Playboy February 2006

COVER STORY After becoming the first winner on America's Next Top Model, the uninhibited Adrianne Curry up and stole Christopher Knight's heart on The Surreal Life. Now she gets loose-lipped about her reality show My Fair Brady and her spinout with super-model Tyra Banks. Senior Contributing Photographer Stephen Wayda serves Curry extra spicy. Our Rabbit goes for the gold. FEATURES 48 THE TAKING OF SEX.COM Sex.com was perhaps the most valuable address on the web. See how the site became a gold mine during the dot-corn boom, then watch as the party implodes in a swirl of swinging, speed, spending and, ultimately, rancorous litigation between two men fighting to control it. BY MICHAEL GROSS 64 THE BIG SHOW A jaundiced journey through the freaky world of 21st century bodybuilding, in which today's champions are so pumped up they make Arnold Schwarzenegger look like your mom. BY CHARLES M. YOUNG 68 THE NO-BULLSHIT CAUCUS Does everything out of Washington have to come laden with evasions, qualifications, special pleadings and out-and-out untruths? No. A handful of our politicians—John McCain, Dianne Feinstein, Barney Frank and others—deal in straight talk with a minimum of manipulation. BY JEFF GREENFIELD 88 DIARY OF MY HEALTH The author of The Pugilist at Rest leaves no prescription unfilled as he uproariously details his manifold ailments and pharmacological reliefs. BY THOM JONES 94 LOVE IS A MUCH REWRITTEN THING Even the world's greatest love poets had to begin with first drafts. We've collected some of the false starts. BY JOSH ROBERTSON 106 OYSTER CULT Serving the world's most celebrated aphrodisiac at a social gathering makes a more sensuous statement than passing out edible underpants. We share a few pearls of wisdom about preparing these sumptuous bivalves. BY A.J. BAIME FICTION 60 AN EXCITING NEW CAREER IN MEDICINE After her sister's tragic death, a dexterous woman becomes a health professional specializing in hand jobs, now said to cure many ailments. Soon she finds there's more to healing than lube and Kleenex. BY MICHELLE RICHMOND THE PLAYBOY FORUM 37 OUR PILGRIM FANATICS Attitudes about sex, women and the Bible that were held by the religious fundamentalists who founded our country echo across the centuries as zealots seek to turn back history's clock. BY SIMON WORRALL 20Q 104 HUGH LAURIE He plays a sardonic doctor with a prickly bedside manner on House. Now the accomplished English actor dissects British colloquialisms, his status as the thinking woman's sex symbol and the Zen of boxing. BY DAVID RENSIN INTERVIEW 43 AL FRANKEN The man who invented Stuart Smalley has turned into one of the country's strongest liberal voices, becoming the public face of Air America Radio en route. We ask the Saturday Night Live veteran about how his self-proclaimed Al Franken Millennium is going, what motivated him to write Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and who pisses him off the most. BY WARREN KALBACKER PICTORIALS 52 KISSED BY THE TUSCAN SUN Explore the lush hills and fertile valleys of Tuscany while becoming acquainted with these picturesque belle donne. 74 PLAYMATE: CASSANDRA LYNN Liberated of her clothing, the beauty nicknamed Butterfly can spread her wings and fly to new heights. 110 A TASTE OF CURRY America's next top model Adrianne Curry celebrates her surreal life with some provocative and deliciously un-Brady-like poses. NOTES AND NEWS 11 THE WORLD OF PLAYBOY Nicollette Sheridan and other celebrities go ape at the Mansion's 11th Annual Safari Brunch. 12 THE GIRLS NEXT DOOR Hef and girlfriends Bridget, Kendra and Holly celebrate the success of their hit E! TV series. 93 CENTERFOLDS ON SEX: CARA WAKELIN Miss November 1999 discusses what can go wrong while having sex in the backyard. 147 PLAYMATE NEWS Lauren Anderson dons a tasty lettuce bikini and serves veggie hot dogs on Capitol Hill for animal rights; Jennifer Walcott gets the key to the city of Las Vegas. DEPARTMENTS 3 PLAYBILL 15 DEAR PLAYBOY 19 AFTER HOURS 31 MANTRACK 35 THE PLAYBOY ADVISOR 86 PARTY JOKES 123 WHERE AND HOW TO BUY 151 ON THE SCENE 152 GRAPEVINE 154 POTPOURRI FASHION 96 TEE IT UP Get up to par with the latest golf clothes. BY JOSEPH DE ACETIS 102 TOP BOXERS Let her slip into something more comfortable, like a pair of your boxer shorts. BY JOSEPH DE ACETIS REVIEWS 25 MOVIES James Franco is a fighting-mad midshipman in Annapolis; Albert Brooks is Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World. 26 DVDS The Aristocrats is no longer an inside joke; out-of-print DVDs that can fetch up to $1,000 each. 27 GAMES Gun is the best Western game ever; with The Matrix: Path of Neo, the Wachowski brothers redeem themselves. 28 MUSIC Yellowcard ventures beyond teen angst on its new album; catch the new wave of guitar rock. 29 BOOKS The Female of the Species author Joyce Carol Oates on the art of violence; Hokum's black humor.