Stormi Travels

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Stormi Travels: Taking the World by Stormi!

Talented Stormi Maya has had a whirlwind year since she was named March 2022’s Penthouse Pet. The petite powerhouse has continued to follow her dreams and further her multitrack career as an actress, model and vocalist fronting the nu-metal band Cinnamon Babe. We’re catching up with the dynamic performer and learning about all she’s done since joining the Penthouse family.

Stormi, 27, confides 2022 was a “great” year for her and shares, “I felt like I reached so many goalposts and accomplished so much!”

Stormi Travels Alone

The native New Yorker says shortly before her issue hit the stands, she shot the show Heaux Phase, a streaming TV series about a teenage girl who becomes pregnant and has to figure out life.

“It was my first time leading my own TV show, and we filmed 11 one-hour episodes in two months out in Atlanta,” says Stormi. “It was hard work, 12 to 14 hour days, every day, and a ton of lines to remember.”

But the beauty didn’t rest on her laurels and says, “Right after filming that show, I went to NYC to film for HBO Max, working on season two of That Damn Michael Che! It was a great experience going back home to NYC for a week. I was able to see my family and friends!”

Finally Storm Travels with Pentouse

In March, Stormi notched another career highlight — being named a Penthouse Pet!
The cover girl gushes, “I was so excited. I could finally tell the world I was a Penthouse Pet. I was so happy!

“I shot my pictorial around November 2021, but I wasn’t allowed to say anything until the issue hit the newsstand! My followers were so happy to see me on the cover of Penthouse. I decided to do a free magazine giveaway for my followers to promote my rock band Cinnamon Babe’s debut single ‘Pure O.’ The metal community was shook when I dropped my first song in March. No one expected me to be a metal artist. Our music went viral that summer with our song ‘Rock ’N’ Roll Is Black!’ It broke the genre.”

Stormi Travels with Posse

But that’s not all, Stormi was also on MTV!

“I was on a reality show called Secret Relationship on MTV! The best part is they even licensed my music to use! I had my own one-hour episode on MTV! How epic is that?!” she says.

July brought another prominent role for Stormi in Irv Gotti’s debut movie, We Made It in America, which is based on his BET series Tales.

“I play the role of Shay, the third lead. The filming was in Atlanta and was about a month straight,” she says.

“It’s hard living in a hotel for long stretches, but it’s always worth it. I have to live off of microwave food, and living in a single room can get boring, but I’m there to focus on work. The movie will be in theaters soon.”

Stormi reveals, “My band, Cinnamon Babe, continued to gain popularity throughout the year due to everyone’s support — including Penthouse. I appreciate them using my music in my Penthouse videos, sharing our posts and even giving me a rock-’n’-roll themed shoot for the magazine.”

By the time winter rolled around, Cinnamon Babe was playing live shows in Los Angeles and doing charity events — including a performance for the nonprofit Project 43 LA.

“We raised money to help the children of the community get Christmas gifts, and we raised awareness for the center,” she says.

“I am very proud of my 2022, and I feel so blessed and appreciative,” says stunning Stormi. “I know 2023 will have more in store — and I am excited to see what’s next!”

Obviously people around here love Stomi Travels, but we like it almost as much when she’s just on the phone filling us in on her amazingly diverse life. You can follow along on Instagram or her website as well. You’ll see what we quickly discovered: Stormi Maya is flat out interesting. And you cannot say that about very many of us.

Ken Block

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Ken Block: A True Maverick

Late legend Ken Block truly lived by his inspiring motto: GO FAST RISK EVERY THANG.

Before the dynamo’s tragic death at age 55 in a snowmobile accident in Utah on Jan. 2, Block made an indelible mark on athletic fashion, motorsports, car culture and entertainment. Though the world lost a tremendous talent far too soon, his lasting legacy will be felt for years to come.

Skateboarding buffs first knew of Ken Block through California-based DC Shoes, the company he co-founded in 1994. Regarded as a leader in skateboard kicks, DC Shoes eventually branched out and became a renowned action sports brand, which still operates today.

Next, Block roared onto the rally car scene in 2005. That season he notched five top five finishes and placed third overall in the Group A class and fourth overall in the Rally America National Championship. It came as no surprise whe he subsequently earned Rally America’s Rookie of the Year award.

But that was just the beginning for Block.

The following year, Ken competed in the first-ever X Games rally event and took home the bronze at X Games XII — an impressive start for his ten-year stretch in the high-profile contest, which saw him earn a total of five medals.

Block also charged into American and European rallycross racing, racking up numerous wins and podium appearances. He next became a social media phenomenon with his jaw-dropping Gymkhana videos, which have drawn more than 600 million views on YouTube.

In basic terms, Gymkhana reigns as the epitome of precision driving — putting the pedal to the metal and navigating a challenging obstacle course at top speed. Though Block made it look easy, you’ll find nothing simple about his phenomenal feats behind the wheel.

His online video debut in the aughts was born from a perfect storm. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift showed mass audiences how cool tire-shredding could be, and an army of thrill seekers armed with GoPro cameras craved real-life action. Video-sharing platforms were about to explode, and after years of the same old, same old, car culture finally arrived primed for the nonstop adrenaline jolts delivered by Block’s stylized clips.

Block’s particular vehicular mayhem rocketed to success imbued with snowboarding and skateboarding’s energy, the go-for-broke attitude of MTV’s Jackass and an exhilarating sense of fun. Yet at their core, the videos also showed a master at work. Block’s skills as a driver — coupled with his talent as an entertainer — made him the ultimate sports showman. In 2009 for the BBC show Top Gear, Block even took James May out for a Gymkhana-style spin in California — furthering his international audience reach.

Ken Block redefined how cars would be portrayed in new media, and in the process, he displayed a whole lot of personality — and no shortage of business savvy. An ordinary man’s tank might have been running on empty by that point. But as already demonstrated, Block could be anything but ordinary.

In 2010, Block formed Hoonigan Racing Division, a team that competes in the American Rally Association. After selling his stake in DC Shoes, he shifted his off-track business focus to Hoonigan Industries, an apparel brand for auto enthusiasts. He also branched out into video games, appearing in three installments of Codemasters’ Dirt series, and Hoonigan-branded cars were featured in Microsoft’s Forza series.

In 2021, Block — ever the innovator — collaborated with Rotiform and Fuel Off-Road through Wheel Pros to make four types of signature tires he used on his souped-up rides. And the Hoonigan Racing Division continued pushing the engineering envelope in 2022 by partnering with BBi Autosport to create the “Hoonipigasus,” a 1400hp Porsche SVRSR.

Fellow rally racer Tanner Foust says, “I think it’s hard to quantify the impact Ken had on the automotive world. He was a maverick and a pioneer in a lot of ways. Besides the driving and the speed that he had in rally racing, and rallycross, he — off-track — was a business maverick. He started DC Shoes in his garage. He started many companies from nothing and built them into multi-million-dollar companies.”

Foust says Block helped transform the way drivers partnered with sponsors by demonstrating how content creation offered another avenue to connect with audiences. He explains, “Ken really paved the way for drivers, in my opinion, to market themselves differently in motorsport. He showed racers that we have a different way to market ourselves, and it wasn’t always about results on the track.”

Foust also praises Block for how he used “his sheer grit and energy and marketing genius and driving ability” to create a brand that eclipsed some of the biggest automotive names in the world.

Shortly after Block’s death, the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) announced in 2023 it was retiring his number 43 from the World Rally Championship (WRC).

“Given the enormous contribution our great friend Ken Block made to motorsport and the fact that he was held in such high regard by people the world over, it is entirely appropriate that his #43 will be withdrawn from use during the 2023 WRC season,” FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem shared in a statement.

“While it’s a small gesture, we hope that it is one that will bring some comfort to his family and friends. Ken was a true legend, and the memory of this true legend will live with us forever.”

Wow. Did you ever read one of these little blurbs and think, “I wish I would have known all of this while this person was still alive?” … Some people truly inspire that entrepreneurial spirit, do they not? (Although probably none of us at 55 should be trying things that would have been simple at 35 — a lesson learned rarely fatally, thank goodness.) At this point, follow us and learn more about Hoonigan Racing, Hoonigan Industries — and see videos of Ken Block in action.

Carolina Diaz

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Carolina Diaz: Life is a Risk

Carolina Díaz was born in Tijuana, where she has lived her entire life. Ever since she was a child, Carolina claims she has been a self-conscious, reserved person. Of course Carolina has another side too, that of the girl who made mischief with her family. Still, relating her hidden side to the world of entertainment, social networks and content generation did not come easily. “It was hard for me to imagine being in front of a camera,” she explains to us.

