Finally got around to reading Jane Mayer‘s excellent article in the October 27th issue of The New Yorker in which she reports on how Sarah Palin came to be selected as John McCain‘s running mate. She says that one of the key moments came when one of her backers realized that The Weekly Standard and …
If you’ve never received a note that begins “You have never stopped being brilliant,” let me tell you, I recommend it. The other day, the writer Lynn Phillips sent me note saying “You have never stopped being brilliant, but I’m still haunted by your June 91 Spy piece, `When Disney Ran America,’ and keep wanting …
Last July, when Christopher Ciccone published his gosspy memoir Life With My Sister Madonna, I paged through it to see if I would be mentioned. Not because of that torrid romance Madonna and I had when I was one of her back-up dancers–that was really just a big rumor–but because in the summer of 1993, …
Congratulations to my friend Paul Lindstrom. Paul is a SVP at Nielsen Strategic Research, and he was just ranked Number 23 on Mediaweek‘s list of the Fifty Most Indispensible Executives Shaping the Future of Media. Here’s what the magazine said: “A 30-year Nielsen vet responsible for its first services for measuring cable, Lindstrom has become …
Got the bad news that thanks to huge deficits, Playboy and I will be going our separate ways. Too bad. I enjoyed my job and the people I worked with. But onward and upward. (Above, I say goodbye to my friend Joseph DeAcetis, who lost his job as Fashion Director. Joseph and I first worked …
Thanks to my friend Derek Alger, I was able to have lunch on Wednesday with Thomas Fleming, the very distinguished historian and novelist. Tom is the author of The Illusion of Victory, Duel, Washington’s Secret War, The Secret Trial of Robert E. Lee, and the just published The Perils of Peace, about the struggles the …
A word of encouragement from Mr. Hugh Cook: “I want to thank you for posting your book reviews and author interviews on the Playboy Blog (blog.playboy.com). This longtime Playboy reader appreciates your efforts and commitment to the printed word.” Thanks, Hugh!
It turns out that the 2001 Playmate of the Year, Brande Roderick, is competing in the upcoming season of The Celebrity Apprentice. Since the 2005 PMOY Tiffany Fallon was unceremoniously booted off the on the first episode of last season’s show, the high command dispatched all the troops onto 57th Street this morning to buy …
The very first Sexie Awards, given for excellence in Sex-Positive Journalism, were presented on Saturday night at Splash on West 17th Street. Not only did Playboy sweep the three awards given in its category, but, I’m delighted to say, “Sex in Iran”, by Pari Esfandiari and Richard Buskin, a piece I edited, won first place. …
I don’t suppose it’s everyone’s idea of heaven, but it works for me: I had breakfast today with Lawrence O’Donnell, he of MSNBC–The West Wing—Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan fame, and for nearly two hours, he regaled me with tales of politics and punditry. Some of his views (at, some of the ones I can share): …