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One Artist Imagines What Our Urban World Would Like Look After The Next Ice Age

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"Throughout the 21st century, man, with his never-ending drive to control his living environment, finds himself facing the possibility of a temporary existence," writes French artist Francois Ronsiaux, "as well as the potentiality that life on Earth could end progressively or even abruptly."

It's a sobering concept, the thought that the ever-bustling life we know on Earth could end at any moment. Ronsiaux makes this particular future seem ever more real in his series "United Land." The project turns photographs snapped around the world into stark imagery, manipulated with a perfect amount of paranoia and terror. Our urban spaces as we known them are rendered as submarine, part of an entire planet submerged in the aftereffects of an ice age.

united land

For example, Ronsiaux takes an image of Times Square and filters it through a blue haze, degrading the familiar skyscrapers and billboards until they look like remnants of an apocalypse, left to rot below sea level. To create the scene, he uses a diaphragm correction filter that imitates shadows, captured with a long shot perspective that eliminates all movement -- giving, as he explains in a project statement, the impression that the landscape is absent of inhabitants.

For the curious, the water shots used in these montages come from a database of images that Ronsiaux took on the Rangiroa atoll in French Polynesia, a popular destinations for scuba divers. The atoll is the largest in the world, but has been plagued by rising waters in recent years.

time square

"Symbolizing man’s loss of control of the environment, water becomes a regulating vector replacing man’s habitat following a hypothetical ice thaw," Ronsiaux continues. "Through this immersion the idea of belonging to a political and human territory loses all meaning. It becomes abstract."

Though Ronsiaux vaguely references socio-economic and environmental deregulation as problems in our contemporary world, his photos aren't a call to action. The thaw, without context, seems inevitable. If anything, the moral of his story is that our reality is fragile, and ultimately out of our control. Beyond his constructed photographs, Ronsiaux juxtaposes his end-of-times imagery with two installations -- one, a "printed swatch" of national flags from around the world, reimagined in different shades of blue; the other, a set of five blank, blue flags that ominously hint at the dominance of water in a post-thaw realm.

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Is Borecore The New Normcore, Or Just The Way We Live Now?

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Anyone able to dig up the archive to my LiveJournal, circa 2002-2006, would be in for a real treat. Entries detailing hangouts with friends, school play rehearsals, rereadings of the Harry Potter series, the fact that my crush had tweaked my ponytail flirtatiously that day –- my earnestly teenaged blog had all the stylistic panache and thrilling action that typically attracts a readership of between zero to 10 people.

I like to think my readership was closer to 10 but let’s be real: That’s an optimistic estimate.

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One of the more exciting entries from my youthful LiveJournal


Thinking back on those banal, and all-too-public, blog posts now fills me with waves of stomach-clenching embarrassment -– especially the password-locked posts that consisted, yes, solely of AIM conversations with my crushes. But utterly un-self-conscious immersion in one’s own activities is a time-honored teenage mode. We’d scribble solipsistically in diaries; we’d lie on our twin beds listening to mind-bending music that would become seemingly integral to our newly forming identities; we’d spend aimless hours just hanging with friends, driving around or smoking pot or doing nothing at all.

Teens have, in short, always thrown themselves wholeheartedly into pursuits that their elders might not have time for or view as worthwhile. Adults rarely have time to be bored and to see where that boredom takes them, but teens have been making something out of boredom since the invention of cow-tipping.

It’s 2015, however, so this practice needs a hip name. How about borecore?

Borecore, posits The New York Times Magazine’s Jenna Wortham, denominates the vast pool of non-viral, remarkably uninteresting Vines and social media videos uploaded or streamed by young people. They’re not doing anything clever with the six-second limitation or the eternal loop. They’re not capturing anything inherently grabby, funny or important. It’s just ... them, goofing off, cuddling, driving aimlessly or lip-syncing to '80s music alone. It is hardcore boring.



And, appropriately, they’re not really attracting a viewership. People don’t seem to be ironically binging on Vines of teenagers removing their nail polish or practicing inexpert karate chops. Just like no one sought out my dull and self-absorbed LiveJournal, instead flocking to innovative LJs like Oh No They Didn’t, a gossipy celebrity blog. There are always far more people, especially young people with time and energy on their hands, creating content than there are people creating things the rest of us deem worth looking at.

livejournal

Did I mention endless personality quizzes? The world needed to know my seduction style.


Wortham diagnoses it not as narcissism but “the never-to-be-viral output that comes from mixing powerful devices and a lifetime of social-­media training with regular, old teenage boredom.” Sure. As long as there have been low-barrier methods of public self-expression, teens have been on them, enacting their mundane performances of self for an audience of next to no one. LiveJournal, Xanga, MySpace, Blogger, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram –- video apps are just the medium du jour.

Until the day that tastemakers create and seek out the intensely boring as a status symbol or artistic aesthetic in itself, there's no need to imagine trends around the long-standing tradition of boring people creating uninteresting content. Stand down, teenagers; your half-hearted Vining doesn’t deserve a name.

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Sara Benincasa's New Film Will Feature A Focus Group -- About Her Body

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Would you ever ask a group of total strangers to rate your body?

Comedian Sara Benincasa will play a woman who does just that in her new short film, "The Focus Group."



Benincasa and co-directer Adam Wirtz are currently raising money on Kickstarter to create the short film, in which a woman has her body evaluated and her "flaws" pointed out by a team of people hired to critique her.

The film's main character is a woman who is 34 years old, 5'3" and 175 pounds -- the age, height and weight of Benincasa herself, who will play said character.

"I am not supposed to tell you my age, I am not supposed to tell you my height and I am not supposed to tell you my weight," Benincasa says in a video introducing the project. "Because I'm a lady, and those are private, secret lady things."

Benincasa is breaking a taboo by sharing these facts about herself. In the film, the main character will appear in "various states of undress" in front of a focus group to found out "how she can be prettier, and better, and more attractive and more palatable to the mass audience she is trying to appeal to, aka dudes."

"I was inspired to do 'The Focus Group' because it struck me that having one's body analyzed in such a fashion would be an absolute nightmare," Benincasa told The Huffington Post. "I learned early on in my classes at [comedy club] the PIT to follow the fear -- go for what scares you."

