It was an emotional night for late night hosts, as they all took time on their shows to pay tribute to Joan Rivers, who died on Thursday at the age of 81.

Jimmy Fallon's voice began to crack as he recalled having Rivers on his first episode of "The Tonight Show," and David Letterman praised the controversial comedian for making no apologies. "Talk about guts," he said, more than once.

Take a look at how all the late night hosts responded to the sad news:

Jimmy Fallon Talks Joan's Emotional Return To 'The Tonight Show'
(The video isn't available as a standalone clip, but Fallon's tribute can be seen in the episode starting around the 11:30 mark, after the monologue.)


Jimmy Kimmel Calls Joan A Pioneer For Everyone In Comedy


Conan & Chris Hardwick Remember Joan


Craig Ferguson Honors Joan's Fashion Policing


David Letterman Praises Her 'Guts'


"The Daily Show" Moment Of Zen


Seth Meyers Talks Joan's Work Ethic

The future is female.

These were the words that greeted those entering a demure communal art space in the West Village this week. They formed one of 13 tenets written on a chalkboard, scrawled in no particular order. The phrases -- ranging from environmentalist concerns to provocations urging people to deconstruct male spiritual supremacy -- formed a manifesto, of sorts, for what five women artists are calling Future Feminism.


Johanna Constantine, Bianca Casady and Kembra Pfahler. (Not pictured: Antony Hegarty and Sierra Casady.)

They are Antony Hegarty (the ethereally powerful voice behind Antony and the Johnsons), DJ and performance master Johanna Constantine, CocoRosie members Sierra and Bianca Casady, and "The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black" artist Kembra Pfahler. On the particular afternoon that we visited the space, all but Sierra sat squished on or beside a couch nestled close to the board, passionately discussing a movement they seemed to be birthing before our very eyes.

The movement is aptly called Future Feminism. The name is simple and to the point: the five women are attempting to introduce a frontier feminist point of view, a "call to arms to reorganize ourselves as a species and affirm archetypally feminine values." The tenets themselves represent the results of three years of lectures, discussions and introspection on the present state of feminist values, all of which is being translated into an upcoming exhibition at The Hole gallery in New York City.



The exhibition, opening on September 11, will consist of 13 events celebrating the 13 tenets, led by an impressive roster of the contemporary art world's most powerful figures. Marina Abramović, Carolee Schneemann, Kiki Smith, Laurie Anderson, Terence Koh, Lydia Lunch, Narcissister and Viva Ruiz are just a handful of the artists taking part in "Future Feminism" over the course of 13 days. It's a significant art show, that will unveil the manifesto, preceded by a significant music showcase.

The Future Feminists are taking the stage at Webster Hall this Sunday, throwing a benefit in support of their exhibition, performance series and future events. CocoRosie is headlining, Antony and Kembra are making guest appearances, and Johanna is spinning "aural disco doom on the turn tables."

In the run-up to the Future Feminism takeover, we had the chance to chat with the collective about their new feminist perspective, the relationship between art and activism and the future of women in power. While the 13 tenets will be officially unveiled on at The Hole, the women were eager to dive into what Future Feminism means to them:



Future Feminists -- the name. Antony, you have an interlude on “Cut the World” titled “Future Feminism.” Did this group sprout in any way from that?

Antony: That was kind of a different project. It was sort of me using the words to talk about my own thoughts.

How did Future Feminism come to be?

Bianca: We just sort of naturally, in our own work, we found ourselves talking about feminism, with different emphases and different affinities, veering heavily into environmentalism. There’s an eclipse happening and that’s why we came together.

There are 13 tenets in your manifesto and 13 lectures or events planned for the art show. What is the significance of the number 13?

Antony: It was a number that kind of intuitively emerged. For the time being, it’s 13. It could develop more over the months to come, or the years to come. One of our principles is mutability.

Right. Bianca, you’ve said in the past that you try not to fall into any “pragmatic thinking” and that you’re always shifting the way you view feminism. So what do you think have been the advantages of working with artists -- as opposed to say, institutionalized scholars -- to create a new feminist perspective?

Bianca: We naturally employ a different level of freedom and risk-taking. We’re used to saying things which are not popular, and that includes not being politically correct. It doesn’t mean that we’re not accountable -- we’re really standing behind our work, and putting a lot of time into our thoughts. We’ve included and incited many different dialogues, and when we’re apart, it’s just inevitable… we’re very passionate about bringing these dialogues to every person that we’re interacting with basically. So there’s a lot of self-critique. We’re inviting and we’re discussing and we’re changing.

We spent the last few years creating 13 ideas and they have constantly change and we’ve brought back new insights and questioned each other and questioned ourselves and learned to employ a new level of humility in working with a group. Back to your question about working with artists, I keep thinking about taking risks and not being popular. Whether or not we have some level of popularity or some success, I think we experience that it comes with adversity, it comes with challenge. It’s really part of the skin of the artist. It’s not really just to please, even if beauty, I could say, runs through all of our work. But even our own sense of beauty has caused a lot of adverse reactions. And that’s kind of the job of the artist, in many different ways. A redefinition of beauty.

Antony: The Laurie Anderson song, “Only an expert can deal with the problem,” it sort of pinpoints a reason why a lot of people feel inadequate or unentitled to participate, because they don’t feel like they have exclusive insight into one particular strain of thought or subject. But in our case, we represent five frontier artists -- women artists -- from New York City, who sat together and found consensus in our worldview and tried to articulate the way that we could most vigorously participate. And for me, I was really inspired by the White Rose movement in Germany during WWII. Just a tiny group of people in the face of overwhelming adversity tried to form a small resistance. We, each of us in our own work, represent one form or another of resistance. Swimming against the tide of popular culture. This project represents a consensus.

Non-authorship was a very important principle to us.



How did you come to consensus and build these 13 tenets?

Johanna: We experimented with different meetings and we fell into this process of talking. It’s like we immediately starting taking notes on what each other were saying and researching what feminism means. Why is there this adverse reaction to this overwhelmingly positive thing? We were seeing a lot of negativity, so we each took turns talking and taking notes. And we’d read each other’s notes. And take notes on the notes. And go around the circle again. And it just refined and refined and distilled everything to the purest form of our ideas. Our goal was to take these ideas to their purest, most far-reaching conclusions.