Although at first she thought of studying medicine, but something kept drawing her attention to being behind a production. “I got into communication sciences, I said: ‘OK. I have many aspects that I can dedicate myself to, photography, radio and make my own documentary or short film.’”

Strengthened wiith that behind the camera inertia, Carolina continued her career at the University of the California. Then, on one fateful occasion while doing a professional internship with a Televisa program called Conexión TV, the producers asked Carolina to replace the host who had failed to arrive. It took some convincing, but after refusing several times, Carolina agreed to help. As it turned out, Carolina performed better than anyone expected.

“There are people who activate a chip in front of the camera and the nerve goes away, the emotions go away and everything flows. And I feel that it is something that continually happens to me, it really was a stroke of luck that they considered me to be in front of cameras and from there many things began.”

Later, after finishing her degree and giving up a temporary job at a casino, Carolina decided to experiment with something related to her career. She decided to approach it as studiously as possible, via a media agency, and here she acquired some technical skills that would help her adapt more smoothly to a professional environment. Stuck over in the administrative part, however, she began to feel dissatisfied. This lead her to explore other possibilities that would take her to Badabun, a space that helped her take even bigger steps, this time as a public figure.

“I searched the networks and saw that Badabun was looking for staff. I sent a request and they called me.”

Caro explains that she was very nervous during the job interview. “I arrived and they asked me if I knew how to use Photoshop, edit videos and do production.”

Between several more questions and a convincing attitude of wanting to have the job, she stayed, in the Memes department. Yes, from Memes. “We were easily 10 people in that area. There was a time when we were 120 or 130 people, a very large number. So, we had to make memes for Badabun, for another page and for influencers”.

Recognizing the evolution of the digital world, Badabun had decided to bet on the video format. Once again, the challenge of being in front of the camera awaited Caro [apparently her Pet name, as it were – Ed.].

”They chose me for a project, because they thought I was very funny and had charisma.”

She worked again and again, when soon her followers began to ask about her role, noting that she did not appear in company videos. “Eventually it got to a point where they asked me if I wanted to go out in videos and leave the meme department, but they didn’t assure me that it would work. My salary was going to change, not to mention it was nerve-racking to take risks. Ultimately to that I said, ’life is always a risk’ and I did it.”

Carolina’s work scheme did indeed seem risky, so she tried to account for that. She proposed that her commitment would be to record videos for the company, and in exchange Badabun would provide her with the equipment to make personal content. One cannot measure surprises, though, and she soon discovered she was too young to really understand the sheer volume networks handled.

“I had to take them about 30 videos a week, and with that I only had the opportunity to record two videos for my own channel.”

The experience led Caro to realize that while the exhibition was very good, there were also issues that she could not agree with, including overwork, psychological abuse and even bullying.

She confesses to us: “There was everything bad — this is very common in Mexico — there was a lot of abuse of power. There was harassment and even homophobic comments. … Unfortunately, for legal reasons I withdrew from those complaints, but our country sucks on that. No matter how much you want to fix things, and no matter how much you try, if you want to expose these negative situations, they will always put obstacles in your way.”

In the end, Caro decided to take a path apart from Badabun, “The detachment process was complicated, but I made a very strong union with my work team, which was my editor, the person who records me. and my friend who helped me produce. I mean, we already had a team, and if they were with me, I had to continue with the videos.” The challenge was to continue making content and detach, at least little by little, from the Badabun image.

After a year, that image faded, and she began to gain recognition without being so tied to the past. At present, she is also trying her hand at fashion, with a clothing line still in the creative process of being launched. And her concerns grow, “I would like to be in a reality show, and, if I’m honest, I want to get rid of making videos for networks a bit, I’m doing casting for series, I took acting classes, and I hope the time comes when I no longer dedicate myself to make videos. Still, I recognize it is a process, little by little.”

In the same way, Carolina plans to make one of her dreams come true, that of being behind the camera producing and directing a documentary. “If there is a single issue that catches my attention, it would be white slavery in Tijuana, I know it is very sensitive, but being here you easily see it every 7 or 8 streets, and for many people it has already become something normal; It makes me feel very helpless, but at the same time it makes me want to report on it.”

Caro Díaz traveled to Mexico City to carry out this photo session, where Penthouse was able to get to know her a little better. In her personal sphere, Carolina constantly works on her safety and puts effort into the process of getting to know herself more. Regarding the photo session for Penthouse, she confesses, “It was a challenge, because I had never imagined seeing myself like this. For me it was so artistic, and at the same time having the confidence to say, ‘Yes, I can be in these types of photos.’ … Now, I feel well. It is no longer something that scares me. I consider it a really cool experience, and — perhaps strangely — it helps one feel a little more secure. It’s something I could definitely do again.”

Carolina Diaz originally appeared in the May/June 2022 issue of Penthouse México. We did the best we could with that translation from the original Spanish, but for those native — or at least more skilled in reading Spanish — friends, we have included the original version below. If we made any horrible mistakes, please let us know. We’d rather be embarrassed and learn (and be able to correct the error) than just put on blinders and plunge forth. Y’know, as it were.

La Vida es un Riesgo

Carolina Díaz nació en Tijuana, donde ha vivido toda su vida. Ella recuerda que desde niña ha sido una persona cohibida, reservada. Sin embargo, tenía otra cara, la de la niña que le hacía travesuras a su familia. Por ello, relacionarla con el mundo del espectáculo, las redes sociales y la generación de contenido resultaba difícil de creer. “Me costaba imaginarme estar frente a una cámara”, nos explica.

Aunque en un inicio pensó estudiar medicina, había algo en ella que le llamaba la atención sobre estar detrás de una producción. “Me metí a ciencias de la comunicación, dije: ‘ok, tengo muchas vertientes a las que me puedo dedicar, fotografía, radio y hacer mi propio documental o cortometraje’”. Con esa inercia de estar tras de cámara, siguió su carrera en la Universidad de las Californias, hasta que en una ocasión haciendo prácticas profesionales en un programa de Televisa llamado Conexión TV, le pidieron suplir a la conductora porque no había llegado. Ella, después de rehusarse varias veces, aceptó apoyar.

Por fortuna, salió mejor de lo que ella y los demás esperaban. “Habemos personas que se nos activa un chip frente a cámara y el nervio se va, las emociones se van y todo fluye.
Y siento que es algo que continuamente me pasa, realmente fue un golpe de suerte que me consideraran para estar frente a cámaras y de ahí comenzaron muchas cosas”.

Tiempo adelante, después de culminar su carrera y renunciar a un trabajo temporal en un casino, decidió experimentar en algo que estuviera relacionado con su carrera. Fue así como llegó a una agencia de medios, donde adquirió algunos aprendizajes de la industria que le ayudarían a adaptarse mejor. Sin embargo, como estaba en la parte administrativa, comenzó a sentirse insatisfecha, por lo que exploró otras posibilidades que la llevarían a Badabun, espacio que le ayudó a dar pasos más grandes, pero como figura pública. “Busqué en redes y vi que Badabun estaba buscando personal. Mandé solicitud y me llamaron”.

Caro nos explica que estaba muy nerviosa durante la entrevista de trabajo. “Llegué y me preguntaron si sabía usar Photoshop, editar videos y hacer producción”. Entre varias preguntas más y una actitud convincente de querer tener el puesto, se quedó, en el departamento de Memes. Sí, de Memes. “Éramos fácil 10 personas en esa área. Hubo un tiempo en que éramos 120 o 130 personas, una cantidad muy grande. Entonces, nos tocaba hacer memes para Badabun, para otra página y para influencers”. Con la evolución del mundo digital, Badabun decidió apostar por el formato de videos.

Nuevamente, a Caro le esperaba el reto de estar frente a cámara: “me pasó que no fue alguien y me pusieron a mí, porque creían que yo era muy chistosa y tenía carisma”.

Volvió a funcionar, los seguidores comenzaron a preguntar por sus participaciones cuando no salía en algún video. “Hasta que llegó un punto donde me preguntaron si ya quería salir en videos y dejar el departamento de memes, pero no me aseguraban que iba a funcionar, mi salario iba a cambiar y entonces era un nervio arriesgarme. Total que dije: ‘la vida es un riesgo’ y lo hice”.

El esquema de trabajo era riesgoso, le propusieron que su compromiso sería grabar videos para la empresa, y a cambio Badabun le facilitaría el equipo para hacer contenido personal. “Entonces, como que uno no dimensiona, en ese tiempo estaba muy polluela para saber cuánto se manejaba en redes. Yo les tenía que sacar como 30 videos a la semana, y con eso ya tenía la oportunidad de poder grabar dos videos en mi canal”.

