Now that NeNe Leaks has quit "The Real Housewives of Atlanta," we've got the perfect candidate to take her place: Amy Schumer, obviously.

But what exactly makes the "Trainwreck" star qualified to be on one of Bravo's "Real Housewives" shows? In a new video, Schumer lists off her more-than-qualified credentials. "I'm real, I'm in the house a lot," Schumer says. "I am not a wife, but I have had sex with a lot of married people." And her tagline? "I don't need a man, but I want one, any one."

America, fill up your wine glasses and meet the new star of "Real Housewives of Secaucus."

Also on HuffPost:

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It's 2015. By now, reality TV is a young adult, but it hasn't grown out of "The Bachelor" franchise. Despite its bizarre dating rituals, low success rate, and questionable racial and gender politics, the stable of shows is, if anything, more popular than ever. Do people love "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette," or do they love to hate it? It's unclear. But here at Here To Make Friends, we both love and love to hate them -- and we love to snarkily dissect each episode in vivid detail.

In this week's Here To Make Friends podcast, hosts Claire Fallon, Culture Writer, and Emma Gray, Senior Women's Editor, recap the ninth episode of "The Bachelorette," Season 11. We'll discuss Joe's and Jared's exits (one far better than the other), the sex-fession that finally happened, and Nick and Shawn's deep-seated hatred for each other.

Leigh Blickley, Senior Entertainment News Editor at HuffPost, joins to give her insights and tell us what it was like to spend quality time with Kaitlyn Bristowe!

The best tweets about this week's "Bachelorette"...

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Season 5 of "Game of Thrones" gave fans one of the most mind-blowing battle sequences of the series with Episode 8, "Hardhome."

In the battle, Kit Harington's Jon Snow fought against an army of wights (reanimated corpses) as the White Walkers arrived at the free folk settlement, Hardhome. There was an intense face-off between Jon and a Walker, lots of skull smashing, and, most shockingly, the return of the Night's King. The sequence was, overall, one of the most impressive visual spectacles on television and now a new video from visual effects company El Ranchito reveals how it was made.

The reel shows all of the CGI work and practical effects behind the roughly-20 minute sequence, which Harington previously told The Huffington Post took an entire month to shoot. The actor also told Entertainment Weekly that he shot each of his fight sequences from the battle three times, which he said was "twice as hard" as Season 4's Battle of Castle Black. If the "Hardhome" breakdown video doesn't earn "Thrones" its fourth Emmy for Outstanding Visual Effects, then nothing deserves the winged statuette this year.

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Breaking up is just the worst.

Watching other people break up, on the other hand, holds a fascination for many, tinged with schadenfreude. Reality TV is a case in point: We can say we watch "The Bachelor" or "The Bachelorette" for the true love story, but proportionally there are a whole lot more breakup stories; for every proposal, there are, typically, 24 breakups aired. Twenty-four weeping women slinking to the limo, 24 sulking men storming off camera.

“Why am I never good enough for love?” a 23-year-old dental hygienist moans, her sobs shaking the wilting curls in her bottle-blond hair. “She’s really missing out,” blusters a 29-year-old fitness trainer, seething over his public rejection. “I have a ton to offer.” Sitting at home, we snort into our Pinot at these outsized, irrational reactions. Obviously the Bachelor or Bachelorette can’t marry ALL of the contestants -- why can’t the rejects leave gracefully?

When it comes to breaking up, though, we’re all set up to fail. Breaking up gracefully, or being broken up with gracefully, isn’t a skill that’s usually taught, nor is it one that our culture seems to treat with particular regard, aside from a few rom-com third wheels who generously step aside for the real hero.

Instead, we’re left to muddle through our breakups, flailing around our first big heartbreak, trying to argue our soon-to-be-ex out of the breakup or posting passive-aggressive Facebook statuses about the lost beloved. When we’re dumping, we try out ghosting, using thin lies ("I’m just really busy right now"), or brutal honesty ("you’ve gained weight and it kind of grosses me out"). Aziz Ansari’s recent book Modern Romance points out that there’s no real consensus on which tactic is best for ending things, and we often don’t even use the tactic we would want others to use to break up with us. It’s a general disaster.