Like, what is feminism? What do we want from feminism. Maybe it just isn’t important, it’s critical. Maybe it’s not just something we should espouse, maybe it’s the one thing that could save the world. I mean, just distilling and distilling it to its finest form. We looked at it and thought, [feminism] is a solution, it’s not just a concept. If we could put this into practice in the outside world, not just as a consciousness-raising thing. It could be a global solution.

So do you see this smaller group of women expanding? Johanna, you’ve spoken before about the Future Feminists as a movement, and a possible solution to all global problems. And Antony, you’ve stated in “Cut the World” that hope, to you, looks like “feminine systems of governance,” whether they be in religion institutions, corporations, civic life. So do you see yourselves wanting to practically expand your reach and move into action?

Johanna: We described [Future Feminism] once or twice as a beacon of hope. We are welcoming to all. Like, male participation in Future Feminist circles, trans individuals, and others. It’s for everyone. That was a very important differentiation.

Bianca: As far as if we want the movement to expand, we’re actually proposing systems and models and philosophies. So rather than, we’re five and we hope to become bigger and bigger, this is our point of view. We’ve created a group of ideals, which could be practically applied to everyone.

Kembra: They’re more like provocations as well. Like, what we’re doing right now. To arouse discussion. They’re meditations, they’re not laws. That’s not our intention. This was born out of an extremely emotional reaction to what was happening around us. I think that this movement is already happening -- people that are Future Feminists, that simply have a desire to redefine this very old, dead paradigm.

My parents were ‘60s hippies who believed that change and revolution were possible. And there came a moment, culturally, I think, when that dream was dead. And it feels like that dream has been dead for a long time. But these discussions that we’ve had -- we’ve been envisioning a utopia that has not yet been realized -- and that’s given me hope. And I know we’re not alone. To me, the tenets are provocations and invocations that I hope will manifest.

Antony: Yeah, in terms of us thinking that this will become part of a future, global movement called Future Feminism, hell no. I don’t think that’s in any of our minds. What we’re participating in is art. This is our gesture as artists. This represents the viewpoint of five women artists working on the very fringe. As a result of our experience and our seat in society, we have a particular point of view that we offer in service to the community.



Kembra: It was nothing that we planned. To sit down and use this vernacular. We got together to sort of change our relationship to time. To say, ok, let’s spend this real quality time together. Let’s get away from the computers, let’s sit in a circle and really meditate on the principles and values. It’s interesting if you sit down with your friends or your family and you know, ask, What is your value system? What is important to you?

Our motives are benevolent, they’re not about causing harm to men. This is about offering them such a fantastic way to live. We’re relieving you of your role as a protector or a predator. A whole door could open for men if they think about feminism as this other way. You don’t just have to be a cliche dude anymore. You can grow up to be the type of human being that you want to be. Feminism -- if it’s explained and we talk about it enough -- can be very positive for everybody. We all want to have the humility to recognize that nature actually is the queen.

So, at the same time that you’re distilling feminism down to a focused idea -- as a global solution -- you’re also expanding the way feminism has been defined in the past, and what it can encompass. For example, there are likely many people who believe that feminism is only about a very distinct interpretation of women’s issues, but from the first tenet you have written on this board, you’re already bringing in the environment.

Kembra: One of the second-wave feminists that we spoke to was really excited about this word. The future. In direct relationship to feminism. Artists like Kathleen Hanna, Hannah Wilke, Carolee Schneemann (who is a part of the performance), Lydia Lunch -- people have been speaking about feminism in all different kinds of ways. It’s in pop culture, everywhere. But the core of what we’re doing and the language that we’re using is that we’re incorporating the actual behaviors and the value system and inserting that into the culture.

Antony: It’s this idea of feminine systems and what is feminine governance? Rather than previous incarnations of feminism that have strived for women to have equal status in society, in what we’ve perceived -- or been taught to perceive -- as a gender-neutral system. These systems have all been generated by men -- the systems of governance, the religious systems -- these are ancient constructs. The Future Feminist point of view has increasingly leaned not towards striving for equal status within a male construct or a male society, but rather to invite a redesign of society based on the principles of a feminine archetype in order to create the hope of a sustainable future for us all.

There are male values rooted in a prehistoric drive to survive in hostile conditions, and they are now driving us to extinction, you know what I mean? Driving our world into loss of biodiversity, climate change, and we’re still in the dark ages in so many parts of the world. Biblical strife, with beheadings and all the crazy shit that’s going on in the world. Radical subjugation of giant swaths of the population. And all of this is sort of the climax of a male spiritual system. We represent a wall of frontier, New York women artists who suggest that there are other possible trajectories. That we could step back and redesign the way that we participate. And listen to each and take the time to re-imagine how we participate here and create a future for ourselves.



History has been male and the future is female. Leaning on women as a body and the female archetype, and not just women but men -- we’re asking men to dig deep and deconstruct their seat of privilege. Because this is an emergency. We’re in threat of losing our homes, the future of our future generations, and the biological paradise that we’re apart of. It’s in the interest of all people that we lean on the feminine archetype in our movement forward. And that is at the root of our movement, as a group of hardcore, frontier feminists.

Johanna: Some of it may appear to be radical. But through discussions, it’s really quite rational. If you look at this extreme imbalance in all of these male systems. What would be the solution to slowing down this trajectory? Things are getting very critical, so what could be the effective change? We thought: just flip the system. It has to happen all at once. We feel a radical change is necessary, that it’s a necessity, that it’s gone too far, and we wanted to state that very clearly.

Kembra: I feel so hopeful about Future Feminism. And it’s crept into every crevice of my personal life. Everything is future feminism. It’s changed my whole perspective on things. So these philosophies and meditations and principles are really something I’m experimenting with putting into practice. It’s been pretty incredible.

You mentioned Kathleen Hannah. How do you see Future Feminism in relation to Riot Grrrl?

