The ultimate real estate porn, you might say. As you may have heard, the Playboy Mansion is on the market for $200 million. THE most expensive house for sale in America. But the buyer will have to let 89 year-old Hugh Hefner live in the 89 year-old mansion until his death. Buyers will reportedly be allowed to tour the 29-room Holmby Hills house as long as they stay out of Hef’s bedroom. (Cranky old man doesn’t want you looking a his stuff!) That steep asking price may actually be pretty unrealistic. The property –worth more for its six acres, than the house itself– will likely sell for closer to $80 to $90 million, with our without Hefner. Real estate site website Zillow estimates that estate is worth closer to $34 million.

Built in 1929 (yes, the year Hefner was born) the English Manor-style house is 7,300 square feet with a double-height entry, formal living room, dining room, library, his-and-her powder rooms. The hotel-sized kitchen features an open plan with a morning room and butler’s pantry, opening to an outdoor terrace. A maid’s room in the rear of the house has a separate entrance. Upstairs are three bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. The master suite, which includes a fireplace and walk-in dressing room with mirrored doors, overlooks the backyard garden. The walled estate backs onto the L.A. Country Club, includes a large motor court with three-car garage, rolling lawns and views of the golf course.

My old colleague and friend, author Anthony Haden-Guest, tells of his visit to the mansion on The Daily Beast. Hefner said to him,

“Playboy and my own lifestyle are a Rorschach test where people find their own fantasies. But you’ve got to realize that this isn’t where I ever expected to go. There was no parallel. There was no such lifestyle as this when I was growing up, that I could look to, and think: this is the life that I want to live. I mean, I didn’t know anybody who was fulfilling their personal, uh, aspirations to the extent that I’ve been able to.”

Anthony goes on to say,

“As for life in the monument to sybaritism nowadays, well, Down the Rabbit Hole, a tell-all by Holly Madison, Hefner’s seven year live-in girlfriend–he is now married to 29-year-old Crystal Harris–describes a bedding ritual which sounds like erotic pantomime, what with multiple women, mostly blondes, in matching pink pajamas, porno movies, pot, desultory penetrations. Still a Rorschach Test? Perhaps.

And the mansion? Hefner bought it and the five-acre estate in 1971 for $1.1 million, a record at the time, but the company, in which Hefner is now a minority shareholder at 30 percent, have been shelling out for the running costs for quite a spell.”

…and running that place must not be cheap. But Hef wants to live out his days there even though, it or the man himself, ain’t what they used to be. That’s life. Take a tour courtesy MTV Cribs, circa 2010 below. (Photos, Pacific Coast News)

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Comedy king-maker Judd Apatow and wife, actress, Leslie Mann‘s Malibu beach house is not huge, but the price tag is. $12 million. For that you get just 2,550 square feet with 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms, which is tiny by Hollywood standards. But look at that backyard. The Pacific Ocean is yours. Well, not exactly. It’s not a private beach. Anybody can walk by, but if you want a place to get to on the weekends, this is pretty much perfect.

(via Variety)

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This has to be the gayest news of the day. Bette Midler has signed on to star in HBO’s upcoming biopic about Hollywood glamour-puss and bawdy gal Mae West. It’s based on West’s autobiography, Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It, to be directed by William Friedkin (The Exorcist) with a script by Harvey Fierstein (Kinky Boots) It will chronicle West’s scandalous Broadway show, Sex, which landed her in jail for 10 days for

“corrupting the morals of youth.”

I saw Bette play another mouthy babe, superagent Sue Mengers, in her one woman show I’ll Eat You Last on Broadway, and as you know she has acting AND comic chops to burn. Here are some of Mae’s best lines, which you can be SURE Mr. Fierstein will be quoting and the Divine Miss M will be delivering with relish –and a side of hot tart! Watch.

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No this isn’t Glendale… These are mansions in Romania.

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I just watched the new Word of Wonder doc Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures (which premieres at Sundance this week)(and is amazing, btw), and it sent me off on a rambling YouTube quest to find footage of other New York superstars from that era. I landed on this super-bizarre snippet from a 1980 BBC documentary about the Chelsea hotel, in which William S Burroughs and Any Warhol engage in a conversation about… chicken fried steak?….that is so monumentally banal that it circles back to riveting. Burroughs TAAAAAAAAAALKS in that WAAAAAAAAAY that he has, and Andy natters on about absolutely nothing (with lots of wide-eyed “Oh Gee” and “that’s great!” moments) – while an über-queeny tour guide takes people through the hallways, and Nico randomly warbles away in another room. It’s vapid, fly-on-the-wall verité makes it a must-see for fans of these great icons. Really, you’re going to love it – it’s brilliant in how boring it is.

