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Björk Is Getting Her Own Massive Art Exhibition At MoMA

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Word was just announced that Icelandic songbird, human artwork and recent educational innovator Björk is slated for a multimedia retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art next year. We think a Björk-esque squeal is appropriate.

The exhibition, curated by Klaus Biesenbach, will feature over 20 years of Björk, expressed via sound, film, visuals, instruments, objects, costumes, and performance. Her seven full-length albums, from 1993's "Debut" to 2011's "Biophilia," will live alongside collaborations with other artists, fashion designers and directors.

bjork
Still from the “All Is Full of Love” music video. 1999. Directed by Chris Cunningham. Music by Björk. Image courtesy of One Little Indian


According to MoMA, "the installation will present a narrative, both biographical and imaginatively fictitious, cowritten by Björk and the acclaimed Icelandic writer Sjón Sigurdsson." A semi-fictional retrospective? Yes, please.

Finally, the show will present a new "immersive music and film experience," a collaboration with "Mutual Core" director Andrew Huang and 3D design leader Autodesk. We're not sure exactly what to expect, but if it's anything like their previous work, expect some technologically warped apocalyptic nature-scapes that will haunt your dreams while seeming oddly adorable.

Klaus isn't the only MoMA front runner with a massive Björk crush. Paola Antonelli, senior curator of Architecture and Design, expressed her love for the experimental artist in a blog post announcing the museum's acquisition of the Biophilia app, MoMA's first ever app acquisition.

bjork


"Björk has never ceased to experiment and surprise," said Antonelli. "The multidimensional nature of her art -- in which sound and music are the spine, but never the confines, for multimedia performances that also encompass graphic and digital design, art, cinema, science, illustration, philosophy, fashion, and more -- is a testament to her curiosity and desire to learn and team up with diverse experts and creators."

It's only been a few days since word spread that Björk's 2011 app-album, "Biophilia," will be transformed into The Biophilia Educational Programme, a non-academic school curriculum scheduled to spread across several European countries. The exploration-inducing app aims to "inspire children to explore their own creativity, and to learn about music and science through new technologies." We're glad to see the art world isn't letting the education world hog all the Björk brain magic.

Björk's retrospective will come to life in March 2015, around three years after Kraftwerk's 2012 show, which too explored the effects of experimental music on the future of image and sound. What avant-garde artists would you like to see snag their own art exhibition? Let us know your dream lineup in the comments.




These 'Star Wars' And 'Lord Of The Rings' Themed Guitars Are Nerd Shredding Heaven

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Playing guitar is pretty cool. Playing a guitar designed as Han Solo frozen in carbonite from "Star Wars: Episode V" is way cooler.

Travis Stevens is the man behind these nerdtastic axes. Stevens makes custom electric guitars, dioramas, action figures, cosplay props and artwork based on some of his favorite movies -- "Star Wars," "Lord of the Rings"/"The Hobbit," "Indiana Jones" and both Marvel & DC comics. His work has drawn the attention of musicians like Ryan Adams (Whiskeytown, The Cardinals) and Ben Moody (Evanescence), as well as the interest of Peter Mayhew, the actor who played Chewbacca.

"Originally, I actually developed a lot of my guitar designing and detailing skills by creating custom figures and dioramas for my personal collections," Stevens told HuffPost Entertainment. "The techniques for painting and sculpting, or carving, are very useful in both realms. Guitar building is a lot more complicated; measurements and fine tuning are so critical to having a playable product. However, the body of an electric guitar is far less critical in its sound production -- by comparison to an acoustic -- allowing it to be carved and painted according to any design that doesn’t interfere with its components."

han carbonite guitar

han carbonite guitar 2

millenium falcon guitar

bobba fett guitar

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"It’s fun to take my favorite movie scenes and build them with as much detail as possible," Stevens said. "My biggest yet was a five-foot-tall Goblin-town diorama from the first 'Hobbit' film, complete with play features, flickering LED torches and Gollum’s lair. It was satisfying to build something that size, but a bit of a mistake -- most people don’t have room for a five-foot monster diorama."

hobbit diorama

hobbit diorama 2

hobbit diorama 3

Stevens said that he has several projects in the works currently, including a few commissioned "Indiana Jones"-themed dioramas and two more Millennium Falcon guitars. After those are complete, he plans to work on a guitar featuring vintage "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" artwork and a much more extensive "Jurassic Park" guitar.

"This will be my next major showpiece," Stevens said. "It will be called the 'T-Rocks,' which gives away at least some of the design."

To check out more of Stevens' designs, visit his website, where you can also contact him with any questions, or by emailing him directly at travisstevensnerdcrafts@gmail.com.

If You Ever Needed Inspiration To Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone, This Is It

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Cory Richards' work combines discomfort and adventure and the results are sheer inspiration.

In this stunning short, "A Tribute to Discomfort," National Geographic Creative photographer and North Face athlete Cory Richards collaborates with media company Blue Chalk to tell his own inspiring story, and illustrate the passion and athleticism that he brings to his work.