La experiencia llevó a Caro a darse cuenta de que si bien la exposición era muy buena, también había temas con los que no podía estar de acuerdo, entre ellos el exceso de trabajo, maltrato psicológico e incluso acoso. Ella nos confiesa: “Había de todo, esto es
muy común en México, había mucho abuso de poder, había acoso y hasta comentarios homofóbicos… Lamentablemente, por cuestiones legales yo me retiré de ese tema, pero nuestro país es una mierda en eso, por más que quieras arreglar las cosas y por más que quieras exponer esa situación, siempre te van a poner trabas en todo”.

Al final, Caro decidió tomar camino aparte de Badabun, “el proceso de desapego estuvo complicado, pero hice una unión muy fuerte con mi equipo de trabajo que era mi editora,
la persona que me graba y mi amigo que me ayudaba producir; o sea, ya teníamos un equipo, y si ellos estaban conmigo, yo tenía que seguir con los videos”. El reto consistía en continuar haciendo contenido y desligarse, al menos poco a poco, de la imagen de Badabun.

Después de un año, esa imagen se fue desvaneciendo y comenzó a lograr ser reconocida sin estar tan ligada al pasado. En el presente, también está probando suerte en la moda, con una línea de ropa, la cual está en proceso creativo para ser lanzada. Y sus inquietudes crecen, “me gustaría estar en un reality y, soy honesta, quiero desprenderme un poco de hacer vídeos para redes, estoy haciendo casting para series, tomé clases de actuación, y espero que llegue el momento donde ya no me dedique a hacer videos, pero es un proceso, poco a poco”.

De la misma manera, piensa llevar a la realidad uno de sus sueños, el de estar detrás de cámara produciendo y dirigiendo un documental. “Hay un tema que me llama la atención, la trata de blancas en Tijuana, sé que es muy sensible, pero estando aquí fácil lo ves cada 7 u 8 calles, y para la gente ya es algo normal; me da mucha impotencia, pero a la vez me dan ganas de informar sobre eso”.

Caro Díaz viajó a la Ciudad de México para realizar esta sesión de fotos, donde pudimos conocerla un poco más. En el ámbito personal, ella se reconoce como alguien que constantemente trabaja en su seguridad y está en proceso de conocerse más. Y sobre la sesión de fotos para Penthouse, nos confiesa: fue un reto, porque nunca me había imaginado verme así, para mí fue tan artístico y a la vez tener una seguridad de decir: ‘sí puedo salir en este tipo de fotos, me siento bien, no es algo que me espanta’. Siento que fue una experiencia muy chida y ayuda a una a sentirse un poco más segura. Es algo que definitivamente podría hacerlo otra vez”.

They do like to credit a lot of people in that magazine, so we see zero reason we should not do so here. Photography by Ojo de Paz. Makeup and hairstyle by Karla Adonai. The location was the Quinta Soledad Cultural Center. And last, but never, ever least in our world of journalism love, Aaron Zavaleta provided the interview duties. … Now you’d think they would have included a link for Carolina Diaz too, but they did not. Remember how she was talking about the culture in her country? We, on the other hand , have never been accused of having culture, so we found her for you.

Suicide Among Veterans

Posted on by Team Penthouse

A Deadly Crisis of Suicide

Jason Zimmerman was born and raised in a rural Tennessee town with a strong hunting culture. He got his first firearm — a BB gun — from his parents at age seven. On his 12th birthday, his grandfather gifted him a shotgun and enlisted him in firearm safety courses.

“In my childhood, I saw firearms as a tool to help you sustain your family, put food on the table, get you through the lean times,” he said.

After Zimmerman enlisted as an Army medic in the late ’90s, guns took on another purpose: “My firearm was a tool. It just served a different function: to keep me, and the guys to my left and right, safe.”

His service featured tough deployments to Bosnia, Honduras and Iraq.

Now a civilian, Zimmerman today owns 17 firearms, including an AR-15, an AK-47, and seven pistols. While he once thought his guns would provide a sense of comfort post-service, his relationship to them has fundamentally changed.

The trouble started after returning home, when Zimmerman started showing symptoms of PTSD and depression. After bagging and dressing his first post-deployment buck, he felt a flashback to the battlefield and had to stop.

“In all honesty, having my hands in that much blood again was too much,” he said. “I couldn’t do it.”

Zimmerman reached a crisis point in February 2012, when his best friend from the 82nd Airborne Division, who’d saved his life in combat, killed himself. Zimmerman had spent hours on the phone with his buddy during his mental health crisis. He hung up thinking a calamity was averted, only to wake the next morning to news of his pal’s death. After this, Zimmerman became depressed, withdrawn and decided he, too, would shoot himself on the one-year anniversary of his friend’s suicide.

Fortunately, soon afterward he reconnected with a former schoolmate who saved his life. The two fell in love, got married and had kids. Zimmerman still struggles with PTSD and depression, and he hasn’t been hunting in years. He enjoys shooting guns at a firing range with veteran buddies, but he can no longer escape the truth of their lethality. Their outsize role in American violence was made even clearer to Zimmerman when a series of violent threats at his daughter’s high school repeatedly forced her and her classmates into lockdown.

“During the most recent threat, I drove into the grocery store parking across the street from her school,” he said. “I texted her, ‘It’s OK, peanut. I’m here. If something terrible happens, I’m here.’”

A few years ago, Zimmerman took a job at Johnson City’s Tennessee Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Specifically, he serves in a counseling role created through a suicide prevention law named after Clay Hunt, a vet who took his life with a gun. Zimmerman’s innovative work on safe storage of firearms among veterans led to his being tapped as a core member of former President Donald Trump’s veteran suicide prevention lethal means task force. The initiative broke significant political ground by affirming, in part, that “effective suicide prevention is voluntary reduction in the ability to access lethal means with respect to time, distance and convenience.”

For decades, public health researchers have endeavored to understand America’s complex relationship with firearms, given their use for hunting and home protection, yet also being the most common means used in the unyielding suicide crisis. Within the firearm community that last topic was a third rail, facing seemingly insurmountable resistance from the National Rifle Association (NRA), which insisted “the use of firearms in suicide is not relevant.”

But in the last dozen years, a growing constellation of Second Amendment advocates who experienced the pain of losing someone close to a firearm suicide have successfully countered this position — that not only is there a connection between access and suicide, but that much can be done to address it head-on.

This network includes Zimmerman, but also Ralph Demicco, a New Hampshire gun shop owner, who launched the national Gun Shop Project after three customers in a week died by suicide within hours of purchase; Joe Bartozzi, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), who endured a close colleague’s suicide and has co-branded strategic initiatives with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention; Steve Eliason, a Republican Utah lawmaker, who authored pioneering gun safety legislation after three children at his son’s middle school died by suicide; Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, along with Brett Bass, a retired Marine who lost a number of battle buddies to suicide, and Jennifer Stuber, whose husband, Matt, shot and killed himself, and who effectively lobbied the Washington State legislature for wide-ranging firearm suicide prevention programs.

These and other Second Amendment advocates have built projects that are inexorably altering the firearm suicide prevention landscape. Perhaps the most compelling demonstration that a sea change is occurring within the firearm community came in a 2022 firearm suicide prevention summit, whose attendees included the U.S. Concealed Carry Association and gun manufacturers Smith & Wesson and Glock Inc. The meeting was convened by Dr. Matthew Miller, the director of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Suicide Prevention Program, a veteran and avid gun collector, who lost his best friend to suicide during his last year in the Air Force.

 Previous federal work on this issue has been hamstrung by inaction and ineffective policies. In numerous instances, promising programs have been shuttered or scaled back due to political pressure. At times, the VA has also restricted gun rights for veterans carrying dishonorable discharge classifications or evidence of poor financial decision-making. (These poorly conceived and articulated policies resulted in a years-long, highly effective offensive against the VA from the NRA and other firearm lobbyists.)

New and ongoing initiatives have been far more successful. VA leaders and their allies, for instance, quietly forged partnerships with major gun groups and firearms figures, including the National Shooting Sports Foundation, sport shooter Chris Cheng, and, in one case, a state chapter of the NRA. In 2018, the VA held the first of its kind innovation challenge for safe firearm storage, which led to the production of numerous design innovations now being developed and produced.

Advocates are also looking to pioneering projects in other countries. After Switzerland greatly reduced the size of its military in the early ’00s, for instance, the number of households with guns shrank, as did the suicide rate among men. In 2006, the Israeli Defense Forces banned soldiers from taking guns home on weekends, and the suicide rate among young men decreased by 40 percent.

Zimmerman routinely sees the tragic effects of America’s unparalleled suicide crisis and hopes this new movement can make change.

“It’s hard not to shake a tree these days and find someone not impacted by suicide or gun violence,” he said. “That really bothers me.”

Read more of Jasper Craven’s work at battleborne.substack.com.