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Ah, Money well spent. Here’s a demonstration of what happens when you try to wash a brick inside of a washing machine that is bouncing on a trampoline. The result? Pure chaos. And good times had by all.

Watch it again, with heavy metal music added. (via The Laughing Squid)

The post The Best “Washing a Brick in a Washing Machine That’s Bouncing on a Trampoline” Video You’ll Likely See All Day appeared first on World of Wonder.

When Lewis Flint from England was 16, he thought it was hilarious getting Henry the Hoover tattooed just above his junk. Now that he’s older and ready to seriously date, he’s second guessing his choice.

Lewis recently told his story on Channel 4’s Bodyshockers in the UK. He said:

When I first got it done aged 16 I couldn’t stop getting it out, I got loads of attention and I was a bit of a local hero, I loved it. But I was with a girl recently and I liked her, things were going well until we got naked. When she saw it she said ‘what’s that? I am off!’ I was gutted, I never thought I would regret my tattoo when I got it done.

Part of the show is for the people to get their embarrassing body art or cosmetic surgery reversed, so of course Lewis wanted to get the tattoo removed, which wraps around and continues on his right ass-cheek.

When I think about that night the girl walked out it does haunt me and puts me off showing it to other women in the future. I know laser removal is painful but never getting laid again would be more painful.

It wasn’t very long before the laser removal proved to be too much for poor Lewis, and he asked the technician to quit. He’s now going to keep the ugly tat.

The thought of that going round near my balls is unbearable. I don’t know how people put up with 20 minutes of it. Laser is too painful for me to get rid of this tattoo, I am going to have to put up with it.

(via thegailygrind.com)

The post A Classic Story: Man With Henry the Hoover Tattoo Above His Penis Now Regrets It appeared first on World of Wonder.

What little boy/girl doesn’t want to grow up to be just like her dolls? WOWlebrity, and face of World of Wonder’s QwerrrkOut, Mx Qwerrrk has become the latest craze in the New York fashion and nightlife scenes…and now she’s been forever immortalized as a Pidgin Doll by former fashion illustrator, now doll maker Joshua David McKenney. The New York-based artist recently gained mega attention when one of his dolls that he did for Doe Deere (CEO of Lime Crime) ended up in the middle of an art world scandal. Famed photographer Richard Prince decided to use an Instagram pic (below) of Deere and her doll for his own exhibition at the Frieze New York Art Fair without consent from Deere or McKenney. And if that wasn’t enough, he actually decided to charge upwards of $90,000 for the co-opted works.

McKenney considers his creations a way of communicating the parts of him that are feminine, gentile and magical…so, it was no surprise that he chose Mx Qwerrrk as his next muse. And she’s in great company! McKenney has collaborated with other fab ladies like Grace Jones, Mariah Carey, Brooke Candy, Dita Von Teese, Candy Darling, and even Taylor Swift! Mx Q sat down for tea with Joshua recently and here’s what went down. (Mx Qwerrrk pics by Santiago Felipe)

Mx Qwerrrk: What made you wanna become a doll maker?

 

McKenney: It wasn’t a planned thing. It was just kind of something I fell into. I was working as a professional illustrator and I just had the urge to start making dolls. I took a few ceramic and mold-making classes and the more I explored sculpting, painting, and photographing dolls, the more it just felt right. To me it’s the ultimate expression.

 

Mx Q: How long does it take you to make a doll?

 

McKenney: My current wait time is 4-6 weeks. It really depends on the doll.

 

Mx Q: For me, you did sculpted hair. Is that a more complicated process?

 

McKenney: Usually, I adapt existing synthetic fiber wigs to the style I want, but sometimes I make them using natural fibers, like mohair or alpaca. Hand-sculpted wigs, like yours, do take a little more time, but they are best when you have a short or set hairstyle. I’ve just started 3D printing “snap-on” wigs. They are still in a development phase, but the potential is really exciting.

 

Mx Q: What was your reaction when you heard that Richard Prince had used one of your dolls in his photo exhibition without your knowledge?

 

McKenney: At first I was just surprised, but I didn’t know anyone would really see it. But then I was getting called by my friends at the Frieze Art Fair, and being tagged all over Instagram. That image, in particular, was all over TV and media like CNN, Fortune Magazine, The Today Show, and I was all of the sudden being asked to speak on internationally broadcast news shows….I realized it was kinda an oddly big moment. It lasted about two weeks and I’m just glad that I have enough of a presence and voice on social media that I was able to speak out and get credit because he had totally erased my name from the image.

 

Mx Q: Would you say that some good came from it, since it gave you more exposure?

 

McKenney: For sure!

 

Mx Q: What kind of people buy Pidgin dolls?

 

McKenney: I’m an artist and my medium is dolls. The people that buy Pidgin are the kind of people that understand that they are buying art from an artist. Before dolls were massed produced in factories, they were hand-made luxury items, heirlooms to be cherished…..this is the kind of doll Pidgin is.