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Richards -- who speaks both humbly and candidly about his love of adventure -- is a pleasure to watch, and his talent speaks for itself. However, this short's most powerful moment is Richards' description of the event that changed his life forever: When hiking in the Himalayas in 2011, he was nearly killed by an avalanche.

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"When I realized that I had not died, I turned the camera on myself and took an image -- and that image ended up being put on the cover of National Geographic," Richards says in the video.

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The climb has been uphill from there. "There was no way of knowing at the time that that image -- which was really just my way of dealing with stress -- was going to push my life in such a dramatic direction toward telling that larger story of what it means to hurt and what it means to triumph and what it means to be human," Richards says.

underwater

Richards' and love of pushing boundaries will continue. "I've never been comfortable in the place that I'm in," he says. "I can't stop. It's a constant engine that keeps driving me towards the things that are unknown to me."

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Cheers to your future adventures, Cory. We hope they keep looking like this.

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hiker in air

Courtney Love On Dave Grohl: 'It's Time To Make Amends'

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The following article is provided by Rolling Stone.

BY KORY GROW

Following a drama-free reunion with Dave Grohl at Nirvana's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Courtney Love wants to resolve her differences with her late husband's bandmate. "It's time to make amends," she said, according to the U.K.'s Daily Mail, during a talk at Cannes Lions recently. A photo of Grohl led her to pause and make the revelation.

Did Nirvana's Rock Hall Induction End Dave And Courtney Feud?

Earlier this month, Grohl told The Hollywood Reporter that the hug he shared with Love at the induction ceremony was sincere. "I saw Courtney walking past [earlier in the night], and I just tapped her on the shoulder and we looked at each other in the eyes and that was it — we're just family," he said. "We've had a rocky road. We've had a bumpy past, but at the end of the day we're a big family and when we hugged each other it was a real hug."

In Pics: Nirvana’s Road to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

In May, Love told Pitchfork she wanted to go up to him first at the event, but was happy when they spoke backstage. "I was like, 'All right, no matter what happens, we're not going to be bitches,'" she said. "That was my attitude going in, and obviously his. Not much else needs to be said. We just both knew it was time to let it go, and we were ready to do it. It's been 20 years – we didn't even talk at the funeral."

In Pics: All 102 Nirvana Songs Ranked

Love and Grohl's bad blood dates back to the late Nineties, when they formed a partnership with bassist Krist Novoselic to manage Nirvana's business dealings. Love filed a lawsuit to dissolve the company, Nirvana LLC, in June 2001, and ultimately held up the release of the box set With the Lights Out until 2004. By the end of the year, Grohl and Novoselic sued Love with the hopes of kicking her out of the partnership, calling her "irrational, mercurial, self-centered, unmanageable, inconsistent and unpredictable." This led Love to release the statement, "Kurt Cobain was Nirvana."

In Pics: Kurt Cobain: Rare Images, Artwork, and Journal Entries

Love sold a significant amount of Cobain's publishing in 2006, promising at the time that any licensing of Nirvana's music would be "tasteful." Three years later, Cobain's likeness became a playable character in Guitar Hero 5, with Grohl and Novoselic saying at the time that Cobain "deserves better."

In Pics: 20 Best Moments at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2014 Induction

In 2011, Love wrote several scurrilous missives on her social media networks about Grohl and, during a concert, accused him of living off her husband's legacy.

This Woman Demonstrates 17 British Accents In A Row And It Is Awesome

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Have you ever thought that there was only ONE British accent (and then wished you had it)?

If so, you're in for a brilliant awakening. In this short from Anglophenia, Siobhan Thompson corrects this common misconception with a demonstration of 17 different British accents.

This isn't the first time we've highlighted the diverse array of accents across the pond, but Thompson's narration is witty and watch-worthy -- plus her celebrity impersonations are spot on (spoiler alert: a slew of Downton Abbey characters may be involved).

And if this video inspires you to improve your accents, BBC America has some tips.

Photos Of Waikiki's Homeless Reveal What It's Like To Live On The Streets In Paradise

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A good night’s sleep in Waikiki is hard to come by for Roberta Huddy.

She became homeless about a year ago after losing her job as a guest services agent at one of the hotels.

Now Huddy, who was born and raised on Kauai, lives in a worn-down Ford Astro with her husband, Greg, on Kalakaua Avenue next to Kapiolani Park. Their few belongings fill the vehicle from the passenger seat to the back hatch, blankets on the floor serving as a makeshift bed. The van is also their getaway vehicle. It allows them to avoid police and city park crews who have ramped up their efforts to clear the homeless out of Waikiki.

Like many others who live on the streets, the Huddys are on the run.

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Roberta Huddy, 50, has lived in her van with her husband for about a year. They are constantly moving to avoid harassment and ticketing by the police.


“All they say is that we should move around,” Huddy complained while perched on the edge of her Astro. “At night I like to go up to Kapahulu because at least there I can sleep in peace.”