Our socialization, of course, tends to affect how this disaster goes, as "The Bachelor" franchise comically demonstrates. Women, taught to fret, cry and cling and ask what we did wrong. Men, taught to toughen up, get angry and even a bit threatening -- or demonstrate their toughness through a studied act of carelessness, ending things with a barb about how little they cared the whole time. These reactions are far from universal, but "The Bachelor" reveals how rigorously men and women are socialized to handle rejection in diametrically opposed ways, neither of them very healthy.

On "The Bachelorette," of course, the star is media-trained and prepped. She sits down with each reject, at least later in the season, and gently tells him that she thinks he’s just wonderful, but their relationship wasn’t progressing quickly enough, or they didn’t have that spark. It’s honest, but not brutal. It’s on the other side that things tend to get ugly. 

Even the best of breakups are unpleasant for the rejected one. They’re embarrassing, because we’re taught that our romantic desirability, in any context, is an indicator of our worth. Pretty much every piece of pop culture makes sure to give the identifiable hero or heroine a desirable romantic conquest, even if the protagonist isn’t traditionally sexy; we consume the message that the inherent worth of the protagonist earns them romantic love. Love isn’t a game of finding the right match in a population of billions; it’s a game of being the best, most lovable one. Being dumped means you’ve lost that game. You were the buffoonish third wheel in the rom-com of someone else’s life.

Of course, none of this excuses dreadful breakup etiquette, but not everyone can, as Jared did Monday night on "The Bachelorette," rise above our socialized behaviors and courteously accept a partner’s reasons for ending a relationship. (He even saved his pain and tears for the limo rather than make Kaitlyn feel worse! What a champ.) In the lowest moments, many turn to the deeply ingrained responses that bubble up immediately. 

 Most of us, if pressed to recall the most embarrassing lows in our lives, would probably think back to awful breakups. The end of first love, especially, can bring out some shocking behavior in immature dumpees. We poured bleach on our now-ex’s favorite old camp T-shirt, or we called sobbing five times a night for a week. We got pissed and told them they were never good enough for us anyway.

For men on "The Bachelorette," all too often, the immediate response is chilling anger. Again and again this season -- with Tony’s and Ian’s exits, as well as Joe’s goodbye on the most recent episode -- men on the show have responded to rejection and disappointment not with grace, but with rage and even cruelty.

Once might be a fluke. Three times is a trend. But does that surprise anyone? While women are socialized to turn their disappointment and hurt inward, as evidenced by the crying bachelorettes leaving the mansion wondering what they did wrong, men are often socialized to turn it into anger -- anger directed outward. Though the aggression has been limited to some nasty words, clenched jaws and cold stares -- there are, anyway, cameras everywhere -- Kaitlyn has clearly felt the fury in the atmosphere. She’s constantly asking the men if they’re upset with her, and the answer is often “Yes,” even if they say “No,” as they stalk off.

Watching these tense conversations, between tiny, bird-like Kaitlyn and the hulking men she’s dating, the mind drifts to that old saw, attributed to Margaret Atwood: “Men are afraid women will laugh at them; women are afraid men will kill them.” The worst the Bachelor ever has to fear is a particularly hysterical woman causing him a few uncomfortable minutes during a breakup. For the Bachelorette, however well-protected and -observed she may be, there’s still a submerged terror of actual violence from her rejected suitors, whose disappointment so quickly metastasizes into wrath.

Of course, none of these men would hurt Kaitlyn. Their clenched-jaw, contemptuous departures are just the sanitized, reality TV evidence of a cultural sickness, the kind of male socialization that makes women afraid to tell a man on the street to stop harassing her because he might stab her, afraid to refuse to give out her number because he might shoot her. Our society still teaches young men to get mad and get even, and until we find a better way for them to process pain and hurt, it’s going to be a scary world for women.

