Finally!

Patty is traveling, so I will take a swing at this one…

I found this little tidbit to be almost unbelievable, but this month’s edition of Playboy Magazine will feature FOR THE FIRST TIME a Playmate who is a transgender Asian Pacific Islander.

Thirty-five-year-old Filipina, Geena Rocero, who grew up in the alleys of Manila, is calling her appearance in the iconic mag a “definite pinch-me moment”, and is hoping to inspire other models to reach for their own dreams.

As you may or may not know, I am a HUGE fan of Asian Pacific Islanders.  They are a wonderful race of people that is responsible for birthing one of my favorite boxers of all time, Manny Pacquiao, and also one of the greatest snacks ever invented… Those little fried spring-rolls the Filipinos call ‘lumpia’… I pop those things like they are aspirin.

(“Mantap!” is Indonesian for “Solid!” or “Stable!“… Neither of those translations makes sense, but what does anymore, amirite?)

Also, I am a big fan of the Fast & Furious franchise whose latest installment culminates in an eye-popping battle scene involving The Rock and 100 other shirtless guys in sarongs fighting genetically altered super-soldiers on the island of Samoa.

So you can imagine my pleasant surprise when I saw Playboy finally recognize a transgender centerfold from a culture that has already given us so much but apparently had one more surprise in its bag of goodies.

Congrats to Miss Rocero.  And for those who are wondering… Geena proudly talked about the sex reassignment surgery she had at the age of 19 in her recent TED talk (pictured above), so you shouldn’t expect the photographers or photoshop guys at Playboy to do any more nip/tuck magic than they would on a Playmate who has been female since birth.

Enjoy and take a report.

-Large