An estimated 4,700 homeless people live on Oahu, 1,600 of them without any shelter. Those figures give Honolulu the dubious distinction of having one of the highest per capita rates of homelessness in the country.

By choosing to live in Waikiki, the Huddys and others are on the front lines of a campaign to combat homelessness in the tourist mecca. And lately, they’re part of a nightly migration resulting from city efforts to enforce park closure hours and other ordinances to keep the sidewalks clean.

Those efforts take two basic forms: occasional major sweeps that can result in dozens of arrests, and nightly visitations that drive the homeless from the streets for a few hours when even the most energetic tourists are asleep in their hotel beds.

‘Looks So Much Better’
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell said at a June 4 press conference that this approach has made a difference, particularly in Waikiki. The mayor lauded the efforts of the patrol crews, and said that on a recent trip to Waikiki he was approached by several people who had noticed the improvement.

“Police officers came up to me and said it looks much better,” Caldwell said. “Residents who live there came up to me and said, ‘Mayor, what are you doing? It looks so much better.’”

But the reality is — and Caldwell acknowledged this during the press conference — that Honolulu’s homeless aren’t moving indoors. They’re bouncing from sidewalk to sidewalk and park to park.

That’s because not everyone who’s rousted wants to go to a shelter, and the city doesn’t have permanent housing options for the homeless, which is the backbone of Caldwell’s Housing First initiative. And while the Honolulu City Council recently budgeted nearly $50 million to help build more housing for the homeless, the worry is that it will take years to do that.

“We need to do things quickly at this point, particularly in certain communities like Waikiki and Chinatown and on the Leeward Coast,” Caldwell said. “People are saying you need to act. We don’t have two or three years to see results. We need to see results next week, and I’m anxious to do exactly that.”

sleeping beside trash
Among the bin and bags, a shirtless man sleeps directly on the sidewalk next to a planter on Kalakaua Avenue on June 9.


Feeling Helpless
But are the nightly sweeps effective when housing for the homeless is scarce?

Bill Warren, 62, has had his tent and many of his clothes seized by city crews. He can’t afford to pay $200 to get his belongings out of municipal storage once they’ve been taken. He’s watched as city crews threw some of his belongings, including those that held his identification and other important materials, into the trash.

“Only ID I got is a bus pass with my picture on it,” Warren said.

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Bill Warren, 62, said he has had some of his property confiscated and thrown in the trash.


He wants to move back inside, and perhaps even rent an apartment in Waikiki using his monthly disability payments. But like many others in his predicament he’s battling addiction and mental illness.

“I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do,” Warren said. “I’ve got depression, some anxiety and, of course, a drinking problem. That’s three strikes.”

It’s clear the sweeps — which cost about $15,000 each — are having an effect. Many who are living on the streets are becoming weary and upset.

Devin Goodwin came to Honolulu about six months ago. The 21-year-old was couch surfing in Alaska and spent the last of his money to fly to Hawaii. The first bus he hopped on from the airport brought him to Waikiki, where he panhandles with his friends, holding signs that say things like “Smile if you masturbate” and “My girlfriend thinks I’m ugly. Need money to get her drunk.”

Goodwin says he’s been caught up in at least two of the recent police sweeps and has also been arrested, once for selling marijuana and another time on a bench warrant for not showing up to court.

“We’re losing all our stuff,” Goodwin said. “It’s making other people leave.”

devin
Devin Goodwin, 21, came from Alaska. The airport bus dropped him off in Waikiki five months ago and he’s been living on the streets since.


crossing street
A homeless man walks out of park at 12:02 a.m. to avoid police who have been patrolling the park areas every night. He will be walking to another area of Honolulu for the night out of the boundaries of Waikiki.


Goodwin says he doesn’t plan to abandon his life on the streets of Waikiki, and feels he should stand up to the authorities who “steal” from the homeless.

But at the same time he realizes he’s powerless so long as he chooses to live outdoors.

“What am I going to do?” Goodwin asked, arms outstretched as he watched people pass by on Kalakaua Avenue. “They’re tourists spending money. I’m homeless.”

Goodwin doesn’t want to go to a shelter. For one thing, he has a dog, Angel, that might not be allowed in. And like many others, Goodwin doesn’t trust that moving into a shelter is a better option.

Bed bugs are a concern. And some people living on the streets say that putting the homeless into such close proximity can lead to violence, theft and even rape.

Necessities of Life
Life is not getting easier for Honolulu’s homeless, especially those living in Waikiki where the tourism industry has put immense pressure on Caldwell and others to clean up the streets.

Even before the latest sweeps, the mayor had vowed to ramp up the city’s enforcement efforts as part of his “war on homelessness.” Police have been making dozens of arrests in areas such as Waikiki and Chinatown.

bathrooms waiting
A homeless man checks a locked door on a public restroom at 9:10 p.m. in Waikiki. The restrooms are supposed to be open until 10 p.m.


Caldwell also wants to enact new laws to give the police more authority to move Hawaii’s homeless off the streets. One idea he pitched is a new ordinance that would prohibit sitting and lying on public sidewalks.

