�y��vlog

Before video cassette recorders became common in American households in the latter half of the 20th century, making pornography viewable in the privacy of one’s home, those who wanted to see sexual content had to go into public spaces to view it.

Scenes were spliced to create the now-infamous sex tape, first sold as a video cassette, then poured into the nascent internet.

Source photographs and materials: Photo collage images from the Siraj family; surveillance photos from the New York Police Department; Herald Square drawing and government video cassette from the archives of Naftali Beane Rutter, Waterbound Pictures.

In my hour or so of playtime last night, I hammered a showerhead into place, shined a jewel, waved a phone around to get good reception, fast-forwarded a video cassette, dressed up a mannequin, and even unclogged a toilet.

The next day Frankie Sullivan, our guitarist, came over and a FedEx arrived with a giant Betamax video cassette on which was a rough cut of the first three minutes of the movie.