Kembra: I love Riot Grrrl. They were so courageous. The essence of punk rock, going out on stage and being brave enough to be imperfect. And Kathleen is really educated about feminism. She is one of my teachers. Kathleen has a very clear message, as does Lydia Lunch, as does Carolee, as does Antony. That’s what I crave. A clear message.

How do you reconcile the inclusive nature of what are you all are talking about, with the provocations. You’ve spoken a lot on Twitter about the negative effects religion has on women across the globe. How do you balance inclusions with the fact that you are challenging people.

Bianca: Well, I think the fact that we all depend on the environment -- I find that helpful in finding common ground. Every single second of our human existence depends on breathing air. And everybody knows that, but it’s something we take for granted. If we were putting the environment first, I feel like things would fall in line. Respecting nature and not taking it for granted, there’s a kind of harmonious and compassionate morality that comes from that kind of behavior. Rather than saying exactly how every system should be run, we’re saying that we need to put the Earth first, and with that comes a critique of religions which do the opposite.

We want to be present and be accountable to the future, not just think about your own pocket or your own neighborhood. It’s inherent, all these solutions. It’s humanizing and connecting to feel like we’re apart of the Earth. Instead of these radically different creation ideas, which I guess have created wars.



Kembra: Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter spoke about religion very eloquently when they left the Pentecostal church. They called it what it was. It was harm being done to women, very clearly. There’s harm being done and it needs to be recognized. It takes audacity and courage to call it what it is. There’s no skirting around the issue when it comes to harm.

Antony: We do say in our third tenet, “Enforce a global standard for the rights and ethical treatment of women.” At a certain level, yes, we are inviting inclusiveness and we require the participation of men to succeed. To succeed as a planet, as a civilization. But at the same time, we say we need to not only establish a global standard but enforce it. The bottom line is that there have been efforts in the past to establish a global standard. And obviously we don’t have a prescription for how to do that. This is a template, these are provocations, and a proposal. There is tension between inclusiveness and necessity. But our motivation, what pushes us forward, is not only a utopian vision, but a desire to survive, and one step above that is to flourish, as a species in relation to nature.

How do you maintain hope on a personal level, in the face of people who have a very immutable viewpoint? Who would say that we’ve passed a point of no return, in terms of the environment especially?

Antony: I don’t have a delusion… our goal is to participate. We are five artists who are creating a vision that other people can engage with, and people can take anything they want from what we are saying and use it to nourish their own process.

Johanna: We want to create hope. All of those most beautiful animals and creatures are still here. Paradise is still here right now. We can still save it. This is our attempt to succinctly save this paradise that we’re living in here.

Kembra: For me, it’s like, open to action now. We need to move into action by way of experimentation. And we’re just offering this up. My ears would have been so pricked up if we were to hear about other suggestions about how to actually start this conversation. But we weren’t hearing it. And that’s why we got together, you know?

Antony: We were all being held hostage by systems. By corporate systems that governed the way we organized our time. We extricated ourselves from that system and reorganized ourselves for long enough to come to these 13 tenets.

Kembra: It makes me feel hopeful when we come across people who get excited about the tenets or the art show. When we were on the Williamsburg Bridge, taking pictures with strangers [those pictures are featured throughout this piece], we thought they were going to punch us in the face. But they didn’t. The couples and the old men and young women, they were beaming with this huge smile on their faces. And we said, we’re doing this art exhibition on Future Feminism and the future is female and it was like a big lightbulb went off over their head. It was shocking. We weren’t expecting it.

So I don’t want to diminish the potential of us as a city or as a group of human beings that inhabit the Earth. I want to have faith and hope. I think we need to kick it into action. How do you do that? Where do you do that? We have to start somewhere. Which is maybe here.

Have your discussions begun to inform your own personal activism?

[In unison: “Yes. Yes” “Very much.” “Oh man!”]

Johanna: Every friend I have. Every guy I run into when I’m DJing. We just start talking about feminism. “Hi, Johanna Constantine, Future Feminist.” And they’re like, what’s that? And I ask them if they believe that women should be treated in a humane and equal manner. And they’re like, of course! And I say, congratulations! You’re a feminist! And they’re happy. It’s been really interesting. All of the positive reactions and all of the confusion around the concept of feminism. It’s been fascinating. I think we’ve hit so much success just discussing it with ourselves and our families and our communities.



The Future Feminism concert will take place at Webster Hall on Sunday, September 7 at 7 p.m. Head here for ticket information.

The exhibition at The Hole will open on September 11 and run until September 27. The list of participating artists includes: Antony, Bianca and Sierra Casady, Johanna Constantine, Lydia Lunch, Laurie Anderson, Narcissister, Dynasty Handbag, No Bra, Ann Snitow, Kiki Smith, Anne Waldman, Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge, Anne Carson, Kembra Pfahler and The Girls of Karen Black, Alice O'Malley, Lorraine O’Grady, Marina Abramović, Carolee Schneemann, Jessica Mitrani, Melanie Bonajo, Terence Koh, Viva Ruiz, Julianna Huxtable, and Alexyss K. Tylor. See the entire schedule in the slideshow below.

BERLIN (AFP).- A German museum said Thursday it is examining a request from a Native American tribe for the return of a scalp claimed as an ancestral artefact.

Scientists from the Karl May Museum in the eastern town of Radebeul near Dresden will soon begin an investigation to shed light on the provenance of one of 17 scalps in its collections, a museum spokeswoman said.

The International Landscape Photographer of the Year competition recently announced its winners, and they sure show what an incredible and diverse world we live in. This is the first year for the contest, which awarded prizes for the best photographer as well as the best single landscape photo.

Christian Fletcher, winner of the photographer of the year award, documented industrial impacts on the landscape. Fletcher said of his photos:

"My aim was to produce striking images from the air that had an industrial theme. I am concerned about the path we are heading down. By showing what is beyond the view of most of the public, I hoped to create a conversation about why we are heading down that path and if it is necessary... As a photographer I feel it is my duty to capture the world we live in, be it pristine wilderness or industrial oblivion. Both are inspiring in a photographic sense but only one is sustainable."

