The One To Beat

I haven't posted in a little while, and Playboy's been mostly quiet on new releases... for the most part. While we've seen a new entry in terms of Playmates (that's a little inconsequential), I want to comment on a girl that I'm seeing as a turning point for another big contest for 2010: Cyber Girl of the Year.

If any of you follow the Playboy world, you obviously know that it's Bethanie Badertscher, Cyber Girl of the Month for June 2010. Just to put

it out there, this young lady is easily the best Cyber Girl we've seen since Jamie Graham of last year, and possibly the greatest talent in the CG world since Jo Garcia (who made some serious waves two years ago). Bethanie is a force to be reckoned with, for a whole series of reasons.

First and foremost, she is possibly the most surprisingly multi-faceted talent we've seen in a long time. Beth knows how to hit some tight, professional poses with relative ease. She knows exactly what looks good and how to play to the camera. There are countless photos of hers where she looks good, but what's amazing is that her girl-next-door personality and wholesome looks don't detract from the fact that she's wildly sexual. She hits some poses that make your jaw drop and wonder where all the "badness" came from. She can get as down and dirty as possible, and does it with extreme ease.

Of course, it doesn't hurt to have a body like hers. Bethanie is spun

ky and slim, which makes her a real pleasure to look at. The way she contorts that sinewy body to hit some really adult moves is beyond comprehension, but even when she's passively standing by, she glows like an absolute angel. Even with a whole lot of material in her CGOM shoot, she hits consistently amazing poses, like this one, which aren't overstated, but use her physical ability and subtle touch to deliver a breathtaking scene. Even her smile takes center stage throughout her videos, with a cute, young look that is stunning.

I could go on and on through Beth's material, showing just how consistent her posing prowess can be, but really it's even more than that. Miss Badertscher has some real star quality that sets her apart from everyone so far in 2010, and beyond. This is the sort of girl that we may only see once in a lifetime, and she should certainly be in the top spot for CGOY.

• Face: A+ Bethanie's glowing, cute smile comes across especially well in her video close-ups. It really completes her wholesome, girl-next-door persona, while still allowing her to go the distance with a sexy stare.
• Body: A Beth is slim and petite, but more than that, she can move herself in ways that accentuate her best features. Although she doesn't have the most pronounced butt, the overall trimness of her frame makes her absolutely gorgeous in front of the camera, and complements her persona quite well.
• Talent: A+ After a more traditional retro-style CGOW performance, few could see just how much firepower Beth had in her tank. She brought it in her month's pictorials, with flawless posing knowledge and body control. She's easily the most talented CG in years, with an intensity that rivals even the best Playmates.
• Material: A+ It's what makes the model, and Bethanie has plenty to offer. Her pictorials are varied, dramatic, and always develop into something more. She never sits idly and always has movement, and each picture and video is different from the next.
• Overall: A+ As if I haven't given enough reasons why Bethanie is in my hall of fame, I could still paraphrase it all. Beth is easily the greatest Cyber Girl since Jo Garcia won it all in 2007. She has immeasurable talent in posing, and seems like she was born to be naked. It's not even just a cliche - Bethanie just looks unbelievably natural in the nude, baring it all and then crooning for the camera with absolute ease. The lighting and production value carry her far, as they are as minimalist as possible when shooting such a naturally beautiful girl. Still, the bottom line is that Beth's firecracker sensuality is a shocker, especially coming from such a seemingly innocent young girl. It really all comes together in a tantalizing feast for the senses.

Welcome to the A+ club, Bethanie!

One For The Ages

We've seen great Playmates come and go in the past. Through the late 1990's through the early 2000's, we had some of the greatest girls ever to appear in Playboy appear, and they did a magnificent job. Year after year, girls like Shannon Stewart and Karen McDougal graced the pages, and these were girls in a class all by themselves. They were the embodiment of perfection in the art of nude photography, and in recent years, Playboy has lost this ability to produce consistently classic models.

Especially in the past 2-3 years, the American version of Playboy has been seriously lacking in impact models. Sure, there have been some solid classes, like the 2009 group that was great from top to bottom, but there were still no true stars that would endure the test of time... until this month.

To get straight to the point, Miss April 2010 is Amy Leigh Andrews, who climbed up the Playboy ranks with relative ease, given what she brings to the table. Amy got her humble beginnings as Coed of the Week in August of 2008. Even back then, you could see that this girl had some future star quality, but it's still tough to tell that she could be so good. After a stint as Coed of the Month, she graduated to Playmatehood, where she debuted this month.