Vote Finale 2023

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Vote Finale 2023: Runner-Up Ruminations

Weve never had a Finale vote before, so we are very excited, just to be clear. So forgive us if things get confusing. Basically the top women in the popular vote — verifiably tied to their social media promotion, data indicates — moved into a run-off competition. Naturally we felt like we should introduce the finalists, but then we very quickly realized that Pet Vote Finale 2023 contestants could much more easily do this themselves.

As you probably discerned, we simply took the introductory parts of their SFW Pet Videos and strung them all together, but should you realize that you suddenly want more, we will provide you “new page” links to (in calendar order, to avoid anything potentially untoward befalling us) … MSPUIYI, Tahlia Paris, Stormi Maya, Trippie Bri, Veronica Perasso, and Amber Rose.

Now we could have just left it at that, put the oddly (and completely unplanned) juxtaposed winners from the past three years in our fun little triptych linked to the new voting page, and left it at that. But then…

Tania Russof - Pet of the Year Runner-Up 1999

Vote Finale 2023: The Aftermath

(which happens to be a really excellent pun, by the way, since this all happens literally after the math)

You see, that photograph happens to be of Tania Russof who did not win in 1999. Not that we have any issue with Nikie St. Gilles taking home the prize at all. The point here being that there have been — and will continue to be — a by any standards spectacular group of women that finish in second place. Sure, everybody gives the “an honor to be nominated” platitudes when asked, but everybody likes to win. Let’s be honest. Not only that, but the Runner-Up position in the Pet Playoffs 2023 will not exactly be stepping in when somebody uncovers naked pictures of the winner and publishes them in a magazine. That happens with inferior competitions, but not with ours.

It seemed then that a little love thrown in the direction of the “this one little thing made the difference” Runner-Ups might just be the honorable thing to do. If not honorable, per se, at least it was a lot of fun.

While competition can be invigorating, once you select a winner, you by definition also have, not so much losers in this case as … women who did not win. You see, when you work with 12 very special people throughout the year, selecting that “one” and (usually) a “second” can be remarkably painful. Everyone cannot win, but we honestly hate to disappoint any of these ladies. This, even though the raw numbers made for a fairly simple mathematical division to get us to this Vote Finale 2023 point. (Fairly, not perfectly.)

Think about it: Choosing to make your living naked on camera takes more than just a little bit of personal fortitude. It also takes no small amount of ego. Without ego, movies would have no actors, music no musicians, and Nobel Prizes no … whatever category thing they need to select the best of the best that year. So we pick a winner, as contests must, but we intend in no way to minimize the unique and wonderful contributions to Penthouse that all the 2023 Pet of the Month winners brought. And we do want the Runner-Up to feel just a little bit extra special too. Best of luck to everyone here. Voting ends in a little over two weeks, and people can vote every day in this final round, so rally your folks, and if any of you readers have any suggestions for us beyond simply voting, well, that would be the point of the Contact page.

Krista Pflanzer - 1988 Pet of the Year Runner-Up

As a closing note to all of the women not in this final round — and moreso to any aspiring Penthouse models out there — we will borrow a line from our in-house Director of Pet Projects, Sam Phillips (Penthouse Pet, June 1993, in her own right). Sam always tells her wards, “Once you are a Pet, you are always a Pet.” … And who doesn’t like to be a member of an exclusive club, however paths down the road might diverge?

Pet Playoffs 2023 Vote - Previous Winners, Lacy Lennon, Kenzie Anne, Amber Marie

Minnie Michele

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Minnie Michele: The Ace

Hawaii has many stunning sights — and beguiling brunette Minnie Michele is one of the Aloha State’s best!

Our gorgeous Social Premier has made her mark online, but this alluring influencer also lives life to the fullest offline by enjoying local nightclubs, spending time in the gym, playing golf and hitting the shore. Minnie confides, “I LOVE the beach! I can’t live without it. Everything about the ocean is therapy to me.”

Bubbly and sweet, Minnie has a great sense of humor — and a wild side. The beach babe shares the wildest place she’s ever had sex was out in the ocean on a surfboard in the middle of Waikiki!

The dark-eyed goddess admits she’s not afraid of change. She’s proud of her constant evolution and willingness to always work on herself. But as far as we can see, she’s sheer perfection!

Given that fine — admittedly a tad prosaic — bit of editorial “gloss” we quickly decided to paint the Minnie Michele more with photos than with words. Granted, this will end up being an update more along the lines of a photo gallery than a profile or any kind of insightful glimpse, but considering our history we felt like folks might be fine with that every so often. People do read Penthouse for the articles, right? (While we admit we borrowed that tag line from an old Playboy promotion, we still think we deserve credit for that ever-so-subtle Subscription Plug. … So back to Minnie. …

Fast  Minnie Michele Facts

Favorite drink: “An espresso martini — extra sweet, please!”

Former jobs: “Real estate agent, personal trainer and claims adjuster for an auto insurance company to name a few.”

Favorite sport: “I love to play and watch golf!”

What she does in her spare time: “I am a huge foodie, so you’ll always catch me grabbing a bite somewhere with friends!”

Her future goals: “To be rich AF in every way — finances, health and opportunities.”

Naturally we want to encourage you to find out as much as you can about Minnie Michele, not only because we consider it a valuable use of your time, but mostly because you will find her to be one of the truly nice people in life. Beauty on the inside counts for a lot too, you know. Consequently…

INSTAGRAM: @minniemichelexx
TWITTER: @minniemichelexx
TIKTOK: @michele.in.hawaii

And of course we always try to give attribution to the photographers as well, if for no other reason than there are a heck of a lot of settings on a modern camera, and anyone who can figure all those out while standing this close to a woman this beautiful really needs some credit. Technically we found at least three different “main’ talents on this page, however, so we’ll happily send you off to @wickedneesh, @pisces_portraits, and @_chrispyshotz_ to get you started. Feel free to let them know you saw them here, and maybe ask to come along on the next shoot. Could be we have a few aspiring photography assistants out there.

Power Slap

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Power Slap Smackdown

Combat sports was knocked for a loop with the arrival of the Power Slap League. Billed as the world’s premier slap fighting organization, it’s led by Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) mastermind Dana White and highlights the brutal strength of unflinching competitors who put it all on the line for a shot at glory, while displaying their raw power and steadfast resolve.

Power Slap made its broadcast debut on TBS in January — but make no mistake. This isn’t some sort of reality TV contest. It is an honest-to-God sport, with male and female divisions, and it’s officially licensed and sanctioned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

The rules are simple. A coin toss determines who launches the first blow. The bouts are arranged by MMA weight classes and typically last three rounds. In each, both competitors have the opportunity to deliver a single strike to their opponent’s face — using their fingers and palm above the wrist simultaneously — and the obligation to receive their opponent’s strike in return.

Like boxing and MMA, Power Slap judging is based on a 10-point must system, with a round winner scoring 10 points and the loser scoring nine or fewer — and of course, KO and TKOs deliver victories to heavy hitters. Strikers can accumulate fouls for clubbing — making contact outside the designated facial zone — or illegal wind-ups, and defenders, who hold their hands behind their back, can get zotted for flinching or blocking.

The sport came charging out of the gate, drawing 1 million viewers on the video-sharing platform Rumble — and a clip on the league’s TikTok account (@powerslap) showing Jewel “Kidd Diamond” Scott’s powerhouse knockout of Anthony Green has garnered more than 100 million views and counting!

But critics have taken aim at Power Slap, arguing it glorifies violence for violence’s sake. However, Power Slap president Frank Lamicella, who oversees all daily operations — including the safety of the fighters — recently drew parallels between the league and the early days of the UFC.

Lamicella says, “The criticisms of Power Slap are almost identical to those the UFC received in the late ’90s and early ’00s. Credit to [former UFC CEO] Lorenzo Fertitta and Dana White on pressing ahead notwithstanding those criticisms. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have the UFC that is beloved by fans around the world today.”

He admits, “We knew Power Slap would ‘disrupt the disrupted.’ Those scrolling through their content feeds pause when they see a Power Slap match.”

Prickly pundits have also decried the supposed lack of defense, which Lamicella calls a “misguided” notion. He explains, “While traditional evasion defense may not be used, there are other defensive techniques that our athletes are learning and will only get better at — for example, timing and precision to roll with a slap but not commit a flinching foul, learning the proper balance of tenseness and strength training to build the head, neck and upper body muscles.”

He also points out there are a litany of health and safety requirements which are met for each match. All athletes must pass strict medical testing, including brain scans, physicals and eye exams, and there is additional comprehensive testing for those aged 38 or older.

Given all of the attention Power Slap has received, it is impossible to deny that White, 53, understands what audiences crave. Just look at his track record: The sports mogul has helmed the UFC as president since 2001, and under his savvy stewardship it has grown to a multibillion-dollar enterprise with a global fan base that shows no sign of waning.

