Adult Fireworks with Cam Girls

Your Adult Fireworks this Month

Sure we all love fireworks on the 4th of July, but why limit yourself to explosions on just a single day?

Put simply, we have a lot to look forward to this month of July, and we can enjoy our own adult fireworks every day of the month. Remember just a couple of months ago when we were unsure if we’d even be able to celebrate outdoors? This pandemic has fucked us up in so many ways that it seemed like any public holiday was done forever. Now that we’re finally on our way back to freedom, though, we can get out and revel in what’s going down on Independence Day that doesn’t consist of being careful not to breathe. Of course, we still have to be careful. Most places still require masks currently, and even when not an absolute rule, most experts consider it good practice to wear one anyway.

When you make your own adult fireworks at home, though, you definitely do not need a mask. Heck, you don’t even need to wear pants.

Think about this: How many of us are really going outdoors this 4th of July anyway? And what about all the other days in July? Social distancing remains important, because how many of the lying SOBs running around out there can you really trust anyway? We’re not talking about the sniffles here, so once again our Cam Girls have the solution. (Nice how that happens, right?)

Not only that, since we’ve spent the last 16 months accomplishing everything virtually, doing things at home has become a majority of the definition of our modern lives. No one can really say for certain, but it sure seems like this will be with us on a global scale for quite some time, so it never hurts to make some new friends now. Even with the option to go out now available, it might be easier to just hang out indoors. Long live the introverted misfits! We rock!! … Society was way overrated before this whole “anybody out there might kill you” mess anyway.

In fact, say you don’t want to slug the big holiday off inside, but feel cautious about going out, we can help with that. Start your celebration inside with a couple different flavors of Cam Delight. Then while you’re resting, get somewhere safe to watch all the detonating delights outside early in the evening. Then continue the celebration inside with that taste you’d just love to try again! As it turns out, cam girls online are celebrating Independence Day during the entire first week of July, so you have lots to time to prepare your own personal menu of adult fireworks.

You might be surprised at the variety of ways that cam girls are celebrating 4th of July on Camster.com. Perhaps they’ll pop their own fireworks while wearing red, white, and blue lingerie. They might even have some sex toys in the shape of the American flag while pouring popcorn all over their boobs. Ever hear of the Yankee Diddle Butt Plug? Anything can be possible when you have cam girls around you!

We’ve even made it easy to check out some cam girls celebrating adult fireworks online, to at least help get you started on your journey. See what fans have said about their shows that would even make our founding fathers so proud. Then you have the entire rest of the month to test your theories and refine your conclusions about which cam girls make the best wiener companions — purely for scientific reasons, of course.

Anin Lust

Anin Lust

“A very unique girl. Stunning hair and eyes with a smile that can only be described as cute. Her body is heaven with stunning breasts. But her sexiest attribute is her mind. She is the girl next door seductress that lives in your mind and makes you want more.”

Ailsie West

Ailsie West

“So incredibly sexy, mouth to die for. Ass to worship. Get extra tissues, you’ll be a mess.”

Annie Jonnes

Annie Jonnes

“Honestly, if I could give more than five stars, I would; this woman is amazing! Sweet, funny, kind, and she knows how to use that body to bring out the most primal desires in any man!”

Miilla Rousse

Miilla Rousse

“This girl is so hot and sexy and made the BEST private show. I couldn’t believe how great it was. She does everything you ask and is great at getting the right camera angles. I highly recommend you do her private sessions.”

Amy Blair

Amy Blair

“Strip me of my innocence … while the delights of my noble, young body are slowly revealed. Caress my sweet flesh with your eyes and behold my erotic dance. You will long to taste my sweet nectar as we reach the pinnacle of satisfaction together, and as you take me, hear the sweet song of my exquisite fulfillment!”

July looks to be an excellent month for experimentation, so don’t be shy about letting out some of those hidden desires in the long days and short nights. You’ll find plenty of room for scientific experiments and adult fireworks at Camster.com. And science is important, you know. … As always, should you be feeling adventurous, look what happened last month any time you want.

COVID Pause

Lovin’ the Lollapalooza

The excitement builds. Then it happens! Music blasts through the PA system, and the crowd goes wild.

It’s the moment that keeps me, as a member of the road crew, coming back day after day to do the backbreaking job of setting up all the equipment it takes to put on a show like this huge U.S. music festival. Lollapalooza was the first-ever festival to travel the country. You’d think after working 20-hour days for months on end, the magic would wear off, but no. It’s as strong 30 years later as it was that first time. It’s a bond we share with the performers because it’s our show, too.

Attended by millions of people worldwide, summer festivals like Lollapalooza are the lifeblood of the music industry. The phenomenon started with the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1958, followed by Woodstock in 1969. We now have mega festivals like the Donauinselfest in Vienna, Austria, which attracts more than 3 million attendees, and Rock in Rio, which pulls in hundreds of thousands.

For now, though, these fields lie barren, with no sign of the usual hustle and bustle that starts months before as preparations for these events ramp up.

The year 2020 was the first since the late 1950s that there hasn’t been some form of live music festival.

Enter: COVID Pause

As the seasons change, and as the world braces for a third and even fourth wave of COVID-19, the virus continues to have a devastating effect on the music industry.

Is the industry healthy and strong enough to last another year without these live events? They’re the heartbeat of the industry, the proof of life we’re all looking for. It’s not just the darlings of the industry who rely on the festivals. New and emerging talent also need this opportunity to reach a broader audience, enabling them to climb that elusive ladder to success.

Then there’s another side of the industry that survives with little acknowledgement from the audience but is also reliant on these live events. That’s us, the technical staff, aka the road crew. We work hand in hand with the artists, allowing them to focus on the performance, while we take care of the rest. Whether it’s the front-of-house sound engineer at a stadium-sized venue or the high school friend of a garage band, the crew, as individuals, dedicate our existence to music.

But during COVID Pause, we, as professionals, have fallen through the cracks, with little or no acknowledgement or assistance from governments worldwide.

Over the decades, road crews have taken pride in not being seen.

Now, it’s time for us to stand up and be counted. We’re the first in line to donate our time to endless benefit concerts for different worldwide causes, selflessly working for free when there’s no other means of getting the job done.

We were among the first to pivot so we could help out during the pandemic.

Now, we need to be seen and acknowledged for the work we’ve done so tirelessly.

When the vaccines start to take effect, and the festival season reopens — hopefully by August 2021 — the crews will once again disappear behind the scenes to quietly continue creating that healing moment when a band walks on stage and we all become one. No longer feeling alone in this crisis. Being once again healed by the music.

Over a year ago now Rolling Stone profiled the impact of COVID Pause on the music industry. Sadly, in retrospect the warnings may not have been dire enough.

Submission Possible

Madison Young on a Mission

Created by “filmmaker, author and sexual revolutionary” Madison Young, the series explores the queer sexual underground worlds of kink, fetish, and BDSM. It will be available on Revry TV, the world’s first global Queer streaming network.

Submission Possible stars Young hosting travel adventures with a mission – sharing stories of who we are as sexual beings. Penthouse had the pleasure of interviewing Madison about her new project, her years of experience as a performer in the adult industry, and her goals for the future.

What person, place, or event surprised you in your travels for Submission Possible? Was there anything that you learned or experienced that was unexpected?

