EDITORIAL
THE SLEUTHSAYER
When Sleuth published our first "The Living End" issue more than five
years ago {V9 N5}, the rearviews were unanimous: "ASStounding!" raved
Newscheek. "StupENDous!!" agreed the Washington Posterior "SpectaCULO!!!"
trumpeted USAnus Today. Well, stop the presses: we're BACK...
And this follow up couldn't be more aft...Rolling Stone recently announced "The
Year of the Butr �noting: "This year's must-have fashion accessory?
A great big ass. The MTV Video Music Awards, in September, was a virtual showcase
of well-endowed heinies." Asspecially "Rose McGowan, in a see-through
dress that resembled a beaded sieve and showed her healthy back bumper in glorious
3-D." Turn overthe page to see Rose bringing up the rear of our CAN DID countdown.
Basically, it's the flip side of a Rump Roast: These "Best Butts" can
boast of being the toast of the town! For the bottom line these days is no longer
"one size fits all" (though J.Lo's halo does seem all ENDcompassing}.
Fittingly, Olympic host Australia has led the way "Down Under �its
monthly men's mag Ralph recently asserting that we've entered "The Golden
Age of the Arse." As these Crocodile Bundees put it: "BEHIND every great
woman is an arse. Though for much of the '90s, it was lost in the shadows of its
up-top imitator: the breasts. But now the arse is enjoying a comeback of huge
proportions."
Especially for "Brown-Eyed Girls" {bet you didn't know Van Morrison's
1967 smash hit was an ode to the mother load}. Speaking of singing, Sisqo's "Thong
Song" was the rap Anthem of 2000�no small feat, considering Spin's
selection of "The Butt" as its "Body Part of the Year," while
noting: "The rate of BPM's (Butts Per Minute) is so furious that the TV screen
fairly drips with sweat. Hip-hop this year was all about body over mind�i.e.,
putting backfields in motion." Especially on the dance floor: "Cheeky
girls everywhere are shaking their booties�and flashing their thongs�to
Sisqo's latest dance hit," read one report. "It's very raunchy."
As are the Thong Song's lyrics: "She had dumps like a truck, truck, truck,"
Sisqo sings. "Thighs like what, what what/Baby move your butt, butt, butt/Let
me see that thong."
As one Rio journalist explains, the country that invented "anal floss"
is hardly backward: "There are no busts in Brazil," he told Vogue last
May. "It's a bottoms country. That's what the thong bikini was all about�a
bunda, the bum. American men love the boobs, no? Brazilian men love the butt.
And there is no surgery for that!"
Butt there IS this entire sequel of Twice Told Tails. So while the victor in our
initial "Living End," Naomi Campbell {p. 90} has been unseated in this
"go-round," she still ranks amidst that rearified air near "The
Top of the Bottoms"... hardly a bum rap. Gosh, hope there won't be a backlash...
Over the Moon,