Craig Parry won the award for best photograph, a striking image of scorched trees in his hometown after a wildfire. He says of his photo, "This image represents a significant moment in time, illustrating the power of nature and its ability to create life and destroy it."

Tomm Putt and Will Dielenberg took second and third place for photographer of the year. Putt also took second place for photo of the year, while Bas Meelker took third. Prizes were awarded for five special categories as well, "for fun and bragging rights", including "The Lone Tree Award," "The Fuzzy Water Award" and "The 'HOT' Location Award - Iceland."

The contest was operated by an Australian web company and over 2200 entries were considered by a panel of five judges. Check out the winners' photos below, and view the top 101 photos here.

When Beyoncé turned 33 Thursday, the Internet bowed down, to be sure.

But Towson University student Ja-Niece Best took the Bey-reverence to another level: by sending an email to her professor, excusing herself from class in honor of Yoncé's birthday. Best then tweeted the message:

#HappyBirthdayBeyonce pic.twitter.com/nPjSr980LF

— Your Poundcake. (@michonjanieceIV) September 4, 2014

However, Best later told BuzzFeed that she sent the email by mistake, and that it was meant to be a joke.

She was also quick to reassure the Twitter world that she does, in fact, kill it in school.

Don't worry about me. I'm sitting pretty with my straight A's. Meanwhile you don't know "their" "there" & "they're" pic.twitter.com/vaA2LSaS5i

— Your Poundcake. (@michonjanieceIV) September 4, 2014

And then things got real: If students can miss class because they were drunk the night before, she said, why can't she be "Drunk In Love" with Beyoncé and do the same?

If you can miss class because you were partying and getting drunk all night I can miss class for Beyoncé's birthday. pic.twitter.com/lCB00T6Glb

— Your Poundcake. (@michonjanieceIV) September 4, 2014

h/t BuzzFeed

Streetlights make one cool kaleidoscope in Hiroshi Kondo's "Eye Know."

The short takes us on a mind-bending nighttime journey in which illumination morphs into hallucination. One viewer on Vimeo called it "Video-delic."

The urgent piano made us wish the trip would never end.

h/t Laughing Squid

Russia is a country that spans two continents and nine time zones, and serves as home to over 140 million inhabitants and over 190 different ethnic groups. Rich in land and people, the massive nation has endured wars, economic collapse and authoritarian rule over the last 100 years alone, all the while cultivating some of the world's brightest cultural figures -- Wassily Kandinsky, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Andrei Sakharov.

Needless to say, Russian history is a past worth documenting. And "Primrose: Early Colour Photography in Russia," is a historical exhibition worth visiting.


Dmitri Baltermants, Rain, 1960s, Collection of the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow/Moscow House of Photography Museum © Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow/ Moscow House of Photography Museum

On view at the Photographer's Gallery in London, the survey of vintage color images dates back to the 1860s, showcasing a century and a half of Russian society on film. The photos have been arranged in chronological order, representing a vivid tour through the post-revolution trend of photomontage, the utopian aesthetic of the Bolshevik era, the scarlet hues made popular in the mid 1900s, and the humanistic photography that emerged in the 1960s and beyond.

Olga Sviblova, the director of Moscow's Multimedia Art Museum and the Moscow House of Photography Museum, curated the show. "The title, 'Primrose,' of course is the metaphor, Sviblova explains in a video interview. "Primrose is the first flower in spring, so the first color that arrived in Russia after the snow. The first yellow -- it's mostly yellow -- but it's like the sun rising from the earth."

Sviblova says that "Primrose" focuses on three themes: how color photography came to be in Russia, how the technology of color photography influenced the photographers behind the camera, and how the history of Russia unfolded in the process. From the moment color photography hit the country in 1860 -- just two decades after photography itself came to be in Russia -- to the last moments of the Soviet Union.

The vivid portraits capture not only momentous events remembered by a global audience, like Stalin's funeral, but also mundane events that seem plucked from an idyllic past detached from the country's tumultuous timeline. Check out a preview of the show here and let us know your thoughts on the photos in the comments.





"Primrose: Early Colour Photography in Russia" will be on view at the Photographer's Gallery until October 19, 2014.

It's not easy to capture the spirit of a city like New York. Yet, that is exactly what Milton Glaser did in 1977 when he was tasked with creating a logo to help promote tourism. It may have been a mere "scribble" at the time but "I Love New York" has since become one of the most iconic pieces of graphic design.

HuffPost had the pleasure of speaking with Glaser on the happy accident of "I Love New York" and what it takes to come up with a logo that finds its way onto everything from plastic bags stuffed with take-out to T-shirts on the backs of German tourists.

Watch the interview with Milton Glaser above.

Video produced by Carina Kolodny and Amber Genuske

HuffPost Arts&Culture's Haiku Reviews is a monthly feature where invited critics review exhibitions and performances in short form. Some will be in the traditional haiku form of 5x7x5 syllables, others might be a sonnet and some might be more free-form. This month, Laurence Vittes and Peter Frank give their quick takes on performing and visual arts.

Is there an exhibition or performance that you think people should know about? Write your own "haiku" with a link and shine a light on something you think is noteworthy in the comments section below.

This post originally appeared on Slate.

By Aisha Harris



When it comes to visual art, I’m far from a connoisseur. I’m much more of a dabbler who will occasionally dip her toes into the world if a particularly cultured artist friend invites her to accompany them to an exhibit or fancy gallery opening. After viewing the documentary Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace, which airs Friday night at 9 p.m. Eastern, I wish I’d attended the artist’s exhibit when it was shown in New York two years ago. For the show, Wiley, who has risen to prominence in the art world for his naturalist, period-bending portraits of young men of color, painted portraits of women for the first time in his career.

The documentary traces the entire trajectory of 'An Economy of Grace': We see Wiley and his assistants scouting for black women muses on the streets of downtown Brooklyn, Wiley’s preparatory photo shoots, the painting process, and opening night. For artists and fans of Wiley’s work, the glimpse into his creative process is sure to be the lure, and it’s a fascinating one indeed. Most compelling though, to me, were his actual subjects—the women Wiley ultimately chose to model for his portraits.