Even on "The Bachelorette," the supposedly empowering sister of "The Bachelor," we can’t escape reminders of that reality.

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"Star Wars" and Legos were practically made for each other, as the "Force Awakens" Lego remake trailer proved. And now, the duo behind "The Lego Movie" are headed to a galaxy far, far away.

On Tuesday, StarWars.com announced that Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the team best known for the Oscar-nominated animated film, will direct a "Star Wars" anthology film. The directors, who were also behind "21 Jump Street, "22 Jump Street" and "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs," will direct a stand-alone film based on a young Han Solo. The spinoff, written by Lawrence Kasdan ("The Empire Strikes Back," "Return of the Jedi," "The Force Awakens") and Jon Kasdan ("The First Time"), will reveal how Han Solo became the "smuggler, thief, and scoundrel" we first met at the Mos Eisley Cantina.

“This is the first film we’ve worked on that seems like a good idea to begin with," Lord and Miller said in StarWars.com's press release. "We promise to take risks, to give the audience a fresh experience, and we pledge ourselves to be faithful stewards of these characters who mean so much to us. This is a dream come true for us. And not the kind of dream where you’re late for work and all your clothes are made of pudding, but the kind of dream where you get to make a film with some of the greatest characters ever, in a film franchise you’ve loved since before you can remember having dreams at all." Well said.

According to Entertainment Weekly, a Han Solo origin film, which was first rumored two years ago, was reportedly going to be one of the first films in the "Star Wars" anthology series. However, "Rogue One" from director Gareth Edwards, was pushed up as the first spinoff so as not to confuse fans after Harrison Ford's appearance in "The Force Awakens." 

Before the young Han Solo spinoff hits theaters on May 25, 2018, there's lots of "Star Wars" to look forward to. J.J. Abrams' "The Force Awakens" will open Dec. 18, followed by "Rogue One" on Dec. 16, 2016. There's also the second "Star Wars" stand-alone film, which director Josh Trank left in May, as well as a separate rumored Obi-Wan Kenobi spin-off. 

For more, head to StarWars.com.

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 It's 2015, and transgender women star in television shows, take center stage in rom-coms, and grace the covers of magazines. And yet in the realm of fine art, particularly more traditional fields like painting and portraiture, trans women remain almost entirely absent.  

Janet Bruesselbach is trying to change that. The artist, based in Queens, New York, is inserting trans women into the canon of art history, introducing viewers to the many different manifestations of the female body, and providing stunning images along the way.

In July of 2014, Bruesselbach created her series titled "Daughters of Mercury," featuring 12 full-length oil portraits of trans women, one for each month of the year. The artist raised over $24,500 on Kickstarter to bring the project to life. Now, this year, Bruesselbach is taking her project a step further with "Granddaughters of Mercury," a second series spotlighting beautiful and influential trans women -- with a focus on trans women of color. She aims to raise $10,000 and create 25 large-scale paintings.

Bruesselbach is aware of the paradoxical nature of her project, at once spotlighting trans women and separating them from the mainstream. "Fundamentally the project is contradictory, simultaneously isolating trans women as a category and seeking to depict how they do not constitute a distinct type and are women with as many ways [of] being beautiful as they are individual people, if not more." Eventually, Bruesselbach hopes such a division between trans women and cis women will cease to exist altogether.

"Trans visibility has been particularly strong in the past few years, and as a visual art project that isolates trans women as a category, this series is part of it," Bruesselbach said. "That visibility is not inherently a positive thing. For every trans woman who is made to feel less alone or stuck and see more opportunities for themselves, there are as many violent cissexists and transmisogynists who target people they would not have seen, or who seek to make explicit previously ambiguous discrimination."

A potentially problematic aspect of the series is Bruesselbach's status as a cis woman, a fact not lost on the artist. Wary of her work being interpreted as exploitative, she admits she is conscious of her privileged position and devoted to using her artwork not just to provide an image, but also a voice. "As much as it is possible to not just be another cis artist exploiting the trend, I seek to amplify the voices of trans women," she added.