The biggest surprise for me was really New Orleans. It was my first time traveling to New Orleans and I was just blown away by the city, the energy, the community, the people. It truly is a remarkably magical city.

I was also surprised by the number of people that I met that hadn’t had an opportunity to engage in their favorite kinks and fetishes during the pandemic. I think so many of us were in this deep survival mode that having the opportunity to lean into the joy of kink and play, was something that just didn’t present itself. So, the interviews and segments in Submission Possible where folks had a container to really geek out about the things that bring them so much joy and connection and then to experience those kinks or fetishes, it was extra potent.

There is a lot of healing and reconnecting to our pleasure and bodies and intimacy that will be emerging out of the pandemic and I’m so happy that this series gets to be a part of documenting that emergence and process.

There were so many things that I learned that I didn’t really expect. I experienced astral projection during a super hot segment with Arabelle Raphael in Portland, Oregon. I was really surprised by that!

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in doing a role play segment in which I would be playing dead. I love to be really connected and feeding my top with energy, smiles, sounds of pleasure.

I was a little nervous that I’d feel disconnected from Arabelle during the segment but similar to meditation, when I sunk into stillness and surrendered over my body, I felt my astral body rise up and I watched from my mind’s eye as Arabelle moved my body around. I definitely felt aroused by the whole experience.

I also had a super profound deep healing experience in the dungeon of Cleo Dubois in San Francisco where through a ritualistic needle pull, I cleared some deep wounds from a past life and my energy expanded and vibrated throughout the space.

It was a gorgeous ritual in which we entered the dungeon space playing Tibetan singing bowls and Cleo led me through a piercing of needles through my chest which were then connected to a cord. Through her guidance I leaned back, using my breath and the needles pulling at my flesh as I reclined and surrendered myself, my energy and breath and ecstasy all growing, vibrating through the walls. It was immensely powerful and unexpected.

But there have been so many others. Each person has such an incredible story and are just so generous with sharing their intimate journey. I think because we have all been that person that was so deeply seeking connection and to see ourselves reflected in the world. We each know the power of storytelling and representation in film and the media. I’m so honored to have these conversations and hold space for those stories.

What inspires you the most as a creative? Who are your influences?

That is such an excellent and juicy question! I’m inspired by my desire to create change in the world.

From a very early age I knew that I wanted to tell stories and create art that held space for folks to experience a place of belonging. I wanted to create spaces where people could express and celebrate the entirety of themselves.

I’m inspired by collaboration, bringing together rad queer artists that are amazing at what they do and working together as we bring a story, a vision, a film to life. I’m inspired by all of the folks that we are interviewing and their vulnerability and generous hearts.

The concepts for my books, films, series, and other art works are generally works that channel through me in a meditative state. I see the work in sort of a dream state and then come out of the dream state and write down the outline as quickly as possible and then begin to flesh it out bringing it to life.

I’m inspired both out in the quiet of the forest or by the ocean or amidst the chaos of a city. I do think the energy that surrounds me affects what I’m writing and the topics that emerge and some environments seem to have a more stagnant energy that I find less inspiring.

My influences within my creative work would definitely include my chosen mothers – Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stephens. They have both been a huge part of my life for almost two decades now. Their art and films and the way that they embody life as art and infuse everything they do with deep love and compassion is powerful and has an enormous impact.

Love is radical and their ability to love so profoundly spills forth in every film, event, art exhibition and book that they bring forth into the world. They have a new book that is available for pre-order called Assuming the Ecosexual Position: The Earth As Lover that everyone should go check out. I’m so lucky to have them as family and my mentors.

Other sexual revolutionaries like the writing of Carol Queen and the grit and radical works of the Beat generation were a big influence on my writing. When it comes to travel documentaries, I love what Anthony Bourdain brought to the genre.

I think he did a beautiful job of authentically connecting with folk around the world and using food as a connector, as a language in which we got to know the folk he was interviewing and the cities.

I’m really trying to bring that same essence into Submission Possible as we use sex and kink as a connecting thread in which we get to know the people, city, and queer culture of a region.

What changes have you observed in the adult industry from the time you started until now? What do you believe is the future of the industry?

I first started performing in 2002 – so almost 20 years ago. A lot has changed in that time.

In 2002, queer porn wasn’t yet a category and feminist porn hadn’t really yet developed into the movement that it is today. Feminist porn was being made and queers were making porn but there wasn’t a label for us at the video store or tags for us on any of the VOD platforms or awards that were specifically for queer porn.

The number of feminist and queer porn makers has grown exponentially in 20 years. There are hundreds of queer porn and feminist porn filmmakers creating work now and 20 years ago there were maybe a 10 or so of us making films on a consistent basis. PinkLabel.TV is one of the best resources out there for finding a vast array of feminist and queer porn from filmmakers all over the globe. It’s the number one spot I send folks to when wondering where to look for feminist porn.

In the past twenty years we have also seen a rise in erotic film festivals, which is so exciting. Film festivals are my favorite way to watch erotic films. There has been an exciting amount of change and continued activism to do away toxic structures that existed in the mainstream porn industry when I first started performing.

It’s so hard to tell what the future of the industry will hold. It will both be influenced by technological advances such as Virtual Reality but also there is an exciting pull to get folks back into the theaters (or drive-ins) to watch porn at film festivals and on the big screen in a community setting.

We will continue to see more feminist, queer, trans, and sex positive voices being heard and making work in adult film. We are finally starting to shatter the idea that porn needs to be separate from feminism or is anti-feminist. It’s so important for us to document our own sexual culture and porn has always been the medium in which we could find graphic documentation of our sexual culture and our fantasies. I delve deeper into this in my book “The DIY Porn Handbook: Documenting Our Own Sexual Revolution”.

There is still immense stigma and I feel like sometimes I’ve been having the same conversation for twenty years in regards to porn being another medium for self-expression. Folk hold so much internalized sexual shame and porn becomes an easy place for them to shift that shame over to and just dismiss an entire genre rather than finding an erotic film that resonates with you, getting curious about what filmmakers are creating work that depict the narratives and themes that interest you.

There is still a lot of work to do. It’s a potent and powerful medium. I’m excited to bring this same passion for slaying sexual stigma into television and feature film with my new production company Empress in Lavender Media.

I will be putting all of my creative energy and resources into bringing queer, transgender and sex worker narratives to television and feature films through this new company. June 4th Lust Cinema just released what will be my last erotic film – Someone Like You. It’s an exciting time for television and film and I’m really thrilled to be a part of it.

What is your kinky root? How does kink enrich your life and your view of the world around you?

I don’t ever remember a time in which I felt like other people. I always felt kinky and queer, gravitating to things that were maybe odd to other folks. I didn’t resonate with the mainstream culture that I was surrounded by or the heteronormative depiction of a love and relationships.

But some of my kinky roots came out of Catwoman comic books and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I remember being very turned on by Catwoman and her latex catsuit and her whip. That is definitely one of the origins of my kink.

I was also always squeezing myself into small, confined spaces as a kid and loved big tight bear hugs and compression.

I have anxiety disorder and tight compression always felt comforting and helped me to regulate my nervous system.

My family are all arborists, so I grew up around trees and rope. The smell of rope just has this warm feeling of home and a place of belonging, a fibrous tight bear hug quality.