Benincasa hopes that the film will make people laugh, but also make people feel better about their bodies and less alone in the world.

She told HuffPost: "My message is that even when you see room for change, you've got to love yourself exactly as you are."

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Anne Hathaway's Inner Theater Kid Took Down Emily Blunt On 'Lip Sync Battle'

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Anne Hathway did more than just get on a giant wrecking ball on Thursday's episode of "Lip Sync Battle." In a heroic effort, she took down her "Devil Wears Prada" co-star Emily Blunt by giving the world a DGAF middle finger ala inspiration, Miley Cyrus.

Blunt brought out what she thought were the big guns -- heart-shaped balloons, flower power shtick, etc. -- to perform Janis Joplin's "Piece Of My Heart," but she couldn't beat Hathaway, who could probably tour as Cyrus right now. The crowd chanted "Hathaway" and Blunt conceded.



And here's the first round, during which Hathaway performed Mary J. Blige's "Love" and Blunt took on Blackstreet's "No Diggity."

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Here's Your First Look At 'Broadway Bares: Top Bottoms Of Burlesque' (NSFW)

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More than 150 of New York's hottest dancers are set to turn back the clock to golden age of Broadway for an "unrivaled evening of sexy striptease" this June. (WARNING: Some images may be NSFW)

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA) officials released these sizzling images and behind-the-scenes video ahead of "Broadway Bares: Top Bottoms of Burlesque," which hits Manhattan's Hammerstein Ballroom on June 21 and features "a cast of colorful characters for every desire and fantasy."

Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell ("Kinky Boots") returns to the director's chair in honor of the 25th anniversary of the annual Broadway Bares event. In 24 years, the show has raised more than $12.6 million for BC/EFA, and starred more than 200 of the Great White Way’s most able-bodied performers, with themes ranging from 2012's sexy storybook "Happy Endings" to the risqué rock-and-roll of "Broadway Bares: Rock Hard!" in 2014.

"A lot of things can happen in 25 years, but who would've thought that seven guys dancing on a bar could grow into an annual event that has raised so much to help people living with HIV and AIDS," Mitchell said in a statement. "Broadway Bares has done that. And this year we're going full out, maybe even with a top hat and our version of tails, ’cause if baby, you're a bottom, you're the top."

Check out some teaser photos below, and read more about "Broadway Bares: Top Bottoms of Burlesque" here.

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Contemporary Art Center Shatters The Idea That Artists With Disabilities Are Outsiders

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super
Left work by Eva Jun, right work by Jenny Sharaf




"I didn't really have expectations," artist Alicia McCarthy told The Huffington Post. "It's exactly the same as it would be meeting someone you don't know with the potential for collaborating."

McCarthy was one of five local contemporary artists selected by curator Jenny Sharaf to partner with a contemporary artist at Creativity Explored, a San Francisco-based nonprofit art center and gallery where artists with developmental disabilities create, exhibit and sell art. The resulting exhibition, "Super Contemporary," features collaborations in every sense of the word, with each artist pairing free to develop a unique creative process.

"We had a few months to do a collaborative project, whatever that looked like," Sharaf said. "The show is mostly focused on process, and friendship too, in a way. Everyone developed these really amazing friendships out of it."

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Bad Karma by Sarah Thibault, 2014, mixed media, 40 x 60 inches


Each artist pairing was assigned "intuitively," Sharaf explained, based both off of the artists' artistic languages as well as their personalities. Sharaf, known for her psychedelic abstractions that transform Michael's craft paint into melting neon hallucinations, teamed up with Creativity Explored artist Eva Jun, also known for her love of tactile surfaces and intense pigments. "Eva has these beautiful patterns she creates, she calls them waves and zig-zags," said Sharaf. "I think we share a sort of dedication to paint."

After the initial partnering, it was up to the two artists to forge their own artistic path, and whatever work emerged as a result. "We didn't really know how collaborative it would be, since everyone is pretty invested in their own abstract language and process at this point," said Sharaf. "Everyone is a developed artist. So the processes all look a little bit different. Eva and I really enjoyed being each other's assistants. I often need an extra set of hands in the studio, and I started to mix Eva's colors for her so she could keep working. We both learned how to manage people, which is a skill set I think we both needed. Sometimes we collaborated more. We'd pick colors together and riff off each other. If you look at our works you can see we used the same palette."

Creativity Explored works with individuals to foster artistic potential, strengthen confidence in self, inspire connections with other artists and art lovers and provide the tools to become working artists. The nonprofit gives artists the space, supplies and support they need to begin an art career, including the chance to exhibit professionally.

The term "outsider art" can be used to describe artists beyond the confines of the artistic institution, whether due to physical isolation, developmental disability or the simple desire to work apart from the academic mainstream. Instances of collaborations like "Super Contemporary," however, illuminate the marginalizing aspects and inaccuracy of the moniker. "I think 'outsider art' -- we should just ditch that word," said Sharaf.

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Untitled by Maria Berrios © 2015 Creativity Explored Licensing, LLC, oil pastel and graphite on paper, 11.25 x 15 inches


There are aspects of the project that set it apart from the establishment. "Compared to the contemporary art world, it's very free," Sharaf explained. "You can do whatever you want, everyone is riffing off each other, inspired by each other. I never had that experience in art school, so that's been a really fun, free exchange of practice. Other people influence me, I influence people, and it's not even like we're talking about it."

"I think the thing that is most striking to me is the long hours that these artists put in each day," contemporary artist Maysha Mohamedi commented. "I have to work another job so I go to the studio at strange hours and I have a small child and have to pay attention to how I'm marketing myself. And when I see these artists working for like eight hour stretches, I think -- sometimes in the art world it's so much about the PR. And the whole idea that one would be working so hard for such a long stretch of time on something your passionate about is kind of lost."

The consensus seems to be that, despite a unique goal, Creativity Explored feels just like any other art-making environment in the best possible way. "It's really just like any studio, just a lot of people making art," said McCarthy. "I'm really grateful just to have been invited here. Everyone is so welcoming and accommodating."

