Reflections on Playboy: Santa Claus in <i>Playboy</i>’s picture cartoons

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.

December 23, 2005

Santa Claus in Playboy’s picture cartoons

If I recall correctly, Bill Maher was having a comedy jam session with another comedian in one of the first episodes of Politically Incorrect when he told this joke: I’m getting tired of the December issues of Playboy. I swear, if I see one more cartoon about Santa Claus getting laid....

It was probably inevitable that Santa would make regular appearances during the holiday season in this magazine. There’s often a Christmas-morning quality to the experience of gazing on a Playboy model, whose willingness to reveal her charms appears so gracious and generous (despite the tangible and intangible rewards for her).

I procrastinated a while before finishing this post, because I’m worried that my readers will find it creepily lascivious, annoyingly sentimental, or both. Oh, well. I’m blundering my way to a self-confident idiom of writing. Practice makes perfect.

Posted by Brian Sorgatz at 1:27 PM

Chuck Williams left this comment at December 24, 2005 11:54 AM
Bill is going to mess up his standing invite to Hef's mansion

Brian Sorgatz left this comment at December 24, 2005 2:38 PM
I doubt it. Hef has pretty thick skin. He took much greater abuse at his New York Friars Club roast.

Brian Sorgatz left this comment at December 24, 2005 3:48 PM
“Hankr2” left a comment at my BlogExplosion account. I’ve copied and pasted it here:

Santa in Playboy has been a trdition since the 1960's. Readers expect to him in it.

gasoon left this comment at December 25, 2005 8:59 AM
Hi, Just surfing and wishing every one a Merry Christmas!

And Happy new year tooooo... :>

Jetting Through Life left this comment at December 26, 2005 7:22 AM
Santa needs some lovin' too!! Heck if he doesn't get any then he'd be a crabby old bastard like most other men!! Let them keep putting them in the mag... It makes me happy!!!

Merry Christmas Brian!!

XXOO,
JTL

Brian Sorgatz left this comment at December 26, 2005 11:29 AM
Likewise, JTL, and happy new year. You’re a sweetie.

Jetting Through Life left this comment at December 26, 2005 1:58 PM
Thanks... I try, I think!

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