So, when I started exploring sex as a young adult, kink just naturally interwove into my experiences and fantasies.

My kinky identity and queerness feel very interwoven to me. Both are this way of existing in this world in a very mindful and intentional way. An embodied way of being. When you’re kinky and queer, the default social norms just don’t fit, they don’t work. So instead, you have to write a new script, write a new narrative, build a new container based on your desires.

You imagine a life, a relationship, a kinky dynamic, a world into existence based on listening to your authentic self, listening to your body, your desires. I think this way of being does affect the way I view the world around me. It makes me question old paradigms and imagine new ways of being to existence. It informs how I create art and film. I feel like that way of being is immensely enriching and is a part of my identity and how I walk through this world outside of the bedroom.

Kink and queerness both hold this space for building your own way of being. I love that. It smashes any ideas of what sex or gender, or relationships should look like and allows you to think deeply about what sex and relationships really are to you.

There are so many ways to connect, to experience pleasure and intimacy – with in kink and queerness – love and sex are limitless with in whatever container and parameters you construct based on your individual desires.

How do you see kink existing within and alongside mainstream culture?

I think there is still a lot of confusion about kink within mainstream culture. Aspects of kink have been glommed onto and then sensationalized or capitalized on. But kink isn’t a paddle or a pair of handcuffs or slipping into a leather corset. It’s not something you wear but something you are that exists within you and how you see the world and experience pleasure and connection with others. It’s fun to have awesome toys but all you really need is your mind – hands, feet or other body parts can be great too J. But knowing how to connect, move energy through your body, using your words, understanding how to negotiate and build a container for a hot scene, listening and understanding your partner’s desires and fantasies – these are the building blocks of kink. This is something we are really diving into with in Submission Possible – getting beyond the external of what kink might physically look like and delving into the inner workings, of what it fulfills for us, how nourishes us and the communities and culture that exist in different cities within these kink and queer pockets around the world.

What are your goals for the future? Where do you want to travel next with Submission Possible?

My goal is really to develop both Submission Possible as a series as well as my television and feature film production company, Empress in Lavender Media. We have a whole season of shows in development including a 30-minute drama series and a feminist thriller feature film. I’m really excited to dive deep into filmmaking and storytelling and bring queer narratives to life in a really big way.

Submission Possible is our first series that we are producing, and I love that. It’s an embodiment of everything I stand for. Travel, queer and kinky community, creativity, vulnerability, holding space for other people’s stories while engaging in my own journey of introspection – it’s intimate and sexy and features a wide array of stories.

There are so many cities that I’m excited to bring the show to. Our first season is centered along the west coast of the United States largely due to both being as safe as possible as we emerge from the pandemic and budget.

We are currently doing a lot of fundraising for the series as well as bringing on brand partnerships, sponsors, investors and producers.

We did some crowdfunding for the series so folks could contribute at any level to the making of the series there, which turned out well. People can also purchase tickets for our VIP virtual sneak peek preview of series. The preview takes place on June 30th at 1pm PST and 7pm PST and will be followed by a post-show talk and Q&A.

Our crowdfunding campaign is the only place we are currently offering tickets for that preview.

We also threw a Spank-a-Thon benefit event on June 10th for the production of Submission Possible where folks pledged for different rad performers to receive a certain number of spankings while raising funds for the show. Performers included Penthouse Pet – Olive Glass, Daisy Ducati, Princess Donna, Dadi Iris, Harley Evans, Elyse the Beast, and of course me! It was a lot of fun.

In our next season of Submission Possible, I’d love to visit more rural areas of the United States. This season was absolutely inspirational as we visited west coast cities such as Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland, and Los Angeles but next I really want to dive into lesser-known kink and queer scenes that exist in say Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, and Western Massachusetts. I’ve been meeting amazing kinksters online in lesser-known pockets around North America and I’d love for us to bring in a budget that supports that kind of travel. In season 3, I’d love to bring the show international to Europe then eventually Japan, and Australia. There are so many places this show can really reach out to and so many communities to document. I’m really excited about the future of the show and the response to the first episode was monumental.

Submission Possible will be broadcast on Revry TV along with a number of other VOD platforms this summer following our June 30th preview for our crowdfunding backers. Do take a few minutes to peek/pique/peak that interest by viewing the promotional video HERE.

Madison wanted to note that Submission Possilbe was made “possible” with the help of community partners, Squirm, Vessel Society, and InnThrall. We encourage you to keep up with Madison at MadisonYoung.org as well.

You can look around here for some topically-themed advice, or you can check out the potentially much more fun Social Media Links for Madison herself include @therealmadisonyoung and @submissionpossible on Instagram, as well as @madisonyoung and @submissionpostv on Twitter.

We have no idea when — or if — Madison sleeps.

Submission Possible Poster

Weird Life

From Magical to Simply Odd

Weird Life … Something Doesn’t Aladdin Up

Two fraudsters have been arrested after conning a doctor into spending close to $100,000 for an Aladdin’s lamp, officials say. It’s alleged the pair conjured up a fake genie to trick their victim into handing over wads of cash in Uttar Pradesh, India.

The unsuspecting mark, Laeek Khan, says one of the men pretended to be an occultist and made a supernatural-like figure appear from the lamp. Khan bought the supposedly magical lamp for a cool seven million rupees ($93,000) after being promised it would bring him a lifetime of health, wealth and good fortune, cops say.

Khan contacted the police after figuring out the “genie” was just one of the men in disguise and that his lamp was not of the wish-granting kind.

Senior police offer Amit Ray says it’s not the first time the trickers have sold a non-magical lamp and adds, “The men have also cheated other families using the same modus operandi. The total amount of money involved runs into several million rupees.”

I guess you could say Khan was taken for a magic carpet ride.

Weird Life FlyWeird Life … Super Fly for an Old Guy

We’ve all been annoyed by a bug or a fly at some point or another, but one man has accidentally blown up his own kitchen while trying to kill a crafty fly with an electric bug zapper.

The octogenarian from France was trying to off the annoying insect without realizing he had a gas leak on his property.

According to a local news outlet, the 82-year-old had just sat down to dinner when he was joined by an uninvited guest. He wasn’t going to let a pesky bug ruin the atmosphere, so he grabbed an electric flyswatter, designed to zap the creatures to their demise. He swung the electro death racket, but instead of hitting his buzzing target, the apparatus ignited the gas and caused a sizeable explosion that destroyed his kitchen and part of the roof in the process.

Thankfully, the man escaped serious injury by diving onto the floor and was treated for a burned hand at a local hospital. It’s not known whether the fly survived the disaster.

This does not markthe first time an insect has caused grief for homeowners. In 2018, a man in California accidentally set his parents’ house on fire while trying to kill spiders. In the same year, an Australian blew up his house while trying to destroy a horde of cockroaches.

Moving now to the realm of disturbing …

Weird Life CondomsWeird Life … Romp, Rinse, Repeat

Vietnamese police have seized more than 345,000 used condoms that were intended to be illegally resold to unsuspecting customers.

Market inspectors raided a warehouse near Ho Chi Minh City, where they discovered used condoms being repacked for sale. The condoms would be boiled in water and reshaped with wooden dildos under unhygienic conditions before being repackaged and resold. Footage showed police seizing dozens of bags, weighing a whopping 794 pounds.

