As you may know we teamed up with Movember to help raise money and awareness to battle prostate cancer. How do we raise awareness? By growing (ridiculous?) mustaches throughout the month of November and when people give our upper-lip-hair funny looks, we hand them a card with data on prostate cancer. How do we raise money? Growing a mustache—or MO as they are called in Australia where this movement originated—is much less laborious (note: I did not say easier) than running a marathon or selling raffle tickets. Yep, we are accepting pledges to wear soup strainers this month. 

Throughout November/Movember we will be featuring our MO of the Day. The fifth in the series of many is Assistant Editor Conor Hogan who talked to Intern Tiffany Frasier:

TIFFANY: Have you ever grown facial hair before?

CONOR: When I was in middle school and I gained the ability to grow sideburns I did. A wise older figure said I looked like an idiot so I shaved them off. The Irish are not good at growing facial hair, generally speaking.

TIFFANY: How do you feel about your, um, Mo?

CONOR: It makes me feel confident until I realize that the only reason why girls check me out is because they are confused by it and not enticed by it. And it itches. Until today I haven’t wanted to shave it off, but I promised my friends I would keep it for the month. 

TIFFANY: Through Thanksgiving?

CONOR: My mom offered to double what I’ve earned if I shave it off before Thanksgiving. My friends gave me a lot of money just to take pictures with this thing on my face during Thanksgiving… 

TIFFANY: Do you make people give you money when they ask you about your MO?

CONOR: No. I tell them it’s for a great cause. Sometimes I accidentally say I’m growing a mustache for prostate cancer then correct myself so it doesn’t sound like I’m in support of cancer. 

TIFFANY: What has been most people’s reaction to your facial hair?

CONOR: Confusion, betrayal, concern and general panic. Some people associate a cheap mustache with having a weird disease so people keep asking “are you sick?” or “are you contagious?”

TIFFANY: Who is your mustache icon?

CONOR: I aspire to be Grover Cleveland but relate to Charles Bronson in terms of a mustache and political views.

TIFFANY: Has anything gotten stuck in it? Milk or crumbs?

CONOR: Nope. It’s so thin I’m tempted to use a thickening shampoo or mustache wig. It’s barely there. I long for the day something gets stuck in it. 

TIFFANY: Is it easier for you to get ready in the morning without shaving?

CONOR: I still shave but I look in the mirror and yell at myself for my lack of mustache so that slows me down. 

TIFFANY: What other thoughts come to mind when you look in the mirror? 

CONOR: I feel like that kid in high school. He couldn’t grow a mustache but that didn’t stop him from trying. Every time I look in the mirror it’s a personal defeat. I’m reminded I will never squeeze out the mustache I dream of having.

TIFFANY: Do you dare to dream?

CONOR: I like mustaches and facial hair but, clearly, I cannot grow a good beard or mustache. If I could I would. I like stroking my own facial hair, but its just not working for me. It has cost me a lot of potential business opportunities and it has landed me in two police lineups.

Tuesday night, Paul Simon played “American Tune” on the Colbert Report. It’s been on our minds ever since Progressive Future pulled it out for a TV advertisement in the late stages of Obama-McCain: 

"American Tune” was written to protest the Nixon years. It’s one of those songs that may seem some sort of a benign tribute if you’re not listening to the words. Put it on the shelf with Neil Diamond’s “America” or Simon & Garfunkel’s own “America” (though the latter isn’t 100 percent happy, it’s not critical). Absorb the lyrics and you realize it’s anything but celebratory. Here’s the full version: 

This wasn’t the first time “American Tune” had been revived, nor the first time it had been cast as anti-Bush. Almost exactly a year prior, in October 2007, unassuming YouTube user “aweirdpoet” posted a low-tech montage that uses much of the same imagery as the slick Obama commercial. We’re not accusing Progressive Future of stealing; hell, we couldn’t care less if they did. What we find interesting is this: aweirdpoet wasn’t an Obama supporter at all. He was a Ron Paul supporter. 

“We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant.?We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check.?We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. We want change!” 

Obama’s words that Will.I.Am of The Black Eyed Peas used for the song “Yes We Can,” spoke to the feelings of young people around the country who have been swept up in two years of campaigning for the 44th President of the United States. 