They span a panoply of backgrounds and looks: a prison worker who, by nature of her profession, spends most of her days dressed down; another, a heavily tattooed woman who takes pride in her ever-changing hair styles, and is quite skeptical of Wiley’s project throughout the entire process; another eager to pose out of frustration with the lack of representation of woman of color in contemporary culture.

The ladies’ candor is refreshing, revealing, and a little sad all at once. They’re fully aware that Wiley has made Cinderellas of them all; their participation in the project is an ephemeral, all-too-rare opportunity for women who look like them. “Yeah, there’s a change,” the prison worker says after her shoot in a glamorous custom-made Givenchy gown. “And then tomorrow, it’s back to work.”

That’s probably what makes the documentary almost as striking as the resulting paintings themselves—nearly everyone involved in the process is fully in on the prevailing notion that women like them aren’t “supposed to be here,” as Sean Kelly, owner of the self-titled gallery where the exhibit opened, puts it. The lack of visibility and the desire to be seen drives both Wiley’s art and the women’s participation, and as spectacular as the bigger-than-life portraits are, it will take more than this single exhibit to begin to solve any of those problems.

Still, seeing the women’s reactions to the unveiling of their portraits is touching, and speaks to both the power of Wiley’s intricate brushwork and the rare, wondrous feeling of seeing yourself reflected in beautiful art. When one of the models exhales, “I’m in love with me right now,” it’s a truly inspiring thing.

Aisha Harris is a Slate staff writer.

If "The Drop" didn't contain James Gandolfini's last screen performance, it might have gone directly to DVD. That's how old fashioned so much of this movie feels. Written by Dennis Lehane ("Mystic River," "Gone Baby Gone") and directed by Michaël R. Roskam, "The Drop" -- previously called "Animal Rescue," the title of Lehane's source short story -- is as generic as all those thrillers Cinemax used to play on Friday night. Your dad fell asleep watching "The Drop" in 1998.

Yet the film, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday, is not without some charms. Tom Hardy, who plays the lead character, Bob, a laconic bartender, acts like some combination of Frankenstein, Ryan Gosling and Jake LaMotta. Hardy's entire performance is pitched toward a tone of bemusement that recalls the time Liev Schreiber said hello to a jar of cookies in "Walking and Talking." To wit: Hardy plays with a dog in "The Drop," which will make future GIF makers quite happy and should keep Tumblr in business for another year.



Then there's Gandolfini, as a gruff former lone shark named Cousin Marv, who got pushed out of the game by Chechen mobsters a decade earlier. Marv is an angry and failed man who's now helpless in his own life. He's the guy Tony Soprano would have put the screws on if this were "The Sopranos." It's pretty basic stuff, all things considered -- we've seen Gandolfini do variations on this character before -- yet Gandolfini is committed throughout. He wrings humanity and heartbreak out of a person who doesn't deserve such layers.

"At least I had something once. I was respected. I was feared. When I walked into a place, people sat up. They sat up straight. They noticed," Gandolfini says in the film's best scene. "The Drop" isn't memorable, but it's further proof of how effortless Gandolfini was as a performer. We all realized that a long time ago, but it still felt nice sit up straight and take notice during this final reminder.

"The Drop" opens in limited release on Sept. 12; a nationwide rollout follows on Sept. 19.

We're creatures of habit, and there are few times this has proven truer than when trying to incorporate a TV into our decor. It almost always takes center stage. But just because the majority of people choose to make the boob tube the focal point of a room -- 52 percent of homeowners admitted to Houzz that they have televisions in their bedroom-- doesn't mean you have to go with the crowd.

Next time you go to set up a room (or spontaneously feel the urge to move around some furniture), try taking a TV-free approach instead. Not sure how to do that? These focal point alternatives are here to help. And, as an added bonus, they're pretty much guaranteed to be loads better than some terrible reality show blasting in the background.



An antique mirror that will also reflect light into the room and make it appear larger.





A piece of large-scale art that will spark more discussion than any on-air drama.





A statement couch that starkly contrasts the rest of the room, while giving it the pop of personality it's been waiting for.





A modern bookshelf that holds eye-catching accents.





A sleek fireplace that brings practicality and design together flawlessly.





A room divider that holds your attention from either side.





A stunning view that gives a space all the natural light it could ask for.





A cozy window seat that functions as both an anchor for the rest of the space and the perfect spot to curl up with a good book.





A simple desk that adds a charming and creative vibe in no time at all.





A styled sideboard that serves as a more interesting alternative to a clunky entertainment unit.





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Director Ted Melfi expended loads of energy while trying to get Bill Murray to star in "St. Vincent." That part of the "St. Vincent" narrative will receive a lot of coverage in the next few months, and it has already been the focal point of features posted by USA Today, the Los Angeles Times and Deadline.com. As the story goes, however, once Murray got involved, the rest of the cast -- including Chris O'Dowd and Naomi Watts -- fell into place. For Melfi, that might be the biggest beneficiary of getting Bill Murray to star in his debut feature film. Without him, Melfi would have never had Melissa McCarthy.

McCarthy has been praised for a number of her roles over the last four years. She's an Oscar nominee for "Bridesmaids." She's won an Emmy. She was even good in the more dramatic second half of "Tammy." But "St. Vincent" might be her best, most effortless performance to date. She plays Maggie in the film, a struggling single mom who uses Murray's Vincent to babysit Oliver, her 12-year-old son, after school. On paper, that's a stock role if there ever was one, and the film does push Maggie to the side as it starts focusing in on Vincent and his relationship with Oliver. But as played by McCarthy, Maggie never feels like a device or cliché. Maggie's warm and funny, but in a way that McCarthy is rarely allowed to be warm and funny. Maggie's a fighter, too, and McCarthy's scenes with Murray as the film's conflict comes to a head are a true highlight. In the hours after "St. Vincent" debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival on Friday night, Murray has gotten a lot of the plaudits, but McCarthy is every bit his equal on screen.



