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Meet Queer Fashion Designer And Artist Vincent Tiley

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This is the third installment in a miniseries that elevates the work of up-and-coming queer individuals working in the fashion world. Check HuffPost Gay Voices regularly to learn more about some of the designers of tomorrow and the way their work in fashion intersects with their queer identity.

Vincent Tiley is a queer fashion designer and artist living in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Tiley's designs involve a significant amount of garment work with heavy queer overtones, largely informed by notions of the body. In the words of the designer, "I have a hard time believing that a person stops at the edge of their skin. In a way all of my work is trying to illustrate that feeling one way or another." Read the interview below to learn more.

vincent tiley

The Huffington Post: What has your journey as a queer artist and fashion designer entailed?
Vincent Tiley: I started out by making costumes. I got my BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and it was there that I made the jump from drawing and painting to working with textiles on the body in a sculptural way. But first everything I made was for video. The first things I started sewing were sci-fi costumes for these Kenneth Anger-style short video pieces I was making that blended biblical apocalyptic scenarios with sci-fi fantasy.

My work really changed, however, when I studied abroad in Japan. The street fashion there blew my mind and I suddenly started thinking very differently about clothes. I came back and started thinking really hard about the intersection of fashion and art. I am really inspired by artists that can ride this line -- people like Leigh Bowery, Lucy Orta and Terence Koh. I eventually got to work for Terence Koh, which was a dream come true.

I moved to Chicago for graduate school. I think it was my second week there that I met my very good friend Matt who is known for his drag persona Pearl, appearing on season seven of RuPaul's Drag Race. I made Pearl her first dress and I still continue to design for her today -- Pearl is always a constant source of inspiration for me.

pearl

In Chicago I was also encouraged by my teachers and peers in school to continue to work between art and fashion. The time I spent there was an amazing time of collaboration and innovation. Now I'm back in New York City, living in Bushwick, where I've found a new community of artists, designers and performers. I'm always amazed by the people here and how this tight-knit community holds together.

What is the focus of your work? How does your work as a designer intersect with your work with an artist?
My work is very body-conscious. I'm always trying to reinvent the body. Sometimes I do this by making a new skin or bodysuit that extends or confines the body of its wearer. Other times I'm just thinking about how a material might make someone want to touch it even if it's a painting and you know your'e not really "supposed" to.

I have a hard time believing that a person stops at the edge of their skin. In a way all of my work is trying to illustrate that feeling one way or another. This is why my bodysuits often connect their wearers to each other and force them to touch.

When I'm designing something for a client, however, I have to translate these ideas into something much more practical. So I try to use prints and materials in unconventional ways that make the viewer feel that they are looking through a top layer or that it might be something they want to touch. I also collage vintage clothes together to make a new garment in a similar way that I might collage performers together in a piece to make a new kind of body.

cuddle

With the body suits I also try and think about painting and its history. One time I showed another artist a piece I was working on and he screeched, "YAAAS LYNDA BENGLIS REALNESS!" That was a huge compliment. By putting these painted body suits on the floor I'm trying to relate to her work and how she could take the logic a kind of machismo expressionist painting on the wall and flip it on it's head. I want the bodysuits that I make to be understood as paintings and sculpture -- not just in a performance art context.

I also work really hard to make things visibly queer by quoting existing queer dress like drag, fetish and punk. Though, I also try to think what making a subversively queer garment might mean. Does it mean that there is going to be a third sleeve? Or maybe the wearer won't be able to move? It's not just about doing what others have done to making getting dressed a queer act of rebellion, but about how to put that spirit in the garment.



What does it mean to you to be a queer artist and designer? How does your queer identity intersect with your work?
For me, being a queer artist means having to pay attention to how things blend together and lose their edges. Right? That's the kind of power that the idea of the spectrum has to offer us. It's about being able to see presumptions and unnecessary barriers, tearing them down and revealing an unknown nature to things. I think this relates directly to queer experience and how something as mundane as attraction and who a person is attracted to can be this huge societal barrier that invites discrimination and violence to those just born the way they are. Thankfully, so many of those barriers have come down -- but there are still more.

It's a dangerous and powerful thing to reveal yourself and be boldly strange and resist labels, but that is the good work that has to be done.

Earlier this year you did a performance piece where you danced nonstop for 24 hours. What was your intention behind this endeavor? What were you trying to accomplish?
I love that piece. That performance is called "BABY YOU'RE NEVER THERE." In that piece I dance for a whole 24 hours (midnight 'til midnight) to music provided by a rotation of live DJs. I've done this twice now. The first time was at New Capital Gallery in Chicago and the last time I did it was at Glasshouse Art Life Lab in Williamsburg. The installation is very simple for this piece -- it's just the DJ booth, me wearing a tank top with the title on it and an installation of gatorade on the floor of the gallery -- which is the only thing I eat or drink to sustain myself during the performance.



When I came up with "BABY YOU'RE NEVER THERE" I was going through kind of rough time in Chicago and I was going out a lot as a way to distract myself. I started thinking about the club as a kind performance experience where people get dressed up and come a a space to perform what they think is attractive for the sake of onlookers who may potentially decide to share a drink or dance with that person and maybe head home with them. I wanted to take that experience and separate it from the logical conclusion of meeting someone. I also wanted to extend something enjoyable to the point that it became painful. The audience gets to watch and dance as this all plays out and see how I degrade from energetic booty shaking to barely able to take a step.