White also knows how to roll with the punches. He’s countered criticism of his latest enterprise by pointing out Power Slap warriors take three to five slaps per event while “fighters in boxing take 300 to 400 punches per fight.”

Boldly addressing detractors, White says, “Nobody’s asking you to watch. Oh, you’re disgusted by it? Watch The Voice.”

Power Slap Fantasy

This last image aside, we have found no evidence that this mixing of female and male competitors exits in the sport, even though that would probably be the most “reality-based” pairing of the competition. That said, we did not exactly spend a lot of time looking around either. It seems like not slapping someone would be a much better alternative overall. You can  learn more about the Power Slap League and its strikers should you wish, however. Or you can spend your time watching meaningless repeats of long-gone competitions on the NFL Network while you wait for more civilized beatings to resume on national television this fall.

Lauren Johnson

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Lauren Johnson: Combat Barbie Comes Clean

I couldn’t look away from the train wreck of Afghanistan,” admits Lauren Johnson, a former Air Force public affairs officer. “I’d been on the train. Maybe I’d even steered it.”

The Fine Art of Camouflage, Johnson’s new memoir, is a book about the stories a nation’s veterans — and parents and children — tell ourselves and each other when the truth is too painful to confront directly.

The pull toward military service is not solely the domain of weapons-dripping, musclebound men. Johnson inherited a call to serve from her mother, a nurse in the Army Reserves, who’d deployed to the Gulf War when Johnson was seven.

“Though I may not have enlisted to become a woman,” she acknowledges, “the woman I most loved and admired had done the same.”

Despite a subsequent family pact that no one else join the military “because one deployment was enough,” the twin lures of post-9/11 patriotism and a college ROTC scholarship enticed Lauren into an Air Force officer’s uniform and a job in public affairs — or military journalism. Having earned the nickname “Combat Barbie” in training (a pink paint round exploded all over her uniform), she deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 as part of a Provincial Reconstruction Team. There, her job involved information operations — creating media spin to frame the American war effort in a positive light.

On the surface, a Provincial Reconstruction Team leverages “soft power,” winning hearts and minds by delivering ambulances, immunizing children, teaching women about their rights and overseeing construction projects — all with an eye toward building public support for the government and disputing the insurgency’s claims to legitimacy. Initially, Lauren was an idealistic 25-year-old, but the longer she was deployed in Afghanistan, the more she observed redundant bureaucracy, seesawing goals and a Sisyphean struggle to measure so-called progress.

“Our operations in Afghanistan were based largely on theory, and wishful thinking,” she writes, as the Afghans expected the Americans to fund more projects than those for which time or money existed. Still, she was expected to help the war effort in the face of blunders. “If a military operation damaged property, if Americans faced blame for an attack, if a contractor abandoned a construction site or a government official failed to deliver on a promise to his citizens, I issued Band-Aids in the form of words.” She wanted to back the opinions she was offering to the Afghan public as she strove to influence their opinion, “to believe the promises we made on behalf of the Afghan government: security, education, health care, rule of law, all in exchange for ink-stained fingers on Election Day.”

Lauren Johnson writes a glowing op-ed praising the Afghan election in August 2009 — propaganda, she admits later — hyped up on the story lines she’d been feeding the Afghan populace and herself.

During her nine-month deployment, Lauren becomes skeptical about duplication of efforts and a lack of coordination between different units and agencies, the tension between the firehose of funding necessary to prop up a government and the need to account for it, and miscommunications in contingency planning. Her messages of hope and accomplishment soon ring hollow to her own ears, and her mix of anger and fear will be familiar to anyone who has also crouched in a bunker during missile attacks or raged at suicide bombers who’ve crashed base gates and threatened friends.

The tipping point for Johnson arrives after an attack on Camp Chapman — a base she’d previously visited — on Dec. 30, 2009, which killed members of another Provincial Reconstruction Team and obliterated what thin sense of her trust remained. In her information operations job, she also becomes privy to grisly photos of a mysterious execution-style killing of Afghan women. This confirms her jaded cynicism and makes her suspect her role sharing the “official” military message makes the war even worse.

Throughout, Lauren strives not to worry her family, just as her mother strove to keep messages home light nearly two decades before. Shielding her relatives from her stress, Johnson writes, “I sprinkled small truths around. No one knew the whole story.” The cultural tropes of warrior stoicism and a girlishly cheerful facade combine to assist her one-woman public affairs effort. Though Johnson is especially close with her parents, deployment experiences were as yet too taboo to be shared between mother and daughter. She writes, “I wanted my parents to trust in the rose-tinted version of my war.”

Even upon returning from deployment and running into her mother’s arms, Johnson strives to “act normal” on a base in Florida, all the while feeling alien, grieving recently lost friends, and reacting strongly to news items from Afghanistan. She feels the stark disconnect between relief at seeing her family and feeling jarred by how much has changed; her nieces’ births and brother’s 21st birthday can’t be relived, nor can time with her dying grandfather. This sense of whirring numbness — of gingerly padding around a home that doesn’t quite feel like home while being ambushed by grief at odd intervals — will be familiar to veterans of any generation, as will the half-truths she tells her family in attempts to keep them from worry.

It is only after drunkenly hitting bottom and seeking therapy that Lauren confesses the painful scars of her deployment to her parents, deciding in tandem to leave the Air Force at the end of her four-year contract. She and her mother “peel away the scar tissue together,” and Johnson learns of her mother’s Gulf War terror awaiting nightly scud missile attacks and taping windows against potential explosions on an assumed suicide mission, and later carrying trauma while “diving back into her roles as wife and mother and everything else we heaped on her.”

Returning from war in 1991, the elder Johnson was never encouraged to talk to anyone about her experiences. At the same time, she admits that it was harder for her to have a daughter deploy than for her to deploy herself.

The Fine Art of Camouflage is a new breed of memoir that traces war lineage through female generations. Now a mother of toddler twin girls, Lauren Johnson promises to tell them everything — and indeed dedicates her book to them — because they “deserve more than sound bites.”

In a world made of spin, veterans’ honesty about our war stories — even painful or shameful ones — can help us heal.

Teresa Fazio is a former Marine. Her book Fidelis is available now in paperback. You can get The Fine Art of Camouflage as well. Honestly, we would encourage it.

Damar Hamlin

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Damar Hamlin: Gridiron Grit

America held its breath when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed and lay motionless on the field at Ohio’s Paycor Stadium on Jan. 2. His team had been battling the Cincinnati Bengals when the young athlete suffered cardiac arrest. But the Bills’ Denny Kellington is being hailed as a hero for administering CPR to the stricken player before a defibrillator was used to restart his heart — and experts say the quick-thinking assistant trainer likely saved the NFL pro’s life.

Hamlin, who turns 25 on March 24, fell to the grass after landing a routine hit on Bengals’ receiver Tee Higgins in the first quarter of the game — and medical personnel immediately sprang into action.

The collision wasn’t particularly violent, yet Hamlin had to be carried from the field as stunned players and fans looked on. The Pennsylvania native was rushed to the intensive care unit at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was placed on a ventilator until he could breathe on his own. Later interviews would reveal that medical personnel actually used a defibrillator on the field to revive Damar in a heroic move to save his life.

Doctors shared updates on Damar’s “remarkable improvement” during those first critical days — especially when Hamlin awoke from a coma to ask in writing who’d won the game — a fact they pointed to as proof he was “neurologically intact.”

Irreparable brain injuries can occur quickly in those suffering cardiac arrest because cerebral tissue begins dying within minutes of oxygen deprivation, which explains why experts say Kellington’s swift application of CPR likely made all the difference.

Before a week had passed, Hamlin shared a Zoom call with his teammates.

“We were able to hear him say, ‘I love you boys,’ to the team and to the people in the room,” says Bills head coach Sean McDermott.

The coach revealed Hamlin’s overjoyed teammates “stood up right away and clapped for him.”

After a week at UC Medical Center, Hamlin was given the all-clear to be transferred to a facility in New York. Shortly afterward, the Bills announced he was discharged from Buffalo General Medical Center following a “comprehensive medical evaluation” to continue his rehabilitation at home and at the team’s facilities.

“One of the reasons Hamlin had such good neurologic outcomes and a week later was tweeting with friends was that he had early CPR and early defibrillation,” says Dr. Mary Ann Peberdy, a professor of medicine and emergency medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University, who was not involved with the player’s treatment.

Marketing rep Jordon Rooney says his “upbeat” pal continues to work on his recovery, and Hamlin tweeted, “The Love has been overwhelming, but I’m thankful for every single person that prayed for me and reached out. We brung the world back together behind this. If you know me, you know this only gone make me stronger. On a long road, keep praying for me!”