Two weeks after an historic and life altering campaign came to an end, the election delirium still resonates with so many Americans. Election day was marked with a massive voter turnout, demonstrating a renewed strength in the American political process. President-elect Barack Obama’s win -- our win -- has inspired Americans to be hopeful that change will come, but one group became particularly inspired by Obama’s message of change: Generation O, the youngest members of the country’s electorate, became mobilized in a coalition to help elect Obama. 

My generation has been called Generation Z (because we follow X and Y), Generation @ (because we socialize through technology) and The Silent Generation. But now our voice has been heard. And now we have a name that defines ourselves. We are Generation O.

From the Detroit Free Press:

Myth No. 1: Nobody buys their vehicles.

Reality: GM outsold Toyota by about 1.2 million vehicles in the United States last year. Ford outsold Honda by about 850,000 in the United States last year. Chrysler sold more vehicles here than Nissan and Hyundai combined in 2007.

Myth No. 2: They build unreliable junk.

Reality: The creaky, leaky vehicles of the 1980s and ‘90s are long gone. Consumer Reports recently found that “Ford’s reliability is now on par with good Japanese automakers.” The independent J.D. Power Initial Quality Study scored Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, GMC, Mercury, Pontiac and Lincoln brands’ overall quality as high or higher than that of Acura, Audi, BMW, Honda, Nissan, Scion, Volkswagen and Volvo.

Myth No. 3: They build gas-guzzlers.

Reality: All of the Detroit Three build midsize sedans the Environmental Protection Agency rates at 29-33 miles per gallon on the highway. 

Myth No. 4: They already got a $25-billion bailout.

Reality: None of that money has been lent out and may not be for more than a year. 

Myth No. 5: GM, Ford and Chrysler are idiots for investing in pickups and SUVs.

Reality: Toyota, Nissan, Mercedes-Benz and BMW have all spent billions of dollars on pickups and SUVs because trucks are a large and historically profitable part of the auto industry. 

Myth No. 6: They don’t build hybrids.

Reality: Ford and GM each now offers more hybrid models than Honda or Nissan, with several more due to hit the road in early 2009.

As you may know we teamed up with Movember to help raise money and awareness to battle prostate cancer. How do we raise awareness? By growing (ridiculous?) mustaches throughout the month of November and when people give our upper-lip-hair funny looks, we hand them a card with data on prostate cancer. How do we raise money? Growing a mustache—or MO as they are called in Australia where this movement originated—is much less laborious (note: I did not say easier) than running a marathon or selling raffle tickets. Yep, we are accepting pledges to wear soup strainers this month. 

Throughout November/Movember we will be featuring our MO of the Day. The fourth in the series of many is our Assistant Editor and oft imitated Josh Robertson.

ROCKY: Do you have a mustache icon?

JOSH: I thought it was Lemmy, but upon further review, I see that Lemmy doesn’t have a mustache per se. It’s more like a beard with the chin shaved out. 

ROCKY: Quick! If Lemmy and God were in a fight who would win?

JOSH: Trick question — Lemmy is God. Although what you meant to ask was who’d win if Lemmy and God were in a wrestling match. In response to your first question, I have to go with Derek Smalls of Spinal Tap. Although let’s face it, nobody wore it better than Magnum, PI. ??

ROCKY: Did you ever grow facial hair before? 

JOSH: I went to college in the ‘90s, so like everyone else I was required to grow a goatee at least once a year.

ROCKY: How do you feel about your lip hair?

JOSH: It’s a love-hate relationship. Being able to grow it is a source of pride, but it feels weird on your face. Like you’re not quite clean. Plus I find myself absent-mindedly stroking it, and that’s not a good habit.??

ROCKY: Have you named it?

JOSH: No, I didn’t know I was supposed to.

ROCKY: Any interesting reactions?

JOSH: Just today a few public relations women were telling me how much it suits me — although you can never really trust PR people, can you? It’s their job to make people optimistic and excited. On the other hand, my wife has told me the stache is not invited to Thanksgiving dinner.

ROCKY: On a whole, do you think women dig it? 