The end is always really emotional -- I'm exhausted from both the dancing and being looked at. Both times there was a lot of crying and cheering and dancing at the end when I collapse at midnight. I had one person tell me that while he was watching he didn't know whether what he was feeling were his emotions, mine or the emotion of the collective group in the room.

You went to Art Basel this year, partially to take part in "Bushwick Gone Basel." What did your work for Art Basel involve?
The first body suit I made was called "Alter Overflow" and it was a body suit for three people and worn for three hours. It was made of sheer spandex and black neoprene. Draped overtop myself and one other performer was a mass of six denim jackets that were studded, painted and sewn together. The other piece was at Ms. Fitz's and Christine Tran's show "Bushick Gone Basel" at a venue in Wynwood. I made a wearable painting that hung from the surrounding architecture like a hammock or a sex swing. I was inside of it with both my legs and one arm in the air with most of my weight resting on one shoulder. The only parts of my body you could see were my fingers and toes sticking out of the painting. the rest was covered by painted neoprene and digitally-printed spandex. That one was called "Figure Ground (there is no winning with me)." I wore that for two hours. I was really lucky to have performed when I did -- or at all -- because the venue kicked us out for being too "weird" (read: queer).

Historically the fashion world has been extremely queer friendly -- what role do you think the fashion world has played within mainstream acceptance of LGBT identity?
I think one of the things we are called to do as queer people is to stay visible and endure. I think the fashion world has done an amazing job of making queerness visible. I see it everyday in advertisements and how similar men's wear and women's wear is becoming. I remember watching TV and seeing the "Fab Five" (from "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy") give make-overs to straight men and that being kind of my first introduction to gay male culture. Now that show seems so limited and contrived but it was important for what it was. It put five super cute gay dudes in the homes of families across the country.



At HuffPost we've seen an emergence of clothing lines that cater to queer and trans bodies whose needs aren't met by traditional designers. Do you think we'll see more of this in the future? What does this say about the future of fashion?
I think businesses and projects like this are incredible. It shows a real attitude change in this country in regards to the LGBT community. I think that gender-bendy garments have existed in the mainstream and straight society for a long time, but that they were always "wink wink nudge nudge." That kind of queer representation had to fly under the radar and only be recognizable to people in the know. An iconic example of this is the hanky code which is has now been replaced by your cell phone apps which ironically also sits in your back pocket. Now all of that seems obsolete and you can have a successful business model that has a queer buyer in mind.

What's next for Vincent Tiley?
I recently got taught how to make Latex gear from the Baroness in the East Village. I love the look of latex and how far it can stretch. I also like how you can paint with it or do screen prints and then it dries and becomes material to then make clothes or sculpt with. I've got a lot of plans for things I want to make in latex.

Also, to bring this full circle, I am writing a queer sci-fi movie called "Virgo," which will have a bunch of costumes I will make and art-work by me and other artists that will be used as props and sets in the film. It takes a lot of inspiration from "Sailor Moon" and other stories of powerful young girls that form magical teams of friends. I'm currently casting the characters right now. I hope to start fundraising in spring and shoot it in the summer.

Want to see more Vincent Tiley? Head here to check out the designer's website.

McCain Calls Sony Hack An 'Act Of War'

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WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) are at odds over whether the cyberattack on Sony Pictures, which the FBI has blamed on North Korea, should be considered an "act of war."

"I don't think it was an act of war," Obama told CNN Sunday. "I think it was an act of cybervandalism that was very costly, very expensive. We take it very seriously. We will respond proportionally."

But McCain, in a Sunday appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," advanced a different argument.

"The president does not understand that this is a manifestation of a new form of warfare," said McCain. "When you destroy economies, when you are able to impose censorship on the world and especially the United States of America, it's more than vandalism. It's a new form of warfare that we're involved in, and we need to react and react vigorously."

McCain suggested that the U.S. should begin by reimposing sanctions against North Korea that were lifted during the George W. Bush administration.

He also argued that the U.S. government should do more to engage people in Silicon Valley to help address cybersecurity issues.

"It's very hard to determine where national security ends and personal privacy begins," said McCain. "This is a continuing debate that we have. I've been to more meetings on cyber than any other issue in my time in the Congress, with less accomplished than any other, and it's time we sat down together."

North Korean hackers are believed to have targeted Sony Pictures over the film "The Interview," a comedy directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg that includes a scene of Korean leader Kim Jong Un's head exploding. "The Interview" was scheduled to premiere on Dec. 25. North Korean officials had deemed the film itself an "act of war" several months ago.

Sony canceled the film's release last week, citing security concerns.

Lance Bass And Michael Turchin Officially Tie The Knot

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Lance Bass and Michael Turchin are officially married!

Turchin and the former NSYNC member tied the knot Saturday night at the Park Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, according to E! Online. The ceremony was officiated by actresses Jamie-Lynn Sigler and JoAnna Garcia Swisher, and Bass' close friends and former bandmates Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick and JC Chasez were all in attendance.

"The whole wedding itself is very classy, you know. We wanted to plan something that could last for 100 years," Bass told E! "When we show our grandchildren this amazing tape of our wedding, the best wedding video ever, I want them to be able to look at this and be like, 'Wow, that stood the test of time.' So we're using a lot of elements in the wedding that are classy, and one of those is definitely our first dance. The song we chose is a song that lasts forever, something that is very special to us."

The couple has been dating since December 2011. Bass proposed to Turchin, a painter and actor, last August in New Orleans.

