Viv Mag Leak of "Virtual Sex Ed" Video Intended for Apple's IPad

Sex hits the iPad... Again. According to an Engadget article, Viv Magazine, a trendy up-scale digital magazine, will feature a sophisticated virtual film as the debut HTML 5 video cover. It will debut on Viv's April issue and is to be available for iPad, and quite possibly modified to be compatible with other tablet PCs. The Frank Miller style, film noir presentation is titled "Your Worst Sex Fears Banished!"

The Almost Naked Reveal

The video posted to Vimeo (a social-netoworkie video site) is a behind-the-scenes, mini-documentary on the making of the current living cover video. It features two videos; one of Rachelle and Ed Begley Jr. at a "red carpet" Hollywood opening, runway-style scene for Viv's Green Issue, and the other is a Frank Miller style "film noir" showing a series of extremely racy scenes on the subject of sex related myths, such as "uh on! I'm pregnant," or the "I might get aids" and "I'll lose interest in sex," among others. The image style is strikingly reminiscent of "True Detective Storys" magazine merged with "Sin City" graphics and computer generated virtual worlds. They dubbed this video as the "interactive feature" of the video cover and the whole thing is shown-is made for-running on an iPad. The interviewees as well as one of the production staff stated the "living cover" as targeted for the iPad.

The Back Story

The original videos are hosted on the personal Vimeo account of Alexx Henry, the credited creator of the videos of the living covers for ViV Magazine. Of course, the excitement is centered on the subject matter of the living video cover for their hot new tablet-targeted "Interactive Digital Magazine." There is nothing on the ViV Web site; save for an undated video posting in the "VivVu" section of the site showing a still of Rachelle and Ed Begley Jr. in an "American Gothic meets Hollywood" stylized image. However, the links in the post take you to the Vimeo page where you find the "Making-Of" documentary, not the living cover with them in it, as one would think. The documentary is showing the making of the "Your Worst Sex Fears Banished!" interactive digital magazine cover video instead.

Apple's Contradiction

This is a little startling considering the recent, Draconian sweep of adult and other sex related iPhone Apps back in February of this year. With all the controversy surrounding them, beginning this build with the iPad just days from hitting the streets has got to be a very touchy subject. Did Apple know? Do they know now and not care? We must assume they do since this is a video magazine and it is intended for distribution on the iPad. It will go along with many others like Time magazine and Wired, to name a few. Like the Diamond iPad, it's hard to imagine that no one at Apple Inc. knew anything about this, it is their product, right? So they must have known about the video as well, following the same logic. This video has been in production for several weeks at least. One scene shows a scantily clad woman tied to a bull's-eye and a rough-looking man throwing knives at her and she doesn't look scared. There is a very obvious and salacious element of sex in the imagery and this is intended to no doubt shatter the stereotypes and the myths about sex by invoking the steamier side of our reactions to it while presenting important information. How else to get someone to pay attention, than with the promise of sex?

Created Controversy

Viewed by itself, the video is a trendy, digital attempt to de-mythologize sex and remove the stigma associated with the subject. This is infotainment, however, its inclusion on the iPad, with it upcoming launch juxtaposed against Apple's sex ban for the iPhone, is more than just a little odd. One might think that somewhere, someone thinks that the heat of controversy is good for sales. I mean a $20,000.00 Diamond iPad and now a virtual sex film after a sex ban? Could this actually be others riding the Hype-Wave without Apple's authorization? Apple is not known for letting their customers do many things, there is a culture of control involved-in fact Apple must control every move their customers make. So how could this be? And what might be next?

References & Resources
Engadget: Viv Magagine iPad Concept is Sin City, man (video)
Viv Vu: Viv Mag & the iPad
Vimeo: Alexx Henry Profile (Video & Living Cover in Question)