The very fact that Hamlin is alive shows the vital importance of athletic trainers and on-field medical personnel. Many cases of cardiac arrest don’t have such positive outcomes, given that they primarily occur outside of a setting where swift professional care is available.

“In the best circumstances, maybe one or two out of 10 are going to survive,” notes Dr. Howie Mell, a Chicago-based emergency room physician. “But the public believes it’s nine out of 10. Hollywood changes the perception.”

In fact, a 2017 study found defibrillation and cardiac arrest survival outcomes are often portrayed inaccurately on television dramas as the need to wrap up an entertaining plotline by the end of an episode doesn’t necessarily jibe with reality.

As for the Bills-Bengals game, it was ultimately canceled by NFL officials. But Dr. Timothy Pritts, a Professor of Surgery at UC Medical Center, says, “When he asked, ‘Did we win?’ the answer is ‘Yes. You know, Damar, you won. You won the game of life.’”

Since that time Damar Hamlin has turned his overwhelming notoriety to a positive cause, speaking much to the character of the man. Some of us actually saw him in person at the latest Adobe Summit in Las Vegas where Peyton Manning interviewed him about an impressive range of philanthropy. From a tiny $2,500 GoFundMe campaign seeking to bring toy to local underprivileged children, Damar has now set up and entire foundation to expand the charitable work he can spearhead. If you want to hear from the man himself, Adobe has made the Keynote replay publicly available. Just click up to the 1:15:41 link in the timeline, unless you’d like to learn a lot more about Adobe business software. They are as impressive as they are expensive, if that helps your decision.

Pop Shots Keith Hufnagel

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Keith Hufnagel Pop Shots TitleThe Penthouse World According to Keith Hufnagel

Keith Hufnagel’s skateboarding days go back to 1990s New York City, when skaters created their own counterculture. After years as a pro, Huf echoed that vibe by creating his own street-wear company, HUF. That one-time post-injury backup plan has grown into the premier street-wear label, and turned pot-leaf socks into the go-to accessory. Now Huf brings his vision to these pages, with a photo shoot of Jenna Sativa.

You’ve been so busy lately that I’m surprised you found time for this.

Yeah. I’ve really been working on the HUF brand and opening up the Los Angeles retail store. We are also opening a store in Tokyo. This will be our second one. We’re not trying to open up too many of them. We want to open one in New York as well. We’ve been scouting locations. We want to get that one open as soon as possible, but these things take time.

It’s pretty amazing that you were able to parlay your career as a pro skater into launching one of the most successful skate-apparel brands.

In the beginning, I was always juggling being a professional skateboarder and building the brand. I always had help, though. I had a creative director supporting me. I had a team and some sort of structure, but there was never enough time. I was always skating, then coming in and working. I had some injuries that really plagued me, so I pushed my professional career to the side and really focused on the brand. I had to retire from skateboarding to some degree. And now we’ve actually built the brand big enough that we have a very well-structured professional team behind us. So for me, I’ve just been focusing on how the brand looks, how the skate team looks, and what we’re making.

You layered a few key visuals from your brand into the shoot. What motivated you to blend your brand with your personal vision?

Having the HUF stuff in there is my personal touch … and having the green and having the chairs. That’s me putting my personal Keith Hufnagel touches on this project.

What is it about the color green?

That green has been our color since day one. It’s a lime green, but we call it HUF green. For us, it’s just an accent and it’s always been there in the background. It’s a color that is extremely hard to use on apparel, but we’ve brought it into furniture, we’ve brought it into tape, to art pieces like the middle finger. It’s our go-to color. But we won’t make a jacket that color or anything like that.

Tell me about what you were trying to communicate through the Keith Hufnagel creative vision.

I was really looking at this as an art piece, more of a collaboration among myself, Kimberly Kane, and model Jenna Sativa. It was really to make it different. A lot of things look very repetitive in pornography, or with whatever you would call naked photos. I don’t know what the term is for it.

I think it’s just “naked photos.”

I just wanted to give it a little art flair, give a little culture to it. For me, that’s why I brought my brand into it.

Have you ever done anything like this before?

Yeah. I shot a calendar with Van Styles and I did a project with Dennis McGrath in the past. I think those are the only two that had naked women in them.

So this wasn’t something you had an aversion to?

No.

What were you looking for when casting for this shoot?

Basically, I was looking for a girl who was athletic, a girl who had a ballerina style — but with more of a bust and long legs. I like a more athletic girl.

“Athletic.” Is that how you would describe your type?

Honestly, it’s more their personality than anything else. It’s how they are and who they are. I definitely like pretty faces and cute bodies, but it’s a woman’s personality that really draws me in.

What’s the first thing you notice about a woman?

Probably their eyes.

You’re an eye man!

I like eyes. Also legs. But, you know, to be respectful to a woman, you look her in the eyes first.

First.

First.

Any deal breakers? Anything about a girl that will make you say, “Hell, no”?

No. As long as her teeth are clean . As long as you don’t have shitty breath, you’re all right.

What was it about Jenna that stood out from the other models?

She was clean looking. She had a pretty face, and she has a clean body. She was not tattooed. She was just natural.

She was a real girl. No silicone or modifications. Was that by design?

That wasn’t required. But it happened. I do like natural, and she has a natural look. And she’s young, too, so that helped [laughs].

How did her ballet poses or flexibility come into play?

I was looking for that kind of athletic ballet girl. She ended up being a gymnast, so we put her in some poses, and she had good form. She was able to perform those poses.

Looking at photos is one thing, but did she live up to your professional “Keith Hufnagel” expectations in person?

Yeah. She was super-relaxed, comfortable. In person, she looked even better than in her photos. She’s a super-chill girl. Happy. She’s got a good accent.

She does have a good accent. What was it about the photographer, Kim Kane? Booking her was very important to you.

She helped out on the Dennis McGrath project, and she’s been into photography and really wants to do more in that world. This was a perfect time for us to get back together and do this project. She’s good with the camera, and she helped me pick the girl and everything. She’s on it.

Was it more challenging to direct a shoot that characterized your personal values rather than your brand’s values?

Yeah, it was definitely challenging. I mean, I feel like we’ve been talking about doing this for, like, six months to a year. And it’s definitely challenging to commit and make something like this come to life. It’s hard no matter what. You put one thing on paper, but then you like something else… It’s always hard.

I guess there’s a nagging vulnerability when it’s all about you and your vision.

Yeah. But it looks good. I think people will enjoy it.

Anything you wish you would have done differently?

Nah. There’s always a what-if, right? I like it. I’m excited about it.

Does Keith Hufnagel have a favorite photo or setup?

I don’t know. There are so many. I like the one of her in the Modernica chair. It’s her form. Plus, the chair is fucking awesome.

The chair is pretty fucking awesome.

She has really good form right there. Good body… good chin… good hair… good legs… pointed toes.

So you’re happy with the way it turned out.

Yeah. Which one is the cover shot?

As it turned out, none of these made the cover in October, 2015, but interestingly the model on the July/Aug. cover that year had the same “hand pose” as some of these photos. So that’s weird. Of course Jenna Sativa eventually made two covers herself. She shows up solo on the April, 2016, cover as Pet of the Month, and then again as Pet of the Year on the May 2017, issue. (Hey, did we mention the Pet of the Year VOTE going on? … Subtle, right?) … Sadly, Keith Hufnagel left this mortal plane in 2020 — the year pre-existing conditions were a bitch of a thing, although cancer never needs much help in that realm. The HUF Brand lives on, though, and most of us will not be able to say when the bell tolls for us.

Pop Shots HUF Celebration

Penthouse Pop Shots Logo

Sex Adjacent

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Sex Adjacent Sideshows

There’s typical shocking celebrity behavior … and then there’s Madonna and her spotlight-grabbing ways.

The pop icon, 64, raised the eyebrows of some — and caused others to gag — when she released an odd collection of NFT videos. The three clips featured close-up nude digital representations of the singer seemingly giving birth to a tree, butterflies and robotic centipedes.

The Mother of Creation series was made by digital artist and animator Mike Winkelmann, who reportedly used scans of Madonna’s genitals to create the artworks.

The “Vogue” singer said the artistic message behind the works was to draw parallels between womanhood and the life of a tree.

“My journey through life as a woman is like that of a tree. Starting with a small seed, always pushing against the resistance of the Earth. The endless weight of gravity,” she elaborated.

Explaining her other input, she recalled, “I say we need a forest with creepy-crawly bugs coming out of me. Not often does a robot centipede crawl out of my vagina.”

Internet critics described the NFTs as “cringe” and “scary, yet hilarious,” with one person writing: “And there goes the final shred of heterosexuality I had remaining.”

The collection was auctioned on NFT marketplace SuperRare and sold for over $627,000.