"New Orleans is my favorite city in the world," Bass explained earlier this year in a special edition of his SiriusXM radio show, "Dirty Pop with Lance Bass." "I’ve been coming here my whole life. I was born just across the border here [in Laurel, Mississippi] … and Turkey also has roots here."

"I got down on one knee and I proposed," Bass went on, "right in front of Jackson Square, my favorite place."

Watch Bass and Turchin get hitched in the 90-minute special "Lance Loves Michael: The Lance Bass Wedding" on Thursday, Feb. 5 on E!

The Year In Graphics: Our Favorite HuffPost Visuals Of 2014

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This year, the HuffPost graphics and data teams did a lot, from visualizing #BlackLivesMatter protests, to finding out how many molecules of Beyoncé's breath you breathe every day, to a major investigation of hospice care in the U.S. Below we've gathered links to our favorite pieces from 2014. Take a look at any you may have missed, and follow us for a daily dose of maps, charts and illustrations.



































What Everyone Said About Madonna's New Songs This Weekend

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Madonna's new music sprung a leak last week, before she'd even had the chance to make an official announcement about her forthcoming album. The singer handled the situation in the most Madonna way possible: She shirked her critics and dropped six songs on our iTunes doorstop early Saturday morning with no precedent. (The Guardian called it a "partial Beyoncé.")

Within hours, #RebelHeart -- the name of her 13th album, now set for release on March 10 -- became a trending topic on Twitter and Facebook. Each track became an iTunes best-seller, and as of Monday morning, all six are among the service's current 20 most-downloaded songs.

Three ("Illuminati," "Unapologetic Bitch" and "Bitch I'm Madonna," which marks Madonna's third collaboration with Nicki Minaj after "Give Me All Your Luvin'" and "I Don't Give A") are infused with EDM and dance-groove sensibilities, thanks in part to production work by the likes of Kanye West and Diplo. Jim Farber of the New York Daily News said the trio is "less dignified" than the other three songs. Many have noted that "Living for Love," the album's first single, is anthemic in a way that's reminiscent of "Express Yourself" and "Like a Prayer." Farber also praised the other two tracks, "Ghosttown" and "Devil Pray," which are folksy by comparison. "The best of the new songs present the 56-year-old Madonna in a way that’s finely tailored to her essential style," he wrote.

Billboard's Keith Caulfield echoed Farber's ovation in his review of "Living for Love," also comparing the song to her earlier hits. "When the song weaves its way toward a throbbing drop, Madonna continues crooning, refusing to be relegated to the background," he wrote.

Therein lies the weekend's consensus: Madonna has bridged the contemporary dance-pop trends she feverishly chased on 2012's "MDNA" while evoking the more traditional dance palate for which she is known. (The country-tinged "Devil Pray," for example, recalls the 2000 hit "Don't Tell Me.")

"For a start, that was always her calling card, her ability to be on or just ahead of a musical or fashion style that might have been breaking in the clubs or alternative/underground scenes but had yet to transfer to the mainstream," Bernard Zuel wrote for the Sydney Morning Herald. "That and a great ear for the right producers and co-writers to help her transfer the trend into marketable music."

Over on Twitter and Instagram, a score of fans, critics and A-listers joined the chorus, incorporating hashtags that Madonna has used on Instagram throughout much of 2014: #unapologeticbitch, #rebelheart, #livingforlove. On Saturday, Madonna posted a collage of fans who'd re-created her album artwork.

rebel heart

I love my fans creativity!!! Thanks for your support! ❤️#rebelheart ❤️#livingforlove

A photo posted by Madonna (@madonna) on





Minaj, Diplo, Pharrell Williams, Diddy, longtime friend and "A League of Their Own" co-star Rosie O'Donnell and "Glee" star Kevin McHale all expressed their support, but it was Ariana Grande who walked away with the splashiest shoutout from the queen of pop.







Madonna will have a busy few months leading up to the release of "Rebel Heart," which contains 19 tracks, according to its current iTunes page. She revealed in a Q&A with Billboard that she will "possibly" perform "Living for Love" with a cabal of other singers at the Grammy Awards on Feb. 8, right around the time she is planning to unveil another set of songs.

Listen to Madonna's six fresh tracks below:

Watch George Clooney Charm All The Ladies Of 'Downton Abbey'

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George Clooney had all the "Downton Abbey" ladies swooning for the holidays. In a much anticipated guest role in the show's Text Santa fundraiser, Clooney appears as George Oceans Gravity, Marquis of Hollywood. The sketch -- a play on "It's a Wonderful Life" -- features Lord Robert Crawley accidentally losing the family fortune and then remarking that it would have been better if he were never born. A holiday angel intervenes to show him what the world would look like if that were indeed the case.

Cue Clooney, as Cora's alternate-universe husband. Hollywood in-jokes, selfies and the actor's famous charm abound.





Excitement for Clooney's "Downton Abbey" spot has been building for months, with teasers of the appearance only whetting fans' appetites. Appearing on Huffpost Live earlier this month, actor Rob James-Collier, who plays Thomas Barrow on the show, spoke of the Hollywood megastar's time on set.

"He came in for a day and was super charismatic," he said. "I've never seen so many women on the set that shouldn't have been there in my life."

This Is What Happens When You Ask 8 Teen Couples To Kiss On Camera

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Young love is awkward and sweet and well... awkward. Seventeen-year-old Cas Williams of Toronto knows that as well as any high schooler. The difference is she found a way to sum up that eternal feeling with one truly adorable YouTube video.

