There’s been a bit of online fervor these past few days about SNL cast member Abby Elliot‘s sexy Maxim spread. In it, we see Elliot looking plucky and adorable (and only occasionally blank faced) as she frolics about in only her underwear. According to HuffPo’s Carol Hartsell, female comedians shouldn’t do this because it undermines “the struggle to let a woman’s work, not her workout, be her selling point.”

In what parallel universe is Hartsell living in which a woman’s looks do not affect her career long before she’s famous enough to get asked to pose for a magazine? Kristen Wiig, Sarah Silverman, Alison Brie…all of these ladies are successful because of their talent, to be sure, but I doubt most of them would be where they are today if it weren’t for the fact that they’re also conventionally attractive. And that mind/body dichotomy isn’t as stark as Hartsell makes it out to be. We are not floating brains anchored by random avatars; like it or not, our physical selves play a part in forming our personalities. 90% of Sarah Silverman’s schtick is that she’s a cute girl who says really gross things; her cuteness is just another weapon in her comedic arsenal, like sarcasm or the ability to contort your face in weird ways. It’s not surprising, then, that she would not shy away from being photographed.

I’m not on board with judging other women for taking pictures that make them feel awesome and sexy. If they felt pressured into doing it, that’s obviously bad, but I doubt A-lister Kristen Wiig is the type to be pressured into anything against her will. The thing that’s actually wrong with this picture is that the majority of successful female comedians just happen to fit the rubric for a Maxim spread in the first place. I do think there’s something wrong with a society where in order to be allowed to tell her jokes on camera, a woman must be what the majority of Americans would agree on as “hot.” Think of how much weight Tina Fey had to lose before she was allowed in front of the camera to play Liz Lemon, a supposedly homely character who eats constantly. She’s going to be on Weight Watchers for the rest of her life, just so she can play someone whose favorite food is “night cheese.”

But until we live in a communist utopia where every type of look is valued equally and the conventionally hideous star in romantic comedies, the majority of the people we pay to entertain us are going to be hot, and hot people like to pose for pretty pictures. Maybe it’s just because I’m a brazen strumpet who poses nude, but I don’t see a huge difference between Abby Elliot looking cute in clothes, and Abby Elliot looking cute in her underwear. It’s one thing to work towards a more inclusive definition of beauty; it’s another entirely to deny humans (who, need I remind you, come equipped with eyes) the pleasure of looking and being looked at.

(Via Maxim)

Related posts:

• Crush Links: Fred Armisen and Abby Elliott K-I-S-S-I-N-G
• Celebrity Lookalike: Doesn’t Abby Elliott Kind Of Resemble …
• Crushable Quotable: Beauty Advice from Tina Fey
• We Crashed A MAXIM Casting Call (And This Is What Happened)

Post from: Crushable

Post from: Crushable

Since these responses are already biased to results that will mollify their sexually lazy and uncreative readers, we hope that next year, Maxim will include the following questions.

1. Are you in the mood to have sex?

2. What could we be doing differently to make sex more enjoyable for you?

3. Have you lost weight recently?

4. Does that annoying “Uggggh” sound we make when we come kind of ruin the moment?

5. Do we go down on you too much?

6. What would you think if we just wanted to cuddle tonight?

7. If train A leaves Chicago traveling 100mph and train B leaves New York traveling 150mph and the distance between the two cites is 600 miles how much longer are you going to be in the bathroom, honey? Just wondering…you’ve been in there awhile. No, it’s fine.

8. Have you ever thought that maybe we’re imagining James Franco, too?

9. A man’s pubic hair should be…? Nevermind, that’s actually on the survey.

10. Why are you reading Maxim instead of having sex with us?

* Not even joking, one of the questions is: Is post-sex snuggling seriously important to you? Really?

Related posts:

• New Disease Proves Some Men Weren’t Meant To Have Sex
• Sex On The Wire: American Apparel Drops Its Naked Chicks
• Sex On The Wire: Is Olivia Munn Sexting With Justin Timberlake?

Post from: Crushable

• Todd Palin is embroiled in a sex scandal with a massage therapist/prostitute. We always knew he was dumb, but not that dumb. (New York Daily News)

• Meanwhile, worst people ever Kat Von D and Jesse James have put a ring on it. (My Daily)

• Honestly, thank you, Johnson & Johnson, for bringing back the O.B. tampons. (The Hairpin)

• Maxim has a survey…for the ladies! Hint: It’s all about your periods. (The Frisky)

• If you want to have sex, you gotta sound at least a little bit excited, ladies. (CollegeCandy)

• I would actually buy a blow-up doll hoodie. If it was comfortable. (TheGloss)

Related posts:

• Sex On The Wire: Who Will Buy The Octomom Porn?
• Sex On The Wire: American Apparel Drops Its Naked Chicks
• Sex On The Wire: Was ‘The Kennedys’ Miniseries Porn?

Post from: Crushable

For Saldana, not even taking into account her appearance as a blue alien in the biggest blockbuster movie of all time, Avatar, she has another appearance on her resume that will always endear her to people I surround myself with: She was in Star Trek. It’s a rule: Any actress who appears in a Star Trek or Star Wars film will always be held in high regard (eg Carrie Fisher, Natalie Portman) — at least by the vocal male population that uses the Internet as their sounding board. Is Kim Cattrall a sex symbol because she played Samantha on Sex and the City? No. It’s because she played Valeris in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

What does that say about us as a society, though? Nothing much, except guys who like Star Wars and Star Trek will worship any girl who’s willing to enter that world, paycheck or not. That’s still a more respectable attitude than guys who are drawn toward celebrities whose looks are good for (ahem) private arousal — Olivia Munn, Brooklyn Decker — than any real substance. These are probably the guys to stay away from unless you’re a girl who is attracted to Ian Ziering, then, it’s probably a good fit. The good news is that this particular brand of male is too busy playing flip cup right now, anyway. (Or, as Wikipedia tells me, the game can also just be called “cup.” Which was, I had thought, a fake card game made up by Chandler Bing.)