To ensure this goal, each of Bruesselbach's portraits will be accompanied by a text or artwork by the subjects themselves. More than just an exhibition, "Granddaughters of Mercury" will provide the foundation for a burgeoning community of transfeminist artists and allies.  

Bruesselbach's own works are figurative oil paintings, relatively traditional save for their subjects. The juxtaposition of a time-honored medium and trans models is an arresting contrast, one not often encountered in classical art circles, let alone the more experimental contemporary art scene. "I've come to a much deeper understanding of how important the tropes of figurative oil painting are to the relationship of trans women with their appearance," Bruesselbach said, "especially as I've found myself painting more nudes than I would have imagined."

Eventually, Bruesselbach hopes to sell as many of her original paintings as possible, with proceeds going toward trans shelters and surgery fundraisers. Visit the "Granddaughters of Mercury" Kickstarter to help Bruesselbach raise $10,000 by July 26. In the meantime, see some of the paintings she's created thus far below.

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  Photos by Catherine Lee

When Jessica Goldschmidt was five years old, she was put in a swimming group at day camp with a bunch of kids twice her age. She was taller than the average child, so her strength was assumed to be on par with the older campers. But, the current was stronger than her athletic abilities, and she struggled to stay afloat, nearly drowning.

Though her height hasn’t had quite as dire an impact on her personality since then, its influenced her work as a theatre artist. Along with three other tall women, she co-created, choreographs for and performs in “Tall Women in Clogs,” a funny, feminist take on how height can shape a woman’s identity in America.

Goldschmidt met Sophie Shackleton and Katherine Cooper at Brown University while performing for a student production of “The Rocky Horror Show.” After graduating, the three women moved to New York City, where they teamed up with Madeline Wise to create “Tall Women in Clogs,” a variety show involving dance, physical theater and circus, which sold out on its first run. The troupe recently campaigned on Kickstarter to bring their work to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland.

“‘Tall Women in Clogs’ is an ethos, an attitude,” they wrote on their Kickstarter page. “It’s a way of looking at ourselves, the world, and our bodies in the world as four 20-something women who take up more space than average.”

Below, Goldschmidt, Shackleton, Cooper and Wise discuss their play, their height, the Rockettes, and the woes of middle school dances.

Do you think being tall is an integral part of your identity?

Madeline Wise: In general my height is something that I feel doesn't define me. I'd always prefer that I am defined by nonphysical traits, because those are the traits I can control and cultivate.  

Sophie Shackleton: It affects my feelings of femininity deeply. But it also makes me feel very capable, and older than my age much of the time, and is a great asset for leadership and confidence in many parts of life, too.  

Jessica Goldschmidt: On a family vacation when I was five, I was so tall they placed me in a day camp group with the eight to 10-year-olds. I almost drowned because the undertow was too strong. So for me, early on, being tall became almost literally a matter of life and death.

Katherine Cooper: Absolutely.

You discuss a few of the woes of tall women on your Kickstarter -- that others expect you to be stronger than you are, for instance. Which of these misconceptions do you struggle with the most?

MW: I think the bit about being tougher than you are, probably. I've had a lot of people project stoicism onto me simply because I'm physically above the sturm und drang.

SS: I struggled with weight as a kid, so that is strongly related to my feelings about “bigness."  I’m no longer overweight, but because of my height, I’m realizing that I will always feel like I still am “too large.” As I get older, I’m much more interested in embracing femininity and vulnerability. I’m full of those things too, perhaps even more because of my size, and I’m less scared of showing that.

JG: For me, it's this ideal that a tall woman is an outlier, that she must be either a) ungainly/"unfeminine" or b) supermodel/Rockette material -- ogres or sex objects, and not much in between 

KC: I definitely struggle to share my vulnerability with people. I'd say that's probably true of a lot of people. But I think being tall exacerbates that feeling because people do expect you to be stronger and more competent a lot of the time.

Has your height ever kept you from accomplishing something -- or, conversely, aided you in something you wished to accomplish?

