"Younger and fresher," is exactly what has gotten them to where they are.

Playboy was a great magazine, from the fifties through the eighties. They offered intelligent articles on important issues, exclusive interviews with world-class leaders and intellects, and sexy photographs of some of the most beautiful women in the world.

Today's version of the magazine is vastly different. It's like Maxim with fake boobies.

They used to feature interviews, thousands and thousands of words long, with important figures like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jimmy Carter and Malcolm X. Nowadays, the Interview feature has been reduced to babbling nonsense from the likes of "The Rock" and Tom Green. (I had to google Drew Barrymore to remember Mr. Green's first name.)

I'm still a subscriber (because they have offered me very attractive rates), but I can't think of the last article in the rag that I found interesting. It's always very trivial stuff.

And the "playmates" aren't what they used to be either. I'm just not titillated by the Stepford Models they've been peddling. Go back and look at the models they featured in the eighties. Now, those were some sexy women. Not the prefabricated models of today.

I think they should bring back the great fiction by great authors, the great reports by great journalists, the great interviews of great (and infamous) public figures, and the beautiful models with great natural bodies. Unfortunately, it seems they are headed in the opposite direction. And that, as sure as hell, will be the final nail in the coffin of the Playboy empire.