Hugh Hefner Is Definitely More Than Just a Playboy

When you think of Hugh Hefner, three things come to mind — bunnies, boobs and blondes.

But behind the creator of the Playboy empire is a much more complicated figure who fought courageously for civil rights, gay rights, women’s rights and more.

In Brigitte Berman’s documentary, ‘Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel,’ the director shows us a different side of the man that many of us know only as the publisher of the nudie magazine who likes to date much younger women.

Hefner tells PopEater that he was very pleased with how the documentary came out. “I was very emotionally moved by it,” he says. Read Our Full Interview With Hef After the Jump!

After watching ‘Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel,’ I realized, there is no mold for Hugh Hefner.
I appreciate that.

How do you think people will react to the documentary?
It depends on the people. I found out a long time ago, the very nature of my life and of the magazine itself is an ink-blot test, a Rorschach test. I think people see reflections of their own particular dreams, fantasies; it depends on who they are.

What was your reaction when you saw it?
I was very moved by it. I didn’t have anything to do with the actual creation of the film, so I didn’t see it until it was completed. I knew the focus of the film was going to be on the other-half of my life. In other words, less about the girls and more about the social issues and the role that we played in changing things. I was very emotionally moved by it, [director Brigitte Berman] did a remarkable job.

I imagine a lot of people will be surprised with what they learn after watching.
The reaction we’ve gotten so far to the film is overwhelming and very positive and that makes me very happy.

Do you have a favorite moment in the movie?
The one that touches me the most and is difficult for me to watch without getting a little emotional — there is a spot in the film about ‘Playboy After Dark’ in which Country Joe and the Fish sing an anti-war song. She edits it along with — it’s a song that was never permitted on network television — images from battle from young boys overseas fighting the war, in that case, Vietnam. It hits me very deeply because it was one of our great, hurtful things. We never seem to learn.

source: http://www.popeater.com/2010/07/30/hugh-hefner-documentary/

Michael Jackson’s forgotten music out in November

Songs that didn’t make the cut on Michael Jackson albums while he was alive and some forgotten recordings left behind on computer hard drives will be on an album released this fall, sources familiar with the project say.

Jackie Jackson, one of the singer’s older brothers, has been working in a studio to help prepare the album, which will include 10 previously unheard songs, according to Jackson estate spokesman Jim Bates.

Jackson’s estate and Sony Music announced in March that his next album of unreleased music will go on sale in November.

Music producer Rodney Jerkins, who co-produced Jackson’s 2001 album “Invincible,” has been working with Sony to put together the new album, a source familiar with the project said. The source asked not to be identified because he was not authorized by the record label to disclose details.

John McClain, one of the two men named in Jackson’s will to be executors of his estate, is also working on the album with Jackie Jackson, Bates said. McClain owns a recording studio in Hollywood.

Jackson was known to rent out Los Angeles recording studios for weeks at a time for creative sessions, sometimes alone and sometimes with other well-known artists.

A producer told CNN that he was surprised to find a large cache of forgotten Michael Jackson music files stored on a hard drive at a Hollywood studio in the months after Jackson’s June 25, 2009, death.

When he turned the recording device on to start a session, he heard Jackson singing “Hot Fun in the Summertime.” The 1969 hit by Sly & the Family Stone is part of an extensive music catalogue that Jackson bought.

The producer said he made a backup copy of the 40 gigabytes of Jackson music and turned it over to one of the Jackson estate administrators. He asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Another computer hard drive with music was found in Jackson’s rented mansion in the days after his death, Bates said. A Jackson family member later handed the hard drive over to the estate administrators, he said.

It was not clear if any of that music will be included in the upcoming project, but Sony’s Columbia Records has a contract with Jackson’s estate for 10 albums of unreleased material over the next seven years.

source:  http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/30/michael.jackson.album/index.html#fbid=KgaSu-FFqPr

Michael Jackson death: No charges for doctors

Seven doctors who treated Michael Jackson in the years before his death will not face criminal charges, US investigators have said.

However, one has been referred to California’s state medical board for prescribing drugs under an alias.

Jackson’s personal doctor Conrad Murray, who denies involuntary manslaughter, was not one of those questioned by state investigators.

He is accused of giving Jackson a lethal overdose of anaesthetic.
‘Ignoring reality’

Los Angeles police had asked Californian state investigators to look into the way the doctors had prescribed drugs.

They searched a drug database, which monitors the prescription of controlled substances, as part of their investigation.

