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Bronx-born Steve Bloom initially grabbed the eyeballs of heady readers as a rock journalist in the '70s and '80s. His work for taste-making publications on the order of Rolling Stone and SoHo News ultimately enabled Steve to pen a pair of books--Video Invaders and Watch out for the Little Guys--on the topics of video-game history and undersized NBA players, respectively.
If cultural touchstones such as rock music, Pong, and Spud Webb go hand in hand to you, then you won't be surprised to learn that, in the late 1980s, Bloom took over as Managing Editor of High Times, the world's premiere periodical for pot-puffers.
Bloom has always been especially beguiled by marijuana-intensive movies, establishing High Times's Stony Awards in 2000. The annual ceremony honors the finest achievements in the previous twelve months' cannabis-enhanced cinema.
Earlier this year, Bloom went to part-time status at High Times and launched CelebStoner.com, his own tabloid website, where he covers the dope beat in pop culture. He took a moment to illuminate MrSkin.com on some of the sexier aspects of buzz flicks.
If cultural touchstones such as rock music, Pong, and Spud Webb go hand in hand to you, then you won't be surprised to learn that, in the late 1980s, Bloom took over as Managing Editor of High Times, the world's premiere periodical for pot-puffers.
Bloom has always been especially beguiled by marijuana-intensive movies, establishing High Times's Stony Awards in 2000. The annual ceremony honors the finest achievements in the previous twelve months' cannabis-enhanced cinema.
Earlier this year, Bloom went to part-time status at High Times and launched CelebStoner.com, his own tabloid website, where he covers the dope beat in pop culture. He took a moment to illuminate MrSkin.com on some of the sexier aspects of buzz flicks.
Is it true that your idea for CelebStoner.com came from Willie Nelson's 2006 mushroom bust?
That's correct. After Willie Nelson was busted for pot and mushrooms in September, I ran the police stash photo on my blog Bloomideas.Blogspot.com. I was the first to publish it. The next day traffic went through the roof from 200 visits to 10,000! This is clearly what people wanted to see. I thought, if I could acquire other exclusives like that, I might be able to compete with celebrity tabloid sites like Perez Hilton, TMZ, and The Smoking Gun.What other stories have garnered huge traffic?
A few days after I launched the site, High Times forwarded an email to me from a photographer who snapped shots of P. Diddy puffing a blunt at a Toronto club. The photog gave me permission to post two photos. These were quickly picked up by a number of sites, including Perez Hilton and CityRag. That helped put CelebStoner.com on the map.The latest CelebStoner scoop that got picked by other sites was about James Brown's wife, who was in drug rehab when he died.
Are there certain celebs you're particularly interested in pursuing as stoners?
The key to success, besides exclusivity and scoops, is to be constantly digging. Today I found two shots of Lindsay Lohan on another site holding a glass pipe. I'd like to post the shots, but they're obscured and I'd probably have to pay for use. Right now I don't have the budget to pay for photos or hot stories.It's fairly easy to report on the druggy lifestyles of the stoned and famous, but the photos are often hard to come by. Photos bring in the most traffic. A photo of Matthew McConaughey smoking a joint while playing the bongos half naked might give me and lots of web surfers a major hard-on.
CelebStoner.com definitely has a tabloid look and feel. What is it like to be in that business?
Focusing on the private and public behavior of Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, Lindsay Lohan, Snoop Dogg, and Mike Tyson may seem superficial. But when they or anyone else famous gets busted, that changes everything. Then they're just like anyone else who's caught up in the legal system because they happen to smoke pot.I'm particularly galled by celebrity pot arrests. Take Michael Vick and his stash water bottle. Here's a guy who presumably likes to puff and takes measures to protect himself and then gets caught with a bottle that contains maybe some resin. It smells weedy, and he might get charged for it. Shouldn't airport security be focusing on finding weapons and sharp objects rather than empty stash bottles?
How about the paparazzi?
Nude shots, nip slips--love that term--and other compromising photos like Britney Spears's are the ultimate guilty and naughty pleasure on the web these days. I have to admit I surf the web looking for the latest topless shots and slips. Lately Lohan's boobs have been flashing all over the place. I also like the topless shot of Pen?pe Cruz on the beach. Yum!Since we're on the subject, do you have any personal favorite nude scenes from the cinema?
I love Eva Green (Picture: 1) in The Dreamers. Who couldn't think of her wanton sex scenes with Michael Pitt while watching her pushed-up boobs in Casino Royale? Another sexy French favorite of mine is B?rice Dalle (Picture: 1) in Betty Blue. And who could forget Maria Schneider (Picture: 1) in Last Tango in Paris? Other faves are Susan Sarandon's lemon scene in Atlantic City, Meryl Streep's (Picture: 1) boob flash in Silkwood, Katie Holmes (Picture: 1 - 2) in The Gift, Maggie Gyllenhaal (Picture: 1 - 2) in Sherrybaby, and Abbie Cornish (Picture: 1) in Candy.Tell us a High Times celebrity story.
My Matthew McConaughey story is a classic. At the Dazed and Confused Tenth Anniversary Reunion in Austin in 2003, I asked McConaughey to sign High Time's Dazed and Confused cover. He was just about to leave the party. In his Texas drawl, he said to me: "Y'know, there are high times and there are low times, and this is one of these low times."Initially I didn't have a clue what he was talking about. Then it suddenly dawned on me that McConaughey was hitting me up for weed. A friend of mine had a small bag and was kind enough to give it to him.
At the Speakeasy rooftop after-party--Sandra Bullock, Parker Posey, and Joey Lauren Adams were there, by the way--McConaughey waved me over to his group. Returning the favor, he passed me a glass one-hitter. We smoked the same weed we'd given him an hour before.
Then there's the time Snoop Dogg hit me up for weed, but you'll have to wait for my memoir for that story.
Certainly you've policed stoner culture in the movies through your entire career. Who are some of the hottest stoner chicks you've seen on screen? Any nude scenes we need to keep an eye on?
Bridget Fonda (Picture: 1) in Jackie Brown is particularly memorable when she tells Robert De Niro, who's hacking on a bong hit, "If you don't cough, you don't get off."Others to check out are Susan Sarandon (Picture: 1) and Geena Davis (Picture: 1) in Thelma & Louise, Sarandon and Goldie Hawn (Picture: 1) in The Banger Sisters, Cameron Diaz (Picture: 1) in There's Something About Mary, Frances McDormand (Picture: 1) in Laurel Canyon, and Sarah Polley (Picture: 1) in Go.
As far as hot goes, you've got Amy Smart (Picture: 1) in Road Trip, Nia Long (Picture: 1) in Friday, Jennifer Aniston (Picture: 1) in Friends with Money, and, of course, Milla Jovovich in Dazed and Confused.
Most stoner movies feature a little T&A.
What are you working on besides CelebStoner.com?
I'm co-authoring Pot Culture: The A to Z Guide to Stoner Language and Life with my friend and colleague Shirley Halperin. Harry Abrams will publish the book in the fall.
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