The city is shutting down Waikiki’s public bathrooms early to make life on the streets a bit more difficult.

Candace Hilton said she’s fed up with the constant badgering, and claims the city is violating her rights.

Hilton is in her 60s. Her weathered face and rotted teeth tell their own story about a life without daily hygiene.

What few possessions Hilton had are gone. She used to spend her days knitting and crocheting as a way to help raise money for food. But her knitting needles and scissors were taken during a recent sweep.

sleeping sprinklers front
A man passed out on a park bench along Kalakaua Avenue at 12:33 a.m. He did not awaken when the sprinklers were turned on.


Her only real source of income now, she says, is scavenging for recyclables left behind in the garbage cans lining Kalakaua.

“Quite frankly this is messing me up so badly,” Hilton said. “So much of what these laws revolve around are the basic necessities of life.”

But even the city’s disruption tactics haven’t been enough to change everyone’s mind about living in Waikiki. Each day the homeless come back. And as Huddy explained, their reasons are simple.

“It’s convenient, it has showers and bathrooms and water,” she said. “I like to bathe every day and use the bathroom when I want to.”

“I love the beach too,” she added. “That’s why I keep coming here.”

View Honolulu Civil Beat's slideshow below for more stunning portraits of Waikiki's homelessness:
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Nick Grube is a reporter for Honolulu Civil Beat. You can reach him by email at nick@civilbeat.com or follow him on Twitter at @nickgrube.

Soldier's Rihanna Cover Moves 'America's Got Talent' Audience To Tears (VIDEO)

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Paul Ieti knows his way around a war zone -- and, apparently, an auditorium.

The U.S. soldier, who gained a wide following on YouTube after covering Etta James' "At Last" and Rihanna's "Stay" while stationed abroad in Afghanistan, brought his skills home earlier this week and blew everyone away on "America's Got Talent" on Tuesday.

Despite a briefly concerning start, wherein the judges thought Ieti may have missed his musical cue, the 21-year-old removed all doubt with his silky smooth cover of "Stay" and even moved audience members to tears. After the performance, the famously critical panel of judges had only positive things to say -- and several of them proceeded to walk on stage and give the soldier a hug.

"Well Mr. Ieti, you came out here very unassuming, and very nervous, and very shy," said judge Howie Mandel. "Then, all of a sudden, you started to sing. And a sound came out of you that nobody expected. You are amazing."

Ieti reacted to the unexpected encouragement on Twitter, writing, "That just really happened ... Thank you all for your support. I can't thank you all enough."

Watch the segment, above. Skip to 3:12 for the start of the song.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this entry misspelled Paul Ieti's name.

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Iggy Azalea Only Good Thing About T.I.'s 'No Mediocre'

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If there's one thing we can learn from Iggy Azalea's new collaboration with T.I, it's that she can improve basically anything with her touch.

The 24-year-old joins the seasoned artist on his track "No Mediocre," in which he raps about his quest to find a woman who meets his high physical standards. In case you were wondering, if you don't do your hair, wax specific parts of your anatomy, have a "pretty face" and "fat ass," you are not the girl for T.I.

Luckily, Iggy swoops in with her usual confident bad-assery, and adds at least one not wholly irredeemable verse to the song. While not exactly easing up on the impossible physical standards set by the media for women, Azalea at least tells T.I. to actually put a little work into achieving his wants and "stop running in place," if he's going to have such an intricate list of demands.

Azalea has already made history this summer by simultaneously snagging both the number one and two spots on The Billboard Top 100, making her the first artist to do so since since The Beatles in 1964. While we can't say we're huge fans of the eventual end product, we can see why T.I. would want to get in on all the Iggy Azalea fun.

Beyoncé Is Probably Jealous Of These Guys' Fierce, High Heeled Choreography

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Sound the alarm!

Anyone who remembers the "Single Ladies" craze knows that Beyoncé is well acquainted with uberly quick, flawlessly executed choreography. But with the way these guys stay in perfect sync, we could see the reigning queen of pop music getting a little green.

Dancing in high heels is no easy feat, but it's the signature move for French dancers Yanis Marshall, Arnaud Boursain and Mehdi Mamine. The number above is actually the just-released rehearsal for their final "Britain's Got Talent" appearance earlier this month. Seeing how they worked it while not on stage, it's a little hard to believe they didn't take top prize.

The dancers previously made headlines grooving to Spice Girls in Paris.

Now, 'scuse us while we hit replay.

Andy Warhol's Record Covers Go On View In Detroit

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BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (AP) — The banana. The zipper.

Along with his Marilyn Monroe portrait and the Campbell Soup cans, Andy Warhol's album covers have their own place in the pop-art pantheon. The Cranbrook Art Museum is kicking off what it says is the most comprehensive exhibition of authenticated Warhol record covers to date — including three recently discovered albums that never before have been shown in such a setting.

"Warhol On Vinyl: The Record Covers, 1949-1987+," which opens to the public on Saturday and runs through March 15, features 60 unique album covers and nearly 100 in all, including color and size variations.