MW: My favorite factoid is that I'm too tall to be a Rockette -- I think the cutoff is 5'10". But, like, I don't lose sleep over that one. My height probably kept me from dating in high school, but again, I think there are a whole slew of other factors there.

SS: Where I’ve lacked in confidence socially, I gained it professionally. People take me seriously, and I sort of naturally end up in positions of leadership.

JG: I have never in my life been able to do a pull-up. I blame it on my height.

KC: I definitely swiped more cookies than average from the top shelf when I was little thanks to topping out at around 5'9" at age 14.

What’s the most badass thing about being a tall woman?

MW: Society loves to infantilize women in a way that grosses me out, and it's hard to infantilize a tall woman.

SS: Walking down the street. I do sort of feel, regularly, like I could conquer the world when I’m walking down the street. You get a lot of momentum.

JG: The space you get/learn/are able to take up on the dance floor.

KC: I think being tall makes you stand out in most groups. As with any kind of difference you have to learn to own it. If you can learn to own something that's different about you, you're a badass.

Do you think height lends itself to analysis the same way gender might? What about humor? 

MW: Oh, totally. But also I perceive a correlation between my height and my sense of humor. I come from funny stock to begin with, but I think I cultivated my specific brand of humor in order to offset the fact that a lot of people find my height intimidating.

SS: I don’t think it’s the same, because it doesn’t have specific histories of oppression.  But, it is another lens on difference, and I think we are all, as a global community, doing a lot of processing around how to accept difference in the face of a natural human instinct of feeling safe when we’re the same. 

JG: Yep. Though in keeping with my feelings about gender, I'm mostly interested in tall people who are short, and short people who are tall, and small big people, and big small people, etc.

KC: We definitely project gendered assumptions onto tall and short people. I think we often associate height with physical strength and strength with masculinity so in that way, yes.

I'm not sure what height has to do with humor. If you're taught that you shouldn't take up too much space and then you're body takes up more space than average that can result in some pretty humorous behavior. I once got a plaque at the end of a soccer season in elementary school that honored me with the nickname "The Destroyer," because my height made me an excellent defender. That was sort of funny. Also, completely scarring. 

Why should tall women wear clogs?

MW: You already stand out for being tall, why not add comically loud wooden hooves to the mix?

SS: I ultimately feel like they communicate my most basic self: a lady who knows how to get things done.

 JG: Because they're like heels without the constant looming specter of patriarchy.

KC: If you're looking for quirky, comfy, discreetly sexy footwear that will accentuate your height while keeping you grounded, clogs are for you!

What are some other artistic mediums that you think smartly reveal what it’s like to be a tall woman?

MW: Vivian Maier's photography? That implies all tall women are bizarro hermit types. (Which is true.) I'm not even sure she was all that tall. 

SS: Middle school dances. I don't know about smartly -- but it's all there. 

JG: Stand-up comedy. The Rockettes Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Low-ceilinged rehearsal studios.

KC: Can Tilda Swinton be a medium? Basically anything Tilda Swinton does I think reveals something smart, beautiful and deeply felt about what I feel it's like to be a tall woman.

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 The 11th annual Aspen Ideas Festival drew impressive crowds to the picturesque Colorado mountain town in late June, inspiring audiences to “indulge in their curiosity.” In a conversation with The Huffington Post's editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington, New York Public Library president and CEO Tony Marx spoke to the digital divide in America, where an estimated 60 million people are without personal access to Internet service, and the role of public libraries amid a changing landscape. 

"Libraries have never been used more," Marx told Huffington, who noted that 90 percent of Americans believe that public libraries are a vital aspect of their communities. "People are shocked by this: the New York Public Libraries together get about 40 million physical visits a year," more than all the city's museums and professional sporting events combined, he said. "The life of the mind is not nearly as threatened as popular culture would have us believe." 

Yet 27 percent of households in New York City lack a connection to broadband Internet. Marx told a story about a boy who was sitting outside a library branch in the South Bronx to use the Wi-Fi after it had closed. "There's a kid sitting on the stoop and he's got the oldest laptop I've ever seen. And I said, 'What are you doing?' And he said, 'I'm doing my math homework,'" Marx said. "It's New York, it's the 21st century, and the kid's sitting on the stoop to do his math homework."

