Posts tagged Playboy
Playboy Flips The Script On Itself
Playboy is doing something that some people might scratch their heads at. There will be no nudity. Yes, you read that correctly. The magazine company will officially unveil the most highly-anticipated issue in its 62-year history at the company’s annual party during Super Bowl weekend tomorrow night in San Francisco. The long-awaited March 2016 issue, which is on newsstands Friday, February 12, first created headlines last fall when the company announced it would no longer feature explicit nudity in the pages of its magazine.
Over the past six months, Playboy’s editorial team has been rethinking and redesigning the storied publication, using the intellectual, artistic and literary powerhouse years of the 1960s Playboy as their guiding light. The result is a Playboy magazine for a new generation, full of fresh contributors, new regular features, and an entirely contemporary take on photographing the beautiful women who have made the publication one of the most enduring and successful of all time.
Although the women in the new Playboy magazine don’t bare it all, it doesn’t mean that the March issue is not one of the sexiest in Playboy’s history. This month’s cover model is Snapchat/Instagram luminary Sarah McDaniel as the star of a stunning social media concept cover and pictorial; the March Playmate is Dree Hemingway, whose mother, actress Mariel Hemingway appeared in Playboy in 1982; and artist and model Myla Dalbesio works her magic by taking her own photos for the issue.
Inside the new pages, cover model Sarah McDaniel perfectly describes Playboy’s fresh point of view when she says, “The idea was to look at me from a boyfriend’s perspective.” The pictorials in the March issue are intimate looks at these beautiful women with a very real, relaxed vibe.
The new Playboy magazine include a section called the Francofile – the return of a high-profile interview every month by resident Renaissance man James Franco. Rabbit Hole – the maestro of miscellany Ben Schott’s monthly take on the subject of his choice. This month, appropriately enough, it’s “nudity.”
My Way – Entrepreneurial inspiration by those brave enough to follow their dreams.
Playboy Advisor – the magazine’s most famous column will now be written by a woman, columnist Rachel Rabbit White.
Artist In Residence – each month will feature an original artist. For March it’s artist and cartoonist Jay Howell.
No Filter – We give the mic to a woman who’s making waves in entertainment.
Politics – Each month will feature an essay from political columnist John Meroney.
Feb 4th
Super Bowl Playboy Party at the Bud Light Hotel
It’s been a week since the NFL season came to a close. The Super Bowl has been picked apart and over-analyzed and revisited countless times in the last seven days. There’s not much else to say about Super Bowl XLVI. It’s in the books, time to move on.
But before we close out all mentions of Super Bowl XLVI, let’s pause and appreciate some photos from the Super Bowl Playboy Party at The Bud Light Hotel in Indy:
Goodbye, NFL football. See you next year…
Feb 12th
Jessa Hinton Interview
Playboy playmate Jessa Hinton does more in one week than you do in six months. She’s a model and fashion designer who covers boxing, interviews poker stars and trains with MMA fighters. Jessa still finds time to appear on billboards all over Vegas and stay ridiculously good-looking. Miss July has put together a strong Playmate of the Year case. Jessa’s built up a great brand and she’s smart, engaging and if you’re lucky, she’ll teach you a thing or two about gymnastics and bisexual monogamy.
I had a fun chat with Jessa a couple weeks ago. We talked about breaking the ice at nude photo shoots, Hef, MMA vs. boxing, dating a poker star, hassling the Hoff on the set of Baywatch and how awesome it is to hang out with Jessa’s mom.
CS: When you’re in the middle of a photo shoot how do you get comfortable in the nude? Do people around you crack jokes to break the ice? How does that whole atmosphere work?
JH: The first thing that I didn’t realize—I thought it was going to be more sexy, more of strip down type of atmosphere. You’re basically in your lingerie and they’re like “all right, come up, let’s go.” I’m like, “really?” So the first scene is a little nerve wracking because you’re just meeting everyone. But you’re with them for the week and so by the end of the week you kind of look at them like your doctor. They see so many things and they do crack jokes, and but I definitely do as well. So by the end of the first or second day, we already know each other – names, where they grew up. You have a lot of down time so you get to meet everybody and really know them personally.
CS: The doctor comparison is funny. So there’s a little bit of joke cracking, but it’s still all business at the same time?