Lawyer Brian Oxman, who is representing Jackson’s father in a wrongful death civil case, said he was “very disappointed”.

“The misuse of medications by Michael Jackson in the last years of his life was excessive and to fail to bring that to the public eye is ignoring reality,” he said.

In his civil case, Joe Jackson accuses Dr Murray of professional negligence in administering a fatal mix of sedatives to the singer.

The Drug Enforcement Agency has also stopped investigating any other doctors who treated Jackson, a spokeswoman said.

source:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-10799441

New book: Sex, drugs and… Bon Jovi!

Kids, this is what rockers used to be all about!

Jon Bon Jovi proved he had a raunchy past after these saucy images emerged of the 48-year-old rock star as a young, up-and-coming musician.

Very much in keeping with the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, the photos were taken at a shoot in 1985. Jon thought the snaps were just too hot and so he forbade their publication.

source:  http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-english/celebrity-gossip/2010/07/28/sex-drugs-and-bon-jovi/classic-rock-photo-shoot-in-new-book.html

Elvis white piano up for auction

Elvis Presley’s white grand piano and a 1955 record contract are going up for auction in Memphis next month.

The piano, which he bought in 1957 and kept at his Graceland home, is expected to fetch more than $1m (£645,000).

A contract with RCA Records, signed by Presley, his father and manager, Colonel Tom Parker, is expected to fetch more than $150,000 (£97,000).

The 1957 Graceland purchase agreement is among other items for sale at the 14 August auction.

It has an estimated price of $35,000 (£22,600) while a four-page handwritten letter to girlfriend Anita Wood from 1958 is expected to fetch $75,000 (£48,500).

Other items being auctioned include some gold-framed sunglasses and Presley’s address and phone book.

Doug Norwine, of Heritage Auctions, said the piano was “an emotionally-charged prized possession of the King himself”.

Presley bought the white Knabe piano from the Ellis Auditorium in Memphis where it had been played by visiting gospel performers.

Last week, instruments said to have been used during Presley’s post-mortem examination were withdrawn from a Chicago auction after their authenticity was questioned.

Rubber gloves, a toe tag and other tools had been expected to fetch $14,000 (£9,000) at auction in August.

source:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-10772187

Fantasy fairs: Tokyo theme parks for the stressed

Some of the theme parks around Tokyo provide an excellent way to escape the daily grind, with wonderfully eccentric, if slightly bizarre, themes and rides. Here are 5 of the best less-known

No one does escapism quite like the Japanese, and the most creative ways to escape can be found in Tokyo. This is a city where stress, and finding ways to shake it off, are a part of daily life. The theme parks in and around Tokyo are prime examples of Japan’s excellent diversions, mostly erected during Japan’s 1980s economic bubble.

Today there are 20 theme parks remaining in the vicninity of Tokyo; the indoor ocean and ski-field, alas, both closed for business. One of these though — Tokyo Disneyland — is the third most-attended theme park in the world. According to the 2009 Theme Index, a report on global attractions and their attendance, over 13 million people visited Tokyo Disneyland in 2009, a 4 percent decrease from the previous year. But that decrease will do little to damage the profits of the Disney empire. Instead it’s the smaller, more eccentric theme parks that are threatened by the current financial crisis.

Plus, the huge theme park developments across Asia (particularly China) are nearing completion, which will likely lead to fewer Asian tourists visiting Tokyo. Theme parks that are not visited die, and if you look in the right places you can see the evidence — parks abandoned and overgrown as haikyo (ruins). Here are five of these outsider theme parks, resisting their fate with panache; eccentric parks that have heart, charm and elicit real nostalgia for a time when Tokyo had more money than it knew what to do with and when life seemed a little simpler.

Roller Coaster Connoisseurs: Tobu Zoo Park (Tobu Dobutsukoen)

Although offering only a few thrill rides, Tobu Zoo has attracted roller-coaster connoisseurs (yes, they do exist) from around the world. Built by Tobu Railways in 1981, Tobu Zoo has become a hybrid zoo, water park and amusement park occupying a 530,000 square meter property. Alongside the other 37 attractions, the new kermit green coaster, Kawasemi, built in 2008 (at a cost of over ¥1.8 billion) is a real draw. Despite having no loop, visitors praise its high speed, airtime and vicious turns. Only slightly more relaxing is Regina, a towering 39 meter tall wooden coaster and one of the last ‘woodies’ in Japan. Outside the amusement area the zoo features a range of expected bipeds and quadrupeds, most notable are three white tigers and The Hotarium, an indoor firefly exhibit.

