slowen

yeah. if kate (or anyone) was placed in a vacuum, they wouldn't survive for long since there's no oxygen. more likely they did a shoot on a zero G airplane. despite what jimmy fallon thinks, it's hard to look good in zero gravity. pretty risky thing to do for a cover shoot. nevermind that the background will just be padded white walls and not a blue sky or sandy beach. i mean, this hardly screams "swimsuit cover" right? i think it would be better suited towards a feature, like heidi's thing in vintage suits or bar's thing with athletes. Please textlink or upload images onto a host instead of hotlinking. For more information click HERE. Thanks! ~post edited by PinkCouture

i posted the link to her casting call on page 85, wondering why they were posting casting calls in december. there wasn't much discussion about her, though.

i can't believe the cover leaked already! Not cool Slowen... You know what you posted was wrong and in bad taste so consider this the one and only slap on the hand you're going to get from us. edit: actually now that it's leaked, maybe they'll go with something else instead. here's hoping...

it's true. not only is she a virgin, but she's saving herself for begonia. consider it a fact. can we move on, now?

catrinel, wow! she has such a nice...everything

i think it's interesting how, when SI put out their rankings, people here complained that they seemed skewed towards more recent models. and yet when you give them the opportunity to rank, they skew even further towards...more recent models! i mean, i like genevieve, josie, and nina, but their contributions to SI really pale in comparison to any one of the three girls they defeated (cheryl, christie, or daniela). i'll go ahead and bet now that even #1 seed kathy ireland will be beat by either marisa miller or petra nemcova. elle will be the only high-seeded girl to make it to the final four.

they posted another casting. i'm wondering why they posted so late. was this lost in the couch cushions or something? http://swimdaily.si.com/2013/12/12/casting-call-diana-khullina http://swimdaily.si.com/2013/12/12/casting-call-diana-khullina http://siswimdaily.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/diana-elite1.jpg?w=618&h=467 Please textlink or upload images onto a host instead of hotlinking. For more information click HERE. Thanks! ~post edited by PinkCouture

next month? esti must be helping in the editing process since they're done shooting...

emrata et al

it's not up to us to upload them--they're coming from world swimsuit's youtube page here: http://www.youtube.com/user/worldswimsuit

just scrolling through the pics here and thinking if they don't photoshop these girls beyond recognition, this should be a fantastic issue

i feel like it's been a while since we've updated the location and model guesses, but i was just wondering: have any on-location preview pics looked like kate upton (not counting the studio shoot with all-stars)?

ok, thanks. i guess that makes sense, though it's more an argument for fewer models period, rather than fewer rookies. but, like you say, if the rookies aren't good/interesting enough to displace a great veteran, then i see where you're coming from. at this point i think it's a bit early to judge, but if the guesses we have so far prove correct, i think it'll be a pretty fantastic rookie class replacing a (perhaps) increasingly stale veteran group.

in the early days, very few of each issue's models returned for subsequent issues. i think certain standouts, like cheryl tiegs, changed all that. through jule campbell's reign, the percent of models returning went from very low (0-25%) to around 60%. skipping over elaine farley's two-year tenure, diane smith had relatively high turnover in her first few years--the 1999 and 2000 issues had less than a 40% return rate. but since then, it's been closer to 70%. in mj's first issue as sole editor, she didn't hit the 'reset' button like diane did, but maybe she's doing that with this year's issue. i certainly encourage it, but i'd be interested to hear the other viewpoint, too.

btw, i really don't understand the opinion that more rookies are bad. can someone explain? i wholeheartedly support a bit more turnover among models, so i say the more rookies, the better.

i don't disagree that it looks like brooklyn, but i doubt it actually is brooklyn. brooklyn's hip/waist ratio is closer to 1.0 and she has slightly bigger boobs. honestly i like the proportions better on whoever it is (samantha hoopes?) edit: awesome, it's bar. i would be surprised if a model could remain under the radar with that body!!

yeah it's a total tragedy. wait, what??

nice detective work! cris looks pretty great--this year's set of girls keeps getting better

and here's another shot of "hipster bikini" that is definitely not emrata warning, blissfully sheer nudity

it's entirely possible that it's another angle for the anniversary issue: these throwbacks to past shots with the old images as insets. i guess there will be the group shot we've seen hints of, but i no longer think that the group shot will be the cover. especially since it was done in a studio. the group shoot will be a feature, like what bar and heidi have done in recent issues.

looks like another rookie. glad they're changing it up a bit more this year.

i don't think it's natasha; the belly button still looks like emily

having a rookie get the cover is not unprecedented. heidi klum and tyra banks both appeared on the cover their first years. it just didn't happen during diane smith's reign from 1999-2012. actually, it wasn't until diane smith that the concept of 'rookies' vs 'veterans' was introduced. before that, they were just...you know, models. at this point i think emily might be a safer bet than kate. the marginal benefit of the press attention surrounding a three-peat is small compared to a repeat cover. if they want press, it's been shown that ms. ratajkowski can drum that up pretty well. in fact, that mirror,mirror suit would look pretty great on a magazine rack. SI 'reflecting' on 50 years. a man can dream...