

(Inigo does. Max inserts the bellows in Westley's mouth and starts to pump.)

MIRACLE MAX: Now, mostly dead is slightly alive. Now, all dead...well, with all dead, there's usually only one thing that you can do.

INIGO: What's that?

(Max stops pumping.)

MIRACLE MAX: Go through his clothes and look for loose change.

Hmmmm. Could it be that Extreme Associates has only been "mostly dead?" Is Gene Ross playing Miracle Max, sticking bellows in Rob Black's mouth and pumping? Is there any loose change left in Extreme's pockets?

I guess we'll all have to wait and see.

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