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CE artist Eva Jun (left) and curator and artist Jenny Sharaf (right).


"It makes me feel uncomfortable to talk about them as outsiders now that we're friends. Their art is just as good, if not better, than what's going on in the academic realm. I go to a lot of art fairs and I see a lot of crappy art that's less conceptual than what's going on at Creativity Explored," Sharaf said. "If you're kind of intimidated by art it's a great place to start."

Creativity Explored's Eric Larson expressed a similar sentiment in an earlier interview with The Huffington Post: "I understand there needs to be a term for it, but it implies that inside-outside dichotomy. On a certain level we're all just artists. Some might have more attention than others but there is a real democratic view of what art is here at the studio. I don't necessarily have a problem with it, because you need to have a label on it in some way, but especially with a disabled community it implies they are somehow outside the mainstream."

work
A work in progress by CE artist Eva Jun and curator Jenny Sharaf.


The final artworks, most dwelling in the realm of abstraction, depict a vibrant inner world of rich colors, graphic patterns, touchable textures and a heavy dose of imagination. Eva Jun's "Happy is a shade of Blue" features smooth waves of acrylic paint that sharpen until the bottom layer resembles teeth, all in recharged pastel hues reminiscent of a Georgia O'Keeffe painting, with the saturation turned all the way up on Photoshop. You can see the resemblance to Sharaf's oozing color-scapes, resembling TV static liquefying more quickly than a popsicle.

"I'm more collaborative than I realized," Sharaf said. "I hope to do more projects that put artists in new situations and challenge them in a way regular gallery shows maybe don't. And, of course, continuing to create a community around art."

"Super Contemporary" runs from April 30 until June 17, 2015, at Creativity Explored in San Francisco. Participating artists include Maria Berrios and Sahar Khoury; Eva Jun and Jenny Sharaf; Kaocrew "Yah" Kakabutra and Maysha Mohamedi; Taneya Lovelace and Alicia McCarthy; and Evelyn Reyes and Sarah Thibault.










Outside the Lines" is an ongoing series addressing the prickly genre sometimes referred to as outsider art.

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This Serene Desert Yoga Video Will Mesmerize You

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Not in the mood for yoga this week? This yogi will probably change your mind.

L.A.-based yoga instructor Dylan Werner took on some pretty crazy yoga poses -- handstands, arm balances, you name it -- and used a gorgeous desert as his backdrop in this video for Equinox. The best part? He makes the whole thing look effortless.

"I mostly just want to share my practice," Werner told YogiApprove.com when asked about sharing his own videos and online classes. "I want to inspire others as others have inspired me and share the things that I have learned or discovered to help others obtain their goals so they can evolve their practice. I want to inspire people to face their fears, overcome their personal limitations."

Okay, we're inspired. And really, really impressed.

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Inspiring 8-Year-Old Won't Let A Tragic Accident Stop Her From Dancing

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Alissa Sizemore was playing outside with her siblings one night in May 2014 when a UPS truck ran over her right leg. According to KSL.com, the 7-year-old's foot couldn't be saved.

At the time, Alissa's dance teacher told the local news outlet, "She'll dance again." Mom Heather Sizemore recalls Alissa's determination to do so. When the mom took Alissa's sisters to their dance studio last summer for dance team placements, the little girl handed her mom her crutches and started to dance. "She hopped to the middle of the room and gave it her all. She wasn't going to let anybody hold her back," Heather told PEOPLE.

Members of the dancer's hometown raised enough money for the little girl to get a prosthetic leg in September 2014 -- a big contribution came from an 11-year-old girl who sold her prize pig to donate $10,000 to the Sizemore family. After receiving the limb, Alissa started rehearsing for her dance studio's recital.

"Dancing has been my favorite thing since I was 4. I don't have part of my leg, but I can't let that stop me. I still want to dance," Alissa told PEOPLE.

In late February, the now 8-year-old took the stage to perform a beautiful and inspiring routine to Colbie Caillat's "Try," and received a standing ovation.

Watch her performance above, and head over to PEOPLE to read more about Alissa.



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Nicky Romero's Ultra Evolution

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Nick Rotteveel, known to the world as megastar Dutch DJ and producer Nicky Romero, sits at No. 8 on DJ Magazine's annual DJ rankings. Best known for his viral hit music video "Toulouse" and his massive collaboration with Avicii on "I Could Be The One," which topped the U.K. charts, Nicky is a force in the EDM world, smacking fans full in the face with dance energy. Down at Ultra Music Festival 2015 in Miami, Florida, The Huffington Post got the chance to sit down and talk with Nicky Friday afternoon at his exclusive Red Bull Guest House Pool Party about his musical evolution, Protocol Recordings and his upcoming work before the crazy weekend got going.

What goes into creating a set for Ultra? What’s it like for you the day before, the night before?
I don’t really have a ritual that I do every time that I prepare a set for Ultra, so mostly I try to relax a little bit. I like to make sure that I have the best possible edits for the set that I want to play. It’s always good to prepare, but at the same time I also think it’s good to have a little bit of creativity on stage. So I don’t want to prepare a set that has song after song. There are DJs that prepare their whole set to the minuscule second of the songs. I am not like that. I sometimes do make mistakes on stage, which is fine with me. Sometimes you know, I think it’s worth more to have that feeling when you do something creative than to make sure that your set is polished and everything is down to the last second. So that’s the way I approach it.

Is performing at a place like Ultra or a festival of this size a different experience than performing at a smaller, more intimate setting?
No. I don’t think the process is different. What is different is the amount of people of course. The plus side of the big festival is that there are many, many people that are jumping along to the music that you play, which is amazing to experience. At the same time, it’s good to have the people around you when you’re playing because if the stage is that big you don’t have any interaction anymore with the people that you’re actually performing for. Which means sometimes that doesn’t feel as awesome as playing a small place with the people right in front of you. So it’s a good balance. A good balance is the best thing to have in my opinion.



You've been doing this for a few years. In 2010, you broke in. What was it like in 2010, 2012, and how did you gain the support of all your contemporaries, from DJs to producers?