They range from the recognizable to the rare.

There's The Velvet Underground's 1967 debut album, "The Velvet Underground & Nico," which features a Warhol drawing of a banana on a plain white background; as well as 1971's "Sticky Fingers," a Rolling Stones record that includes not only hits such as "Brown Sugar" and "Wild Horses" but a provocative cover of a man in jeans with a zoomed-in shot of the zipper.

Fun facts: The banana on the Velvet Underground LP could be peeled. It was a sticker that, when removed, revealed a pink banana underneath. And pulling down the zipper on the Stones' album revealed the male model's underwear.

"What (Warhol) really saw for the potential of the record cover was for it to be collected by the masses," says the exhibition's curator, Laura Mott. "Only a few people can own prints and only a few people can own paintings, but millions of people own this record," she said, pointing to "Sticky Fingers."

The exhibition came about after a Cranbrook board member, Frank Edwards, gave his collection of original-issue Warhol record covers as a gift to the museum, Mott said. Edwards was "really wanting (his collection) to be out there into the world," said Gregory Wittkopp, the museum's director.

A handful of the albums, which sit under glass and are handled only by museum officials wearing protective gloves, have never been displayed publicly.

They include "Melodic Magic: Lew White at the Organ with His Orchestra," circa 1953, the most recently discovered Warhol cover — just in the past year.

Also on display are the cover of a 1955 Count Basie album, which features Warhol's first celebrity portrait, and the "Giant Size $1.57 Each" record, his first pop-art record cover. Mott said that 1963 release was the "moment where the record cover becomes an artwork in and of itself."

Fresh out of Pittsburgh's Carnegie Tech, where he studied graphic design, Warhol moved in 1949 to New York City, where he designed the cover for "A Program of Mexican Music" conducted by Carlos Chavez, an album released in conjunction with an exhibition of Mexican art.

That cover, which features Warhol's "blotted-line" technique, is part of the display at Cranbrook.

Warhol liked the experience so much that he "went to record stores and started to flip through the racks and when he liked what one certain company was doing, he cold-called them and said, 'My name is Andy Warhol. I'd like to make a record cover for you,'" Mott said.

And he never stopped making them up until his death in 1987.

"This is also a story about him loving music," Mott said. "These record covers are the only medium he worked in throughout his entire career."

To that end, an area of the exhibition space has been set aside as a "listening room," where visitors can play 20 of the vinyl albums on three record players.

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If You Go ...

CRANBROOK ART MUSEUM: 39221 Woodward Avenue, on the campus of Cranbrook Educational Community in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; 248-645-3320, http://www.cranbrookart.edu/museum. Open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., through August. Adults, $8; seniors, $6; students with ID, $4; members and 12 and under, free.

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Follow Mike Householder on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mikehouseholder

Bask In The Glory That Is Booboo The Guinea Pig

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Oh, hey Booboo.

We'd like to introduce you to the Internet's new sensation, "Booboo and her friends." The series, photographed by DeviantART user lieveheersbeestje, stars the world's most sophisticated 2-year-old guinea pig, Booboo.

Are Booboo and her friends paving the way for a world of little piggies in vogue? Yes. Is that important? Yes. Do we, as editors, understand that you quit reading after the first sentence of this post and scrolled down to squeal at the adorable overload that is Booboo and her friends? Absolutely. In fact, if you're still reading this, stop right now and either check out the pictures below or check out more of this photographer's work by clicking here.







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Carnegie Hall Honors Legacy Of Black Broadway Performers

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NEW YORK (AP) — In a rehearsal room near Times Square this week, some two dozen men with Broadway-honed voices huddled to strategize.

They were practicing choral work ahead of a landmark concert Monday at the mighty Carnegie Hall, and creator-producer Chapman Roberts knew what those voices will be facing. "We will be accompanied by a 65-piece orchestra and they're going to be giving it all they got," Chapman said, triggering some nervous clapping. "Now there's a way to not compete with them. And that is: don't try."

Chapman and his singers have a very personal reason to get their sound just right: Their black tie, music-stacked, one-night-only concert celebrates the legacy of African-American men on Broadway.

"The Black Stars of the Great White Way" will feature the music of Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Louis Jordan, Eubie Blake, Cab Calloway and Paul Robeson. Tickets range from $35-$200.

Stars such as Ben Vereen, Andre De Shields, Cecily Tyson, Phylicia Rashad, Chuck Cooper, Savion Glover, Hinton Battle and Chita Rivera will be on hand, and original cast members from "Five Guys Named Moe," ''Smokey Joe's Cafe," ''Motown" and "The Scottsboro Boys" will sing.

The nine honorees include household names like actor Robert Guillaume to pioneers like Geoffrey Holder, a principal dancer at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1955; dancer-choreographer Louis Johnson, whose credits include "Damn Yankees"; and Harold Wheeler, an orchestrators on the original "Promises, Promises" in 1968.

"The accomplishments have gone unnoticed and we are having a good time digging it up and celebrating with everybody," says Chapman, an original "Hair" cast member who became a Broadway musical supervisor and arranger.