Guarded by Patience and Fortitude, a pair of imposing marble lions, the main branch of the New York Public Library at East 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue is world-renowned and among the largest libraries in the world. Marx works to broaden the library's essential role as a provider of free educational opportunities for millions of New Yorkers.  

Among Marx's initiatives since joining the NYPL, with $1 million in funding from Google and backing from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, the library began offering free Wi-Fi devices, with a goal to reach approximately 10,000 low-income families so they can access the system from home. The FCC passed last year a $5 billion plan for schools and libraries to follow suit in an effort to address the digital divide on a national scale.

Considering the dramatic socioeconomic split in accessibility to information, the public library plays an important role as it continues to adapt to digital technology.

"Libraries are called the 'third place,'" explained Huffington. "It's not home, it's not work, but it's a place of community and despite all the fears that the digital revolution would eliminate libraries, it's the exact opposite."

Marx served as president of Amherst College from 2003 to 2011, and presided over the largest unrestricted cash gift ever made to a liberal arts college ($100 million). He arrived at the New York Public Library in 2011, at a time when the institution was facing many questions about its place in an increasingly digital future.

"When I got to [NYPL], I realized that most of the commercial publishing industry wouldn't let libraries lend electronic books. So we found a way to make deals where we pay licensing fees, because authors should be paid for their work," Marx said. "We have seen a 300 percent increase in electronic book lending."

Aside from increasing accessibility, Marx's vision for the future of the public library system addresses the unique role it plays within the community, especially those with low-income residents. "We're human beings. We're social animals. Even if you don't need to come to the library to read a book, people come to the library to be together and to be in inspiring spaces," he said.

"You could watch all of this online," he said, referencing the Aspen Ideas Festival as an environment that fosters critical thinking. "But you want to be here talking to each other, learning together. That's amazing and we need to do more of that."

As a leading provider of basic and advanced computer-skills training in New York City, the NYPL helps New Yorkers keep up the pace with an accelerating tech industry. "The coding industry -- the tech industry -- is the fastest growing industry in New York," said Marx. "It's a, let's say, non-diverse industry, so we're trying to get them some of the diversity of talent by providing the coding instruction for free."   

Examining extremes, Huffington and Marx discussed the downsides of an oversaturated Internet experience. From mass media to social media, they agreed that sometimes people just want ever-elusive "quiet and contemplation." 

"I think we're at this moment when we all are so grateful for what the digital revolution has made possible, but we're beginning to recognize the dangers," said Huffington. "We're beginning to recognize the dangers in terms of our health, in terms of our creativity, because that quiet place -- I mean, every creator has said it's essential, you know, being able to clean your mind and not be constantly focused on notifications and alerts and bleeps."

On the same side of the divide, noting the importance of "preserving the library as an oasis," Huffington lamented the decreasing frequency with which humans disconnect from devices to engage with the world around them. "Even museums and galleries now are all digitized, and people walk around with their apps -- I mean, I'm sure you've been to museums where people are not looking at the paintings, they're looking at their apps, and you wonder why they left home," she said.

The crux of his vision, Marx concluded, relies upon a certain parity in access to information throughout the world. "I’m after two things that I’m not sure I will live to see, [but] I want a world in which the opportunities that we all have here in Aspen, that we all have at home, are shared by everyone. I want a world in which access to ideas and information, to learn from and to contribute to, is not constrained by economic opportunity or physical proximity," said Marx. "I want everyone in the game because I believe, going back to some early Greek thinkers, that intelligence and talent and wisdom and creativity are more widely spread in the community than we have yet to tap."

For all the wisdom of the Aspen Ideas Festival, said Marx, without engagement from two-thirds of the world's population, innovation stagnates. "So that's No. 1," he said. "And No. 2, more mundane. I want to go on the subway every morning, and instead of seeing people moving little balls around the screen, I want to see them working with the collections of the library on whatever they're fascinated by, contributing to a collective effort to understand the world better. Those are the two things I'm after."