The producers that I looked up to, I still have producers I look up to -- being a certain number on that list does not mean you don’t have any inspirations anymore so, for example, if I listen to the mixes of Knife Party I’m still jealous how they get that kick bass right. It’s unbelievable how they mix. At the same time if I look at Carl Cox as another example to see what he’s been doing for the last years, and still is doing, with huge success, I still have a lot to learn! Like this guy just plays six-hour, eight-hour sets. Without a doubt one of the best performances that I’ve seen is from Carl Cox. So I still have that and the process still goes on. In my opinion there’s never a moment that you know everything. In other words, you keep learning everyday.

With that said, are there certain artists that you'd love to collaborate with?
I’ve been really lucky in my career so far that I’ve been able to collaborate with many, many great artists. Of course I have a few wishes left. One of the wishes would be Coldplay and The Script. Those are the ones I would love to work with, but EDM-wise, I don’t know. I don’t have a certain artist in EDM right now who I want to work with more or less than the ones I’ve already worked with. So I’d love to collaborate with Calvin Harris more, or David [Guetta], or with Fedde [Le Grand] one time. Maybe Martin Garrix would be cool.



How do you see the evolution of your music unfolding? For the last five years it’s been building. Where do you see yourself going?
I try to live day by day, so I make the music in the day and I make the music for tomorrow. I can’t say what kind of music I’m going to make within two years, but if I look back at the music that I’ve produced before and to the music that I’ve produced now, there is a certain progress the whole time. At the same time, there is also, and it’s really interesting if you look at it, you’re focused all on the small details and sometimes that takes you off the grip. Sometimes you want to stick on the grip by being in the process instead of being focused on all the details. So that’s the process I’m really aware of right now because sound evolves so quickly that sometimes you’re too engrossed in the details that you lose the focus and the grip on the actual song. So that’s something I’ve learned in the past and in the past I was just focused on wanting to make a good song and not so much in the details. Now it’s that I want a good song and I want amazing details. Sometimes you lose sight of the actual goal, which is a good song. So it’s a process that’s been changing in the last few years and I try to get back on the old process now by just focusing on a good song. It’s something that goes with the flow.

Changing gears a little bit to talk about Protocol Recordings: You’ve taken it as an opportunity to sort of mentor up-and-coming artists. What is it about being in that role? Was there something that you had interacted with that put that on your map?
That’s a good question. I’ve experienced the help of David Guetta and I thought I knew all about producing, which in fact I did, but I didn’t know a lot about making songs. I discovered the difference between making a track and making a song. David Guetta really helped me with that process and I felt the difference between someone that’s making tracks and someone that’s making songs, hit songs. I was lucky to have a mentor in David Guetta, who did an amazing job for me and I would love to do that for the new talented writers now as well. I still have a lot to learn but the knowledge that I have, I want to carry on to the new generation and for me especially the ones that are signed to Protocol.

We’ve heard the buzz around your new projects, such as your collaborations with Nile Rodgers. What can we expect?
Well, I made a song with Nile Rodgers, which is really cool and coming out this year. I can’t say too much about it yet but it’s really different. It’s 120 bpm. It’s really slow, but it’s really funky and we do have a great vocalist on that song. A famous one too, [but] I cannot say too much yet, other than it’s going to be different and it’s going to be cool.

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Cody Simpson Dishes On Stripping Down With Gigi Hadid For Mario Testino's Towel Series

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When legendary fashion photographer Mario Testino asks you to strip, you don't question it.

That's what Cody Simpson imparted in a Thursday conversation with HuffPost Live's Caitlyn Becker, reflecting on his recent experiences shooting Testino's iconic Towel Series alongside supermodel girlfriend Gigi Hadid.

TOWEL SERIES 69, CODY SIMPSON AND GIGI HADID. #MarioTestino #TowelSeries @CodySimpson @GigiHadid

A photo posted by MARIO TESTINO (@mariotestino) on




"It was a weird scenario," Simpson recalled. "We were shooting Vogue with Mario, and at the end of the day he was like, 'Cody, take off your clothes. I'll put a towel around you.'"

The singer got on board when Hadid urged him to play along.

"Gigi was like, 'Babe, this is the Towel Series!'" he continued. "I was like, 'Okay, alright, I'm in.' I'm not a male model, that's not what I do at all. I'm a musician, and people start judging me on my looks and everything now -- that's kind of weird."

The teen pop star had been participating in Vogue's "Hollywood's New Rat Pack" shoot alongside such celebs as Kendall Jenner, Ansel Elgort and Justin Bieber. A Testino side project hadn't been on the docket, but luckily Simpson had Hadid at his side to help him strike the right pose.

"She's a pro at that stuff," he said. "And I was in there, and he [Testino] kept pushing the towel smaller. It started off like, more of my thigh, and then he pushed it down. We wearing clothes underneath the towel, but it looks pretty ... pretty funny."

Watch more from Cody Simpson's conversation with HuffPost Live here.

Sign up here for Live Today, HuffPost Live’s morning email that will let you know the newsmakers, celebrities and politicians joining us that day and give you the best clips from the day before!

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Christina Aguilera Is This Teen's Inspiration -- And He's Got The Powerful Voice To Match

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Publicly, Reece Van Schalkwyk’s singing ability has gotten him recognition over the years. On a personal level, his powerful voice has helped him cope with losing his father.

Hailing from Durban, South Africa, Reece has been singing since he was 3 years old. A year later, his father passed away, and he used music as an outlet.

“I wrote and recorded a song when I was 10 years old titled "Do You Hear?” which allowed me to express the turmoil I felt about his death,” he said in an email to The Huffington Post.

Now 15, the singer has used his passion for music to perform at a variety of events in South Africa. After starting his singing career in church, Reece went on to participate in a talent search competition last year called "Gateway to Fame" where his performance of Beyoncé’s “Love on Top” helped him earn the top honors in his singing category.



Whether he’s taking on covers from his inspirations like Christina Aguilera and Celine Dion or working with original music, Reece simply loves to sing. Being able to convey his feelings on stage and through his videos pushes him to continue performing.

“I feel powerful when I deliver and project my mind and soul’s passions and complexities through singing,” he said.



