Playboy is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. Notable for its centerfolds of nude and semi-nude models, Playboy played an important role in the sexual revolution and remains one of the world's best-known brands, having grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc. with a presence in nearly every medium. In addition to the flagship magazine in the United States, special nation-specific versions of Playboy are published worldwide; the magazine has a long history of publishing short stories by novelists such as Arthur C. Clarke, Ian Fleming, Vladimir Nabokov, Saul Bellow, Chuck Palahniuk, P. G. Wodehouse, Roald Dahl, Haruki Murakami, Margaret Atwood. With a regular display of full-page color cartoons, it became a showcase for notable cartoonists, including Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Cole, Eldon Dedini, Jules Feiffer, Shel Silverstein, Erich Sokol, Roy Raymonde, Gahan Wilson, Rowland B. Wilson.

Playboy features monthly interviews of notable public figures, such as artists, economists, conductors, film directors, novelists, religious figures, politicians and race car drivers. The magazine reflects a liberal editorial stance, although it interviews conservative celebrities. After a year-long removal of most nude photos in Playboy magazine, the March–April 2017 issue brought back nudity. By spring 1953, Hugh Hefner—a 1949 University of Illinois psychology graduate who had worked in Chicago for Esquire magazine writing promotional copy, he formed HMH Publishing Corporation, recruited his friend Eldon Sellers to find investors. Hefner raised just over $8,000, including from his brother and mother. However, the publisher of an unrelated men's adventure magazine, contacted Hefner and informed him it would file suit to protect their trademark if he were to launch his magazine with that name. Hefner, his wife Millie, Sellers met to seek a new name, considering "Top Hat", "Gentleman", "Sir'", "Satyr", "Pan" and "Bachelor" before Sellers suggested "Playboy".

The first issue, in December 1953, was undated. He produced it in his Hyde Park kitchen; the first centerfold was Marilyn Monroe, although the picture used was taken for a calendar rather than for Playboy. Hefner chose what he deemed the "sexiest" image, a unused nude study of Marilyn stretched with an upraised arm on a red velvet background with closed eyes and mouth open; the heavy promotion centered around Marilyn's nudity on the already-famous calendar, together with the teasers in marketing, made the new Playboy magazine a success. The first issue sold out in weeks. Known circulation was 53,991; the cover price was 50¢. Copies of the first issue in mint to near-mint condition sold for over $5,000 in 2002; the novel Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, was published in 1953 and serialized in the March and May 1954 issues of Playboy. An urban legend started about Hefner and the Playmate of the Month because of markings on the front covers of the magazine. From 1955 to 1979, the "P" in Playboy had stars printed around the letter.

The legend stated that this was either a rating that Hefner gave to the Playmate according to how attractive she was, the number of times that Hefner had slept with her, or how good she was in bed. The stars, between zero and 12 indicated the domestic or international advertising region for that printing. From 1966 to 1976, Robie Macauley was the Fiction Editor at Playboy. During this period the magazine published fiction by Saul Bellow, Seán Ó Faoláin, John Updike, James Dickey, John Cheever, Doris Lessing, Joyce Carol Oates, Vladimir Nabokov, Michael Crichton, John le Carré, Irwin Shaw, Jean Shepherd, Arthur Koestler, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Bernard Malamud, John Irving, Anne Sexton, Nadine Gordimer, Kurt Vonnegut and J. P. Donleavy, as well as poetry by Yevgeny Yevtushenko. In 1968 at the feminist Miss America protest, protestors symbolically threw a number of feminine products into a "Freedom Trash Can"; these included copies of Cosmopolitan magazines. One of the key pamphlets produced by the protesters was "No More Miss America!", by Robin Morgan, which listed 10 characteristics of the Miss America pageant that the authors believed degraded women.

Macauley contributed all of the popular Ribald Classics series published between January 1978 and March 1984. Since reaching its peak in the 1970s, Playboy saw a decline in circulation and cultural relevance due to competition in the field it founded—first from Penthouse from Oui and Gallery in the 1970s. In response, Playboy has attempted to re-assert its hold on the 18–35-year-old male demographic through slight changes to content and focusing on issues and personalities more appropriate to its audience—such as hip-hop artists being featured in the "Playboy Interview". Christie Hefner, daughter of founder Hugh Hefner, joined Playboy in 1975 and became head of the company in 1988, she announced in December 2008 that she would be stepping down from leading the company, effective in January 2009, said that the election of Barack Obama as the next President had inspired her to give more time to chari

David Rudman is an American puppeteer, puppet builder, writer and producer known for his involvement with the Muppets and Sesame Street. David Rudman has been a Sesame Street muppet performer since 1985—currently performing Cookie Monster, Baby Bear and The Two-Headed Monster, he has received four Emmy nominations as Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series for his work on Sesame Street. Rudman has directed several web videos for Sesame Street such as “Cookie Monster Auditions for Saturday Night Live” and “Conversations with Bert.” He has performed in numerous television shows and specials including Saturday Night Live, The Colbert Report, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Muppets, where he performed Scooter and Janice. His film credits include The Muppets Take Manhattan, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, A Muppet Christmas Carol, Elmo in Grouchland, The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted. Following the departure of Steve Whitmire in 2017, he became Beaker's new performer.