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If you’re a single woman and you have a cat, you’ve probably heard the phrase “crazy cat lady” more times than you’re able to respond gracefully. Cats, though, aren’t just companions for so-called spinsters; men have been known to fancy feline pets -- think of the uber-manly Ernest Hemingway and his houseful of six-toed kitties.

Artist Sam Kalda, a cat fan himself, had this in mind when working on his new series, "Men and Cats." “Why not crazy cat men? What's so crazy about it?” he wrote in an email to The Huffington Post.

He began the series after he stumbled upon photos of Marlon Brando relaxing with a housecat. Kalda was fascinated. “Here is this guy with a macho, mercurial reputation who, in these images, is transformed by virtue of his love for cats,” he explained. Though even highly domesticated cats retain fearsome hunting skills -- any cat owner has likely received a freshly decapitated mouse or bird as tribute -- the cat’s finely drawn features and external calm don’t project boisterous masculinity. 

 These attributes, Kalda said, also contribute to their artistic appeal. “Cats are independent, mysterious and elegant,” he said. “They're also quite lazy, which makes them ideal subjects to draw.” A drowsing cat, watching through slitted eyes as it lies draped over a lap, practically begs to be sketched; not so a leaping, panting dog, its tail a blur of motion. 

Perhaps these enigmatic, restrained qualities have drawn creatives to cats throughout the ages, from Montaigne to Karl Lagerfeld. Kalda also illustrates pensive quotes from cat fanciers that capture the particular joys of living with a cat, such as the words of Jean Cocteau: "I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul."

In his dual portraits, Kalda illustrates the petulant humor and quiet sophistication of a cat, as well as the soulfulness of a man's relationship with his four-legged friend. If you think cats are just fine or maybe even the best pets around (the latter is the correct opinion), Kalda's whimsical, vibrant images will remind you that great men agreed with you. At least about cats. 

If you do not like cats, remember that Mark Twain loved cats -- and reconsider.

All images courtesy of Sam Kalda. See more of his Men & Cats images below, or visit his website here.

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Ring the alarms, Kanye West's upcoming album may have leaked online.

On Tuesday night, Redditor dxnxixlrxsxnxbxrx shared an audio file on the subreddit Hip Hop Heads, which was reportedly a rough recording of West's new album "Swish." The Redditor claimed that the audio was recorded outside of a listening party for the album, writing, "these are a bunch of recordings sort of stitched together." 

Although the audio file has since been removed from Reddit, Hip Hop Early reported that it is still available to download and stream on Sharebeast. The nearly one-hour recording is of such bad quality that little can be made out aside from West's "All Day" and other various bits and pieces of possible songs.

A supposed tracklist for "Swish" was also shared online, which can be seen over at Complex. If the tracklist is real, expect the long-rumored song "Piss on My Grave" (titled "Piss on Your Grave" on the tracklist) from West and Paul McCartney to be on the album. The reported tracklist also includes collaborations with Bruno Mars and Big Sean, however, West's "Wolves" with Vic Mensa was absent from the list.

West's follow-up album to 2013's "Yeezus" was initially titled "So Help Me God," but the rapper announced he changed the name to "Swish" on Twitter in May. A rep for West was not immediately available for comment on the reported leak.

For more, head to Complex and Reddit.

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On New York City’s Avenue A, an unassuming apartment building with the word “peace” sprawled above its windows is nestled in between a 7-Eleven and a hookah bar. Unbeknownst to the average pedestrian, this is the home of Anton van Dalen, a Dutch artist who has lived here since the mid ‘60s. He is also the last pigeon fancier in the East Village.

Van Dalen has been breeding pigeons since he was a child in Holland. When he immigrated with his family to Toronto in 1964, he built a coop out of the crates that his belongings had been shipped in. Nowadays, the birds reside in a homemade coop on the roof of his East Village home. (You can live stream the pigeons here.) 