The owner of the factory, a 34-year-old woman, confessed the company bought the used prophylactics from an unidentified man in the area and received a “monthly input” from him. How one man came to obtain more than 300,000 used condoms remains a mystery.

The kicker? No one knows just how many of these previously loved condoms were sold before the bust.

We’re all for saving the planet, but this level of recycling seems extreme.

Weird Life Mechanical WolfWeird Life … Monster Wolf Robots

A Japanese town has deployed robotic wolves in an attempt to scare off bears that have started to roam the countryside.

The small town of Takikawa on the northern island of Hokkaido purchased and installed a pair of the terrifying robot wolves to combat the appearances of wild bears, and it actually worked.

The real Japanese wolf roamed the central and northern islands of Japan before being hunted to extinction more than a century ago. Having named it The Monster Wolf robot, officials describe it as having “a shaggy body on four legs, a blond mane and fierce, glowing-red eyes. When its motion detectors are activated, it moves its head, flashes lights and emits 60 different sounds ranging from wolfish howling to machinery noises.”

The effecitiveness of the Monster Wolves quickly became obvious as since the mechanical animals made their appearance there have been zero sightings of bears. Clearly the native animals have determined the situation un-bear-able.

And arriving finally at the power of love…

Tortoise LoveWeird Life … World’s Horniest Tortoise Retires

Diego, a Galápagos tortoise whose high sex drive has been praised for saving his species from extinction has now retired.

Ecuador’s environment minister, Paulo Proaño Andrade, says: “We are closing an important chapter.”

For decades now, Diego has been breeding in captivity to save his species from dying out. Now, the 100-year-old tortoise, with his long leathery neck, beady eyes and hefty 175-pound body, has been granted a much deserved retirement and is being sent to the uninhabited island of Española — to spend the remainder of his days celibate with 14 other male tortoises.

Jorge Carrion, the park’s director says: “He’s contributed a large percentage to the lineage that we are returning to Española.”

At the time the program began in 1965, there were only 14 tortoises left: 12 females and two males. The breeding program helped increase the tortoise population to 2,000 from 15, with Diego being responsible for around 40 percent of the offspring produced.

Good job, Diego. We hope you dream of your soulmate Carmen San, somewhere in the world.

Weird Life MarriageWeird Life …‘Til Doll Do We Part

A bodybuilder from Kazakhstan has proven love is blind by marrying a sex doll he’s been “dating” for nearly two years.

Clad in a traditional black tux and bow tie, Yuri Tolochko grinned with giddy glee as he married his silicone bride, Margo, who wore a white gown and clutched a bouquet of flowers as she stared lifelessly into the distance.

The couple apparently got engaged in December 2019, when the bodybuilder — who described himself as a “sexy maniac” — popped the question. Tolochko and Margo have an active social media presence and often illustrate their romantic lifestyle, vacations and bubble baths, captioned with the hashtags: #ideal_relationship, #true_love and #happy_wife_happy_life.

In one post, Tolochko wrote: “Couples need to talk less and connect more. With time and experience, Margo and I realized that it takes more than words to have a conversation.”

The only legal requirements for a wedding to take place in Kazakhstan are that both partners have to be male and female and over the age of 18.

We simply could not let this one conclude without at least one of the relevant social awareness verifications. We do not want to be inviting any unwarranted audits or anything. Do remember we have have an entire section devoted to Weird History too. What can we say? We love this stuff.

Roddy Ricch

Roddy Rising

The Compton native’s studio debut, Please Excuse Me for Being Antisocial, won glowing reviews and rocketed to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums list. After slipping from the top spot, it once again ruled the charts a month later, making it the the first rap album in 15 years to do so.

The brutal, heart-wrenching, melodic record made more than $6 million, in addition to winning him accolades from media outlets and streaming platforms. Its fourth single, “The Box,” earned octuple platinum status. The unrelentingly popular track sold more than 8 million units and pulled in 866 million on-demand audio streams in 2020.

Basically, “The Box” clobbered any other song last year.

“The first album was just my first album,” Roddy says. “I’ve got to remind people of that all the time. Yeah, it was big. I had big songs on there. But that was the first time I ever even did that shit.”

It’s easy to see why expectations for his next album are so high.

After a subdued start, Roddy — whose real name is Rodrick Wayne Moore Jr. — spoke out about the challenges of his youth.

“I’ve been through a lot. Going through shit like bullets flying. It’ll fuck you up a little bit,” says the 22-year-old hitmaker. “It triggers something else in you. This fame shit is new to me. Being in rooms where you don’t have to worry about shit, I don’t get that side of life yet. I’ll be in the room with millionaires and billionaires and still be like, ‘What’s going on? Who’s that at the door?’”

Roddy grew up in Los Angeles and Compton, the son of a religious mother and father. He was baptized around age seven and has church to thank for his chance meeting with rapper Kendrick Lamar.

Roddy says he laid down a freestyle rap for the “Swimming Pools” singer, who he claims told him, “You going to be somebody in the world.”

From that point, the two rappers’ lives could not have been more different. Lamar became the good kid surviving in a raging city, while Roddy embodied Los Angeles chaos.

From eight through 10th grade, Roddy went to therapy for what he now calls anger and antisocial behavior.

Then he stopped attending sessions and fell off the tracks.

He talks openly about his first robbery, gun charges and stints in jail.

From there, the only way was up. He started writing and recording, developed his distinctive style and harnessed his creativity.

Roddy admitted the COVID-19 pandemic had slowed down his recording process.

“Maybe I make a little less music, but I feel like for me right now less is more because then when I step in the booth I say some crazy shit,” he explains.

“I could work for two or three days and make 50 songs. And then I’ll step away for like a week. Less is more. Spending more time figuring out how I feel and figuring out different things around me.”

But Roddy had an amazing year, and fans were thrilled when he announced an upcoming collaboration with Travis Scott. Is he stressed? No! He may be flying high, but he’s not feeling pressured.

“I feel like pressure is self-imposed,” he says. “I’m in a good place. Whenever my momma turns on the car, I’m still on the radio.”

Of course there are the twitter and instagram connections, but unlike many young performers, Roddy has a stand-alone website too. … As for slightly different take on young performance, we remind you that not all crushes reign equally.

Penthouse Crush

Our Penthouse Crush on Lily Andrews

This issue, we’re all crushing on gorgeous Lily Andrews. The 31-year-old model, content creator and full-time nursing student from L.A. tells Penthouse when she’s not studying, she loves being taken out on dates.

“Whether it’s a pool hall and beer date or a high-end restaurant vibe, I love dates that allow me to connect with the person I’m with,” she says.

Lily enjoys being active and spending time outside, and says she plans on getting her motorcycle license soon so she can go on weekend road trips.

“I’m still a passenger at the moment,” she admits, “but I do love riding on the back!” Gentleman, start your engines!

Somehow we think Lily does not have a difficult time finding partners for either dating or riding. Call it a hunch. Photography of Lily by Cameron Davis You can call that one a certainty.

A Different Crush Consideration

As we’ve all been fairly consumed with the ongoing Pet of the Year contest and determination, the Penthouse Crush concept started an interesting conversation. As you might imagine discussions of which Pet from the past year should wear the crown can spark some heated debate. (For the record, they do not really get a crown, but they get a fancy key with diamonds and gold, so it’s not like a gift certificate to Dave & Buster’s or anything. The prizes are real, as remains the prestige.)