JH: Yeah exactly. It’s not—nobody hits on you. It’s not a kind of pervy atmosphere. Most of the time, they’re not even looking at your body parts. They’re dealing with lights. They’re looking at the set. They’re looking at something that needs to be two more inches to the right or their checking the color of the sheets. There’s a lot more that goes into it than just the girl and how she’s posed.
CS: And how many people are on a shoot like this?
JH: Probably seven or eight.
CS: Oh wow. That’s a lot of heads.
JH: Yeah.
CS: So what do you love most about Hugh Hefner?
JH: He’s probably the only guy in the past, I don’t know, let’s say 5 years, that has actually pulled out a chair for me.
CS: (Laughs)
JH: When they say “chivalry is dead,” not with this guy. I mean there’s no creepy side. Whenever you see him you just get kind of star struck. I mean he still has it. The man’s still got it. He’s what? 80—84 years old and he’s still going around like he’s, you know, 28. So just the kind of magnetism that he has is unbelievable. And people are like, “oh well did you ever sleep with him?” It’s not even like that. You just kind of respect what he’s done and you just want to be around him. The stories that he can tell you are just unbelievable.
CS: So you’ve been around boxing and MMA. You’ve done work with Top Rank Boxing and you’ve trained with top MMA fighters at Randy Couture’s gym. How do you think the two sports compare? Can boxing still maintain relevance when MMA just keeps growing and growing as a legit sport?
JH: I mean, I definitely think that MMA has more of a trend factor. I think boxing is more respectable for me. And the kind of fans that I interview or that I’m around at a MMA fight or at a boxing fight are like night and day.
CS: Interesting.
JH: It’s not the same kind of crowd. When I’m around Randy or Rich Franklin, it’s very different than when you’re around, say, Sugar Shane Mosley or Manny Pacquiao. It’s just crazy the kind of respect that the guys get as a boxer as opposed to an MMA fighter. So it’ll take a while for MMA to really get to that point. Boxing’s not going anywhere. I grew up with the Mike Tysons and the Muhammad Alis. Those are the people that my dad used to idolize. So to be around those people and interact with them, it’s more of a shell shock for me than being around Randy Coutures or the Chuck Liddell or Tito Ortiz. It’s very different. And the demographic is, like I said, night and day.
CS: Who do you think is going to win between Pacquiao and Marquez?
JH: (Laughs) Manny’s gonna win. I mean, there’s no question. Warner says it’s going to be a great rematch, but I really think that Manny—I mean what is he, 14-0 right now?
CS: Yeah.
JH: Everybody wants to see Manny and Mayweather. At every single fight that I go to, every single interview that I do, all the fans, that’s what they want to see.
CS: Right.
JH: But Marquez, I mean I just don’t think that he has the speed that Manny does. Manny’s a quick little fucker.
CS: (Laughs)
JH: (Laughs) You know what I mean? I mean you watch that guy and it’s like you wonder what he’s doing during the day when he’s, you know, in Congress in the Philippines and then you’re like, how does he have time to be who he is? It’s crazy.
CS: So what are you going to ask Manny when you interview him?
JH: Well I’m in the talks right now of doing celebrity ring girl for the Pacquiao fight. So not only will I do the press conference and also do co-hosting but maybe – and it’ll add that extra “it” factor if I can do it – I can go up there and take off my hosting coat and strip down to celebrity ring girl, kind of like what Holly did for MMA. But I mean with him it’s just, what is he doing different in this camp? What is he doing that’s going to really make this rematch stand out from the last time?
CS: I read somewhere that you coached competitive gymnastics. What’s that like?
Oct 31st
Hope Dworaczyk Interview
Hope Dworaczyk is a whole ‘nother level of good-looking. The 2010 Playmate of the Year makes beautiful people look like absolute trolls. And if you’re even slightly unattractive, just go ahead and walk on the other side of the street. It’s like that.
Before posing for Playboy, Hope was a runway model who walked for Balenciaga, Robert Rodriguez, Abaete, XOXO and other brands. She toured with Versace and did print work for Patek Philippe. She’s also the host and co-producer of Inside Fashion, a shoe that appears on the E! Channel in Canada.
As Dworaczyk gets set to hand things over to the next Playmate of the Year, she’ll be competing on this season’s edition of Celebrity Apprentice. We talked to Hope about Hugh Hefner, what it’s like to be Playmate of the Year, Donald Trump, Celebrity Apprentice, the madness of Gary Busey, upcoming fashion trends and why girls love boots so much. Here’s the full interview:
CS: When you became Playmate of the Year how did that change your life?