When he’s not nourishing his pigeons, Van Dalen is making cutouts, stencils and props that he uses to stage a theatrical performance of the East Village’s history. Stencils of bullish police, inflamed buildings and other symbols of the ‘80s riots are strewn around his studio floor. In the afternoons, Van Dalen climbs to his roof to release the pigeons, and they sore above the storied tenements -- themselves one of the last relics of the neighborhood’s vibrant history.

Watch the video above for more with van Dalen.

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Hanging photos, mirrors, art or basically anything in your home can be one of the most difficult parts about decorating. Issues are always popping up: is this painting lopsided? Do these frames line up? Did I just ruin my wall?

Well, there's a solution to all of those problems. 

Made.com created an infographic with tips on displaying art around the house. For those interested in gallery walls or simpler layouts, Made provides easy formulas that prevent crooked photos for good.

Take a look at the wonderful tool below, and you'll be hanging photos (or your kiddos' drawings) in no time! 

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Everyone has their opinions on Jon Snow's fate on "Game of Thrones," even Maisie Williams.

Spoiler alert for the "Game of Thrones" Season 5 finale.

After Jon's shocking death in the Season 5 finale, we speculated all the possible ways the he could to return to the series. While some fans are hopeful that Kit Harington will be back, especially after he was spotted with his usual "GoT" haircut at Wimbledon last weekend, his co-star isn't too positive about it. During interviews with E! News and People magazine this week, Williams, who plays Arya Stark on the series, said she doesn't think Arya's bastard brother will return.

"I think people are trying to be very positive about this," Williams told E! News. "I'm like, ‘I don't think so. I'm very sorry!' I don't know, maybe he wanted to keep the hair in the end."

Just in case that wasn't convincing enough, Williams echoed her lack of hope for Jon to People magazine. "We saw him get stabbed a lot," she said. "Like, I think that's pretty clear."

But should we listen to the Stark girl or to the Mother of Dragons? Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenerys Targaryen on the show, recently said she thinks there's some possibility Jon may return. "If I had to bet, I'd say there's like a 50/50 chance," Clarke told MTV News.

The most popular fan theory predicts that Jon will warg into his direwolf Ghost in a future season. Harington mentioned this during a discussion at the Oxford Union earlier this year and showrunner Dan Weiss (possibly jokingly) said it could happen in Season 6.

For more, head to E! News and People.

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It's truly the end of an era.

FAO Schwarz, beloved toy store and iconic fixture in New York City history will officially close the doors of its flagship store on July 15.

Since its opening in 1862, the vast toy wonderland has attracted visitors from all over the world, and while it may have lost customers over the years ( Toys'R'Us acquired the struggling store to prevent from closing in 2009,) it always seemed to maintain its magic, thanks in part to 1988's "Big." Fan of the movie or not, chances are you know about the famous piano scene, which features Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia breaking out into a rendition of "Heart and Soul" and "Chopsticks," much to the amusement of  onlookers:

Overpriced and over the top, the store hit that sweet spot between offering toys you'd find in regular toy stores, and also six-foot-tall stuffed giraffes. For native New Yorkers and tourists alike, FAO Schwarz was a staple in any trip to midtown Manhattan.

But even if you haven't stepped foot inside the store in years, there was always something comforting about knowing it was still there. The notion that if and when you felt so inclined, you could whisk through the revolving doors, past the costumed guards and into what truly was another world was comforting. 

 Toys'R'Us has stated the store will find a new home in Manhattan, but if you ask us, nothing will ever be quite like the original. 

 Excuse us while we play that scene on repeat for the rest of the day.

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Hide under the covers, because the monsters from your childhood are coming to life.

In the first trailer for Rob Letterman's "Goosebumps" adaptation, Jack Black portrays R.L. Stine, author of the children's horror books. When Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) moves to a new town, he learns Stine and daughter Hannah (Odeya Rush) are his next-door neighbors. But when Zach accidentally unlocks the author's manuscripts, the fictitious monsters are unleashed into the real world.

The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, the Invisible Boy and others are headed your way on Oct. 16.

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