In the midst of one of these recent “sharing of opinions” this whole Penthouse Crush idea came to mind. It almost seems like while whichever “winner” someone happens to be promoting, their invariable choice for “Runner Up” always has a crush aspect to the defense of the position. Now understand that with 12 different contestants, we will invariably have at least 13 different ideas regarding the top spot. … No kidding. Bob Guiccone would occasionally pick someone from a couple years back to be Pet of the Year, which honestly must have pissed off the actual 12 Pets from that year, it seems for certain. Consequently we always have at least one person who keeps going back year after year to someone who lost before but really, really should not have. (Not this writer, of course, but some other people for sure.)

At any rate, we can tell you for certain that the Pet of the Year winner will actually be much more proud of the achievement in about ten years, and the Runner Up will always be a slightly sad — but exceptionally nice — person. And on that fine history note, we offer some more fun pictures that we just don’t get enough chances to celebrate anymore.

The vote closes at midnight on June 10th (2021, if it happens to be much later when you’re reading this), so do pop over and vote. Remember if you have not voted within the last week, you can VOTE AGAIN. Throw a little love at your own Penthouse Crush. And also remember to give our regards to Lily Andrews too. We have excellent taste, you know.

Clout Conquests and Considerations

Clout-Chasing

Thanks to the “gamification” of social media, users are encouraged to do increasingly outlandish things for attention. This might be simple self-validation for posting political or social hot takes, but often invades the real world — hurting others for the sake of “content creation.”

Attention is rewarded with sponsorship agreements, which in turn encourages others to participate, if only for their own claim to fame.

Attention-seeking behavior is a growing addiction promising the untalented a means to attain the impossible: fame.

The boundary for the average Joe to obtain social and cultural relevance was smashed with the onset of reality television in the early 2000s. While most shows were based around a competition, attention-hungry contestants attained fame for more than just their talents at the expense of their dignity. Viewers, influenced by television, tried (and failed) to replicate the style of programming to obtain fame on MySpace. The early social media platform was a groundswell of future talent, like makeup mogul Jeffree Star; it’s no surprise many tried to leverage the popularity of live-action television to launch their own YouTube careers.

With the demise of MySpace, YouTube reigned, and with its rise came clout-chasers performing increasingly bad pranks that were either staged or even deadly. A Minnesota woman shot her boyfriend to death in 2017 after staging a fatal YouTube prank involving a Desert Eagle hand cannon and a telephone book, which did little to block the bullet. As social media evolved, so too did clout-chasing. Instagram, TikTok and the now-defunct Vine have provided ample opportunities for people to create increasingly low-effort productions, pursuing fame.

Success stories like Jake and Logan Paul are exceptions, having first obtained their fame through Vine stunts. For every successful Viner or Instagrammer, there are a million others whose only claim to fame is widespread derision.

Larz, a 20-something described by Dr. Phil as “an irrelevant YouTuber,” obtained infamy after he licked a toilet seat as part of the “coronavirus licking challenge,” and later said he tested positive. He’s not known for much else. Numerous others have been arrested for breaking into grocery store freezers and licking ice cream or opening bottled drinks and spitting in them before placing them back on the shelf.

They’re the one-hit wonders of the social media world, and there’s no shortage of their spawn.

Woke culture has also created opportunities for amoral clout-chasers to obtain relevance. Internet antagonizers have leveraged cancel culture as a means to obtain the currency of victimhood through context-free videos intended to shame others and promote themselves as victims of racially or politically motivated hate speech.

More than simply producing outlandish statements that would make most people wince, some resort to claiming victimhood by harassing strangers into responding badly toward them— recording their reactions and sharing on social media.

In some cases, clout-chasing has backfired.

A young socialite named Annaliese Nielsen berated her Lyft driver over a Hawaiian hula girl dashboard ornament and shared the incident on Twitter. The driver was fired. The incident blew up in her face once conservative vlogger Lauren Southern reposted the video, titling it “SJW Berates Lyft Driver,” which went more viral than the original clip. The Lyft driver was exonerated and got his job back, and Nielsen erased all traces of herself from the Internet.

While most harmless efforts to pursue fame ultimately amount to nothing, it goes without saying that technology not only allows, but encourages otherwise normal people to go out of their way to do bad things by giving in to their worst tendencies.

It’s only going to get worse.

Yeah, can you imagine what might happen if a reality tv star took that abusive, clout as a club, spectacle mindset to Washington, D.C. or something? How awful would that be?

Summer Launches in Style

Embracing the Summer Bloom with Live Sex on Camster

There’s so much to love about summertime: warm weather, beach days, pool dipping, BBQ’s, time off from class/work, and wearing a tank top when you’re outside at night. But the one thing that can make these next few months the best would be going to the beach and checking out those gorgeous bikini babes getting their tans. Seeing that hot chick in her sexy swimsuit as she shows off those curves and long legs while the sun makes her skin glow, is why we love the summertime, right?. Continue reading “Summer Launches in Style”

An0maly

An0maly … With A Zero

From a small-time underground career as a rap artist to one of social media’s most vocal supporters of Donald Trump, An0maly — real name Albert J. Faleski — has built a coalition of fans around one of the most prevailing themes of 45’s popularity: That you just can’t trust nobody no more.

Personally, the California-based rapper has a cool and down-to-Earth demeanor and found his conservative leanings only after a detour through the Bernie Bro left. He acknowledges he is a relative newcomer in political circles — only earnestly engaging in online commentary after the 2016 election of Trump.

The idea that the media, the government and the technocrats that inform public policy are incompetent, malicious or outright lying to you is nothing new. But former president Trump is one of the most recent examples in living memory of a politician who managed to galvanize so much support around ailing public trust in civil institutions. And with Trump’s election came a whole new class of political pundits like An0moly, ready to cater to those distrustful of mainstream media narratives.

An0maly’s audience is diverse, and it represents an interesting nexus of online Trump supporters that feels like a Venn diagram of conspiracy theorists, anti-government types, your angry uncle on Facebook and edgy Gen-Z conservatives. Though there is a lot of overlap with the kind of persons one might find at a Trump rally, the online fandom, so to speak, always felt slightly different.

With Trump out of the White House now, this pre-election conversation with one of his staunchest young supporters can hopefully serve as insight into the online Trump-fan phenomena and be an example of an honest and respectful discourse between two people from opposite sides of the political fence.

You went from a Bernie Bro to a Trump Train supporter. Can you tell us about that journey?

In 2016, I was around 26 years old, and I never liked politics. I never liked either party. I thought both parties were corrupt. I thought [Barack] Obama was a puppet, George Bush was a puppet, and Bernie [Sanders] struck me as somebody, and he sold himself as somebody, who was outside the two-party system. I didn’t know much about health care or taxes or anything really important about being an adult, so he kind of conned me into thinking he was really outside the system.

I started following the media more — and I always knew the media was fake — so Sanders kind of led me to realize the media was lying on such a huge scale, even bigger than I thought it was. Then I think it was a natural progression from that to seeing Trump actually say all this real stuff. I stopped listening to what the media said about him and actually listened to full Trump speeches, and I was like, “Wow, this guy, he sounds like somebody I watch on YouTube.” He’s just out there talking shit and saying some real stuff.