One person summed up the collection by saying, “It’s dumb, but at least it’s bold.”

Granted Madonna likely qualifies more toward the sex blatant than the sex adjacent side of the spectrum, but some of us have marveled at her innovation for decades and appreciate her for precisely that. Of course we still spend a lot of time dreaming of San Pedro and La Isla Bonita.

Literally Sex Adjacent …

Family Sighs

carleyandmercedesA lesbian couple on TikTok, who look like they could have been separated at birth, discovered they might be siblings!

Canadian lovebirds Carley Gonschior and Mercedes Stewart, who run a popular TikTok account with more than 1.1M followers, have been together for over two years. But they claimed to have recently found out their mothers slept with the same guy back in the day.

One of their TikTok videos, which has garnered more than 12.3 million views, 1.5 million likes and over 10,000 comments, caused controversy after the women suggested they would probably continue their romantic relationship — even if DNA tests proved they were half-sisters.

One comment read, “You mean you guys didn’t think you were sisters already? You basically have the same face.”

Whether their story is the truth — or an elaborate clickbait ruse — while awaiting their DNA test results, the couple kept busy promoting their racy pay site.

You know, a person could get a couple of doctorates theorizing about “the morality” of a couple ending up in a loving relationship when they had no idea about any potential sibling relationship. A person could earn a couple of other doctorates theorizing about “the morality” of continuing that relationship even if they find this blood commality to be true. … We simply wonder whether this would have been much of a story at all had these two been a standard heterosexual couple. Maybe lesbians are just more fun.

Rubber to the Road

Sex Adjacent Rubber ... Maybe closer than adjacent.A feminist from the U.K. has caused some to spit the binky after suggesting babies who are bottle-fed are more likely to develop fetishes for gimp suits as adults.

Author and feminist Antonella Gambotto-Burke claims newborns sucking on fake teats is the reason some people develop fixations for rubber, while those who have been breast-fed are less likely to become rubber fetishists.

“Babies who suck on, smell and fiddle with rubber or synthetic rubber-teated bottles and dummies will quite naturally crave the same sensations in later life,” she said.

“People feel comforted by rubber. I know I do. I’ve always been drawn to it and love the smell and the feel of latex clothing.”

Gambotto-Burke believes her own predilections are connected to her past and explained, “Now I understand why: It’s because I was bottle-fed with those really thick, rubbery teats.”

Y’know, a lot of psychology — sex adjacent or not — simply sounds basically logical when you think about it. People like feet when they crawled around on the floor next to barefoot moms. Now people like rubber because they have a lot of bottle-fed (literally in this case) memories buried in their minds somewhere. OK. … So now explain people who get turned on by balloons popping.

Somehow Must Be Sex Adjacent …

Ya Gotta Have Cake

Mona Lisa Moans (inside)A man wearing a wig and lipstick has been arrested after throwing a slice of creamy cake at the Mona Lisa in Paris.

The 36-year-old man, who was disguised as an old woman in a wheelchair, tossed the cake at the iconic oil painting’s protective glass case — before being swiftly escorted from the Louvre Museum by security guards.

In a video widely shared on social media, the wig-wearing vandal can be heard ranting about climate change to shocked gallery visitors as he is dragged away.

“Think of the Earth! There are people who are destroying the Earth! Think about it. Artists tell you: Think of the Earth. That’s why I did this,” he said.

Another video making the rounds showed a guard quickly wiping cake remnants off the painting’s bulletproof barrier, while onlookers watched.

Officials said the half-baked protestor was arrested and taken to a psychiatric unit.

Weirdly enough, this isn’t the first time the world’s most famous painting has been attacked.

In 1911, the          disappeared from the museum without a trace. It was finally recovered more than two years later when someone tried to palm off the famous artwork to an Italian dealer.

During the ’50s, the painting suffered a damaging blow from a rock and was the target of an acid attack. In 1974, when it was on tour at the Tokyo National Museum in Japan, someone sprayed red paint on its glass cover, and in 2009, a Russian visitor, who was pissed off about being refused French citizenship, threw an empty ceramic mug at the painting, but the cup bounced off a protective screen and shattered on the floor.

Some of us, of course, think about Nat King Cole when we think of the Mona Lisa. Others, likely those fortunate enough to have been to Paris and the Louvre, immediately think something along the lines of, “Wow. That painting is a lot smaller than I thought it would be.” … We could not find even a single person who thought, “That picture really needs cake smeared on it. This would force people to consider pending environmental disasters.” Clearly we would make poor protestors.

Sex Adjacent Rag Doll (seriously)

Daddy's Little CutieA lovelorn Brazilian, who fell for a rag doll and married it, claimed she’s had a baby with her big softie beau.

Meirivone Rocha Moraes said after lamenting to her mom that she was single and had no one to dance with, her crafty parent played matchmaker and sewed her a boyfriend named Marcelo.

“When my mother made Marcelo and introduced me to him for the first time, I fell in love with him. It was love at first sight,” she said. “That was because I went to these dances but didn’t always find a partner.”

Shortly afterward, Moraes and Marcelo had a wedding witnessed by 250 of her closest friends and family. And according to the blushing bride, the couple consummated their vows and Moraes soon learned she was pregnant.

“It’s true. Marcelo got me pregnant. He wasn’t taking care of himself and didn’t use a condom,” she said.

The couple went on a honeymoon in Rio de Janeiro before returning home to “give birth” to a stuffed bundle of joy on a livestream watched by 200 viewers.

“Marcelo is a great and faithful husband. He is such a man, and all women envy him,” she boasted.

“He has so many great qualities, but the only downside is that he’s lazy. He doesn’t work at all. But I’m a warrior, and I keep it going for us.”

Ain’t love grand?

Um. We’re going to go with “Yes” and move quickly along.

Sex Adjacent … but EEEW

Steph Matto Sweat ShopRemember the woman who made bank last year from selling her bottled farts? Well, due to a freak fart attack, she was forced to diversify and started selling her tit sweat instead!

Former 90 Day Fiancé star Steph Matto made headlines after claiming she earned over $200,000 from selling jars of her farts.

The fartpreneur reportedly earned a cool $1,000 per jar of hot gas. But Matto claimed she was forced to retire after her flatulence-forming diet of eggs, beans and protein shakes wreaked havoc by causing an excessive buildup of gas, which triggered frightening chest pains.

But the 31-year-old, who described herself as a “pretty inventive and innovative person,” seems to have adapted. She’s now hawking vials of her boob sweat for up to $500 each and said she’s already sold more than 50!

“I like to call myself the human maple tree and the boob sweat my sap. I sit there and collect my sap the same way a maple tree does,” she said.

“Sometimes it can vary how long it takes [to fill up a vial] as it depends on several scientific factors, mainly the heat, movement and how hydrated I am.”

Despite having her TikTok account recently disabled, Matto said the setback won’t stop her from her mission to normalize unconventional ways of making money.

“I have more haters than I can count! But I never quit, and I never stop!” she said.

We have decided to put this in the “crazy made up idea, just to see if any of the idiot wire services will pick it up” category. On the upside, it would eliminate arguing over what to watch when a bunch of new shows all show up on your DVR at one time.

Finally, the Sadly Sex Adjacent

1 inch = 2.5 centimetersJust when you thought we were slowly returning to a semblance of normality, a scientist has recently published some alarming findings that suggest penis sizes are shrinking!

Dr. Shanna Swan, an award-winning environmental epidemiologist, wrote in her book Count Down that microplastics and environmental pollution are causing higher rates of erectile dysfunction, a decline in fertility and boys to be born with smaller penises.

Describing the situation as an “existential crisis,” she explained in the book, “Chemicals in our environment and unhealthy lifestyle practices in our modern world are disrupting our hormonal balance, causing various degrees of reproductive havoc.

“Babies are now entering the world already contaminated with chemicals because of the substances they absorb in the womb.”

Dr. Swan said environmental pollutants like phthalates are to blame.

Phthalates are man-made chemical compounds used to make plastics more durable and flexible and increase the spreadability and absorption of personal care products. They’re used in endless items from shampoo and soaps, to vinyl flooring, solvents and even sex toys.

In research conducted on rats, rodent fetuses that had been exposed to phthalates showed signs of stunted development and males were more likely to be born with smaller penises than those not exposed.

The findings also suggested phthalates are responsible for erectile dysfunction and diluting sperm counts. Dr. Swan even cautioned sperm counts could reach zero by 2045!

Oddly, our sex adjacent examination comes to rest on basic male insecurity. Somehow, that seems fitting, as in many instances one could argue that still makes the world go around. Could probably earn a couple of doctorates on that topic too. Maybe we should start a Penthouse University. Syllabus one. Syllabus two. … Feel free to continue your independent study.