After showcasing his talents, Reece started hearing from music industry professionals and record labels. They approached him with offers, but promises were never kept, which motivated him to be more independent when it came to his creativity. Aside from music, the teen edits and produces his own reality show on YouTube.

Fans of his impressive voice have no need to worry though. Music will always be an important part of the singer’s life. When asked if he wants to pursue music as a career one day, Reece proved he has it all figured out.

“Not ‘one day’ -- today. And why? Because I might never get tomorrow.”

H/T EllenTube

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Oscar Isaac Somehow Finds A Way To Link Disco, 'Star Wars' And Robots

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Oscar Isaac is a name that’s become more familiar over the past several years. You likely first noticed the actor in 2010’s “Sucker Punch” or as Carey Mulligan’s boyfriend in “Drive." Since then, Isaac has earned a Golden Globe nomination for “Inside Llewyn Davis,” received high praise for his performance alongside Jessica Chastain in “A Most Violent Year” and is appearing in J.J. Abrams’ upcoming “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”

While the actor has said little about his "Star Wars" character, X-wing pilot Poe Dameron, The Huffington Post still asked him about the franchise while he was in New York promoting his latest film, “Ex Machina.” As a fan of the space opera series, what classic “Star Wars” scene would Isaac want to be in? The cantina scene from "Episode IV." "I could be one of the musicians in the background,” Isaac said as he imitated playing a set of bongos.

The actor’s musical abilities are far from news, though. Isaac showcased his singing and guitar skills when portraying fictional folk singer Llewyn Davis in the Coen Brothers’ 2013 film. Now, Isaac is unveiling another talent in Alex Garland’s “Ex Machina” during a scene that is at once unnerving and wildly fun: disco dancing.

ex machina

In the film, Isaac’s Nathan, a reclusive tech genius, has built an artificially intelligent robot, Ava (Alicia Vikander). He invites one of his company’s coding employees, Caleb (Domhall Gleeson), to his home to conduct a Turing Test on Ava, which in layman’s terms is to determine whether or not Ava can fully think like a human. During his week-long visit, Caleb gets into drunken philosophical discussions with Nathan about consciousness (the most fascinating part of the script for Isaac), grows close with Ava, and gets swept into watching Nathan and his female companion break out into a full-on choreographed dance (watch it here) to Oliver Cheatham's "Get Down Saturday Night."

“That was just Alex [Garland] being smart as far as keeping everybody off balance,” Isaac said of the disco non-sequitur. “That was a moment, from a rhythm standpoint, that you needed to get a complete 180. But completely logical if you think about this guy who’s been [in his home] for years without any human beings and makes these robots and fucks these robots. What else is he gonna do with them? Dance with them!”

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That’s exactly what Isaac does, or as Nathan puts it in the film, “I’m going to tear up the fucking dance floor dude, check it out.” The choreography only lasts for less than a minute in “Ex Machina,” but Isaac told us that the dance was originally twice as long. It did take him a couple weeks to learn, though. “Not a natural disco dancer,” Isaac said with a laugh. Maybe we'll see Isaac's pilot teach the Mos Eisley band some dance moves in "Episode VII," if we're lucky.

“Ex Machina” is now playing in select theaters.

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Freida Pinto On The 'Extreme Ecstasy' Of Her Politically-Charged Dance Film

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Some life stories seem fated for Hollywood.

"Desert Dancer" tells the extraordinary tale of Iran's most famous living dancer, Afshin Ghaffarian, who fled his country during the Arab Spring to freely practice his art in Europe. The semi-biographical movie stars Reece Ritchie as Ghaffarian, and opens in select U.S. theaters today.

The movie also stars Freida Pinto as the fictional Elaheh, a talented, mysterious and troubled dancer who inspires Ghaffarian to revolt. Filming took place in part in London and Jordan. (Life seemed to imitate art when Ghaffarian, originally slated to be filmed in a dance promoting the movie, was barred entry to Jordan because the country's government presumed him to be gay.)

As with so many new exiles from Iran, Ghaffarian's story links closely to the heated Iranian elections of 2008. He became a target of the government that year, not only for openly supporting opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, but because of his profession. The field of dance has been a special target since Ayatollah Khomeini banned all forms of it in 1976.

One faithful-to-life scene in "Desert Dancer" shows a pair of government goons threatening to beat Ghaffarian "artistically," after discovering an identity card on his person doctored to label him an "artist" (to be a "dancer" would be worse). Ghaffarian eventually fled to Europe, where a remarkable on-stage demonstration led to the French government granting him asylum.



Pinto and the rest of the cast performed all of their own dance moves in the film, which come to a head in a depiction of one of the desert shows Ghaffarian staged outside of Tehran as an underground series, hoping to avoid capture. Some of the movie's most memorable scenes are these sequences, featuring blue and gold swathes of Jordan's Wadi Rum desert and the beautifully stripped-down choreography of Akram Khan, who previously worked on the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony in London.

Pinto trained for a year to prepare for the part, which was so taxing she ended up concussed after one dance-related injury. In an email exchange with The Huffington Post, she discussed the formidable role, and her hopes for the movie.

It's rare for actors and actresses from India to cross into the global film industry. Do you have role models or mentors who have helped you chart your unusual path?
Art is one of the most universal and globally understood mediums so I don't look at my experience as being rare, just very fortunate.

What inspired you to take a part in a movie by a first-time director?
I was really drawn to the complexity of the character. She is very unpredictable and her mystery is boundless. Elaheh comes with beauty and pain which is what intrigues me about people in general and how it manifests itself in people's lives.

When Richard Raymond, the director of the film, approached me, I was immediately intrigued by the story and excited for the opportunity to train for the role. I am proud of the film and while I can't truly know what people think about it I just hope it starts a conversation.

Some of the movie's most striking scenes are the choreographed sequences. Do you have any formal dance background?
I am not trained in dance but always believed I had a dancer's soul.

Your character is full of contradictions. She's committed to dance, but her addictions get in the way. She's instinctively passionate in her approach to life, but because of her past, she's also deeply cynical about the future. How did you get into what must have been a tricky mentality to enter?
Playing this role required me to expose myself to every emotion that is out there, ranging from the deepest pain to extreme ecstasy. It was a very daunting task but I do believe dance helped me to access spaces within myself I was unaware existed.