Then I also hit the adult age where I started paying for health care and taxes, and I lived in California under Democrats, and they told me it was only the wealthy who get taxed heavily. But I was getting taxed, and I was also paying crazy amounts for health care, and I couldn’t opt out because of the Democratic policies on the individual mandate. So it kind of all hit me at once, I think, right as he was getting inaugurated.

I didn’t tell a lot of people because there’s so much social pressure, but I was like, “I think this guy’s the real deal. I really think he’s the guy who wasn’t supposed to be there.” I was never a full-blown Liberal Democrat or anything. I came more from like an — I don’t want to say conspiracy theory — but maybe more outside opinions to politics. The transition just kind of hit me.

Detractors argue Donald Trump and his administration have sown division among different groups in America, which has led to the situation the country is in right now. What are your thoughts?

I’m going to start with a quote from Malcolm X. I don’t know the exact quote, but he said something along the lines of, “The media is the most powerful entity on the Earth. They can make the hero look like the villain and the villain look like the hero.” I truly believe they have the power to make anybody divisive, depending on how they report them. But I would say Trump’s so blunt, and so straightforward, that a lot of people can’t handle the truth. Some people have a friend who’ll tell you that you look great when you look like shit. Where then, you have the friend who says, “You have some shit on your face. You should probably wipe it off.” You might not want to hear that, but it’s the truth and it’s going to benefit you.

Life is getting so real, especially with the lockdowns and the mask mandates. I mean, people don’t want to acknowledge what’s really going on in this country. In some ways, he’s definitely not the smoothest speaker, and I think there would be a way to lose less people. But I truly believe, even if somebody came along who was smoother than Trump and said all the right things and explained it in a way that made sense, that [the media] would still find a way to make them look divisive. I think it takes somebody with his attitude and his perseverance and maybe his bluntness to beat a political class that’s this corrupt and also make it in Washington. It’s not an easy feat.

Do you see media bias and control as more of a left-wing or right-wing phenomenon?

In this country, the left-wing and the Democrat-associated media control most things. For instance, from Facebook and Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, you have YouTube, you have Google, which owns YouTube. You have Twitter. All these people are left-wing, and any time they try to be somewhat objective, they have a lot of groups like the ADL, the ACLU, and there’s a lot of pressure for them to push in the left-wing direction. Both sides could be the culprit, no question. I see terrible right-wing media all the time. But in this country, the left-wing controls almost all of internet media, I would say, as far as big tech.

When it comes to television, out of the main stations, you have CBS, NBC, MSNBC, ABC, CNN and FOX News. If you watch FOX News — I’m not a fan of them to be honest — you have Liberals on, you have Democrats, you have Conservatives. They do give you a mix. All of the other stations are just 100 percent left-wing. They don’t have any Republicans or Conservatives, so I would say 85 to 90 percent of television media is left-wing. And they control most of the shows people watch, like Saturday Night Live. This is not bipartisan comedy. It’s like they’re reading the script of what the Democratic Party says, whether it’s true or not, and making comedy around it.

Where that’s scary is — if you go far enough right on a political scale — you get to libertarianism, which is smaller government. And when you go further left, you get communism or authoritarianism, which is total government. These people won’t accept a Trump win, and if they get the White House, you have almost total control of all information. So both sides can be dishonest and make mistakes, but no question, the media in this country is largely left-wing, and they work really hard to try to get more so. But where that actually benefits me and other pundits is that people want the truth. And when you have so many people doing one thing and you only have a few people — Tucker Carlson, myself — doing the opposite, you see massive numbers. Tucker is the biggest person on television. I compete with most left-wing people on social media because people are seeking the truth, and they’re running out of places to get it.

Isn’t Tucker Carlson’s popularity and the popularity of FOX News in general, evidence that right-wing media outlets actually have quite a significant amount of power?

That’s a good question. I think it shows it’s popular and that there’s a thirst for it, but as far as say FOX News, it’s increasingly become more and more left-wing. You’ve had more Democrat-leaning pieces. Whereas the left-wing news, they haven’t become more right-wing at all. So I would say, Tucker’s — I don’t want to say he’s on his way out, but I could see him getting kicked out within a year or two.

You talk a bit about a sort of communist conspiracy between politicians like Joe Biden, big corporations and Silicon Valley. But aren’t ideas like communism and socialism in contradiction to institutions like the Democratic Party or big corporations, like Amazon or Silicon Valley venture capitalists?

Yeah, that’s a great, great question. I actually read the Communist Manifesto, because I think most people don’t understand communism. Everybody talks about communism on the right-wing, but most people have never read the book. When I read it, it became very clear to me that it’s not a movement of the people. It’s not a movement of the working class, and in no way, shape or form is it a threat to the elite establishment. It’s pitched that way to workers and left-wingers. They think they’re so edgy, but like you said, there’s a reason Amazon and all of these corporations and all of these powerful Democrats are not really threatened by it, because if you read the Communist Manifesto, you could see certain points [Karl Marx] has, and I’ll tell you a few of them.

He wanted total control of banking with a central bank. And Lenin said something along the lines of, “Once you establish a central bank in a country, that’s 90 percent of the way to communizing a nation.”

The United States has had a central bank since I believe 1918 or 1917. So we’ve been long on our way for that. I don’t think it’s a conspiracy theory, as much as it is a fact that most people don’t learn about. Communism believes in total control of banking, total control of communication, total control of transportation and transport. These are things that are on their way. Do you think that Amazon, if there was total control of communication, are going to hurt? Of course not. They’ll benefit from that because they’ll be one of the corporations involved in that in Silicon Valley.

A lot of people on the left think communism is this edgy way to fight the corporations, but I believe if you read the Communist Manifesto with an open mind and have common sense, you’ll see exactly why it never was a threat to the establishment. In fact, it’s more of a consolidation of the establishment and the abolishment of private property. One of Marx’s cornerstone ideas, in fact, was the abolishment of private property. If you don’t own private property, it’s game over for the people — and that’s what we’re seeing today.

Isn’t the amount of power private corporations have over communication and transport and banking evidence of capitalism in action?

I would say that’s very naïve because if you read how [Communists] want total control of banking and communication, it would be a pipe dream to assume that would trickle down to the working class. I’m sure that’s what Marx conned people into thinking, where it’s like, “Oh yeah, now we’re going to get the power.” But at what point if you give one entity or one person, or one government, or whoever is this Communist leader who implements it, if you give them total control of communication, total control of banking and the abolishment of private property, I don’t see how a bright person could think that that’s going to trickle down and result in working-class success. That’s incredibly naïve.

That’s a critique of communism, but it doesn’t line up with the idea that big businesses, like Silicon Valley corporations, want communism.

Right now, the private entities that are Facebook and whatnot, they kind of play both sides of the coin to get Section 230, which is really protections as if they’re a phone line or something. So they play both sides, where they’re not a publisher, then they are a publisher. Right now, I would say with Facebook, with Google, with Twitter, with Amazon, these companies control a large portion, if not a majority of the United States’ communication network. The idea that this is just going to go away … where’s is it going to go? Why are they supporting these ideas? Things are consolidating in their favor, and if somebody like Joe Biden gets in power, you’re going to have the White House working seamlessly with these corporations.