The kisses, which take place in front of lockers and school bus stops, are the epitome of high school romance. They start with some major reluctance -- none of the teens are eager to lock lips on camera -- and most laugh or turn away from the camera. But once they get started, they're all giggles and predictable blushing.

Cas, as you can see, is quite the budding filmmaker, but she's also a talented singer/songwriter. She composed and sung the track, "Made of You," that accompanies this video. She jokingly thanked all the young lovers who agreed to be in the video, saying "It was a pleasure to exploit your affection."

H/T aPlus

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Why Do We Like Having Sex with Artists?

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Art is having a strange moment right now. The market today is a business, pure and simple — a depraved scramble for big money; it's as much about the businessmen, financiers, and lawyers as it is about the artists and their work. I’m not the only one who’s noticed that. There seem to be a lot of young people in New York today making “art,” simply because being an artist is cool, and because of the title’s apparent link to money, power, and, well, ... sex. But just because you have blue hair and an experimental Instagram doesn’t mean I want to fuck you — quite the opposite, in fact, especially if it means getting on the J train to deep Bushwick.

Splash Heroes Make For A Badass Calendar (PHOTOS)

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These heroes are making a splash.

Aurum Light Studio -- perhaps best known for their milk costume advertisements -- have created a new calendar for 2015: Splash Heroes.

According to their website, the idea was to make a "relaxed and colorful" series. More from the creators:

"And as you probably know… you don’t need celebrities in your work… go for concepts that people are passionate about... This year’s calendar is our personal tribute and a milky parody of the heroes genre!"


Check out the full collection below and see how many superheroes you can spot.





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'SNL' Spoofs 'Love Actually' In Cut Sketch

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Why watch "Love Actually" when you can watch a pretty icky spoof featuring Pete Davidson professing his love to Amy Adams? In an "Saturday Night Live" sketch, reportedly cut for time, the two parody the most famous scene in "Love Actually," in which Andrew Lincoln uses cue cards to express his feelings for Keira Knightley. (Tragically, she's married to his best friend because the world is a cruel, cruel place.)

In this version, Davidson tells Adams he loves ham and hot dogs, and used to watch her through a hole in the women's locker room. "To me, you are perfect," says no one.

The Year In Really, Really, Ridiculously Cute Babies

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2014 was a special year for the millions of families who welcomed new babies into their lives. To celebrate the babies born in 2014, we asked the HuffPost Parents Facebook community for seasonally-themed photos of the babies who came into their world this year.

From sunny summer newborns to a tiny Thanksgiving turkey to a St. Patrick pot o' gold, these little ones show that there really is a baby for all seasons.





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National Geographic Photos Show Stories Of Hunger And Hope Around The World

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You may think off the holiday season as a time for massive meals and delicious desserts, yet one in nine people across the globe does not have enough food to live a healthy life.

The National Geographic and hunger-relief organization Feeding America invited photographers from around the world to capture the stories of people who struggle with hunger and the people who are working to alleviate it. National Geographic's online community of photographers sent in more than 5,000 submissions for the project, which is called 'The Story of Hunger and Hope.

"Hunger affects people from all races and all ages -- and from every corner of the globe," the magazine writes. "Hunger doesn’t care if you're from the wealthiest nation in the world or the poorest."

Here are some of the most haunting and inspiring photographs from the assignment. Check out the full gallery on National Geographic's website.

Do Not Watch These Movies With Your Family Over Christmas Break

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Picture this: It’s Christmas Day. You’ve been stuffing your face with food for the past four hours, and you’re a bit drunk. You’re at your in-laws' house, and everyone is tired and just wants to watch a movie before passing out.

But there are eight of you. The couch is crowded and, more ominously, there is no consensus on the movie. You go to HBO On Demand. There's that flick from last year that you’ve been dying to see -- but, alas, your sister-in-law and her boyfriend just watched it last week. You go to Showtime. You’d be down for the latest blow-everything-up blockbuster, but your wife and her mom have no desire for destruction.

So you go to the pay-per-view menu. And you flip through the library. And you keep flipping and flipping and flipping until finally, out of sheer madness, you all agree to settle on this semi-quixotic, moderately discussed movie that none of you saw last year. You turn it on, sit through the previews, tune in a bit more closely for the movie’s first few minutes, and then... oh, no.

Nudity. Masturbation. Sex. Drug abuse. Gruesome violence. Erection humor. Whatever it is, you just chose the most awkward movie possible to watch with your family.

It happens every year -- but in the age of the Internet, it should really be preventable. We here at The Huffington Post believe in public service journalism, so we’d like to help you avoid this nightmare scenario. Below are submissions from our staff on the movies (and TV shows) you absolutely should not watch with your family this Christmas. We know, because we watched them.

(Note: Many of the following clips contain nudity, profanity and other adult material. Don't read this article with your family, either.)