Speaking of Friends, Jennifer Aniston played Rachel but will always be tied less to her co-stars — Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow — than to a woman she has never shared a screen with, Angelina Jolie. To a guy, Aniston represents not, as she does to females, the jilted former wife of Brad Pitt who we pity. For guys, she represents everything Jolie is not: Attractive yet approachable; ordinary, but in a good way; not attempting, in her own mind, to save the world; and, most notably, not once married to Billy Bob Thornton. These are all things guys will find attractive. She is everywoman for the common man. The laid-back, cool chick. Which is ironic, because at the height of Friends’ popularity, Aniston was perceived as the opposite of all these things. Aniston hasn’t changed. It’s just the male perspective of her has changed when directly compared with the eccentric Jolie. Is this fair? Probably not. But she doesn’t seem to be complaining.

There are certain actresses who carry a sense of just-out-of-reach unattainability to their persona. A persona that opens up the adventurous side of the male personality that could encourage a guy to either (a) sing The Pixies during karaoke or (b) cover Stillwater on tour for Rolling Stone. At one time this was Audrey Hepburn; today this would be Zooey Deschanel. Guys who love Deschanel aren’t in love with her, they’re in love with the idea of her. This is dangerous. These are guys looking for an excuse to chase their wildest dreams. Unfortunately, it never ends with catching their dreams. It usually ends with him sobbing, on the F Train ride home from Brooklyn, asking himself why it didn’t work out and why she wants you to really listen to the lyrics of “Nothing Better” by The Postal Service. (Damn you,  Ben Gibbard!)

Then there’s the confusing cases of Anne Hathaway and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Two enigmas when it comes to this question. Hathaway seems to have found a niche in the gay community but, for some reason, isn’t mentioned much as a straight male’s celebrity fantasy. Which is odd, but not completely surprising. Based on the roles she has played, there’s never been one that — like Deschanel in (500) Days of Summer — sparks the emotional epicenter of the male psyche. Or, maybe, considering her popularity in the gay community, no insecure straight male wants to openly admit to his attraction. Fearing the inevitable “You like the girl from The Devil Wears Prada?” questions which lead directly to “Wait, you’ve seen The Devil Wears Prada?”

Gyllenhaal, for her part, is the unchallenged queen of the love her/hate her debate. No actress is more polarizing for really no reason. Half the people I know claims she made The Dark Knight better, taking over for Katie Holmes; the other half feels she almost ruined it by just being there. How to tell these two camps apart, in my opinion? Her detractors are more likely to be in that flip cup line, renewing their Maxim subscriptions while Gyllenhaal’s defenders are possibly, right now, and even more annoyingly, sitting at their computers, just like me, writing pieces just like this one.

Mike Ryan is an entertainment writer who contributes to New York magazine, Vanity Fair, AOL’s Moviefone and Yahoo News, among other outlets. He lives in New York.

Post from: Crushable

Maxim.com has released the Young Hot Hollywood 2009 list! It doesn’t say if the list is ordered, or if all of them are equally hot. I’m going to assume the latter, but here’s the full list:

• Scarlett Johansson
• Blake Lively
• Vanessa Hudgens
• Katy Perry
• Olivia Wilde
• Hayden Panettiere
• Audrina Patridge
• Rihanna

I’m not sure if that’s the full list, since Hilary is not in there, though she’s the cover for this edition of the magazine. What do you think?

Also check out Hilary’s steamy hot Maxim.com photoshoot images here.

Image: Pacific Coast News

Post from: Crushable

Hilary Duff shares how exciting it is to be featured on Maxim magazine:

“It’s so exciting, you know, to be on the cover of this magazine. I’ve done it once before and then, I guess it’s just an honor, you know what I mean? To kind of get that title is huge. I work really hard, but you never expect things like this to come around. I guess it’s… it’s just exciting.”

Also, Hilary was seen heading to a Christmas party with her mom Susan at George Lopez’s house.

Post from: Crushable

Also, it looks like there was a very limited release Best Of Hilary Duff 2009 Calendar in some countries in Asia. You can read more about that here.

Post from: Crushable

The start of the article compares Hilary Duff’s image to those of Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. They showcase Hilary’s strong career and “killer body”, and how Hilary is exploring her “darker, sexier side” now that she’s turned 21. They talk about all three of Hilary’s upcoming movies, Greta, Stay Cool and Safety Glass.

In the interview, Hilary Duff talks about the sexy image in her ‘Reach Out’ music video, about different hair colors, all of her movies, and her good girl image, which Hilary says can “work against you!” Hilary Duff also talks about her relationship with Mike Comrie (no, she’s not engaged).

The new photoshoot is just as sexy as the 2007 one, with a lot more Hilary attitude. And she seems way more comfortable here too, I think. Since I can’t share the images legally, I will link to high quality scans of the entire Hilary Duff feature:

• Hilary Duff Maxim 2009 Cover
• Hilary poses on a bar stool on the index page
• The feature article cover, lots of bra showing
• The thoughtful full page image
• Interview page with small image
• Sexy bodice and pose, full page
• Black and white glamor head shot
• Black and white sultry in silk jumper

Hilary Duff’s 2007 Maxim Photoshoot:

Also check out a couple of new cute photos from Hilary going to pilates again on December 12th.

Image credit: Newscom

Post from: Crushable