One cool thing about working at Playboy is that we get sent a lot of samples of liquor. And right about now on a Friday we start sampling them. (As they say, it’s five o’clock somewhere. And somewhere is here.) Over time, we’ve accumulated bizarre personal liquor cabinets, stashes of stuff that is good, bad, weird, specialized—or some combination of the above. We burn through the brown liquors pretty quickly, as they are easily mixed with Coke from the vending machine or enjoyable straight. The whites are a little trickier, as anyone who’s attempted a gin and coke will attest. In what could become a regular feature, we will now attempt to make a cocktail out of the ingredients at hand:

Hendrick’s gin
Drambuie
Leblon cachaca
Hiram Walker Peppermint Schnapps
Tito’s Handmade Vodka
Novi: L’esprit de Paris (for Her)
Leroux Blue Curacao
Pama Pomegranate Liqueur
Tree of Life pomegranate wine

Inert ingredient: Can of Sprite taken from sales luncheon earlier in week.

Hmm. Let’s see…

Two healthy ounces of the Tito’s vodka?
An ounce or perhaps less of the blue stuff?
Top with Sprite?

Verdict: No surprise here. It tastes like orangey Sprite. Vodka undetectable. It’s completely drinkable but we wouldn’t exactly whip up a batch of it for a party.

All it needs is a name, in the way that any three random ingredients combined by desperate teenagers need at least a name. Turns out someone’s already dubbed it: The Ice Bear. 

Cheers until next time… 

It’s officially summer, and just before we head off to the beach to sear ourselves in the sun like ahi appetizers, we take one long, hard look in the mirror. Are we thinking uh-oh? We contacted certified plastic surgeon Dr. Rady Rahban—who has worked alongside Dr. Garth Fisher from the ABC show Extreme Makeover—and asked the good doctor about the nips and tucks people are having done in his Beverly Hills office to bring their sexy back for summer.

PLAYBOY: What procedures do men request most often?
RAHBAN: The most common procedures asked for by men today are body liposuction and nose/chin jobs. As men age they also begin to consider facial surgery and then facelifts, brow lifts and eyelid surgeries become more common. The average cost of these procedures range from $5000 for lipo up to $20,000 for full-face rejuvenation.

PLAYBOY: Are guys under 35 getting a lot of work done?
RAHBAN: Younger guys are definitely having plastic surgery done these days, especially within the entertainment industry. I would say again that liposuction is still the most common procedure. Many guys come in for liposuction of their chests as they may have "man breasts" which is a condition that is actually quite common.
 

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Last week, our friends at Orvis, the clothing and sporting goods company, invited a group of magazine editors up to their Sandanona hunting preserve in Milbrook, New York.

Among the group were my colleague Chip Rowe and myself, and–brace yourself, pun ahead–we had a blast. Sandanona, which is open to the public, is a terrific facility, now entering its second century as a preserve, set on 400 beautifully maintained acres, and like all of Orvis’ products, it’s first class. We went up to shoot clays, and after receiving a lesson on how to handle a shotgun, we moved among the 20-odd shooting stations, each of which provided a different presentation of the targets. Some of them were flung away from us, some diverge in the distance, some go directly over your head, some skitter across the ground. Hitting them is challenging work and righteously tiring–-but fun. Thanks to our hosts Perk Perkins and Dave Perkins, our maestro James Hathaway, our shooting guru Mike Quartararo, and everyone else who provided us with such a wonderful day.

Are you a body builder, or perhaps just looking to burn body fat and build lean muscle mass?  For those sick of preparing powered protein drinks in shaker bottles who want something that’s not only loaded with nutrients, but something you’ll look forward to drinking, Muscle Milk is a protein drink that’s just as easy to pop open as a Pepsi.