JOSH: Some do, for sure, but not all. But you can’t go through life trying to please everyone. As long as you don’t needlessly piss off your wife — oops.

The morning crew at WHEB-FM found this little gem on the Internet: A woman has been writing to Apple tech support to see if her husband is cheating on her. 

It seems the wife discovered a nasty photo of her man’s equipment attached to an email he sent to another woman on his iPhone. She says, “it was a close-up shot of him pleasuring himself taken at the exact moment of maximum pleasure… It's such a good shot that one must wonder if he actually practiced it a few times before getting it right!” 

The guy’s excuse: it’s a technical glitch in the iPhone. He claims he never sent the picture to anyone and says the guys at the Apple store told him they’ve had problems with photos attaching themselves to email addresses. (He didn’t explain how the phone happened to snap a pic of his junk.) 

So, our heroine turned to the world wide geek squad and posted this “glitch” on a tech thread at the Apple Web site asking fellow Mac Daddies if this was true. The responses were not always kind. One Apple technician said, “My professional opinion is that YOUR HUSBAND IS HAVING AN AFFAIR!” Another poster said the glitch “only happens if the pic is sufficiently raunchy” and “I think your marriage has a glitch.” It didn’t take long to realize the real glitch was “gullibility.” 

The woman says she’s consulting an attorney. That guy might now want to cover his nads instead.

--Kevin Flynn 

Colby Campbell of Houston writes, “After graduating from high school in 2004 I moved into an apartment with friends. In our living room we had a glass-and-metal coffee table. The lower of its two shelves was filled with hundreds of Playboy magazines. We had a party one night and I thought it would be a good idea to kneel on the table while holding its metal edges. As soon as I lifted my hands, the glass tabletop shattered. My hands were sliced up but my knees hit and scattered the magazines, preventing injury. If it weren’t for Playboy I would have suffered far more serious and perhaps permanent damage. Thank you for saving me.”

Frank Brown of Lexington, Kentucky, writes: “Love Playboy, and love the blog. I have a tip on a sweet polo shirt from Attus Apparel. It’s called The Polisher and it has a pole dancer embroidered on the chest. It’s pricey but you can use the redemption code WOOT during checkout for 75 percent off your order.” Attus, which was founded in 2007, has a number of other knit shirts with edgy icons, including The Jerk (a hand giving the finger), The Hangover (a toilet), The 40 (a 40-ouncer), The Broken Heart Skateboard and The Sid (as in Vicious). Rex Vanderwoodsen (pictured at right) set the Planet Douche world record for most popped polo collars worn at the same time, at 23. He even tried running for president, but unfortunately fell short. 

As you may know we teamed up with Movember to help raise money and awareness to battle prostate cancer. How do we raise awareness? By growing (ridiculous?) mustaches throughout the month of November and when people give our upper-lip-hair funny looks, we hand them a card with data on prostate cancer. How do we raise money? Growing a mustache—or MO as they are called in Australia where this movement originated—is much less laborious (note: I did not say easier) than running a marathon or selling raffle tickets. Yep, we are accepting pledges to wear soup strainers this month. 

Throughout November/Movember we will be featuring our MO of the Day. The third in the series of many is our Associate Marketing Manager Neal Lynch.

ROCKY: Do you have a mustache icon?

NEAL: My dad used to rock a pretty mean stache throughout the '80s and most of the '90s. Recently I had a bunch of people mistake me for him, which was a great honor. Back-up icon would be a tie between Sam Elliot and Tom Selleck.

ROCKY: What look are you trying to achieve?

NEAL: Some say I look like a '70s porn star, which I don't mind. Others say I look like a child molester. So, if I had to pick, I'd probably go with the look that wouldn't land me in the clink.

ROCKY: Since you are in marketing, can you put a good spin on your stache?

NEAL: My grandfather used to own a bar called The Stadium back in the '70s. I was looking through some photos taken there and almost every dude had a stache. Back then it was a symbol of manhood, of bravado, of cojones. Over the years, the Mo has lost that stigma, but to me, it still can be a sign of masculinity, of virility, of animalistic power. It can be best described as a mullet for your face. Who doesn't love mullets? Working in marketing, it seems any offer with the word "free" seems to attract consumers, so I'd say the phrase, "Free mustache rides!" works like a charm.