Team America: World Police (2004)




The worst thing about this story is that I had seen "Team America" before. I knew there was constant cursing. I knew there were crude jokes. I knew there was a very long puppet sex scene. But for some reason, my brothers and I thought it was a good idea to rent the movie to watch with our grandparents. I've blocked out most of the experience, but I do know that we fast-forwarded through the puppet sex. Even at a faster speed, it was very uncomfortable. -- Elise Foley

Top Five (2014)

I went to see "Top Five" with my parents, sister and boyfriend this past weekend. The theater was packed and we couldn't find five seats together, so my boyfriend and I had to sit a couple of rows in front of everyone else. This is a spoiler-free zone, but let's just say there was a certain scene set in a certain Houston hotel room that made me happy I didn't have to face Mom and Dad until after the movie was over. My poor little sister, sandwiched between them, wasn't so lucky. -- Johanna Barr

The Crying Game (1992)




This was actually one of the BEST viewing experiences for me. One day a few years ago, I came downstairs to find my father in the middle of the movie and commenting on how good-looking the woman was. I, having seen the movie and knowing what the big reveal was, could not help but sit back and wait for his reaction. It was priceless. "Startled" is an understatement. The kicker is that my parents had already seen the movie when it first came out -- and they couldn't stop talking about the reveal for weeks. My father had just completely forgotten about it. That often happens when I watch movies with my parents: In the middle of the film, my mother or father will shout, "Oh, I've seen this," and then get bored and go do something else. That, fortunately for my entertainment, didn't happen with "The Crying Game." -- Ricky Camilleri


Game of Thrones

The first season of Game of Thrones had aired, and all I'd heard about were the knights and dragons, etc. It sounded like "The Hobbit" in episodic form. During a holiday visit with the in-laws, my wife and I encouraged her lovable mustachioed dad to check it out with us. I can't remember which episode we watched, only the awkward whirring of his massage recliner as I asked myself how this super-intense sex scene could possibly go on any longer. -- Nico Pitney

Requiem for a Dream (2000)




I have not personally had any awkward experiences with parents or in-laws and movies myself, but it seems to me that this movie -- while excellent -- contains just about every single thing you do not want in a movie you watch with older members of your family: a hallucinatory aspect, intense scenes of drug-induced depredation, thoroughly disgusting depictions of body trauma, an absolutely terrifying (I mean branded-on-your-soul-forever) depiction of amphetamine psychosis, and to top it off, THERE IS THAT SCENE WITH JENNIFER CONNELLY (you know the one I am talking about). This movie is an agonizing nightmare to watch with ANYONE. You should literally broach the subject of watching this movie with another person by asking, "Do you feel up to watching an agonizing nightmare with me, and then maybe weeping for an hour afterward?" -- Jason Linkins

Don Jon (2013)




Watched it with the in-laws last Christmas on demand. We made it about 10 minutes in before we decided we couldn't take it anymore. I forget who exactly pulled the trigger. But it came after the third monologue about the lead character's masturbation methods. The whole family had gotten together around the TV and we had debated for a long time what to watch. So this was a big disappointment. Making it worse was that we immediately settled for "Love Actually" right after turning "Don Jon" off. -- Sam Stein

Don Juan DeMarco (1994)




The very definition of "sensual harassment." The terrible Bryan Adams song ("Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?") has eclipsed the fame of this movie, which is about a guy (Johnny Depp) who thinks he is the world's greatest lover and regales his therapist (Marlon Brando) with stories of his exploits, with Cinemax-style re-enactments spliced in. My parents thought it sounded like a funny movie for us all to watch together. We spent about an our with our faces contorted in grotesque attempts at casual expressions, strenuously avoiding eye contact, before my dad just got up and changed the channel to "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." It's about the only time anyone has ever been relieved to see Guy Fieri. -- Brie Dyas

Monster's Ball (2001)




It's a shame all the pre-release buzz about casting, teasers and controversial scenes didn't exist in 2001 the way it does now. If it had, I might have avoided renting "Monster's Ball" with my extremely conservative mom. Academy Award-winning performances! Look at the artful cinematography, Mom! And then, WHAM: Boobs flying as Heath Ledger pounds a prostitute in a seedy motel. That sex scene between Halle Barry and Billy Bob Thornton that -- sweet Jesus -- is seared into my brain more than a decade later. I think I willfully managed to lose consciousness before the ending. -- Kim Bellware

Y Tu Mamá También (2001)




I watched "Y Tu Mamá También" with my dad when I was in college. The movie opens with a scene of Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna masturbating beside each other on diving boards over a pool. It is very NSFW. -- Kate Sheppard

Love & Other Drugs (2010)




I was looking for a nice, lighthearted movie to watch with my parents, and all I knew about this movie was that it was a romantic comedy. Shortly after it started, it became clear that it was more about how a casual sex relationship evolves into romance -- "casual sex" being the operative words. So basically a lot of sex, nudity, masturbation and not being able to get an erection, all of which eventually leads to two people falling deeply in love, but then it gets really sad because one of them is seriously ill. It also has Anne Hathaway. Enough said. -- Sabrina Siddiqui

Secretary (2002)




Very awkward, the entire movie. -- Carolina Moreno

Her (2013)




For the most part, this film was family-friendly, except for ScarJo's incorporeal orgasm. -- Samantha Lachman

The Room (2003)




I told my in-laws about this CRAZY bad movie that was so bad it had become accidentally popular, that people were calling it "the 'Citizen Kane' of bad movies." I hadn't seen it, so -- expecting comically bad acting, and figuring the in-laws would get a kick out of it -- I suggested we all watch it. Nobody had told me about the graphic sex scene and close-ups of Tommy Wiseau's butt like right in the beginning, and then AGAIN, the SAME SEX SCENE, at a later point in the film. I died. -- Arthur Delaney

P.S. This story is a lie added only for the purpose of including a clip of 'The Room.'