The idea of the concert began with Norm Lewis, who, even before becoming Broadway's first black Phantom in "The Phantom of the Opera," had heard young men to call him an inspiration for roles in "Les Miserables" and "The Little Mermaid."

"I saw that and I said, 'If they're seeing me this way, I want to celebrate the people I felt that same way about — Andre De Shields, Robert Guillaume, Chapman Roberts.' No one had ever celebrated that. I wanted to celebrate black men on Broadway."

As the show's go-to guy, Roberts certainly has his work cut out. He anticipates a nonstop lineup of songs that culminates in all the performers — over 100, including seven Tony winners — sharing the stage for three songs. "We've never all been in same room together," says Roberts. "There's a huge legacy that's going to be on that stage."

The only downside is he has only 2½ hours to showcase decades of rich history. "I've condensed it as much as I possibly can," he said. "Basically, everyone's going to come out and go, 'Ba-da-bum-dum-dum' and Bam, they're out."

Adds Lewis with a laugh: "You won't be satisfied, but you'll be satiated."

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Online: http://blackstarsgreatwhiteway.com

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Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

StoryCorps OutLoud To Shed New (And Long Overdue) Light On LGBT History

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Dave Isay, founder and president of the non-profit oral history project StoryCorps, long envisioned an initiative focused on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, a group often excluded from the historical record. "What we're doing is overdue," he told The Huffington Post. "We've done so well by accident in the last 10 years with these stories, so, by design, I can't imagine what we'll find."

Beginning June 28, StoryCorps OutLoud sets out across the country to record and preserve the stories of LGBT individuals, along with their families and friends. OutLoud is a project undertaken in the memory of Isay's father, psychiatrist Dr. Richard Isay. Professionally credited for helping to persuade the mental health community that homosexuality is not a mental disorder, Dr. Isay was himself a closeted gay man for many years. He came out to his son at the age of 52 and, in 2011, he married his partner of 31 years, Gordon Harrell, before passing away suddenly from cancer on June 28, 2012.

"I knew then we just had to find the money for this project, no matter what," said Isay.

It's fitting that OutLoud launches on the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. Fifteen years before Isay founded StoryCorps, he produced the first-ever documentary about the riots, "Remembering Stonewall," which broadcast in 1989.

"When I did the Stonewall documentary, I pitched it to the New York Post, and do you know what they said? They said, 'We don't believe in gay people.' They wouldn't run anything," said Isay.

"We've come far, but StoryCorps recognizes that we need to take a step back and listen," said Andrew Wallace, manager of StoryCorps OutLoud. "It's is a needed project at this moment." Wallace, who had previously founded a grassroots oral history project as a student in Colorado, came to StoryCorps with a firm belief in its mission. "To be here, on this national platform, with the resources and the talent StoryCorps has to offer -- to be able to direct that toward this project -- it feels surreal," he said.

At an event in New York City on Tuesday, special guest David Hyde Pierce hit on poignant truths with a witty observation: "When I was a little boy, there were no gay people," he said. "There were no lesbians, bisexuals, transgender people. And so nobody had an questions."

In 2014, StoryCorps is looking for answers. "I think, if you're living in certain communities in the South, for instance, I don't think you've really had the chance to tell your story, maybe ever," Isay said. "There's something intimate and safe about our format, and we hope that give those people a chance to speak."

He continued: "We did one day of recording with an LGBT group in Kentucky and the head of that group said it was the most important thing that had ever happened to the gay community there."

Since its founding in 2003, StoryCorps, based in Brooklyn, New York, has recorded more than 50,000 interviews with 100,000 participants. Archived at the Library of Congress, the collection comprises the largest single collection of human voices in existence. StoryCorps brings their stories to the masses in weekly broadcasts on NPR, short animated films on PBS and the pages of bestselling books. "Hundreds of years from now, future generations will get to know their ancestors and hear them tell their own stories," said Isay. Previous targeted initiatives include StoryCorps Legacy and the Military Voices Initiative, among others. StoryCorps has secured about a quarter of the $2 million needed for OutLoud to achieve its goals.

"What we'll find will be painful at times," said Isay. "But it's so important that we get this history down."

Check out the latest for StoryCorps by Rauch Bros. Animation:

In 'SHINE' Video, 10 Total Strangers Got Naked Together And Found Body Acceptance

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"Making a commitment to be part of this was kind of terrifying."

That's what one woman in "SHINE," a short video from The Goddess Project, said of her decision to join 10 strangers for a photoshoot where participants wore nothing more than body paint and strategically-placed bark. The women also shared their thoughts on body love and acceptance, and how taking part in the video empowered them to back against societal norms of beauty in their everyday lives.

(The video above may be considered NSFW.)