How to get there: Tobu Line to Tobu-Dobutsukoen Station

Eternal Summer at an Indoor Beach: Water Adventure Tokyo Summerland

An hour away from Tokyo, and built up on the side of a mountain, Tokyo Summerland is the busiest waterpark in Japan. In 2009 over 920,000 people visited the park, making for some extremely crowded days over summer. One of those days was captured on video and went viral on Youtube, showing no water in the wave pool, just an ocean of bodies bobbing up and down. Also inside the temperature-controlled Adventure Dome is a lagoon and fake beach complete with deck chairs. Outside you can float along a 650 meter long river pool on rubber tubes or try Towers Rock, the newly built twin set of water slides. Less popular are the  thrill rides, but a jarring roller coaster called Tornado seems to draw a few unsuspecting riders.

How to get there: Take the bus from Keio-Hachoji Station for Summer Land, the last stop.

Japan’s First Theme Park: Asakusa Hanayashiki

Opened by a gardener named Morita Rokusaburo in 1853, at the end of the Edo period, this is the oldest surviving theme park in Japan. Now owned by Namco, a Japanese toy manufacturer, the park occupies a tiny block of land; squashed between the Asakusa-Kannon temple and a once-thriving area of shops and restaurants from days when this was Tokyo’s HQ for organized crime.

Today the tiny block where the original park stood is covered in layer-upon-layer of themed rides and attractions, divided into three areas, Fantasy & Dreams, Mystery & Panic and Full of Excitement. The park’s centrepieces are Bee Tower, a 60 meter high gondola styled ride, and what may be the worlds first steel-tracked roller coaster. It already attracts 55,000 visitors per year, and spokesman Takashi Matsushita says attendance is on the up, though the majority of guests are local Japanese. “We would like to change style from a common ride park to a traditional Japanese entertainment park at the historical and traditional town of Asakusa. The major aim of a theme park is to offer unordinary things to visitors. We think that Tokyo itself has become ‘mega theme park’ through development of a large city capturing entertainment traits, so we cannot be optimistic in the business environment. Each theme park should have more personality because people can make memories here. Children turn to adults to love them, and young people become parents [and return] with their children to visit again.”

Children will surely love it, but the challenge for adults is that the seats are literally too small on some attractions.

How to get there: Take the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line to Asakusa Station

Ride the Monorail to Fish in a Fake Lake: Fantasy Pointe Nasu Highland

Built onto the south side of Mt Chausu — an active Volcano in Nasu — Fantasy Pointe Nasu Highland features a pedal-powered monorail, a fake lake which you can fish in, and a set of matching roller coasters. The coloring of the entire park is impeccable, stark white contrasts against blue, green, yellow and purple. It all looks art-directed by a Swiss modernist on psychotropics. There are nine coasters in total, many built by Japanese coaster manufacturer Meisho, the most enjoyable of which is Big Boom, providing a nice moment of weightlessness as it goes vertical. Child-friendly exhibits are plentiful, including a whole pavilion dedicated to Lego. Afterwards you can retire by fishing in a man-made lake before cooking your catch on a nearby barbecue.

How to get there: Tohoku JR line to Kuroiso station and catch a bus to Nasu Highland.

Hello Kitty’s Psychedelic Sellertainment: Sanrio Puroland

Located in the heart of one of Tokyo’s newest suburbs is Sanrio Puroland, a theme park dedicated to Japan’s 36-year-old mouthless mascot, Hello Kitty. The character might already be emblazoned on over 15,000 products (Sanrio is not fussy when it comes to licensing), but the most impressive and bizarre example is surely Puroland, a 49,000 square meter, four-storied, hysterically colored indoor amusement park. At the center of it all is Hello Kitty’s life-sized house. An example of extremely narcissistic interior decorating; every single item of furniture is shaped in the likeness of the owner. Apart from a Sanrio Character boatride, most of the action is at the many performances throughout each day which feature professional dancers and the Sanrio characters themselves. Just be careful the expanses of pastel plastic and fake fur don’t lull you or your wallet into a cute coma — the gift shop is one of the key attractions at Puroland.

How to get there: Take the Keio Line to Tama Center station.

source:  http://www.cnngo.com/node/72067?hpt=Sbin

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