Reflections on Playboy: Miss June 2005 breaks two curses

ANNUIT
COEPTIS

Brian Sorgatz
(rhymes with “cats”)
Arcata, Humboldt County, California, United States

What sort of man blogs about Playboy? I flatter myself to think that Kendra Wilkinson might call this blog intellectual pimping.

View my complete profile.

ISFP “Composer Artisan.” Socially and economically libertarian for reasons having nothing to do with Ayn Rand. Favorite activities: reading, writing, moviegoing, television (and proud of it), piano, didgeridoo, foreign languages (currently Spanish), light hiking, spiritual practice, friendship, sex.

Hollywood, California, is my spiritual hometown. I actually grew up in three other communities in California, but it hardly seems to matter which three. How could my heart take root anywhere under the tyranny of American public schooling?

I don’t have to work for a living. After my father died in December 1997, my family and I won a legal settlement.

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The Playboy Blog (official).
The Playboy Blogger by DigiHef.
Playboy Critic’s Corner.
The Blog About Nothing: Sudheer of Hyderabad, India, is a big fan of Playboy and an even bigger fan of Seinfeld. In this blog, he composes humorous dialogues for the show’s characters.
Confessions of a Female Misogynist: A Feminist Critique of My Personal Hypocrisy.
Eros Philia Agape: TerraPraeta seeks “the true nature of people, society and the world.”
Ethan Lee Vita: Philosopher and Writer. Ethan is a fellow libertarian.
Finding Salihah: the journal of a Muslim woman in Minneapolis.
The Gnooze: The G is silent. Marta Costello does a Jon Stewart–Stephen Colbert type of thing on the news of the day—and she’s prettier than either of those guys to boot. Watch her mention Reflections on Playboy in gratitude for my positive review.
Hit & Run: the official blog of my other favorite magazine, Reason: Free Minds and Free Markets; winner of the 2005 Weblog Award for Best Group Blog; “the best libertarian blog” according to the October 2005 issue of Playboy.
Islam vs. Liberty? On Islam and on Liberty.
Jamie Malanowski: by day, managing editor of Playboy; by night, a talented, intelligent novelist.
Jetting Through Life: “Jet” is loads of fun and she lives in Ohio.
Playboy model Terri Lynn Farrow at MySpace: in my opinion, a worthy candidate for Playmate.
Queen of Spain Blog: “tabloid mommy blogging at its best” according to the author.
Real-World Spirituality by Shantra: along with her husband, this blogger is a real-world friend as well as an Internet friend.
Scoobie Davis Online: a self-described “filmmaker, surfer, and party crasher” in southern California. He’s also a Playboy fan, a left-leaning political gadfly, and a connoisseur of Jack T. Chick religious tracts.
The Search for Health in Decadence: poetry and philosophical writings of Will, who has engaged me in lengthy, good-natured debate through comments on my blog.
South Side Of The 5: Robert Paulson is another Playboy aficionado.

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature by Steven Pinker. With stylistic flair, a Harvard cognitive scientist refutes myths about human nature underlying a multitude of political beliefs—including many of those that would either favor or oppose the sexual revolution.
Trash Culture: Popular Culture and the Great Tradition by Richard Keller Simon. Professor Simon makes an impressive case for the essential similarity of “high” and “low” culture. The chapter on Playboy is thoughtful and valuable.
The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness by Virginia Postrel. There is nothing inherently shallow or frivolous about spending time and money on beauty in one’s environment, possessions, or body.
God in Popular Culture by Andrew M. Greeley. A liberal Catholic priest sees quasi-Christian messages of grace abounding in the allegedly soulless realm of commercial pop culture. For all I know, Greeley is not necessarily a Playboy fan. But his interpretation of Madonna’s song “Like a Virgin” has influenced my impression of Playboy. (In case anyone wonders, my religious heritage is Lutheran on my father’s side and secularist on my mother’s.)
We’ve Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy—And the World’s Getting Worse by James Hillman and Michael Ventura. I reject the left-wing gloom that inspired the title—I think the world is generally getting better—but this book is a gold mine of exciting new ideas about whatever it is we call mental health.
The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education by Grace Llewellyn. She trusts Jean-Jacques Rousseau more than she should, but she has the right idea about America’s tyrannical public schools.
The Soul of Sex: Cultivating Life as an Act of Love by Thomas Moore. With his remarkably nuanced and unprejudiced mind, Moore ponders human sexuality as an expression of soul.

May 10, 2006

Miss June 2005 breaks two curses

The Miss Junes are the Boston Red Sox of Playboy. With Kara Monaco as the 2006 Playmate of the Year, they have finally broken the apparent curse keeping any of them from winning the title.

Monaco has simultaneously broken another curse. From 1964 to 2002, the PMOY was always the cover girl of her issue. But for the past three years, the woman in that month’s celebrity pictorial has gotten the cover instead. I’m happy to see Playboy rediscover one of its lost traditions with the June 2006 cover. At the time of writing, the home page [borderline work-safe] of the Playboy Mailing List at Yahoo! Groups is encouraging everyone to buy this issue at the newsstand, because “strong sales will send the message loud and clear” that the PMOY deserves the cover. Good advice.

A related earlier post:
My pick for 2006 Playmate of the Year

Labels: PM, Sp

Posted by Brian Sorgatz at 9:54 AM

Robert Paulson left this comment at May 11, 2006 10:27 AM
In honor of the June curse being broken [and june being my birth month], I will list some other great June playamtes in chronological order beginning around the time I saw my first playboy in my dad's closet: Vivre Reed 1977, Louann Fernald 1979, Cathy Larmouth 1981, Tawnni Cable 1989, Bonnie Marino 1990, Angela Melini 1992, Alesha M.O. 1993, Elan Carter 1994, Karin Taylor 1996, Carrie Stevens 1997, Shannon Stewart 2000, Hiromi Oshima 2004

Of the above playmates, only Angela Melini made my top 20 [http://southsideofthe5.blogspot.com/2006/04/top-20-playboy-playmates.html] but Tawnni, Hiromi, Carrie & Bonnie would make my top 30 or 40.

I agreee with Brian that Amber Campisi should have been PMOY, but I guess she was too "real." Kara looks like Hef's three current girlfriends mixed together, but subtracting most of Bridget except her breasts [the "realest" one of the three "girls next door"]

Jetting Through Life left this comment at May 12, 2006 7:24 PM
Been awhile!! HOw have you been???

Anything on the game show?

XXOO,
JTL

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