Which, by contrast, means Murray is also pretty exceptional in Melfi's film, even as he navigates its more sentimental moments. (Let's just say "St. Vincent" becomes a literal title as the narrative progresses.) Melfi originally wanted Jack Nicholson for the title role, and that seems to fit with the script: Vincent often feels like the long-lost brother of Nicholson's character from "As Good As It Gets." But Nicholson suggested Murray, and Melfi went off to call the actor's infamous 1-800 number. ("It's not his voice on there. It's a Skytel voicemail with a menu. You have to record the message and send the message," Melfi told USA Today. "It's so confusing.") Regardless of the origins, however, Murray makes Vincent his own. The character has Murray's sense of humor, but also the signature sadness that gave "Rushmore," "Lost in Translation" and "Broken Flowers" so many added layers. It's kind of a greatest hits performance for the actor, and if Murray winds up as a Best Actor nominee at the 87th annual Academy Awards, it would be unexpected but not necessarily surprising (executive producer Harvey Weinstein has gotten more mileage out of far lesser works in past awards seasons).

But maybe McCarthy should join him. "The best comedic actors are great actors, because they're treating it real and honestly," director Paul Feig, who guided the actress to her only Oscar nomination thus far, told HuffPost Entertainment last year. McCarthy is already a great actor, just as Murray was before Wes Anderson showed up. And while "St. Vincent" isn't her "Rushmore," it's further proof there's one of those movies in her future. We'll all be better for it whenever that finally happens.

"St. Vincent" opens in limited release on Oct. 10. A nationwide rollout follows on Oct. 24.

Audiences will get to see Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall in "The Judge" starting on Oct. 10, but the Warner Bros. release made its world premiere at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. Here's a two-word review: It's fine. Downey and Duvall are both good in this one, which seems destined to serve out the rest of its sentence on TNT for the foreseeable infinity.

"The Judge" is actually almost ready-made for cable viewing. The supporting cast includes Leighton Meester, Dax Shepard, Vera Farmiga, Vincent D'Onofrio, Ken Howard and Billy Bob Thornton, all of whom have appeared on television series within the last five years. Add those names to the film's garish lighting, supplied by cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (who never met a window he didn't want to blow out with white light), and "The Judge" feels like an actual legal drama coming to ABC this fall. You're almost surprised James Spader and William Shatner don't show up.

Well, they don't. But Willie Nelson sort of does. Nelson doesn't appear in "The Judge," but his name is the subject of a one-liner during the film and his cover of Coldplay's "The Scientist" plays over the closing credits. That part of the movie is weird and surprising -- two things "The Judge" is not as it plays things down the middle.



Beyond that, there's something to be said about "The Judge" being Downey's first drama since 2009's "The Soloist," and his first non-franchise leading role since 2010. He's the biggest star in the world right now thanks to Iron Man, and if Downey wants to use that clout to start making mainstream dramas like the kinds that used to flourish in the mid-90s, then more power to him. Those movies were good! "The Judge" was a great John Grisham adaptation in another life. Sydney Pollack would have directed it, and maybe Willie Nelson would have covered The Police for the closing credits.

"The Judge" is out on Oct. 10.

Nothing quite compares to the power of a photograph to communicate the goings on in the world. Ranging from the serious to the silly, these photos offer peeks into what happened around the globe this week.

1. Local fishermen collect 'popocha' fish that washed up dead in the Cajititlan lagoon in Jalisco State, Mexico on Sept. 1, 2014.

(HECTOR GUERRERO/AFP/Getty Images)

2. Pakistani protesters beat a police officer during clashes in Islamabad on Sept. 1, 2014.

(AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

3. A man stands near an eruption at the Holuhraun lava field in Iceland on Sept. 1, 2014.
(AP Photo/Eggert Johannesson)

4. Children attend a ceremony marking their first day of school on Sept. 1, 2014 in Slovyansk, Ukraine.

(ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP/Getty Images)

5. An Afghan day laborer counts recyclable cans at a scrap yard on the outskirts of Kabul on Sept. 3, 2014.

(SHAH MARAI/AFP/Getty Images)

6. A Sri Lankan family is silhouetted against a street lamp as they walk along the Galle Face Green sea promenade in Colombo on Sept. 1, 2014.

(AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

7. Kite surfers prepare to set a Guinness World Record for the largest group kite surf at Los Lances beach in Spain, on Aug. 31, 2014.

(GOGO LOBATO/AFP/Getty Images)

8. U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron face flag bearers during a ceremony at the start of a NATO summit in Newport, Wales on Sept. 4, 2014.

(AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

9. Colombian soldiers burn a coca laboratory during a coca-eradication operation in the mountains northeast of Medellin on Sept. 3, 2014.

(RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images)

10. A three-week-old female white rhinoceros stands next to her mother at an open-air zoo near Tel Aviv, Israel on Sept. 3, 2014.

(JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Having your opinion silenced in the world of art is, like everywhere else, very common. It's especially damaging if you're an artist who needs a voice (and a lot of us make art solely for that reason).

When it comes to home organization, you usually hear the same advice: Stock up on storage baskets, keep a label maker handy, and so on. But what if you're looking to take it one step further? Say, turning that messy closet into a command center, or making the most of your (limited) kitchen space? Well, thanks to the brilliant designers who submitted their work to our friends at Porch.com, you can stop wondering and start getting inspired.

Take a look...





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The Hindu Kumbh Mela festival is the largest gathering of religious pilgrims in the world and takes place at the intersection of the Yamuna, Ganges and mythical Saraswati rivers.

In 2013 the festival drew a record 120 million pilgrims, and in the midst of the chaos it easy to imagine how one could get lost. A new documentary by filmmaker Pan Nalin tells the story of three lost children -- one who ran away from home, one who was kidnapped and one who was abandoned -- all with the massive festival as backdrop.

"Faith Connections" makes its U.S. debut at New York's Rubin Museum of Art on September 12, where it will run for one week before opening in ten other cities around the country.