Shopgirl (2005)




I watched this with my parents in the theaters years ago, expecting an adorable, Steve Martin-directed romantic comedy. Which is mostly what it was, until the horrifying, 6-foot close-up on Jason Schwartzman's hairy butt. I almost died of embarrassment (and my parents considered sending me out of the theater). -- Talia Lavin

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

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My sister made the mistake of seeing "The Wolf of Wall Street" with her new in-laws last Christmas. It was bad enough that an early scene in the movie has Leonardo DiCaprio doing coke off a prostitute's behind, but it then goes on for another three hours. I think they plan to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" this year. -- Kate Palmer

Mississippi Masala (1991)

In the fifth grade. With my parents, aunt and uncle. The audible sounds of disapproval during the Sarita Choudury-Denzel Washington sex scene was sooooo mortifying to me and my cousins. -- Sujata Mitra

Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle (2004)




OK, this actually wasn't even an accident -- my friend and I loved this movie when we first saw it as teenagers and thought it would be funny to make our parents watch it with us. The movie is pretty Not Safe For Parents, since it's basically a two-hour ode to marijuana with plenty of nudity and swearing. My mom was horrified ("I can't believe this DVD has been sitting in my HOUSE the whole time!")... but I'm pretty sure the two dads thought it was hilarious. -- Usha Sahay

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)




I watched this at a birthday party sitting next to the birthday boy's grandmother. It was horrible. We were kids, I would say barely teens. I had no idea what Judge Reinhold was doing in the bathroom, never mind what Jennifer Jason Leigh was doing with that carrot or in the pool house. I wished the grandmother would have gotten up from her seat, but she never did. -- Jason Cherkis

Notes on a Scandal (2006)




This is a (truly excellent) film about jealousy, sex, power, betrayal, the ravages of age, etc. It is not a film that you want to watch with your 80-year-old uncle and 68-year-old aunt. It features a lonely spinster who's obsessed with a very attractive younger woman. They're both teachers. Trouble is, not only is the younger woman not into women -- she's also having an affair with a 15-year-old male student. Things get a little nuts. My dear uncle, a Cambridge-educated Pakistani with the colonial hangover that's endemic in my family/social circle, heard the movie starred Judi Dench and essentially went, "OMG MUST WATCH!" My aunt, who can work the Internet a little, wisely intervened. (I was a bit too paralyzed with fear to do so myself.) We dodged a rather scary bullet, and a very pleasant night was had by all as we watched some ancient BBC comedy instead. -- Akbar Shahid Ahmed

Under the Skin (2013)




I watched this movie with my mother-in-law. This is the critically acclaimed Scarlett Johansson alien movie set in Glasgow. The movie consists entirely of Johansson roaming seedy streets, picking up men -- some of them non-actors filmed with hidden cameras -- and luring them to a gooey, strange death. There is very little dialogue. There are a lot of naked men.

It was strange and slow, and sad in the way the men were so easily lured to their death. Thankfully, my mother-in-law fell asleep pretty quickly. Otherwise, we would have had to endure some awkward full-frontal scenes and a savage ending. -- Jason Cherkis

Borat (2006)




My grandfather and I always bonded over absurd comedy. Now that he's struggling with Alzhiemer's, it's been tough for us to have a conversation or follow along with anything that has a complicated plot. My solution over the holidays was to watch "Borat." Yes, there's a long naked fight scene and plenty of awkward masturbation humor. But that was the point. His absolute shock and candid disgust over some of the awkward parts had us both reacting, laughing and enjoying ourselves like we used to without the need for context. I wish I could say the same for Nana. She left the room quickly. -- Jason St. Angelo

American Pie (1999)




I didn't actually watch this with my parents, but when I was in middle school, I had a bunch of friends over and we were watching this in the basement of my parents' house. My mom decided to bring milk and cookies downstairs right when Shannon Elizabeth gets topless. -- Paige Lavender

Wedding Crashers (2005)




In high school, I saw "Wedding Crashers" with my parents and a friend. My mom and dad actually got up and moved to the other side of the movie theater after the boob-filled "Shout" scene -- which is probably for the best, since sitting next to them during pretty much any of Isla Fisher or Jane Seymour's scenes would have been far more awkward for teenage me. -- Mollie Reilly

Do you have an awkward movie experience you'd like to share? If so, email us here. Keep in mind that your name WILL be used.

Marvel And DC Characters Face Off In An Epic Fan-Made Trailer

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What would happen if the heroes of the DC and Marvel worlds faced off? That's what one fan imagined in a trailer for a fake movie depicting the scenario. In YouTube user Alex Luthor's vision, tensions run high, destruction is rampant, and your favorite character most likely makes an appearance. If you ever wished Tony Stark could have a little late night talk with Batman, or Wonder Woman could go up against The Hulk, then this is the video for you.

This Woman Took The 'Sh*t Her Ex Left Behind' And Turned It Into Art

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There's nothing quite as soul-crushing after a split than having to sort through all the stuff your ex left behind.

When New York City photographer Statia Grossman's boyfriend of two years left her, she put her own spin on the task, using his stuff as source material for a raw and poignant photo series called "Shit You Left Behind" before packing it all up.

Grossman's Tumblr photo blog, which she turned into a book, catalogs everything from the cymbals her former love left behind ("Hear no ex. See no ex. Speak no ex," Grossman writes) to the piles of music festival passes he forgot about ("Your glory days are gone").

"I really ran with it as a way to work out my feelings and my anger. It was visceral," Grossman told the Huffington Post of the series, adding that she initially had the idea after her divorce, but her ex-husband took his stuff before she had a chance to get started.