St Pats 2023

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Celebrating St Pats 2023 with Renee Olstead

Seriously, the post production department gave us a 10-second video clip of our January 2023 Pet of the Month doing a St Pats 2023 promotion. Seriously. Ten seconds. … No kidding.

Of course then we saw what a professional actress could do with ten seconds, and we thought, “What the heck. Ten seconds for St Pats 2023 it is!”

It turns out that it makes a difference when professionals do something. Golly. Ten seconds flat — the timing, not the beer. (And certainly not Renee.) … But this of course led to a different problem, that being we had no other guidance as to what to say about today other than gushing on about people with decades of acting experience. Full disclosure, leaving this crazy department with absolutely zero guidance shows either a great deal of faith or a complete disassociation with reality. We’ll see.

St. Patrick Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland
St. Patrick Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland

At first we thought we could do some research on Saint Patrick in general, maybe figure out how St Pats 2023 ended up being “a thing” in the first place, but honestly that sounded amazingly boring. It seems like Saint Patrick’s Day has something to do with celebrating all the snakes being driven out of Ireland centuries ago, but we could have that completely wrong. And it still does not explain the green beer. (Maybe they got the snakes drunk with it to make them easier to handle?) … Whatever the case, actually finding out the real answers did not sound like any fun at all.

But limericks come from Ireland (right?), and this holiday is about Ireland. Right? So what if we had everyone here write a limerick and we could then post them merrily along with our ten-second celebration featuring Renee? Everyone likes limericks better than history, and Saints just seem like dusty topics on top of that. So …

A brazen lass once did confide,
With Penthouse she’d nothing to hide.
Thus with observation,
And much twitterpation,
We saw for a fact she’d not lied.

We did check, and “twitterpation” is in fact a word. Who knew? Sounds fake, though, right? Like something that happened once Elon Musk bought Twitter? At any rate, holidified (not a word) photos of Renee Olstead sounded like they might put people in a better state of mind to be attempting alcohol with food coloring in it later in the day, so we tried that.

Fun, certainly, but maybe not much better than the poem. Then other entries arrived at the inbox. Then the boss got involved. … It was a thing. (Word to the wise, now that we no longer have Dilbert to guide us: Always try your best never to let the boss actually do anything. They should be in meetings, theorizing about various ways the company can take over the world, and more importantly keeping our jobs in the process. They should not be mingling with the hoi polloi down in the literary trenches. You see bosses always end up in admirable, press-releasey sorts of places.)

St Pats 2023 Limericks of Woman Power

With feminine power their clan,
They strip with uncommon élan.
Both upright and prone,
She lets all get shown,
Or doesn’t, if that is the plan.

Empowerment reigns as our glow,
Though nudity causes the row.
Our women they tease,
Yet do as they please,
By choosing just what not to show.

As Womanly power evolves,
The problems expand that she solves.
But do it undressed,
For that will quite test,
The breadth of the thoughts one resolves.

Left to our own plebeian machinations, we would tend to end up with a much more common tenor to our bass instincts. (See what we did there?)

Limericks of the Bourgeoisie

At once to mag Penthouse we go,
Where everything they like to show.
There’s articles sure,
And thoughts not so pure,
So often you’ll hear us yell, “Whoa!”

To please you a Pet must confess
Her deepest desire and unrest.
For honestly counts
As much as her bounce,
But mostly it’s will she undress.

All in all, Renee was better. No doubt. Wouldn’t you love it if she were your actual bartender? She’d make a killing in tips, even if all she could serve was beer of various colors.

Renee Olstead, St Pats 2023

We will have to admit that the editorial staff felt fairly proud of this collection of limericks for St Pats 2023 that did not once include the word “Nantucket’ in its verse. And in theory not every update on penthouse.com must necessarily cover some serious topic, illustrate some injustice, or even relate a conversation with someone interesting. Still … limericks?

Should you wish to add a tad more reverence to your day, we can point you to the actual Cathedral in Dublin. Or we can encourage you to visit Renee Olstead on either Instagram or Twitter and tell her what a bang-up job she did in, yes, a mere ten seconds on penthouse.com today. Of course you can research her here too. (We’re way too reserved and official to say “bone up on” in this context.)

Vote 2023

Posted on by Team Penthouse

Penthouse POY Vote 2023

In the interests of the latest political catch-phrase — that being “transparency” as of today — we should probably make clear that we wanted to remind should more technically have been the Executives wanted us to remind in that first sentence. In fairness, we tend to think people that visit here remain aware of the ongoing Vote 2023 process, but Executives fall into two categories (at least in our offices). They tend to be old-school and believe constant reminders necessary in any ongoing business venture, or they fall into the Millennial camp and believe everyone completely ignores anything in a sidebar that looks like at advertisement, never even bothering to read what it says, and certainly not clicking on it.

Of course either of those could be true. Who knows? … We DO know, however, that a completely different Executive put the video editors to work making us a handy-dandy “promo clip” we could use, so we will.

Of course women earn Pet status by more than just their looks (however difficult that may be to believe). Particularly in a social world, personality counts for a lot, and over the years/decades we have found that answers to a “standard” questionnaire can be helpful and enlightening. They can also be wildly entertaining, so we did a quick dive on their Pet Pages and highlighted an individual option for each of our contestants. In chronological order, then, we provide our list of tickled funny bones.

MSPUIYI — January 2022
When are you happiest? … Right now.
Tahlia Paris — February 2022
What’s your favorite way to work out? … I love hot yoga. I also love working out with a trainer — because I like being told what to do.
Stormi Maya — March 2022
Do you collect anything? … The hearts of men and guitars.
Lauren Ann — April 2022
If you could choose to do anything for a day, what would it be? … It’s 85 degrees. I’m sitting on a nude beach with a good book in one hand and a Corona with lime in the other.
Trippie Bri — May 2022
Who knows you the best? … Me!
Alex Kay — June 2022
Do you have a secret skill? … I’m very quick at math. I’m actually a big nerd. I love math and science.
Destiny Rose — July 2022
What is your favorite thing about your hometown? … My grandmother’s food. I do miss Polish food. If you haven’t yet, you should try pierogies. That’s why all men love Polish girls. We know how to make pierogis.
Ashleigh Skies — August 2022
How long does it take you to get ready in the morning? … Depends. It could be 25 minutes — or up to an hour if I masturbate.
Kaylee Killion — September 2022
What are your pet peeves? … Walking in the house with your shoes on.
Linsey Donovan — October 2022
What do you sleep in? … Sometimes I wear socks.
Veronica Perasso — November 2022
Do you play any sports? … Does Mario Golf count? LOL
Amber Rose — December 2022
Where’s the most exciting place you’ve ever had sex? … On the hood of my car outside Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego during a double overtime football game.

Entertainment counts for a lot around here, and based on the voting so far, many of you agree. Honestly one of the most fascinating times of year for us comes when the votes start rolling in and we can see how well the Executive Team has selected Pets over the year. It may sound counter-intuitive, but a “perfect” result for us would come when all twelve of the contestants end up in essentially a statistical tie. You see, that means that through some wild stroke of fate we ended up with a dozen very different women who appeal equally across the public at large. That could have been the plan, of course, but one must be careful of giving Executive Teams too much credit lest they begin to think we mere worker bees have become less important.

By the way, this year there will even be something new added to the mix. As the Team laid out the plan and the timeline, we noticed that there will be a good old-fashioned Pet of the Year Playoff this time around, culling the field to 4, or maybe 6, or maybe some other number, for the final push. It all depends on where the natural “splits” occur in the voting. Wherever that split happens, your vote has more to do with which stars here make the cut and which do not than even you may realize. Of course, that’s why we’re telling you, so that you might realize it.

We suggest you take advantage of that power. One seldom has it in life anymore it seems.

Lacy Lennon, POY 2020 | Kenzie Anne, POY 2021 | Amber Marie, POY 2022

Just to make it easy for you, we have provided yet another handy-dandy series of links in case you want to get a closer look at any of these fine individuals before making your selection. In PURELY chronological order, then, we have … MSPUIYI, Tahlia, Stormi, Lauren, Trippie, Alex, Destiny, Ashleigh, Kaylee, Linsey, Veronica, and Amber. They each have Pet Videos (the SFW version) on those pages, so it might take a little time to get through them all, fair warning. It will be a really FUN time, however. Feel free to take notes.

For the record, we asked the bosses about that “link to voting” banner when we saw it too. As you may know, that shows Lacy Lennon (POY 2020), Kenzie Anne (POY 2021), and Amber Marie (POY 2022) in that order. Allegedly there was no overriding, multi-year strategy for it to end up redhead, blonde, brunette like it did, but one never knows about Penthouse Executives and their Master Plans. They be some sneaky folks.