Belated Bunny Love

Diplomacy is the art of saying ‘Nice doggie’ until you can find a rock.

So today, I have chosen to employ the fine art of diplomacy in relating the following story to you…. until I find a rock, should it’s use become necessary. You are more than welcome to agree with me, or, well – there is always the rock…what’s that, you say?  I haven’t quit grasped the whole concept of diplomacy. Oh I see your error, you interpreted the word literally “The art and practice of conducting negotiations between two parties” whereas I have used the meaning as it is practiced by the world’s nations and leaders… “Lets do this my way or I will crush you to dust!”

My story starts off innocently enough, I read Playboy for the articles…. ….are you done? May I continue? Oh my god I can HEAR your eyes rolling from here!

I haven’t seen the inside of a Playboy magazine for probably 20 years, and back then I most certainly was not interested in the articles to that I will admit… but please allow me to elaborate. I am a massive Tina Fey fan, long before she got as white-hot as she is today, I have been a fan since 1999 – when she was promoted to be the first woman head writer of Saturday Night Live, and subsequently the women began to play a more pronounced part on the show. OK perhaps we’ve gone a bit too far into ye olde archives of my mind, suffice to say I think she’s great and all her recent success, post Palin, and 30 Rock is certainly warranted.

Anyways, Monday night had a show on PBS, in which Ms Fey was awarded the Mark Twain American Humour Award and after watching it, I was moved to do a search on the Internets to see what fresh news may have been written about her and the ceremony.

Well, and here is where the Playboy tie-in comes into its own… one of the links that came up included snippets of a good interview and article she did with Playboy… I read the snippets and found them sufficiently intoxicating to go and search for the actual issue “January 2008 FYI”

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Once I located the issue and began reading the article, I started going thru the rest of the magazine… it was really good. Like surprising good, there was interesting, creative fiction, articles and interviews with actors, musicians and politicians, economists and business tycoons – where they are all asked and respond to questions far outside the “mainstream” media. There were sections devoted to fitness, new gadgets, cars, electronics, cooking and stories on just plain interesting stuff – not in the least sexual, the cartoons and general tone was fun and playful. I am a pretty frequent reader of both GQ and Esquire and honestly Playboy had them both beat.

Yes there are the playmates, but honestly, they are pretty tame by todays standards…. all air-brushed and soft focus, I would call them art nudes rather than porn. They never show any hoo-haw, it’s pretty much just boobs – which is obviously better than a stick in your eye, but really you can see the same thing on any given night of the week on TLC or the Fox network and in sharp contrast to other Men’s Magazines where you are made to feel like a half-starved lion stalking a gazelle near the only watering hole for miles….We’re talking stuff like Hustler, which I believe is now used as a text-book for gynecological students…

…and really? Magazines for porn, come on – it only takes like, two clicks to get to a midget, amputee, hermaphrodite, necrophiliac, bestiality website… and let me tell you, the membership fees are outrageous….

Playboy has come a long way and survived through some pretty rough days – it has remained, in the face of numerous “mens magazines” closing their doors and countless other magazines of every stripe and fashion calling it quits.

Besides its centerfold, a major part of Playboy for much of its existence has been the Playboy Interview, an extensive (usually several thousand-word) discussion between a notable individual and an interviewer (historian Alex Haley, for example, served as a Playboy interviewer on a few occasions; one of his interviews was with Martin Luther KIng Jr; he also interviewed Malcolm X). A few of the notable authors who have had works published in Playboy include John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Jack Kerouac, Stephen King and others too numerous to mention… pretty good company…  oh and you can also see boobies…..

Have a Great Day.