Consumer research from The NPD Group shows a year-over-year 10 percentage point gain in the share of videos rented from kiosks during the third quarter of 2010, as the percentage of videos rented from video stores declined by 13 percentage points and subscription rental share increased just 2 points.

Read more...

New exhibit steps back in time and into the pages of comics to expose erotic influences on pop culture.

During the Great Depression, before Joe Shuster’s illustration of Superman gave comics a mainstream voice in 1938, many other cartoonists dabbled in the creation of “dirty drawings.” This risqué artwork featured busty women, fetishes, bondage, homosexuality and other explicit sexual encounters. Beginning January 13, the Museum of Sex will flip through the pages of erotic history to reveal how the comic book medium has been used over time to depict sexual fantasy, poke fun at taboo topics and lampoon icons of popular culture. The exhibit, aptly named Comics Stripped, will feature drawings from the Great Depression to the present, all which remind us of the fun, frivolity and impact of sexual expression and innuendo on our lives.