HD: It changed a lot, I guess. I was going to say a little bit, but it did change a lot because suddenly it’s a completely different audience. Like the fans and people that know who you are. But for me it was different, because the whole Playboy community – it’s like once you’re labeled a Playboy Playmate, people forget you’ve done anything else. So everyone kind of focuses in on the fact that you’re the girl that got naked. That part changed as far as what people’s perception is. It changed my life in many ways, especially career-wise, because I got to do Celebrity Apprentice, I filmed a movie with Eva Longoria that will be out this summer. It just spotlights you and puts you more in the public eye and let’s you have a voice of your own where and you can say, “This is what I want to do with my future.”
CS: In terms of that perception shift; I know you’ve done a lot of runway modeling before. Is that something that’s less of a focus now? Are you in a different kind of category now or do you still want to do more of that stuff?
HD: No, I definitely still walk for designers, I just don’t do every designer. I will go and do a walk for one designer exclusively during a fashion week. So I don’t work as much on the runway, but I’ll walk. I definitely won’t stop walking. I also have a television show called Inside Fashion, and that’s on E! in Canada. So that’s what I was saying, that once you do Playboy, people tend to couch you in that. You’re a Playboy Playmate or Playmate of the Year, and they forget that you’ve done other things because being naked in Playboy I guess is more exciting for some people to say. Or more controversial I should say.
CS: So what advice do you have for the next Playmate of the Year?
HD: Just don’t take yourself too seriously. And don’t stop there, you have to work really hard. You can’t let that be the end of your story. You have to keep working and expanding your brand.
CS: What’s a quality or trait of Hugh Hefner that few people get to see?
HD: I think few people get to see that he’s so friendly and so sweet. I know that he’s helped so many people – which a lot of people I guess would know that. He’s just so nice and friendly, and he’s not actually the Hugh Hefner that he was when he was 40 or 30 years old. He’s a lot more calm now.
CS: So Celebrity Apprentice started this month. Did you have a positive experience during the whole filming of that?
HD: I did have a positive experience. Compared to all the other people that got into fights and probably now regret it because it’s all on camera. I was really quiet, especially in the beginning, and I didn’t get involved in all the conflicts that they had and all the fighting. I do a little bit at the end, because it is unavoidable at one point – if you’re in a corner you have to defend yourself – but I’ve never gotten to the point where I regret doing that reality show.
CS: Was it stressful at all?
HD: Oh, it was definitely stressful, because there are people around at all times. You always have a camera on you. You’re trying to be the most creative. You want your team to win. You want your charity to win money. Then you’re sleeping 3½ to 4½ hours a night and trying to avoid the cattiness that comes with not just the women’s side, the men’s side too. So that part was a little tricky.
CS: So who are some of the contestants who got into it and had these arguments?
HD: Well, in the previews you can see Meat Loaf and Gary going at each other. Jose and David Cassidy didn’t get along. Star Jones and NeNe. Lisa Rinna and Star Jones didn’t get along. The only person I’ve ever had real conflict with, a little bit Star Jones and a little bit NeNe Leakes. But for the most part after the show, we’re still friends. My conflicts weren’t as deep some of the others. There were some people that probably won’t talk again ever.
CS: (Laughs)
HD: The live season finale will be very uncomfortable for everybody.
CS: (laughs) So did you make some friends or allies? People that stuck out during the whole process?
Mar 21st
Bud Light Hotel Kept the Party Going in Dallas
The horrible weather in Dallas this past weekend didn’t stop the fun at the Bud Light Hotel. Bud Light took over the Aloft Dallas Downtown and transformed the place into Super Bowl party central, The Bud Light Hotel. The festivities included musical performances by the Fray with Lifehouse, Nelly, Ke$ha, Pitbull, and Dierks Bentley. On Super Bowl Sunday, visitors to the Bud Light Hotel were treated to the Texas’ Largest Tailgate party.
On the Friday before the Super Bowl, Playboy hosted a private party. Snoop Dogg, Warren G and Flo Rida were in attendance along with a large dose of Playboy Playmates and models. Here are some pics from the Playboy event:
Kudos to Bud Light for keeping the party going despite all the weather drama.
Feb 10th