 

Mx Q: What kind of doll are you?

 

McKenney: Actually, I consider myself more of a puppeteer than anything. I use dolls as a way to express things I otherwise wouldn’t be able to express by just being myself. Pidgin doesn’t ‘talk’, but she communicates a lot for me.

 

Mx Q: We’re about the same height and equally pretty… Would you have an issue with dating a pig like me?

 

Mc Kenney: Absolutely!!! I’ve always had a thing for glamorous pigs!

 

Grace Jones

Candy Darling

Brooke Candy

The post WOWlebrity Mx Qwerrrk Gets a Hi-Fashion Pidgin Doll Done in Her Likeness appeared first on World of Wonder.

Oh, this year is starting off with too many deaths. Glenn Frey, a founding member and guitarist for The Eagles, died today. He was 67. The band said in a statement,

“It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of our comrade, Eagles founder, Glenn Frey, in New York City on Monday, January 18th, 2016.Glenn fought a courageous battle for the past several weeks but, sadly, succumbed to complications from Rheumatoid Arthritis, Acute Ulcerative Colitis and Pneumonia. The Frey family would like to thank everyone who joined Glenn to fight this fight and hoped and prayed for his recovery. Words can neither describe our sorrow, nor our love and respect for all that he has given to us, his family, the music community & millions of fans worldwide.”

Frey wrote and provided vocals for many of the Eagles’ hits, including Heartache Tonight,Lyin’ Eyes, Tequila Sunrise & Take It Easy. Fry along with Don Henley, also co-wrote Hotel California & Desperado. Henley praised Frey in a statement,

“He was like a brother to me; we were family, and like most families, there was some dysfunction. But, the bond we forged 45 years ago was never broken, even during the 14 years that the Eagles were dissolved. We were two young men who made the pilgrimage to Los Angeles with the same dream: to make our mark in the music industry — and with perseverance, a deep love of music, our alliance with other great musicians and our manager, Irving Azoff, we built something that has lasted longer than anyone could have dreamed.

But, Glenn was the one who started it all. He was the spark plug, the man with the plan. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of popular music and a work ethic that wouldn’t quit. He was funny, bullheaded, mercurial, generous, deeply talented and driven. He loved his wife and kids more than anything.”

Below is the band’s performance of Take It Easy in 1977, with Fry on lead vocals.

(via Variety)

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Good old Marjorie Conrad. Hadn’t seen her in absolute AGES. The former America’s Next Top Model-turned-WOW receptionist-turned-indie filmmaker returned to her old stomping grounds to talk about her upcoming SLAMDANCE feature Chemical Cut. The movie – which she wrote, directed, produced, and starred in – follows the story of a young misfit model who struggles to define herself in the nutty world of modeling, until a mysterious woman’s performance strikes her imagination. So it’s how you can find inspiration in absurdity, see. And the chemical cut of the title refers to when you bleach your hair and it melts off, which, it turns out, is a metaphor for the fashion industry as a whole, see, because… well, just watch the interview below.

Chemical Cut premieres this week at the Slamdance Festival in Utah, and other film festivals thereafter.

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Upon first look, one might foolishly dismiss the well-known Instagram user Walle Couto as JUST a handsome guy with a REALLY GOOD sense of style. Like seriously, his clothes are amazing. Take note:

See what I mean? But more importantly, he posts what are perhaps the most INTENSE thirst-trap selfies OF ALL TIME. LIKE THIS:

AND:

He also teaches us how to be a good person. Like, he loves animals:

He lets other people photograph him from questionable low angles:

He genuinely wants us to have good, safe weekends:

He’s adventurous:

He loves to flex for us while naked because he knows it will make us feel better about life:

He doesn’t shy away from flexing his (VERY IMPRESSIVE) backside either:

He knows how to look amazing while stretching under a light (a rare talent):

He motivates us to never skip leg day:

He doesn’t mind showing off his PERFECT body hair:

And, last but CERTAINLY not least, he shows us how to completely murder the classic locker room mirror selfie:

The post #ManCrushMonday Walle Couto Is About To Burn Up The Internet appeared first on World of Wonder.

Is there anyone more terrifying than Chelsea Handler on drugs? The answer to that question is…no. Need it, want it, this is a must-watch. Chelsea Handler will be in a four-part documentary series on Netflix touching on hot topics that fascinate her like marriage, racism, Silicon Valley, and drugs. Chelsea Does… premieres January 23 on Netflix.

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Olympic skier Gus Kenworthy was a guest on last night’s episode of Conan and told a pretty funny story about his original plan to come out at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. He was planning to win an Olympic gold medal and then kiss his then-boyfriend.