In a short time, you've worked with a long list of legends, from Danny Boyle to Woody Allen. What are some lessons you've learned along the way?
The one thing that every director has inspired me to do is approach every project as if it were my first. While the experience counts and is very useful, the rawness can never be lost and it's what keeps things exciting.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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Stunning Images Reflect The World We Live In, Quite Literally

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Water doesn't just sustain our bodies, it also provides the opportunity for very literal reflection, an opportunity to pause and contemplate a particular moment in time.

Whether gazing into a still body of water, catching a glimpse of ourselves in a drop of dew or plunging head first into an ice cold pool, reveling in the beauty of a reflection can lead to intellectual and spiritual growth -- as well as a gorgeous photo.

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Today we're ogling images of reflections, the glorious and oh-so-photogenic moments where all natural mirrors provide us with a psychedelic glimpse of ourselves from the perspective of another. We challenged our dear readers and budding photographers to use mirrors, water, windows, or any other available reflective surface to create beautiful reflective photos, and they did not disappoint.

Behold, the power of reflection. We recommend you take a moment to reflect on it.

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New ISIS Video Purports To Show Group Destroying Ancient Ruins Of Nimrud

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BAGHDAD (AP) — Islamic State militants hammered, bulldozed and ultimately blew up parts of the ancient Iraqi Assyrian city of Nimrud, destroying a site dating back to the 13th century B.C., an online militant video purportedly shows.


The destruction at Nimrud, located near the militant-held city of Mosul, came amid other attacks on antiquity carried out by the group now holding a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in its self-declared caliphate. The attacks have horrified archaeologists and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who last month called the destruction at Nimrud "a war crime."


The seven-minute video, posted late Saturday, shows bearded militants using sledgehammers, jackhammers and saws to take down huge alabaster reliefs depicting Assyrian kings and deities. A bulldozer brings down walls, while militants fill barrels with explosives and later destroy three separate areas of the site in massive explosions.


"God has honored us in the Islamic State to remove all of these idols and statutes worshipped instead of Allah in the past days," one militant says in the video. Another militant vows that "whenever we seize a piece of land, we will remove signs of idolatry and spread monotheism."


The militants have been destroying ancient relics they say promote idolatry that violate their fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law, including the ancient Iraqi city of Hatra, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Authorities also believe they've sold others on the black market to fund their atrocities.


Some of the figures in the video released Saturday at Nimrud appeared to have rebar, ribbed bars of steels designed to reinforce concrete that are a technique of modern building. An Iraqi Antiquities Ministry official, speaking Sunday on condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorized to talk to journalists, said all the items at Nimrud were authentic. In March, both Iraqi and United Nations officials warned the site had been looted and damaged.


The video conformed to other Associated Press reporting about the militants' attack.


The Assyrians first rose around 2,500 B.C. and at one point ruled over a realm stretching from the Mediterranean coast to what is present-day Iran. They left dozens of palaces and temples decorated with huge reliefs mainly depicting their kings' military campaigns and conquests, hunting lions and making sacrifices to the gods. Their main hallmark was the colossal winged man-headed lions or bulls, protective deities put at the entrances of palaces and temples weighing about 10-30 tons each.


Located on the eastern side of the Tigris River, Nimrud, or Kalhu, was founded in the 13th century B.C. During the reign of King Ashurnasirpal II, Nimrud served as the second capital for Assyrian Empire. Other Assyrian capitals were Ashur, Dur Sharrukin and Ninevah.


Excavations at Nimrud were first started by the British traveler and archaeologist Austen Henry Layard from 1845 to 1851, followed by other foreign and local excavation missions.


The city is surrounded by a four-side wall measuring 8 kilometers (5 miles) long. Among the ruins are the grand palace of Ashurnasirpal II, as well as the temples of Nabu, the god of writing and the arts, and other temples.


Among the most significant discoveries at Nimrud were four tombs of royal women. There, a collection of 613 pieces of gold jewelry and precious stones were unearthed. They survived the looting of the Iraqi National Museum that followed the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 as they were kept in a vault at the Central Bank of Iraq building by Saddam Hussein's government.


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Associated Press writer Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.

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Marriage Equality Pioneer Edie Windsor Visits 'Fun Home' On Broadway

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Marriage equality pioneer Edie Windsor hit Broadway this week for a performance of the new musical,"Fun Home."

Written by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori, the show features the first lesbian protagonist in a mainstream musical on Broadway, making it a fitting choice for the 85-year-old Windsor.

The show got a very enthusiastic thumps-up from Windsor, who achieved a breakthrough victory for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in 2013 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in her favor and struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

She went on to call it "universal, beautiful and heartwarming."

Based on Alison Bechdel's graphic memoir of the same name, "Fun Home" stars Michael Cerveris and Judy Kuhn, while three actresses (Sydney Lucas, Emily Skeggs and Beth Malone) portray Bechdel as a child, a college student and a middle-aged woman, respectively.

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FABRICATIONS: Meet Queer Fashion Designer Leon Wu Of Sharpe Suiting

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This is the eleventh installment in a miniseries titled "FABRICATIONS" that elevates the work of up-and-coming queer individuals working in the fashion world. Check back at 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.

Leon Wu is a queer fashion designer and founder of the ready-to-wear clothing line, Sharpe Suiting. A response to the need for clothing that fits the bodies and lives of butch, androgynous and masculine-of-center individuals, Sharpe Suiting is filling a valuable niche within the fashion world for members of the queer community. In the words of Wu, "Everyone deserves to choose for themselves what expresses who they are. Everyone deserves to be seen." Read the interview below to learn more.

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The Huffington Post: What has Sharpe Suiting's journey as a ready-to-wear queer fashion designer entailed?
Leon Wu: Fashion is identity, so the journey really began with understanding myself and how I fit into the world. At an early age, I desired to wear menswear and idolized the clothes my father wore. I would sneak into his closet and try on his clothes when my parents weren’t home. When I finally physically matured into an adult, I was disappointed that I still didn’t fit into his suits, my brother’s, or anything else available off-the-rack in the men’s section. I resorted to wearing baggy men’s clothes and justified incorporating it as part of my urban style.