In addition to his work on Sesame Street and with the Muppets, Rudman is co-owner of Spiffy Pictures where he co-created, executive produced and performed in Jack's Big Music Show, Curious Buddies, JoJo's Circus, Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map and Frank and is the creator, executive producer, character designer and voice director of the animated series Nature Cat on PBS, voicing several characters including Leo the Mammoth, Prospector Jones and the Seeker. Rudman attended Highland Park High School and graduated in 1981, he has been a speaker at the school's biennial Focus on the Arts program since 2003. He attended college at the University of Connecticut. Rudman was the speaker at the 2005 graduation ceremony for the Illinois Institute of Art—Chicago. I Love Liberty The Muppets Take Manhattan - Additional Muppets Little Muppet Monsters: Boo Monster Labyrinth: Goblins Sesame Street: Baby Bear, Cookie Monster, Two-Headed Monster, Additional Muppets The Tale of the Bunny Picnic: Snort, The Snail, Additional Muppets A Muppet Family Christmas: Miss Piggy's Photographer, Additional Muppets Jim Henson's Play-Along Video - Danny the Dino Doc, Farmer Lear, Additional Muppets Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting - Additional Muppets The Cosby Show: Sweetums, Boo Monster The Jim Henson Hour: The Song of the Cloud Forest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Donatello Muppet*Vision 3D: Roy and Max The Muppets at Walt Disney World - Frog, Additional Muppets Muppet Sing-Alongs: Billy Bunny's Animal Songs: Percival Bear, Termite, Waiter Penguin, Frog Sesame Street Home Video: Visits the Firehouse: Mr. Monster The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson - Penguin, Additional Muppets Dinosaurs The Muppet Christmas Carol: Old Joe, Peter Cratchit, The Swedish Chef, Wander McMooch, Beggar Dog City: Bowser, Colonel Claghound, Additional Muppets CityKids: Frankie Frank, Additional Muppets, Muppet Coordinator Muppet Meeting Films: Big Head, Jones, Additional Muppets Sesame Street: A New Baby in the House: Courtier Sesame Street Stays Up Late: Baby Bear Muppet Time: Milton Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree: Ned Mouse Muppets Sing-Alongs: It's Not Easy Being Green Muppets Tonight: Sesame Street: Elmocize: one of the Twister Sisters Aliens in the Family: Bobut Elmo Saves Christmas: Baby Bear and Humphrey Elmopalooza: Sparky, Baby Bear and Two Headed Monster The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland: Baby Bear, Alarm Clock Bird, Pestie, Collander Stenchman Grouch Ice Cream Customer, various Grouches Play with Me Sesame Cookie Monster and Chicago the Lion Elmo's World: Happy Holidays: Orange Gold Caroler, Cookie Monster and Baby Bear Sesame Street: The Street We Live On Cookie Monster, Baby Bear and Two Headed Monster Sesame Street: A Magical Halloween Adventure: Pumpkin, Surprise Monster Sesame Street: Happy Healthy Monsters Cookie Monster Jack's Big Music Show: Jack Pinky Dinky Doo: Various Voices Elmo's Christmas Countdown Cookie Monster and Baby Bear Studio DC: Almost Live Abby in Wonderland Cookie Monster A Muppet Christmas: Letters to Santa: Scooter and Luncheon Counter Monster The Muppets: Scooter and Food in We Built This City montage Lady Gaga and the Muppets' Holiday Spectacular - Scooter, Additional Muppets Muppets Most Wanted: Scooter, Gulag Rat, Thingy-Thing The Furchester Hotel: Cookie Monster, Sorbet Monster, Arthur, Mr. Smellsalot The Muppets: Scooter, Janice The Muppets Take the Bowl: Scooter, Beaker David Rudman on IMDb Spiffy Pictures

Live Flesh, is a psychological thriller by British author Ruth Rendell, published in 1986. It won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year, it was adapted into a film of the same name by Pedro Almodóvar. The novel's protagonist is Victor Jenner, sent to prison for shooting and crippling a police officer after an attempted rape. At his trial and afterwards he claims that his actions were unintentional and somehow provoked by his victim, but there may have been other reasons for his attack of which he was unaware. Ten years Jenner is released from prison and has to find himself a new life, with the reduced resources produced by ten years' incarceration and the handicap of a significant criminal record, he discovers that it is all too easy to slip back into the old one