Instead, though, he won a silver medal (no small feat) and remarked: “I’m glad it didn’t because I hadn’t told my mom, my dad, my brothers, it would have not only been a shock to the sport and the Olympics, but my family would have been like, ‘What the hell?’”

Watch the video:

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There’s a discussion and signing of wowlebrity Josh Sebarra‘s book Porn Again this Thursday, January 21, at Book Soup in WeHo. Be there at 7PM sharp! Oh, and it’s his birthday, so bring him something festive and nibbly (see top pic for inspiration)!

In PORN AGAIN: A MEMOIR, Josh Sabarra throws open the proverbial closet — and bedroom –doors, taking readers on a Hollywood thrill-ride through growing up, coming out, coming of age and finally finding himself at 40. Despite being a high-level entertainment executive, Josh was still a virgin at 31. Uncomfortable in his own skin, haunted by painful childhood memories, he kept laser-focused on building an unparalleled career trajectory at the expense of his personal life. Tormented by schoolmates for being “different,” Josh clung to his aberrantly close relationships with a small circle of adult females. But, even with that support, the shame and contempt that grew from his sexuality locked him in a prison of self-hate that robbed him of an emotional and sexual identity for more than three decades. Movie studio jobs, through which he met celebrity idols, led to friendships and relationships with some of the industry’s most notable characters. Those intimacies created a false sense of acceptance and approval, requiring that he continue to up the stakes – celebrity lovers, the crazy world of online dating, sexual fetishists and porn stars-for-hire. The gay best friend you always wanted, Josh Sabarra delivers a whip-smart, poignant memoir set against a glittering backdrop that is at once heartbreaking, glamorous, sexy and hilariously honest. (Jbs Books)

Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, 90069.

And check out my interview with him about his juicy memoir, below:

The post Save the Date: Join Porn Again Author Josh Sabarra at Book Soup, Thursday Jan 21! appeared first on World of Wonder.

Just when you begin to feel Bowie fatigue setting in (ENOUGH, FACEBOOK), something like this yanks you right back to the despair you felt when you first heard the news of his passing.

Toronto’s Choir!Choir!Choir! teamed up with the Art Gallery of Ontario to pay tribute by singing our original arrangement of Space Oddity with 500+ singers. It all went down last night in Walker Court and here’s how it sounded, looked, and felt. RIP Starman: to say we’ll miss you doesn’t even scratch the surface.

I DARE you to listen to this and not get choked up. “Space Oddity” isn’t even my favorite song and I’m still blubbering at my desk right now.

The post Choir of 500+ Sing “Space Oddity” and It Will Absolutely Move You to Tears appeared first on World of Wonder.

Obsev, the same guys who brought you “Grandmas Try Fireball Whisky For the First Time” are back with the same grandmas and an even funnier video…”Grandmas Explain Millennial Terms.”

The grandmas take their best guesses about what millennial slang terms mean. Would your grandmother know?

via Obsev

The post Watch These Grandmas Try to Figure Out What the Millennials Are Saying appeared first on World of Wonder.

Transformation Tuesdays just got a whole lot QTer…New queers featured every week! Tag us, take a pic of us and follow us on Instagram at QWERRRKOUT, and you too could be the next QT! YOU BETTA QWERRRK!

Manie Martinez

Age: 22

Location: Pueblo, Colorado

About: “There’s no right or wrong way to do your art. If it makes you happy, then you’re already doing it right.”

Instagram: maniemartinez

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The first Neighbors film from 2014 gave us some of the most important Zac Efron fratboy moments in recent history. And in case you haven’t been paying attention, the hilarious trailer for Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising dropped today and features some very memorable scenes of shirtless fratboy Zacky as well. It’s going to be a good year!

Check it out (plus some GIFs):

And in case you forgot about the original Neighbors where fratboy Zac made his debut, here’s a refresher:

The post These GIFs From ‘Neighbors 2’ Are Proof That Frat Boy Zac Efron Is The Best Zac Efron appeared first on World of Wonder.

Want to piss off your neighbors? Get some inspiration from these Roma mansions that line the streets of Buzescu, Romania. These homes belong to the Kalderash (coppersmiths), who built a fortune by trading metal across Eastern Europe after the collapse of Communism. Ugly, beautiful – whatever you call it, I’m obsessed.

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“What’s that? I should kill everyone and escape? Sorry. It’s the voices. I’m kidding! That’s not what they really said.” Are y’all ready for Suicide Squad? ‘Cause we sure are. If this trailer doesn’t have you leaping for joy and hitting replay over and over after 30 seconds, you might need to check your pulse. We don’t wanna spoil the vid for you, so just watch this delicious first look at some of our favorite DC villains doing what they do best: wreaking havoc in the most delightful way possible. Ugh, August seems so very far away… Can anyone make time move faster!?

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