Several years into my adulthood after college, I co-produced one of the first Butch Fashion shows in Los Angeles with Vanessa Craig, who is now also part of the Sharpe team. Masculine or androgynous clothing that fit gender-queer bodies was still not really available during that time (circa 2005), but by then we had each developed a knack for sourcing and styling clothing to match our body types and identities. The crowd was excited about the production and we received a lot of supportive feedback.

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Who is your target customer? Who are you designing for?
Sharpe began designing clothing for people who are masculine-leaning or androgynous, as this was the immediate solution to issues myself and my community directly experienced. We had a very successful Kickstarter campaign to create a ready-to-wear line for this niche. During the campaign and throughout the early successes of my company, however, many cis-gendered straight men and women not only praised our mission but also voiced their concerns about feeling left out of the fashion industry as well. Christine Wu -- my sister, professor, and CEO of a biotech non-profit -- summed it up perfectly: “What about me? I don’t want to be pigeonholed either. Can I get something from Sharpe too?” I saw that the issue of being excluded from the market was a much larger problem then I myself had experienced. Thus, Sharpe is now looking at the potential opportunity to broaden our market into producing and distributing unisex, fashion-forward luxury clothing for everyone.



Why is clothing like this so important?
Bridging the gap between menswear and womenswear is going to have a large social impact in that it defines the acceptance of queer identities, as well as advancing gender equality in the larger straight community. Just take corporate or office-wear as an example. Why do we necessarily need to have a separate dress code for men versus women? In my previous corporate life I could always tell when I wasn’t being taken seriously when I interviewed in a suit and tie. Their preconceived notion of what I should be wearing didn’t let them just see me, a well-qualified prospective employee. I learned I had to tone-it-down by perhaps leaving the tie out or going for the more androgynous no-nonsense look. Fast forward a few years I got a job working as a corporate project manager at a major entertainment studio. It was there, for the first time, I felt an enormous amount of support from my senior management and peers wearing a suit and tie to work. I finally felt seen.

At Sharpe Suiting, we don’t judge clothing by an individual’s gender. We will make you custom dresswear (suit, dress, etc) for whoever wants it. Everyone deserves to choose for themselves what expresses who they are. Everyone deserves to be seen.

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What does it mean to you to be a queer designer? How does your queer identity intersect with your work?
As a queer designer I’m able to see fashion outside of the box. Identity is based on experiences, and because I’ve experienced the shame, frustration, and anxiety gender-queer bodied people often do, I wanted to create not just a clothing line to fill the lack, but a place to rectify this issue of not being welcomed or accepted. We encourage all Sharpe team members to bring their histories to the table, and this inevitably produces incredible creations. For example, one of the Sharpe signature touches is the contrast double buttonhole on the lapel to symbolize the equality sign.

A suit worn should speak for the person wearing it. Is it understated with a pop of color in the lining? Is it double-breasted to inspire images of speakeasies? By understanding the queer mentality and queer bodies, we understand how to create clothing that fits like a glove and better showcases the client as a person.

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What has the reception been like in the fashion world surrounding brands such as Sharpe Suiting?
We have received an enormous amount of support inside and outside of the queer community. The majority of gender neutral or cross-gendered clothing brands have done extremely well using Kickstarter and Indiegogo, usually far surpassing their goals. From these crowd-funding campaigns alone queer fashion companies are already seeing revenues in the multi-million dollar range.

What does the future hold for Sharpe Suiting?
First things first: keep our promise in fulfilling all the goods to our supportive Kickstarter backers. We are currently in production for our first ready-to-wear line this spring which will be available on our brand new e-commerce shop this summer. Starting February 2015, we now offer bespoke dresses for our feminine-identifying patrons. Long term, we want to continue designing luxury dresswear that is inclusive as well as expressive.

Want to see more from Sharpe Suiting? Head here to check out the website. Missed the previous installments in this miniseries? Check out the slideshow below.

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Drake Is Maybe Not So Into Madonna's Kiss At Coachella

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Welcome to 2015, the year in which Madonna made out with Drake during his Coachella set, and he seemed totally repulsed. Madonna joined Drake onstage to finish performing "Madonna," the track from his recent mix tape, "If You're Reading This It's Too Late." She also sang her own medley of tracks, including “Human Nature,” “Hung Up” and “Bitch I’m Madonna.”

Then she kissed him while he sat in a chair. Then he flailed his arms. Then he wiped his mouth. Then she said, "Bitch, I'm Madonna." Then she walked away like a goddamn queen. It's going to be a good year.

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Watch the whole thing go down here:

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Meet Darcilio Lima, The Obscure Brazilian Artist Who Helped Shape Surrealism

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Darcilio Lima had his first art show at 10 years old. He was a crucial player in Rio's hedonistic underground art scene in the 1960s. He spent a significant period of time in the 1970s in Paris, sleeping in a graveyard. Like any legit surrealist, he was friends with Salvador Dali. And, yet, the Brazilian artist's name remains widely unknown, despite the captivatingly fine lines and hypnotically twisted figures that ooze forth from the darkest depths of his subconscious.

Thankfully, an exhibition entitled "Opus Magnun" at Stephen Romano Gallery in New York City will explore the macabre labyrinths of Lima's mind, hopefully bringing the artist, who died in 1994, the recognition he's long deserved.

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"Many artists are relegated to obscurity after they die," curator Stephen Romano explained to The Huffington Post. "Lima's legacy was dormant for many years as there was no one to perpetuate or to advocate for them. I found three works in an obscure auction several years ago and was completely mesmerized, i felt in some ways he had found me not the other way around."

Lima was born in an impoverished coastal town in Brazil in 1944. In his mid-twenties, he was living the life you'd imagine for a bohemian surrealist, experimenting with drugs, sexuality and identity, while pursuing a deeper spiritual knowledge. The overwhelming ferocity of it all led to a nervous breakdown, at which time Lima took up in an outpatient facility for disturbed creatives, where his art truly reached new, very strange heights.