Filmmakers Sara Landas and Holli Rae organized the shoot to celebrate all types of women's bodies. They told The Huffington Post in an email:
We were inspired to make "SHINE" to help women move past their limiting beliefs of what is beautiful and powerful. We have both personally experienced the damaging effects of trying to fit into society's body image mold and we believe that every "body" deserves to be seen and appreciated for their individual beauty, talent, and light. We hope that this film will inspire women to join together, overcome their fears, and see the power in fully embracing themselves and each other.


"We have to stick together and empower each other to overcome all of the stereotypes placed against us," one participant said. "No matter what we've been conditioned to believe, it's time to step up and recognize how beautiful we really are." We couldn't agree more -- even if fully clothed and in the comfort of our own office.

How Marilyn Monroe Was Unceremoniously Dumped In China

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Goodbye, Norma Jean?

Art watchers are scratching their heads after a Reuters photo surfaced Wednesday showing a massive Marilyn Monroe sculpture headed to its final resting place in a dump in the Guigang prefecture of southern China.




If the 26-foot tall sculpture of Monroe striking her iconic pose from "The Seven Year Itch" looks familiar, that's because the stainless steel piece is almost an exact knockoff of American artist Seward Johnson's "Forever Marilyn," which has drawn international attention on exhibition in the U.S.

"It is definitely not a Seward Johnson sculpture," Paula Stoeke, director of Santa Monica-based Sculpture Foundation, which exhibit's Johnson's work, told The Huffington Post via email. "The Sculpture Foundation was surprised to see the photo and is researching it now."

Local Chinese media reported the Marilyn imposter stood outside a Guigang business center for just six months before it was taken to a garbage collecting company earlier this week "for unknown reasons," Reuters said. NBC reports the Johnson knockoff was made by several Chinese artists over two years.

Johnson's authentic Marilyn Monroe sculpture stood for two years in downtown Chicago, where it was often reviled (and repeatedly vandalized) before it was moved to Palm Springs in the spring of 2012.

forever marilyn chicago

Spectators look at 'Forever Marilyn', a sculpture by Seward Johnson, on July 15, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois. The stainless steel and aluminum sculpture, which stands 26 feet tall and weighs 34,000 pounds, will be on display in Chicago through the spring of 2012. The sculpture was inspired by Marilyn Monroe'€™s iconic scene in the 1955 movie 'Seven Year Itch'. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)


The original sculpture is currently on display in its "birthplace" of New Jersey for a months-long retrospective of Johnson's career.

On The Hunt For Supercells: Amateur Photographer Captures Breathtaking Storms On Camera

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Seeing Jody Miller's stunning photos, you might think she's a veteran storm chaser.

"I have only been shooting storms for the last two seasons," the Southern California resident told The Huffington Post. She's been passionate about photography for 35 years, she explained, but only recently has she gotten hooked on shooting extreme weather.

In this short period she's photographed storms in the "Tornado Alley" states of the south-central U.S. along with Iowa, Missouri, and New Mexico. "The Mojave desert has some intense summer thunderstorms to view and shoot, as well as Arizona and New Mexico during monsoon season in July and August," she added.

Miller said the most exciting part of her work is seeing fully-formed supercell storms in front of her when they're backlit by a late day sky. "I cannot believe that I'm really witnessing these, and if I didn't have the photographs to prove it I would wonder afterward if I had really seen the sights that I did."

She said her work hasn't felt dangerous yet, but she recognizes the risk in chasing storms. "We always keep a respectful distance when possible, since the best views and photographs are taken from as much as 20 miles from the center of the storms," she said.

The National Weather Service warns that storm spotting and chasing "is dangerous and should not be done without proper training, experience and equipment." The agency also offers storm spotting classes across the country.

Find some of Miller's storm photos below and visit her website to see even more of her work.


These Photos Make Us Fall In Love With 'The Notebook' All Over Again

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Even 10 years after it was released, "The Notebook" still leaves audiences yearning for the kind of heart-wrenching, everlasting love Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling brought to life on the big screen.

Which is why, back in 2010, Quebec Couple Cindy and Jean-Nicola Barile chose to reenact famous scenes from the movie during their engagement shoot -- and the results are incredible.

The images, shot by Blushing Bride Studio, have once again gone viral thanks to the film's 10th anniversary on June 25 and frankly, we couldn't be happier. Any excuse to share these breathtaking shots is fine by us!

As for the couple, they married in September 2010 and have a two-year-old son. Now, without further ado...





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'The Giver' Director Admits Color In First Trailer Was 'An Error'

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When the first trailer for "The Giver" arrived in March, fans of Lois Lowry's 1993 young-adult dystopian novel were confounded by its lack of black and white. In the book, members of the Community -- a sanitized society that doesn't experience emotions or pain -- see no color. But the trailer came with every hue you'd expect from today's dystopian-happy movie landscape.



"That first teaser trailer was put out by the publicity department without real consultation with us," director Phillip Noyce ("Patriot Games," "Salt") told HuffPost Entertainment. "Even if they had consulted with us, without thinking as a filmmaker, I might have said, 'Oh, that’s in color, okay. I guess that’s the best way to sell the movie, even though it’s not entirely in color.' It was an error. It doesn’t reflect our interpretation of the novel. It doesn’t reflect the movie."

