The New Playboy

Sweet Jesus what's going on.

Got up this morning - it was 20 degrees - went out to clear out some snow - it was ice encrusted and a fairly heavy workout.

I was a tad surprised but what the hell, exercise is exercise and I definitely got me some this morning.

Got me thinking about age mentality - you hear those stories about some 82 year old guy who drops dead in his driveway shoveling snow.

You ask "What the hell is an 82 year old guy doing shoveling snow? What a fool."

Yet I am out there at the age of 62 huffing and puffing - stopping to literally feel my heart pounding in my chest - I believed it bruised the inside of my rib cage - and thinking nothing about it.

I can see myself doing it at 82 - maybe it's a guy thing - I don't necessarily believe it is about not giving in to age, I think it is more about not thinking about age in certain circumstances.

You don't think you're old when you have to shovel snow - you just do it.

Anyway...............I drive home tonight and it is 50 degrees and raining like Noah should be preparing the ark again.

20 degrees and ice encrusted snow at 6:30 a.m.; 50 degrees and torrential rain at 4:30 p.m.

Tell me our weather patterns are not fucked up.

But that is not why I am here tonight.

I have the new Playboy in my hands. The new Playboy - no nudity - and I like it.

First of all I like the way it feels in my hands. It is much wider and the material of the cover is different - less slick - more tactile.

Tactile is not the right word but I like it. The material is more like a high quality cardboard - that is the best that I can do.

Seems like there are a lot more articles and features in the magazine, which is good - I actually read it, you know.

Playboy to me was always about the lifestyle, not the flesh.

High end everything, things that I coveted, from cars to suits to shoes to jewelry to vacation spots to colognes to cigars to actors to novelists to poets to musicians.

A lifestyle. A lifestyle I could aspire to in my dreams.

I loved the liberal attitude and lifestyle espoused by the magazine and those who contribute to it and are featured and interviewed in it.

You cannot say there is no nudity in the new version. There is nudity but the women are covered up - either in poses or camera angles - so there is no pubic hair, no breasts, no vaginas.

Christ, the fold out features a woman wearing a shirt and panties.

I was never interested in any other "girlie" magazine; Hustler, Penthouse etc. They were graphic, they were  in your face with female nudity; that is not what it is all about.

Playboy was - and is - all about class; all about lifestyle, all about beauty.

The magazine did this in part as a response to the fact that nudity is readily available anywhere and everywhere today; you can dial up some lusty porn on your "smart" phone in the bathroom at work.

There is nothing novel about a naked female body anymore.

Truthfully, they are also responding to slumping sales.

I think it is a pretty bold move for Playboy to cover up, considering the legacy of the magazine, in an attempt to attract new devotees.

I an all for it. I haven't even read a word yet and I love it.

Playboy was ahead of the curve when Hef introduced a magazine that was all about the good life, the better life, the successful life, that also happened to celebrate and worship the female body tastefully.

Playboy is now ahead of the curve in covering up the female body as a new way to celebrate and worship it.

If you can't afford to live life in the classy way you would prefer, you can at least immerse yourself in it and dream.

Playboy allows you do that.

They always have.