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In the '70s, Lima finally garnered international attention, when -- seemingly out of nowhere -- he disappeared from the art world completely. "Years later, a journalist who was doing a story on him found him in his northern costal birthplace," Stephen Romano Gallery explained in a statement, "rumored to be haunted by a giant underground serpent, disheveled and unkept, writing his ramblings on the walls of a dirt-floored back room of a church, living off the generosity of the community."

Although Lima attempted to destroy all of his works shortly after being rediscovered, many survived. The artist died in 1994 after a freak accident, but his art lives on. Wolf heads morph into a woman's body topped off with a fish tail, while an unexplained penis dangles from a thread nearby. If you have an aesthetic soft spot for astrological imagery, nipple squeezing, decapitation and hybrid beasts -- well, that's odd -- and, you're in luck. With all the nightmarish beauty of William Blake and the hybrid monsters of Moebius, Lima's drawings prove that while artistic trends change over time, the hauntings of the mind are timeless.

lima

"Darcilio Lima was a quintessential 'outsider artist,' someone who's marginalization was at the very core of their art making," said Romano. "By embracing his own madness as an essential component of his own identity, Lima was extremely courageous about rendering an often frightening truth , often going far past the edge in illustrating what would still be considered 40 years later as taboo. However, by anchoring his art in astonishing technical proficiency, the art of Darcilio Lima, while being the product of a true visionary, has an aura of credibility as well since it is so elaborately and obsessively crafted. The combination of those two elements. visionary subjects and technical mastery, leaves the viewer in no doubt they are in the presence of something rare and special not often seen in this day and age."

Darcilio Lima "Opus Magnun" runs through April 30, 2015, at Stephen Romano Gallery. See an exhaustive roundup of his works below. Warning: some works contain graphic imagery.








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Mysterious Civil War Photo Was Really Teenage Hoax

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SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — For three decades, the stained and blurry photograph presented a great mystery to Civil War historians.

It was a picture taken of another photo in a peeling, gilded frame. In the foreground stood a man, his back to the camera, wearing an overcoat and a hat. In the center, visible amid stains and apparent water damage, was a ship. Did this picture show the only known photograph of the ironclad Confederate warship the CSS Georgia?

The 1,200-ton ship armored with strips of railroad iron never fired a shot in combat after it was built to defend the Georgia coast in the Civil War. Confederate sailors sunk their ship in December 1864 as Gen. William T. Sherman's Union troops captured Savannah.

No blueprints survived and period illustrations varied in their details. The photo would confirm details of the Georgia's design, if only it could be authenticated. Records show John Potter donated a copy of the picture of the photo to the Georgia Historical Society in March 1986.

As the Army Corps of Engineers embarked this year on a $14 million project to raise the Georgia's wreckage from the river, archaeologists publicized the image online and in news stories — including an Associated Press story — hoping to track down the original photo.

Robert Holcombe, former curator of the National Civil War Naval Museum, told the AP in February that while the original photograph would be needed to confirm if the image was authentic, he believed it was real.

"Most people seem to think so," he said. "Or else it's an awfully good fake."

Now the man who took that photo of the photo all those years ago says he wants to clear the record: It is a fake.

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Here was the story John Potter told 30 years ago:

The Savannah native was at a yard sale when he found the photograph in an antique frame. Inscribed on the back of the frame was "CSS Georgia." He couldn't afford it, so he took a photo and mailed it to historical groups in Savannah.

Here is his new story, which he told exclusively to The Associated Press:

When he was a teenager in Savannah, Potter, his brother Jeffrey and a friend shot a short 8mm movie about the CSS Georgia. They built a 2-foot model.

At some point, Potter decided to test whether he had the skills to become a Hollywood special effects artist.

Potter's younger brother put on a coat and straw hat and went out to a marsh with a cane fishing pole and Potter took a photo. He took another photo of the model. He glued the boat's image onto the photo of his brother, then used dirt and glue to "age" the photo.

Potter sent the photo to historical groups, setting off a sporadic search for a CSS Georgia photo that he now says never existed.

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The gilded frame that once held the disputed photo now holds a portrait of Potter's deceased pug, Puggy Van Dug.

Potter, 50, lives alone in a cluttered, one-story house in the North Carolina mountains. He never became a successful special effects artist.

He once owned a Savannah antiques store and provided props for movies filming in the area. He had a stint as a maintenance man for a lighthouse and museum on nearby Tybee Island. He spent nights drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon at Huc-a-Poos, where a mock police mug shot of him hangs with the words: "Tybee Record — 77 PBRs in one night."

"Potter's a crazy guy," said Eric Thomas, Huc-a-Poos' owner. "He's also a lovable guy."

After their father died in 2011, Potter and his brother Jeffrey moved to North Carolina.

Last month, Jeffrey, the only person who shared the secret, killed himself at age 48.

Potter said he'd forgotten about the photo and had no idea the fuss it had caused until he saw it recently on the Army Corps website.

First, he decided to play along. But after his brother's death, he contacted AP to come clean.

"I'm not in good health. I didn't want to drop dead and carry that to my grave," he said.

Potter said he never profited from his hoax.

"I didn't intend to hurt or embarrass anybody, because I really love history," he said. "But there's still a lesson there: Do your dang homework."

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But is Potter now telling the truth?

He gave the AP his old 8 mm movie along with old photos. One showed a young man he said was his brother in a marsh wearing a coat and straw hat and carrying a fishing pole — much like the figure in the ironclad photograph. Another showed the boy holding the model of the ship.

Potter said the original got destroyed long ago when he tried to remove it from the frame.

After his brother's death, Potter told Thomas about the hoax. Yet the bar owner suspected the ironclad photo may be real and Potter has it.

"I said, 'What are you going to do with it?' And he said, 'Do with what?'" Thomas recalled. "And I said, 'The picture.' And he said, 'I'm going to sell it.'"

Potter seemed to suggest to AP that maybe he was pulling an elaborate double hoax.

Then he dismissed that as "too wacky."

"That's crazy talk," Potter said.

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Weiss reported from Lenoir, North Carolina. Associated Press journalist Alex Sanz contributed to this report.

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