Amy Leigh is a great model - there are no two ways about it. She executes every photo to

perfection, using stellar technique and always looking bright and radiant. She has the perfect Springtime look that makes her a great sight to see at this time of year, and her pictorials fit her personality beautifully. Amy always keeps the audience engaged with her active, dynamic posing style, which exudes professionalism like no other girl we've seen in quite some time.

I could go on forever just talking about Amy's posing prowess, but let's take a real look at her pictorial. Amy leads by showing off a few clothed pics, with this one setting the stage for Amy's schtick: she's a down-home, hard-partying college girl. The thing is, though, that her range is extraordinary, and she doesn't just resort to being the bubbly blonde all the time. This majestic photo kicks things off, with her face taking on a totally different look. Indeed, one of the strange things you'll notice about Amy's photos is that her face looks dramatically different in many of them, which is an unusual effect. This photo has a subtle, summery charm that is amazing and very appropriate. After she pulls off the covers, her body is exposed: a voluptuous, natural marvel.

So now, let's get to the coup de grace of it all... her body. Amy Leigh has one of the drop-dead sexiest bodies of any Playmate in quite some time. The next stage of her pictorial concentrates on her small frame and considerable curviness, like in this surprising shot. With her preview pictorial, I didn't notice how rotund and curvy her butt was, but it's definitely worth noting. Her smallish 5'2" frame does wonders to accentuate her twisting, winding figure. But through it all, the main improvement that Amy has made to her physique is her toning. Since her Coed of the Month/Week pictorials, Amy has seemingly slimmed down a large amount. You can see this in her photos, where although she has plenty of body to look at, her waistline is chiseled and spectacular. Her hard, washboard abs seemingly wrap her body in an hourglass form that tantalizingly brings the whole package together.

When Amy gets inside the bedroom, you can tell just how slim she is, albeit her size and curves. Her body is the epitome of perfection in the 21st century, with every little line and detail coming together with that gorgeous face of hers. And speaking of that face, it really comes across beautifully in these photos. She has an effect where she has a set of "smoky" eyes, which are cute and squinty. They are mysterious and attractive, and really put it all together. And when you combine that gorgeous face with those thick, gorgeous thighs, you have quite a sight to see.

The grand finale of Amy's extensive pictorial lies in her amazingly lit bedroom shots. First, she lays flat, exposing her full curvature. Then, she lays flat and flashes that incredible look of hers, but in this perspective, you get a whole different view of the way her thighs mesh with that amazing ass of hers. To finish it all off in dramatic fashion, she gets up and kneels, with a dark, artistic shot of her lower body contrasting with a bright, engaging smile with those pearly whites.

• Facial: A Amy's face is extremely unique, and it's what sets her apart from other models of her type. Her smoky, mysterious eyes are very interesting and engaging, while her face itself always looks new and refreshing in every pictorial.
• Body: A+ Miss Andrews has an impeccable build, with outstanding proportions, and a thinner waistline that comes across amazingly in photographs. Her slim, sleek abs beautifully complement a wonderful set of thighs that feed into a voluptuous, small frame.
• Talent: A+ Amy has an innate knack for the camera, offering a variety of refreshing poses. She is very dynamic in her photos (while not so much in her video sets), striking a vast array of poses in a limited number of photos.
• Pictorial: A Her photos followed a consistent theme, which took a bright, colorful approach given her Miss April status. Still, the pictorial picked up a more mature tone at times, which was fitting, since Amy does not always look her college-aged self, given the goods.
• Centerfold: A- Amy's centerfold is clean-cut and easy on the eyes, with bright colors and tones. It does a good job showing off her body, and allows her to exude a mature confidence.
• Overall: A+ I have gushed on and on in this post about Amy Andrews, and here is how I back it up. Amy is the first model to garner an A+ rating since Jo Garcia did back in 2007, and my 2nd A+ rating ever since starting this blog. On the right side of my blog, you'll notice my all-time A+ ratings, which constitute my "hall of fame." As you can see, no Playmate has received an A+ rating since Raquel Gibson in 2005. Amy is truly the best Playmate we have seen in years. She has outstanding talent and a congenial, accessible look that can draw in audiences with just a glance. Her physical stature is magnificent, with the effort she has put into improving her body being immediately visible. This is, in short, a wildly talented, once in a long time girl who positively shines in every photo.

It's taken quite long since my last A+ model. If you look at my list to the right, the last time we had a year without an A+ PlayboyCritic rating was 1996. Since Jo Garcia in '07, there have been no girls as talented and worthy of the title as Amy is. This year, we truly have a shoo-in for Playmate of the Year who would be unbelievably hard to top, unless we have yet another picture-perfect Playmate that busts on to the scene. Until then, enjoy the beauty that is Amy!