So what’s your optimal vision for America?

Even this year with all the crazy shutdowns, it could have been much worse. But the reason it wasn’t, I truly believe, is that most people are good people. Most people in this country are great people. That’s why we didn’t have a total breakdown of society, even with all this chaos. Your country is only as good as your people. We just need real law and order of some sort, like true justice, true law and order — for not just the people, but the politicians. We can’t just have lawlessness. We can’t just have a chaotic crime situation [like what] we’re seeing now, where the people who are against right-wingers are all of a sudden libertarian when it comes to murder and looting. These are the few laws that I actually believe in. And I don’t consider myself a libertarian either, by the way. But I think we could do a lot of big things, but we need to stop dividing with the media. We need to stop being petty about words, and political correctness, to me, is just the worst because you can’t have real conversations about race. You can’t have real conversations about immigration. We can’t really have real conversations about anything with all this political correctness and overexaggeration of outrage over everything. We can do well, but people have to get over this hump of acting offended by everything and thinking their pronouns are the most important thing in the world instead of food, shelter, education, health care — these sorts of things.

Because even with Trump as president, we’re running all over the place and we’re not actually coming together to solve these problems. It’s just a chaotic screaming-fest. I see good things happening, but we need a majority of people, I think, to elect Trump and a majority of people to be strong, to step up in their communities. Create an environment and a neighborhood that thrives, and we can go from there. I mean, it’s a complex question, but I think we can do fine, but it’s going to take a lot of strong and smart.

If nothing else, we can be sure An0maly fits the anomaly quotient for most professional performers. Regardless of what one believes, though, if we cannot talk openly and civilly about our beliefs, we will get nowhere. Too much pressure ultimately causes and explosion. In this way physics and politics coincide. For more on An0maly, visit him on Facebook. Do not get this native New Jersey man confused with another artist from Sweden who spells his name without the “zero” though. Turns out numbers can be important too, also in both physics and politics.

Interestingly enough, we ran an article that our Legacy Team has republished from over 40 years ago now. They were worried about big banks even back then. Does anyone else think that God just sits around up there sounding like Homer Simpson all the time? … “DOH!”

Jeep Trick

The New Frontier

Trends may come and go, but quality never goes out of style. Consequently our oh-so-cleverly-named Jeep Trick presentation shows off one in the category of life’s things always worth spending a bit more on when the time comes. Check out the new innovative Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, which has seriously raised the bar for all 4x4s. Continue reading “Jeep Trick”

Penthouse POY History

Penthouse POY (Pet of the Year) as Illustration

What follows will be an actual article from Penthouse Magazine, just as you have come to epect on these free internet pages. That said, as you have likely surmised from the title — what with being a fiendishly clever and all — will be a gallery more on topic with the POY History (Pet of the Year) going on concurrent with the voting for the 2021 winner going on now.

Not that we find anything at all wrong with Astrology as either a daliance or a soft science, but you can find these sorts of articles thousands of places on the web. What you cannot find, however, would be an article about sexual proclivity structured around the Zodiac, illustrated with POY History from as far back as 1978 and as current at 2004. While at first glance it may appear that in our efforts to shamelessly promote the FREE (as in anonymous and without cost) voting we really hope you will do, we have combined two completely disparate topics in a thinly-veiled attempt at showing off Penthouse photographs — even though none of the women pictured today happen to be wearing veils.

You would be wrong, however, as it turns out we did in fact uncover a very strong connection between the signs of the Zodiac and a collection of 16 Pets of the Year (and POY Runner Ups). Come to find out, every single one of these extraordinary women happened to be born in a month on the calendar, so each has a Zodiac sign. Wacky, right? … So now we may continue.

Zodiac Sex

You can try to keep a lid on your real identity, use a VPN and wear a fake mustache, but it’s still possible to build a profile based on your browsing history, cache and propensity for looking at naked ladies. Where this gets interesting is when there’s enough data to link sexual preferences to personality types or, in the case of the latest research, astrological signs. So, let’s have some fun by matching star signs to the kind of sex you’re likely to be into. This is all highly scientific, by the way. Astrology, guys. It’s real.

ARIES
You don’t mess around, do you? Aries are passionate and aggressive. They don’t hold back. No room for romance or foreplay. It’s go time. When an Aries says, “Let’s fuck,” you better be ready to drop those pants and take care of business. I’m dating an Aries because: duh.

TAURUS
Complete opposite to Aries. Taureans like to take their time. They prefer foreplay. Scented candles, coconut oil massages, lingering gazes — all that jazz. Also, they probably like jazz. Whatever works for you, I guess, but see above.

GEMINI
The twins. So guess what? Geminis are into group action or dating multiple partners at once. They like taking risks and require constant stimulation. They can be needy, but if you’re willing to satisfy that need, then you’re laughing all the way to the money shot. Just remember, you’re not the only one in their DMs.

CANCER
Incurable romantics. Dinner at a fancy restaurant, flowers, weekends away, all leading to a heady lovemaking session with flailing ’80s hair and a Michael Bolton power ballad playing in the background.

LEO
Leos are control freaks who secretly want to be in a situation they cannot control. They go weak at the knees when imagining a four-on-one scenario, ideally with four Aries guys or gals. This matchmaking shit is easy, bro.

VIRGO
Not exactly what it says on the tin, Virgoans are the sort of people who like to dress in latex and whip someone’s testicles. Virgos are inveterate doms. You have been warned.

LIBRA
The scales of justice play their part here. Librans like everything aboveboard and legal. No exploitation. However, they’re lawyers, so they like a bit of dirty talk. Tell them what you’re going to do and watch them melt. No objection, your Honor

SCORPIO
Don’t bother faking it with a Scorpio. They like to keep it real. The most likely sign to be up for some home movie action, either watching or participating. Scorpios are why Snapchat was invented.

SAGITTARIUS
Poor old Sags. They like to travel the world and go down on you next to the Trevi Fountain. Lockdown is a total boner-killer for Sagittarius because they enjoy nothing more than risky public sex. Zoom orgies just don’t cut it.

CAPRICORN
Interesting. Caps are shy, reticent and not that into their own personal pleasure, which makes them perfect submissives. Break out the ropes and tie those Christmas cuties up. A good match for Virgos.

AQUARIUS
Aquarians are really into finding out who you are and what makes you tick. They like to be stimulated mentally, so if you’re a smart, lonely dude, hook up with an Aquarius. She will blow your mind and, well, you know the rest.

PISCES
The most creative sign of the Zodiac. Pisceans’ favorite thing in the world is to construct elaborate sexual fantasies. In fact, sometimes they prefer fantasy to the real thing. By the time an actual person sits on their face, it’s all over. Take it from a seasoned Piscean campaigner. This astrology stuff is so on the money.

Penthouse POY History Intermission

Now on to the, if not more interesting elements, at least differently interesting elements. Seeing as how we are currently selecting the 2021 Pet of the Year, it seemed like a bit of visual POY History might be just what the doctor ordered. At the very least, we ordered it, and most of us have been to a doctor at one point or another in our lives, so we considered that close enough.