ROCKY: I’ll pass, I take it that was for the ladies…

NEAL: I encourage girls to touch it and when they do, they get all giddy. It's hard to tell if they're really turned on or if they're really creeped out. Most women can't take their eyes off of it. They say I look better without one, but considering they approach me to break the ice says a lot about its influence. I definitely get more attention from the ladies.

ROCKY: Has your work-life changed since sporting the stache?

NEAL: Work production has been hindered because people can't get over how funny/different I look. I'll have a proposal that has to get out ASAP and I'm running around trying to get approvals, trying to be super- serious about deadlines, but co-workers are too engrossed with my lip fur to comply. However, it has enhanced my creative thinking -- a couple of strokes to the stache and an idea comes to me in seconds!

ROCKY: Did you ever grow facial hair before?

NEAL: I had a goatee freshman year in college (circa '98-'99) when celebs like P. Diddy, Mark McGwire and Stone Cold Steve Austin were popular. Then I went home during break and my friend said I looked like a gay pirate, and since I'm not about man booty I had to chop it off.

ROCKY: As a naturally-furry-faced guy do you feel like you have a leg-up on the competition around the office?

NEAL: Definitely, I have an all limbs-up advantage on the competish. Being hairy has its disadvantages - the trait usually ends up in the "turn-offs" section of the Centerfold's data sheet each month. Then there are times when I feel bad because co-workers are trying so hard but not reaping the results. I've offered to donate some of mine, but most have decided to go the Just for Men or Rogaine route.

ROCKY: Will you be keeping the Mo past Movember?

NEAL: I almost made a bet with a friend of mine over dinner that I would keep the Mo for the entire year. We couldn't settle on a prize, though, so most likely it will come off. Of course, if one of the Playmates were to tell me it's hot, I might have to reconsider. 

Long before there was gays in the military, there were gays in the military. That’s one of many issues explored at New York’s Roundabout Theatre’s excellent revival of David Rabe’s 1976 play "Streamers," directed by Scott Ellis. 

The play is unusual in several respects: There are no women to be found, no real love interests and not much of a war. While nominally about the Vietnam war, "Streamers" is set in a barracks in Virginia in 1965. Aside from a few references to the conflict, the only ways of dating the play are by the several copies of Playboy scattered about and the Centerfolds that adorn the lockers. (I believe I spotted Miss March 1965 Jennifer Jackson in one locker.)

The play is very well written. The language, while brutal—think Entourage but serious and for keeps—is rich and poetic in a David Mamet sort of way, except that "Streamers" predates most of Mamet’s work.

Throughout the piece, Rabe explores the relationships between straights and gays as he plays with images of violence and isolation. Streamers, for instance, are parachutes that do not open, and people are always falling out of control destined to meet violent ends. Knife images are dropped in throughout the conversation. So when fireworks erupt, the audience is somewhat prepared for it. I say somewhat because it is easily the most explosive 10 minutes of any play I have ever seen. 

The cast works well together. J.D. Williams, as Roger, a middle-class black man, is a good everyman, well, as close to an everyman as the play gets. He is straight and trying to understand the characters around him who are…out and about.

Also good is Hale Appleman as Richie, who spends the most of the play trying to convince his disbelieving friends that he is indeed gay.

And Brad Fleischer is very capable in the tough role of Billy, an upper-class, well-educated New Yorker who seems so far in the closet he’s liable to come out the other side.

The showcase role here though is Carlyle, who as played by Ato Essandoh is a scary presence almost from the moment he sets foot on stage. Carlyle is a loose cannon who gets no respect. He is a powder keg looking for a fuse, and one happens upon him in a most unexpected way.

After the white-knuckle climax, Rabe brings us down with a scene that may seem too long, but I think adds a layer of poignancy and gives the audience time to reflect on an unforgettable evening in the theater.

--Joseph Westerfield

Photo: Joan Marcus

Pictured from left: Hale Appleman, Brad Fleischer, J.D. Williams, Larry Clarke and John Sharian.