After I tried Muscle Milk a few years ago, I’ve never used another brand. For once, a protein shake that states its flavor is chocolate, actually tastes like chocolate. Muscle Milk comes in a variety of flavors including the all new Chocolate Malt and Strawberries ‘n Crème.  I’ve tried the Chocolate Malt flavor and you could swear you were really drinking a chocolate malt. Other flavors include Cookies‘n Crème, Vanilla Crème or Banana Crème.

 Muscle Milk is lactose and trans-fat free and loaded with essential vitamins and nutrients, giving you the energy kick you need to enhance your workouts. The 17 ounce drinks contain about 34 grams of protein, which promotes lean muscle growth, and fast recovery from lifting. Just drink one of these babies within 30 minutes after your workout and you’re good to go. For those seeking to burn body fat while lifting and maintaining muscle, try incorporating Muscle Milk into your meal-replacement diet. From personal experience, it’s a great way to lean up and not lose your muscle mass. To get your hands on Muscle Milk, visit any nationwide GNC store, or visit Cytosport’s official website to locate a retailer near you.

Ah, the smell of horsehide and fresh-mown grass—and that was just on the bus! Yes, it was Wednesday night at the ballpark, as about forty or so Playboy staffers headed off to Shea Stadium on an office outing to see the hapless Seattle Mariners play the even haplessier New York Mets in an inter-league struggle for the ages. Lucky for the group, the game was over practically before it started—the Mariners pounded the Mets 11-0—freeing the Playboy boys and girls to discuss such topics as hot dogs, nachos, cracker jacks, and shrimping.

Round up the usual suspects! 

Can anyone here explain the infield fly rule?

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Conservative commentator George F. Will has just come out with a new collection of his newspaper columns called One Man’s America, which includes a piece he published in 2003 called "Hugh Hefner: Tuning Fork of America’s Fantasies." The piece rather neatly summarizes Playboy’s growth and acceptance over the years.

"In a real sense,’’ Will quotes Hef saying, "we live in a Playboy world." And when Will asks Hef how it feels "to have won," Hef, Will says, "pauses, looks down and almost whispers, `Wonderful.’’’

He’s unmasked Spider-Man, turned Superman into a commie, and once sent The Hulk after Freddie Prinze Jr. Now, comic book golden boy Mark Millar talks to Ron Motta of our research department about the movie adaptation of his comic Wanted, due to hit screens June 27th.

PLAYBOY: In some ways, Wanted is one of the first concepts you’ve ever come up with. How did you get the idea for it?
MILLAR: I was flipping through a book one day when I was about five years old or so. I saw a picture of George Reeves as Superman and I asked my brother, “Hey, who’s that?”  And my brother said, “Oh, that’s the real Superman.”  I said, “Well, how come we don’t see him anymore?”  Because back then we didn’t get the George Reeves show on the telly.  And my brother said, “He disappeared with all the other superheroes.  There was this big war with the super-villains and the super-villains won.”  And that idea sort of stuck in my head.

PLAYBOY: Did your brother ever try and grab a chunk of that Wanted cash?
MILLAR: Nah, I just brought him a few drinks! (laughs)

PLAYBOY: You said that you weren’t entirely happy with the first draft of the Wanted script.  How did director Timur Bekmambetov coming aboard change the sensibility of the project?
 

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The research department’s Brendan Cummings once again has his head in the clouds...

Is it the Mile-High Club Redux, or a sign of the times?

With skyrocketing fuel prices putting a damper on people’s travel plans this summer, even budget airlines have been forced to come up with innovative ways to lure passengers.  Irish carrier Ryanair, sometimes dubbed the “Southwest Airlines of Europe,” put a new spin on the old sex-in-the-air scenario.  CEO Michael O’Leary held a press conference with German media, detailing the new seating configuration for their fleet.

"So in economy it will be very cheap fares. Say 10 euros. And in business class it will be beds and blowjobs. In economy. In business, it will all be free including the blowjobs."

This puts the go-go boots and hot pants of 1970s Southwest stewardesses to shame.