Tim McHenry, the Rubin Museum's Director of Public Programs & Performance, spoke on the nuance of Nalin's film in a statement to The Huffington Post:

There have been many films made in recent years of the cultural phenomenon of the Kumbh Mela in which pilgrims from all over the subcontinent descend on a conjunction of the Ganges to take the holy waters. Most amount to little more than spiritual tourism. This film is different. 2013 was a record breaking year with an estimated 100 million people determined to take the plunge. Pan Nalin doesn’t exoticize the ascetics, babas and gurus but rather trains the camera on the narratives of the unseen aspect of the congregation, namely three children: one who has been abandoned and is adopted by a Baba; one who has absconded and is toying with the idea of becoming a yogi; and one who is abducted… Having presented the theatrical premiere in the U.S. of Pan Nalin’s first feature Samsara to great success, I really wanted to be able to provide a platform for his latest film.

Take a look at the preview above.

This is the seventeenth installment in HuffPost Gay Voices Associate Editor James Nichols' ongoing series "After Dark: NYC Nightlife Today And Days Past" that examines the state of New York nightlife in the modern day, as well as the development and production of nightlife over the past several decades. Each featured individual in this series currently serves as a prominent person in the New York nightlife community or has made important contributions in the past that have sustained long-lasting impacts.

HuffPost Gay Voices believes that it is important and valuable to elevate the work, both today and in the past, of those engaged in the New York nightlife community, especially in an age where queer history seems to be increasingly forgotten. Nightlife not only creates spaces for queers and other marginalized groups to be artistically and authentically celebrated, but the work of those involved in nightlife creates and shapes the future of our culture as a whole. Visit Gay Voices regularly to learn not only about individuals currently making an impact in nightlife, but those whose legacy has previously contributed to the ways we understand queerness, art, identity and human experience today.

The Huffington Post: What did your journeys to becoming fixtures within the New York nightlife community entail? How did the two of you meet and decide to start doing mirror looks together?
Daughters of Devotion: The two of us met seven years ago in Seattle and we were instantly obsessed with one another. When Laura moved to NYC, Kindra would visit and we quickly became best friends. Soon thereafter she put a Wiccan spell on me and -- poof -- a month later I was living a few blocks away in Chelsea. I had a previous twin in Seattle for three years and have always loved drag, but specifically the aesthetic of twinning themed looks.

Part of Laura luring Kindra was that she would be Kindra's new nightwife, and that we would take it to the next level, making sure our looks were always high concept and perfectly executed -- or at least to the best of our ability. The goal was not just to be part of the club creature family and hired by some of our most revered icons, but to create a brand which could eventually be turned into a business. Laura's romantic/fetish fashion sensibility mixed with Kindra's showgirl/glam frivolity resulted into a truly magical concoction. For the past four years we’ve had opportunities that we would have never dreamed of in a million years; unreal moments like performing for Cher, traveling to Hawaii to lay on the beach with Carmen Electra, being nominated for a Glammy and being featured on the cover of Next Magazine. We feel lucky and honored to be able to live out our fantasies and be celebrated for our expression.

How do you conceptualize your looks -- from where do you draw inspiration? How does collaboration play into the process?
We draw inspiration from so many sources. Couture designers through the ages, vintage patterns, showgirl pageantry, Dolly Parton, John Willie, nightlife artists present and past, fetish, cartoons -- you name it. But most everything we do has a bit of a twist to it. Every look has a name and meaning behind it, even if no one but us knows. We sit down each month and ideate our next few looks together through shared Pinterest boards, then we decide, divide and conquer on bringing them to life with the help of our talented friends -- especially Lydia of Vengeance Designs, who has been our saving grace for the past few years.



Do you two consider yourselves artists? Does your work expand outside of the looks you produce for nightlife?
In the beginning we always joked about being “artists” and having to be taken seriously, when of course we didn’t. But then at some point, after a number of opportunities provided recognition in and outside of our world, we realized that we are actually artists. The looks we conceptualize, create and present to the world are living works of art to be admired for just a moment in time; especially because we rarely repeat looks. Also, because we worked with Susanne Bartsch for a year at Catwalk, she encouraged us to create more installations -- which came naturally, as our looks are conceptual anyway. Interacting with the crowd rather than just being a “Micky Mouse” for people to take photos with is much more interesting to us. For example, our next installation we’re creating for fashion week for bARTschinspiration is going to be a human petting zoo, where we will be overseeing, feeding and training a number of live human animals. Yes, feed the models!

Our work expands out of nightlife in a sense, yes. Laura is a hair stylist in the West Village at Seagull, where she’s one of the top curly hair specialists in the city. Kindra is a creative director in advertising, so her job is all about conceptualizing experiences for brands and helping bring them to life in exciting and imaginative ways.



Do you ever draw inspiration from or have people compared you to the work of the Fabulous Wonder Twins?
We've actually never had anyone compare us to them, although we’ve heard of them and their looks are amazing! It’s interesting because when we first started in NYC I had been twinning for years, but the only consistent twins on the NYC scene were The Huggums at Vandam, who are fantastic. Now there are multitudes of mirrored creatures in the nightlife world. Which is fun but also sometimes funny because we’ll be hired for a party and everyone hired has a twin. And we say, “Oh no, are we a fad and we’re going to have to thruple soon?” Twinning has obviously been something that’s been done through the ages because it’s more fun but it’s having a little moment in the club scene right now for sure.

For us it’s essential to be precise. Which adds to the impact and the challenge. True twinning for us means always getting ready together so our makeup is exact and it means almost always having everything custom-made. We oftentimes take twinning to a new level by conjoining through chains or collars or even conjoined corsets.

It’s a dedication, and part of the reason we’re called Daughters of Devotion.

We’re devoted to one another and the craft of creating illusion. We aren’t transforming from “male to female,” but we are transforming ourselves into one entity -- which is quite challenging. If you meet us during the day you’ll see we look very different from one another. Of course, Daughters of Devotion is also a name which honors all of the queens and icons who have inspired us, and is a hint to our penchant for kinkery, or “drag torture enthusiasm,” as we say.

How would you say nightlife influences or informs your art -- or vice versa -- as well as your identities as artists and nightlife personalities?
We always want to turn looks that have the praise and appreciation of our peers above all others. We turn it out for ourselves and each other, and are constantly inspired by those around us. This last year we’ve been most obsessed with the Dairy Queens and Ryan Burke, aesthetically, but there’s always some new kid showing up and blowing everyone away. And we still almost pass out whenever we see Amanda Lepore. She never ceases to stun. Ever.