While the previous gallery consisted of merely 15 photographs, necessarily of a clad nature in this free venue, we would be remiss if we did not remind everyone that the PenthouseGold membership site features every one of these women in substantially more revealing repose. Not only would we be remiss, but we’d get whined at about it too, and we mostly find that unpleasant. The 100+ Pets of the Year and Runner Ups representing the POY History, though, we consider that fine entertainment. Also, do REMEMBER:

POY Voting Areola Borealis

[This Banner used to go to the voting page, but the vote has obviously ended. We hated to just delete it though, because it was darned pretty. Also, there will be votes every year, so you might want to keep checking back.[

Robert Sammelin

drAwn to success: THE Robert sAmmelin Way

Robert Sammelin illustrations are an ode to exploitation horror posters, weapons, video games and shapely women who look like they could survive an apocalypse. The self-taught concept artist, illustrator, graphic designer and comic creator from Sweden has worked for Apple, Nike, The New York Times, Rob Zombie, Esquire, Entertainment Weekly and Dark Horse Comics, and designed the branding art for the popular Battlefield video games.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Kiruna, a mining town in the absolute north of Sweden, well above the Arctic Circle, where it’s near perpetually dark for the eight months of winter and conversely there’s around-the-clock sunlight during summer. I moved to Stockholm at 20, where I’ve remained for 22 years with my wife and son.

What’s your artistic background?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed drawing and making up stories. I’m self-taught, so what I’ve missed out in formal training I’ve gained a shorthand, or rather feeling, for how to depict things and convey what’s in my head.

I still don’t know much about anatomy, color theory or drawing structure, and I rather enjoy that. I let curiosity guide me and make up my own way of doing things.

Before I made art a career at 27, making video game concept art, I must’ve had ten or 12 different jobs; ranging from IT consultant and records store clerk to subway train driver.  In the end, only drawing the odd freelance gig on evenings and weekends had me feeling down, and my wife insisted I quit my job and give illustration a proper go.

I spent two weeks drawing a wide range of things for a portfolio and landed my first video game work within a month, and I’ve remained in the industry since, currently at Embark Studios as a Concept Art Director.

How did you develop your signature style?

I had surgery done to my drawing hand wrist due to a ganglion [cyst] which permanently limited its flexibility, just as I had started my first job doing concept art. Working digitally, as you do in concept art, wasn’t an issue thankfully, but I found that my favorite pastime of drawing in ink with pen on paper was limiting and cumbersome, so I started using a brush instead.

Brushes have flexibility and allow for flowing varied lines that I could easily do without much wristwork and made me adopt a line economy, eliminating a lot of fine detail work. I found that flat and subtly textured coloring I’d see in the Euro comics I grew up with complemented that well.

What inspires your art?

Music and films are major factors for me; I constantly play records when drawing and watch at least a couple of films per week. I have a particular soft spot for old campy exploitation horror and like to make movie posters of films that just exist in my head.

I’ve made a habit over the years to build a mental library of imagery and phrases I find cool, fun, odd or interesting and revisit them when free drawing. I never run out of ideas that way—the randomness of a single phrase in a song or an image onscreen can instantly bring up interesting connections to that library.

What drives Robert Sammelin to create art?

I’m at my most content and happy inking a loose pencil drawing, letting myself get surprised at the outcome. Keeping the door open to those surprises means you have to combine safe things with risks.

At my best, a single drawing or image is both crude and delicate, cheeky and scary, fun and thoughtful—that’s what I keep wanting to achieve. Also, I simply can’t seem to stop drawing.

Tell us about your process. What’s involved?

It depends a lot on the assignment; in my normal job making concept art and branding work for games, it’s an entirely digital process that involves a lot of people and factors, so in a way that’s not my art—it’s a team effort.

Commissioned illustrations and posters, on the other hand, I generally start off with some research and reference gathering followed by a couple of rough digital color sketches I run by the client. When we’re in agreement, I do a loose pencil foundation on paper that I either ink or render in pencil, followed by scanning and digital coloring.

There have been the odd acrylic painting or digitally painted pieces over time, but most of my art is done on paper. For my personal work, it’s always on paper with digital coloring and is an improvised affair; I start drawing and make it up as I go.

How has your art evolved over time?

I like to experiment and try different mediums and methods. I think it’s essential for any artist, but for me it diverges into different styles of work—line art inks, pencil renderings, digital painting and branding/key art—that all inform the others but remain its own thing.

Earlier this year, though, I started dabbling with 3D sculpting and rendering. You’d think from making video games the past 15 years I’d been at it for some time, but I just never got around to it. It’s incredibly fun and addictive, but a lot more time-consuming for me than drawing.

What equipment do you use to create your pieces?

Pencils, brushes, dip pen nibs, ink, an assortment of brush pens, whiteout, a computer and a Wacom Cintiq.

How’s your relationship with Instagram?

I was an early adopter of Instagram, but for the longest time favored Tumblr over it for online art posting. With the latter’s steady, sad decline after the adult ban, I jumped ship to Instagram. I have my own site and a few portfolio services like Behance and ArtStation, but for the general outreach, you can’t beat social media. I’ve made a lot of meaningful connections and friendships with artists and clients through it.

Do you ever struggle with online censorship?

At times, yes. Being Swedish, I believe myself to have a healthy relationship to nudity, body positivity and sexuality, and I’m often surprised at what constitutes “safe” content online. The apparent fear of human nudity and sexual expression baffles me.

Glass Coffin Movie Poster

While I’ve had the expected online content either flagged or removed, I’ve been positively surprised at the vast majority of wonderful praise, support and encouragement from people and women in particular.

What are some of your career highlights?

I’ve ticked off a few bucket list items lately; I was approached to do a gatefold double LP for Ennio Morricone, called Morricone Groove, that focuses on his lesser known soundtrack work from the ’60s and ’70s, which features a lot of my all-time favorite tracks of his.

Getting to work with Rob Zombie on a lot of LP soundtracks for his films was another. I was a big fan in my teens, so getting contacted by him saying he’s a fan of mine was delightful.

The same thing happened again when Anthony Gonzalez of M83 got in touch to have me design a poster and line of merch for a film he’d made to his latest album.

Some of my alternative movie poster screenprints have gotten some wonderful and unexpected praise. James Mangold bought a copy of the Logan poster, and the IMAX office has it hanging in their lobby.  I’m also told a copy of my Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood screenprint hangs in the cinema owned by Quentin Tarantino, which if true feels unreal.

Battlefield by Robert Sammelin

My craziest realization, though, is that some 50 million people own art I’ve made in the form of the Battlefield games. I didn’t really dawn on me until I stood beneath a giant billboard in Times Square of my key art for Battlefield 3 and saw ads for it everywhere I went. Designing that signature Battlefield branding art is a definitive career highlight.

Tell us something about you that we might not expect.

I’m a fairly uninteresting character as a whole; I can’t whistle, I never use sketchbooks and have an unusually high physical pain threshold.

What are you working on right now?

Besides making the future of video games at Embark Studios, I’m currently doing a whole bunch of record covers and posters, a comic called YT Savior with Ales Kot for Upshot Studios that is out soon and yet another comic called Kali with Daniel Freedman.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Movie Poster

You will discover it fairly easy to find Robert Sammelin online, although you may actually find yourself in ac couple of lesser-know, but substantially more representative of fine art, locations on the web.

Of course you can also just buy a copy of a Battlefield game. We have found a nice frosty beverage helps with those, should you be looking for a hint.