One of my regular webstops is the blog of one “Ashley Blue” (real name Oriana Small), porn actress, artist, and barer of mind, body and soul. Ashley/Oriana is a remarkably unremarkable-looking woman whose work apparently includes the kind of porn where girls pretend (one hopes) to be forced to choke and gag and cry. Etc.

Her blog is brilliant, and addictive; nothing more than a simple selection of recent photos from her life (mostly with or by her boyfriend, photographer Dave Nazz), curated into a tiny, themed collection, each with a caption. It’s the captions that do it; sometimes a single word or simple description of what we’re seeing, but more often a terse bit of poetry or recollection or revelation or philosophical reflection. I love it.

Oriana is, like all of us, a work in progress, and just so happens to delight in sharing the particulars with us. Not in a tediously “confessional” style, but with a naked (of course) peek at what occurred to her at that moment, with these particular images. It is the kind of reality TV I can get behind; the central character is compelling and authentic, leads a recognizably normal life (with just enough jarring contrasts), and is essentially someone you can root for. I await each installment with baited breath, and pray she does not lose interest.