As Noyce's comments indicate, fans' fears have been allayed. The second trailer, which premiered earlier this month, featured the black and white that was previously missing. Those few months in between, however, were patchy for "Giver" purists, who cried out in anguish at the thought of the middle-school staple not satisfying their recollections.

"It was an oversight," Noyce said. "I don’t think anyone realized quite how protective fans of the book might be to that concept of restricted perception. I was amused by all the controversy in a way because I knew that wasn’t how the film was shot or how it would be released. So it didn’t really worry me, I suppose, on the basis that I knew eventually the right trailer would come out. And I guess all publicity, to a certain extent, is good publicity. It quick-started a lot of chatter. In [the studio's] defense, they were thinking, 'Oh, well, if the movie’s coming out in summer, then if the expectation is that it’s in black and white, there will be all sort of pre-judgments about what kind of movie it is."

the giver

"The Giver" stars Australian actor Brenton Thwaites as Jonas, who is selected as the sole recipient of knowledge the rest of the Community isn't privy to. The Giver, played by Jeff Bridges, is who feeds him such information. The movie fits squarely with the abundance of dystopian flicks to hit theaters in recent years. "Twilight," "The Hunger Games" and "Divergent" have led the YA charge, all three basking in monstrous box-office grosses. On the more adult-oriented front, everything from "Cloud Atlas" and "Elysium" to "Never Let Me Go" and even this month's "The Rover" are just some of the titles that have embraced the end of civilization as we know it.

Noyce says the onslaught of alternative-society stories owes a debt of gratitude to Lowry, who offered a more philosophical approach to similar tales now being told on the big screen. Regardless, he wasn't fixated on avoiding any particular tropes that have emerged among the genre's staples.

"We were following a book which is very much an encyclopedia of ideas," Noyce said. "In sticking to the book but also in consulting Lois Lowry in all stages of scripting, planning, designing and even editing -- even in post-production, Lois has been a couple of times to see the film and give her comments -- we felt that we had as the basis for our movie something that everyone else copied, but they could never get to the essence of what Lois was doing ... It will provide a different sort of entertainment for people who have already seen all those that copied her."

It'll also provide entertainment for anyone anxious to see Taylor Swift. The 24-year-old singer, who appeared in 2010's "Valentine's Day" and voiced Audrey in 2012's "The Lorax," portrays Rosemary, The Giver's daughter. Longstanding "Giver" fans may recall that Rosemary does not actually appear in the book (instead, The Giver talks about her during Jonas' training), so the exact nature of Swift's casting has been enigmatic. She popped up in the first trailer, in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot, and received her own character poster alongside stars Thwaites, Bridges and Meryl Streep, but that's essentially all we've known of her role.

"The book where Rosemary is talked about and the film are pretty much the same," Noyce explained. "It’s just that we flash back to what [The Giver is] talking about. She doesn’t have a part in the present-day story. The Giver takes us back to his relationship and what happened to her through a short flashback scene, so Rosemary is not an ongoing character in the film. But she has an ongoing presence because the road that she went down is the road we hope our new Receiver doesn’t follow, where pain became too great and what she was being exposed to led to her demise. She was one of the people that The Giver lost because of the way he trained her, so now he has a new Receiver he’s training. Will he take him down the same path? She’s constantly being referred to and is a constant presence throughout the movie, but as in the novel, it’s from the past."

"The Giver" opens Aug. 15.

'Stonewall 45: Windows Into LGBT History' To Recount The Story Of 1969 Uprising

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It's been 45 years since the historic Stonewall Riots, but their significance and impact are still as relevant today as ever before.

In honor of this monumental anniversary, the Arcus Foundation and the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation have organized "Stonewall 45: Windows Into LGBT History," a walking exhibition in New York's Greenwich Village where the modern-day LGBT revolution first began.

The exhibition consists of 26 posters displayed in various storefronts along Christopher Street that document and tell the story of the Stonewall riots and the early days of the movements for queer rights.

stonewall

"Stonewall 45: Windows Into LGBT History" is produced by Susanna Aaron and written by historian and author David Carter. The exhibit was designed by Janean Lesyk.

“The story of the LGBT civil rights movement has become resonant for a broad population," Aaron said in a statement to The Huffington Post. "Its meaning has pushed out of the boundaries of what it means to its own community.”

stonewall

Check out a slideshow of some more of the posters below and head here to see all 26. Additionally, if you're in New York City be sure to visit Christopher Street to check out the exhibit in person. "Stonewall 45: Windows Into LGBT History" is slated to run through June 29.

These Kids' Weezer Cover Band Is A Real Life 'School Of Rock'

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This may be your new favorite version of Weezer's "Undone -- The Sweater Song." Like any middle schooler determined to rock, these kids brought '90s alt-rock to a boring band recital. It starts out great -- coolest kids in school! -- but the performance soon takes a turn for the worse when the keyboard collapses. Still, though, that's pretty punk rock. Turn up, lil' dudes.

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