Working on the series after this particular breakup was a welcome distraction, Grossman said, but turning the camera on herself for some photos, then posting the pics online was "a whole other demon." (Yes, her ex saw the series, and no, he was not particularly pleased.)

"Contrary to what it looks like, I am not an exhibitionist and I am a rather private person, so this was a giant step out of my comfort zone for me," the photographer said.

Today, she's long past the pain of the breakup in no small part because of the photo project.

"Time is the only thing that helps you heal," she said. "Working on this really helped in that I had a great big distraction in those few months after the breakup. It helped pass the time."

See some of the photos from the series below and for more, head to Grossman's Tumblr.



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Vanessa Hudgens Channels The Wrong Audrey Hepburn In 'Gigi' Promo

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In her Broadway debut -- sadly, "High School Musical" doesn't count -- Vanessa Hudgens will star as the title character in "Gigi," a role that launched Audrey Hepburn's career. But in the promotional video for the play's pre-Broadway, four-week run in Washington, D.C., Hudgens looks a lot more like one of Hepburn's other characters.

A stage adaptation of the 1944 novella by Colette, "Gigi" tells the story of an unconventional, 18th century Parisian courtesan who is urged by her family to pursue a rich playboy.

Here's what Hepburn looked like in costume for the 1951 production:

audrey hepburn in gigi

Meanwhile, Hudgens' Gigi wears elbow-length black gloves, diamonds and a black, satin dress ...

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... and looks an awful lot like Hepburn's character in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," Holly Golightly:

audrey hepburn breakfast at tiffanys

So, we're just gonna leave this here:

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The Obama Library Might Look Like Something Out Of A Sci-Fi Fever Dream

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If Hawaii gets its way, the future Barack Obama Presidential Library will resemble a futuristic oceanside retreat more than a traditional government archive.

Universities in Chicago, Honolulu and New York City are vying for the right to host the Obama library. Earlier this month, committees from each school submitted proposals, and details and renderings are starting to emerge. One of the plans submitted by the University of Hawaii, located in the president's birthplace of Honolulu, includes detailed renderings of a teardrop-shaped structure on the edge of a coral reef. Stunning images from that architectural plan can be seen below.

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From Chicago -- which has long been the favorite for host city, since it's where Obama built his political career, started his family and keeps his private residence -- proposals depict potential land use more than finished building concepts. Both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Chicago are finalists. U of C, where Obama formerly taught at the law school, is viewed as the most likely winner.

U of C's plan is not to house the library on its Hyde Park campus but to build a park-heavy site in a bordering South Side neighborhood that needs the economic boost. Here are some images the school included in its proposal:




UIC has proposed a two-site model: a library in the city's economically depressed North Lawndale neighborhood and an institute at the University Village campus. The latter would stretch canopy-like over the expressway.




Columbia University in New York City, where Obama was an undergraduate, has been largely mum on plans, though in a statement, the school told The Associated Press it wants to put the library in Manhattanville (also known as West Harlem) at the school's satellite campus.

Though only one city can host the library, the AP notes that Obama could follow President Bill Clinton's lead and place the library in one city and a presidential foundation or institution in another.

Chicago Artists Took Over A Whole Train Line With A #BlackLivesMatter Protest

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As Black Lives Matter protests have captivated the nation over the past month, artists in Chicago used a different kind of medium to shed light on America's racial divide.

And they took over a whole train line on Friday to do it. A group of more than 100 artists gathered at a downtown train station just before the 5 p.m. rush hour commute, boarding every Red Line train in both directions to demonstrate with signs, chants, and performances.

According to spoken word artist and activist Ayinde Cartman, the protesters were met with a range of responses. Some train riders simply put in their headphones or avoided eye contact, while others took part in chants and a few even asked how they could be a part of future demonstrations.

The goal of organizers, according to a news release, was to “creatively and peacefully engage train riders who may otherwise be distracted our checked out, particularly as many move onto their holiday break.”

“The intention was to disrupt, and in the most productive and constructive way possible,” Cartman told HuffPost. “We were trying to include you, rather than separate you from the movement. On the train, folks didn’t have a choice but to experience it.”

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Photos by Katie Graves and Ryan Scholl.


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This young poet blew my mind!! #traintakeover #thorndaleisnext #blacklivesmatter

A video posted by Kristen Kaza (@kristenkaza) on





Cartman was joined by other artists and organizers including event producer Kristen Kaza, playwright Ike Holter, musicians Rico Si and Charlie Coffeen and activist Kay Hubbard.

The demonstrations weren't just related to police-involved civilian deaths. Cartman performed two pieces as part of the protest, one commenting on how a lack of access to fresh, affordable food impacts black communities on the south and west sides of Chicago. In another piece, he addressed the prison-industrial complex.

“Most people are suffering and some people are not, and we can’t let that slide, like this isn’t a part of what our society is designed to be like,” Cartman said. “Our goal was to bring the things we love to the table to demand and strongly, strongly suggest a societal transformation.”

The demonstration was peaceful, and organizers say they plan to organize another similar event to take place sometime in January.

Below, more photos of the Friday demonstration:

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He had so much dope stuff to say. #TrainTakeover #blacklivesmatter

A video posted by Tiffany Renee Johnson (@tiffanyreneej_) on




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This Graduate Stripped Down For All The Right Reasons (PHOTO)

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While Kalā Kaawa sat with his fellow graduates at the University of Hawaii's winter commencement ceremony earlier this month, he texted his mom in the audience to tell her that he wanted to take off his robe when he received his diploma. Knowing what was -- or wasn't -- under her son's gown, she was a little apprehensive.