In terms of nightlife informing our art, one thing we’re known for is using lights (lit up mirrors, lit up wigs, lit up dresses, lit up panniers, lit up metal cages) because we learned early on that it’s so dark that oftentimes all of the hard work you put in isn’t seen except by the flash of a photographer. So we try to literally give ourselves light to be seen. That, our conjoining and our precision are the things other nightlife artists have been impressed by. And we’re on time. Which means in nightlife time we’re early.

Nightlife acts as a major force of cultural production. Now, Susanne Bartsch is pushing an initiative to take art "from the clubs to the galleries" in order to showcase and celebrate this work in a different context. How do you see this influencing the future of nightlife?
This movement is fantastic because it’s validating nightlife artists' talent. It’s also practical as a showcase in so many ways. It’s fun to have flashy things at the club but, in the dark with all the music pumping and mind-altering substances, the handful of creators who are truly making something genius are often not fully seen or appreciated. You’ll go to a party and see photos the next day and go, "WOW! I had no idea that person I was talking to for an hour was head-to-toe painted orange!”

Moving the installations from the club to the gallery also elevates the execution. You can get away with being a little sloppy in club conditions. In gallery form those who truly are masterful at their craft and inventive will shine. However, that being said club kids, creatures, creators all still need to somehow stay connected to nightlife -- otherwise the magic of NYC dies.



What's the most important thing you see coming out of nightlife today?
The most important thing coming out of nightlife today is that it’s still coming out. With all the dramatic changes politically and financially over the last 30+ years, the legacy of New York nightlife still exists. And even though our parties are often held in some of the most elitist “bottle service” clubs, for one night a week the door opens and you don’t get in because you are rich, famous or work in PR -- you get in because you’re a radical weirdo dressed to the tens, or friends with someone who is. Yes, it has changed, but we’re all here together committed to keeping New York weird.

What do you see as the future of NYC nightlife?
We aren’t psychics, just witches. So although we can’t predict the future we can say what we hope will be the future: mobile parties with a series of unknown destinations. Sensual soirees in ice cream parlors where we can create “installations” of eating vats of soft serve surrounded by leather daddies. And holograms so we can gig while we lay on the beach in Puerto Rico.

And really. The children. The children always are our future.

For more from Daughters of Devotion head here to visit the pair's website. Missed the previous installments in this series? Check out the slideshow below.

"Is this the life I'm going to live for the rest of my life?"

Those are the words spoken by one of the three young people at the center of "The Homestretch," a documentary that offers an unprecedented look into the day-to-day lives of three of the estimated 1.6 million homeless youth living in the United States.

The film, co-produced by Chicago documentary powerhouse Kartemquin Films and New York-based Spargel Production, follows Roque, Kasey and Anthony throughout Chicago over a period of five years, from their teens into their 20s.


Kasey became homeless after she came out to her mother as a lesbian.

While the subjects all have different stories, they share in one important common theme: the dissolution of their bond with key family members. Their stories are powerful in how they counter the prevailing misconceptions surrounding what leads many young people in the U.S. into homelessness.

"What was really apparent is that these young people become homeless because the family somehow broke apart or couldn't fulfill the role it needed to fulfill to take care of these young people," Brooklyn filmmaker Anne de Mare, one of the film's directors, told The Huffington Post.

Kasey, for one, was kicked out of her home when she came out to her mother as a lesbian. Roque, meanwhile, was left homeless when his family was torn apart due to immigration issues. An estimated 40 percent of homeless youth served by agencies identify as LGBTQ, and a staggering number of U.S. immigrant youth who become separated from their families end up homeless.

Anthony, on the other hand, grew up in foster homes and became homeless at the age of 14 when he left an unsafe living situation that was rife with abuse. According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, nearly half of all runaway and homeless U.S. youth are estimated to have experienced physical abuse, and 38 percent of them have been abused emotionally.

"You're looking at young people who really need help understanding how to launch as independent people because of the trauma they've experienced to that point where they are on their own and in such danger," de Mare explained. "They need that support, love and care around them to help them grow."


Anthony is a savvy and dedicated young man featured in "The Homestretch."

The obstacles facing the film's subjects are many, but their struggles typically go unseen in society at large because their stories don't align with the stereotypical narrative many Americans associate with the homeless.

In the film, Roque is hopeful that he will be able to attend college but a low high school GPA stemming from his familial instability -- as well as his undocumented status -- threatens to thwart his dream. Kasey's struggles with drugs and alcohol resurface after another bout of family tension. And Anthony hopes he will be reunited with his young son, a dream that still feels distant at the film's end.

Jeri Linas is very familiar with the struggles. As the executive director of Chicago's Teen Living Programs, which operates the Belfort House transitional housing facility where both Kasey and Anthony previously stayed for a time, she has seen them firsthand.

"When these young people run away from home, they are traumatized before they even get to the street," Linas told HuffPost. "They're fleeing or leaving situations they can't go back to and of course in their minds they're safer away from that, though the reality is that they actually might not be at all safer."


Roque was taken in by and essentially joined the family of a former teacher.

The bright moments are in the documentary too, of course. Anthony flourishes through his participation in an intensive job training program. Kasey graduates from school after re-enrolling and secures an apartment. And under the watchful eye of a former teacher who has taken him in, Roque seems destined to succeed.

It is these moments the filmmakers hope viewers will carry with them as they consider what small steps they can take to become part of a larger safety net for youth in crisis in their own communities. These steps may include lending a hand to local organizations benefiting homeless youth, or pushing lawmakers to support increased funding for programs tackling the issue.

"This is the point where if nobody has stepped in until this point, we really as a society need to step in because they're building their entire future," Kirsten Kelly, also a director of the film, told HuffPost. "Something is broken here that we really need to pay attention to because these numbers have hit a crisis level."

"The Homestretch" debuted this spring at Hot Docs in Toronto and comes to Chicago, where it was filmed, with a two-week run at Gene Siskel Film Center on Sept. 12. The film will also be screened in Overland Park, Kansas, and Port Jefferson, New York, next month.