Reflections on Playboy: I was thinking of <i>Real Genius</i> but acting like a real moron

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.

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ISFP “Composer Artisan.” Culturally and economically libertarian for reasons having nothing to do with Ayn Rand. The rabbit in the avatar is not mine. I stole the image from the House Rabbit Society home page. Favorite activities: reading, writing, crosswords, Jeopardy!, 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 Forum (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.
Up the Tao Staircase: self-deprecating wit and wisdom from a Taoist perspective.

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”—more plausible than the interpretation in Reservoir Dogs—has influenced my impression of Playboy. (In case anyone wonders, my religious heritage is German-Hungarian Lutheran on my father’s side and Anglo-Scots-Irish 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.

November 19, 2008

I was thinking of Real Genius but acting like a real moron

One of my nicknames in high school was Darth Vader. After wearing ridiculous black gloves to the Playboy Mansion a few months ago, I feel a need to tell the story behind that nickname preemptively.

I grew up in three different communities in California. At 15, I attended Buena High School in Ventura, which sucked the devil’s dick as hard as American public schools generally. I admit it was my own idea to go to that stupid summer camp in 1987. I was so annoyed by the other kids on the bus ride there that I was in a mood for arbitrary, hostile sarcasm. “What’s your name?” I was hearing from those bastards. A scene from the movie Real Genius flashed in my head:

Kent: Hey!
Mitch: Yes?
Kent: Just put down the sandwiches and go.
Mitch: Me?
Kent: No, Yoda. Yeah you.

“What’s your name?” I was hearing. “Darth Vader,” I replied sarcastically. But I was in over my head after that. Suddenly, the bus roared with laughter and I was paralyzed by shame and confusion. I couldn’t explain myself. Naturally, it wasn’t a pleasant summer camp experience.

Decades later, my main embarrassment is that I picked the wrong Star Wars villain. As villains go, Vader is too forthright to represent my particular brand of evil. I need someone sneakier. Jabba the Hutt would appreciate Playboy, but he shows his sleaziness too candidly and openly. My avoidance of machismo and my passive-aggressive spite make me identify with the one who can inspire terror while garnering a reputation as a coward, General Grievous. Ha ha ha ha (cough cough)!

Posted by Brian Sorgatz at 12:06 PM

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