"I don't know," she texted him back, "think about it."

Kaawa weighed the risks, but he finally replied: "Nope. I'm just gonna do it."

When it was his turn to take the stage, Kaawa slipped out of his cap and gown. Looking out to the thousands of graduates and their families and raising his diploma proudly, he stepped forward in his malo, a traditional Hawaiian loincloth.

The entire auditorium erupted. The 23-year-old received a standing ovation, and the audience continued to cheer as he walked down the aisle and back to his seat.

malo at uh

"I was so touched by the reaction of the crowd that I stood there in complete awe for a while ... soaking in the feeling of accomplishment and pride for my culture," he told The Huffington Post. "It felt really good to be received that way by such an enormous crowd."

Kaawa -- a Native Hawaiian who was receiving two bachelor's degrees from the School of Hawaiian Studies -- was wearing the malo as part of an oli (Hawaiian chant) that opened the graduation ceremony. But he was nervous that wearing it on stage would bar him from receiving his diploma or that he'd be mocked for the scant cloth.

In traditional Hawaiian culture, nudity isn't necessarily sexual, and the malo was the basic garment for Hawaiian men -- both royalty and commoners.

Kaawa said he wanted to use the garment to remind people "not to be ashamed of your culture, whether you are Hawaiian, Maori, Samoan, Tongan, etc." and to "know your roots, represent and perpetuate! Not just for yourself, but for your family, your ancestors and the future generations of your culture."

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Kalā Kaawa with the group that performed the oli before the ceremony.

How Do You Play A Master Painter? First: Learn To Paint

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NEW YORK (AP) — Talk about suffering for your art.

Achieving his acclaimed performance as the masterful British landscape painter J.M.W. Turner in "Mr. Turner" took so much out of Timothy Spall, the veteran actor found himself kneeling down at the artist's tomb in St. Paul's Cathedral when it was all over — and crying. "I just knelt down, had a bit of a weep, and wiped it off on my elbow," the 57-year-old actor says. "It was quite a journey, you know."

A journey indeed. Working with the famously exacting director Mike Leigh, as he has a number of times, Spall was tasked with what he calls detective work, delving deep into Turner's art to ferret out Turner the man. The artist died in 1851 — "pre-psychoanalysis," Spall notes. "And he never really explained himself. He didn't want anybody to really know what he was up to."

This meant that Spall, aside from reading everything he could get his hands on, had to learn to paint himself.

"Mike said, 'Are you up for it? And I said, 'All right, if this is what it's gonna take," Spall recalls. "And we just went and looked at these paintings, and I kept saying, 'What IS that?' And I realized my job was to look at this massive explosion of genius and implode it all back in, right back to where it started."

So Spall studied — still life, real life, drawing in all its forms, even Greek and Roman architecture. "I even started reading about Goethe's theory of light," he says.

Often, films about famous artists have portrayed them as rarified geniuses. "Mr. Turner" is different — the movie, which has earned raves for both Leigh and Spall, depicts an unassuming son of a barber who simply worked and worked, all the time. Indeed, Turner produced a staggering 20,000 works on paper, and more than 300 oil paintings.

"How did he do that? Well, he just never stopped," Leigh says. "He was just at it all the time. I mean it's a phenomenal amount of stuff. This is a guy who just does it, and what he does is extraordinary. And HOW he does it remains a mystery."

The film was somewhat of a departure for Leigh, one of Britain's most admired directors, who is known mostly for gritty contemporary films about working-class characters. But he says that once he made the 1999 "Topsy-Turvy" about Gilbert and Sullivan, he realized he was "over the idea that I was only ever going to make contemporary films."

"I started to look into Turner having known the paintings, " the director says, "and once I started to investigate Turner the character, I thought, this world is absolutely meant to be dramatized." Turner was a man, for example, who had himself tied to the mast of a ship during a huge storm, in order to better understand the force of nature at sea — a scene recreated in "Mr. Turner."

Spall and Leigh formulated the character over two years of study, and six months of rehearsal. Oh, and three trips by Spall to Turner's grave.

"First, when Mike asked me (to do the film), I went down there and pretended to tie my shoes, knelt by his grave and just had a quick word. I said, 'Look, for what I'm about to do, please forgive me! And help me if you can.'"

A second trip came halfway through filming. "I went back and said, 'Look, I don't know if this is going the way you'd like!' Again pretending to tie my shoes."

The third trip came when he'd finished the film. This was when he wept. "This time I didn't even bother to pretend to tie my shoes," he says.

The film made a splash at the Cannes Film Festival last May, where Spall was named best actor. Then on Dec. 1, Spall was named best actor by the New York Film Critics Circle.

"I'm ... I'm just flabbergasted," he said, having gotten the news moments before this interview. "My gast is absolutely flabbered! I suppose what's lovely about it is that I've been around a bit, and you get plenty of kicks up the arse, you know? So it's nice to get flowers every now and again."

Spall is considered a contender — but perhaps an outside shot, in a very crowded field — for an Oscar nomination. But he's just happy that all the recognition means more people are seeing the film — and Turner's paintings, too, currently on display in an exhibit of the artist's late work at the Tate Gallery in London.

"It seems that Turner's working his magic at the moment," the actor says.
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